Jack & Jill Marathon, Seattle, WA
July 27, 2019
4:03:55 368/695
Overall 2/7 in 65-69
Jodi and I ran the Jack and Jill Marathon near Seattle with a light
rain the whole race and temps in the mid-60s. I was able to qualify for Boston
2020 with a time of 4:03:55 (BQ for 65-69 is 4:05) and get 2d in my age group. The
first 3 miles were in a tunnel where you needed to wear a headlamp to see the
ground and avoid the numerous potholes....interesting and cooler, but glad to
be done with it without falling. The whole race was
on a hard-packed dirt trail with uneven surface and some gravel. With the rain
falling, avoiding puddles became an issue in the second half. With a gradual
downhill from 2500’ to 500’, I found myself able to keep a strong pace and feel
like I was holding back most of the miles. I did a lot of my miles in the
8:55-9:10 range and I needed 9:20 pace to BQ so was happy that the paces came
so well. I was 2:02:13 at the half so ran a consistent pace with an overall
negative split.
Jodi: I came to
WA well-trained and wanting to Boston-qualify, which I did not do. I finished
Marathon #15 (4:24) on a beautiful downhill course through a 2-mile tunnel,
through the forest, over bridges and past waterfalls with a continuous light
rain. Unfortunately, the wet gravel surface was not my thing and I stopped
twice to dump pebbles out of my shoes. At that point it became a training run.
No BQ for me today but it was a blast seeing John and Begered fly by me.
I’m not disappointed, I just have work to do for Plan B.
This was Marathon #165; 28
states on 2nd go-round; All 10 Canadian provinces.
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Trip and picture info below:
Trip and picture info below:
Photos: View 346 Photos “View Photos” link will take you to Shutterfly where you can sign-up for free account to view the slideshow. Hold Ctrl and Click “Enter” to go to website.
(The description
is roughly in order of the pictures.)
On our first day
in Seattle we went to the Space Needle and saw amazing views from on high
including looking down through the revolving glass floor at the top. I remember
when the Needle was made in time for the 1962 World’s Fair and now has become the
symbol of Seattle. Katie and I even did a virtual bungee jump from the top. We
ate lunch at Collections Cafe which has collections at each table. We drove
through the University of Washington campus. Very cool to see football,
basketball, baseball, track, soccer, tennis and crew facilities all within a
mile of each other. Also, I just finished reading “The Boys in the Boat” which
recounts the crew teams at UW as they prepared for 1936 Berlin Olympics. Great
to see where they train and some of their memorabilia.
We enjoyed a Duckboat tour of Seattle on our first day seeing
some of the highlights of the city including Pike Place Market and many house
boats that people live in along Elliot Bay. We checked out the Klondike Gold
Rush Museum. It displayed how in 1898, Seattle made its mark by being the jump-off
spot for the Klondike Gold Rush. Miners had to carry 2000 lbs. of supplies up
Chilkoot Pass; it took many trips up this 45-degree mountain.
It was nice that the race was on a Saturday so that we could
go to church on Sunday. My cousin, Mark Duncan, his wife, Ginny, and their 3
youngsters live in Issaquah which was actually the town that our hotel was in.
We joined them at their church, and then enjoyed lunch at their home. Sunday
afternoon we saw the Mariners’ Stadium on the way to a harbor cruise around
Elliot Bay. After a fish dinner on the wharf, we made our way to north Seattle
to watch the Locks open and close for boats as they went between saltwater
ocean and freshwater Lake Washington. We topped the day off with...ice cream!
This time at Salt and Straw which has amazingly original flavors.
Monday, Katie, Jodi and I started our day at Pike’s Market. We
enjoyed seeing all the fresh fish and fruit and the wide variety of wares for
sale. We saw the wall where people stick their used gum...yuck. While the girls
shopped, I went and took a nap; marathons do make you extra tired. The Seattle
Aquarium was a bit fishy, but fun. The MoPop was a lot of fun with tributes to
Seattle musicians such as Jimi Hendrix and exhibits of sci-fi and horror.
Our exploration of Seattle continued Tuesday with a trip to
Volunteer Park Conservatory where we saw a wide variety of cacti, succulents,
and other plants. We then went to the Chihuly Garden and Glass exhibit next to
the Space Needle. The artist, Dale Chihuly, did some of his work in Venice
where last summer we had seen a glass blowing demonstration, so it was extra
meaningful to us. We then took the tour of Underground Seattle. After a fire in
1898 leveled the wooden buildings, Seattle was built in 2 levels using stone
and metal with the lower level eventually being abandoned after the upper level
was finished 10 years later.
We drove to Vancouver on Wednesday and took a hike in the
afternoon over the Lynn Suspension Bridge where we saw guys jumping from the
rocks into the river. We didn’t do that 😊, but
we enjoyed the beautiful forest and river. Thursday we caught the 8AM ferry to
Vancouver Island where we went to Butchardt Gardens and Victoria, the capital
of British Columbia. We were in awe of the wide variety and beauty of the
flowers. 30 years ago I had come here with my mom, dad, and Uncle Howie and
Aunt Lena. So fun to share now with Jodi and Katie. We enjoyed walking around
downtown Victoria and seeing shops and other sights such as the Empress Hotel.
Friday morning, we got to run in famed Stanley Park; this run
turned out to be a highlight of the trip. There are 15 miles of trails; we did
a section along the seawall with great views of Vancouver. Afterwards, we got
crepes and a cream puff downtown. We also toured Gastown seeing the Steam
clock, the 2010 Olympic Village area, and the A-Maze-ing Laughter monuments.
Saturday, we headed back to Seattle, but experienced a
two-hour delay at the border because of all of the British Columbians heading
to Washington for a long weekend since Monday was a holiday for them. But with
some aggressive driving from Jodi, we made it with time to spare. Happy to get
home Saturday night.
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