Saturday, December 05, 2009

Marc's Seattle Triple


After the Portland Marathon, I really didn't think Marc was interested in running more marathons, let alone road marathons. But a month ago he started to get stars in his eyes....Marathon Maniac stars, that is, and set his sights on completing the Seattle Triple. This consists of three races on the three days after Thanksgiving....the Wishbone Run (27.8 miles), the Ghost of Seattle Marathon, and the Seattle Marathon. He completed all three and now has his 5 maniac stars!


After spending a lovely Thanksgiving with Sharon in Olympia, we drove to Tacoma where we spent the night. Early Friday morning we drove over to Gig Harbor to drop Marc off for the Wishbone Run, a trail run consisting of 4 loops of approximately 7 miles each.



The little guy and I went back to our hotel where he glued himself to the TV watching Cartoon Network and I ran 6 miles on the treadmill. We then checked out and returned to Gig Harbor. Marc hadn't finished yet so we took a stroll up the beautiful trail.


We saw Marc after about 15 minutes, looking strong. The little guy ran him in. It was a beautiful day....cool, but sunny and clear.


He finished in just over 5 hours, admitting that he couldn't resist smoking the last lap. Hopefully he wouldn't regret it on day 2!


We then drove to downtown Seattle, checked into our hotel, and headed over to the Seattle Marathon expo, just a few blocks away. If you like expos, it's a pretty nice one; better than Portland, which has gotten worse over the years, imo. Lots of good food and drink samples and Marc made sure to partake of every one.



On Saturday, Marc decided to take the 7 am early start for the Ghost of Seattle marathon. It was still pretty dark. He's in that picture somewhere, I'm sure!



It was a gray, windy day, but the rain held off.


During the first few miles, Marc met up with maniacs Bret and Dawn, Galloway trainees who were running 20 seconds and walking 40 seconds. Marc's knee was hurting so he decided to stick with them for the rest of the race. His knee problem was the result of dropping a glass bottle on his knee the day before Thanksgiving. It hadn't bothered him at Wishbone, but he felt it at the Ghost.

The little guy and I spent the morning dishing out veggie chili, chicken soup and passing out sodas. Photo courtesy of the Maniac Prez. If you ever have the chance to run this race, don't hesitate. RD Scott puts on a well run, service oriented event. And for a road race, the scenery along Lake Washington is nicer than most.

Marc finished the Ghost in about 5 and a half hours and his knee seemed to hold up okay, thanks to the run/walk.


After some cleaning up at the hotel, we headed to Pike market where we enjoyed some clam chowder at Jack's Fish Spot. The key to Marc's recovery was consuming a lot of caloric liquids. He drank a lot of soy milk, fruit protein drinks, soup and protein shakes, both before and after his races. He considered ice baths, but instead went in the hot jacuzzi both Friday and Saturday night. The heat helped keep his joints from stiffening up, which for him, was more important than easing any inflammation in his muscles. Some might disagree on that tactic, but it worked for him!



Saturday night I taped his knee for extra protection. That's a nice tape job if I do say so myself!



Sunday was a sleep in day since the race didn't start until 8:15 and our hotel was within walking distance. Marc went out with the front runners but was intending to run/walk at 30/30 intervals. He had his best time at the Seattle Marathon, finishing in 4:23. And talk about even splits: his first half was 2:11:32 and his second half was 2:11:35. Nice! Despite getting a late checkout, the LG and I thought we'd have to check out before Marc was finished and so planned to meet him in the lobby of our hotel. But he surprised us by showing up at the door with an hour to spare, so he was able to clean up before the 3 hour drive home.

It was a great weekend. Marc is proud of his accomplishment and his recovery has gone very, very well. The knee is fine and he's been running this week. His only complaint is a bit of foot pain, which seems to be tendon related rather than bone related. He's going to try and take it easy, which is easier said than done if you know Marc! The LG and I had fun supporting Marc and volunteering at the Ghost. I'm so proud of the little guy. He received a lot of compliments for his work at the Ghost. After Pac Rim One Day, Hood 100 and the Ghost, he's becoming a race volunteer pro!

Marc's next focus would have been Western States, but the lottery was today and he didn't get in. Boo hoo! But he's already pondering qualifiers so he still has the bug. We'll have to wait and see what's next!

5 comments:

Darrell said...

Utter insanity; wink, wink! Congrats to Marc on the 5 stars!

Backofpack said...

Yay for Marc! Hope we see you all at Pac Rim. Maybe you'll be running a bit this year!

Joe said...

Nice post, Sarah. Great photos, nicely capturing a HUGE weekend!

Great job to the LG for hanging in there so well!!

Congrats on the five stars...awesome! I'll enjoy my single shiner for a long time, I'm guessing!!

Olga said...

Girl, amidst all non-runner's accomplishements your 6M TM run didn't go unnoticed. 6 whole miles? Say it is so! Anyhow, congrats to the star-boy, and to you too, not to mention the weekend sounds like a total blat for the family.

Bret said...

Marc did a great job! You are up next. Hey tell M lets all do the Pac Rim 24 hour run in March. Gail and I are going to try and do the entire 24 hours this year.