See Diva Run

What a perfect day! Even though I had to get up at 3:45 to drive to Anacortes to catch the ferry, it was worth it to see the sun rising over the sound.

Sunrise over Anacortes

The boat ride through the San Juans was beautiful. At first everything was shrouded in mist, and then the sun rose a little higher, drying up the mist and highlighting the greens and blues of the land, sea and sky! There were only a few passengers, and most of us were runners. I spent the hour stretching, while enjoying the view. After disembarking, I drove to the Best Western to meet friends from Las Vegas, Martha, Phil and Stephan. They arrived the day before, and were kind enough to pick up my race packet for me.

Stephan was kind enough to take a photo of Phil, Martha and me.

I followed them to the fairgrounds, which was the starting point. As we lined up for the start, we saw Matt and Jeff, who were running their second marathon of the weekend, and their 4th marathon in 2 weekends. We ran with them for the first mile, and then they decided to take a walk break. My goal for the day was to keep up with Martha, so we continued on. There aren’t that many flat places in western Washington, but there aren’t any on San Juan Island! The first 7 miles of the race were almost exclusively uphill. I was starting to worry that I was slowing Martha down, but before I could ask, she volunteered that I was doing good. Since she has run over 100 marathons, Martha is one of my running heroes. She is also very nice, and fun to spend time with. Getting to run with her for 7 miles was a real treat for me!

I got a brief rest by tricking Martha into posing for this photo!

The full and half courses separated after mile 7, so I had to say goodbye to Martha. I cranked up my iPod, and raced up the longest hill yet. This time it was followed by a lengthy downhill stretch. I made up some time on this stretch, which helped me cruise up the next big hill. I was feeling really good, and totally prepared. I enjoyed the company of other runners as we took turns passing each other on the hills. Near mile 10 I crested another hill, with a spectacular view of Puget Sound. The sun was warm, but the breeze was refreshing. The road was flat for a brief period, and I couldn’t help but feel like this was the ideal running experience.

As I approached mile 11, my energy started to fade. I was carrying 3 packs of gel, but didn’t use any of them. By the time I realized I needed one, it was too late. Another runner came by and told me the last 2 miles were uphill. At that point it didn’t matter, I’ve logged enough miles to know that I can run 2 without even thinking about it. A few of the people I had passed along the way were able to catch and pass me, but there were also quite a few that didn’t. I was relieved to discover that it wasn’t all uphill. When I first saw the finish clock, I encouraged the young man ahead of me to get moving, so he wouldn’t get beaten by a grandma. By the time he started his “kick”, I was starting to get into “race mode”. The race photographer caught this photo of us a few yards from the finish. I ended up beating him by .8 seconds!

I didn’t bother to check my time during the race. I’d been hoping to finish under 2:10, and was disappointed to see 2:14 on the clock as we approached. I was determined to get there before 2:15, and I succeeded. My finish time was 2:14:36, which is a PR by 13 minutes. Not bad for a warm day and a couple of hills. I’ve still got a couple of opportunities to beat 2:10 before summer is over.

After the race, I met Shaun Frazier, a very nice young man who had finished 4th overall in the half marathon. He introduced me to his lovely mother Sandy. They were visiting from Olympia. Shaun had completed the Capital City Marathon in 3:34 just two weeks earlier. It was his first. I expect to see his name at the top of a lot of race results.

Stephan had been unable to run because of a bad knee. He volunteered at the beginning of the race, and when he was no longer needed, he rented a bike and rode the course. Phil finished the half in 2:45. He kept me company while we waited for Martha to finish the marathon. Runners always have plenty to talk about, so the time passed quickly. Based on my finish time, I estimated that Martha would finish in 4:30, and I was pretty close. Although she said it was a tough course, she still looked fabulous at the end.

Martha introduced me to Jeff’s wife Linda, who had run the half marathon. We waited together for Jeff and Matt to finish. They arrived about 15 minutes later, looking way too fresh to have been finishing their 4th marathon in 9 days.

After the race we got to spend a little time together at Friday’s Crabhouse, but it was over too soon, as we all had places to go. My trip home took longer than expected. The 4:15 ferry was full. I got in line for the 5:30 boat at 4:30, and figured it would be no problem. The 5:30 ferry arrived on time, let some passengers off, and then left without taking any on. The next boat didn’t come until 6:55. By then I was starting to feel the effects of getting up at 3:45, and running 13.1 miles of hills in the sun. It was a pleasant sunset cruise back to Anacortes, and a long, boring drive home.

The San Juans are one of the most beautiful locations in Washington. It is a great place to visit, and a great place to run, if you have been doing your hill training.

Scenery/location: Excellent
Spectators: Few
Course: Challenging/hilly
Aid stations: Adequate
Bathrooms: Few, but extremely clean!
Shirt & medal: OK
Post race food: OK

Link to the San Juan Island Marathon web site
Link to race results

New, Nike has added a new feature to the Nike+ web site that allows us to share our run data. Here is the graph of my San Juan Island Half Marathon. I should mention that my Nike+ sensor was 100% accurate with the mile markers until mile 8, where it thought I only had 3 miles left. It told me the race was over before I got to mile marker 13. When I finished, it said 13.8. I heard that Garmin owners were reporting similar results, but my gait may have changed as the race progressed.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 4th, 2007 at 8:54 pm and is filed under Race Reports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.