Seafair Marathon

[woody pang]

As I wrote in an earlier post (6/10/2008 02:43) the Seafair Marathon, which has always been conducted on the East side (of Lake Washington), will start this time around in Seattle, at beautiful Husky Stadium, and finish at Bellevue Square. Kinda unique, as you get to run across the 520 floating bridge. They say, "New Course! Be one of the first to cross the 520 Floating Bridge on foot!" and "This scenic Pacific Northwest course will be a point-to-point route taking participants ... over the 520 Evergreen Point Floating Bridge for a once in a lifetime chance to cross on foot."

I took a peek today at the course map. Looks like it is ALL UPHILL. For the half marathon, just the last mile is downhill. For the full marathon, there is a 4-mile stretch that is downhill, plus the final mile to the finish line.

[woody pang]

I'm back from my final tuneup. Did 3.3 miles at a 9 minute pace. The temperate climbed from 62º to 64º during that time.

On Sunday, the temperature will be 60º at gun time, but will reach 90º by the time the last straggler crosses the finish line. That's the weather forecast.

For the event::

Shuttle Buses
The start line for the Seafair Marathon is located by the University of Washington Husky Stadium. Transportation from Bellevue Downtown Park will be provided to Husky Stadium, beginning at 05:00 until the start of the race (estimated 15-minute ride). There is NO transportation following the event.

Parking
Parking will be available at Bellevue Square and in the North Parking lot at Husky Stadium.

Gear Check
Clothing check will be available at the start line and then transported to the finish by Hansen Bros. Moving and Storage.

Pace Groups
Pacers will be wearing Brooks Podium shirts with “PACER” on the back. They will be at the start line holding pace signs (Marathon: 3hr:30min, 3:45, 4:00 and 4:45) (Half Marathon: 1hr:45min, 2:00, 2:20 and 2:45).

Aid Stations
Aid stations located at miles 2.3, 4.1, 7, 10, 12, 13.3, 15, 16, 17, 19, 29, 21.5, 23.5 and 25 will be stocked with TalkingRain water and Gleukos sport drink. As you approach each aid station, Gleukos will be offered first and TalkingRain second. Energy gels will be offered at miles 7 & 20.

Elevation Map: Link

Half Marathon
first mile to 520: slight downgrade (1 mile)
1.0 to 1.4 downgrade to 520 bridge (0.4 mile)
1.4 to 3.0 flat on 520 bridge (1.6 miles)
3.0 to 3.4 upramp from 520 bridge (0.4 mile)
3.4 to 5.1 mostly flat past Overlake Golf (1.7 miles)
5.1 to 5.5 downgrade to Medina Park (0.4 miles)
5.5 to 6.0 uphill to Lake Washington Blvd (0.5 miles)
6.0 to 6.3 down a little hill (0.3 miles)
6.3 to 6.6 back up again (0.3 miles)
6.6 to 7.1 flat around Meydenbauer Bay (0.5 miles)
7.1 to 7.6 steep upgrade to Chism Park (0.5 miles)
7.6 to 8.1 downgrade to Killarney Way (0.5 miles)
8.1 to 9.3 moderate uphill climb to 108th Ave SE (1.2 miles)
9.3 to 10.0 steep downhill onto Bellevue Way (0.7 miles)
10.0 to 10.6 flat for awhile (0.6 miles)
10.6 to 10.9 uphill battle past Bellevue Square (0.3 miles)
10.9 to 11.5 flat past 8th Street (0.6 miles)
11.5 to 12.0 last big hill to 100th Avenue (0.5 miles)
12.0 to 13.1 downhill coast to finish line (1.1 miles)
TOTAL 5 miles flat, 3.7 miles uphill (1.4 miles steep), 4.4 miles downhill (2.7 miles steep)

Full Marathon
first 10.9 miles same as Half past Bellevue Square (10.9 miles)
10.9 to 11.2 flat past 8th street (0.3 miles)
11.2 to 12.6 break away from Half and prepare for upclimb climb (1.4 miles)
12.6 to 15.6 all uphill to Pikes Peak and Bridle Trails Park (3 miles)
15.6 to 17.3 downhill towards Kirkland (1.7 miles)
17.3 to 20.1 mostly downhill (some steep) to Marina Park (2.8 miles)
20.1 to 22.7 steady upgrade heading back to Bellevue (2.6 miles)
22.7 to 24.8 a little steeper (2.1 miles)
24.8 to 25.1 join back up with Half (0.3 miles)
25.1 to 26.2 downhill coast to finish line (1.1 miles)
TOTAL 4.7 miles flat, 12.6 miles uphill (4.3 miles steep), 8.9 miles downhill (5.8 miles steep)

Have fun!!!

[woody pang]

What a warm day for a Marathon Expo. Wow! And it was held outdoors. Good timing!

It was a bit confusing however, as the location for the Expo has changed frequently. Last year, it was held at the same place (Bellevue Hilton) but indoors in the hotel ballroom. The year before, it was at the Hyatt. Unlike the Seattle Marathon Expo, which is ALWAYS held at the Seattle Westin, the Seafair Marathon does not yet have a permanent home for its Expo.

But it was well organized. And they are using the new fangled timing chips, the J-chip, which had its debut at the Evansville Half Marathon (Indiana) on October 7 of 2007.

The J-chip tag can be measured up to a height of 2 meters above the ground. The mat contains a triggering antenna and a receiver antenna. They suggest wearing the tag on your wrist, or attaching it to your running bib. Runners used to wearing a chip on their shoe or around their ankle may continue to do so, but with a range of 2 meters, you can just carry it in your hands. If you're a tall person, just make sure that you don't raise your arms skyward as a victory gesture while you cross the finish line. The system may still be able to capture the signal if the antenna is set at a high range, but you would want to verify what the range is before the race.

Over the past few years, there has been privacy concerns about using RFID tags, how it would be easy to capture data about an individual even if the antenna is not nearby. These J-chip tags offer a prime illustration of how your presence can be detected very easily, just by approaching one of the measurement devices.

While at the Expo, I walked up to about 3 feet away from the mat, and all of a sudden my name popped up on the system monitor. The machine knew I was there, even though I had not directly walked over the mat (I was three feet away).


I want to make a correction to the elevation distance that I posted yesterday. After driving a portion of the course today, I noticed that I had neglected to count a portion of the approach to the 520 bridge that had a little bump to it.

In the early 1.6 mile portion that I had showing as miles 1.4 to 3.0 flat on 520 bridge, that should be broken down into three pieces:
0.3 miles uphill (miles 1.4 to 1.7)
0.2 miles downhill (miles 1.7 to 1.9)
1.1 miles flat (miles 1.9 to 3.0)

This changes the TOTAL for the HALF MARATHON to: 4.5 miles flat, 4.0 miles uphill, 4.6 miles downhill
FULL MARATHON: 4.2 miles flat, 12.9 miles uphill, 9.1 miles downhill

[woody pang]

It's over. My very first Seafair Marathon/Half-Marathon event. And I was terrible, probably my PW (personal worst). I just can't take all those hills.

You finish a hill, then slack off a bit, and there comes another one! And they saved the steepest hill for last! Fortunately, it was a relatively short one.

But it was fun. Nice summery weather. 71º at the start, working up to 80º. Many homeowners opened up their sprinklers to help water us down as we passed. Some directed their hoses right on us. It was probably fun for them, and we enjoyed getting soaked. They accepted a lot of "thank you" 's from us.

Following the last hill, had I any energy left, I could have cut a couple minutes off my time while coasting downhill. But my body wouldn't cooperate.

Do I ever want to do this event again? Right now, I'm leaning towards the negative. But perhaps I will feel better after building up a little more endurance.

See you at Firecracker!

[Cynthia]

In a post-race talk today, a friend and I wondered if they could give people a choice - run the first 13 or second. I guess they do this at the San Francisco marathon. However, this means the second-halfers wouldn't get to run over the bridge.

I agree with Woody, the course was hilly and I probably won't do this one again. The elevation chart seemed a little off as well. I thought the hills at 7 were steeper than at 3. I guess it's time to do some more hill training to prepare for the Seattle half ... Madison and Interaken will be a piece of cake compared to the Seafhair hills.

Yes, see you at Firecracker!

[woody pang]

There were 400 people still waiting as the last shuttle bus prepared to leave Bellevue Square at 06:45 Sunday morning. That was slightly more than will fit on even a very large bus. Now we know why the start of the race was delayed from 07:00 until 07:15. That's why!

And that's also why we saw yellow (half-marathon) bibs on participants that were running in the full marathon route. We were wondering how come they weren't wearing green (full-marathon) bibs. Now we know! Many of those runners who couldn't fit on the relatively tiny bus were directed to the full-marathon halfway point (a walk of about ¾ mile, and they ran a half-marathon from that point.

From the first, when I heard that they were planning on it taking 15 minutes to get from Bellevue Square to Husky Stadium, I thought they were being optimistic. I wish now that I had voiced my concerns about the time being allowed and the number of vehicles that would be needed. But alas, too late.

For those participants who missed the ride to Husky Stadium, the Seafair organization will provide a free entry to next year's Seafair Marathon or to this year's Torchlight Run on July 26. That's a nice show of appreciation.

Additionally, the organization will donate half of their registration fees to the Virginia Mason charity. Now, that's nice too. But it makes me wonder how much of the entry fee goes to Virginia Mason. Any? Remember last year's Seattle Marathon? After the event, we learned that 0% of the entry fee goes to the sponsor; that was a shocker. Zero. Zilch.

I know it's expensive to put on a running event. All the road closures, all the organization, all the buses. But for 0% to go to the advertised charity, that was much much less than I would have ever imagined. At least, for the Seafair Marathon, they specifically state, "A portion of each registration benefits the Floyd and Delores Jones Cancer Institute at Virginia Mason Medical Center. Participants may also make a pledge..." My only question now is how large the portion is. Hopefully, it's bigger than 0%.

[woody pang]

Road races are differentiated from track races by the opportunity to traverse streets and run up and down hills. Maybe we should be glad to have the opportunity to challenge ourselves with rolling hills as we experienced in the Seafair Marathon. Consider the following comments by "RobTheRunner" regarding the Sound to Narrows road race on June 14:

"It was the first time that I have run the race and according to those in the Y-runclub you do not become an official runner until you have run this race. In order to understand the difficulty of this race you really need to run the course, but you can get a decent idea by looking at the elevation profile provided in [this pdf]. It is referred to as one of the most difficult 12k's in the country...

"...the race begins with a big down hill. Then it goes up, then it goes down, then it goes way up, then it flattens out a bit, or seems to, but it really is a gradual climb, which keeps you holding back. Then it goes down followed by another gradual climb. After the climb is a gradual downhill where you can make up some of the seconds you lose on the uphill. After that, you make the turn and quickly go up followed by a monster downhill and a decent climb to a short reprieve before you face the impending doom that lies ahead.

"It must be one of the longest mile finishing stretches in all the races out there. They simply refer to it as "The Hill." From a distance, and even up close, it's not all that frightening. If you were to face it on any other day, or under different circumstances you would not understand the hype. It's just like any other hill, you might think to yourself. However, after 6.5 miles on that course you WILL understand."

If you care to read Rob's entire Race Report, here is a link to his blog.

[woody pang]

The timing of the Seafair Marathon this year had a negative effect on another popular road race: the Shore Run. Even though the events cater to different types of runners (Marathon v. 5K/10K), there is an overlap of participants who run all distances.

Last year (2007), Shore Run was held the last week of June, same as always. The 2007 event took place on June 24.

Last year (2007), Seafair Marathon was held in July, after Independence Day, as always. The 2007 event took place on July 9th. This year (2008), they changed both the route and the time.

So, if blame is to be placed on anybody that these two popular runs were scheduled at the same time, it's the Seafair organization. I'm sure they couldn't help it. It was probably the only date that they could work out. It is not an easy job organizing and conducting a large road race.

If there was some kind of pecking order in event scheduling, which road race would have been given priority?

For one thing, it was the 31st running of Shore Run. They have been around for a long time, celebrating their 30th anniversary last year with a specially designed tee-shirt, the same design they used for the first run 30 years before.

The Seafair Marathon. That is a relatively new event. They have had it for only a few years. In fact, as commented earlier, they don't even have a permanent place for their Expo. But, on the other hand, the Seafair organization itself has existed for more than half a century, created in 1950. So they have been around a long long time, longer than 80% of the runners who participated in the running events. 86% of the Seafair Marathon finishers and 81% of the Shore Run finishers were not born when Seafair originated.

So that's the way it is. Conflicts happen. It's too bad, especially with the shuttle bus fiasco at the Seafair event. Things happen.

Last year (2007), Shore Run had 1,209 participants finishing the races. This year (2008), preliminary results show only 1,019, a reduction of 16%.

I am writing more comments about the decline of the Shore Run, posting it as a blog.

[woody pang]

Hey! Looks like the Seafair Marathon is joining the Rock'n'Roll Marathon Series. Scheduled for 2009 on June 27.

Rock'n'Roll will be an appropriate name for the event which I was complaining had a lot of steep ROLLing hills.

June 27 is a Saturday. More information later on this.