Marathoning

So I'm going to run the Seattle Marathon this year. Unless by some miracle I get an entry to Honolulu, which is looking pretty unlikely. I agreed to train someone at work for the Seattle half, so I'm not sure how the training schedule will all work out.

Seattle is a pretty tough course. Actually the half is pretty tough too -- it's the same course as the full but without the thirteen flat miles in the middle. It's one of those courses where if you're going to run the half you might as well do the whole thing. The courses for both races go within a couple hundred yards of our apartment, but despite the fact that I've now been in Seattle just over two years and I've done tons of local races, I've never run either race. I'm looking forward to it.

I love the pre-race mood. Last year when I ran Portland Ben and I got to the start line really early (where we were by some miracle found by Chris without cell phone coordination) and we met this guy in his mid-70s who was running his first marathon. He had been so nervous he'd just showed up at four in the morning. I saw him cross the finish line not long after I did (hey, for my age I wasn't so fast... and for his age he was like lightning!). It was awesome.

So this year I'm planning to tackle the hills in my adopted home town. Unless I manage to get into Honolulu, in which case Seattle will have to wait another year. Well, where would you rather be in December?