Running My First Half Marathon: Lake Sammamish Half 2013

The following article is a guest post from Steve McDonald.  Steve just completed his first ever half marathon and provides an in-depth look at the thoughts, feelings, schedule, insomnia, frustrations, triumph and much more when going through a half-marathon for the very first time.  Here’s Steve…

On December 2, 2011 my friend Stephen and I went to a Seattle Seahawks vs. Phillidephia Eagles game and he asked the question, “have you ever thought about running?” I was immediately drawn to my track and field days with the 800 meter and 200 yard dash that I was in along with the 4×100 relay races.

Well of course I know how to run but how long has it been? Well that would be like 25 years ago! I thought to myself, “I can’t run anymore…you’re crazy; I’m too old to run!” I figured my days of glory were behind me. I was busy raising a family, with kids, and with work.

Then I thought about my time. How much time did I spend on the couch watching TV? How much time playing computer games? How much time of doing nothing? I’m afraid it was a lot of nothing sometimes.

3/8/13 – Now fast forward since that day of talking to my friend (who in my mind is an elite marathoner…and who is in reality running the Boston marathon in April of this year). I have since run 2 5k’s, 2 10k’s, a Ragnar race of 200 miles which is a whole other story. (You run 24 hours and push your limits of a human). I volunteered to see and watch the Leavenworth half marathon and marathon race (which I will be racing in later this year). I am now on the brink of doing something I have never done before and that is running 13.1 miles!

3 Goals for My First Half Marathon

Today (3/8) is my birthday and I could not think of a better way to spend a weekend birthday than doing this. I had 3 goals to accomplish in my first half marathon:

1. To finish
2. Get under 2 hours and
3. Live to tell about it. I’m writing this now, so it means that I must have lived 🙂

The Night Before My First Half Marathon

I would like to start with the night before the race. So many thoughts were going through my mind. I had run 5K’s, 10K’s, and a Ragnar Relay before, but this was a completely different race for me.

The weather was scheduled to be picture perfect, mostly sunny, patching morning fog, and a high of 53 degrees. This was ideal running conditions.

I had a really nice dinner with my wife at Jay Berry’s in North Bend.  I had a simple spaghetti dinner, salad, and a nice cold water on the rocks. I didn’t want to overstuff myself; I just wanted enough in the tank. I had been doing carbo bombing for the last 3 days that consisted of fig newtons, raisins, bread, chia gel, pasta, salads, and fage yogurts and berries.

Having a date night with my wife helped to calm me down and relax and focus on the most important thing in life for me, family.

Later that night

INSOMNIA!!! Ugh… it was rough!

I had everything laid out for the race: my Brooks Ghost 5 shoes, my Nike running shorts, shirt, socks, and running go pack.

Throughout the night, I kept visualizing my running. I visualized the start and how it would look. I visualized myself running parallel to the lake and having runners around me.

The first look at the clock was 10:00pm. I took a bathroom break.

The next look was 10:45pm. Another bathroom break from all the water…or was it nerves? Oh man this is going to be tough!

I kept thinking, “Concentrate Steve; take some breaths and relax the heart rate.”  My heart was racing and the body was ready to run right then and there! I wanted to literally spring out of bed and just go for a run. (In hind site I probably should have).

The next look at the clock was 11:40pm; yet another bathroom break. I might as well hook up a hose to myself so I don’t have to get up. I thought, “This is not looking good, I’m going to be exhausted before I even get to the starting line, this sucks!”

I was tossing and turning in bed and I didn’t want to look at the clock again. “Ok, one last look.” 11:43pm! The look was followed by a final bathroom break.

That was the last time I remember looking a the clock and using the bathroom. I just told myself to take some deep breaths, and focus on just breathing and not the race. This actually seemed to help me a great deal and I was finally able to get to sleep almost 2 hours later!

The Morning of the Race

I was running this race with a friend close to home, Kelly Jensen. He is an avid runner but he was running his first half as well. He’s a gemologist and so he has a very structured life. So I knew that he would be arriving right on time at 6:45am.

I woke up and took a quick glance at my cell phone and there was a text from Steve my good friend that said, “go get em today! Just run your race and save it for the end. Tell Kelly good luck from me as well.” That sent a jolt through my body like taking an energy gel. Reading that from Steve was an immediate confidence booster for me.

At 5:45am, I got up and took a hot shower. I put on all my racing gear and looked at myself in the mirror and there was a message written on my mirror from my wife that said in green ink, “Happy Bday, do good!” It was a nice surprise and with semi blood shot eyes, I told myself this was going to be a landmark day…and a day to remember for the rest of my life.

My breakfast consisted of half a bagel with peanut butter and raw honey. Its not the typical store bought kind but the real deal. I followed this up with a full glass of water and 16 oz. of Gatorade. I wanted to make sure I got this all down prior to 6:30, which would put me at 2 hours before start.

Preparations for the Race

I wanted to make sure I had a towel, first aid kit, camera, extra shoes, and socks. I also brought Vaseline to rub on my feet before putting my socks on to avoid blisters. I also had waterproof Johnson and Johnson tape for the nip covering. Stephen told me about Bandaids but found the tape to be a little cheaper for the long term.

6:45am – Kelly pulls into my driveway right on the dot. I’m all fueled up and ready to do some carb exploding. I get my back pack on and my running belt and am ready to rumble.
6:45-7:30am – Travel time. It was a beautiful sunny morning in North Bend. The sky was clear blue and you couldn’t have a better day on March 9th. As we drove west on I-90 we talked about the race and what we had done to prepare. We were both excited.

As we got into Issaquah, my thoughts turned to the Ragnar Relay. My 2nd leg was in the fog and as we turned up East Lake Sammamish and headed north the fog seemed to get thicker and thicker. As we drove we were going parallel to the course and I could notice that the last 4-5 miles were going to be ground and pound pavement pounding.

The training I had done up to this point was on nice soccer field turf and the Iron Horse Trail here in north bend along with the Snoqualmie Valley Trail.

So, I knew my legs were going to take a pounding at this mark and I needed to adjust accordingly there. I think going parallel to the course was a little relieving, but also heightened my anxiety of the race even more.

We pulled into the east entrance to Marymoor park which was the best way to come as all traffic was coming from the west entrance. The fog was fairly heavy and I glanced at Kelly’s digital thermometer in his truck which read 30 degrees. Yikes! It was cold and the fog made it feel colder.

As we pulled in it was exactly 7:30. There was a lot of traffic coming in. It made me think of going to the Gorge for a rock concert as they were parking cars on gravel and grass. This was an incredible turnout of people. I had thought this was going to be 1000 runners but the final tally was around 1700!!

7:30 – 8:15 – We pull in and they charged a buck to park. We parked, and we noticed people going to get their packets and coming back to their cars to warmup.

Check in was very easy, as they were very organized. One thing I have come to think of is that I’m not an XL shirt size anymore. I’m more of a large now, and wanted to exchange my shirt; but they said to come back at 8:15. But I wasn’t going to do that.

Before Kelly and I headed back to his truck we headed to a honey bucket which was going to be 1 of 3 stops before the race. We got back to the truck and I noticed the running chip was unlike any I had seen before.

It was a square little chip which had zip ties to go on your laced of your shoe. It was kind of a hassle for me and I could feel the anxiety building just trying to put on a crazy chip.

I was thinking more about the race than putting on some crazy looping chip! I like how they have running bibs that have them hooked on there like Run Snoqulamie does; but this kind of chip process was frustrating.

It was a little after 8 by the time we got our racing stuff on. I talked with my dad at about 8:05 and he was stuck in traffic getting in. This caused some anxiety because I was going to give him my backpack to take down to the finish. He arrived at about 8:15 along with my step mom and their dog, Spirit.

It was good to see them and made me feel more at ease and relaxed visiting with them.

At 8:20 they announced that the run wasn’t going to start until 8:45! I was already dressed down to my shorts, and short sleeve neon green running shirt ready to go and we had to wait another 15 minutes.

I didn’t want to put my sweats back on because I felt it would disrupt my routine and throw me out of whack. So, I just polar beared it for the additional 15 minutes. After about 10 minutes of walking around, I could fee my body getting used to it. It was 5 minutes before race time.

8:45 – RACE START

I noticed as we started toward the big black horse shoe shaped finish sign that there were a thousand people being funneled into a 8 foot wide trail. Kelly said it best, “this is like cows going through a barn.”

About 30 seconds after the loud speaker said, “GO” we came to the start and I started my Endomondo app and watch. My play list started off with survivor’s, “Eye of the Tiger.” We were running!

1 mile: I felt really good. I was at around a 9:00-9:15 mile pace. The trail was asphault with a couple bridges in between. The fog was thick and there were a lot of people running around me. I felt that I could run faster, but felt held up a little in the beginning but perhaps this helped me to just take it easy and get used to things.

2 mile: Much like the first, but the trail became more gravel which felt great and reminded me of the trail runs I have been on. I felt even more relaxed. This mile was slower than the first because of traffic of runners but again it was good becuase it kept me from going too fast.

3 mile: My Endomondo app came on and told me in the mids of my playlist that I had run an 8:26 mile. Wow, it didn’t feel I was going that fast! I felt I had a good rythm going and thought I could hang onto this pace for a while. So I just hung into this zone.

Got water at the 3.5 mile mark.

4 mile: Felt very similar to the last mile. I found some people that were around my pace and we just passed each other back and forth. Its kinda fun when running around others at your pace. It keeps you motivated and keeps you going.

My pace was around 8:23. I still felt I could sustain this pace and I felt that I could have a conversation with someone.

5 mile: Half way mark to 10 and I was feeling good. I still had the same pacing partners running around me. They would go ahead of me and I would go ahead of them…or sometimes we would just run together. It was cool.

Around the 5.25 mark I reached into my pouch and pulled out a my running gel which I made from raw honey and a packet of table salt from McDonalds. I had mixed this together and put it in a sandwich baggy and zip tied it.

I put it in my mouth like I had done on my training runs and washed it down at the water station at the 5.5 mile mark. I had noticed that there were some runners going to the honey buckets. I needed to slightly go to the bathroom, but didn’t want to stop. I felt that I could keep going, but the thought came a few times to me. My pace was 8:11.

I think the shot of honey made this a fast mile.

6 mile: Ok, cool, just hit the 10K mark!  I have ran 2 10k’s so I totaly got this. The gel that I swallowed down felt good.

Some of the gel was still in my mouth a little bit so I used that. I had to avoid a couple people from blowing off snot rockets and getting caught into the spray. I noticed a couple of women on the side of the course stretching out. It looked like they may have cramped up or were stretching out their calves. The looks on their faces were not good.

At 6.5 mile which was half way there was a man and a wife ringing bells saying that we were half way there. This put a smile on my face. This was a 8:18 mile pace.

7 mile: Riding along at a smooth pace, I could notice slightly my hip flexors telling me they were starting to feel it a little. I adjusted my stride just a little and that seemed to help.

Things were going well up until we came to the aid station. I wanted to stick with water the whole way and got confused and took a Gatorade cup instead of water. Oh no, my mouth is going to dry out i thought to myself. But I just took in a little of it. 8:22 mile pace.

8 mile: Two things I remember most about this part of the run: 1.The trail turned from gravel to asphault and there was a steep very short hill to get up. 2. I also remember seeing the sun penetrating through the thick fog.

Towards the end of mile 8 the fog had lifted and the sun was out and it was clear and beautiful. Pace was 8:11.

9 mile: This mile seemed to go fairly fast. I made some adjustments being on the asphault.

I lowered my pelvis a little and took quicker strides to where my feet weren’t touching the pavement as much. This seemed to help, but I couldn’t quite hold onto it all the time.

I remember passing by my Dad on East lake Sammamish and my step mom yelling, “Go Stevie, Go!! your doing great!”

The expression I saw on my dad’s face was priceless. It was a state of shock; I don’t think he anticipated seeing me at this part of the race.

I also had a feeling that the finish was fairly close and he wasn’t going to see me finish. 8:05 pace.

Seeing my Dad and Step Mom, picked up my pace.

Mile 10: I remember the words of my friend Steve who has run several of these like they are walks in the park and many marathons before. He would say, “Just remember, 10 mile warmup and a 5K to finish”.

When I hit the orange marker that said 10 miles, I kept playing these words over and over in my head. I also knew that I had a water stop about half way through this mile.

I began to pick up my pace a little. I could feel some discomfort in my left big toe. My back was feeling a little strained also but I slightly leaned over my legs a little to take a little stress off of it. I hit the water station and made sure I got water this time.

I also took down another honey shot. pace was 8:20.

Mile 11: This is where the course got weird in my opinion. We entered the park and there I could see switch backs for the next close to two miles.

It made me think of waiting in a huge line at Disneyland waiting to get to the ride. In my mind I knew I had to get through this to get to the finish.

This was a psychological challenge for me as I could see people nearing the end but here I was a mile or two behind. 8:08 mile pace

Mile 12: Much like the last mile but the switch backs were hindering me a little, and I could feel the fatigue settling in. I had only run 11 miles last week and now I’m stretching myself another 2 miles to get this thing done.

I could feel without looking at my endomondo that my pace was slipping a little. My back muscles were a little weak and I could feel my calves singing praises for a finish sometime soon. My right Zensa calf compression sleeve was down around my ankles. My left one was wearing fine, but why was the right one sagging? I guess this was part of my wardrobe malfunction.

Who cares, I thought, “I’m almost there and I’m not going to pull it up.” Perhaps I burned through so many calories that I had lost weight that it dropped, who knows. 8:29 pace.

Mile 13: The last two of these miles were kind of a blurr to me. I knew I had to give it everything I had to get to the finish and finish strong.

I picked up whatever pace I had left which wasn’t much. My calfs were starting to feel it a little more. I could hear in the distance some cheering, and I knew the finish was close.

The last part of the race weaved into a little wooded forest and opened up to a 100 yard vision of the big blow up horseshoe shaped object, I think the words said FINISH!

I just remember seeing that with people on both sides and telling myself SPRINT!! Sprint!! I gave it everything I had. I could feel myself running on my toes and passing 4-5 people in the process, including this one gal that I kept going back and forth with through miles 5-end.

“Yo Adrianne I DID IT!!”

I had made it to the finish. I raised my hands high in the air and tried to just keep walking. A lady put a bald eagle medal around my neck and I was immediately greeted by my wife, my kids, Dad, step mom, sister, and her family. It was the best feeling I had had in my life in a long time. pace: 8:15.

Final Results:

1:49:13
8:20/Mile pace

Number of Finishers:
1,737
Number of Females:
1,039
Number of Males:
698
Average Time:
2:07:34

POST RACE:

The finish was like a mob scene, I think because I finished where everyone else was it was very crowded. The vendor booths were very close to the finish.

In fact as you finished you were basically going into a vendor tent. I immediately wolfed down a bagel and some muscle milk. My Dad was with me as I was cooling down by walking along the lake.

There was all kinds of stuff at the booths, they had information on other fun runs, there were pretzels, bananas, mandarin oranges, m&m’s, and even chocolate coconut water. I never would have even thought of such a thing.

When I first got done someone was pouring what looked like Gatorade to me and I tried some and immediately spit it out. It was some kind of Tea!! yuck!! So i had to find some water or something and that was when I found the coconut stuff.

I’m not sure where the water bottles were. This was a little frustrating, but oh well. Later on I was still looking for it but couldn’t ever find it.

Later that day: I went to Kidd Valley Hamburger Place in Kirkland along the waterfront with family and had a huge juicey double cheeseburger and french fries and rootbeer.

I exchanged some texts with my friend Steve and Kelly. I could feel it in my legs and feet. It was an awesome clear sunny day to spend with my family. The one cool thing I encountered coming home is my daughter Julene telling me, “I want to run the St. patricks day 5K, Dad.” At that moment I realized something. I hadn’t run this race just for me as I had originally thought, I was running it for me and my family.

Conclusion:
So, what made me choose the Lake Sammamish half for my first half?

One major deciding factor for this race was it was on my birthday, March 9, 2013. It was also in my back yard, very close to where I live. It was also an event that has a very strong turnout so running amongst others and the hype was very cool. This was like the half marathon rock concert!

Now that it is all over do I plan to run another one?
Yes, most definately. I knew the moment I saw the sun break through the fog at mile 8 and my body feeling the second wind that this was the first of many great half’s, and marathons to come.

Perhaps some Triathlons down the road too.  Over the last two weeks I have felt something that I have never felt before. I feel a renewed energy or second wind that is very difficult to describe.

But it’s real and it’s becoming addicting. uh oh…