Going for Distance

Shortly after moving to Seattle in 1994 I started doing half marathons.  I completed my first, the Toe Jam Hill Half Marathon on Bainbridge Island WA in April of 1995, finishing in 1:42:39.  I did three that first year, and ten more in the two years following.  My fastest time was 1:39:43 at the Super Jock and Jill Half Marathon in Woodinville WA, on Labor Day, 1996.

By 1997, I'd gotten the itch to do a marathon.  I trained hard for the Vancouver International Marathon, but became ill just as I started my taper.  I opted for the half marathon instead.  Perhaps a good idea from a physical standpoint, but definitely a mental downer.  I found myself running more slowly, probably due to overtraining.  I'm still not sure what happened, but for over a year I wasn't able to approach my normal ~8 min/mile pace over a half marathon course.  Perhaps I was racing too much and not resting enough.  In any case, our daughter Kayla was born in June of 1997, so I scaled back for a little while to focus on home life.

Marathoning

I became involved in the Leukemia Society's Team in Training program in early 1998, training for the Mayor's Midnight Sun Marathon, held in Anchorage in June.  This is a wonderful program that allows people like me to do what they enjoy doing, while raising money to help others.  

With the constant support of my family and friends, I raised about $6000 for the program and completed the marathon in 4:16:58.  It was a transforming experience.  While training for this event, I began to feel what has become a chronic foot injury.  I sat out about two months of training for the Anchorage marathon, keeping in shape by doing pool running and stationary bike workouts.  They're very effective ways to cross train, but I don't find them nearly as fulfilling as running.  Completing this marathon, however slowly is one of the things I am most proud of.

The following year my wife Kris joined me for the 1999 San Diego Rock 'n Roll Marathon.  We trained as a family.  Kris, and I running, and Kayla in the jogging stroller.  Spending all of this time together training was a great experience.  Sometimes we would talk while running.  Other times we wouldn't.  Usually, Kayla would sleep.  During a 16 mile training run however, she was wide awake and enjoyed singing and pretending she was the engineer of a train chugging across the country.  The weather over our five month training period was uniformly lousy - rainy and 45.  If we were lucky, there was only a slight wind.  Some mornings it was really tough to get out on the road, but having a team to commiserate with really helped.  Despite beautiful (slightly warm) weather on race day, I wasn't feeling my best.  Kris pulled me through the toughest miles (10-20).  I am certain I cost her at least five minutes off her finish time.  We crossed the line together at around 4:12, arms locked.

This was the scene every Saturday morning for five months.  The three of us were up bright and early to go train.  We alternated weekends on the Sammamish River Trail in Redmond with the Burke Gilman Trail in Seattle.  It was usually very cold, wet, and windy.  Kayla was a great training partner for us, and we really enjoyed involving her in our big adventure.	Kayla catches some shuteye at the finish line in San Diego.  We noticed this same picture on a Team in Training promotional bulletin board at the 2000 Seattle Marathon Expo.  We really got a kick out of seeing her picture there.
The "happy" couple just after finishing.  Kris is actually holding me up.  I took a nap right after this picture was taken.	My parents and brother joined us in San Diego.  They really helped us out by spending time with Kayla while we rested, raced, and then rested again.

Hood to Coast 

In August of 1999, Kris and I ran in the Hood to Coast Relay as part of a twelve person team.  Each team member runs three legs (adding to an average of 15 miles) over the 196 mile distance.  I was pretty amazed at the logistics that our team captain Malia needed to consider.  She did a great job.  It was a blast, even with a few snafus.

The first mistake was mine.  Kris ran the fourth leg, two ahead of me.  She began her first leg in the very hot sun outside of Sandy Oregon.  That was a fairly miserable seven mile stretch - lots of cars, rolling hills, and ninety degree heat.  We dropped her off, and actually believed her when she claimed she wouldn't need a water stop midway (she was carrying a liter with her).  Well - I'd run with her plenty of times and knew she could do the distance.  However - we'd never run in that kind of heat.  When we picked her up nearly an hour later, she was very dehydrated.  I really thought we were going to have to take her to the hospital.  She insisted she was fine - and she was, after drinking down lots of water and Gatorade.  After that, we decided to do impose a water stop whether or not the runner thought they'd need one.

My first leg was also hot, but uneventful enough (7 miles).  We took a break for dinner while the second van of six runners did their legs, and met them in downtown Portland after dark.  Our second set of legs were spent carrying a flashlight and wearing a reflective vest.  Mine was a bit interesting, as no support vans were allowed.  Apparently the roads were too narrow.  It was a beautiful night : I ran the 4.4 miles at 1:30 am under a full moon past farm houses.  There were few enough cars so that I could shut the flashlight off, and rely on night vision.  It was quiet except for the sound of feet, breathing, and crickets.  We slept for about two hours in a wet field near Mist.

The last leg was a brisk, mostly downhill 5 miles.  The second snafu of our weekend came when the other van waited for us at the wrong transition area.  They were one leg beyond us.  I waited outside, dripping wet for over an hour before they came back to meet us.  We were isolated enough to render our cell phones useless, so we had to send someone ahead to try and find them.  Once I'd passed the wristband, we adjourned to a makeshift shower (actually a garden hose) and got some food.  Once our last runner came into Seaside, we spent a bit of time enjoying the sun and sand before packing up and heading back to Portland, then Seattle.

All in all, this was one of those adventures which is not entirely fun, very challenging (physically and logistically), and very fulfilling.