| Course: | Westlake along Burke Gilman Trail to the Ballard Locks, across the locks, up to Discovery Park, down tot eh bottom of Discovery Park, out to the lighthouse, up the trail to the bluff, Magnolia loop, Magnolia Bridge, Myrtle Edwards Park. up Broad, back along Westlake to the car |
| Results: | |
| Comments: | This route kicks ass! It sure kicked mine today - holy crap.
Seriously, it's amazingly diverse and hilly and interesting and scenic and if I was a little fitter it would have been fantastic.
I started out with David, Martin, Ryan and Nick. I know Martin is faster, David is obviously faster and Ryan ran super well today and finished ahead of me. Amazing for 6' 3" and 212 lb! What is strange is when the hill is really steep (read: stairs, etc.), I get to the top first but when it's gradual David and Martin blow my doors in. WTF?!
We started out at a leisurely 7:30 pace as near as I could determine. We stopped at the Fremont Bridge for Martin to take a leak and then went down the stairs on the north side to get on the Burk Gilman Trail. The pace was fine all the way to the Ballard Locks.
As we climbed up from the south side of the locks Nick fell behind just a bit so we slowed down once we got to the north Discovery Park parking lot. As we entered the park we all stopped again for another nature break. The it was UP the road through the park.
Je-sus. That was the first time I was under pressure. David and Martin (mostly Martin) loves hills and he went to the front and I barely hung on. At the top Nick was off the back again but we decided to carry on at a trot and not get out of sight so he would not miss any turns.
Then it was DOWN the stairs and trail to the beach and along the adventX timed beach run (in the opposite direction) to the lighthouse. Along this trail I was already feeling a little iffy as Martin and David stretched it out and then we hit the climb that goes UP to the bluff.
For some reason, even though I was pretty tired already and at the back on the flats I was first up to the top. And first by maybe 30 seconds. The came Martin, David, Ryan and we all waited for Nick who was another few minutes back. Then it out via the loop trail, past the bathrooms where I grabbed a drink of water and on to the Magnolia loop.
We started going downhill and right away David is flying. I tried to stretch my stride as much as I could to keep up and managed to - barely. On the flats it was the David and Martin show and I'm positive that our pace around 7:00 at this point. I usually run around 7:30 alone and this was faster for sure.
As we went up the gradual climb to the top of the Magnolia Bridge Martin and David distanced me and so I put in a big effort to reel them in on the descent. And I did it! Then they promptly left me behind again. I was gassed.
At this point I realized that I had no choice but to slow down or I would be hiking back to the car. Ryan waited for me a little and we crossed the train tracks together. Here again, even though I was blown I made it up the stairs ahead of him. And at the top I immediately had to walk. Ouch. That was the last I saw of those guys. Ryan managed to catch David and Martin - very nice.
As soon as I got on the trail that runs through Myrtle Edwards Park I had to walk again. Half a mile later I was walking again. A boyfriend/girlfriend couple passed me while I was walking and so I starting running one more time but it did not last long and soon they were disappearing off in the distance. Crap.
That's what the last few miles were for me. Run, walk, run, walk, repeat. I was not winded, I was bonked big time. My knees felt fine and so did my other joints but I guess one bowl of cereal (even a big one) three hours prior to a long run is not enough to carry me. Throw in the fast bits and the hills and I was done. Somehow I managed to run all the way back along Westlake from when I got on the trail to the car.
At the finish all I wanted to do was eat. So I went home and di just that. Satisfaction. |
| Equipment: | |
| Clothing: | cycling socks, shorts, long sleeve Capeline undershirt, short sleeve running shirt
I had on too many clothes, a thin long sleeve shirt would have been ideal. |