Deb and I went to Washington state for a week, and while we were there, I ran the Tunnel Vision Marathon. We spent two days in Seattle, two days in Leavenworth, and two days in Issaquah.
Tuesday, August 6
We flew to Seattle
Tuesday morning. Because of the two-hour
time change, it was still mid-morning when we arrived. It was too cloudy for mountain views, and it
was too early to check into our hotel, so we spent the rest of the morning at
the Woodland Park Zoo.
The animals are in large
habitat areas, so some of them weren’t in view, but we got to see quite a few
others.
After a quick lunch stop,
we went to the hotel. We stayed at the
north end of the downtown area, near the Space Needle.
After checking in, Deb
went grocery shopping while I did a workout.
Then, we went to Chihuly Garden & Glass, which was just a short
distance from our hotel.
We had spent most of the day on our feet, so we took a break at the hotel before having an early dinner.
Wednesday, August 7
After breakfast, I went
for a morning run with my friend Stefanie, who lives in Seattle. We ran around Lake Union, with a short detour
to the Freemont Troll.
Deb and I spent the rest
of the morning at Pike Place Market, and we had lunch there.
In the afternoon,
Stefanie met us at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and gave us a tour
of the Discovery Center.
It was another day that
we spent too much time on our feet. We
went back to the hotel until we were ready to go out for dinner.
Thursday, August 8
On Thursday, we drove to
Leavenworth. We took the more scenic
route, along the Stevens Pass Greenway, stopping occasionally to take pictures
at the overlooks.
Leavenworth is styled as
a Bavarian village. The architecture is
German, and there are several German restaurants.
After stopping at the
Leavenworth Visitor Center and checking into our hotel, we went to Whistlepunk
Ice Cream Company for ice cream flights.
That ended up being our lunch.
We spent the afternoon
visiting various shops. Most of the
shops had German-themed souvenirs, but the only place we bought anything was a
shop with souvenirs from Russia. We bought
these two sets of miniature nesting dolls.
We had dinner at a
restaurant next door to our hotel.
Friday, August 9
I went for an early
morning run before breakfast. About half
of my run was on trails near the river. A
section of the trail was closed, because of a bear in the area. I found a way to detour around that area, but
I sometimes saw piles of bear scat on the trails that were still open. My route took me onto an island where I saw
two deer.
The shops and galleries
in Leavenworth don’t open until 10 AM., so after breakfast we went to a
glassworks gallery outside of town that was open earlier. We were amazed at the detail of some of the
pieces. One of the owners explained how
they make the larger and more intricate pieces, some of which take two weeks to
make. We bought this pumpkin, which was
one of the smaller pieces.
When we got back to
Leavenworth, we visited more shops, a few art galleries, and the Nutcracker
Museum. We also went to an art fair in
Front Street Park.
In the afternoon, we
drove to Cashmere to visit a large antique store. We were there for a couple hours.
We opted to have an early
dinner, so we could get back to the hotel before a thunderstorm moved through.
Saturday, August 10
There’s a farmers’ market
in Leavenworth every Saturday. We were
able to shop at the market before beginning the drive to Issaquah, where we
stayed for the next two nights.
We made three stops on
our way to Issaquah. Our first stop was
the parking area where the marathon starts.
I wanted to make sure I knew how to get there, and it was also an
opportunity for Deb to see the tunnel that I would run through during the race.
Our next stop was packet
pickup, which was held at Twin Falls Middle School in North Bend.
Issaquah also has a
farmers’ market on Saturdays. We put off
going to Snoqualmie Falls, so we could get to the farmers’ market with enough
time to shop.
After checking into our
hotel and unpacking a few things, we went to Snoqualmie Falls.
I still had enough time
before dinner to do a workout in the hotel’s fitness room.
Sunday, August 11
Sunday was race day. Tunnel Vision is the fourth different
marathon that I’ve run on the “tunnel” course.
This is the same course used for the Light at the End of the Tunnel Marathon,
which was the original “tunnel” race.
The course is point-to-point. It starts at Snoqualmie Pass and finishes in
North Bend. In the first mile, we enter
an old railroad tunnel that’s two and a half miles long. From there, we run downhill all the way to
the finish. This is a popular course,
because it’s fast.
When I’ve done other
“tunnel” races, we always parked in North Bend, and there were buses to take us
to the start. The procedure is different
now. We had to park at the start, and
there were buses to take us back to the start after finishing the race.
From our hotel in
Issaquah, it was a 40-minute drive to get to Snoqualmie Pass. The race started at 7:00, but I left the
hotel at 5:30 to give myself plenty of time to get to the start and get through
the bathroom line. I arrived at 6:10,
but already the parking lot at the trailhead was filling up.
Most of the race was on
the Iron Horse Trail, which follows an old railroad line. We were divided into three waves, which
started 10 minutes apart. There was also
an early start at 6:00 for people needing extra time.
We were seeded into waves
based on past race results that can be found on Ultrasignup. I was assigned to the first wave. After we lined up, we were told that the
slowest pace group in this wave was 3:15.
That made me wonder why I was assigned to this wave. Most of my recent results are much slower
than that, but the last time I ran a “tunnel” race, my time was 3:17. That’s probably the result that put me in
this wave, even though it was from four years ago.
My fastest time so far
this year was 3:39, but that was in May.
Since then, I’ve been running much slower. Partly, that’s because I’ve been racing so
frequently. Partly, that’s because
summer heat forces me to train and race at a slow pace.
The weather for this race
was ideal. It was low 50s at the start,
and it was still be in the 60s when I finished.
This is a fast course, so I felt like I should be aiming for something
in the 3:30s.
We ran about a quarter
mile on a dusty trail with rocks before entering the tunnel. I did my best to keep up with the runners
around me, so I could establish a fast pace before entering the tunnel.
With so many runners on a
dry trail, we raised a cloud of dust.
That ended as soon as we reached the tunnel.
The surface inside the
tunnel is hard-packed clay, but there are ruts and depressions, so you have to
pay close attention to your footing. Everyone
around me had lights, so I could see the tunnel just fine even without my own
light. I carried a flashlight at waist
level and aimed it at the ground in front of me, so I could watch my footing.
It’s damp inside the
tunnel, and I occasionally felt a drop falling from the ceiling. Puddles form inside the tunnel, so I made a
point to look for them. Whenever I saw one,
I yelled, “puddle,” for the benefit of the runners behind me.
Inside the tunnel you’re
out of contact with GPS satellites. The
only way your watch can estimate your distance is by extrapolating from your
last known position.
The first two mile markers
were inside the tunnel. I was coming up
on the first one when I felt my watch vibrating. I must have been maintaining a consistent
pace, because my watch tracked pretty close to the mile marker.
I ran the first mile in
8:10. I was hoping to average 8:15, so
that was just a little bit fast. That
pace would be reasonable when the course turned downhill, but the first two
miles were flat. This was an ambitious
pace, but I stuck with it.
During the second mile, I
started to notice fewer runners right around me. It seemed like I was one of the slowest
runners in my wave, and I was starting to fall behind. I knew there were at least a few runners
behind me, because I could see their shadows.
I now depended much more on my own light.
Before the end of the
that mile, I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. There were taller runners ahead of me, so I
didn’t always have a clear view. When my
view wasn’t obstructed, I could see the top of the tunnel opening. It was white, in contrast to the darkness
everywhere else.
As I reached the second
mile marker, my watch recorded another split.
It was still tracking close to the mile markers. I ran the second mile in 8:05.
As I approached the exit
from the tunnel, I turned off my flashlight and got ready to turn it in. That caused me to slow down slightly, and at
least one runner passed me.
Outside the tunnel, there
were bins where we could drop off our headlamps or flashlights. I slowed down, so I could carefully place my
light in one of the bins. Just beyond
that, there was an aid station. This was
my first chance to drink some water.
Right after the tunnel,
the trail turned downhill. It was a
gentle grade, but it would be steadily downhill for the next 18 miles. The trail surface was dirt, but with lots of small
rocks.
Running downhill, I
generally take short rapid steps. It’s
tough to do that while also picking up your feet enough to avoid the
rocks. I had to make a conscious effort
to pick up my feet more than usual. I
also tried to keep my eyes on the trail at all times.
I could see a group of
about 10 runners a short distance ahead of me, but they were too fast for me to
keep up with them. Two of them were
runners who passed me since exiting the tunnel.
I wasn’t sure if there was anyone else behind me.
At three miles, my watch
was still tracking close to the mile markers.
From here on out, I expected my watch to stay in contact with the GPS
satellites. My time for that mile was
8:13. That’s the pace I wanted to run
now that we were going downhill. The
first three miles were tiring, but now I could run the same pace without
working as hard.
I was just past the four
mile mark when I saw one of the runners ahead of me slowing down and
stopping. He wasn’t wearing gaiters, and
he was apparently trying to remove some grit from one of his shoes. He was the first runner that I passed.
Looking at him as I went
by distracted me. As soon as I took my
attention off the trail, I tripped on a rock.
It happened so fast that I wasn’t able to keep my feet under me. I hit the trail and collected a few scrapes.
I got up and resumed
running as quickly as I could. I didn’t
take the time to access the damage. As I
was getting up, I saw dirt all over my right leg. I didn’t take the time to take a close look,
but I could see my right thigh had at least one bloody scrape.
I quickly got back to my
previous pace. Then I looked at my
hands. I was glad I was wearing
gloves. Both gloves had dirt ground into
the fabric. Had I not been wearing
gloves, both of my hands would’ve been shredded.
I could feel a scrape
above my left knee, but I didn’t bother to look at it. A quick glance at my right elbow was all I
needed to see that it was a bloody mess.
In three previous races
on this course, I’ve never fallen before.
This year, there seemed to be more rocks than I remembered. From here on, I was more mindful to not only
keep my eyes on the trail, but to also pick up my feet more.
I’m used to running on
roads, and my natural tendency is to glide just above the pavement. It’s an efficient stride for roads, but it
doesn’t work for a trail with rocks.
With effort, I could pick up my feet more, but it took more energy just
to run the same pace. I could feel my
head bobbing up and down with each stride.
I wasn’t as efficient now.
When I got my split for
the fifth mile, I was surprised to see that I sped up slightly, in spite of the
fall. Then I reached an aid
station. Besides drinking some water, I
also poured some on my elbow to rinse off the dirt. Then I grabbed another cup. I poured some of the water on my right thigh
and the rest on the scrape above my left knee.
Some of the water ran into my shoes.
I had to run the next several miles with wet shoes and socks, but I felt
it was important to rinse the dirt from my wounds.
While I was at that aid
station, four runners passed me. There
were still runners behind me after all, just not very many.
Mile six was about 20
seconds slower than mile five. I
attributed that to the extra time I spent at the aid station. In the next few miles, I got back to my
previous pace.
Those first two aid
stations were the only ones where I drank water. The aid stations also had Tailwind. For the rest of the race, I skipped the water
tables and looked for the Tailwind, so I could start taking in some calories.
We briefly ran through
some fog. For several miles after that,
I could feel moisture in the air. It was
like a mist. That kept me cool enough
that I was comfortable keeping my gloves on for most of the race.
There are several bridges
on the course. I reached the first of
the bridges at about seven miles. Most
of the bridges were in places where we crossed deep valleys. There were creeks at the bottom of the
valleys, but the valleys were so deep that I could never see the water.
Near the end of the
eighth mile, I was passed by two runners who were going much faster than any of
the other runners near me. They must’ve
been the fastest runners from the second wave, and they were catching up to the
slowest runners from wave one.
After nine miles, I could
tell myself I was one third done. I
questioned whether my effort would be sustainable for another 17 miles. My pace would’ve been sustainable on a paved
course with the same elevation profile.
What made it more tiring was the extra effort I was putting into picking
up my feet.
Earlier, when I was in
the tunnel, I saw my friend Steve go by me.
Steve is a faster runner, so I didn’t expect to see him again. Now, I saw him a short distance ahead of me. I picked up my effort to see if I could catch
up to him.
In mile 10, I sped up to
8:00. That was my fastest mile so far,
but it wasn’t fast enough to catch up to Steve.
I gave up and settled back into my previous pace.
When I finished mile 11,
I saw that I had slowed down too much.
That mile took 8:34, which was my slowest mile so far. After that, I was able to back to the 8:10 to
8:15 range for the next few miles.
Somewhere around 12
miles, I passed a couple people who were walking. I couldn’t imagine anyone from wave one
walking at this point in the race. I was
catching up to people who took the early start.
By now, I was starting to
notice a difference in the trail surface.
There were far fewer rocks. As
the trail got gentler, I didn’t need to put as much effort into picking up my
feet.
At the halfway mark, I
was on pace for a time in the low 3:30s, but I questioned whether I could run
the same pace in the second half. My
effort still felt too tiring, and I knew the course would get more difficult in
the late miles, after we left the Iron Horse Trail.
Earlier, I had given up
on catching up to Steve, but suddenly I found myself right behind him. To keep from slowing down, I had to go by
him. That surprised me.
At about 14 miles, I
crossed another bridge. This is the
longest of the bridges, and it’s the one you often see in race photos. There was a photographer about halfway across
the bridge.
The trail is never far from the freeway, and sometimes I could hear the traffic. At 15 miles, I saw the freeway for the first time. Usually, we were surrounded by trees, but now we were on the side of a hill, and there were no trees to our right. The freeway was hundreds of feet below us. I knew from driving it that the freeway descends much faster than the trail does. Eventually, it would level off and go uphill in spots. The trail would keep descending at the same gradual rate. Eventually, we would cross under that freeway.
Over the next several
miles, my pace became erratic. In some
miles, I would slow into the 8:20s or 8:30s.
Then I’d speed up to about 8:15 in the next mile. Eventually, I began to correlate the slower
miles with aid stations. I would slow to
a walk for a few seconds while I drank.
When I resumed running, I didn’t always get back to the same pace.
When I realized that, I
made more of an effort to speed up to my previous pace after drinking at an aid
station. It didn’t help.
At 19 miles, I realized I
was nearing the end of the Iron Horse Trail.
I thought we would leave the trail after 20 miles. In fact, it wasn’t until just past 21. I had mixed feelings about leaving this
trail. On one hand, I knew the late
miles would be flatter, so it would be much tougher to sustain the same pace. On the other hand, I was starting to see more
rocks again. The trail would be much
gentler in the late miles.
With six miles to go, it
was obvious I would run slower in the second half, but I was still optimistic
about running a time in the 3:30s. Mile
21 was still downhill, but I slowed down to 8:44 in that mile. Now, I wasn’t as optimistic. The trail would level off soon, and I
couldn’t see myself going faster on a flat mile than I did on a downhill mile.
As I was leaving the Iron
Horse Trail, Steve ran by me. Then I
began a short series of switchbacks. The
trail descended more rapidly here, but only briefly. Then I ran by a campground and got onto
another trail that was level.
The good news is that
this trail was a cinder trail with no rocks larger than ½ inch in
diameter. There were two well-worn paths
where the surface was nice and smooth.
For the rest of the race,
I didn’t have to worry about tripping on anything. Instead, I focused on pumping my arms faster
to force myself into a faster pace. I
couldn’t sustain this effort for the rest of the race, but I focused on one
mile at a time.
For the first time, my
hands started to feel hot, so I finally took off my gloves. My fingers were covered with dust that had
worked its way through my gloves.
Mile 22 was mostly flat,
but I sped up to 8:07. That was a
pleasant surprise. I couldn’t keep up
the same effort in the remaining miles, but I could see the trail starting to
turn downhill again. It was just barely
downhill, but that was still easier than a flat mile.
I last ran a “tunnel”
race four years ago, but all I could think of was the one I ran eight years
ago. That was also an August race, and I
did not yet have a Boston qualifier for the following year. In the late miles, I was fighting like mad
for every second.
For the next few miles, I
fought hard, but I couldn’t go as fast as I did in mile 22. I slowed to 8:20, then 8:23, then 8:30.
At aid stations, the
volunteers at each table would usually call out “water” or “electrolyte.” At the last aid station on the course, I
heard a volunteer say, “water, water … OH NO!”
I didn’t understand that exclamation at first. Then I realized he was probably reacting to
seeing my bloody elbow.
At 25 miles, I realized
that even though I had slowed down some, this was still going to be my fastest marathon
this year. That spurred me on to pick up
the pace in the last full mile.
I recognized the section
of trail I was on, but I couldn’t visualize the finish. I imagined myself closer to the finish than I
really was, and I started fighting for every second. I could hear a faster runner coming up from
behind me. She was shouting out
encouragement to everyone she passed. I
kept up with her for as long as I could.
Then I saw where we crossed under the freeway.
The 26 mile sign was
between the two bridges that we ran under.
I ran that mile in 7:54. It was
my fastest mile of the race. Beyond the
bridges, I could see the finish line. I
realized now that I had a good chance of breaking 3:36. Just a mile earlier, I didn’t know if I would
break 3:37.
I finished in
3:35:50. I was a couple minutes slower
in the second half, but it was still my fastest time this year. As I moved through the finisher chute, I was
handed my finisher medal, a glass of water, and a wet towel.
I used the towel to clean
my left elbow. I worked hard to remove
as much of the dirt as I could.
Unfortunately, I also removed a scab.
For most of the race, my elbow wasn’t bleeding. Now, it was bleeding again.
I drank half of the
water, and poured the rest into the towel to get it wet again. Then I used it to clean both of my legs.
There were several tables
with post-race food and beverages, but I only ate a cookie and a piece of
cake. I could’ve used more fluids, but I
was in a rush to get back to my car, so I immediately got in line to board a
bus back to the start. I didn’t take the
time to go to the medical tent, but I saw a bottle of hand sanitizer and used
it to disinfect the open wound on my elbow.
It didn’t sting as much as I thought it would.
I saw Steve again in the
finish area, and I found out why I was able to keep up with him for most of the
race. He ran a 50K race the day before.
 |
| Photo credit: Steve Walters |
I now had blood running
down my arm. I saw another runner who
still had here wert towel and asked her if she was done with it. I used the towel to contain the bleeding. Then I returned the towel and picked up two
paper towels for the same purpose.
I got onto a bus, and the
driver was about to pull away when I suddenly realized I had forgotten my
flashlight. I got off the bus and ran
over to the gear retrieval area. Once I
had my flashlight, I boarded the next bus.
During the bus ride, I
started to notice soreness on both sides of my back. I continued to feel that for the rest of the afternoon. It seemed to be muscular, rather than
spinal. I don’t know if it was from my
fall or from the pounding of running downhill.
Picking up my feet more than usual presumably meant more impact each
time my feet struck the ground.
When I got back to the
trailhead where my car was parked, I saw a drinking fountain outside the
bathrooms. By now, I was desperately
thirsty, so I took a long drink before getting in my car and driving back to
the hotel.
After getting cleaned up,
I used multiple bandages to keep my elbow from bleeding. Then Deb and I went to lunch at a diner that
was amazingly good. It’s such a popular
spot for the Sunday lunch crowd that there would’ve been a wait of more than an
hour to get a table. Fortunately, we
were able to find two seats at the counter.
The kitchen was really busy, and it was entertaining to see all the
orders being delivered.
Deb and I both had aches
and pains, so we spent the rest of the day relaxing. I’m happy to say that my back felt better by
the end of the day. I wish I could say
the same about my elbow. I bumped it at
least twice. Each time, it hurt more
than the time before. Also, each bump
restarted the bleeding, and it got more difficult to bandage it
sufficiently. The bandages restricted my
range of motion. By the end of the day,
I was doing everything with my left hand.
Sleeping was
difficult. It was nearly impossible to
find a position that didn’t make my elbow hurt.
I nodded off a few times, but for most of the night I was awake.
Monday,
August 12
Our flight home wasn’t
until late afternoon, so we still had time to do some sightseeing before
driving to the airport. We drove back to
Seattle and went to the Museum of Pop Culture.
That’s something we wanted to do when we were in Seattle earlier, but we
didn’t have time. Next, we went back to
Pike Place Market, where we had lunch.
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