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November 27, 2005

A Walk To Remember

Wallking all 13.1 miles of the Seattle Half Marathon took Elaine and me 3 hours, 30 minutes, and 28 seconds. And it was a total blast.

Knowing that traffic would be insane down at Memorial Stadium (and it was), we elected to walk from my place on Cap Hill, leaving around 6:30. Even with the Starbucks stop on 15th, we were at the start line around 7:15.

The Half Marathon started at 7:30; the Half Marathon Walk began 15 minutes later. Surprisingly, I ran in to a handful of friends while milling around (shouts out to Tara and Tarun). We watched our running brethren launch into the cold morning, and then we were off, too.

Th weather was perfect - moist, not rainy, with sunshine developing as the morning wore on. Given that we were walking, there was no particular hurry, so we enjoyed the view and the novelties (e.g., walking along the express lanes of I-90, or marveling at the traffic-free streets, given the road closures), stopping to cheer others along the way.

Big props to my friend Jeff Lechtanski, who rocked the house today with his first-ever full marathon (that's Jeff and his wife Barb in the picture). Jeff beat my time from Portland by a good five minutes (you rule!).

Walking a half is a much, much different experience from doing the full run. For starters, attire is much easier: I was wearing jeans, a t-shirt, and fleece, as opposed to technical clothing. Plus, I was packing a backpack for 'eventualities' (e.g., CLIF bars, umbrella, baseball cap, shorts, Kleenex, digital camera, cell phone, you name it). This made things far more relaxed, casual, and fun.

If you're so inclined to do one of these things, I heartily recommend it. (And if you're interested, you can check my Flickrstream here.)

Posted by Gavin Shearer at November 27, 2005 5:29 PM. Posted to Fitness.

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