MissLiss279
DIS Veteran
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- Jul 10, 2015
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Jack & Jill Downhill Marathon Report
This was my first live, in-person marathon in over a year! There wasn’t a lot of race communication leading up to the race until about a week out with instructions on where to park, where to get bib, driving instructions. (Those driving instructions may be helpful to help guide the shuttle bus driver to the start line parking lot!) From some comments on Facebook, it looks like some people had a hard time getting responses to emails??
This is a point to point course on a Rail-Trail from Hyak to North Bend, WA. It is hard-packed dirt/gravel for most of the trail, a little looser gravel in some areas, but it was all pretty easy to run on. I would probably recommend trail shoes, because (although not technical) there were some larger, pointier rocks packed into the path that may not have been fun to step on in road shoes. But if all you have are road shoes, I don’t think you would have any difficulties running this. The course travels through a 2.5 mile long tunnel right at the beginning. It is a little damp, with bike track rugs and pot holes in some areas. So watch your step! You have to either carry a flashlight or wear a headlamp. At bib pickup, they give you a little baggie to place your light in and then drop in a bucket at the exit of the tunnel. You can then pick it up at the finish. There are several bridges along the course. Some of them in the second half were not covered with dirt/gravel and were bare concrete. It steadily travels downhill about 2000 feet over the entire course - mostly not too steep, and I never really you felt out of control (except in a couple spots with turns in the last few miles). There is one little uphill - they say 15 feet. Most of the course is shaded, with some areas that aren’t quite as shaded when the sun is straight overhead.
Bib pickup was pretty easy at a Nike Outlet store in North Bend. The tank tops are pretty nice, although the sizing is weird, so I am going to have to do some tailoring on mine… (I may try and add a picture later.) There aren’t a lot of places to stay in the immediate race finish area of North Bend. I ended up staying at a tiny unit Airbnb in Issaquah, which is about 20 minutes from the finish/shuttle pickup area. I had to be on a shuttle by 4:30 for a 6:30 start. They gave you a shuttle time, written on the back of your bib. The good thing about traveling from Central time zone to Pacific time zone is that 4:30 feels like 6:30 - so it wasn’t too bad! We arrived at the start about 5, so we had about an hour and a half wait to begin. I brought my typical fleece blanket and gloves to keep warm in 50 degrees while waiting. The marathon was about 400-500 people. Bag drop was very easy at the beginning, so I could hang onto my blanket for longer. I kept the gloves on through the tunnel, and then placed them in the baggie with my flashlight. Right before you crossed the finish line they had state flags for each state represented by runners. At the finish they had wet, cold towels - felt great after it started to heat up in the second half, bottles of water, a banana, uncrustable, nut/granola bar, chocolate milk, and a cup of Gatorade. If you happen to BQ, they will announce that as you cross the finish line. I noticed after the race that the medals said ‘2020’, but they did update the lanyard with this year’s date.
I think they had to cancel just a few weeks out from last year's race, and probably a lot of the runners were deferred from last year.
When I started the training plan for this race, I thought this would be a good option to try and PR. I had to take a weird break in the middle of the plan - run a max of 3 miles at easy pace, but I could walk as much as I wanted. So I ran 3 miles and either finished the time I was supposed to run on the plan walking or I walked the miles that I should have been able to run. Near the end of that month, I would run the first 3 miles, walk however many, and then run another couple at the end. I think the goal was just to make sure I kept my heart rate down… Since I had to take this break, I wasn’t sure how my endurance or speed would be for this race. I was able to PR a mile about a week out from the race, so I thought I still had a chance to PR - plus I had incentive to get an under 4:00 POT. I decided to go for it. My footpod (Stryd) gave me a Power (effort) that it thought I could run this race with (but it was also using info from before my break, so I wasn’t sure how accurate it was. I went ahead and went with that power rating, and just watched that with no time/pace knowledge. I left auto-lap on, so I did know my pace for each mile. I felt pretty good for the first half. I did have to take a ‘Honey Pot’ break at mile 11 (took 2 minutes). They had aid stations every two miles - some with just water and some also had Gatorade. They did specify which ones before the race. I carried my own water, so this was fine for me. After the halfway point I started to slow down just a little. About mile 16, I was definitely starting to feel the fatigue and slowed down even more (but not too much). I kept thinking I wanted to slow down more. I’m not a fan of running hard, and really like to run slow! But I knew I hadn’t slowed down enough that a PR/under 4 was unattainable, so I kept going, trying to run as best I could. Keeping that under 4 POT in my head kept me pushing. I didn’t even care about a PR. The last 6, I was able to pick it up a little more, and was able to get my goal. Yay! I think the break did affect my endurance. Usually it is my breathing or heart rate that limit me. This time I was feeling the fatigue in my legs (and the downhill probably contributed to that).
At the finish, you did have to get on a shuttle to get back to your car (about 2 miles down the road).
According to FindMyMarathon.com, the equivalent flatland marathon in my hometown would be about 11-12 minutes slower - and not a PR. But I am really happy with the PR (with a *) - 3:58:08!!
(Sorry for the novel.
)
This was my first live, in-person marathon in over a year! There wasn’t a lot of race communication leading up to the race until about a week out with instructions on where to park, where to get bib, driving instructions. (Those driving instructions may be helpful to help guide the shuttle bus driver to the start line parking lot!) From some comments on Facebook, it looks like some people had a hard time getting responses to emails??
This is a point to point course on a Rail-Trail from Hyak to North Bend, WA. It is hard-packed dirt/gravel for most of the trail, a little looser gravel in some areas, but it was all pretty easy to run on. I would probably recommend trail shoes, because (although not technical) there were some larger, pointier rocks packed into the path that may not have been fun to step on in road shoes. But if all you have are road shoes, I don’t think you would have any difficulties running this. The course travels through a 2.5 mile long tunnel right at the beginning. It is a little damp, with bike track rugs and pot holes in some areas. So watch your step! You have to either carry a flashlight or wear a headlamp. At bib pickup, they give you a little baggie to place your light in and then drop in a bucket at the exit of the tunnel. You can then pick it up at the finish. There are several bridges along the course. Some of them in the second half were not covered with dirt/gravel and were bare concrete. It steadily travels downhill about 2000 feet over the entire course - mostly not too steep, and I never really you felt out of control (except in a couple spots with turns in the last few miles). There is one little uphill - they say 15 feet. Most of the course is shaded, with some areas that aren’t quite as shaded when the sun is straight overhead.
Bib pickup was pretty easy at a Nike Outlet store in North Bend. The tank tops are pretty nice, although the sizing is weird, so I am going to have to do some tailoring on mine… (I may try and add a picture later.) There aren’t a lot of places to stay in the immediate race finish area of North Bend. I ended up staying at a tiny unit Airbnb in Issaquah, which is about 20 minutes from the finish/shuttle pickup area. I had to be on a shuttle by 4:30 for a 6:30 start. They gave you a shuttle time, written on the back of your bib. The good thing about traveling from Central time zone to Pacific time zone is that 4:30 feels like 6:30 - so it wasn’t too bad! We arrived at the start about 5, so we had about an hour and a half wait to begin. I brought my typical fleece blanket and gloves to keep warm in 50 degrees while waiting. The marathon was about 400-500 people. Bag drop was very easy at the beginning, so I could hang onto my blanket for longer. I kept the gloves on through the tunnel, and then placed them in the baggie with my flashlight. Right before you crossed the finish line they had state flags for each state represented by runners. At the finish they had wet, cold towels - felt great after it started to heat up in the second half, bottles of water, a banana, uncrustable, nut/granola bar, chocolate milk, and a cup of Gatorade. If you happen to BQ, they will announce that as you cross the finish line. I noticed after the race that the medals said ‘2020’, but they did update the lanyard with this year’s date.
I think they had to cancel just a few weeks out from last year's race, and probably a lot of the runners were deferred from last year.When I started the training plan for this race, I thought this would be a good option to try and PR. I had to take a weird break in the middle of the plan - run a max of 3 miles at easy pace, but I could walk as much as I wanted. So I ran 3 miles and either finished the time I was supposed to run on the plan walking or I walked the miles that I should have been able to run. Near the end of that month, I would run the first 3 miles, walk however many, and then run another couple at the end. I think the goal was just to make sure I kept my heart rate down… Since I had to take this break, I wasn’t sure how my endurance or speed would be for this race. I was able to PR a mile about a week out from the race, so I thought I still had a chance to PR - plus I had incentive to get an under 4:00 POT. I decided to go for it. My footpod (Stryd) gave me a Power (effort) that it thought I could run this race with (but it was also using info from before my break, so I wasn’t sure how accurate it was. I went ahead and went with that power rating, and just watched that with no time/pace knowledge. I left auto-lap on, so I did know my pace for each mile. I felt pretty good for the first half. I did have to take a ‘Honey Pot’ break at mile 11 (took 2 minutes). They had aid stations every two miles - some with just water and some also had Gatorade. They did specify which ones before the race. I carried my own water, so this was fine for me. After the halfway point I started to slow down just a little. About mile 16, I was definitely starting to feel the fatigue and slowed down even more (but not too much). I kept thinking I wanted to slow down more. I’m not a fan of running hard, and really like to run slow! But I knew I hadn’t slowed down enough that a PR/under 4 was unattainable, so I kept going, trying to run as best I could. Keeping that under 4 POT in my head kept me pushing. I didn’t even care about a PR. The last 6, I was able to pick it up a little more, and was able to get my goal. Yay! I think the break did affect my endurance. Usually it is my breathing or heart rate that limit me. This time I was feeling the fatigue in my legs (and the downhill probably contributed to that).
At the finish, you did have to get on a shuttle to get back to your car (about 2 miles down the road).
According to FindMyMarathon.com, the equivalent flatland marathon in my hometown would be about 11-12 minutes slower - and not a PR. But I am really happy with the PR (with a *) - 3:58:08!!
(Sorry for the novel.
)
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