Yakima River Canyon Marathon

Harder than anticipated. I paid for lazy March. Amazingly beautiful course with cliff on the left and river on the right in Yakima River Canyon on a sunny day. I should try again next year. I earned 2nd star though.

Finish time 4:25:36

Ghost of Whidbey Marathon

Beautiful but hilly run in opposite direction of "old" Whidbey Marathon course. Lost two times in the first half and then managed to stay on the course.

Finish time 4:30:27

Valentine's Marathon

Slow rolling hills along rural highway.
A little nervous to run next to fast driving cars and trucks.
Official clock was more 10 min off and finish line was confusing.
I didn't like t-shirt with lots of pink hearts.
Another PR run by less than a minute.

Finish time 4:15:14

First Call To Run Marathon

Christmas Marathon originally scheduled on 12/21/2008 was postponed to the following week due to the dangerous snow storm.
Then, it was completed cancelled thanks to the extended severe weather condition.
Rumor was that the registration would be passed over to Valentine Marathon in Feb in Olympia, WA.
It makes sense because it was organized by same organizer at the same course.
Meanwhile, I wanted to run Last Chance Marathon in Bellingham on 12/31/2008, but I was told that the registration was already full.
So, what I came up with was First Call To Run Marathon in Bothell on 1/1/2009.

Fortunately, they had a spot for me.
The course was completely flat on Sammamish River Trail.
About 10~15% of the trail was still coverred by snow but it was not unrunnable.
I got the best record at 4:16:06
Also, this run qualified me for Marathon Maniacs membership.
Although it is a bronze level (one star), it's one of a kind achievement for my new challenge. I will be proudly running with yellow Marathon Maniacs T-shirt in all the following marathons.

Seattle Marathon 2008

Okay, I know. I said I would skip Seattle Marathon this year after hurting my (left) knee in Portland Marathon last month.

As my knee recovered slowly, I made a few test runs in my neighborhood to check if I still had pain while running up/down the hills. The cruicial test run of 10mi on Thu (11/28) didn't bother me with knee pain at all. My last minute decision to run Seattle Marathon 2008 was made on Fri night and I registered on-site on Sat.

Because I knew that my knee was not going to be perfect for a full marathon, I decided to run slowly and make sure that I could run through all the way to the finish line without stopping or being lame.

The weather condition was fairly good with temperature around 53~55 although it was foggy and humid (92%) all day. I remember last year's Seattle Marathon when my hands and face were freezing while running half marathon program.

Running across I-90 floating bridge (express lanes) on foot and around water front of Lake Washington was fantastic. Newly equipped Garmin Forerunner 205 worked very well giving me accurate running speed and distance all the time.

I passed half way point (13.1mi) at 2:07:49 at Seward Park loop.

The course seemed relatively flat with slow rolling hills until 20 mi point where one of the two major hills appeared at Madison Street. I ran up all the way without stopping at slow speed for about 1 mi and then a rewarding downhill started to the entrance of University of Washing Arboretum. The last obstacle to clime up the hills in Arboretum provided a big challenge but I passed through without a big trouble.
As I was getting out of Arboretum, I could peek the Space Needle with top portion blocked by low cloud and fog, meaning I had only 3 mi to go.

The rest of the run was slow downhill except an underpass to get into the Memorial Stadium where the finish line was set up. And, here we go, I finished Seattle Marathon 2008 all the way through at 4:35:10.
It was the first time that I finished a full marathon without any issue and especially I am still healthy with no injury.

Next stop? Christmas Marathon in Olympia, WA in 3 weeks.