Snohomish River Run Marathon Race Report (10/15/2023)
My first marathon!
Snohomish River Run – Marathon
Sunday, 10/15/2023
Goal time: ~5:15
Official finish time: 5:15:39!
My Strava recording was a bit long, 26.95 miles, which had my pace at 11:44 for 5:15. This is pretty common in races, since you might add a bit of distance weaving around other participants and not taking the most efficient corners. It adds up over 26 miles!
For larger marathons, they sometimes have an official course line marking the most efficient path, but you will probably still need to weave around other racers.
My goals were to maintain long run pace, bank miles, and save my legs for my goal race (Philly) in five weeks.
It's unconventional to run a marathon while training for a marathon. Most plans peak at 18-20 miles for the longest long run. Some go until 22-23. Going longer increases risk of injury, and just plain adds more stress to your body that will require a longer recovery time. This increased recovery time can hamper progress when you need to carry on with the rest of your training plan for your goal race.
I'm glad I ran a "practice" marathon though. I felt great aerobically but my hip flexors tightened up around mile 21. I plan to add weight training, physical therapy, and more progressive long run workouts to hopefully power through the end of the race in Philly.
It was helpful to practice my race day outfit, shoes, and fueling plan for the full 26.2 miles. And lastly... it was nice to just prove to my brain that I could run a marathon. I knew I could, but sometimes self-doubt creeps in and it's nice to be able to definitively silence those thoughts.
The race was fairly cheap for a last minute jump-in. I signed up the Tuesday prior.
Course
The course was okay. You run through Downtown, then on a bike path and on roads past farms. Running surfaces consist of paved bike trail, sidewalk, and road.
The race follows a pretty easy, flat course. There are no real hills. The official course map promises 370ft of elevation gain, but I only logged a measly 229ft. Not a lot at all for 26 miles!
There are some nice views of the Highway 2 area mountains and, briefly, Mount Baker (big morale boost). I ran past pretty farms with flowers and horses and cows. Sometimes the cows smelled bad. Some sections of the course were kinda boring, just an out-and-back on a desolate bike path.
Signage wasn't always great and there were three separate out and backs where you turn around a cone. The race crossed traffic several times without the roads being fully closed. Sheriffs were directing traffic but I had to stop to wait for cars to cross the course three (!) times which was a morale hit.
It got a bit hot in the sun, but wasn't too awful since it's mid-October. I did earn a gnarly racerback tan.
I probably wouldn't run the race again, but it was well put-together and, overall, I enjoyed the experience.
Atmosphere
To start and end the day, the announcer was best-I've-ever-seen amazing. He and the rest of the volunteers were super helpful and had great energy.
The crowds at the start and end weren't huge, but what Snohomish lacked in quantity they made up for in quality. Downtown had great energy.
Unfortunately, there was little crowd support elsewhere on the course, especially for the most difficult "hit the wall" sections. There are a few points (like road intersections of the bike path) where friends could potentially meet you.
The finish line energy was still going strong around the six hour mark. Sometimes races start packing up and getting sad around the later finish times, but I thought the announcer did a great job keeping the late-day finish line electric.
Snohomish field was small (less than 200 racers) but fast! I think this is partially due to the confusing cut off times. The website states, "full marathon will have 5 hours to complete the course", but then goes on to say that if you're out there for longer than 5 hours, you'll have to move onto the sidewalk when they reopen roads. I checked past years' results and saw that each year, a good number of people finish after five hours, so I knew this cutoff was soft.
Later in the race's FAQ, they mention the course closing at 12:30. That'd be 5 hours. In the pre-race email, the cutoff is 1pm. That'd be 5.5 hours. For what it's worth, I saw finishers still coming in around the 6 hour mark and the last finisher on the results page completed the race in 6:17:14.5.
So I have no idea what the real cutoff for this race is!
Regardless, this might not the best first marathon if you're running without a time goal/to finish. Plenty of races have official cutoffs of 7 hours (like Philly). Since this was just a training run for me, I didn't care if I was officially cut off or not (though it was nice to not be). If this is your goal race, I'd recommend not adding the stress of a stringent cut-off to your first marathon! A 5 hour marathon is ~11:26 min/mile pace.
The race offers pacers, with the slowest marathon pace of 5 hours.
There was good swag, really nice windbreakers and medals.
Performance
We arrived ~45min early, utilizing street parking nearby. I carpooled with Emma and Clarisse, who were doing the half. The race offers drop bags but you have to BYOB.
Early on, it was a little unclear where the start line was (~0.25mi from the finish line, where packets were).
There are more bathrooms available where packet pickup/the finish line was located (Lincoln Ave). There were two portapotties on 1st St, but they had very long lines at 7AM. The bathrooms near the finish line had no lines!
There were a good amount of aid stations, so I didn't carry a water pack or bottles. I only wore a Flipbelt to hold my phone and an emergency gel. The race supplied PowerBar PowerGels. Every flavor is vegan!
I'd never had PowerGels before, or even worn the Flipbelt (I got it on sale at the REI Garage Sale a few days before), but since this wasn't my goal race I wasn't overly concerned. Something something, don't try anything new on race day... Luckily everything went well!
I stuck to my nutrition plan of eating a gel at least every three miles. I drank 1-2 water/Nuun cups at every aid station, even 3 once towards the end of the race, but that gave me a minor cramp. There were a good amount of bathrooms, and I stopped to pee once.
For the first 12 miles, I felt great. Running felt so easy, like I was putting no effort in at all. The course passed back through Downtown, which was a morale boost. The field got a bit busier with the half marathon, 10k, and 5k now all running as well. While the marathon, half, and 10k racers shared the course, the 5k runners were running in the opposite direction and mostly stayed on their side.
After the halfway point, around mile 14, things began to feel a bit more difficult. I was still holding steady, but it no longer felt completely effortless like my adrenaline-fueled race start did.
I walked to eat a gel around mile 20.5. Besides slowing down to drink water at aid stations and one bathroom stop, I had run 100% until this point. After my gel, I carried on running until my legs started tightening up and I began run/walking in earnest around mile 21/22.
The end of the race was difficult, my leg muscles were feeling the miles, and the desolate, empty roads weren't particularly motivating. When I made it to the turnoff for Airport Way, a volunteer told me the end was right over the bridge and I began my kick. Clarisse was waiting for me near the end and ran the last section with me while cheering and videoing, which was nice.
The finish line crowd and announcer were motivating and I was able to finish strong. A volunteer handed me my medal with a "nick kick!"
Post race food consisted of pretzels, soup, and rolls. Pretzels seemed to be the only vegan option. On the way home, Clarisse and I stopped at The Hungry Herbivore food truck which had delicious burgers!
After, I was glad to not have totally hated the experience and that I wasn't dreading Philly. Philly will have more hills but, from what I've heard, I'm very excited for the increased crowd support and fun atmosphere.
First marathon done!
Goals for Philly
- I want to run the whole time! (Not counting if I have to slow down for water stations/a bathroom stop)
- PR (C Goal)
- Sub-5 (B Goal)
- 4:45 (A Goal)
I'm nervous to hit my splits in Philly but I will do my best. :)