Marathon #40: 2025 UW Medicine Seattle Marathon

I am pleased to announce that I just completed my 40th marathon, the 2025 UW Medicine Seattle Marathon in beautiful Seattle, Washington!

Happy Thanksgiving! With friends in Seattle, my family decided to head out west to Washington for friends-giving, and I thought it would be great to squeeze in a marathon in a new state while here on the trip. I didn't have high expectations for the race, so took it easy on both training, and running the race, with very little pressure. I'm glad I did, because race day had its challenges.

• C Goal: Finish
• B Goal: sub 3:20:00
• A Goal: sub 3:15:00
• Stretch Goal: sub 3:10:00

Running in the Pacific-Northwest in late November, I was expecting to run in full, or at least partial rain. Every day leading up to race day saw rain, but to my pleasant surprise, Sunday came and the sky was completely clear! Once the sun rose, it remained sunny for most of the run, however, the temperatures started off at 33°F and never rose above 41°F during my run, making it a bit chillier than I prepared for. I kept my warm up clothes on until mile 20 or so, and ran in some emergency gloves I picked up the night before.

This race finish was a triumph over abnormally cold weather, and hills!

Fingers and toes nearly frozen, I ran freely in the first half. With my body struggling in the near-freezing temperatures, running faster than I should have helped to keep my core temperatures elevated, and extremities circulating blood. The hills definitely did not help, but I was able to maintain a solid pace, with an average pace of about 6:50/mi through the first half.

Temperatures slowly rose around miles 14-15 but by that point, I was bonking due to going out too hard. I kept it a bit slower from there on out, allowing myself to walk when needed as well. My pace dropped linearly from there, down to my slowest 9:30/mi around mile 24. With the end in sight, and the temperature more comfortable, I picked up the pace a tad to finish off the race.

In the end, I finished with a time of 3:12:36, well under my A Goal of 3:15:00. Not a spectacular finish by any means, but still one I was happy with given the conditions, and my lower expectations of myself on this fun holiday run!

I am so lucky to have my family and friends out to support me, even in the cold. Here is a video taken on mile 25 by my loving wife.

And of course, I incremented my tally!

Next up, we have marathon number #41 in Gulf Shores, Alabama in January. Stay tuned!