Seattle Quadzilla
Traviss Wilcox tackles 4 marathons over 4 days and finds the final one pretty tough going!
Quadzilla, 4 marathons in 4 days over the Thanksgiving weekend, ending with the Seattle Marathon. The Quadzilla is organised by the Marathon Maniacs, who, as you can probably guess, are rather enthusiastic about long distance events. 26 people took part in 2010, this year over 40 were in for all four marathons. In addition there were some people “just” doing a double or triple marathon weekend.
I Day One Wattle Waddle
I’d arrived the day before in Seattle so was suitably jetlagged and had been up for hours before the start. I knew the first three days were all low key events with around 75-100 runners so logistics were straightforward. Turn up, get your number, say hello, get ready and off you go. The first day was rather grey but the promised rain held off ‘til the last hour or so when the heavens opened so I felt quite fortunate as it could have been
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n 2011 I set myself the challenge of trying to complete as many marathons as I possibly could. One event on my radar was the Seattle
far worse. The route was a simple double out and back along a bike path, all nice surfaces, a few roads to cross, but early morning Thanksgiving Day is pretty quiet so that wasn’t an issue. There was only one hill of note, right at mile 26, a little knoll that gave a good view of downtown Seattle. As the rain was pelting down at the time I didn’t hang around! Surprisingly I managed a PB by a couple of minutes, no idea how that happened!
Day Two Wishbone Run
This was the only day out of the city, about a 50 mile drive to a quiet suburb and then the run itself was four loops in woodland. I’d brought trail shoes for this and had anticipated a mud bath if truth be told as there had been lots of rain the previous week and overnight, though in the end it wasn’t as bad as I had feared. Much of the route was quite technical single track, with rocks, roots and mud to negotiate. I spent most of my time trying not to fall over! The wood was on a bit of a hill so a few ups and downs but nothing killer, though on tired legs by the third and fourth loops they were getting steeper and steeper! Despite again a bleak forecast the
rain held off, and I even saw a glimpse of sunshine through the trees. Perhaps this was the best value race ever, a $10 donation to charity for the entry fee and the aid stations were fantastic, re-carbing on pancakes and other
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