Cycling House Staffer and pro triathlete, Jen Luebke recently ran the beautiful but brutal Seattle marathon.  She decided to pass up Thanksgiving with her family and spend the weekend running 26.2 miles instead.  

“Race morning came quickly but I was ready. I have trained very diligently this fall to improve my weak run and I was ready to see the results. I navigated the Seattle public transit to the race start just in time to turn in my dry clothes and be ready for the start. I couldn’t have asked for a smoother race. I held back a little in the first few miles and found a good running partner. Bill was from Oklahoma and he was running his 26th marathon but only weeks after a 102 mile, 24-hour race. Needless to say he wasn’t running his normal pace I am sure but he knew what he was doing and where we needed to be to run my goal time, 3:30.

The first half of the Seattle marathon is pretty flat or gentle climbs and descents. I felt great when I hit the halfway mark in 1:45 and change. A few miles later and I decided I was going to pick it up a bit. I started to pull away from the group I had been running with and started chasing the 3:30 pacer ahead of me. When I hit the dreaded climb at mile 20 I was still feeling chipper, my legs were turning over quickly, and I was passing people like crazy. Then I spotted my friends and I got really excited. Phil rode me to the top of the big climb and I felt like I was in the home stretch, the last 5 miles. I held my pace together, made a few more friends, and ran into the finishing stadium in 3:30:40. I was ecstatic to have run so close to my goal time with a very even split marathon. My hard work is finally paying off! My PR for a half is only 2 minutes faster than the 2 halfs that were part of my marathon.”

Jen Luebke will be traveling to Tucson in a couple weeks to kick off a great winter of working at The Cycling House in Tucson, AZ.  Jen recently setup her very own website. check it out here:  http://www.jenluebke.blogspot.com/