July 2011 Race Spotlight

Louise Long

Race Director, Amica Insurance Seattle Marathon

A small race started by 38 friends in 1970, the Seattle Marathon has grown into a permanent fixture on the Pacific Northwest racing calendar and an event bracing for over 17,000 participants this year.  With a late fall date on a long holiday weekend: Sunday, November 27^th, the 2011 Amica Insurance Seattle Marathon, Half Marathon, and 5K is a great fall goal race option!  FNF is excited to serve as the event’s official online training provider for the first time this year.

Recently, race director Louise Long took a few moments to talk about the race with Focus-N-Fly.

FNF:  With so many great fall marathons and half marathons in the U.S., what are a couple of reasons to put Seattle on the race calendar for this November?

LL: Our race has been successful because Seattle is a great destination and November is a neat time to visit.  The city and the runners in the community really support and stand behind the race.  We experimented with a different date, but found that November allowed us the best chance to have the beautiful course we prefer and the hotel options that are best for our participants. And now it’s become an annual tradition for our runners.

Yes, the weather is a bit cold, but many of our runners are from the Northwest actually appreciate running in the cooler temperature. We’ve got a pretty good streak of pleasant runner weather on race day. I’ve actually had a runner say to me “It better rain next year!”

FNF:  This month, we are talking to our members about goal race travel. How have the travel opportunities brought in participants for your race?

LL: There are so many great places here and things to do in the area: mountains, side trips, the Puget Sound, the Space Needle.  We have lots of great restaurants and the Westin Seattle, which is absolutely first class, is Race Weekend Headquarters.  Doesn’t get much better than that!

Travel opportunities do bring people to Seattle, but our race grows in part because it is well organized while still being a city marathon and a non-profit organization.  That means the dollars stay here, within the community.

FNF:  What are some of the course highlights?

LL:   We truly have a beautiful course.  We start and finish by Seattle Center, travel down Lake Washington Boulevard, go across the floating bridge to Mercer Island and back with great views the entire way.  We pass through Interlaken Park and finish again inside of Memorial Stadium.

FNF:  Is there anything new for the race in 2011?

LL: The 10k [affiliated race on August 27^th] is our newest event.  We are partnering with Seattle Center in counting down to their 50th anniversary celebration.  In 2011, the 10k race will help bring awareness and build anticipation of the event for 2012.

Every year, we try to put on a consistently solid event, and our great sponsors help make that happen - Amica just signed on to extend our relationship for five more years and we have a great sponsor in Saucony [entrants receive long sleeved tech shirts].  We have a wonderful course within Seattle, which we are so grateful to have.  People know our course and enjoy our race and keep coming back year after year.