Seattle Marathon | Martin wins on quiet run

In last year's Seattle Marathon, Andy Martin spent much of the race "just catching up" with his pal Uli Steidl before Steidl pulled away in the final four miles for his eighth consecutive win in the event. "We talked about our families," Martin said.

This year, Steidl chose to run a 50-mile ultra marathon in San Francisco this Saturday and didn't enter the Seattle event.

So for the 32-year-old Martin, the race was "totally different." He said he and eventual runner-up Brett Winegar of Shoreline "didn't talk the whole way."

Martin -- joined by his 6-year-old son, Charlie, for the last few strides -- won the 26.2 mile event in 2 hours, 27 minutes, 12 seconds. Winegar finished exactly two minutes later.

One factor in Martin's win might have been a particularly restful night. Now living in Los Osos, Calif., Martin has family in this area and made the trip north for Thanksgiving. The day before the race, an uncle told him that Steidl wouldn't be running.

"That helped me sleep better," Martin said.

While it's not clear how well Trisha Steidl, Uli's wife, slept, she did win for the second year in a row, in 2:59.21. But it didn't come easily. She spent much of the race in third place, sometimes as much as 30 to 40 seconds behind.

"I didn't like being in third," she said. "I felt that a Steidl had to win. A couple of times I said to myself, 'Damn it, Uli, why aren't you here?' "

Her familiarity with the course helped ease her anxiety. The last part of the course has some hills and Steidl figured she'd catch the leaders there. Her confidence proved to be correct.

"I felt strangely fine on the hills," she said.

The result also buoyed her confidence as she preps for the upcoming U.S. Olympic trials in the women's marathon in April. Steidl, 30, still needs a qualifying time of 2 hours, 47 minutes to qualify, and she says she hasn't run anything near that time lately.

"This let me know that I have good endurance and I'm on my way to do something good," she said. She hopes that "something good" will come in mid-January at the P.F. Chang's Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Marathon.

Martin benefited from the same hills. In preparation for the men's Olympic marathon trials, held early this month in New York, he had done a great deal of hill training. While his time at the trials was only about a minute faster than his Seattle time, he had been plagued by injuries until shortly before the event and was eager to do another marathon.

Like Steidl, he used his familiarity with the course to his advantage. Winegar "had me on the flats, but I knew the hills were coming up. I was trying to save for the hills."

In addition to a sound night's sleep and his hill training, Martin may have had yet another edge: his Ironman experience. In addition to 12 marathons, Martin has also completed four Ironmans (2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride, and a marathon).

"My wife tricked me into the first one," he said. It was a sprint triathlon for beginners in 2003, and Martin won. He did his first Ironman a year later and for more than a year competed as a professional triathlete. But the increased demands of competing in the triathlon forced him to give up the sport.

"I just didn't have the time to train," Martin said. "With three kids, it was just too much."

But he does have the time to train for marathons, logging up to 100 miles a week. "I'm still on an upward path," he said. "I still have something left."

And that "something left" might result in something other than a two-hour exchange of pleasantries next year if both he and Steidl appear at the Seattle Marathon starting line.

"Tell Uli he's in trouble," he said. "I'm coming after him."

MARATHON RESULTS

MALES

Andy Martin (32, Los Osos, Calif., 2:27:12); Brett Winegar (28, Shoreline, 2:29:12); Jesse Williams (30, Seattle, 2:33:13); Jesse Stevick (25, Olympia, 2:34:49); Jimmy Grant (29, Missoula, Mont., 2:39:35); Jacob Bradosky (20, Centerville, Ohio, 2:40:05); James Parejko (23, Pullman, 2:41:45); Patrick Schryburt (37, Port Moody, B.C., 2:45:49); Craig Vanderoef (32, Seattle, 2:46:23); David Derkacs (Ellensburg, 2:46:12).

FEMALES

Trisha Steidl (30, Shoreline, 2:59:21); Annie Thiessen (37, Tacoma, 3:01:22); Sarah Louise Cumber (36, Sowerby Bridge, U.K., 3:04:31); Annett Kamenz (31, Edmonton, Alberta, 3:07:10); Marisa Ruhter (24, Seattle, 3:09:57); Nell Stephenson (33, Preston, 2:13:34); Tara Rethwill (25, Troutdale, Ore., 3:15:57); Brooke Vogel (27, Cottage Grove, Ore., 3:18:17); Rhea George (23, Seattle, 3:18:46); Rachel Sharp (32, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, 3:18:49).

HALF MARATHON RESULTS

MALES

Kota Reichert (24, Tacoma, 1:09:10); Leif Kohler (23, Paia, Hawaii, 1:11:26); Ben Brown (26, La Mirada, Calif., 1:11:27); Patrick Dill (30, Seattle, 1:12:05); Josiah Price (26, Tumwater, 1:12:31); Dan Prahl (20, Potsdam, N.Y., 1:12:23); John Timeus (23, Kent, 1:12:37); Adam Nevens (28, Seattle, 1:13:38); Chris Tolonen (38, Issaquah, 1:13:54); Jack Lovejoy (28, Seattle, 1:14:00).

FEMALES

Caryn Heffernan (34, Bothell, 1:21:54); Kelly Strong (29, Renton, 1:23:20); Mary Moriarty (21, Seattle, 1:23:54); Sally Bergesen (39, Seattle, 1:24:31); Jamie Gibbs (25, Portland, 1:24:43); Nikki Gamble (24, Kirkland, 1:25:59); Marti Reimer-Ress (Bellingham, 1:26:08); Joan McGrath (45, New Westminster, B.C., 1:26:19); Melissa Conlin (18, Renton, 1:27:35); Laura De Munain (37, Vancouver, B.C., 1:28:20).