Running
Seattle Marathon: Accidental runners' success no mistake

By Jim Whiting
Special to The Seattle Times

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For the past four years, Uli Steidl has been among the last official entrants in the Harrisdirect Seattle Marathon. Each time, he has been the first across the finish line, becoming the only person to win the event four times in a row. This year is no exception, as Steidl is waiting until the last moment to decide whether to enter.

He has a good reason for hesitating. He placed 19th in the prestigious New York City Marathon on Nov. 2 in 2 hours, 19 minutes, 18 seconds and wants to make sure he has recovered before undertaking another marathon.

Both Steidl and his girlfriend, Trisha Rosenberg — who also ran New York (in a personal-best 2:57:19) and probably will run Seattle again after finishing second last year — might be considered accidental runners.

In Steidl's case, it was due to the traditional real-estate mantra of "location location location." As a 17-year-old living in the Bavarian region of Germany, his sport of choice was bike riding. He learned of a local foot race and decided to try out. Despite not doing any running-specific training, he won.

Harrisdirect Seattle Marathon When Sunday Start Fifth Avenue between Harrison and Mercer in front of Experience Music Project Finish Inside Memorial Stadium Start times Marathon walk, 7:15 a.m.; half-marathon run, 7:30 a.m.; half-marathon walk, 7:45 a.m.; marathon run, 8:15 a.m. Fees Tomorrow and Saturday at Seattle Marathon Expo — $95 marathon run and walk, $75 half-marathon run and walk, $10 kids marathon Other events Seattle Marathon Expo, tomorrow, noon to 8 p.m., and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Seattle Kids Marathon, Saturday, 10 a.m. Information 206-728-3660 or www.seattlemarathon.org — Jim Whiting

It didn't take long for Steidl to join the ranks of the "good runners." It took a bit longer to look the part. He ran in tennis shoes, and his first warmups were a pair of jeans. By the time his apparel matched his accomplishments, he was well on his way to becoming one of Germany's top young runners.

He came to the United States in 1992 to run at the University of Portland. After making several NCAA appearances in track and cross country and graduating, he came to Seattle in 1997 to get a master's degree in chemistry.

His Seattle string started two years later. Intending to pace another runner for 20 miles and then run back home, he underwent a midcourse change of plans, pushed the last three miles and came home first in 2:30:13. Each year afterward, he had minor injuries or other concerns that kept his entry in doubt. But Steidl's bright-orange Club Northwest racing singlet has became a routine sight.

Like Steidl, Rosenberg came to her first race from another sport, in this case crew at the University of Washington. Her first-ever race was the 1999 Seattle Marathon. "I entered off zero training," she said. "I thought if all these people can do it, so can I."

Her prophecy proved correct as she clocked 3:51.

Then it was back to rowing as she was invited to the 2000 Olympic Trials. But she couldn't afford to make the trip. Her swan song in the sport was the Club Nationals in August 2000. Two weeks later, she competed in the grueling Hood-to-Coast Relay, in which entrants run three separate, often-hilly legs that total between 14 and 18 miles.

The following month she ran the Portland Marathon on eight days of training and improved to 3:39.

She had her first taste of success the following spring with a win at the Easter Half Marathon in Olympia. By then she'd met Steidl.

"He seemed nice and helpful," she recalls. "The first thing I noticed was that he's got big legs."

Both runners — they reject being classified as marathoners because they run well at distances ranging from 5K to ultras (races of more than 26 miles) — enjoy competing in the Seattle Marathon.

"It makes a worthwhile training run," said Rosenberg, who turns 27 tomorrow. "I enjoy the course, there are people to cheer, water stations and marked distances. I'm not out there to challenge Joan (McGrath, of New Westminster, B.C., the women's winner the past three years who's almost certain to return). It's a race she takes really seriously.

"I just don't want to have a five-year streak of second places."

With the time demands of student teaching as he works toward a master's degree in teaching reducing his training to 60-70 miles a week rather than the 100 or more than he feels necessary to "really run fast," and possible carryover fatigue from the New York City Marathon, Steidl might be vulnerable.

On the other hand, he's shown the ability to recover quickly.

After recording his personal-best 2:13 at the Pyongyang (North Korea) Marathon in 2000, he won the Vancouver Marathon a month later in 2:19 and three weeks afterward cruised home first in the Coeur d'Alene Marathon in 2:27.

His biggest challenge might come in a few months, when he starts looking for a teaching job.

"If any schools out there need a chemistry teacher, they should give me a call," he said.

Or just wait at the Seattle Marathon's finish line.

Copyright © 2003 The Seattle Times Company