Running
Seattle Marathon: Five-time winner runs through 'wall' of pain

By Jim Whiting
Special to The Seattle Times

	HARLEY SOLTES / THE SEATTLE TIMES Uli Steidl makes his way up Mercer Street at Mile 26. Steidl won the Seattle Marathon for the fifth time, finishing in 2:32:21
	E-mail this article Print this article Search archive Related stories 26.2 miles and a foot over the finished line

Uli Steidl had an experience in yesterday's 34th Seattle Marathon that most marathoners can identify with: He hit the proverbial wall.

Though he still won the event for the fifth time in a row by more than five minutes — nearly a mile — in a time of 2:32:21, he jogged across the finish line in obvious pain and lowered himself to the artificial turf of Memorial Stadium for several minutes.

Still out on the course, his girlfriend, Trisha Rosenberg, was mounting a charge that would bring her from more than two minutes off the pace with less than five miles remaining to within 75 yards of giving them both first-place trophies in the race, which drew 2,325 runners.

But Elizabeth Frame of La Jolla, Calif., had built up just enough of a lead to win, finishing at 2:57:23 to Rosenberg's 2:57:38.

Joan McGrath of New Westminster, B.C., the women's champion the past three years, finished third in 3:01:28.

The 31-year-old Steidl, who finished an impressive 19th in 2:19:18 at the New York City Marathon four weeks ago, didn't feel that that event had hampered him.

"I just haven't trained very much," he explained, with the time demands of student teaching cutting his normal weekly workouts to less than 70 miles from his customary 100-120. "We went out too hard for the shape I was in."

He and two other runners covered the first half in 1:12:30, a time that would have placed them second in the accompanying half marathon. At that point, one of his rivals fell off, with the other losing touch about five miles later after the two had battled steady headwinds on a sunny but chilly morning.

"Bottom line: I hit the wall," Steidl said. "I was feeling not so good with six miles to go, and the last three were pretty much hell.

	HARLEY SOLTES / THE SEATTLE TIMES Elizabeth Frame, women's division winner, finished in 2:57:23.

"When I finished, I just wanted to lie down and rest a little," he said.

The sight of Steidl nearly buried beneath several gleaming Mylar blankets was in stark contrast to his chipper mood after his previous wins, when he was barely breathing hard.

"I'm probably done racing for the year," Steidl said.

By coincidence, both the top two females share a common athletic background: University of Washington crew. But whereas Rosenberg, who turned 27 Friday, was good enough to rate an invite to the 2000 Olympic Trials, the 29-year-old Frame modestly terms herself "someone who helped to fill up the last boat."

She's spent the last several years in La Jolla at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, where she is a few months from earning a Ph.D. A casual runner until about a year ago, she only ran her first marathon in June, clocking 2:56:53 despite not following any sort of marathon-training program.

Frame passed McGrath about 10 miles into the race.

"I felt that someone would probably catch up because I started too fast," she said. "I was just here to do my race. I didn't think I would win."

Rosenberg had similar doubts, believing that she was too far off the pace to have a chance at first place.

"I wish I'd known that she (Frame) was that close," Rosenberg said. "I feel too good not to be able to run 15 seconds faster."

McGrath, who became the oldest-ever Seattle Marathon female winner last year at 41, said, jokingly, "I survived."

"When they (Frame and Rosenberg) passed me, I almost felt like I was going to just quit, but I didn't."

Copyright © 2003 The Seattle Times Company