2020 Med City Marathon (Virtual-Unsupported) 30-Aug-20

The 25^th Med City Marathon was to take place in Rochester, MN back on May 24^th. Due to Covid-19, it was postponed until Sept 5^th, but eventually replaced with a virtual option. I had planned on running in Rochester as I had never been there. Once it went remote, I made plans to run it in August, as soon as the temps got down below 60 for a weekend-overnight. Checking the forecasts, it looked like Sunday August 30^th, showing lows of around 55, would be the day.

The week before my race, I received my race packet. On Saturday, with the help of my daughter, I opened it and got my full-zip race jacket and bag. I wouldn’t get the medal until I finished! The jacket is nice – never had any kind of shirt/jacket with the thumb holes. This has the zipper on the left-hand side (which is backwards from all other zippered jackets I have), but the medium fits well.

Set my alarm for 4:09am race morning (It’s never set for a typical time! Don’t ask), and woke up after a normal 6hr sleep. I had prepped my UD vest with 4 (vanilla) Gu’s and a headlamp, filled my 2L bladder with water, and hit the bathroom. Nothing out of the ordinary – the same shorts/shirt I always wear for long runs. Broke in a new pair of Asics 2000-7’s two weeks back, and stepped out my front door at 4:35. Temp was 57°, humidity was not unusual at 89%, but the air quality was a surprise, with it being in the ‘Moderate’ category (at 72)

Early, Moderate air quality?

Ran down the block, turned and made my way around the rec center fields, then across Wheelock Parkway and down to the Lake Phalen running paths. Each loop is supposed to be 3.1 miles. 8 loops, plus the extra 1.4mi to get there/back and I’d have my full 26.2 marathon.

in the dark

My plan was to run ~9:00min/mi pace to start, just a nice comfortable pace. I did hold my headlamp for some of the first lap – I usually start out at 5am for my 2-loops before work during the week, and the darkness is manageable without it – but I wanted to be extra-safe and not trip over something or run into a tree branch as I did a few weeks back (caught it just above my right eye). Loop one was over in 27:41 (after a 7:34 run to the lake). Took a short ~15 sec walk break each loop there, and continued on.
Grass was wet with dew, but never ran in it enough to get my shoes wet/squishy like at Trail Mix in mid-July.

Didn’t see a soul on the 2^nd loop either, and had a split of 27:57. Keeping around a 28min/loop pace was my initial goal, with slowly increasing it to be near 30, before having to give up on time and just make it through. I had only done one longer run since my Trail Mix 50 six weeks before – that was the 25k loop at Afton 3 weeks ago, after which my left ankle stayed sore, and was just now feeling better (~90% anyway). So ~20 miles was my goal to stay somewhat on pace, then limp my way to a ~4:15 – 4:30 finish. Goals – you never know how the day is going to go!

Loops 3 and 4 were fine (28:09 & 28:29), so I was at 13.1 miles in 1:59:52. Still felt really good, felt I would have plenty of water (and not have to text my wife to meet me to refill). Sun came up just as I came upon the end of loop 4 (~6:32am).

Loop 5 was more interesting – aside from the typical walkers out, when my left knee, about halfway through the lap, became very sore and had me limping for a stretch down the little hill on the east-side of the lake. Still, I ran it in 28:08 (2:28:00 total).

Soon after starting Lap 6, I had company. Another school parent lives nearby and I see her running sometimes on Sunday mornings. I let her know I’d be out, and she came out and slowed her pace to run a lap with me. 😊 That helped a ton, as I was started to struggle…my left knee was so-so, but my legs were getting heavy and sluggish. We had to dodge a few people as more walkers were coming out, but we did see something quite amazing – a bald eagle flew by us, very low to the lake! Certainly don’t see that (there) often! I pushed to do it in 30:09 (2:58:07 for ~19.3 miles), and felt glad to have made miles 16-19 in that pace.

I immediately slowed to a walk and said goodbye, then it was, as I said – just plodding along, alternating some running with walking. I knew I could walk the whole lap in ~43 minutes, so I figured out my worst case times, and if I was doing 35 min laps. Both within my expected finish times.

After 4 hrs, on last lap

Had some abdominal soreness that came and went, but heavy legs and sore ankles really did me in. Lap 7 in 36:26, and still walking faster than most people when I couldn’t/wouldn’t run. Lap 8 – finally my last lap – was more of the same. Almost. I was in the last 1/4mi of the end of the loop, when a sudden buzzing sound right in my face and stinging on my right eyebrow, just under my hat brim and inside the edge of my glasses. Ouch!!! Bee sting. After maybe one sting while running ~5 years ago for the first time ever, I had one earlier this summer walking barefoot in my backyard. So this made #2 or 3 ever. Sure took the focus off my feet for the last mile.

Final Stretch!

I finally left the lake and went through the neighborhood around to where I’d finish. I had given my wife a heads-up, and she and our daughter set up a finish line tape for me to break through. Not being fast – I had never had that experience before - it was nice!. Then my daughter presented me with my medal and we walked the last block home. Finish time: 4:20:27.

Getting my medal from my daughter!

4:20:27

Other random notes: Had a plain bagel with butter/jelly before I started, ate 4 GU’s (every 45 mins or so) and had two S!Caps after the halfway point. Checked my water bladder when I got home and it was practically empty. It had only gotten up to 63°, so it didn’t become an issue with needing to drink more. This was my 141^st race/event. 14^th marathon and 43^rd marathon or ultra distance, and 13 straight years completing at least a marathon.

Still pleasant and 63° at the finish

Will have to see how my left knee/ankle heals up, but the plan is to run the Fire Tower 50k sometime in (late) September. Virtual, but on the true course at St. Croix State Park.

Phone 'health' data

2018 (37th) Twin Cities Marathon Race Report

Known as the ‘Most Beautiful Urban Marathon in America’ as it goes point-to-point from downtown Minneapolis to the state capitol in St. Paul, MN, it lived up to its reputation. I did not realize the amount of community/crowd support though, and that is what I will remember about this event. Weather was just about perfect - ~44° at the start, only rising a few degrees, and clouds all day. 2 friends from South Carolina came up to run it with me and we got the start in time to hit the port-a-johns and drop off our drop bags (longer lines for those actually!). 

Expo photo op

I got situated in Corral 2 and they started us off about 8:07am. It was quite crowded to start, then it narrowed a little and I was able to actually walk a few times to keep up. Finally we spread out and I settled into a comfortable pace. Having missed mile marker 1 (and not knowing what they looked like), just continued on that pace.

pre-race

Legs felt fine-more fresh than not. Guess taper worked as I had ramped down after three 19.6 mile runs in 5 weeks to 16.5 and 7.2. I traveled to Massachusetts the week before the race, so only ran 2 on Wednesday and 4 after I returned on Friday morning.

By mile 2, I had removed my buff (kept hat on) and thin gloves - both going into my jacket pocket, then my light jacket got tied around my waist, and left me running in my favorite Harbison 50k shirt (One guy actually called it out during the race!), compression shorts under my Brooks shorts, fitsok socks, and CEF calf sleeves. My newer (~27miles on them) Asics 2000-5 were broken in just enough. I was comfortable the whole way.

Hit 5k in 28:16 (9:06 pace) so was right where I wanted to be (right at 9:00 was my goal-pace to see how long I could maintain that).

I came across one of my SC friends (the other was way ahead as expected) soon after that – just happened to see her directly in front of me! We spoke for a minute, then I guess I just continued on. I looked around quite a bit and enjoyed the scenery as we made our way to the lakes: Lake of the Isles at mile 3, Bde Maka Ska at mile 5, and Lake Harriet at mile 7. Saw some school friends cheering around Lake Harriet, so that was a very nice surprise. Had come thru 10k in 56:00, so sped up a bit that second 5k and was closer to my 9:00 goal pace.

Stopped to refill my water bottle with lemon-lime Gatorade near here too…took about 5+ cups to fill it up as I walked through the aid area. Course was pretty constantly turning left and right, and I always took the tangents. Course was plenty wide enough so there was room to move around.

I was taking a split every mile marker (missed a few early ones) and they were inconsistent the first 8 miles (8:55,8:51,9:15,8:34,7:56). Had taken my vanilla Gu at 45min and took an s-Cap! somewhere after mile 8. My pace evened out from then on and I just plugged away.

Crowds were really incredible! I hadn’t thought about it, but people were everywhere. People out on their lawns having parties, lining the streets practically the whole way. Many people on bikes (rollerblades, etc) following their people. I stayed occupied looking at the signs (‘You run better than the government’, ‘Your pace or mine’, ‘531 miles to Wall Drug’, ‘Tap to Power up’, to name a few). They were so encouraging and I gave many little kids high 5’s that each gave me a boost.

Miles 9-16: pace was somewhat steady: 8:55, 9:05, 8:48, 8:53, 9:04, 9:01, 8:44, 9:02. There were a few slight inclines and gentle downhills, but nothing worth noting – head down and plod along; It did make for a good change of pace. Looking at the elevation chart, it was overall downhill thru here (a net drop of ~100ft). Had another Gu at about mile 10, probably refilled my Gatorade again around (maybe?) mile 13 and hit halfway in 1:57:47 – exactly my goal pace.

Took a Clif Shot (vanilla) at mile 17 (and another s-Cap! and more Gatorade somewhere!) and then started mentally running marker to marker. Wasn’t a struggle, but that’s just where I was – I knew it would at some point be more difficult to manage this pace. We crossed the bridge over the Mississippi into St. Paul and the crowds were still going strong! I forgot to mention the music…aside from stereos blasting tunes (the Macarena, AC/DC, Tom Petty, Runaround Sue, etc), there were people out with their horns (theme from ‘Rocky’, Eye of the Tiger, etc), steel drums, a guy with bagpipes, and more. Then there were the churches and their loud bells tolling as we went past. Loved them all, and what extra motivation they gave. I always make it a point to thank the volunteers, even if I don’t take aid, even those shoveling up the empty cups, and also the policewomen and men. A few others did, but never as many as I expect should.

I knew the road generally rose as we went from 20-23, and none were too steep. My miles from 17-21 were all around 9:15, and finally, at Mile 21, I stopped running and walked some, but for no more than 30 seconds. I had come thru 20 miles in 3:00:37. Assumed at that point that I’d slow down, because I Always have, and 4 hours would not happen (not that I ever really considered it). I took a nature break around mile 22 (I had considered one from the very beginning, and even ran off course to some toilets early in the race but they were occupied, so kept on). Mile 22 was 10:19. Around this time I was also starting to get twinges of a cramp coming on, but they stayed away. I had no physical discomfort at all until my right shoe felt a bit tight at the top of my ankle around Mile 23, but it was not worth stopping for.  Mile 23: 9:42 and overall 3:29:54. Hmm, 3.2 miles in 30 minutes?…if I push, maybe I could break 4? Took a short walk break and pushed on. Started to really focus on the area right ahead of me – the ground, people’s feet, a point in the distance – but every now and then, gave another high five out and got a boost.

Around Mile 24, having been running down Summit Ave for 2 miles already, and having had an eye open for my wife since the halfway point, I finally saw her and my daughter (with another class family)! Ran by and said hello, gave some high 5’s, and pushed. I had decided at mile 24 (9:20 / 3:39:14) I hadn’t had this opportunity in a Long time, and may not again. I was going to go for it. People were cheering, I gave more high 5’s, there were more church bells. Even grabbed a donut hole (cinnamon powder covered, but the powder was not ideal!). Mile 25 in 9:32 / 3:48:47. Kept telling myself that 10 minute miles wouldn’t do it, so maybe it wouldn’t happen, but I had to try.   

Looked for the cathedral, where I knew the downhill began to the finish line. That was my goal. There was another man playing bagpipes, and then the St. Paul Cathedral bells were going off. I rounded the bend at the top and I could see the finish. I had 2:30 to get there to break 4. Thought I could do it (visually, seemed possible), so pushed a little more, hoping cramps would stay away.

Checked my watch one more time with 45 secs left and knew I had it! Started to finally smile. I had only broken 4 hours one time (3:53), Charlotte in Dec 2009 in my 4^th marathon. I was faster then, doing speedwork, but was putting in more miles now, 9 years later and 9 years older.

finishing chute

I finished in 3:59:40 and was absolutely thrilled!!

Walked thru the finishing chute, collected my finisher medal and shirt, grabbed a space blanket, and then chocolate milk and vegetable broth, and for later, protein bar, chips, Gatorade. Got my checked bag and found my wife/daughter and texted with my brother.

Still walking on air as we watched our other friends who had yet to finish (our one SC friend finished in 2:58!). We all did better than expected and had nothing but good things to say about the course and people on the course. It will go down as one of my best races, and one of my favorite (maybe just behind NYC, but it did feel more personal here).

This was my 134^th race, 13^th Marathon (12^th in 10 years), and 37^th marathon/ultra distance (36^th in 10 years). Still on pace for 50 marathons/ultras before I’m 50.

Stats:

 (Very happy with the 'Passed' stats, and this was my fastest last 10k and 2nd half of my marathons)

2016 Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas Marathon

2016 Las Vegas Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Race Report

In early August, I signed up for the 50th Rock 'n' Roll Marathon in Las Vegas. With the 'Running the Strip' tagline, and 'at night' - it sounded cool. My first marathon was RnR San Diego in 2001, and I did the first RnR Half that year in Virginia Beach. I had taken off most of the first half of the year from running with a cold Minnesota winter, some knee issues, and I honestly don't remember (8 years later as I write this, and have no weekday notes for months, so I wonder if it was just working alot after our move up here the year before?).

Anyway - once I started ramping up my runs, I decided to do it.

It may sound like an easy decision, but there's a catch. My brother was running the 24 hour World's Toughest Mudder that same weekend (just outside Vegas) for the 3rd straight year, and I was going to crew him yet again. This has involved being awake for most, if not all of the 25.5 hr event, with it ending at 1:30pm, and then going to the race that started at 4:30pm.

So - to recap the WTM event - I crewed my brother Pat, with some support from his oldest son overnight, and he completed 60 miles, which is incredible! 20 obstacles on a 5mi loop, 817' elevation gain per lap (and 2miles of penalty loops if you failed certain obstacles), plus jumping from a 35' cliff into the lake numerous times. He did 12 laps over exactly 24 hours and finished 4/100 in his age group, 125/1235 overall. 

Finisher pic!

I did not sleep overnight as I crewed him, took photos, and kept him updated on times, obstacles and made sure I had everything ready for his time in the pit every lap. I know I put in about 17 miles over that 24 hour period. I had him practically packed up and ready to leave as he finished. Got checked in the hotel on the strip - he crashed, and I headed to my race!

Pre-race concert - Snoop Dogg!

Snoop Dogg on stage

With the race starting at 4:30pm (November 13, 2016) , I had been awake for 36 hours straight already. It was 72° and my feet were already sore from the desert course. I made my way through the Snoop Dogg concert and waited in the throngs on the concrete for the race start.

I wore my gray Harbison 50k shirt under my blue WTM Crew bib, standard black hat and gray shorts, with my one handheld water bottle (and my basic Timex digital watch I always wear).

Other than sore feet, I felt decent and ran comfortably - by the airport, by the "Welcome to Las Vegas' sign (didn't stop for a photo), and by Planet Hollywood near the 5k mark in 30:48. Pat's family was there and saw me although I didn't see them. 

Kept up the 9:20-9:30/mi pace and hit 10k by the wedding chapels in 59:23.

We finally turned off the 'Strip' around mile 7, ran through Fremont Street for a few blocks and back down the strip - going through 10mi in 1:36:16. I hit the halfway in 2:06:25 and wound around near the World Market Center. (There were numerous times we would wind around larger parking lots, or in between buildings - not a very interesting course at times)

I was able to (mostly) keep my pace under 10min/mi through mile 15 (after 2:24:39), and pushed some to do that. Fatigue set in pretty quickly then, and hunger (didn't have my Gu like I thought), and was just Tired, while my feet got more sore.

I ran 10's for 4 miles, had the only real hill as we went under I15, and settled into almost 12 minute miles from 21-23 (I hit 20 in 3:18:04) as we wound around the Festival Grounds near Circus Circus. 

The last bit was on the strip, except for one part where we took a sharp right for an out and back, which was awful, away from the lights and crowds. I recall getting one callout in the last straightaway for the WTM bib.

I hit the finishing chute and ended at 4:32:49! Not nearly my slowest (El Paso), but a very memorable one! (I finally got to sleep after being awake for about 42 hours)

Finisher!

 Recovered well and was back to my normal training after a week!

2015 St Paul Trail Marathon Race Report

Had 7 weeks after Afton to train for the 3rd St Paul Trail Marathon, held on August 22, 2015. My buddy Todd had told me a couple months beforehand that he would be up for work in August and we should find a race that Saturday. I told him I had already signed up for this, so he did too. We picked up our packets in Minneapolis on Friday and ate some pasta. Saturday morning, we woke up early and after parking, got on a the bus to the start. We easily could have slept in longer. We started at Battle Creek and the whole course was unfamiliar to me except the section between Swede Hollow and the Eastside Heritage Park. We were a little intimidated by the hill seen from the starting line, but it turned out to be nothing in comparison to the hills overall in the first sections. We started off easily together as we wound thru the grassy trails before going thru some woods. Lots of turns! I took a pit stop and caught back up. Met and ran with a few people on and off (Sami, Chris) - both with Todd and without as he moved ahead of me. I caught up to him on an out and back and we had some more miles together. With all the turns, there were only a couple areas where you could miss a turn if you were not paying attention. We eventually got intermixed with the half-marathoners and even the 10kers. They were really good about allowing up to pass.
I had expected the race to be on paved trails just about the whole way, and wasn't too excited about the course going into it - moreso just about seeing and running with Todd. A few days before the event - I realized that the course was 55% on 'real' trails. So much for not training in my trail shoes and doing all those miles on the paved path around Lake Phalen.
Anyway - the trail did become technical the 2nd half and had some good ups/downs. Todd took one spill (behind me, so I missed it), and I had one good rock/root I kicked, but was barely able to keep myself on the trail. (That big toe hurt on and off for a couple of weeks).
One section on a rock wall was interesting, as was going by an empty homeless campsite - but those 83 (or 86, I forget now, but I counted them during the race) stairs were quite difficult at mile 19? or so.
After a steep rocky climb to an aid station at Mile 17.2, as I crossed the walkway over highway 61 - my legs started cramping up. First the left inner thigh, then the right leg, just above the knee. Then the left just above the knee. Then the inner thigh on the right. It alternated between all those places for the next hour and last 8 miles of the race. It was bad enough to stop me in my tracks on two occasions - once as I passed near the finish line after a long downhill (mile ~21.5) prior to going out to Swede Hollow, and another time at mile 24.5 near Heritage Park, before heading back toward the finish. I was hoping to see Todd near that turnaround before getting split off on the opposite Swede Hollow trail. When I did see him just after another cramping episode, he told me as he passed that this was my fault. I completely understood and felt it myself. Just wanted to get thru it and keep moving to fend off more cramps. (The decision to leave my S!Caps at home - it was in the 60's to low 70's, why would I need them? and the fact that there was No Gatorade on course. ok - just water is fine. Duh, no wonder I got cramps the worst I have ever gotten them!).
The last few miles were slightly downhill and I continued to move. Wasn't so worried about time and had very little expectations with not knowing the course AT ALL. As my watch ran though, I had a goal of beating 4:10...and I came in at 4:07:36.
Ended up as my 3rd fastest marathon ever (out of 11 now) and best since my fourth marathon I finished with a 3:53 PR in Dec 2009.
Todd wasn't too far behind me. As a non-trail runner (one other trail event in his history), he did rather well!
We enjoyed a post-race beverage and food before finally ambling to my car and making the short drive to the house. (My family was on their way back from Milwaukee, so missed this one).
We took a little walk to the lake later on to help things get back to normal. After three days of my legs being sore to the touch, they were perfectly fine.
Photos:

Early miles

post-race!

2014 El Paso Marathon Race Report

Race Date: 23 February 2014

I had registered to turn this race back in 2013, but lack of training and a nagging IT band injury after the January Harbison 50k led me to skip that race. I would not do another race that year. This time around – things worked out. I had not thought about this race until I was making plans to go to Juarez for work. I checked to see the race date and it worked out perfectly. I could fly Saturday, race Sunday, and work in Juarez Monday and Tuesday. My training was only slightly better for this than the Harbison race 7 weeks earlier. Instead of one double-digit training run (10 miles), I had two! I had a 10 miler, and then a steady 15 miler 2 weeks before the race.  That was encouraging. Of course the week after my longer run, I had a cold and it snowed enough for it to be too slippery to run. My expected plan was to run as far as I could, then walk it in. I was only in it to finish and didn’t care about a time.

Race morning began with a short walk from the hotel to the expo center area/finish line where we boarded buses for the ride up the mountain. We began on top of Franklin Mountain (Transmountain Rd) and the 1^st 4 miles were downhill. It was brisk and breezy up top, but most people stayed on the buses as long as they could. Once the sun came up, it was just fine out.

We started right at 7am and got into our paces. The real downhills began about mile 2, but by then I could already tell I was working harder than I should have been. The views were nice, the road was wide, but cambered. I skipped the aid stations as I had my water bottle. Once we wound down the mountain and came into town, we still had a few hills before it flattened out completely.

1^st eight splits:

 1-9:27 2-9:28  3-8:40  4-8:27  5-8:05. Yeah – that last one was fast.

6-8:28  7-10:35 (uphill/water stop) 8-8:44

At this point, we were running thru the edges of El Paso past shops and stores. It was about to become flat. I was laboring already, the sun was overhead as it had been since we came off the mountain and there was no shade whatsoever.

Miles 11-17 were on the same road…mostly straight, with nothing but sand to the left, and alternating walls and (abandoned?) houses for much of it. I started taking walk breaks about mile 12 or 13 and had little enthusiasm or desire to run much at all after that.

Splits:

9- 9:31  10-9:35  11-9:58  12-10:14  13-10:53. I hit the halfway in 2:12:49 (and already my slowest ever).  14-11:56  15-11:04  16-11:23  17-11:47

So 9 more miles and I was at 2:47. We were just heading into Ft. Bliss for a bit and I was getting to the point where I was about to start walking the rest of the way. Mile 20 was the best mile – right beside the parade grounds and the officers quarters. As I grew up a military brat – I appreciated this area. Also – it was the most “green” area on the course! One wonderful volunteer (could have been a resident for all I know) was giving out frozen Gatorade slushies. I had low energy at this point and was hungry. I missed the aid station fare that ultras provide – and I missed the bananas at the previous aid station. There were a few hills, up and down thru here, and I was only walking by mile 22. The glazed donut gave me a little spike of energy just before then.

Splits:

18-14:31  19-12:31  20-11:37  21-13:29  22-13:00  23-14:10  24-14:12  25-14:25

It was good I walk as fast as I do as I knew going thru the base that I would end up with a sunburn. I had a couple to walk with for a little bit as we hit the downtown area. Nothing too exciting in terms of buildings, but we knew we were getting closer.

I was finally getting to familiar grounds near the hotel/expo center and I knew the finishing chute was around one more corner…so I started a jog. As soon as I crossed the first mat, I walked. I guess the photographer was taking pictures as you crossed the three mats (so the pictures look a bit odd as I went thru the chute).

Last 1.2 miles: 16:30.

Finish time: 4:51:37

Almost exactly an hour slower than my fastest time and 40 minutes slower than my typical time. But as I said – I was only in this to finish – and I did.

I was sore for a few days and walking up/down stairs was difficult, but I recovered and got right back to training. That's one other good thing from walking so much of the course.
PHOTOS:

Chicago Marathon Race Report

A full report from the Expo and the race - and everything in between!
The 34th Chicago Marathon took place Sunday October 9, 2011.

Intro to the Expo Area

 After flying up from Greenville Friday morning, I went straight to the expo. Granted - not the most direct way as I did not realize the shuttle busses ran from the "L" where I got off. So I walked the 30 minutes in the beautiful sunshine to McCormick Place. Let's Run Together was this year's slogan - with close to 40,000 runners, it certainly was appropriate.

After getting my Bib, wandered into the Expo itself. Very spacious, lots of booths, lots of freebies, samples, and of course, things to buy. Carried my luggage the whole time; luckily, I pack light! Got my shirt and bag of stuff and wandered up and down each aisle. Checked out who was doing signings, etc (Dean K, Scott J, Ryan H, Abby W, Abby M, Hal H and a few others. Snacked some and eventually say down to wait for my cousin Becky. While I waited, watched (on a large screen) highlights from the 2010 Event. Incredible seeing two runners racing, sprinting (if going faster than their standard 4:45/mi is "sprinting!") at mile 25.8 of the marathon! I was getting excited...

After issues in the past with the weather (specifically, heat, 4 out of the last 5 years), you could not miss the signage everywhere with the Moderate condition notice. It would stay that category throughout the race.

Becky showed up, we got her packet, etc - and our Hospitality passes for race-day) and wandered more. Right before we left - we did get to see Ryan Hall and got a few autographs. Nice guy who said he was ready for Sunday. After 3.5 hours at the expo - I was ready to leave - and we took the bus! I did end up walking another 2 miles to the hotel after lunch. Too much time on my feet hauling luggage around that day.
Saturday
My brother Pat came in Friday evening, we ate and rested. Saturday - we had all day to kill - so we walked around, went to the expo again. I did buy some cold/wet weather Nike gloves (to prevent an occurance of this magnitude) and we both had our strides reviewed at the Nike area. They had a huge section of the expo, with some outside walls imprinted with all the names of this year's runners. That was kind of neat. The result of the review - mild pronation, a stability shoe would be beneficial. It's what I am in now (Asics 2140's), but the Nike Lunarglides version is 1oz less in weight and feels worthy of another test run.
Rest of the day was spent watching college football, playing ping-pong in the lobby of our hotel (Hard Rock Hotel) and walking/relaxing. Got to bed around 1030pm and had a 5:30am wake up call set.
Sunday (Race Day)
Nothing out of the ordinary as we got dressed, I ate my bagel, and walked to the start area in the dark. Took a bit to find the hospitality tent, but it sure was nice: food, drinks, aid tables set up, plenty of chairs, music, few dozen port-o-johns with no lines and our own bag drop.

Pat, Becky, and me!

Took advantage of the aid station as I applied suntan lotion and grabbed extra water for the 30min before start time. Met up with our cousin as we rested - the excitement was building so relaxing wasn't easy. Decided pretty early on that my throwaway shirt ($1.50 from Goodwill) could be kept and put in the drop bag for use at another event. Most of my throwaways hang around longer than expected. Got my stuff together: 4 GU's, handheld with water, visor, bib-belt, small ziplock with an aleve and some S!caps, and my camera. And chapstick. Soon enough, we said bye to Becky and got led to our starting corral entrance. We were in "C" and it was a mob getting into the corrals. Once we got there - there was plenty of room. So the countdown started for the 7:30 start. Our plan was to go out between an 8:45-8:55 pace as long as we could.

Heading towards the start line

I can run a pretty consistent pace and Pat left his Garmin at the hotel after charging it all night. Oops. Once we made it to the start line (only 3 minutes or so after the gun), we began to run. It was pretty crowded, but not quite elbow to elbow as it could have been. Good crowds out as we wound thru the downtown area and crossed the river 3 times in the first 3 miles. Placing carpet over the grating on the bridges was a nice touch. It takes me 5-6 miles to start feeling good, not that I felt bad at the beginning. We started off just on pace though:
Mile 1- 8:54
Mile 2- 8:44 (17:39)
Mile 3- 8:51 (26:30)
Mile 4- 8:34 (35:04)

I was keeping Pat from going too fast, it seemed he was often ahead of me by a few steps...this was good though because he knew he shouldn't go to fast - not with a 26.2 mile run. This worked well for us. We stayed in the same vicinity, chatted a bit, and ran. I honestly was not too aware of the changing neighborhoods, or which neighborhoods we would be running thru

Mile 3 or 4, spreading out across wide roads. (Pat in yellow)

The aid stations were also perfect...frequent, well prepared, well advertised, and long. Seemed a good 1/4 of a mile or more for each one with Gatorade and Water separated. Didn't often hear people thank the volunteers, but that is sadly typical. We carried our own, but after the first few, got drinks as needed and refilled when our bottles were near empty. So we headed north for miles 2-7.5 but couldn't see too much of the waterfront as I had hoped.
Mile 5- 8:47 (43:51)
Mile 6- 8:45 (52:36)
Mile 7- 8:35 (1:01:12)
Mile 8- 8:47 (1:10:00)

The course was flat as advertised. It was interesting seeing the signs on peoples back showing their hopeful pace. With the different start times for these groups - you never knew what pace they were at. At mile 8, we headed back south until Mile 13. It's not a full (or half) marathon without me needing a pit-stop, but I held off until after halfway. Old Town (Miles 10-11) had great signs and a nice shopping area - pictures didn't turn out. Photo-wise, not much struck me...buildings everywhere, constant people cheering 2-3 deep and with the temps near 65° at the start and the sun out, had 2 places where sponges were given out. More races need to do that as it was wonderful! And between the aid stations, residents would have hoses out cooling us down, tables of food (pretzels, licorice, even beer at mile 20).
Mile 9- 8:48 (1:18:48)
Mile 10- 8:53 (1:27:42)
Mile 11- 8:49 (1:36:32)
Mile 12- 8:44 (1:45:16)
Mile 13- 8:56 (1:54:13)

So we hit halfway in 1:55:08...and 8:47/mi pace - so I'd say we ran consistently so far! Thankfully, the sun was mostly behind buildings for the first half and the temps weren't too bad (low 70's). But the 2nd half had the sun directly overhead and little shade to be found.
Mile 14- 8:52 (2:03:05)
Mile 15- 8:57 (2:12:02)
Mile 16- 8:55 (2:20:58)

So right near the Mile 15 marker (part of a little west-east section) I took a pit stop by some hedges. Pat had taken the next corner and was about a minute ahead. He was relatively easy to pick out and I ran "hard" to catch him...faster than I needed to and faster than I really wanted to. Should have told him to slow down just a hair...but I caught him before Mile 16 - meaning I was doing about an 8:00/mi pace thru there. Whew...catch my breath. I wish that was the end of the excitement, but it was just about to start...

Smile for the photo! Alone at Mile 18.

Why would it start with me stopping during a marathon to have some random person take my photo? It actually started a few minutes before when Pat had to take a pit stop midway thru Mile 17. Saw a port-o-john available and hopped in. As soon as he did that, I began walking. And walked. And walked. And walked. Where was he?? 4 minutes later - still wondering. A 3:50 pace group passed me. A 3:55 pace group passed me. Was he OK? He couldn't have passed me? I walked and filled my bottles still along the left side where he stopped. After 8 minutes or so - during which I walked backwards some, had the photo to the left taken, and kept turning around looking. I finally decided that maybe he passed me somehow, so I ran ahead. I still was hesitant. I finally got desperate after passing the 30k timing mat, knowing there were people following both of us, and that was the 3rd of four times that would be sent out (10k,half and finish being the others). Desperation to me meant calling out if anyone had a cellphone.

Two or three tries and a guy nearby (running) asked what I needed...I told him my situation and he handed over his cellphone. I called my wife, who happened to be back at home and had just refreshed our computer showing our times...

My 30k time:   2:50:41

Pat's 30k time: 2:45:48

WHAT!?!

Quickly hung up, thanked the guy (who was running beside me while I called) yet again, and decided I had to catch my brother. We had been planning this for a year or so, and I already felt bad he was having to run this far "alone". So now I ran hard. At least hard for me at mile 19 of a marathon. The next 3 miles or so were a blur. I didn't quite know where I was on the course, which made figuring out how much time I had to catch Pat difficult. I missed my Mile 20 split. Times and splits were going thru my head and I was constantly looking out for him. I knew 5 minutes ahead meant if he slowed to 10's, I had some work to do to catch him, but I was going to try. My splits tell the story:

Mile 17- 12:08 (2:33:07)

Mile 18- 12:15 (2:45:22)
Mile 19- 8:32 (2:53:54)
Mile 20/21- 18:29 (3:12:23)
Mile 22- 9:21 (3:21:45)

Yep - I had an 8:32 mile at Mile 19. Very proud of that. Sure, I was a bit rested after two 12 min miles, but still. I slowed a bit after that though and had my doubts about catching him. Not knowing how his body would respond after not doing over 16 miles during this training (so not doing more than 16 miles since his last marathon in 1994), of course I would wonder. But, as my thighs were beginning to talk to me (hmmm, maybe we'll make him think we want to cramp...), I saw him. Somewhere (early?) in Mile 23. I caught him soon enough as his legs were talking a good bit and walk breaks were present for the remainder of the race. I am very familiar with that as we caught up on the last 6 miles and turned north (at mile ~23.5) towards the finish line.
He was getting mad thinking I was in front of him. Guess we should have had a plan...oops.
(35k split shows he was still 2:03 ahead of me)

together again-mile 24.5

  

So now it was all about moving forward, walking from one point to another (to that lamp-post) and running from one point to another (let's go to that bridge and we'll then walk in the shade). It worked. My legs felt ok, pretty tight in the thighs, but never cramped. For all those "issues" I had experienced and worried about leading up to this race: My groin/upper thigh never had any issue nor did my right foot/toe. I did feel the start of a blister on my right pinkie toe near the halfway, but that stayed quiet after that. Again, I was so caught up in things, I missed the Mile marker 24.

Mile 23/24- 21:54 (3:43:40)

Mile 25- 11:13 (3:54:53)

We obviously knew breaking 4 was out of the question (unless we could run a 4 minute mile )now the goal was to run four-0-something. Yeah - we can do that.
We ran/walked the same pace/frequency as we got closer. The last walk was at mile 26 or so (missed that split too) to the top of the bridge, then we ran the rest of the way in.
Mile 26.2- 13:00 (4:07:53)
      



Happy Finisher (again - after 17 years)

Thank You Chicago!
(On the plane 5.5 hrs later heading home)