Race Report: Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon 04-28-2012

Churchill Downs

Pre Race: I ran for the roses last week in Louisville, KY. The Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon coincided with the opening day at the famous Churchill Downs horse racing track. In my pursuit of running a marathon in each of the 50 states, I needed to make a stop in Kentucky and this venue caught my eye. This marathon was scheduled exactly one week prior to the actual Kentucky Derby Horse race, but the town was all ready buzzing with Derby fever.

Three Minnesota friends made the trip with me, Bulent, Todd and Wendy. Todd and Bulent were on separate flights. Wendy and I were on the same flight and had some difficulties getting from the Minneapolis airport to Louisville as there was a security scare at the Minneapolis airport just before we arrived. Apparently a luggage scanner thought it picked up traces of explosives in a suitcase. (We later learned it was only some plumbing supplies.) So the TSA shut down the airport and canceled all inbound and outbound flights. They evacuated Terminal 2 at MSP for a while. Unfortunately our incoming plane was not allowed to land and our outbound flight was canceled. Once we got back into Terminal 2, we had to wait in line for the Southwest ticket counter for 1.5 hours to get rebooked on a later flight. The first opening would have delivered us to the Louisville airport at 12:30 am, just seven hours before race-time. Instead we found another flight on a different airline that got us to Louisville by 8 p.m.

Bulent was kind enough to pick up our race numbers at the expo, pick up the rental car and register at the hotel. He and Todd punctually picked us up at the airport upon our arrival. With that kind of service, I think I’ll be late to all future marathons and let Bulent serve as concierge for me.

Race Ready – Bulent, Todd, Wendy & Dave

The Race: The predicted weather for race day was iffy with the chance of thunder storms. Instead dawn came with clear skies and moderate temperatures. We walked from our hotel to the start area in downtown Louisville. Once there we went looking for a few of my Marathon Maniac friends from the New York area. I found my friend Paul there. After greetings I fought my way into the start corral and managed to lose sight of Todd, Bulent and Wendy.

It took me about six minutes from the gun to actually cross the start line, but knew my chip would record my actual time. Within the first half mile I realized I was running next to another runner with a Marathon Maniacs shirt and struck up a conversation with her. It was Joann of Davis, California. That conversation lasted quite a while as we ended up running together for the first thirteen miles of the race. As marathons go, I thought the course was great. It had a variety of scenery to keep it interesting. After leaving downtown we ran through a neighborhood of beautiful older homes that reminded me of some of the mansions on Summit Avenue in Saint Paul, MN.

The highlight of the course was at about mile 8. At that point the course runs into the famous Churchill Downs racetrack. You enter one side of the stadium and go down a cement ramp that runs underneath the horse track and emerges in the infield. Once in the infield, you run a semi-circle around about 3/4 of the track and exit via a similar tunnel at the end of the stadium. I assumed there would be no horses there so early in the morning. Instead I was startled by a thoroughbred horse racing by just above our heads on the track as we descended the first ramp under the track. I didn’t get hit by dirt flying off the horses hooves, but I might have. What an incredibly fast and powerful animal! Apparently there were several horses making training or warmup runs for the races later that evening.

After leaving the track, the half marathoners and full marathoners split apart. The full headed toward the hills of Iroquois Park. I knew there were significant hills from about 12 to 15 miles. Just before making the turn into the park, I saw my New York friends Steven Lee and Hideki Kinoshita race by going the other direction on about a 3:20 marathon pace. Just behind them I saw Todd running a bit ahead of the 3:30 pacer.  I was pleasantly surprised that I felt pretty good through the hills and maintained a decent pace. I ran with a couple of women from about 14 to 20 miles including Misty who was attempting her first marathon. If she proved successful, she planned to go out with a girlfriend after the race to do tequila shots to celebrate. I later saw in the results she had finished just fine. I kept up a consistent pace up until about 21 miles into the race, after which I slowed.

At about 22 miles, I saw Bulent up ahead of me. I decided to catch up to him. I picked up my speed and caught him on a slight uphill at about 22.5 miles. I snuck up behind him and stuck the palm of my hand into his back to push and asked if he couldn’t hurry it up a bit. We ran most of the rest of the race together from there. Bulent pulled a bit ahead of me in the last mile, but I caught up to him just across the finish chute and we soon found Wendy and Todd. I finished in 4:30:02. Since this was my first marathon after coming back from injury, I was satisfied with this result. My comeback has involved many slow running miles. I thought I was in 4:30 to 5:00 marathon shape going in, so 4:30 was just fine.

Post Race: In the finisher’s area, Todd had reconnected with an old high school friend from Wisconsin who he hadn’t seen in over thirty years. We also found the Marathon Maniac crowd from New York and had great fun chatting with them.

Paul Arroyo

After getting cleaned up, we did some fun touristy things too. We hit the Bluegrass Brewing Company for lunch and beverages, visited the Louisville Slugger Bat Factory & Museum, saw the opening night races at Churchill Downs and the Frazier History Museum. We had no trouble with the flights home. Onward to the next race…

Muddy track after rain delay.

Bulent At Bat

Look out Louisville!

Louisville Slugger Bat Factory & Museum

I’ll Have Another

Race Report: New York City Marathon 11-6-2011

Race Report: New York City Marathon, 11-06-2011

Last Sunday I had the pleasure of running in the ING New York City Marathon. This was my 49th marathon and 31st state. It was also the first time I ran a marathon (or any race) in a costume. I had some trepidation coming in, as I’ve had a bit of hip pain in runs longer than 2 miles for the past month. I made a running form correction about a week before the race that really helped. Helped enough to make the 26.2 miles anyway. The race and surrounding weekend were incredibly fun, in more ways than one. In the course of running, I’ve made some great friends along the way, many of them fellow members of the group Marathon Maniacs. I’ve run with two of those friends at other races, Hideki Kinoshita (Kino) and Steven Lee. They live in the New York area and both were kind enough to keep me out of trouble for the weekend. Well mostly anyway. A few weeks before the race, Kino told me he and several of his friends were planning to run the race in superhero costumes. He asked if I wanted to partake as well. I agreed to run as Mr. Incredible.

Friday night dinner

At dinner Friday night I learned several of the costumed runners were hoping to take photos in costume the next day at the Brooklyn Bridge. Maybe even shoot a video. Later in the evening, the videographer even sent a script via text. This was turning into an interesting weekend indeed.

Maniacs at finish line.

Superman and Lois Lane.

On Saturday after meeting a large group of Marathon Maniacs at the race finish line in Central Park for picture taking, we visited Chinatown for lunch. From there we went to the Brooklyn Bridge to meet up with the rest of the small group of superheroes; Superman – Steven, Thor – Kino, Iron man – Karl, Evil Tourguide – Ray, Damsel in Distress – Lisa and Concerned Citizen – Bee, Artist – Clovia for the photo shoot. The filmmaker is Leong Ying, who is working on making a marathon video for marathons run on all seven continents. (Europe, Asia and Antarctica already done). We had great fun making the video in the middle of the bridge on a busy Saturday afternoon. The pedestrians seemed to love our costumes and asked for many pictures. I’ve attached a link if you care to watch. (This is only part one as part two was to be shot on marathon day.)

Heroes and Villains.

Rudy the Rat with Superhero Sidekicks part 1:

On Saturday evening I had the privilege of attending the pre-race pasta dinner for Kino’s PANCAN fundraising team. This is a highly motivated group of folks who raised a total of $216,000 for the charity for this race. This exceeded the previous total raised a PANCAN marathon training team by over $40,000. Although I’m a Twins fan, I enjoyed meeting All Star David Robertson, a relief pitcher on the New York Yankees at the dinner.

Kino stayed over at Steven’s on Saturday night and the three of us caught a cab to the Staten Island Ferry Terminal to meet up with our fellow superheroes for the race. All of the runners getting on the ferry travel up two escalators. We waited for our friends to converge at the lobby area at the top of these escalators. All of the arriving runners walked past our gathering spot at the top of the escalators. Eventually joining Kino (Thor), Steven ( Superman) and me (Mr. Incredible), were Pascal (Captain America), Ray (Evil Tourguide) and Nancy (Bat Girl). Non-costumed friends included Gopal, Yves and Sarah. Since we were in costume, many of the runners passing by us asked to have their pictures taken with the supers. We must have posed for over 100 photo ops. One gentleman, Eric Zerkel, introduced himself as a journalist for Pavement Pieces. He interviewed Kino and me. His article can be found by clicking on this link.

http://pavementpieces.com/nyc-marathon-marathon-maniacs/

We made it onto the ferry and caught up to our erstwhile videographer on board. We took the ferry to Staten Island and were then cattle herded onto buses for the slow trip to the Verrazano Narrows Bridge and the starting area. On the bus trip, Bat Girl, Captain America and I decided we’d run the race together to have more fun. Superman and Steven were slated to be one wave up from us, so we went our separate ways in the starting village. Since we didn’t get off the bus until 9:30, Steve and Kino didn’t make their wave 1 start at 9:40, but did make the wave 2 start at 10:10. Nancy, Pascal and I missed wave 2, and started with wave 3 at 10:40. While waiting in the starting hold-back area, I realized I was sweating pretty heavily for standing still (temperature in the low 50’s). My costume included tights, a long sleeve shirt and a mask. Luckily my good friend Bruce has provided me with two iron-on patches with the Mr. Incredible logo, so I had both a running singlet and the long sleeve shirt with this logo. I removed and tied the long sleeve version around my waist and decided to run in the sleeveless version.

Supers Ready for Battle.

After a rousing national anthem, our wave was off at 10:44 to clear skies and forever views. We were on the upper level of the bridge, so we didn’t have to survive the infamous yellow mist on the lower level. This first bridge is approximately two miles long. The first mile is uphill and the second is downhill. The apex of the bridge is the high elevation point of the race. The density of runners was surprisingly comfortable. With close to 50,000 runners, I expected gridlock much of the way. I found it not much more crowded than other large marathons I’ve run. Since they launch runners in three waves and further split them into three colors on both the upper and lower levels of the starting bridge, it is more like six races of 8,000 runners each. The upper and lower splits come together a couple of miles down the road. We averaged around nine minutes per mile for the first two miles.

Once off the bridge, you hit the streets of Brooklyn. It isn’t until you reach Brooklyn that you realize what lies ahead. The enthusiasm of the crowds spills into your ears. Right after the first corner, I started hearing the Brooklyn accents shouting out “Yo! Go Marathoners!” It was wonderful. Bat Girl, Captain America and I tried to stay together, but the crush of runners sometimes separated us. We could always tell if we were drifting too far apart, because even when we weren’t in direct line of sight, we could hear the fans calling our superhero names nearby. Now Captain America was almost always correctly identified, but Bat Girl and I were often miscast. Captain America got the most shout-outs, and Bat Girl was next, but about 80% of hers were with the wrong name. She was called Bat Man, Cat Woman or Bat Woman. Nancy took some umbrage to these tags. For a time, we would try to shout out the correct name. After a while, we just laughed. My shout-outs were about half right, but I was called Mr. I.T. man, Iron-man among other handles. I’ve never laughed so hard while running a marathon. Often a few adults would call out the wrong name, only to be corrected by some eight-year-old kid – “Mr. Incredible!” My favorite was when running near Bat Girl, a few times someone would call us Batman and Robin. Depending on who was nearest the side of the road, one of us would high-five fans along the way. I only had one bad review and that was from a Yorkshire terrier who didn’t like my costume. A few high steps kept the ankle bites away. The kids looked thrilled when the supers came along. We rollicked through Brooklyn to the half marathon point as the race crosses a small bridge into Queens. We got into a routine of walking the water stops and then when all three of us had cleared the stop we’d resume our dash. With the water stop walks, our pace averaged just under ten minutes per mile.

The run through Queens is short and the crowds are just a little thinner, but were still excited to see us. We zigged and zagged through Queens knowing the real test was ahead. The second half of the course is hillier that the first half. We found that out first hand when we hit the Queensboro Bridge. This is the biggest climb of the marathon. Having run the race in previous years, Bat Girl suggested we walk for a few minutes on the uphill to save ourselves for later in the race. Wearing our superhero costumes, I couldn’t help but thinking of the scene from a recent Spiderman movie where he and the Green Goblin  fight near this bridge. I also thought about advice I received from my Minnesota friend Leila, when she said the quiet of the bridge will be somewhat strange after all the crowd noise up till that point in the race. She said this would prove especially so once we would come off the bridge into the madness of the Manhattan streets ahead. How true. We ran some eleven-minute miles in this section.

Coming off the Queensboro Bridge was awesome. The exit from the bridge is more or less a cloverleaf and the crowd noise echoes off the walls of the bridge and local businesses. At the bottom of the exit, you turn left and are onto 1st Avenue. This is a wide street with the crowds thickening with every block. The screams and shouts are intense. By this time a few of the bars had lubricated the crowds. Once again the supers received a great New York welcome. 1st Avenue has some rolling hills and takes you north for three and a half miles where you cross another bridge into the Bronx. We averaged a little over ten-minutes per mile for this section.

While there were various bands, boom boxes and musicians all through Brooklyn, Queens and the first pass through Manhattan, they really went all out in the Bronx. A crooner from a hip-hop band changed his lyrics as we ran past. He suggested something about meeting Bat Girl in the Bat Cave later. There was a group of fans holding large purple signs saying “You’re the Sh*t!” One sign would have been funny, but twenty of them were hilarious. The drum corps really pumped up my enthusiasm through here. We ran more eleven-minute miles through the Bronx.

We made the last crossing of the East River and came into Manhattan to begin heading back south for the last five miles to the finish. For late in the race, I still felt pretty strong. Our fearsome trio of heroes got onto 5th Avenue and made our way closer to Central Park. We were getting a little less efficient at finding each other after the water stops and it cost us a bit of time. Somewhere around the twenty-two or twenty-three mile mark, Bat Girl and I got separated from Captain America. We kept slowing to wait for him to catch up to no avail. (We found out later he was behind us, but thought he had gotten ahead of us and was waiting for us to catch up to him.) After running backwards looking for the Captain for much the climb up the twenty-three mile hill, we decided to run on without him. After all he still had his shield to protect himself. Around the twenty-four mile mark, we turned into Central Park. At this time Bat Girl started cramping up. We stopped long enough for her to take a salt pill and then ran on. Aside from a water stop around the 25-mile mark, we ran strongly over the rolling hills to the finish. When attending the PANCAN dinner on Saturday night, one of the coaches advised his charity runners to try hard to not get passed by a costumed runner near the end of the race. Well Bat Girl and I passed several runners in those final miles, so I hope they didn’t feel too bad. Except for that guy dressed as Elvis. Just past twenty-five miles I realized we were closing in on him. As we got close, I said to him “We’re going to take you out Elvis. The supers are coming!” We left him in our dust. You briefly leave the south end of the park and run over to Columbus Circle before coming back into the park for the last half-mile to the finish. Bat Girl and I came in at 4:40 for the race. The last section was at just under ten minutes per mile. We both had completed our costumed marathon debuts.

We waited for Captain America without success for several minutes. A race official told us we had to clear the finish area until we told him we lost Captain America. He let us stay. Eventually we gave up and made our way toward the drop back pick up area. We saw Lisa (Damsel in Distress from the video) who was working the finishing area for the marathon. The efficiency of picking up your warm-up clothes after the race was a little lacking. It took me about 90 minutes to get my bag and make my way back to Steven’s place a half mile from the park. Luckily I had Nancy’s (Bat Girl’s) guidance to find my way out of the north end of the park and to a subway to get back to Steven’s neighborhood. Found out later that Captain America has finished eight minutes behind us and that a race official told him Mr. Incredible and Bat Girl were looking for him.

After a quick shower, I caught a subway to the Times Square area and joined some of my Minnesota Running Wild friends; Scott and Jenny, Don and Bhavna, Dave and Susan and their two lovely daughters Zoe and Grace, Wayne and his sister Laurie for dinner. Wayne’s sister Laurie lives in New York and used to work in the high-end restaurant business. She arranged this dinner for us. As the restaurant staff knew Laurie well, they went all out to take care of us. The food was served family style and was fantastic. One course after another made quick work filling us up. The combination of a raging post-marathon appetite and voluminous gourmet food is a great combination.

From dinner, I met up with my superhero sidekicks at a watering hole for a couple of beers and goodbyes. Steven served as my tour guide for a bit on Monday morning and I caught an afternoon flight back to Minnesota. 

I finished the long weekend by going out for a meal with Anne, daughters Linda, Kate and their boyfriends Jayme and Chris. It was a perfect end to a wonderful weekend. My takeaways from the race included finding that running in a costume was great fun (although only for special occasions). Running with a great group of friends was even better. While I’m noticed the effects of aging over the last several years, it really did my ego some good to have 2.5 million spectators calling me incredible on Sunday.

Here are links to the Continents Marathon Videos:

Rudy the Rat Runs 2011 New York (part 2)

Bernie the Bear Runs 2011 Berlin Marathon:

Penny the Penguin Runs 2011 Antartica:

Pete the Panda Runs 2011 Great Wall:

Race Report: Eagle Creek Trail Marathon – 08.06.11

Glimpse from the woods of the Eagle Creek Reservoir.

I traveled to Indiana the first weekend of August with a friend who is also pursuing her 50 state marathon goal. Susan Hilal is a member of Twin Cities Running Club of which I’m a member. We both needed Indiana and could knock off another state at a time of year when marathons are a little sparse. She’s a youngster (just a few years older than my oldest daughter), but an avid recreational athlete. Completing a marathon in Indiana would make 23 and 30 states respectively for Susan and me.

Causeway around the west side of the Eagle Creek Reservoir.

For this Saturday morning race, we left the Twin Cities early on Friday and made the ten-plus hour drive to Indianapolis for the Eagle Creek Trail Marathon. We lost almost an hour driving through rush hour traffic in Indianapolis on city streets to reach the hotel hosting the race packet pickup.

Elevation profile of the Eagle Creek Trail Marathon. This is a double out and back course, so you get to run this twice.

Elevation Profile for Eagle Creek Trail Marathon

Hills.

Roots.

The race proved to be pretty tough. It was held in a beautiful setting, but mid-summer in Indiana can be hot. Race day was both hot and humid. The course had some technical challenges typical of trail races including many downed trees, rocks, roots and hills. This one also had the benefit of a road construction zone where you needed to crawl over a guard rail and steep embankment. As the course was essentially a double out and back, you negotiated these obstacles 4 times. Much of the course was skinny single-track dirt trails. Susan and I wanted to beat the heat a little and also make the long drive back to Minnesota after the race, so we asked and were given permission to start early. We gave our start time to the race director at 6:23 AM and started in the dark (Indianapolis is on the western side of the Eastern time zone, so the sunrise is a bit later than in Minnesota). Due to our early start, the first fast runner did not catch us until we were into our second loop. Susan and I ran the first four miles together and then she pulled ahead of me for the duration of the race. The course ran long as my first half clocked at 14.5 miles by my Garmin GPS watch instead of the expected 13.1 (aided by some navigational miscues on my part). The second loop came out to 13.8 miles (without the navigational mistakes). So my total mileage was 28.3 (bonus miles – yeah!). To beat the heat I took in plenty of fluid and used “Salt Sticks” every 45 minutes or so.

One of many downed trees.

(Thanks for the salt advice John Taylor and Pam Nielsen!) I carried a hand-held water bottle, which I refilled at every aid station (which weren’t open on the first quarter of our race due to our early start).

Some of the fun highlights of the race included running the early miles in near solitude. It was great to watch the pre-dawn light morph into good visibility. We passed many deer just off the trail early in the race. They were either used to humans or totally surprised by our presence and didn’t run away. Some were as close as ten feet off the trail. Once the masses of other runners started coming through, I saw no more deer. There were actually four simultaneous races; a 5k, 15k, half marathon and full marathon run on the same general course. Since we started early, we had to run against the grain to pass most of the 450 runners for all races on their way out as we came back in toward the start area. While passing runners on single track trails proved difficult (if not dangerous in spots), it was also kind of fun. I was even lucky enough to get some poison ivy while stepping off the trail in some of those passing spots. Not realizing I had started early, many of the outbound runners shouted cheers and encouragement for my perceived fast pace. I did mention to several of them that I had an early start.

Marathon Maniacs Dave Mari and Dave Shannon

Along the way I got to meet Marathon Maniac Dave Mari. Dave is known for running frequent marathons and taking great pictures along the way. (These pictures are thanks to him.) At the end of the first half, you ran through the eventual finish area. As only the 5k runners had finished at this time, I heard the announcer say on the loudspeaker “2nd marathoner coming through.” That was fun to hear. Not counting my early start, I was still in 2nd place (behind Susan) until the eventual winner passed me around the official 14 mile mark of the race. At about 22 miles by my watch, I stopped at a park building to use the restroom. To my surprise the building was air conditioned. After running in the heat for 22 miles, it may have been the best air conditioning I have ever experienced in my life.

Look out for that crevice!

It is hard to compare trail race times to road race times, but my 6:25 total time was my slowest marathon (out of 47 marathons) by 1 hour and 47 minutes. This was due to several factors including the technical aspects of the course, the slightly long length, my navigational skills, but mostly due to temperatures in the mid – 80′s with humidity. I’ve never done well in those conditions, and this proved no different. Oh, and probably the biggest reason is that I keep getting older and

An over and under section of the trail

slower. You know it’s hot when the breath leaving your nostrils feels burning hot on your upper lip.

Short section of roadway in the park.

Even with my slow time, I finished 6th of 13 males in my age group and 61st of 109 total marathon finishers. It was obviously tough for most runners. Most road marathons have a cut off time of 6 hours. This one had a cut off time of 10 & 1/2 hours. To put it in perspective, only two male runners broke four hours. The third place male finisher ran the race in 4:15. In a large road marathon, that

Susan cruising downhill.

would rank in the middle of the pack. My recent road times under normal conditions have been in the 4:00 to 4:15 range. So I was more than 2 hours slower than usual. Susan’s finishing time was more than an hour and a half slower than her usual road marathon time. I ran with a gentleman in the late miles who told me he set his road marathon PR in the last six months at 2:48. He was headed for about a 5-hour finish. I felt I ran a smart race under the conditions. I could have pushed for a faster pace and not dallied at the aid stations, but would have likely crashed and burned. I knew I had to keep it slow to accomplish the main goal of completing a marathon in this state, so mission accomplished on both points (slow and completed). The volunteers and race management really did an amazing job. It wasn’t easy for those volunteers to staff the aid stations and start / finish area in the heat and humidity. Special kudos are due to Race Director James Nichols who really went out of his way to accommodate our early start and address all of our questions.

Dave Shannon, Dave Mari & Susan Hilal

Post race Susan and I got our picture taken with Dave Mari and hit the road to head back to Minnesota. With a lunch stop and frequent breaks to stretch our legs, we got back a little after midnight (MN time). All in all it was a great road trip and marathon adventure. The next new state will be New York in November for me. The journey continues….

Grandma’s Marathon Race Report

While I didn’t use a walker or look much like a grandma, I did complete Grandmas Marathon on June 18th in Duluth, MN. My speed was slow, but likely faster than it would have been using a walker.

Grandma's Saloon was the original sponsor of the Marathon in 1977 when there were 150 runners. This year is the 35th running of the marathon with close to 17,000 runners competing in the three races.

This was my seventh time running this particular race. I traveled north from the Twin Cities with friends who are members of Twin Cities Running Club (TCRC). We had ten of us sharing a Hotel Suite in the Canal Park  area of Duluth. This was only a few blocks from the finish line and in the heart of the weekend action. The hotel room was fairly large with two bedrooms, a living room with couches and a full kitchen. We were able to cook our own pot luck pasta dinner on race-eve. Grandmas actually hosts three races, a 5k race on Friday night, and then both a half and full marathon on Saturday morning. The rule for club members sharing this room is that if you are running the full marathon, you get at least half of a bed. If you are running one of the other races, you get a couch or can sleep on the floor (bring your own air mattress). For our group of ten, we had one running the 5k (Mike), two in the half (Corey and Heather) and six running the full (Todd, Jeff B., Gina, Matt, Dave C. and yours truly). One attended as a spectator (Eric who just ran Boston in April). There were a few others (Jeanne, Lucy and Chris) running the race but staying elsewhere. On Saturday, five more members of the club drove up to cheer us into the finish (Bulent, Michelle, Alyssa, Jeff H. and Leila). All in all, TCRC was well represented.

While the Saturday morning runners retired early on Friday night, the other two went out for the evening. We tried to avoid stepping on them when leaving the room early on Saturday. The weather was cool, windy and wet. Heavy rain fell over night and into the wee hours of the morning. We escaped the rain by boarding a shuttle bus to the start line up the North Shore in Two Harbors, MN. The half marathon starts at the halfway point of the full course and also begins an hour before the full starts. The rain miraculously ended a few minutes before we were dropped off at the starting area. The six of us from the hotel found Jeanne so we were able to hang out for the hour before the start. The weather proved to be great for the race. The temperatures were in the low 50′s and we had a tail wind for the first 25 miles of the race. 

The Big Lake They Call Gitche Gumee.

The race action went as follows. We dropped off our gear bags and got into the roped off starting chute. In the normal chaos, we mostly separated. During the race I only saw two other TCRC runners. The race started close to on time. From where I lined up among the other 6500 runners, it took me five minutes to actually cross the start line amidst the hoard of racers. Having run forty-five previous marathons, I had a pretty good idea of my fitness and training level. With too many recent vacations I hadn’t done as many long runs as I would have liked, so I felt I was in about 4:15 marathon shape. I went out with that in mind and was shooting for a pace in the range of 9:00 to 9:15 per mile. Aside from the first mile (9:43) where I was stuck in runner traffic, I pretty much maintained that pace through eleven miles (ranged from 8:52 to 9:19) per mile. My right shoe started slipping off my heel and I had to stop to re-tie it in the twelfth mile (10:00). I caught up to Matt at about the fourteen mile mark and he appeared to be fading a bit. I wished him well and ran on. I then got mostly back on my pace through nineteen miles (9:11 to 9:30 per mile). My lack of recent training miles caught up to me after this point and I slowed. I saw Matt’s dad John and two of his little brothers just before mile 19. Their cheering was infectious. I passed Dave C. somewhere around 20 miles. He had been battling a foot injury and looked in pain at that point. I ran on. I had to stop to tie my shoes again after 21 miles. Saw John and the boys again at Lemon Drop Hill just before the 22 mile mark. After about 23.75 miles I started taking short walk breaks as my reserves were down. From 19 to the end I ran mostly 10 minute miles except for mile 26 where I hit the wind coming around the DECC (Duluth Entertainment Convention Center) and walked for an extra minute. In the last half mile, you take several turns, and at the last little jog in the road, there were the TCRC spectators in full throttle cheering mode. I high-fived all of them and headed for the finish line. I crossed the finish line in 4:12:33, so a few minutes better than expected. My calves cramped up pretty badly in the finish area, but I was able to recover with a couple of salt tablets.

The Duluth Lift Bridge.

The gang from the hotel had a nice evening gong out for Pizza at the Green Mill restaurant and then to an Irish Pub to play pool.

The best cheer heard on the course – “Miles and smiles!”

The best sign on the course – “There is a mortuary just ahead. Look alive!”

Kudos to all the TCRC folks who ran and / or cheered. The company of good friends really makes a race special.

Race Report: Superior Trail Race 50k

Superior Trail 50k Race Report

 In May for the past four years Anne and I have ventured up nordt near the date of our wedding anniversary. On these trips we combined my running of the Superior Trail 25k Race with some day hikes on the Superior Hiking Trail (SHT) and an otherwise relaxing weekend on Lake Superior’s scenic north shore. This year the race was set a week later than in recent years and Anne was not able to make the trip. We had an extended family picnic scheduled at a public park on Sunday afternoon. This would require a hasty retreat home on Sunday morning and not leave us time for much hiking on the weekend. Anne also wanted to volunteer our house as a backup for the family picnic in case of foul weather on Sunday. As it turned out, the Twin Cities area was struck by severe weather Sunday and our house was needed for the family gathering, so it was a good thing she stayed home.

So I headed north on Friday afternoon with friend Dave Coyne for the race. Long time running buddy Mike Madden and Mike’s wife Laurel also made the trip. Dave and Mike planned to run the 25k race and I decided to step up and run the 50k. This would be Mike’s third Superior Trail 25k and Dave’s first one. Now I’ve run seven 25k trail races and one trail marathon, but this would be the first time to run a race longer than the marathon distance of 26.2 miles. Any race longer than marathon distance is considered an “ultra” race, so this would be my first ultra.

We dined at the hotel restaurant Mogul’s Grille and then attended the pre-race briefing from co-race directors Mike & Gretchen Prebix (who do a terrific job putting on this race each year). We received a course description from course sweeper Don. Don is a bit of a character. He said “The course is flat and fast! Dryer than a popcorn fart!” We knew better. Trail races often (and this course in particular) have major hills and plenty of mud. Someone else said “You’ll get plenty of vitamins D & R – Dirt and Rocks”.

Saturday race morning dawned with cloudy skies, temperatures in the upper 40’s and light winds. Having never run this far or long before, my plan was to walk up the steep hills and run the flats and downhills. I’d run the 25k here four times in about 3 hours. I planned to go out slow and to continue running a slow pace to make sure I could finish the 50k. I thought 6:30 to 7:00 hours would be a realistic time for the race. Mike and Dave were there to cheer me on for the start of the 50k (their race didn’t start until 2 hours later at 9:00 AM).

Superior Hiking Trail

The race is and out and back course. The first three-fourths of a mile is on a road past the top of Lutsen Ski Resort. There were still a few patches of leftover snow on the shady sides of some of the ski hills. Once you leave the end of the road you run on a portion of the SHT, which runs 277 miles on the ridgeline parallel to the north shore of Lake Superior. This mostly single-track trail is popular with backpackers and day hikers and traverses some of the most beautiful scenery in Minnesota. Of the three trail race venues I have raced, this terrain is by far the most difficult and includes some of the steeper hills along the SHT. There are several small streams and rivers that cross the trail. Many spots have small planks to cross the muddy spots or streams. Some of those planks are very unstable and often move under your feet. The trees are conifers, maple or birch. Medusa-like roots and ankle biting rocks often interrupt the dirt path. It takes great concentration to think through where you want your steps to land.

The race started promptly at 7:00 and we were off. After leaving the road, we descended to the bridge over the raging Poplar River and then ran up a moderate climb on an ATV-wide trail until the actual SHT splits off up Mystery Mountain, which is the first of several large hills on the course. Once we reached the first steep section on this climb the tightly bunched group of runners slowed to a brisk walk (I’ve learned this is a strategy experienced non-elite ultra runners often employ to conserve energy on long races). On a single track, if you want to pass another runner, you simply let them know and they move slightly to one side and allow you to progress. Trail runners are extremely polite in this regard. I started listening to conversations around me. Following just behind me, I heard fellow Marathon Maniac Warren from Chippewa Falls, WI talking to a woman who I later learned was named Wendy. It was interesting, because Wendy obviously had a tremendous history of ultra trail racing experience. Conversations on a trail race are often like introverted people talking, in that you rarely look at the other people in the eye, but rather at the ground. You are concentrating so hard looking at the possible foot landing spots in the next ten feet ahead of you that you can’t really look at the other person. The risk of doing so might put you on a first name basis with the ground.

We made it over the top of Mystery and went down the backside at an easy pace. The tight-knit group of runners was good for me in that it kept my pace slow so I wouldn’t go out too fast. Next up was the toughest hill on the course – Moose Mountain. The climb up Moose involved a few spots where you needed to grab a tree or rock to get up and over a ledge. The flat section on top of Moose allowed for some speed, but there were several downed trees that required you to slow and either climb over or under to get past. Sometimes you needed to detour into the woods around the downed timber.

The backside of Moose is long and steep. I decided to employ my “running stupid” downhill technique. That is, I lean forward and run faster while lifting my knees high, landing my feet under me and kicking my feet out behind me as I go. This allows me to avoid hammering my quads in braking down the hills. If my feet hit a rock or root, they are immediately moving backwards so I don’t get tripped (so far anyway). In my youth I used a similar technique in downhill skiing, which gave me more balance and control on steep hills. There are some downhills too steep for me to confidently use this technique, but having run this section of the course I knew it was in my comfort zone. Warren went with me on this downhill. We made it to the bottom without eating dirt and started the climb up the third big hill, Oberg Mountain.

Leaving Oberg Aid Station (2008 Superior Trail Race 25k)

The first aid station is just past Oberg Mountain. This is the turn around point for the 25k. I was not as familiar with the rest of the course to the 50k turnaround ahead. I stopped long enough to drop my long-sleeved shirt (tied around my waist since the start line) and baseball cap. I downed some fluids and wolfed down a small PB&J sandwich. While I came into the aid station ahead of her, Wendy showed her experience by getting in and out much quicker. I took off and caught up to her a half mile down the trail. We conversed and I plied her for trail racing knowledge and learned more of her history. She was running her 61^st race of marathon or longer distance (mostly longer) compared to my 45^th race of marathon or longer (this race was my first in the longer category). Wendy had run many 100 mile races, including completing the Grand Slam, or running the four oldest hundred mile foot races in the country during a single year. She gave me great advice, including suggestions on what time of year to run my first 100 and what course I should consider. At the time I was thinking more about how to finish my first thirty-one mile race, but I soaked in the wisdom. Somewhere we missed a course turn. After making several false turns and stopping to try to figure out which way to go, we reversed course and backtracked to find where we last saw course markings. When we found the markers, we saw the trail turned sharply to the right and went slightly downhill at that point, so the ribbons marking the course were not obvious. Looking at my Garmin GPS splits later on, I estimated we lost 25 minutes and covered about 1.5 miles of extra trail. The thirty-one miles of a 50k were not going to be enough for me, so how about thirty-two and a half? I later learned one of the lead runners from last year’s race also missed the same turn. On the way to the next aid station Wendy and I passed several runners who were surprised to hear faster runners coming up on them from behind. With a little chagrin we explained we had gotten lost.

Overlook along the SHT.

We went through aid station #2 at Britton Peak fairly quickly as we knew it was only 2.2 miles past the aid station to the 50k turn around point on Carlton Peak. So we would be back at the aid station in just 4.4 miles and could stop longer if needed then. Close to Carlton Peak, the trail turns sharply steeper and the rocks grow from ankle biting size to knee biting size.

Day hike up to Carlton Peak (2009).

We walked / climbed where necessary and ran where the terrain allowed. We exchanged a few words with race volunteer and local ultra running legend John Storkamp at the Carlton Peak turn-around and headed back down the trail back to aid station #3 (Britton Peak again). I refilled my camel back hydration pack with fluids from my drop bag and since it was still cloudy and dry, I choose to not grab my rain jacket or cap. That later proved a little unwise. I did stuff a whole PB&J into my mouth and concentrated on not choking while simultaneously eating and running.

For the section back from Britton to the last aid station at Oberg, Wendy was farther ahead of me, but I did catch up to two runners, a man in an “Army Strong” shirt and a young woman wearing Vibram Five Fingers minimalist shoes. On this gnarly course, I was surprised to see her wearing shoes with little protection or support. As I recollect our conversation went as follows:

“Have she had run a trail race in those shoes before?” “No.” “How was it going?” “Just fine.” “Have you run a lot of trail races?” “No, this I my first trail race.” “Have you run marathons?” She said, “No, my last race was a 5k”. “Why did you choose this race as your first trail race / ultra?” “A friend called me a wus. I have to prove my friend wrong.” I later learned her name was Sarah. She dropped back a while after this conversation.

I kept running behind the Army Strong guy. Somewhere along the way I passed Wendy again. Lost her on some downhills and kept going. By this time my hips and right knee were giving me discomfort. I noted my laces were loose. On trail races you often run alone. The tread of miles wears and tears on your body. To distract myself, I tried to listen to the bird calls wafting through the canopy. At stream crossings I heard the impatient battle of water propelled by gravity while it fights the rocks obstructing the flow. You see less scenery than you’d like as it takes tremendous focus to scan the trail ahead. It takes just a moment of inattention to stumble over a hungry trail rock or root. Eventually I made it to aid station #4 at Oberg Mountain again. I felt a sharp rock in shoe. I found a bench, removed said rock, then grabbed some fluid and headed out. Now I only had the last section and three big hills to go.

I caught up to Army Strong and was running behind him on the slope down from Oberg. On one of the many stream crossings, the wooded plank  bridge nearly collapsed under Army. He winced in pain as the quick drop had wrenched his back. We found a loose rock nearby and slid it under the most unstable end of the planks. He said he was okay, so I went ahead. It started raining about this time.

I caught up to Wendy shortly after beginning the long ascent up the backside of Moose Mountain. This was brutal. Merely walking took your breath away. The rain kept intensifying as we climbed. I really started to regret not grabbing my rain jacket from my drop bag at aid station #3. The rain felt a bit cold wearing just a running singlet and shorts. The skies darkened and the mud started to get a little more slippery as we crested Moose. I noticed my legs seemed cleaner as the rain had washed off much of the mud. Then I realized that was just the front of my legs, as the backside still carried a half-inch coating of mud. I had to remove a small stick from my shoe just as I started down the steep front side of Moose. For the next few miles I ran mostly with Wendy and Sarah. After gaining the crest of Mystery Mountain I started pulling slightly ahead of them. Almost lost a shoe in some deep sucking mud. By this point in the race I had long since given up efforts to step around the worst muddy spots. Now in the last mile of the race I passed a couple of runners approaching the Poplar River Bridge. I climbed out of the Poplar valley and hit the dirt road at the beginning of Lutsen Ski Resort. Only three-quarters of a mile to go! Running on solid footing seemed a dream, but I wished I could get my legs to turn over quicker. I wasn’t sure if my dead feeling legs were due to fatigue or just the extra weight of the mud in my shoes. I soon heard footsteps closing in on me from behind. Wendy was catching up to me. We turned off the road to make the loop behind the host hotel to the finish line.

Mike Madden finishing behind the hotel. (2008 Superior Trail Race 25k).

Standing just off the path were Dave Coyne and Mike Madden watching from under umbrellas as we stomped through the red clay mud down the cambered slope. Although a little slick, we kept our footing. Wendy crossed the finish line just ahead of me. I had finished my first ultra in 7:31. A couple of minutes later I saw Sarah cross the finish line. I approached her and said “Young lady, you are no wus! You just finished a 50k ultra! She smiled and gave me a high-five.

I caught up to Mike and Dave and went inside to enjoy some post race refreshments. They served “1918 Root Beer” and chili. It was amazing how good that tasted. After a shower and nap we had a great dinner at the Cascade Lodge with a few brews. We followed that up with a nice breakfast on Sunday morning and we headed home. As I alluded to earlier, the Twin Cities (thankfully not our neighborhood) were hit with tornadoes on Sunday so my family picnic was moved to our house. Within an hour of arriving home we had twenty-five relatives at our house and most of us met my one-year old great-niece Janelle for the first time. It made for a complete weekend.

Lessons learned: I need to work on my efficiency on going through the aid stations and improve my course navigation skills. I was happy with my fueling and energy level for the distance. As I held back my pace to make sure I could finish the race, I’d like to try picking up my speed on my next attempt. Yes I am confident there will be another 50k in my future. I’m not ready for a 100 miler yet, but maybe a 50 miler not too far down the road.

Race Report: Eugene Marathon, May 1, 2011

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As I venture along on my quest to run a marathon in each of the fifty US states, a friend suggested I write some notes to share my observations with friends. So a little late into the game, I’m writing … Continue reading →