Race Report: Grandma's Marathon

Friday: Expo Day

Cassie and I drove into Duluth and immediately went to the Expo on Friday afternoon. The Expo was alright; the expo room in the DECC is a pretty small space considering the number of people there. My only issue was that there was no Grandma's Marathon technical wear to buy. Everything was cotton. I hope they get an apparel sponsor in the future because I would love to have a shirt to wear running. The highlight of the expo was meeting hometown running hero Dick Beardsley. I talked with him for a couple minutes and he signed my bib number. He's a super nice guy, and I hope I get to see him again someday. Packet pick-up was super easy and we went to Michelina's Spaghetti Dinner at the DECC to fill up on carbs. The food was great and just what we needed after a day and a half of driving through Wisconsin and eating too much junk food. We made our way to our friends home for dinner, and after a quick trip to SuperOne for some gatorade, peanut butter, bagels, bananas and sunscreen, we went to bed early.

Saturday: Race Day

We woke up at 4:45 a.m. feeling pretty good after 8 hours of sleep. After getting ready we made ourselves some peanut butter bagels and walked to the University of Minnesota, Duluth campus to catch a bus to the race start. We waited in line for 10-15 minutes before boarding a bus and heading to Two Harbors. There were no issues driving to the race start since it was early and the buses were the only traffic. The weather was really nice and cool in the morning with a nice breeze. The skies were clear, so it was looking to be a sunny day with temps in the 60s and low 70s. After arriving we made a couple trips through the port-o-potty lines and went to the race start. It was a nice atmosphere and I was feeling good. It took us about 5-6 minutes to walk up to the starting line once the race started, but after that we were able to immediately jump into our race pace of around 10 minutes/mile.

The course was beautiful and Cassie and I had a great race. We were strong and kept a nice pace through about 20 miles, then we needed to start taking walking breaks. I started getting some stomach cramps around 21-22 miles, mostly I think because of the Ultima. That stuff was nasty.

The people of Two Harbors and Duluth really come out and support this race. There were a lot of supporters on the course not just in Duluth, but along Highway 61 in the middle of nowhere. There were also many Elvi, bands, musicians and Al Franken. That's right. Al Franken. We ran past him around the 9-10 mile marker and thought we were seeing things, then when we passed him around mile 17-18 again I got my picture taken with him.

Our mile splits according to my watch, which slightly vary from our chip time:

Mile 1: 9:53
Mile 2: 9:45

Mile 3: 9:45

Mile 4: 9:28

Mile 5: 9:29

Mile 6: 9:56

Mile 7: 9:37

Mile 8: 10:00

Mile 9: 9:53

Mile 10: 9:29

Mile 11: 9:59

Mile 12: 10:07

Mile 13: 10:08

Mile 14: 9:41

Mile 15: 9:40

Mile 16: 11:52

Mile 17: 11:06

Mile 18: 9:56

Mile 19: 9:56

Mile 20: 13:35

Mile 21: 13:11

Mile 22: 11:23

Mile 23: 10:55

Mile 24: 12:20

Mile 25: 11:41

Mile 26: 10:12
Mile .2: 2:07

We finished in a chip time of 4:35:04, which was a lot better than we expected, especially since the course seemed alot hillier than expected. We just aren't able to train for that in Chicago, no matter how big the hills. I loved the race and would definitely do it again in the future. Wading in Lake Superior after the race was really nice...but even too cold to stay in for long. I do believe that it helped our recovery though, because we were feeling okay the day after the race and within three days we were pretty much back to normal. My recovery for Grandma's was a LOT better than AZ in January.

Thanks to the organizers of Grandma's and the people of Two Harbors and Duluth for a great race weekend.

A Minnesota 20 miler

We were up in the Twin Cities this past weekend for my sister's wedding. We took a couple days off from work for the trip and got up north on Wednesday night. Friday morning we left our hotel to drive downtown near the Mississppi river for our 20 mile long run. After doing some research on MapMyRun and the MDRA website I determined our best route to get in the miles and not get completely lost was to run along the Grand Rounds River Byway. It was a great path along the Mississippi and Minnehaha rivers. We planned to do two 5 mile out and backs in each direction to keep our car as a central point so we could have Gatorade and water. The weather was a little on the warm side in the mid 60s, but still very manageable.

We forget how spoiled we are on the lakeshore in Chicago. I assummed there would be plenty of water fountains along the path, but it took us 5 miles to find our first fountain, which actually was a water pump. The Minnehaha path followed a nice quiet river through some parks, a golf course, nice neighborhoods, and a couple lakes. It reminded me of the River Path in Chicago in some ways, but it was a smaller river and a bigger park. There weren't many runners out on Friday, but we did see several bikers. At the 5 mile mark with the water pump we turned around and went back to the car. On the way back we did find one more water fountain with about 2 miles left.

After a brief break at the car to take some GU and Gatorade we set out north along the Mississippi for the last 10 miles. The path had been very flat until this point when it decided to go downhill a ways very close to the river. Going downhill is fine until you have to go back the other direction. We made it about 3 miles when the path came to a closed off fence area near the I-35W bridge which collapsed last year. I was suprised to see lots of torn and twisted pieces of metal from the bridge lying out behind the fence. We were forced to turn around a couple miles early and head back to the other direction, after a mile we were able to find a water fountain with some gross milky looking water. We were so thirsty that we would have drank anything though. It was getting warmer and we hit the hill so we walked back up a little bit before running to the car for another GU and Gatorade break.

We still needed to run 4 more miles to complete our training run, so we set out 2 miles in the other direction towards the Minnehaha river again. Cassie and I were both feeling the distance considerably at this point so our run had slowed to more of a shuffle. We found the fountain again after 2 miles and then shuffled back to the car to finish the run. On the last mile I started loosening up again despite the pain, and ended feeling strong. I think our 22 mile day two weeks ago was a more difficult run for me.

We're returned to Chicago on Sunday afternoon and ran a nice 5 miler along the river. It's such a great feeling to complete that final long run. Now we just have a couple shorter long runs for our taper period and we're driving to Duluth for Grandma's Marathon on June 21st. I am already looking forward to a victory wade in cold Lake Superior after running 26.2 miles. It's going to be sweet.

Race Report: Soldier Field 10 mile

We woke up at 5:30 this morning to get ready for the race. Cassie and I picked up Jon and Sara at 6 a.m. and we drove downtown to the race start at Soldier Field. After some traffic near the museum campus we were able to park easily and walk up to the start with about 25 minutes to spare. The weather was perfect for a distance race in the low 50s at the start. I thought I would need a long sleeved shirt, but I ended up going with a short-sleeved shirt right before we began. This ended up being a great decision as it warmed up very quickly during the race with the sun out and no cloud cover.

The race started at 7:30 a.m. There were about 7,500 runners, so it took us about 8-9 minutes just to get past the starting line and it was slow-moving during the first mile. The race course headed south along Lake Shore Drive for about 4 and a half miles and then cut back and returned north to Soldier Field, with a fantastic race finish on the 50 yard line.

My goal was to finish the race in less than 90 minutes, since I just missed that mark by 7 seconds during the Lakefront 10 miler a month earlier. My strategy was similar to the LF10; keeping a nice easy close to 9 min. pace for the first 7 miles or so and then pushing it on the last 3.

I felt really good during the race. I spent alot of time and energy weaving around other runners and passing them, but it was sort of a fun game to keep my mind occupied. It was really a beautiful course. I particularly liked heading north on the lakeshore path with a great view of the skyline. I never run much further south than Navy Pier so it was a treat to be running on new ground. Around mile 7 I knew that I'd have to pick it up to make it in under 90 minutes. I felt fine until about the last half-mile when I was feeling a little sick and mentally exhausted. When I emerged onto the field I saw that I had about a minute to spare and so I kicked it into the 50 yard line and finished the race in a chip time of 1:29:34 with 26 seconds to spare. I hadnt eaten anything before the race so I was really nauseated and hungry and the Gatorade wasnt sitting well. It didnt really help to get ushered into the crowded, hot concourse and I had a hard time finding some recovery snacks, but eventually we found it and were on our way.

The stats according to my watch (they vary slightly from my chip time):
Average lap: 8:58 miles
Splits:
Mile 1: 10:00
Mile 2: 9:15
Mile 3: 9:03
Mile 4: 9:28
Mile 5: 8:58
Mile 6: 9:10
Mile 7: 8:58
Mile 8: 8:35
Mile 9: 8:19
Mile 10: 7:51

How's that for some nice negative splits? All in all, a great race. I still can't imagine keeping this pace for an entire marathon, but with some speedwork and tempo runs this summer, that is exactly what I want to accomplish at the Chicago Marathon. This was my last race before Grandma's Marathon on June 21. Cassie and I have our 20 mile run this weekend while were up in the Twin Cities, and then there is nothing left but the taper.

Almost....there...

I guess I have lots to report since its been nearly two weeks since my last post. It's been a good couple of running weeks with good consistency and no injuries to report.

Last Sunday was the most difficult running day I've experienced in a long time, if not ever. Sunday morning we ran the Legs for Literacy 5k in Lincoln Park with our friend Jess. Jess is not a big runner, but wanted to do a little training and run a race with Cass and myself. We looked at several 5k races in May and decided this would be the best one. What we didnt do was take into account our marathon training. Turns out that we had to run 18 miles the same weekend. Originally we were going to do our long run on Saturday, but due to busy schedules it was pushed to Sunday. Since we couldnt do 15 more miles immediately after the race, that meant it was going to be a 21 mile day total. We figured we'd be okay if ran the race VERY conservatively at around 10 minute/mile pace. I kicked it from about 100 yards in, but otherwise it was going to be a warm up.

Later that afternoon we set out for our 18 mile long run on the lakeshore. Maybe it was the 5k, maybe I was just not mentally prepared, but it was extremely hard. We ran about 15 miles on the lakeshore and headed home before running another 4 miles on the river path. 15 plus 4 doesnt equal 18 you're saying, it's 19. Well, I didnt map the run before we left so we ended up running one more mile than we needed to, making it a 22 mile day. BUT we did finish it. It completely whipped us, but we did it. Erik ran with us for the first 15 miles, and with 2 miles to go, Jon caught up with us on the river path to surprise us and help take our minds off our pain while he was finishing his 10 miler. It was a big mental boost. On Monday I felt like I had run a marathon.

On Saturday morning we are running the Soldier Field 10 miler with Jon. We're supposed to have great weather and its a great course so I am really looking forward to it. I picked up our packets at the new Piper's Alley Fleet Feet store yesterday. I also wanted to pick up a new pair of Brooks Adrenalines since I have over 400 miles on my current pair. This will allow me to get about 100 miles on the new pair before the marathon and break them in. I dont know what it was, but I had a horrible experience at the new FF store. All the staff members seemed very rushed and rude. The new store is just huge comparitively and I sort of feel like they've lost some of their quality personal service at the new place. I think I'll stick to the Lincoln Square store when possible. I know they had packet pick-up going on and it was a busy time of day, but isnt personable, quality service their thing? Thats what they promote themselves as anyways.

Well, I will see you on the 50 yard line this weekend.

Training Update

I realized it has been a little while since I've given an update on my weekly runs. Training for Grandma's Marathon is going very well. Sunday afternoon, Cassie, Erik and I ran 16 miles along the lakeshore. After some stomach issues the first five miles, I settled into a nice groove the rest of the way and finished strong. Cassie had some of the same stomach issues, only they hit her at mile 13. The stomach issues were definitely our fault. We did a very stupid thing and ate a full lunch of pasta with creamy sauce 40 minutes before our long run. Our bodies hated us for it. We decided afterwards that we're going to write a book of all the stupid running things NOT to do. Erik is going to write a chapter on the trials and tribulations of buying an older model shoe for cheaper off the discount rack.

I've ran 32 miles so far this week. An easy 4.5 on Tuesday, 5.5 on Wednesday and a fairly quick 6 miler today. I need to get in a 10 mile long run this weekend, so I may end up crossing the 40 mile week mark for the second time in my life if I go tomorrow. The best part is that I've been injury free, with nothing more than general soreness after long runs. I didnt get any cross-training in this week because the weather has been cold and rainy and I havent been able to bike to work. I'm hoping to be biking at least 2-3 days a week regularly once the weather warms up for good. If I can add some speedwork on the track once a week I think that'll make a nice training plan.