Lake Wobegon 2018

My first marathon of the year and what a great day. I went into the race with some inconsistent training after being sick in January and dealing with a nasty cough through the spring but my faith in the Galloway method paid off but first some background.

Lake Wobegon is a runners race (it's been put on by St. Cloud River Runners), not a large field and only the marathon, not a lot of fan support but an extremely well organized and supported race. This was to be my 3rd time at Lake Wobegon. The first attempt was a DNF when I was trying to run through a meniscus tear. The second attempt went far better all things considered as I had had the knee surgery the year before and had ruptured my plantar the year before so I had some residual issues going on.

The race starts at Holdingford High School and it takes us about a mile to pick up the Lake Wobegon Regional Trail where we head southwest for about 10 miles or so to Albany, from there we hang a left, head over to Avon and then on to St. Joseph. The trail is mostly flat with some gradual grades as you might expect on an old railway bed. The trail is asphalt and we had plenty of aid stations and volunteers.

As to my race, well it started out with a problem. We stayed at a hotel in St. Cloud and I forgot my race number, thankfully they provided me a new number as we didn't have time to go back and make the start time. After that things went fairly well, I had planned on using the Galloway method using 30-30 increments. It worked well up until the last 4 or 5 miles where I slowed down by a minute per mile. Part of the reason was the shoes I wore (Hoka Clayton 2) had started cutting into a toe around mile 5 and I tried to ignore it but as time went on, well it become harder so my mental energy took a hit dealing with that, along with that I messed a bit on fueling and well I hard run 20+ miles. Overall though I was pleased. My internal goal coming into the race was to be under 5 1/2 hrs, ideally beat my time from the Pig from the year before of 5:25, realistically though I had trained better for the Pig as the year before our winter was more runner friendly and I had not been sick like this year. My time was 5:33 and I was quite happy that they got it right considering my bib mistake.

A couple of other things, for this years race for signing up early we got a pullover and they also provided gloves and a mini back pack at packet pickup and the finisher shirt and medal at the finish. Along with plenty of pizza, water and pop.

Next up MedCity.

Ultra Loony Completed

Another Ultra Loony completed, this one was the most interesting of them all although each one has been a great adventure. I went into the event with 3 weeks of not quite normal training after 6 weeks of not being able to run.  Up until the first race started I wasn't sure if I had should even attempt trying to do the races. I had run every Ultra Loony and although I finished the slowest or all Ultra Loony finishers last year I still finished (last year was another race running through an injury). Part of my mindset for this years race was although the pain was far more difficult to absorb than the previous year, I had manage it during the 3 weeks I worked to get to marathon pace and I hadn't tore it again so maybe it would hold or I could deal with it. Plus, I had tapered a week, so my injury might even have healed and then you add in the normal marathon magic and I just had to go for it.

The weather forecast was great for Saturday and ok for Sunday for temp but rain was in the forecast. They ended up right.

 The first event was the 10k which I again was running with my wife (Karyn) and besides the hip adductor pretty much wouldn't allow me to run hard at all but I wasn't sure if I could hold her pace or not. The good news was that Karyn didn't push it hard (thank you) and had decided to do a 10-1 run-walk method which I went along with. It kept it mentally easy for me and the only complication was when I talked to an old friend at the water station at mile 5 and then I had to push it to catch back up to her. That was not easy but I made it and did no damage. So in some ways although I did have moderate pain, I was able to endure it and get to the finish line. Although, coming down the hill to the finish line was a problem as every step radiated in the hip but I manage it.

The next event was the 5k and this year my daughter (Katie) and her husband (Andrew) decided to run so I decided to just go my own pace and let them go at their own pace. I knew with my run-walk method especially in a 5k, it might not be easy to stay with them. As it turned out, I got a bit swept up in race excitement and really was enjoying the new course, they took us down Selby and then looped over to Summit versus the normal up Summit, turnaround and back down Summit. A nice change. I was able to actually run a bit faster than I had planned and other than the downhill to the finish I was quite pleased. That radiated a little more than it did in the 10k. I finished with no damage and then my daughter and her husband finished shortly after me.

The highlight of the Saturday events though was watching my granddaughter (Maddie - age 2 1/2) run the 1/2 mile. She had a smile on her face the whole time and watching her zigzag the course with her parents was a delight. She even fell down and popped right up and kept on going. When she came over to high five my wife and myself, we were thrilled.

The marathon, the big and final test as during my 3 week ramp I had not been able to go over 10 miles without experiencing serious pain. Originally my youngest daughter (Kristin) had signed up but her work schedule had kept her from getting in the runs she needed to be able to do the race and as it turned out was out of town for the weekend.
I had rested the week leading up to the marathon and had not had any change in pain on Saturday so I was hoping I would hold up. I have run so many events injured that whether I like it or not, I have to face the fact that for whatever reason, I am comfortable to embrace and manage running in pain. I am sure the psycho babble folks could explain it and probably tell me of my character flaws, I just know I can do it so I do and I don't think I am the worse for doing so, in many ways I think it has helped me to have greater confidence and belief in myself as continuing to push through pain has given me satisfaction. Don't misunderstand, being injury free and trained so I can run hard and finish strong is even more satisfying.

For the marathon, my only goal was to finish ahead of the cutoff and with that in mind my plan was to try and run around 13 min/mile pace through the first 10, then 15, then 20 and then get to the finish. Oh with this in mind I did have one other goal, run mile 21 to 22 faster than the previous 20 miles average pace. If I did this then I would win a free pair of Brook Leviates. The concept of winning those shoes kept me thinking about going slow and to take it a mile at a time.

The day ended up having more than a few twists. The plan was again for Karyn to drive me to the light rail station in Bloomington and then pick me up at the finish line. The first twist, Karyn woke up with the flu, so I drove myself to Bloomington thinking she might recover enough and still make it or my daughter was coming so maybe I would get a ride from her.

At the start line, I met some friends for a work picture as my company had formed a TCM marathon corporate team. We met at the Viking ship, as a Bears fan, it was awkward and what's up with "skol". I also looked for my Marathon Maniacs group as we too talked about meeting up at the boat for a picture but with the rain disrupting the morning, I did not see any maniacs. The race started without any issues and the first 5 miles went great, my pace was around 12:50, not 13 but not 12:00 or 12:30's so I was doing good and the pace had felt easy and the hip pain was mostly negligible. I was basically doing 30-30 galloway but would add extra walking time to keep the mile from getting too quick.

As I cross the road to go around Calhoun, my left knee flipped out and I had excruciating pain (this is my knee with almost no medial meniscus left and the one that I had a cyst in it a while back right on the joint line). I tried to hop/skip/run/walk through it which didn't work and then I had to go to a very slow awkward walk as it was still hurting. As I started to freak out, I just kept walking and telling myself, it's ok, give it time, you are doing fine, you are still moving forward. I just needed to chill and relax and see if it goes away. Thankfully after a little more than a quarter mile it did and I was able to resume my pace. The knee was a bit tender going around Calhoun and Harriet but it was manageable and it took the focus off the hip.

I  ran into a buddy from work around mile 9, he provided me a great pick me up as provided some very positive comments and after chatting with him I started believing I would be able to do it and the positive energy was just awesome and it lee me to thinking, enjoy this, you will give it your all, it's one step at a time, just stay focused in the moment. I started to process the race by just looking at the next milestone in front of me, like get to Nokomis, get to Minnehaha Falls, get to the river, get to the beer stop (normally the Hash House Harriers provide it before the Franklin bridge), cross the river, get through Alarc wall, get to St. Thomas hill, get to the real beer stop, get to Summit, get to the hill, Finish. But for now, just keep moving forward and focus on where you are not how far you have to go and enjoy every minute as you are doing what you love.

As I neared the 1/2 way point, I saw my Katie, Andrew and Maddie, what a great pick me up. They said to keep going and they would see me for sure at St. Thomas. I have had unbelievable support from my family for my running and I so appreciate what they have allowed me to be able to do. Thank you!!

After Nokomis on the way to Minnehaha Falls, I saw a legendary ultra runner named John Taylor (he is a 100 miler finishing machine and always is so positive) who was watching the race. I yelled his name expecting him to just wave or something (probably thinking who was that guy as we have chatted in the past but it has now been years since I have been able to run trails or we have talked), yet he recognized me which again gave me a huge mental boost. I do so miss the trail running community and the trails.

As I got through the Falls, the rain started picking up, we had some off and on rain earlier but nothing sustained. Now I do love running in the rain, I don't like to have to go out the door into the rain but rain during a run, I enjoy. As I went down West River Road, I was hurting but I knew I was on pace to finish and I kept telling myself, you are doing this, you hip has held up through 15, just get to 18, enjoy the rain, you know you will not stop so keep the pace so later if everything blows up, you can walk to the finish. I was hobbling during this section but so were a lot of other runners. As I neared the Franklin bridge, I was almost freaking out again but this time with an overwhelming amount of positive energy that I was going to make it. I crossed over the river and my focus turned to maintain the pace so that you can win the shoes. I had decided before the start that if I could run the pace I should that I would go for the shoes and run mile 21 up the hill as hard as I could, if my hip blew, I would walk it in. This strategy worked great during the race as it kept me moving at my planned pace with no urgency to go faster as that might take away my chance for shoes (and blow out the hip).

Mile 21 came and I went for it and I did it! Here is a copy of what I received from Brooks after the race:

Dear Runner,

Congratulations! You successfully conquered the Brooks Infinite Energy Mile during the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon. You have won a free pair of BrooksLevitates as a result of your tremendous accomplishment. 

As a reminder, the Brooks Infinite Energy Mile was between mile markers 21 and 22 on the course, and you won by having a faster split time for that mile than your average pace from the start of the race to the beginning of 21. That is not easy, and we commend you!

As I got up the hill I saw Katie, Andrew and Maddie again, what a great pick me up as the weather was not good for spectators. I asked her if she had talked to her Mom and she said she was not feeling any better. After I went by them, I thought that they must have brought 2 cars, wow what dedication to supporting me as I knew her husband had to go in to work around 2. I was hurting a bit as I continued past St. Thomas, part of the pain was normal based on my limited running coming into the event, part of it was the hip was still not happy with me for running up the hill (or probably at all) to go for the shoes. The pain was manageable as I knew I could still make the cutoff by walking it in but I wanted to finish this up as quickly as I could as the rain was starting to affect many runners around me and I thought it might get me as well. So I just tried to stay in the moment and worked to keep the run-walk thing happening. I again have to give credit to Jeff Galloway's Run-Walk program, as it again was working for me so unbelievably well that I was almost in shock that I was able to do this race thus far so consistently. Thank you Jeff!.

Before too long, I was on John Ireland and headed to the hill. As expected it hurt but it was still a good hurt as I was about to finish my 12th Twin Cities Marathon and complete my 4th Ultra Loony Challenge (and maintain the charter streak :-)

I saw Katie and Maddie as I came into the finish and stopped and chatted, she said she would be getting a ride home as her husband did have to go to work. I thought to myself, that might be a problem. After the finish, I picked up my clothes (a dry shirt and jacket were so needed and felt so good) and medals and I told Katie that no problem getting a ride except my car was at 28th street station. We checked with Karyn (not doing well enough to drive) and discussed options (Uber, etc...) but decided to take the light rail from St. Paul to US West to pick up the light rail to where my car was (Green Line to Blue Line - approximately an 1 hr and a half but free for those that were running today). This was working great and Maddie was enjoying the train ride  except our timing wasn't good as we arrived at US Bank Stadium coincided with the Viking game ending so it was a packed train to our stop (it was the most purple I have ever seen). It all worked out just fine, Maddie was a hit with the Viking fans and they were interested in hearing about the marathon. And I would be remiss to not say the Fans were very nice, almost made me think good things of the Vikings and yes I had told them I was a Bears fan.

We had one more issue in getting home, I don't have a car seat in my car so the last complication was driving home to get Karyn's car and then heading to the MOA to pick up Katie and Maddie.

The good news is it all worked out just fine.

To sum up this event, I ran a conservative (slow pace) and was able to maintain it most of the way. I am pretty sure it allowed me to win the Brooks shoes as mile 21-22 was my fastest mile of the first 22. The hip did better than I thought and although we had 10 miles of rain, it was mostly light. The temp was good and I am quite happy to have made it through the events.

I love being able to enjoy the events of Twin Cities Marathon weekend with the family and this year watching Maddie finish her first race was a blast, with her huge smile and determination to finish, she epitomized the fun of running, what a great event and what great memories from it.

Med City, Minneapolis & Grandmas

I did a quick update on Facebook but figured I should do a bit longer version on my blog, here's the Facebook post:

I had a plan this spring, run Med City, Minneapolis and then Grandmas, which would make Grandma's my fiftieth marathon. Seemed poetic since it was also my first, then Minneapolis canceled so I was looking for another marathon until today when I decided to pull the plug on MedCity at 20 miles. My daughter was running the 20 mile event as her last long run so I figured I would do the same.

Now in my case, I was having foot and knee pain and was cramping up (both legs and stomach as it was a warmer day with the wind at my back for the first 12 miles and I had become overheated). Having not fond memories of enduring cramps and expecting things to only get worse, I think it was a good choice and now I can make my 16th Grandma's my 48th marathon which seems poetic again

So what happened at Med City, that can best be answered by looking at my running log for the year.

Started out sick so I missed Zoom Yah Yah, and then I began ramping up the long runs but notice all of the pink squares, those were days I didn't run, usually a by product of my work interfering with my life (and those are the runs needed to provide a solid base). I was  getting back on track in March into April when the wheels came off again, that correlates with work again and getting sent to Puerto Rico, followed by Kristin's graduation and Katie's wedding. I did get in a 19 miler the first weekend of May and I was hoping that would be enough and it probably was but I pulled the plug anyway at Med City.

I was cramping (stomach and calf), had knee pain (bone on bone) and my posterior tib pain was kicking in so I said enough and rationalized it as a final long run and a decision to do no more damage. I did have time to finish but why should I put myself through it? I have been beating up my body and my mind by pushing my way through marathons that my health and training should not have allowed. For this year, I have been doing ok throughout the training at avoiding issues meaning no PTT issues, some knee issues and then about a week ahead of Med City my calf was cramping up again so that had me nervous going in.

Then with the wind at our back and warmer temps (for MN) I was in trouble almost from the start. I complicated it by only getting a couple of hours of sleep on Saturday night. That again would be from stressing from work along with having our Granddaughter all week. She is a total sweetie and a delight but I am no longer well equipped to deal with a 1 year old not that I ever was good with 1 year olds. Thank god she is so good. Anyway, I went into Med City tired out both physically and mentally, forgot my knee sleeve which helps avoid the knee wobble that causes the pain, forgot about suntan lotion and then after an hour in the race, totally got off track on pace and fueling.

So I will work on getting my mind and body ready for Grandmas as I can't imagine not finishing Grandmas. After all it will by my 16th Grandma's in the year 2016 and my 48th marathon finish. How I love numbers that work together..............

Twin Cities Marathon - Ultra Loony Challege Weekend

I went into this year's Ultra Loony Weekend about like last years. Somewhat injured which made me think, why I am doing this. That's easy, because I enjoy it. Yes I would enjoy it a whole lot more if I had no injuries but I still enjoy myself.

Turned out, I took a bit longer to recover from Walker then I had planned, my legs felt great but my PTT had my foot/ankle hurting. My post Walker runs were not good but I was able to get through them and I figured I should still go for it as I made it last year and I was no worse than then.

I met Karyn at the expo again this year, she had decided to run the 10k which meant we could drive up together and run the 10k together. At the expo, I ran into quite a few people I know. I talked with Dane L. who was running backwards from the finish to the start and then back to the finish as training for Javelina, oh to be an ultrarunner again. I then ran into John Storkamp and to my surprise he knew my name, pretty much made my day. I suffer what many back of the packers probably do, I know about all of the runners by name but figure that they don't know who I am as why should they. I had a similar experience a few years back when Helen L. (now S.) knew my name when I weighed in at FANs. Anyway, it was nice, I also ran into a neighbor who was running the 10 miler and a former co-worker who was also doing the 10 miler. My other highlight of the expo was when I stopped by the Twin Cities in Motion booth and when they heard I was doing the Ultra Loony Challenge again, one of them said so that makes you a charter member which means I will be doing it again next year and the year after and so on, well you get the idea. I picked up my numbers and shirts  and Karyn got hers and we were out of there. When we got home though I noticed that Karyn had a 5k chip and shirt, oops back to the expo to get the right chip and shirt.

We got to the 10k in plenty of time, parking again at the same garage as last year which was free and close to the festivities, sure beats paying the $20 for the Sears lot. We ran the 10k together with no issues, I did my run-walk after the first mile and it went pretty well. A little slower (about a minute and a 1/2) than last year but the foot didn't bother me too much. For the 5k, it was chaos, as some walkers got too close to the start so runners were going around, add in all the young kids and I saw 4 or 5 runners get tripped up and hit the pavement. Once we got up the hill, things spaced out a bit and I was able to get into my run-walk routine, for the 5k my time was about a minute faster than the year before but the pace seemed fine and although the foot was sore I was still optimistic about the marathon.

For the marathon, like the year before I asked Karyn to drop me at the light rail station in Bloomington which worked great the year before. Of course this year, I screwed up and forgot my Garmin which led to us turning around when we were only about 5 minutes away but it had me muttering some words that shouldn't be said. Ok muttering might not be that accurate. Well it worked out ok as Karyn got me to the light rail and I made the train with 15 seconds to spare. Even if I had missed that one I would have been fine but I would have stressed a lot more.

The race started and my plan was to use the run-walk approach and if it went well, to finish in 5 1/2 hrs if the foot worked ok, maybe faster. It's funny for me to say that I use the run-walk approach as I can't run longer than a few minutes at a time.

Things got off a bit rocky when I looked at my Garmin after a few minutes of running and it showed a 15 minute/mile pace which caused instant stress. I was running and expected to see 10 min/mile pace. It turned out ok as I hit the 1 mile marker at just under 12 minutes with my Garmin showing the distance at .85 miles which explained the slower early pace. After that it was  accurate and I stayed focused and relaxed. I saw a co-worker at mile 4, ran into Scott Huston around mile 8 or so, we chatted briefly and then I continued.

It was shortly after that when my foot/ankle started causing me more issues. I tried to focus on my form which can help me ignore the pain but by mile 12 I knew the day might go longer than I hoped. I held things together until around mile 15 when I almost had to sit down as the pain was so intense. I hopped on it a bit and walked through it and then walked a bit more and it calmed down but the problem with the foot/ankle is that when it gets intense I walk slower and run slower as I can't push off and I lose time which causes stress. I accepted that my time goal might be lost and hobbled my way forward.

I just wanted to get to the Franklin bridge, and then the Medtronic water stop, Alarc wall, St. Thomas hill, have a beer somewhere on Summit and eventually get to the cathedral one more time. One thing that kept going through my head when I debated dropping before the bridge was that I can't as I am a charter member of the Ultra Loony so I had to keep going. I had my beer around mile 23 (thank you Growler) and then just kept going and although it seemed like forever it was over with before I knew it. My slowest Twin Cities ever (5:49:06) but it was a marathon and an Ultra Loony finish so I was happy to have it over.

This year everything worked out, the volunteers were fabulous, the weather was the best ever and the course is gorgeous. My thanks to the organization, sponsors and volunteers, great event. Can't wait until next year to do it all again.

Walker North Country 2015

Well it happened, I have finally run a marathon and finished DFL but I finished. I debated long and hard running the Walker North Country this year but I couldn't resist doing it again. After all it was my Birthday weekend, what better way to celebrate a birthday.

Here's the story, I am still plagued by Posterior Tibial Tendon pain and when I run any trails it tends to get pretty painful. Well the Walker North Country has trails and I had pain.

I signed up for the early start as I figured I might need the extra time. Saw Karen G. at the start, turned out she too had signed up for the early start. We decided to start running together, I warned her I would be doing my Galloway run-walk and she was welcome to join me. We did it maintaining a sub 12 minute pace until we hit the trails after mile 7,  I told her I would be fast walking the trails as I feared the trails would cause my foot to get a bit unhappy and by the time we left the trails around mile 12, the foot was hurting. Anyway, back on smooth trails we got back into the run-walk rhythm. I was hoping the foot would calm down but it was throbbing as we hit the second trail section which did me in. Karen took off during this section, I had felt bad that she was staying with me and kept telling her she could take off so was happy to see her go as she was running well. I switched shoes at mile 19 1/2 (Hwy 34 crossing where Karyn was waiting, she had again run the 10k and it sounded like she enjoyed herself) with the hope it would help. I had started the race wearing my New Balance 980's which I had hoped would protect the foot as they are about my stiffest pair of shoes.

Switching shoes (to Altra Repetitions) helped but stopping would have been the best option. I basically hobbled the rest of the way and may have been better to not have switched, regardless I continued to hope that I could get the foot calm which never happened. I eventually walked the final hill, ran through the finish and thought to myself that I bet I just finished in last place. Turns out I did,

All things considered an enjoyable day even with the foot, it does confirm that I need to stay away from trails although one thing that did work that I tried was wearing a compression knee wrap and I was thrilled as I had no knee pain on the trails, granted it was more hiking than running but that is still the first time since my knee surgery that I was able to be on trails without knee pain :-).

Oh well no permanent damage was done and I think it still counts as a marathon finish, now it's on to the Ultra Loony Challenge at TCM.

Grandmas Marathon

I went into the 2015 Grandmas with no concerns about finishing just a big question on what my pace would be and what time I might get.

We did our new tradition for Grandmas, camped at Pattison State Park just south of Superior. It's quite cost effective and low key. Again this year, the forecast was for rain. That's getting to be a tradition. Anyway, we originally were coming up on Thursday but with a lot going on at work for both Karyn and me, we decided to just come up Friday morning. We arrived at Pattison, quickly got our camp up and then went to the DECC for packet pickup and spaghetti.

As always the DECC was packed with folks for the expo and packet pick-up but I endured the crowds and we enjoyed the spaghetti one more year. Karyn and I discussed multiple options for the race, she originally was going to sign-up for the Irvin, realized she was too late, thought about taking the train to the start, again too late. So she said she would drive me to the start line. It worked out great as we were able to go into Two Harbors, use the rest room and get some coffee and do the last few things before the start. It had started to rain and it looked like the thunderstorms were going to cause delays. The person at the coffee shop said the lake would push the storms south so we would be good for the race. I went ahead and had Karyn drop me off, thankfully we had a cheap poncho in our camping supplies, it kept me somewhat dry as the rain became more intense. All I did was wait in the pouring rain in the restroom line right up to the start. That's the nice part of being a back of the pack runner, no reason to push up through the crowd.

The race started and I was enjoying how much better I felt than the year before, I had some foot pain but no knee pain and with the marathons in May, I had confidence in my fueling strategy. So I just kind of cruised through the miles and the rain. I saw Karyn a couple of times and asked her to bring my other shoes so that I could try switching to reduce or change the pain in my foot. I have come to really like the Brooks Pure Cadence's which were the shoes I wore in my previous 3 marathons. I had recently bought a pair of Kinvara's as I thought they might make a decent alternative and I picked them up for $37.99, who could pass up that deal :-). In a training run right before Grandmas I discovered that the Kinvaras change my foot pain so I was hoping that switching to dry shoes and different pain would get me to the finish a bit quicker.

Turned out that they helped by changing the pain, but pain is pain so they didn't help me out too much. I made my way onto London Road had my traditional beers and then worked my way to the finish. Along London Road, I decided getting the MRI for the foot was going to happen as I needed to find out what was going on. I can't remember what if anything I have posted about the foot but the pain is in the arch, right where the Posterior Tibial tendon attaches to the Navicular bone in the foot. My Doctor., said it was either a nasty case of tendinitis or a navicular stress fracture and getting the MRI to let him diagnose it was my best option. I told him I would deal with it after Grandmas. Anyway, I slowed down quite a bit along London road right before Lemon Drop and then the pain equalized so I was able to pick up my running with the same amount of pain as walking so I decided to run again and I meandered my way to the finish.

Afterward, we went to Sammy's for pizza, our long time tradition, run the marathon and then swing in for some pizza at the downtown Sammy's. Never a wait and nothing tastes as good after a marathon then a slice of Sammy's and a cold beer.

Overall, I was happy with my day, and although my time was slow, it was my fastest Grandmas since 2004.

Minneapolis Marathon

My third marathon in May is complete and it went well.

Turned out to be the fastest of the three (albeit still a very slow time for most runners) and was probably the hardest of the 3 courses. I was again using the Galloway run-walk approach of 60-60 and it again worked well. I lost a few minutes in the last 2 miles but that was more due to the foot as I couldn't run down hills on it. My splits were pretty consistent so this method is working and my recovering is quick as evidence of running Med City last week and running consistently today.

Although I did say I wasn't going to discuss injuries this year, this is not the same issue I had last year with my plantar, I believe it's a return of posterior tibial tendinitis or it could be the tibialis anterior tendon. The good news is I taped it with KT tape this week after Med City and it seemed to help. It is quite tender at the attachment point to the foot near the medial cuneiform (I think). I may go in and get it looked at to see if there is anything I can do to get pain free ahead of Grandmas

Back to Minneapolis, what an enjoyable marathon. The volunteers were great but the course is what I enjoyed (see map and elevation profile below). Considering the cancellation of last years event, this year was a nice recovery by Team Ortho and did I mention how perfect the weather was this year, blue sky, mid 40's at the start, low 60's at the finish. I also think it's a decent value, you pay ~$80, you get a jacket (picture from the website) which is pretty nice and are running through a major city which adds a bit of cost. Although I still don't like that they hand out a finisher's jacket ahead of the race and I believe sell them at the expo. Can't blame them for wanting to make some money but then I would prefer it to not say finisher, anyway it's a nice participant jacket.



The marathon starts in Theodore Wirth, heads north through Victory Memorial parkway, meanders over 94 and the river,snakes through North Minneapolis, through St. Anthony, through the U of M and then down east River road, over the Franklin bridge to west river road and down to Minnehaha Park where we turn around, staying on West River road, cross over the Franklin avenue bridge to East River road, back towards the U of M then cross over the Northern Pacific bridge (nice view from there of the river) and end up finishing in Gold Medal Park.

Med City Marathon

Another marathon finished.

The foot was sore throughout so I didn't push it but instead focused on my fueling. I do enjoy running this event. I have viewed these initial marathons as training runs, that said I am not sure I could have gone a whole lot faster. The test will come at Grandmas where I will have 3 weeks to taper after Mpls. Back to Med City, I drove down the morning of and parked in the 1st street lot which is within 100 ft of the buses to the start line and free on the weekends. Picked up my packet in Byron, got ready and before I knew it, I was underway.

For this event, I chose to not wear my Nathan, instead relying on carrying a couple of water bottles loaded with Nuun, clif shot blocks and jelly bellys in my pockets. I wanted to make sure that I ate a bit more and stayed on top of my nutrition.

The weather for today was drizzle but the temp was perfect, not too cold nor hot. Probably not the best day for volunteers.

The course for this year was altered as they are working on the Convention Center. I didn't know that until I went by it around mile 20 or so. The course is really pretty interesting, your run in from Byron, head out to Quarry Park, move over to the jail, then the Technical college, down to Bear Creek and then back towards downtown, then along the Zumbro, around Soldiers golf course and then on to the finish. You can see from the Garmin data that it loops around a bit. Very Enjoyable.

Anyway, I finished and the nutrition plan worked, I was not very fast, but the pace seemed to work and I wasn't in last place so I guess it was a good day.

Oh one last thing, when you finish Med City, MN RED serves you a beer. This year they had Summit IPA and Grain Belt, nothing like a cold beer after a marathon.

Lake Wobegon Marathon

As predicted my training was close but not good enough.

The race went overall pretty well but around 20 miles the foot got pretty sore and I messed up on fueling so the wheels sputtered. I finished but lost 12 to 15 minutes over the final 6 or 7 miles, hopefully I can stay on track at Med City.

It was a beautiful day and the volunteers were great. The Lake Wobegon course is nicer than I would have expected from a bike trail. I thought it would be boring but between the towns, some creeks, some roads, some trees and bridges it was enjoyable. The one part that wasn't enjoyable was when around mile 5 the sweeper came up along side of me as I was in last place. He was on a bike and we talked off and on for the next 13 miles. Around mile 18 I passed a runner and the sweeper stayed with him. It was nice to be alone again and not in last place. After that I continued on until the gas meter went low. It was funny as some bikers passed and then about a 1/2 hour later they came back by and one of them offered me a gel. I must've looked like I needed it, I thanked him but said I had my own except I hadn't taken in anything for 2 hours. So my nutrition for the day consisted of a packet of jelly bellys about an hour in, followed by 2 or 3 Clif  shot blocks at 2 hours and then the gel around 4 hrs which explains the loss of energy. I drank Nuun throughout which works well for me for fluids and electrolytes.

The foot has continued to be sore,not really sure what the issue is as I have some real sensitivity above the arch on the navicular. Tomorrow will be a test, my thinking is to give it a go and if things aren't right to think about a DNF. Hopefully it works out.

Mankato Marathon

I wanted to post on this race sooner as I have Surf the Murph next Saturday.

Short version, drove over the day of, no issues, easy logistics, interesting course through the farmland around Mankato, a few hills, tough wind and the fact it switched direction a bit made it even worse, blisters on both feet and plantar pain along with the wind slowed me down plus I can't run downhill without pain which just isn't right. Best case would have been about 5:25 but instead 5:41 and no men's finisher shirts left so my wife has a new shirt. I really liked their shirt too, oh well.

Surf the Murph will probably be a 25k as both my knee and foot had issues. Around mile 25 coming down a short hill my knee kind of locked to where I almost had to sit. Around mile 13 the plantar tear started to throb, I guess it needs some time to finish healing. Then again maybe everything will be good by Saturday.

Long version - no need for one :-),

I got an email from the Mankato marathon and they are ordering additional shirts so I may yet get one. That's cool.

Twin Cities Marathon and the Ultra Loony Challenge

I went into the Twin Cities Marathon event weekend with some trepidation, ok make that a lot. My first decision was, do I run the Ultra Loony Challenge (which means, run the 10k and 5k on Saturday and then the marathon on Sunday) as planned or do I focus all of my efforts on the marathon? To be honest, I wasn't sure I could do them all, heck I had doubts about the marathon.

On Thursday I decided I had to go for the Loony as my legs seemed good enough and my injuries seemed manageable and it's what I signed up to do. With the decisions made I needed to figure out my approach and since I just wanted to finish the marathon, my plan was to run it between 12 1/2 and 13 minute miles for as long as I could and hopefully beat the time limit. I knew I would be doing a Galloway run-walk of 45 seconds running, 45 seconds walking and that this pace should be doable. So with that in mind I figured I would run the 10k at around 13 1/2 to 14 minute miles and then do the same for the 5k.

On Friday, Karyn and I went to packet pick-up and she decided to sign-up for the 5k. It felt good to walk around the TCM expo again, quite a few vendors and I even won a coffee mug at the Caribou challenge so it had to be my weekend, right :-), thank you Caribou and all other sponsors of the events.

On Saturday, Karyn and I decided to drive separately since the 10k started an hour and a half ahead of the 5k so I got to the capital with about a 1/2 hour to get to the start line. The one thing I liked about doing this event is that it got me oriented to the capital, where to park, how things were set-up and so on. For the 10k, I figured I would do the Galloway run-walk but slow things down to not let me push myself too hard. Well that lasted about a 1/10th of a mile when I looked at my watch and saw that  my pace was sub 11, so I chose to walk a bit longer than planned with the hope that I get things back on track. Once I resumed the run-walk it became apparent that I was going faster then I wanted so I said to myself, whatever, take what you got just don't push it. Even though I stopped twice to talk to some friends along the course, my average mile pace was 11:39. Oops.

I had planned on running the 5k with Karyn and figured that I would be able to hold her pace, Not sure where I got that idea as she went faster than I thought, our average mile pace was 11:16. Oops, again. So I knew that I had blown it a little bit and might pay a price in the marathon but everything felt good so, what was I to do? I didn't push the pace in any of the events it's just where things seemed to go.

On Sunday, Karyn dropped me at the light rail in Bloomington and I was off to the marathon start. We thought it would work logistically to take the light rail and it did, there were a handful of runners on the train. There was a beautiful orange glow across the horizon as the sun was coming up, it was shaping up to be a great day for running. As the train arrived it was almost surreal to see the Metrodome gone and the emerging skeleton of the new stadium starting to form. I wasn't sure how the logistics would work without the dome so after I found the porta pots, I started trying to figure out where the start was. The temp was in the low 30's and I had decided to forego a drop bag and put the extra top I had into my Nathan. It seemed like a good plan as it allowed me to carry everything I would need. As I was heading to find corral 3, a friend found me and we walked over together. She is the girl (women) who I finished Grandmas with and had come into Twin Cities with minimal training mileage as well. We talked about starting together but after she went to drop her bag and find a porta pot we never saw each other again. I chatted with some runners as I stood beside a building to block the wind and started to think through how I would approach the day. I had my run-walk app on my phone ready to go and was going use my bluetooth headphones for the first time in a long distance event. I had decided that at the start I would use my Garmin to figure out the run-walk sequence as I wasn't sure I would hear the app.

Before I knew it, we were off, again my plan was to run 12 1/2 to 13 minute miles and I knew it was critical to do so early in the race. My first mile was 11:43, mile 2 - 11:52, mile 3 - 11:23, mile 4 - 11:48, I think you get the drift. I was running totally within myself and thought I can maintain this, the run-walk was working great up to Lake Harriet. As I came through the water stop my headphones started beeping and I thought what's going on? So I pulled them off and looked at my phone, my battery was being drained fast. So I shutoff the Bluetooth and figured I would just carry the phone and keep looking at the timer. That worked well and I felt great until I got near Nokomis and saw my phone flashing a low battery warning. I knew I might need to call Karyn when I got done so we could figure out where to meet, so with that in mind I shut off the phone but more importantly my run-walk app.

Now I had to use my Garmin as I had no other watch and the way my Garmin has always been set I can't see seconds once the time is over an hour which wasn't good for a 45 second interval. So I decided to use distance which effectively meant run for .1 mile, walk for .06 mile (I had figured out this ratio during my training). It was working ok except it meant every 30 seconds I was looking at my distance which meant I was also observing where I was on the course. It went something like this, 15.1, oh I still have 11 miles to go, 15.16, still 11 miles, 15.26, still 11 miles. I think you get how this wasn't really a good thing.

So I ignored my watch and went by feel, that was ok but not good, then I tried light poles, same thing, ok but not good, it all kind of worked but I was slowing down. Part of the issue was the mental energy I was expending but I was also having pain. My knee had twinged a couple of times but the foot was going from feeling every step to hurting on every step.

So I continued to lose time but I kept moving forward. I was smiling and chatting with people and just happy to be out there, I had seen this picture before and the thought of it kept coming into my head. I was doing TCM, I was out here, I was enjoying myself, I was feeling like a runner. I was enjoying every moment of my day. I continued my journey down Summit and was just soaking it in. I saw Karyn at mile 24 and we chatted a bit and then I continued on to the finish. My thanks to TCM, all the volunteers and spectators for making my 10th TCM a great memory.

One thing that I ended up liking about the Ultra Loony Challenge was the bling you get, I had tpo pay an extra $95 and this is what I got for it, 2 additional races, 3 additional shirts (I really like the Brooks pullover), 3 additional medals and a pair of TCM socks from FitSok plus of course my TCM finishers shirt, medal and another pair of socks. So is it worth the extra money? For me, yes but more for the extra fun it allowed me to have. I really enjoyed running the 10k and 5k and yes I enjoyed chatting with a few folks about doing the Ultra Loony Challenge during the marathon, they were like you are one of them, of course I told them, yes but probably the slowest of them.

Lessons learned and corrected, I now know how to change screens on my Garmin so I can see seconds after the first hour and I have placed an old set of head phones in my Nathan. Now it's on to Mankato where hopefully things hold together.