2014 Plan - Minnesota Marathons?

It hit me, the perfect running plan for next year. One that would help me rebuild both my marathon and ultra legs and provide me a goal that is a perfect maniac goal. What is it? Simple, run every marathon in Minnesota.

So here is the potential schedule and travel times:

DATE:	NAME:	CITY:	Travel – Miles:
01/12/14	Zoom! Yah! Yah! Indoor Marathon	Northfield	~½ hr ~20 miles
04/26/14	Brainerd Jaycees Run for the Lakes	Nisswa	-3 hrs ~165 miles
05/10/14	Lake Wobegon Trail Marathon	St. Joseph	-1 ½ hrs ~90 miles
05/25/14	Med-City Marathon	Rochester	-1 hrs ~65 miles
06/01/14	Minneapolis Marathon	Minneapolis	~½ hr ~20 miles
06/21/14	Grandmas Marathon	Duluth	~2 ½ hrs ~175 miles
07/12/14	Eugene Curnow Trail Marathon	Carlton	~2 ½ hrs ~150 miles
09/06/14	Moose Mountain Marathon	Lutsen	~5 hrs ~265 miles
09/20/14	Walker/North Country Races	Walker	~4 hrs ~210 miles
10/05/14	Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon	Mpls/St.Paul	~½ hr ~20 miles
10/11/14	Bemidji Blue Ox Marathon	Bemidji	~4 ½ hrs ~240 miles
10/19/14	Mankato Marathon	Mankato	~1 ½ hrs ~80 miles

One problem with the schedule is the first marathon only has 44 participants and the entry is closed. I have emailed the race director to see if he has an opening but thinking realistically and maybe a little legalistically, it is an indoor marathon. So maybe I should amend my goal to run all of the outdoor Minnesota marathons.

It would only be 11 marathons and if I add in Surf the Murph 50k or 50 miler in late October, well it would make a nice round number of events and a decent year of running. And with the exception of Twin Cities and Bemidji being 6 days apart none of the rest are even a concern as there is plenty of time to recover between events. The good news is that with the exception of the two trail events, I wouldn't have to worry about long runs, I could just go event to event.

The other thing I really like about this concept is that I would have from Surf the Murph until the end of April to get totally healthy and prepared (assuming, Zoom Yah Yah is a no). Granted I have squandered this time in the past but I think this is the type of focus I could use. The only negative is it would mean no additional states would get done nor would it let me run a longer ultra but it might get me healthy and I do think it would be cool to say I have run every outdoor marathon in Minnesota and to do it the same year only makes sense. Plus if I commit to doing it soon, then I can save a bit of money on entry fees.

So now it's time to clear the schedule with the family to see if they are ok with the plan as 6 of the events would require us (or I guess technically me but I know my wife would like to do some of these too) to drive more than a few hours meaning weekends either camping or in a hotel. Or I could think about running all of the Minnesota trail events, many of which I have yet to do, I wonder what that would look like? Or maybe I should focus again on clicking off marathons in other states. It is a lot of fun to plan those out of state events but it does get expensive depending on the states. So time to get the family view on the potential plans, the good news is that whichever way it goes, all the ideas sound like fun. 

Twin Cities Marathon

This first weekend in October, I was supposed to run a marathon, no not Twin Cities but the Porcupine Mountain Trail marathon and then the plan was to volunteer at TCM. I decided against Porcupine even though the money was paid, as between the drive to Michigan, my training, my work, it just wasn't meant to be.

But I did make the TCM, I was a course marshal at the Franklin street bridge and really enjoyed myself. I was truly inspired by all of the runners in both races from those that led the race and those that kept going even after the cutoff vehicle had gone by.

It was fun watching the energy of the 10 milers, I was amazed at the density of runners which meant that I was able to only find a few runners that I knew were running but I did see a few runners that I didn't know were running. Nicely done, Bob, Todd, Kelly, Edie and Tracy to name a few (sorry to any that I missed). I have to admit I was surprised at how many of them that there were. Granted we were at mile 3 for them, another volunteer said that they did wave starts which probably explained that there seemed to be denser bursts of runners but they were packed in for quite a while. A fun event for both runners, volunteers and fans.

Anyway, back to the marathon, I kept thinking to myself as they all went by, how do they do it, I can never do what they were doing. Then I remembered oh yeah I have done a few marathons but I thought to myself that I had never looked as good as these runners. So as I thought about it more and decided that the last few injury years have taken their toll and my confidence as a runner. I then started getting excited to run this event again as I remembered the energy you get from the race especially as you cross the Franklin bridge and head over into St. Paul.

A funny note about St. Paul, I always thought that once I crossed the Franklin bridge I was in St. Paul, so as runners came across the bridge one of things I said was "welcome to St. Paul, you are looking great, the best miles of the race are ahead". Of course when another volunteer pointed out the sign that said St. Paul 2 miles, I had to say oops. So instead I started saying, "St. Paul is ahead and enjoy the greatest 7 miles of your life".

I did see a few marathoners I knew and I know I missed a few too. It was great seeing Les and he looked really good, turned out he finished in 5 hours, not bad for a 69 year old. I hope to be running like Les when I am 69. Heck I would like to be running like Les now. I saw a runner from our running club at church, she was running her first marathon and looked great, she was really excited when she saw me on the bridge and gave me a big hug. I was just happy to see her smiling so I knew she was doing just fine, she finished around 5 hours and 40 minutes. Nicely done Mindy, now she is thinking Fargo, Med City and Grandmas, a maniac in training. I did see Joe from the Marathon Show but didn't pick him up in time to chat. You can find his podcast in Itunes, or just search for the Marathon Show, the twin cities show is a little over an hour long. Check out his website, The Marathon Show or enjoy his video highlights of TCM below. And of course he is on facebook too at The Marathon Show.



All in all, volunteering was a great reminder for me of how much fun Twin Cities is, what a fabulous and fun event, I just may have to do it next year as it would be a perfect year for my 10th TCM, on the 20th anniversary of my first TCM.

Update time

I was intending to get a few posts out earlier but I have been kind of in limbo. I have been attempting to increase my long runs on trails and it has been a struggle. I just have not felt right and the mile times have been slow.

A few weeks back I got an invite from Wayne to join him for the Chester Woods 50k or whatever, I went down thinking I would do the whatever distance and get in 2 loops for 20 miles. I bailed after the 1st long loop at 13 miles. My leg wasn't right,same issue that I have had but a little different. The calf tightens right above the achilles and then it's just a question where the secondary pain will come from. This time it was the hamstring and the foot. Basically the leg felt like it was torqued.

In some recent runs in Lebanon I tried to push the pace and caused the flair up and I noticed that the lift on my left leg is about half that of the right. I figured this out standing on the old bridge and trying to stretch after it had tightened up. I did one legged lifts and noticed that my heel was hardly coming off the ground with my left leg. When I resumed running I noticed that my left leg wasn't helping and my speed had slowed. It all kind of makes sense.

So what next, I will continue to get in runs when things seem ok and will work a little more diligently with stretching, strengthening, foam rolling and the stick. The difference will be a broader focus on all of the leg muscles. I will also add back in the plank walking and barefoot runs to improve the proprioception and strength.

And of course I am going to experiment with shoes to see if I can figure out anything that helps. So that means a few runs in my Inov-8's which have the higher heel drop just to get additional input. I haven't really noticed any connection to the shoes. I have noticed that my Trail Bionics are lightweight and on more rugged trail cause me to work more and to step more carefully. They are the shoes I wore at Chester Woods but again I don't think it matters but it is something I can play with so I will.

With regard to upcoming races, I have decided to skip Porcupine and just do the Surf the Murph 50k.

Fall Race Plans

So I am looking at a couple of fall race events and am now starting to commit to a few of them, it is critical that I get totally serious with regard to my training and staying on plan to avoid that normal --

:My next race is the Porcupine Mountains Trail Marathon in Silver City, Michigan on October 5th. It is an inaugural event and should accomplish two things, it will be my first trail marathon or greater event in a couple of years and it will allow me to click off Michigan as my 13th state. For the last 2 weekends I have gone down to Murphy and gotten in some longer runs. Week 1 was 2 hours and week 2 was 3 hours They were slow miles so I have a lot of work to do to get in shape to get through the Michigan event. I don't know anything about the course other than they have a 7 hr time limit. The way I am looking at it is that I have done Chippewa, Afton and other events within that time window but I have to train.

I am still working through the injuries but I think I am making progress, I have eliminated most of the foot pain but am still figuring out the calf. It often feels torqued but through self massage and foam rolling I seem to be getting through it. The real test will come in the next few weeks as I continue to ramp the mileage.

Beyond this marathon, I am debating between Surf the Murph 50k and 50M, I should do the 50k but the 50 miler has appeal for a couple of reasons. First I haven't done a 50 miler in 2 years so it would be a welcome back to ultras, of course I haven't done a 50k either but that's where the other thing comes to mind. Next May, they have added a 100 mile event at Murphy, it's called the Savage 100 and it might be my first 100. The advantage is I know the course (6 loops on the Surf the Murph course), it's on May 17th so the temps should be ok, it has a reasonably generous time limit (34 hours), it starts at 3 am which should mean a slower first loop which could setup the day.  Anyway, it's something to think about.