Med City 2022

I went into Med City knowing the day was going to be a struggle. I chose to drive down the day of the event which made for an early start but really simplifies running this event. On the drive down, I was able to enjoy a beautiful sunrise and think about the day ahead as the weather forecast was for 67, overcast and humid at the start, heading to 80 during the race. 

My knee was going to be an issue, since my surgery last year, it has not been right, it may be nothing more than not enough meniscus left to provide the cushioning needed and my weight, running style compressing it or something else, regardless, every running step hurts. Add in coming in under trained at least for long runs and the need to keep the HR managed for my breathing, it was going to be an interesting day.

So with that in mind, I started out doing a 45-20, walk-run split. The plan was to run 13 1/2 minute miles for the first 13, then 14 through 18, then do whatever until it's over without causing additional issues but try to get it in.

For the first 5 miles, all was going per plan and I was really enjoying being out there, then I noticed my phone's battery was draining fast. I have been using my phone to provide my walk-run cadence, my gps tracking and to listen to podcasts. I shutoff my podcasts and sent Karyn a text that my phone may not last the race and not to worry. She alerted me to thunderstorms at home and asked about our weather, upon checking I could see a thunderstorm heading our way so figured I would be getting wet. Then at mile 8, a sheriff informed us that we were going to be redirected to a school just ahead as the race director was stopping the race. I then proceeded on to the school as the skies opened up. I did run a bit harder than normal to get there quicker which my knee and lungs disagreed with but I knew I would have a few minutes to recover and was trying to avoid getting soaked which I almost did.

After about 15 to 20 minutes, they restarted the race, my knee was hurting a bit more and I struggled to get back into a rhythm, my phone had dropped to below 30% battery so I figured it wouldn't even make the 1/2 way point. Shortly after, it hit the low battery mode and I shut off my interval timer. I was now debating do I stop or continue, the sun came out and the humidity was intense, I figured the cloud cover would return but I knew the right choice was to stop as running in heat, no watch, no interval timer, knee pain just didn't make sense. I did talk with the 6 hr pacer and I debated trying to go with him but decided for the previous reasons to not. The pacer was Tom Perri, who was completing his 100th MN marathon, 600th marathon and continuing his steak of completing every Med City Marathon, wow. He mentioned he is also dealing with stage 4 prostate cancer, unbelievable he's still able to run and be so optimistic. Made my decision a bit harder as I was only dealing with smaller inconveniences.

As to the race, it was a new course, we were bused to the Airport instead of to Byron, it had a long downhill (mile 7 to 8) and would loop through Rochester covering parts of the old course. I really liked it. It was also the first time since 2019 that it was going to happen on the Sunday of Memorial day weekend because of disruption from Covid, everything was well done and it was good to see it happen again. Always one of my favorite events.

As to what next, I switched my Grandma's to a virtual race, so I will be looking to get it in between June 18th through July 5th. Exactly how, well that will be a good question. If I can find a cooler (less humid) day, manage the knee, phone and any other variables, it should go ok.