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.

Wow it's 2022

I just logged into my blog and noticed my last post was over a year ago, oops. So much for my retirement providing time to get it going again. Since I retired 2 years ago, it's time to pick it up and start posting again. I started this blog to "track my running plans and thoughts and provide a place to remember past running adventures", some people read it and that's fine but the original intent was to help me remember the good, bad and ugly runs, races and adventures.

With that in mind, here are my upcoming posts, yes, I will be following through. In no particular order here's what's coming:

• Race plans for 2022
• 2021 Running review
• Shoes in the rotation
• Future plans
• Retirement
  
• Health update
  
• Favorite places to run

That's enough for now...................................................

Retirement Running Plans

I started the new year as everyone has with an unsure running schedule as it relates to races but I have put together a training program based on building a different type of base. It sure helps being able to run or workout during daylight hours, a major advantage of being retired in MN where our winter sunlight hrs are limited. Great news as to my running program, it worked through January as shown below:

What you can see is I have miles recorded for every day except Jan 8th but notice the two shades of green, the olive shaded are my runs and the yellow green are walks. Yes I am adding walking as my cross training at least during the winter months. My theory is getting time on my feet without damage or injury and if my legs or body is too tired to run usually a walk is just fine plus it allows me to plan off days. Part of what I want to see with my walking is faster cadence as my old ultra running buds (Rick, Wayne & Karen) all used to harp on walking fast during ultra's  and that you had to teach yourself to do so. My running is still leveraging the Galloway method and although I have seen improvements in my shortness of breath and coughing, it's still a work in progress but I am seeing progress and am hopeful by summer I will be able to run non-stop for a few miles

Right now I am hoping to run FANS 12 hr and then do some marathons in other states and maybe in MN this fall/winter. Of course, we need COVID to get checked for these fall events to happen.

That's it for now, hopefully more posts will follow.

Grandma's Virtual Marathon 2020

What a different year, I had originally thought that this year's Grandma's might be last as it was setup so perfect. I was going to run and finish my 20th Grandma's Marathon June 20th, 2020. I loved that symmetry, instead we went "Virtual"

Now in truth, I enjoy running alone and listening to my podcasts, crowds are a catch 22, they provide some motivation but also drain my energy from me. So the thought of a virtual event had some appeal. I debated for months where to run, originally thought about still coming to Duluth and running the course, then I thought about running the Willard Munger trail from about Carlton to the normal Grandma's finish line, these were predicated on our still driving up to Duluth and me running on the 20th. I so wanted a Sammy's pizza after I finished.

 

After many evaluations of all of the options I available, I chose to run my virtual marathon on the Cannon Valley trail, in my first attempt, yes, that's right, I had decided to run in Cannon Falls for 6 miles and then run to Red Wing on the trail.

Attempt 1: 6/20/20 - I was thinking 26 but aborted at 16, basically a total disaster run, had issues with my Garmin, my route, my breathing, pace and an issue with foot pain which caused some pain on every step and it was getting worse so I am thinking it was the source of the pace problem. I started out doing 30-30 pace which always results in 12 1/2 to 13 1/2 minute runs, not today. But back to my first issue, my route, the plan was for Karyn to drop me off in Cannon Falls, and then meet me later in Red Wing. This is where planning a marathon race from Goggle maps adds some opportunities as I had mapped it out carefully. After being dropped off, I was off and I was following my route map, of course my Garmin didn't want to pick up a satellite, so I struggled with it as I was running. Boy I hate that.

 

Then I was back looking at my map to make sure I was on route, I went up a hill and came to a dead in, later in looking closely at Google maps, I noticed the road was dashed gray, apparently that means it's planned but not yet built. Lesson learned, look at the actual map.

So after mentally being thrown off, I thought no problem and I would modify my route ad hoc in a few miles to make it all work out. Well, after doing that and finally getting into the spirit of the virtual marathon, I knew I was in trouble as my foot was hurting, my breathing was bad and pace was too slow. By the time I got on the Cannon Valley trail, I was mentally and physically shot.

Anyway, the plan is to regroup, tape the toe, wear different shoes and then try again until I can get through it. For Grandma's I have until the end of July which is good as I may need it.

Attempt 2: 7/11/20 - I made some logistic changes for this attempt, I decided to instead of having Karyn drop me, I would start in Welch, run to Cannon Falls and back and then add in an extra 6 doing an out and back from Welch. Interesting long run as always, had to deal with a thunderstorm at the start, then heat, foot pain along with GPS start/stop issues so the mileage is off by a few miles. I again used my walk-run, 30-30 splits but after 14 miles, the heat was getting to me as my HR was spiking and I was struggling. So I decided to stop at 20, a good long run.

Attempt 3: 7/22/20 - I made some additional logistic changes, for segment 1, I decided to run out of Welch towards Cannon Falls but to turn around at the rest area, 6 mile out and back plus a bit and then for segment 2, I would go from Welch towards Red Wing around 7 miles out and back plus a bit. I wanted to make this a training run in MAF so did 40-25 walk-run splits. It worked well all day. I did have foot pain towards the end of the first segment so switched shoes at Welch and picked up more water/fuel. An advantage of virtual marathons, you can plan your rest stops, even if it takes 3 times to figure it out. Segment 2 went well and although I was wearing out over the last few miles, my run-walk approach worked and I was happy to finish my virtual Grandma's, of course I would have preferred to run it in Duluth. 

 

The question for me is this going to be my last Grandma's? My plan had been to make it that as originally it was going to be my 20th Grandma's run on June 20th of the year 2020. I guess we will wait and see.