Race Report
Sun, Jun 13/10
Estes Park Marathon
Estes Park, CO
Marathon #331
4:36:29 – 2AG
After my race in Steamboat Springs last week I was not looking forward to the marathon in Estes Park.
The Estes Park Marathon is billed as the ‘highest paved marathon in the world’ although I have informed them that billing is false. I have run two marathons that are higher: Bhutan and Colombia and am searching for a marathon in Bolivia that will surely be higher than both of them!
But the course is higher and harder than Steamboat Springs and I wasn’t confident that my legs had recovered? However we were looking forward to our visit to Estes Park. Estes Park is a pretty little town nestled in Estes Valley at an elevation of 7600 ft. The Big Thompson River flows through the middle of the town into Lake Estes on the east side of the town. It has been a ‘tourist’ town/destination for many years since it is the gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park. To the south the Front Range, including Longs Peak (14, 255 ft) towers above the valley and town. To the west Rocky Mountain National Park unveils a stunning array of mountain peaks, 74 of which reach elevations of 12,000 ft or more. The town has a lot of neat shops, bars and cafes overlooking the Big Thompson River.
We drove via Denver to pick up our 4-Runner at a Toyota dealer where we had left it for a major tune up/maintenance for 100K miles. Since I drive the SUV on some difficult 4X4 roads into remote 14ers I am adamant that it always be in excellent mechanical condition. We continued our drive on through Boulder and approached Estes Park on Hwy 36 from the south east. It is a narrow winding road with some pretty scenery. It was raining when we arrived in Estes Park so we went to the school complex to pick up my race packet before we checked into our hotel. I had booked a nice hotel with great views of Estes Park and the mtns but it was a waste of money because it rained all weekend.
It was cold and rainy Sat afternoon so we didn’t even try to enjoy our usual stroll along Main St. We went for an early pasta dinner at Mama Roses hoping to enjoy the musicians along the Big Thompson River; however the River was only a few inches below flood stage and many sections of the bike path were sandbagged and closed down. So far the weather was wrecking a good weekend?
Sun was ‘M’day! The weather forecast called for cold temps and continued rain! Unfortunately it was accurate! It rained all night and was still raining when I left for the race at 6:15 am. The temp was 39F!
Now 39F can be pleasant for running – if it is sunny and dry! I often start my morning run in temps near 39F but it is sunny and warms up to the mid 50s by the time I finish. But believe me when it is 39F and rains hard constantly for 5 hrs - it is friggin COLD and MISERABLE! I would normally dress in a T-shirt and shorts for that temp but I wisely –and thankfully- had worn running tights, long-sleeve T-shirt and gloves. Even so I refused to get out of the car until 10 minutes before the start of the race. I wore a customary garbage bag to keep warm and dry with the expectation to discard it a few miles into the race.
As I lined up at the start line with about 200 other crazies/fanatics I seriously questioned my sanity and asked “what the Hell am I doing here”? We were soaked and cold when the race started at 7am! The race started at the public school complex (7550ft) and climbed 100 ft over the 1st mile. I ran this race two times previously and knew that 1st mile was difficult and resulted in lots of “sucking for air”. And based on my still-painful memory of going out too fast at Steamboat I decided to start slow – a 10-min pace. By the time we reached the top of that 1st hill and started a 200 ft descent on mile 2 we were totally soaked. The roads were covered in deep puddles and streams running off the mtns so my feet were soaked and frozen – and my gloves were also soaked and my hands frozen. I passed mile 2 in 20:16 and began a long, relentless climb to the highest elevation on the course (8150 ft) at Mile 6.
An old fart passed me at mile 3 and I let him go. Either I would see him later on the course or he would beat me? I was struggling just to maintain a 10:30 pace up that BAH (Bad Ass Hill). I reached a water station near 5 miles and tested the ‘green’ concept of the race. The race was advertised as a cup-free
(no paper cups) race. Instead each runner was given a ‘hydrapouch’ – a pliable, plastic pouch that held 6 oz of liquid. There were special dispensers (1 for water and 1 for Gatorade) located at each water station that filled the pouch in a few secs. They did work but this concept would never work for a large race – in the early part of the race there was a line up to fill up the pouches. I was leery of the concept. The pouch had a clip to clip it on to a waistband but running shorts don’t have a strong waistband so I was concerned about losing the pouch or having to carry it for the entire race. Instead I wore a waist belt with a water bottle and filled the bottle when necessary. Unfortunately at that 1st water stop my hands were so frozen that I couldn’t get the top of my water bottle and had to ask a race volunteer to fill my bottle so I could wash my 1st carbo gel down. That ‘concept/process cost me more than 2 min at that 1st stop – another reason it will never succeed! I considered discarding my ‘rain gear’/ garbage bag but it was still raining and I was still COLD! I figured if my T-shirt got soaked I could suffer hypothermia so I wisely decided to keep wearing the garbage bag!
I reached the top of that 1st BAH at Mile 6 in 1:05:51 – an average 11:00 min pace! Not good! The next 4 miles were a steep downhill that dropped 800 ft. In past races I hauled ass down that hill only to find my legs trashed by the time I reached the Half so this year I deliberately held my pace at 9:30 to reach Mile 10 in 1:43:29. Obviously a sub 10-min pace or 4:20 marathon wasn’t going to happen. The course passed through downtown Estes Park and climbed another hill along Hwy 36 before dropping down to Estes Lake (7420 ft) at the Half. I passed the Half in 2:15:20. A sub 4:30 marathon was now dubious – but I didn’t care – survival under those miserable conditions was becoming more important! There was a restroom located on the bike path at that location and I decided to make a major pit stop (still some lingering effects of the GI problem). Also my heart monitor was not working properly and I figured the strap needed to be adjusted. With a waist belt and garbage bag that required a major process to half strip and I wasn’t going to do that in the cold and rain. I lost 5 minutes to ‘necessities’ but when I hit the bike path again I felt much better and my heart monitor was reading accurately. It indicated that my heart rate was 10 bpm lower than my normal race level because of my slower pace.
I wasn’t concerned about the 5-min delay/penalty – it wouldn’t have much effect on my overall time or position in the race because the most difficult part of the race was about to begin! I started to climb another BAH at Mile 15 followed by a series of rolling hills. When I crested a hill at Mile 16 in 2:48:32 and a split of 10:50 I wondered why the rain suddenly started to sting/hurt so much? I looked down at the road and noticed ice crystals (sleet) bouncing of the asphalt! Oh Goody! Can these miserable conditions get any worse? Luckily there were only a few short bursts of sleet over the next few miles as I started the long relentless climb back to 8000 ft at 20 miles. Somehow I managed to hold a slow but steady 11:00 min pace up that long BAH as I passed many runners who had succumbed to walking!
I crested that BAH at Mile 20 in 3:33:37. Holy crap! 3:33:37! I am normally finishing or running the final mile in that time – and I still have 10K to go! My legs felt OK but a 1-hr 10K at 8000 ft wasn’t likely to happen so I would be lucky to finish under 4:40?
Mile 21 was downhill and gravity helped me lower the pace to sub 10 min before climbing another BAH that climbed back to 8000 ft at Mile 22. When I crested that BAH in 3:55:07 I noticed the old fart who had passed me at Mile 3. I used gravity again on the next downhill mile to catch and pass him at Mile 23 (4:04:45 and a split of 9:38). I realized that I needed to bury him quickly so I continued to push that sub 10-min pace up the final BAH at Mile 24 and down a steep hill to Mile 25 (4:23:58 and a split of 9:20). But now my legs were trashed! I sneaked a peak over my shoulder – the old fart was still chasing me and about 800 ft behind. There was only one thing I could do – call Maddog! I handed the final mile over to him and as expected he ignored the exhaustion in my wasted old legs – and he ignored their screams and cries as he continued to push the pace over the final mile. He refused to let that old fart catch him!
As we approached a short/steep hill at Mile 26 I sneaked a final glance behind – the old fart was still 800 ft behind! That was enough incentive for the old bod to provide one final jolt of adrenaline to push us up that hill and across the finish line on the school track in 4:36:29!
I waited for the old fart to finish 3 min later and learn that he was in the 50+ AG! Shit! Double SHIT! I nearly killed myself for nothing! I need to learn how to guess the ages of old farts better if I want to save myself a lot of pain and agony.
As I walked to the car for a camera for a finish line photo it finally stopped raining. I took a photo – still wearing my garbage bag – and waited for results to be posted. I wasn’t surprised. The results followed the typical pattern for this race. A fast, young runner in the 60+ AG usually finishes under 4:15 – the next two places finish close to 5 hrs – and everyone else finishes between 5 to 7 hrs! I finished in 2nd place! I was happy with my strategy and performance. I ran a smart race and managed to run a slow/smooth/steady pace throughout the race w/o any problems except for the needless pain over the final 5K. I wasn’t unhappy with my time but more discouraged/dismayed? I set the course record (4:02:11) for the 60+ AG five years ago and if this rate of time degradation continues due to age I will have a difficult time breaking 5 hrs when I turn 70!
After a long hot soak at the hotel the weather stayed nice (no rain) long enough for us to make a stroll along Main St and stop at the Estes Park Brewery for a few micro brew. But then the rain returned and continued to spoil our weekend and trip! We stayed in Estes Park Sun night with plans to visit RMNP on Mon on the drive home. The sun was actually shining on Mon morning when we stopped at the visitor’s center to learn that the Trail Ridge Road (12,000 ft) through the Park was closed due to heavy snow all weekend! We had to back track on back roads through Blackhawk to I70 and drive though 20 min of snow storms when we crossed the Continental Divide! Oh well – one bad visit/trip out of three ain’t so bad?
Fortunately the weather has improved in the High Country – sunny and mid 70s – as I contemplate concerns about my next race/challenge in 3 weeks. I rate the Leadville Trail Marathon as the 4th toughest marathon in the world! It starts/finishes in Leadville at 10,500 ft and climbs to a highest elevation of 13,200 ft at the top of Mosquito Pass at the Half. I will need to do some serious hill and trail training above 12,000 ft during the next few weeks. My plan is to go out my back door (9000 ft) and run the Ptarmigan trail that climbs 3500 vertical feet over 6.5 miles to Ptarmigan Peak (12,500 ft) – and then turn around and run back down! I will complete that run a few times plus a trial run on Mosquito Pass. That run starts at 10,000 ft and climbs 3200 vertical ft on a 4X$ road over 3 short/steep miles to the top of Mosquito Pass. Believe me – there is a lot of walking and ‘sucking for air’ involved in that run.
Are any of my readers interested in joining Maddog for a few ‘easy’ training runs during the next few weeks?
Stay tuned!
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Monday, June 07, 2010
RR -Steamboat Springs
Race Results
Sun, Jun 6/10
Steamboat Springs Marathon
Steamboat Springs, CO
Marathon # 330
4:20:47 – 2AG
This is (er - used to be) one of my favorite races in CO. The course is very scenic and the race well organized. The course is point-to-point starting at Hahns Peak Village 26 miles NW of Steamboat Springs. The elevation is 8128 ft at the start. The first mile drops 100 ft and then mile 2 climbs to the highest elevation of the race – 8178 ft. The course then drops 1450 ft over rolling hills to mile 20 and climbs through 3 nasty BAHs (Bad Ass Hills) over the next 3 miles and finally drops over the final 3 miles to finish in downtown Steamboat at 6728 ft.
I ran this race four times and won my AG three times in my early 60s with times ranging from 3:38 to 3:57. In 2008 my finish time of 4:01 was only good enough for 3rd place so I didn’t believe I could be competitive this year. With only one week of altitude training and still suffering GI issues I figured my target should be 4:10 to 4:15.
The Sports Manager didn’t return from the West Coast till late Sat afternoon so I traveled to Steamboat by myself. I picked up my race packet and enjoyed a nice pasta dinner at our favorite Italian restaurant.
Sun was ‘M’ day. The weather forecast called for sunny and warm temps. It is necessary to catch a bus to the start line at 6am. It was 50F at 6am! It was at little cooler at Hahns Peak Village but sunny and in the low 50s at the 7:30am start. There were 450 runners in the marathon and 1000 runners in the Half that started at the 13 M mark of the marathon course. The 1st Half is fast in spite of a few nasty hills because overall it drops 1000 ft. I have made the mistake in the past of starting two fast in this race so I decided to run a 9:00 min/mile pace through the 1st Half. I passed Mile 5 in 44:23, Mile 10 in 1:28:40 and reached the Half in 1:57:41. I was right on pace!
I knew the 2nd Half would not be as fast because there are five BAHs so I slowed my pace to 10 min/mile. I figured if I could hold a 10 min pace except for the 3 nasty BAHs at mile 20 then I should be able to finish close to 4:10? My legs were already beginning to tire so the 10-min pace felt good. I even managed to hold that pace through the first two BAHs at miles15 and 18. However when I crested the BAH at mile 18 my legs were very tired and heavy and I knew I was in trouble. I hoped I could hold the 10-min pace till the start of the BAHs at mile 20 because I figured there would be some walking required through those hills. But it wasn’t meant to be – by the time I reached Mile 19 my legs were wasted/finished – there was nothing left and I was forced to start walking! I knew right then that the final 7 miles were going to be very ugly and painful. I tried to use the ‘Galloway’ strategy – walk 1 min and run 5 min.
I reached Mile 20 in 3:08:13 and a split of 11:11 and now faced 3 nasty BAHs over the next 3 miles. The 1min/5min strategy/pattern quickly disintegrated and the run time became shorter and the walk longer but I somehow I managed to hold a 12-min pace through the BAHs. I crested the final BAH at mile 23 in 3:45 and realized that my target of 4:15 wasn’t going to happen. I would have to run a sub 10-min pace over the final 5K and that wasn’t going to happen.
Mile 24 was a steep downhill and gravity helped pull me down that mile in a split of 9:47. However when the course flattened and gravity no longer helped my legs refused to move and I struggled to walk/jog the next mile in 11:47. When I reached Mile 25 in 4:06:34 I tried to fool and motivate myself with a goal of finishing under 4:20. However my legs were wasted – totally finished – and refused to move. The last mile of the course runs along Main St in Steamboat and is lined with spectators cheering the runners to the finish. Maddog was not going to allow himself to be embarrassed by walking/crawling along that section so we walked/crawled for about 3 min to give the legs a chance to recover and then sucked it up and jogged the final section of the course to cross the finish line in 4:20:47!
When I crossed that finish line there was absolutely nothing left in the old legs or old bod. I didn’t even have enough energy to fart! Thank goodness breathing is involuntary because I didn’t have enough energy for that either! I shuffled/crawled to the car to get the camera for a finish line photo. After the photo I checked the race results. I was shocked! That pathetic/poor finish time was good enough to place 2nd AG. If I had achieved my target of 4:15 I would have won my AG? Clearly the fast dogs did not show up for this race! I did not deserve an award for such a poor performance and time – maybe for the perseverance and tenacity to accept a HUGE amount of pain to get to the finish line?
I have no idea why I suffered such a bad crash or collapse. The last time I suffered that much pain and hurt that much in a race was one year ago at the Boulder Marathon – the 1st race back after a 6-month sabbatical due the mystery back injury. But at least I had a reason - I was not in shape and had not trained enough! I think I am in good shape and believed my race strategy was smart but I have to assume the 9-min pace through the 1st Half was too fast? Maybe the past few months of illness and GI problems have taken a bigger toll on the old bod that I thought? Now I am concerned about my next race next weekend. The Estes Park Marathon is much higher and much tougher. And it has been a long time since I ran back-to-back (consecutive) weekends. Thus I am going to run much smarter and slower and hopefully finish with a faster time and MUCH less pain!
Stay tuned!
Sun, Jun 6/10
Steamboat Springs Marathon
Steamboat Springs, CO
Marathon # 330
4:20:47 – 2AG
This is (er - used to be) one of my favorite races in CO. The course is very scenic and the race well organized. The course is point-to-point starting at Hahns Peak Village 26 miles NW of Steamboat Springs. The elevation is 8128 ft at the start. The first mile drops 100 ft and then mile 2 climbs to the highest elevation of the race – 8178 ft. The course then drops 1450 ft over rolling hills to mile 20 and climbs through 3 nasty BAHs (Bad Ass Hills) over the next 3 miles and finally drops over the final 3 miles to finish in downtown Steamboat at 6728 ft.
I ran this race four times and won my AG three times in my early 60s with times ranging from 3:38 to 3:57. In 2008 my finish time of 4:01 was only good enough for 3rd place so I didn’t believe I could be competitive this year. With only one week of altitude training and still suffering GI issues I figured my target should be 4:10 to 4:15.
The Sports Manager didn’t return from the West Coast till late Sat afternoon so I traveled to Steamboat by myself. I picked up my race packet and enjoyed a nice pasta dinner at our favorite Italian restaurant.
Sun was ‘M’ day. The weather forecast called for sunny and warm temps. It is necessary to catch a bus to the start line at 6am. It was 50F at 6am! It was at little cooler at Hahns Peak Village but sunny and in the low 50s at the 7:30am start. There were 450 runners in the marathon and 1000 runners in the Half that started at the 13 M mark of the marathon course. The 1st Half is fast in spite of a few nasty hills because overall it drops 1000 ft. I have made the mistake in the past of starting two fast in this race so I decided to run a 9:00 min/mile pace through the 1st Half. I passed Mile 5 in 44:23, Mile 10 in 1:28:40 and reached the Half in 1:57:41. I was right on pace!
I knew the 2nd Half would not be as fast because there are five BAHs so I slowed my pace to 10 min/mile. I figured if I could hold a 10 min pace except for the 3 nasty BAHs at mile 20 then I should be able to finish close to 4:10? My legs were already beginning to tire so the 10-min pace felt good. I even managed to hold that pace through the first two BAHs at miles15 and 18. However when I crested the BAH at mile 18 my legs were very tired and heavy and I knew I was in trouble. I hoped I could hold the 10-min pace till the start of the BAHs at mile 20 because I figured there would be some walking required through those hills. But it wasn’t meant to be – by the time I reached Mile 19 my legs were wasted/finished – there was nothing left and I was forced to start walking! I knew right then that the final 7 miles were going to be very ugly and painful. I tried to use the ‘Galloway’ strategy – walk 1 min and run 5 min.
I reached Mile 20 in 3:08:13 and a split of 11:11 and now faced 3 nasty BAHs over the next 3 miles. The 1min/5min strategy/pattern quickly disintegrated and the run time became shorter and the walk longer but I somehow I managed to hold a 12-min pace through the BAHs. I crested the final BAH at mile 23 in 3:45 and realized that my target of 4:15 wasn’t going to happen. I would have to run a sub 10-min pace over the final 5K and that wasn’t going to happen.
Mile 24 was a steep downhill and gravity helped pull me down that mile in a split of 9:47. However when the course flattened and gravity no longer helped my legs refused to move and I struggled to walk/jog the next mile in 11:47. When I reached Mile 25 in 4:06:34 I tried to fool and motivate myself with a goal of finishing under 4:20. However my legs were wasted – totally finished – and refused to move. The last mile of the course runs along Main St in Steamboat and is lined with spectators cheering the runners to the finish. Maddog was not going to allow himself to be embarrassed by walking/crawling along that section so we walked/crawled for about 3 min to give the legs a chance to recover and then sucked it up and jogged the final section of the course to cross the finish line in 4:20:47!
When I crossed that finish line there was absolutely nothing left in the old legs or old bod. I didn’t even have enough energy to fart! Thank goodness breathing is involuntary because I didn’t have enough energy for that either! I shuffled/crawled to the car to get the camera for a finish line photo. After the photo I checked the race results. I was shocked! That pathetic/poor finish time was good enough to place 2nd AG. If I had achieved my target of 4:15 I would have won my AG? Clearly the fast dogs did not show up for this race! I did not deserve an award for such a poor performance and time – maybe for the perseverance and tenacity to accept a HUGE amount of pain to get to the finish line?
I have no idea why I suffered such a bad crash or collapse. The last time I suffered that much pain and hurt that much in a race was one year ago at the Boulder Marathon – the 1st race back after a 6-month sabbatical due the mystery back injury. But at least I had a reason - I was not in shape and had not trained enough! I think I am in good shape and believed my race strategy was smart but I have to assume the 9-min pace through the 1st Half was too fast? Maybe the past few months of illness and GI problems have taken a bigger toll on the old bod that I thought? Now I am concerned about my next race next weekend. The Estes Park Marathon is much higher and much tougher. And it has been a long time since I ran back-to-back (consecutive) weekends. Thus I am going to run much smarter and slower and hopefully finish with a faster time and MUCH less pain!
Stay tuned!
Wednesday, June 02, 2010
TR - Colombia - Part 2
TRIP REPORT
Colombia
5/15 – 5/24/10
Part 2
Now where were we? Oh yes – you were going to the fridge for another beer and I was getting ready to catch a flight back to Bogota.
I arrived back in Bogota in the late morning and went immediately to the Sheraton Hotel (an overpriced luxury hotel located close to the airport) where Edson and I were staying for one night. I called Mario and we agreed to meet for lunch. I found out that hotels in Colombia are just like hotels around the world. It cost 14,000 pesos/$7 US to call Mario for 5 minutes and only 6,000 pesos/$3 US to take a taxi to his home? Moral of this story: ‘do not use phones in hotels”!
After lunch we had to decide how Edson and I would get to Paipa – about 200 Km north of Bogota in the Boyaca department. Mario offered two options: 1) we could drive up with him – but his car would be packed to capacity and he needed to leave at 4 am to get started on the work/logistics of the race and 2) a friend was taking a bus and agreed to escort/accompany us to Paipa. He spoke good English and would leave around 10 am.
That decision was a no brainer! We chose to sleep in and leave at 10 am!
Edson arrived in the afternoon and I filled him in on ‘our’ decision. He was very happy to sleep in! We naively decided to wait and eat a late dinner but when we tried to find a restaurant near the hotel we discovered that all the restaurants closed at 5 pm! The Colombians do indeed eat their big meal at lunch and many restaurants close at 5 pm? Only the restaurants in the hotel were open.
That evening I took the last of my ‘super’ drug and was concerned that the GI problems might come roaring back? The problems had improved but had not completely abated. On the advice of my doctor and some friends I had been eating yogurt every day and taking probiotics in an attempt to restore the good bacteria and the proper balance to my GI system. I HATE yogurt but had eaten more yogurt in the past week than in all my previous 66 years! But I was willing to try anything to get my GI system back to normal!
On Fri morning Mario’s friend, Domingo Tibaduiza, came to the hotel with his son Ron to meet and escort us to Paipa. We could have made the trip on our own but it would have been much harder and more stressful because we were stopped and checked for ID at the bus station and the police/military stopped the bus twice en route to Paipa. They checked all passengers for ID and all baggage for weapons because the country was in the middle of elections and we were traveling into territory occupied by rebels. The government wanted to stop rebels and weapons from moving into the region! Domingo explained the stops/issue to us was and was able to explain to the police why we were on the bus and traveling to Paipa. During the 4-hr bus ride we had a long discussion with Domingo. He was an elite runner who won the Berlin Marathon in 1983 (2:14:47) and placed 8th in the NY Marathon in 1984 (2:11:28) and won many other world-class races. Domingo and his family lived in Reno, NV for more than 30 years. In fact we discovered that we lived in Reno during the same time period (79-82) when I ran my 1st marathon in Reno. Domingo was the coach at UNR for the college running team and when they terminated their program he moved into the Washoe County School District as a coach. We assumed that we probably met during that time because he assisted the Silver State Striders (local running club) that I had joined for help in my marathon training. It is indeed a “small world”! Domingo had recently returned to Colombia to accept an offer to coach the Colombian National Team in preparation for the 2012 Olympics in London. His son Ron also returned to train with his Dad in hopes of making the team as a marathoner.
When we arrived in Paipa we were glad to have Domingo because he knew the way to the hotel and arranged for the taxis, etc. The host hotel was the Hotel Sochagota – a luxury resort located on a hill overlooking a lake and the city of Paipa. It had its own thermal hot springs that are common in that area. After checking in and enjoying a ‘big’ lunch we joined Domingo and Ron for a leisurely (2 Km) stroll into town to check out the Stadium and track where the race started/finished. Then Domingo helped us do some souvenir shopping - very few people in Colombia speak English- and finally we went to a market to buy some necessities for the race – bottled water, Gatorade, beer and fruit (and more yogurt for Maddog)!
On Sat morning Edson and I decided to do an ‘easy’ 5-mile run along the lake to explore some of the course and to acclimate to the 8200 ft elevation. We confirmed that we would have to slow down and run easy if we wanted to finish the marathon at that elevation! After breakfast we picked up our race packets and started to meet many runners including some of the elite Colombian runners. We met Alvaro Mejia Florez who won the Boston Marathon in 1971 (2:18:45) and many other big races. We also met Carlos Grisales, the current national marathon record holder (2:11:17 and 5th place in Boston in 1996). I informed Carlos that I ran the same race (the 100th anniversary of Boston) to celebrate my 100th marathon – but I finished a ‘wee’ bit behind him!
It soon became apparent that the elite runners were considered National Sports Champions and heroes – as they deserved to be. I was honored that they respected my running accomplishments as much as I respected theirs. Both Edson and I were pleased and comforted by the friendship and hospitality offered to us by the elite runners and all the people of Colombia! We left the country with many new friends and fond memories. Later that morning Mario took Edson and I on a tour of the marathon course. He wanted to make sure that we were familiar with the course and would not get lost!
It was a 14 Km loop that started and finished on a track at a Stadium in Paipa. There were three ‘gentle’ hills in the loop that we had to complete three times. There were a number of turns and one out-and back loop but the course was easy to remember. There would be lots of water along the course but the only toilet facility was at the stadium which was a slight concern to me (and my GI problems)?
Mario had asked me to make a 1-hr presentation at the race expo to discuss when and why I started running and how it led to a world record 103 countries? The seminar was well attended and Mario translated my talk and the questions/answers that followed. Later Maddog was invited to join the National Sports Champions and local dignitaries on the podium for the Opening Ceremonies of the race. That was followed by an excellent pasta dinner where we shared a table with Domingo, Ron and Alvaro and enjoyed sharing running stories and experiences.
Sun was ‘M’ Day. Edson and I were concerned about getting to the start line – it was either a 2Km walk or take a local bus and that was the concern – taking a wrong bus! Domingo promised to guide us to the start line. The marathon started at 7 am and at 6am it was much warmer than expected. I had packed a long sleeve T-shirt and gloves thinking it would be cold at 8200 ft? I selected a short sleeve shirt and wished I had packed a singlet. Thankfully the sky was overcast which would help keep the temps down. At 6:45 we were still sitting in the hotel lobby waiting for Domingo and very worried that we would miss the start of the race. Ron was running the 10K race that started at 8am so they weren’t in a hurry. Luckily a pretty young lady who had driven up from Bogota to run the 10K offered us a lift and dropped us off at the start line at 6:55 am. Now I was really stressed! I have a pre-race ritual that must be followed to prepare for a race and that takes 15 minutes! Thankfully the stress was alleviated quickly with an announcement that the race would start in 20 to 30 minutes? That allowed Edson and I plenty of time to perform our rituals and time for several pit stops at the bathroom (and a few in the bushes) as I attempted to flush out my GI system. I knew it was a futile attempt and that many more pit stops would be required during the race – but there wasn’t anything I could do about the problem!
The marathon started at 7:30 am. As we left the stadium for the 1st loop I reminded myself of my race strategy. I could not be competitive in this race - my Age Category was classified as ‘Master B’ – males 50+ and there was no way I was going to beat a ‘good’ 50 year-old Colombian on his local turf at 8200 ft! Add in several pit stops because of GI/health issues and there was no sense in trying to kill myself. I figured if I could run a 6:15 to 6:30 min/Km pace (10:00 to 10:15 min/mile) I would finish under 4:30 and that was the best I could hope for? I passed10Km in 59:59 and finished the 1st loop (14Km) on the track in 1:24:19. I was actually ahead of pace! However I had to take advantage of the toilets at the stadium and make a major pit stop that cost 2 to 3 minutes. I figured there would be at least one pit stop on each loop?
I left the stadium again and climbed the first two hills of the 2nd loop and reached the Half in 2:10:30 – right on a 10 min pace. However my legs were already beginning to feel the effects of the high altitude and I knew the 2nd Half would not be as fast.
I reached the stadium and the finish of the 2nd loop (28Km) in 2:59:14. I had slowed significantly on the 2nd loop! Thankfully and surprisingly I didn’t need a pit stop so I continued around the track and left the stadium for the 3rd loop. As I started up the 1st hill of the final loop my legs felt very tired and heavy and the temps were getting very warm and my pace slowed to 7:05/Km - or more than 11:00 min/mile! I figured there was no sense in trying to push the pace lower – it would be better to let my legs and body set the pace because they were definitely feeling the effects of the high altitude! I managed to hold a ‘slow’ 7:00/Km pace through the final two hills that no longer felt like ‘gentle’ hills! As I approached the final hill near 38 Km we were blessed by a sudden change in the weather. The skies darkened and a thunderstorm rolled across the area quickly. The temps dropped 15 degrees and when I crested the final hill at 38Km in 4:02:48 it started to pour. At first I was upset with the rain but the rain and cooler temps helped me lower my pace back down to sub-6:00 min/Km as I descended the next 2 Km. When I reached the flat section at 40Km the rain stopped and I caught up to a young male runner who decided to stay with me. We fed off each other’s energy and maintained a smooth/easy 6:00/Km pace to reach the stadium and cross the finish line in 4:27:01.
My time was not competitive in the Master B age group as expected but I figured that I had placed OK in my normal (60+) AG. Mario later confirmed that I placed 3rd in the ‘unofficial’ AG of 60+ so I was pleased with both my time and performance considering the altitude and health issues. Shortly after I finished, the awards ceremony was held and Mario presented Maddog with an award for completing Country #103 – a new World record! I was besieged with requests/invitations to pose with runners and their families for photos and was happy to accommodate to return the kindness and hospitality offered to me. But I was thankful when Edson finished in 4:42 and after a few finish line photos we headed back to the hotel. We went straight to the hot springs. Gosh - were they ever wonderful! The temp of the water was about the same as my hot tub – around 108 F and all the natural minerals seemed to rejuvenate our tired old legs and bodies.
We were joined by Ron who didn’t seem to be too tired after winning the 10Km race? He blew by me on the course like I was standing still? After a long soothing soak Domingo and Alvaro invited us to join them and Mario at a local restaurant in Paipa to enjoy a traditional Colombian lunch. During lunch I had to make an executive decision. I was supposed to return to Bogota with Mario and his family and spend the night with them. However Mario looked so exhausted from managing the races and needed some ‘down’ or rest time and some ‘Q” time with his family so I decided to return to Bogota on the bus with Domingo, Alvaro, Ron and Edson. I figured it would be more convenient and easier for everyone for me to stay at a hotel close to the airport and catch a shuttle early in the morning for my flight home.
We took an express bus back to Bogota- with no police/military checkpoints – apparently the government doesn’t care about rebels and weapons ‘leaving’ the region? Our only concern about taking a bus to Bogota was how to get to the airport safely because our guides were getting off the bus before it arrived at the central bus station? Domingo assured us that there was a government controlled taxi office at the bus station that controlled and certified the safety of the taxis. We did find the taxi office and arranged a safe ride that dropped me off at the closest hotel to the airport and took Edson on to the airport.
During our discussions with Domingo and Alvaro we learned that the Boston Marathon Association invited Alvaro to Boston in 2011 to celebrate the 115th anniversary of the race and the 40th anniversary of his win. Domingo, Mario and others plan to accompany Alvaro to Boston so Edson and I are seriously considering going back to Boston in 2011 to meet many of our American friends and to meet our new Colombian friends again.
But back to the present! I am now home and have in fact moved to our summer home in the Rocky Mtns of Colorado. The Sports Manager is still visiting our kids on the West Coast and will join me this weekend – except I won’t be here! I will be running a marathon in Steamboat Springs, CO. I have been training hard at 9,000 to 10,000 ft to acclimate to the high altitude and prepare for the race. And I am still force-feeding myself with terrible-tasting yogurt! The GI problem seems to be improving slowly and I hope it will be back to normal in a few weeks? With that ongoing issue and the altitude it is not possible to get in competitive shape in one short week so I intend to keep my promise to ‘run for fun’ and consider the race a long, high altitude training run to prepare for the next three mountain marathons. Each one gets progressively higher and harder.
Stay tuned!
Colombia
5/15 – 5/24/10
Part 2
Now where were we? Oh yes – you were going to the fridge for another beer and I was getting ready to catch a flight back to Bogota.
I arrived back in Bogota in the late morning and went immediately to the Sheraton Hotel (an overpriced luxury hotel located close to the airport) where Edson and I were staying for one night. I called Mario and we agreed to meet for lunch. I found out that hotels in Colombia are just like hotels around the world. It cost 14,000 pesos/$7 US to call Mario for 5 minutes and only 6,000 pesos/$3 US to take a taxi to his home? Moral of this story: ‘do not use phones in hotels”!
After lunch we had to decide how Edson and I would get to Paipa – about 200 Km north of Bogota in the Boyaca department. Mario offered two options: 1) we could drive up with him – but his car would be packed to capacity and he needed to leave at 4 am to get started on the work/logistics of the race and 2) a friend was taking a bus and agreed to escort/accompany us to Paipa. He spoke good English and would leave around 10 am.
That decision was a no brainer! We chose to sleep in and leave at 10 am!
Edson arrived in the afternoon and I filled him in on ‘our’ decision. He was very happy to sleep in! We naively decided to wait and eat a late dinner but when we tried to find a restaurant near the hotel we discovered that all the restaurants closed at 5 pm! The Colombians do indeed eat their big meal at lunch and many restaurants close at 5 pm? Only the restaurants in the hotel were open.
That evening I took the last of my ‘super’ drug and was concerned that the GI problems might come roaring back? The problems had improved but had not completely abated. On the advice of my doctor and some friends I had been eating yogurt every day and taking probiotics in an attempt to restore the good bacteria and the proper balance to my GI system. I HATE yogurt but had eaten more yogurt in the past week than in all my previous 66 years! But I was willing to try anything to get my GI system back to normal!
On Fri morning Mario’s friend, Domingo Tibaduiza, came to the hotel with his son Ron to meet and escort us to Paipa. We could have made the trip on our own but it would have been much harder and more stressful because we were stopped and checked for ID at the bus station and the police/military stopped the bus twice en route to Paipa. They checked all passengers for ID and all baggage for weapons because the country was in the middle of elections and we were traveling into territory occupied by rebels. The government wanted to stop rebels and weapons from moving into the region! Domingo explained the stops/issue to us was and was able to explain to the police why we were on the bus and traveling to Paipa. During the 4-hr bus ride we had a long discussion with Domingo. He was an elite runner who won the Berlin Marathon in 1983 (2:14:47) and placed 8th in the NY Marathon in 1984 (2:11:28) and won many other world-class races. Domingo and his family lived in Reno, NV for more than 30 years. In fact we discovered that we lived in Reno during the same time period (79-82) when I ran my 1st marathon in Reno. Domingo was the coach at UNR for the college running team and when they terminated their program he moved into the Washoe County School District as a coach. We assumed that we probably met during that time because he assisted the Silver State Striders (local running club) that I had joined for help in my marathon training. It is indeed a “small world”! Domingo had recently returned to Colombia to accept an offer to coach the Colombian National Team in preparation for the 2012 Olympics in London. His son Ron also returned to train with his Dad in hopes of making the team as a marathoner.
When we arrived in Paipa we were glad to have Domingo because he knew the way to the hotel and arranged for the taxis, etc. The host hotel was the Hotel Sochagota – a luxury resort located on a hill overlooking a lake and the city of Paipa. It had its own thermal hot springs that are common in that area. After checking in and enjoying a ‘big’ lunch we joined Domingo and Ron for a leisurely (2 Km) stroll into town to check out the Stadium and track where the race started/finished. Then Domingo helped us do some souvenir shopping - very few people in Colombia speak English- and finally we went to a market to buy some necessities for the race – bottled water, Gatorade, beer and fruit (and more yogurt for Maddog)!
On Sat morning Edson and I decided to do an ‘easy’ 5-mile run along the lake to explore some of the course and to acclimate to the 8200 ft elevation. We confirmed that we would have to slow down and run easy if we wanted to finish the marathon at that elevation! After breakfast we picked up our race packets and started to meet many runners including some of the elite Colombian runners. We met Alvaro Mejia Florez who won the Boston Marathon in 1971 (2:18:45) and many other big races. We also met Carlos Grisales, the current national marathon record holder (2:11:17 and 5th place in Boston in 1996). I informed Carlos that I ran the same race (the 100th anniversary of Boston) to celebrate my 100th marathon – but I finished a ‘wee’ bit behind him!
It soon became apparent that the elite runners were considered National Sports Champions and heroes – as they deserved to be. I was honored that they respected my running accomplishments as much as I respected theirs. Both Edson and I were pleased and comforted by the friendship and hospitality offered to us by the elite runners and all the people of Colombia! We left the country with many new friends and fond memories. Later that morning Mario took Edson and I on a tour of the marathon course. He wanted to make sure that we were familiar with the course and would not get lost!
It was a 14 Km loop that started and finished on a track at a Stadium in Paipa. There were three ‘gentle’ hills in the loop that we had to complete three times. There were a number of turns and one out-and back loop but the course was easy to remember. There would be lots of water along the course but the only toilet facility was at the stadium which was a slight concern to me (and my GI problems)?
Mario had asked me to make a 1-hr presentation at the race expo to discuss when and why I started running and how it led to a world record 103 countries? The seminar was well attended and Mario translated my talk and the questions/answers that followed. Later Maddog was invited to join the National Sports Champions and local dignitaries on the podium for the Opening Ceremonies of the race. That was followed by an excellent pasta dinner where we shared a table with Domingo, Ron and Alvaro and enjoyed sharing running stories and experiences.
Sun was ‘M’ Day. Edson and I were concerned about getting to the start line – it was either a 2Km walk or take a local bus and that was the concern – taking a wrong bus! Domingo promised to guide us to the start line. The marathon started at 7 am and at 6am it was much warmer than expected. I had packed a long sleeve T-shirt and gloves thinking it would be cold at 8200 ft? I selected a short sleeve shirt and wished I had packed a singlet. Thankfully the sky was overcast which would help keep the temps down. At 6:45 we were still sitting in the hotel lobby waiting for Domingo and very worried that we would miss the start of the race. Ron was running the 10K race that started at 8am so they weren’t in a hurry. Luckily a pretty young lady who had driven up from Bogota to run the 10K offered us a lift and dropped us off at the start line at 6:55 am. Now I was really stressed! I have a pre-race ritual that must be followed to prepare for a race and that takes 15 minutes! Thankfully the stress was alleviated quickly with an announcement that the race would start in 20 to 30 minutes? That allowed Edson and I plenty of time to perform our rituals and time for several pit stops at the bathroom (and a few in the bushes) as I attempted to flush out my GI system. I knew it was a futile attempt and that many more pit stops would be required during the race – but there wasn’t anything I could do about the problem!
The marathon started at 7:30 am. As we left the stadium for the 1st loop I reminded myself of my race strategy. I could not be competitive in this race - my Age Category was classified as ‘Master B’ – males 50+ and there was no way I was going to beat a ‘good’ 50 year-old Colombian on his local turf at 8200 ft! Add in several pit stops because of GI/health issues and there was no sense in trying to kill myself. I figured if I could run a 6:15 to 6:30 min/Km pace (10:00 to 10:15 min/mile) I would finish under 4:30 and that was the best I could hope for? I passed10Km in 59:59 and finished the 1st loop (14Km) on the track in 1:24:19. I was actually ahead of pace! However I had to take advantage of the toilets at the stadium and make a major pit stop that cost 2 to 3 minutes. I figured there would be at least one pit stop on each loop?
I left the stadium again and climbed the first two hills of the 2nd loop and reached the Half in 2:10:30 – right on a 10 min pace. However my legs were already beginning to feel the effects of the high altitude and I knew the 2nd Half would not be as fast.
I reached the stadium and the finish of the 2nd loop (28Km) in 2:59:14. I had slowed significantly on the 2nd loop! Thankfully and surprisingly I didn’t need a pit stop so I continued around the track and left the stadium for the 3rd loop. As I started up the 1st hill of the final loop my legs felt very tired and heavy and the temps were getting very warm and my pace slowed to 7:05/Km - or more than 11:00 min/mile! I figured there was no sense in trying to push the pace lower – it would be better to let my legs and body set the pace because they were definitely feeling the effects of the high altitude! I managed to hold a ‘slow’ 7:00/Km pace through the final two hills that no longer felt like ‘gentle’ hills! As I approached the final hill near 38 Km we were blessed by a sudden change in the weather. The skies darkened and a thunderstorm rolled across the area quickly. The temps dropped 15 degrees and when I crested the final hill at 38Km in 4:02:48 it started to pour. At first I was upset with the rain but the rain and cooler temps helped me lower my pace back down to sub-6:00 min/Km as I descended the next 2 Km. When I reached the flat section at 40Km the rain stopped and I caught up to a young male runner who decided to stay with me. We fed off each other’s energy and maintained a smooth/easy 6:00/Km pace to reach the stadium and cross the finish line in 4:27:01.
My time was not competitive in the Master B age group as expected but I figured that I had placed OK in my normal (60+) AG. Mario later confirmed that I placed 3rd in the ‘unofficial’ AG of 60+ so I was pleased with both my time and performance considering the altitude and health issues. Shortly after I finished, the awards ceremony was held and Mario presented Maddog with an award for completing Country #103 – a new World record! I was besieged with requests/invitations to pose with runners and their families for photos and was happy to accommodate to return the kindness and hospitality offered to me. But I was thankful when Edson finished in 4:42 and after a few finish line photos we headed back to the hotel. We went straight to the hot springs. Gosh - were they ever wonderful! The temp of the water was about the same as my hot tub – around 108 F and all the natural minerals seemed to rejuvenate our tired old legs and bodies.
We were joined by Ron who didn’t seem to be too tired after winning the 10Km race? He blew by me on the course like I was standing still? After a long soothing soak Domingo and Alvaro invited us to join them and Mario at a local restaurant in Paipa to enjoy a traditional Colombian lunch. During lunch I had to make an executive decision. I was supposed to return to Bogota with Mario and his family and spend the night with them. However Mario looked so exhausted from managing the races and needed some ‘down’ or rest time and some ‘Q” time with his family so I decided to return to Bogota on the bus with Domingo, Alvaro, Ron and Edson. I figured it would be more convenient and easier for everyone for me to stay at a hotel close to the airport and catch a shuttle early in the morning for my flight home.
We took an express bus back to Bogota- with no police/military checkpoints – apparently the government doesn’t care about rebels and weapons ‘leaving’ the region? Our only concern about taking a bus to Bogota was how to get to the airport safely because our guides were getting off the bus before it arrived at the central bus station? Domingo assured us that there was a government controlled taxi office at the bus station that controlled and certified the safety of the taxis. We did find the taxi office and arranged a safe ride that dropped me off at the closest hotel to the airport and took Edson on to the airport.
During our discussions with Domingo and Alvaro we learned that the Boston Marathon Association invited Alvaro to Boston in 2011 to celebrate the 115th anniversary of the race and the 40th anniversary of his win. Domingo, Mario and others plan to accompany Alvaro to Boston so Edson and I are seriously considering going back to Boston in 2011 to meet many of our American friends and to meet our new Colombian friends again.
But back to the present! I am now home and have in fact moved to our summer home in the Rocky Mtns of Colorado. The Sports Manager is still visiting our kids on the West Coast and will join me this weekend – except I won’t be here! I will be running a marathon in Steamboat Springs, CO. I have been training hard at 9,000 to 10,000 ft to acclimate to the high altitude and prepare for the race. And I am still force-feeding myself with terrible-tasting yogurt! The GI problem seems to be improving slowly and I hope it will be back to normal in a few weeks? With that ongoing issue and the altitude it is not possible to get in competitive shape in one short week so I intend to keep my promise to ‘run for fun’ and consider the race a long, high altitude training run to prepare for the next three mountain marathons. Each one gets progressively higher and harder.
Stay tuned!
TR - Colombia - Part 1
TRIP REPORT
Colombia
5/15 – 5/24/10
Part 1
Sun, May 23/10
Paipa, Colombia
Andina Marathon
Marathon #329 – Country # 103
4:27:01 – 3AG
It was a great trip and marathon thanks to many new friends I met in Colombia. So, go to the fridge, get a sandwich and beer and settle into your favorite chair for a good story.
Where to start? I had been looking for a marathon in Colombia for many years and my luck changed when I met a runner from Colombia while running a marathon in Nicaragua in 2008. I asked for help in finding a race in Colombia and he put me in contact with his friend who was organizing a marathon in Paipa in May 2009. I contacted Mario Mesa and he provided me with all the info about his inaugural marathon and I agreed to run it. Unfortunately fate and health did not work in my favor and I suffered that mystery back injury in early 2009 and had to cancel my plans to run Colombia.
When the injury disappeared as mysteriously as it appeared in the fall of 2009 I called Mario to confirm that I would come to the 2010 edition of his race. He was most helpful in providing info and suggestions about where to go and what to see while I was in Colombia and he invited me to stay with his family in Bogota. I decided to visit for nine days to enjoy as much of Colombia as possible on the trip.
While running the Bahamas Marathon in Feb with my friend Edson from NYC, I mentioned the race in Colombia and he asked to go along. He planned to join me a few days before the race since he works (yuk) and can’t afford a long vacation time.
As the race date drew nearer Mario was again a big help as he booked rooms at the host hotel for us and arranged for a special race bib for me. And I became concerned that I might have to cancel the trip again? I was suffering from a prolonged illness that started when the Sports Manager and I babysat our precious granddaughter in early April. She gave us both a severe cold and bronchial infection that wouldn’t go away so we finally took penicillin to kill the infection. During that period I had to cancel a marathon in KS because I was too weak and tired to run. And the nightmare was just beginning – the penicillin killed all the bacteria – bad & good – and resulted in a GI infection (and you know what happens when you have a GI infection). The first antibiotic failed to cure the GI infection and I was forced to take a super drug (and super expensive) that was developed to cure that specific bacteria. I started the drug only a few days before leaving for Colombia and was not sure how it would affect me and the trip. But I had no option at that point!
I had agreed to spend the first three days with Mario and his family in Bogota. Mario met me at the airport at midnight Sat. because my flight was 3 hrs late out of Miami. The next day I met his lovely wife Maria Elena and their two kids, Sebastian and Pablo. Pablo was a few months younger than our granddaughter and I had a blast playing with him. Mario and his family speak very good English, which made the visit much easier.
Although we got to bed very late Mario had arranged a surprise for Sun morning – a 15K race at 9am in downtown Bogota. We arrived at packet pick up at 7am to beat the huge crowd. The race, including the bib, chip and T-shirt was FREE! (US race directors take note!) Mario introduced me to hundreds (?) of friends/runners – I swear he knows every runner in Bogota? While we were waiting for the race to start Mario took me on a ‘jogging’ tour of La Candelaria – the old town. We jogged over to the Plaza De Bolivar that is surrounded by the Catedral Primada, the Palacio de Justicia (Supreme Court), the Edificio Lievano (Mayor’s Office), the Capitolio Nacional (Congress) and a 16th century home that houses the Museo del 20 de Julio where the rebellion started for independence. It was being renovated for Colombia’s Bicentennial in 2010.
We continued our ‘jogging’ tour down some side streets off the Plaza past the Teatro Colon built in 1792 and the Museo Del Oro (Gold Museum). By then I noted that I was sucking for air – Bogota is 8400ft in elevation! We decided not to run the 15K for safety reasons. It was a point-to-point race so we could not set a specific point to meet if we got separated and I wasn’t sure I could ‘race’ a 15K at 8400 ft on the 1st day? And Mario was concerned that a gringo – especially one with white skin, blonde hair and blue eyes and not fluent in Spanish- would be at risk in Bogota. Instead we continued our jogging tour for a few Km along the racecourse north out of La Candelaria past the Parque de la Indepencia and the bull ring and then we took a taxi home.
After a big breakfast Mario’s sister Gloria and a friend visited and we drove to a nearby Mall for an ATM and to shop for food. Maria Elena prepared a typical Colombian meal for lunch and we ate – and ate! Lunch is the big meal of the day for Colombians. They typically eat a light snack for dinner but I declined dinner because I was still full!
Monday was a holiday in Colombia so Mario and I woke early and did a ‘fast’ 10K in a local park near his house. By 5K I was sucking for air and realized that I would have to slow down the pace in the marathon if I wanted to survive and finish the race. After breakfast I wanted to visit the Cerro de Monserrate – a 10,400ft peak overlooking the city. Mario needed to work on marathon details so I offered to take a taxi to the funicular station. Mario would not allow it! He claimed there was too much risk/danger for me to travel around the city alone so he asked his wife and sister to baby-sit/guide me to the top of Monserrate. Yes – the women and kids went along to protect Maddog! He picked us up later at the station and we enjoyed another (huge) lunch at a Peruvian restaurant before going to a Mall for ice cream. Needless to say I skipped dinner again!
Later that day Mario and I went to a Sports Shop in a nearby Mall to pick up race registrations. The major race sponsor, New Balance, had asked Mario to present me with a pair of New Balance shoes in appreciation of my participation in the race. I was asked to pick out any pair of New Balance shoes which Mario then presented in an ‘official’ ceremony and publicity opportunity. Maybe it was a return for the dozen pair of used and new shoes that I had carried to Colombia to give to Mario to distribute to ‘gifted’ runners who could not afford good racing shoes!
On Tue I was scheduled to fly to Cartagena – located on the Pacific Coast near Panama. Mario was not allowed to drive his car on Tue (pollution control) so again I offered to catch a cab – there were hundreds of cabs on the streets at all times. Now Mario started to scare me. He said it was not safe – it was common for taxi drivers to rob or kidnap their clients – especially tourists! They have developed a system for safety. You call a specific taxi company and provide your name, address and destination. The company provides the number of the taxi and a ‘secret’ code. You do not get in any taxi except the one with the proper number and before you get in you provide the driver with the code, which he radios to his dispatch. They confirm the code and only then is the driver allowed to take you to the predetermined destination. That way if you don’t reach your destination the cops know where to begin the search? It worked and I arrived at the airport safely and 2 hrs later I arrived in Cartagena.
When I departed from the plane the heat and humidity hit me like a blast furnace. Damn – it was hot! The airport was only a few miles from the city so I risked a taxi to the hotel and had no problems. I had booked a small hotel in the old town – it was clean and in a good location – but none of the staff spoke English. So I had to get my Spanish dictionary/phrasebook out and practice my limited Spanish. I managed to check in and get all the info I needed before setting out to tour the old city. Cartagena’s old town, a Unesco World heritage Site, is a maze of cobbled alleys and colonial houses dating back to the 16th century. Cartagena was founded in 1533 by Pedro de Heredia on the site of the Caribe settlement of Calamari. It became the main Spanish port on the Caribbean coast and the major northern gateway to South America. Since pirates often attacked the city the Spanish built 13 Km of Las Murallas or fortified walls to protect the city. The original walls are still intact. The Spanish also built a number of forts to protect the city and they are still in great condition and can be explored.
I planned to explore the city on foot but soon located a travel agent who offered a 4-hr tour by bus and foot so I signed up for that afternoon. It turned out that I was the only English-speaking tourist but the guide kindly explained everything in English. We drove around the city to tour the Convento De La Popa –built on the highest hill overlooking the city in 1607 and the Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas – the greatest fortress ever built by the Spaniards. (1657) It has an extensive network of tunnels throughout the fort and connecting to the old city. The tunnels were not built for gringos – I constantly hit my head on the ceilings! We then toured the old city on foot so that by the end of the tour I was quite familiar with the layout of the city. I had also found a better hotel – more modern, better location and cheaper (with staff that spoke English) and I decided to change the next day.
On Wed I woke very early to do a 7-mile run. I was able to wind myself through the maze of cobblestone alleys to the peninsula south of the city that is occupied by Bocagrande. It reminded me of South Florida – every square inch was crammed with modern high-rise condos and luxury hotels. Certainly better hotels but all the tourist sites are in the old city so I preferred to be located there. The run was tough – I had GI problems that required finding a scarce bush – and the weather was brutally hot and humid and my shoes were completely soaked with sweat when I finished – and I hadn’t packed another pair of shoes! All I could do was put on dry socks and carry my luggage a few blocks to the new hotel. Then I spent the day exploring the old city on foot. There were too many sites to describe them all so look at the photos on my website – a picture is worth a 1000 words! During that day two old sailing vessels – the ‘Gloria’ from Colombia and the ‘Cuauhtemo’ from Mexico were escorted into the Cartagena Marina by the Colombian Navy. They are part of a flotilla of sailing ships touring South America to celebrate many Bicentennials in 2010. I had to return to the hotel every few hours to change my shirt because it would become drenched in sweat. By mid-afternoon I was looking for bars with A/C so I could escape the heat and cool down with Club Colombia beer!
My hotel was located one block from the Las Bovedas – 23 dungeons built into the walls in 1792. They now house arts and craft shops and I was able to find all the normal souvenirs I collect from every country. After a very hot day the temps cooled down after sun set and I enjoyed a great seafood dinner at an outdoor café in preparation for an early departure on Thu back to Bogota to meet up with Edson.
And as expected this is going to be a long report so I will split into two parts. Thus go back to fridge, get another beer and get ready for Part 2.
Colombia
5/15 – 5/24/10
Part 1
Sun, May 23/10
Paipa, Colombia
Andina Marathon
Marathon #329 – Country # 103
4:27:01 – 3AG
It was a great trip and marathon thanks to many new friends I met in Colombia. So, go to the fridge, get a sandwich and beer and settle into your favorite chair for a good story.
Where to start? I had been looking for a marathon in Colombia for many years and my luck changed when I met a runner from Colombia while running a marathon in Nicaragua in 2008. I asked for help in finding a race in Colombia and he put me in contact with his friend who was organizing a marathon in Paipa in May 2009. I contacted Mario Mesa and he provided me with all the info about his inaugural marathon and I agreed to run it. Unfortunately fate and health did not work in my favor and I suffered that mystery back injury in early 2009 and had to cancel my plans to run Colombia.
When the injury disappeared as mysteriously as it appeared in the fall of 2009 I called Mario to confirm that I would come to the 2010 edition of his race. He was most helpful in providing info and suggestions about where to go and what to see while I was in Colombia and he invited me to stay with his family in Bogota. I decided to visit for nine days to enjoy as much of Colombia as possible on the trip.
While running the Bahamas Marathon in Feb with my friend Edson from NYC, I mentioned the race in Colombia and he asked to go along. He planned to join me a few days before the race since he works (yuk) and can’t afford a long vacation time.
As the race date drew nearer Mario was again a big help as he booked rooms at the host hotel for us and arranged for a special race bib for me. And I became concerned that I might have to cancel the trip again? I was suffering from a prolonged illness that started when the Sports Manager and I babysat our precious granddaughter in early April. She gave us both a severe cold and bronchial infection that wouldn’t go away so we finally took penicillin to kill the infection. During that period I had to cancel a marathon in KS because I was too weak and tired to run. And the nightmare was just beginning – the penicillin killed all the bacteria – bad & good – and resulted in a GI infection (and you know what happens when you have a GI infection). The first antibiotic failed to cure the GI infection and I was forced to take a super drug (and super expensive) that was developed to cure that specific bacteria. I started the drug only a few days before leaving for Colombia and was not sure how it would affect me and the trip. But I had no option at that point!
I had agreed to spend the first three days with Mario and his family in Bogota. Mario met me at the airport at midnight Sat. because my flight was 3 hrs late out of Miami. The next day I met his lovely wife Maria Elena and their two kids, Sebastian and Pablo. Pablo was a few months younger than our granddaughter and I had a blast playing with him. Mario and his family speak very good English, which made the visit much easier.
Although we got to bed very late Mario had arranged a surprise for Sun morning – a 15K race at 9am in downtown Bogota. We arrived at packet pick up at 7am to beat the huge crowd. The race, including the bib, chip and T-shirt was FREE! (US race directors take note!) Mario introduced me to hundreds (?) of friends/runners – I swear he knows every runner in Bogota? While we were waiting for the race to start Mario took me on a ‘jogging’ tour of La Candelaria – the old town. We jogged over to the Plaza De Bolivar that is surrounded by the Catedral Primada, the Palacio de Justicia (Supreme Court), the Edificio Lievano (Mayor’s Office), the Capitolio Nacional (Congress) and a 16th century home that houses the Museo del 20 de Julio where the rebellion started for independence. It was being renovated for Colombia’s Bicentennial in 2010.
We continued our ‘jogging’ tour down some side streets off the Plaza past the Teatro Colon built in 1792 and the Museo Del Oro (Gold Museum). By then I noted that I was sucking for air – Bogota is 8400ft in elevation! We decided not to run the 15K for safety reasons. It was a point-to-point race so we could not set a specific point to meet if we got separated and I wasn’t sure I could ‘race’ a 15K at 8400 ft on the 1st day? And Mario was concerned that a gringo – especially one with white skin, blonde hair and blue eyes and not fluent in Spanish- would be at risk in Bogota. Instead we continued our jogging tour for a few Km along the racecourse north out of La Candelaria past the Parque de la Indepencia and the bull ring and then we took a taxi home.
After a big breakfast Mario’s sister Gloria and a friend visited and we drove to a nearby Mall for an ATM and to shop for food. Maria Elena prepared a typical Colombian meal for lunch and we ate – and ate! Lunch is the big meal of the day for Colombians. They typically eat a light snack for dinner but I declined dinner because I was still full!
Monday was a holiday in Colombia so Mario and I woke early and did a ‘fast’ 10K in a local park near his house. By 5K I was sucking for air and realized that I would have to slow down the pace in the marathon if I wanted to survive and finish the race. After breakfast I wanted to visit the Cerro de Monserrate – a 10,400ft peak overlooking the city. Mario needed to work on marathon details so I offered to take a taxi to the funicular station. Mario would not allow it! He claimed there was too much risk/danger for me to travel around the city alone so he asked his wife and sister to baby-sit/guide me to the top of Monserrate. Yes – the women and kids went along to protect Maddog! He picked us up later at the station and we enjoyed another (huge) lunch at a Peruvian restaurant before going to a Mall for ice cream. Needless to say I skipped dinner again!
Later that day Mario and I went to a Sports Shop in a nearby Mall to pick up race registrations. The major race sponsor, New Balance, had asked Mario to present me with a pair of New Balance shoes in appreciation of my participation in the race. I was asked to pick out any pair of New Balance shoes which Mario then presented in an ‘official’ ceremony and publicity opportunity. Maybe it was a return for the dozen pair of used and new shoes that I had carried to Colombia to give to Mario to distribute to ‘gifted’ runners who could not afford good racing shoes!
On Tue I was scheduled to fly to Cartagena – located on the Pacific Coast near Panama. Mario was not allowed to drive his car on Tue (pollution control) so again I offered to catch a cab – there were hundreds of cabs on the streets at all times. Now Mario started to scare me. He said it was not safe – it was common for taxi drivers to rob or kidnap their clients – especially tourists! They have developed a system for safety. You call a specific taxi company and provide your name, address and destination. The company provides the number of the taxi and a ‘secret’ code. You do not get in any taxi except the one with the proper number and before you get in you provide the driver with the code, which he radios to his dispatch. They confirm the code and only then is the driver allowed to take you to the predetermined destination. That way if you don’t reach your destination the cops know where to begin the search? It worked and I arrived at the airport safely and 2 hrs later I arrived in Cartagena.
When I departed from the plane the heat and humidity hit me like a blast furnace. Damn – it was hot! The airport was only a few miles from the city so I risked a taxi to the hotel and had no problems. I had booked a small hotel in the old town – it was clean and in a good location – but none of the staff spoke English. So I had to get my Spanish dictionary/phrasebook out and practice my limited Spanish. I managed to check in and get all the info I needed before setting out to tour the old city. Cartagena’s old town, a Unesco World heritage Site, is a maze of cobbled alleys and colonial houses dating back to the 16th century. Cartagena was founded in 1533 by Pedro de Heredia on the site of the Caribe settlement of Calamari. It became the main Spanish port on the Caribbean coast and the major northern gateway to South America. Since pirates often attacked the city the Spanish built 13 Km of Las Murallas or fortified walls to protect the city. The original walls are still intact. The Spanish also built a number of forts to protect the city and they are still in great condition and can be explored.
I planned to explore the city on foot but soon located a travel agent who offered a 4-hr tour by bus and foot so I signed up for that afternoon. It turned out that I was the only English-speaking tourist but the guide kindly explained everything in English. We drove around the city to tour the Convento De La Popa –built on the highest hill overlooking the city in 1607 and the Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas – the greatest fortress ever built by the Spaniards. (1657) It has an extensive network of tunnels throughout the fort and connecting to the old city. The tunnels were not built for gringos – I constantly hit my head on the ceilings! We then toured the old city on foot so that by the end of the tour I was quite familiar with the layout of the city. I had also found a better hotel – more modern, better location and cheaper (with staff that spoke English) and I decided to change the next day.
On Wed I woke very early to do a 7-mile run. I was able to wind myself through the maze of cobblestone alleys to the peninsula south of the city that is occupied by Bocagrande. It reminded me of South Florida – every square inch was crammed with modern high-rise condos and luxury hotels. Certainly better hotels but all the tourist sites are in the old city so I preferred to be located there. The run was tough – I had GI problems that required finding a scarce bush – and the weather was brutally hot and humid and my shoes were completely soaked with sweat when I finished – and I hadn’t packed another pair of shoes! All I could do was put on dry socks and carry my luggage a few blocks to the new hotel. Then I spent the day exploring the old city on foot. There were too many sites to describe them all so look at the photos on my website – a picture is worth a 1000 words! During that day two old sailing vessels – the ‘Gloria’ from Colombia and the ‘Cuauhtemo’ from Mexico were escorted into the Cartagena Marina by the Colombian Navy. They are part of a flotilla of sailing ships touring South America to celebrate many Bicentennials in 2010. I had to return to the hotel every few hours to change my shirt because it would become drenched in sweat. By mid-afternoon I was looking for bars with A/C so I could escape the heat and cool down with Club Colombia beer!
My hotel was located one block from the Las Bovedas – 23 dungeons built into the walls in 1792. They now house arts and craft shops and I was able to find all the normal souvenirs I collect from every country. After a very hot day the temps cooled down after sun set and I enjoyed a great seafood dinner at an outdoor café in preparation for an early departure on Thu back to Bogota to meet up with Edson.
And as expected this is going to be a long report so I will split into two parts. Thus go back to fridge, get another beer and get ready for Part 2.
Monday, March 29, 2010
RR Yakima Marathon
Race Report
Sat, Mar 27/10
Yakima River Canyon Marathon
Yakima, WA
Marathon # 328
3:47:45 – 1 AG
I didn’t expect to write this report for another week or more but have access to a computer so might as well write it up while it is still fresh in my memory. After turning 66 last week I can’t be sure how long the old mind can retain memories any more. Heck I can’t even remember where I leave my keys most of the time?
As I mentioned in my last report I was trying to ‘key’ on this race since the course was reported to be a fast downhill course. I ran into a wee glitch the week before the race when Morton’s Neuroma flared up again in my left foot. Luckily a few days rest and another few days of cross training provided enough ‘rest’ time for the pain to subside and we left Florida on my birthday.
We arrived in Seattle late Thu night and stayed with our son Chris and he drove us across the Cascade Mtns on Fri to Yakima, WA. An ‘old’ (dating back to our early careers in Canada) friend living in Selah, WA- Mike Howell and his partner Beverley- invited us to stay with them.
As we approached Yakima we exited I 90 and drove the actual marathon course on Hwy 821 between Ellensburg and Selah, WA. The course follows the Yakima River through the Yakima Canyon and is very scenic with the river always on the right side and majestic hills and cliffs on both sides of the narrow road. The course is point-to-point and drops 300 ft from start to finish. However there was a slight catch – one small hill in the first Half and four hills in the 2nd Half – and two of them qualified as BAH (Bad Ass Hill)! When we climbed (drove) the 1st BAH at mile 14 I knew it would be tough – but the 2nd and BAH at mile 22 was a bitch! But at least I knew what to expect.
We arrived at Mike’s, unpacked and headed straight to the Civic Center in Selah to pick up my race packet and attend a reunion of the 100 Marathon Club, NA. Bob and Lenore Dolphin organized and manage the North American chapter of the 100 Marathon Club. They are also the race directors of the Yakima Marathon. All the volunteer work (plus Bob still runs marathons) must keep them in good shape because they are both in their young 80s? Bob & Lenore have been inviting me to run their race for years but there always seemed to be an international race to conflict with their date. Last year I committed to run their race and even bought airline tickets – but you know what happened – I suffered that strange/mystery injury and had to cancel. But I had finally made it to Yakima!
I met several old friends and members of the 100 Marathon Club that I hadn’t seen in years and even Mike enjoyed the war stories. The members introduced themselves and gave a short biography of their accomplishments and at the end one member tallied that the 40 members present had run a total of 8800 Marathons and Ultras! Yep – it was a room full of fanatics and nuts! But we all understood each other’s obsession/addiction!
I skipped a pasta dinner organized by the Club for dinner with our hosts so we could reminisce about the good old days and brag about our grand kids. On Sat morning my son and regular Sports Manager slept in while Mike drove me to the start line and cheered me at the start. The weather was great – a chilly 35 F at 8 am, low humidity and a light breeze. It was sunny but the course was blocked from the sun for the first few hours so I wore a throw-away T-shirt until the sun broke over the mountains around 10 am.
I planned to go out at an 8:15 pace and hold that pace as long as possible to see if I could break 3:45 – maybe even 3:40? The first 4 miles were flat or a slight downhill so I passed mile 1 in 7:58 and then slowed the pace down to 8:10s. The only uphill in the first Half at mile 5 slowed my split down to 8:26 but then I was back down to 8:15s. I passed mile 10 in 1:22:50 and reached the Half in 1:49:10. I was on pace to break 3:40 but knew that the 2nd half would not be that fast because of the hills and especially the BAHs! The first BAH climbed about 150 ft from mile 14 to mile 15 and slowed my split down to 9:49. That shocked me and I tried to make up some of that time over the next few miles and in hindsight that probably cost me my sub 3:45 target! After another (up)hill at mile 17 my splits slowed to 8:40s until I started to climb the BAH – or Dam Hill as it is called - at mile 22. That Dam Hill climbs 300 ft over 1 1/3 miles! I figured the best/smartest strategy was to climb it smoothly and methodically rather than charge up it. I wanted to have energy left over at the top since the final 5K dropped 300 ft to the finish line! Unfortunately that methodical climb resulted in an excruciatingly slow 10:57 split and that really cost me my sub 3:45 goal!
I tried to lower the hammer and make up for that loss of time on the final downhill and the final mile was my fastest split (7:56) of the race but not good enough to break 3:45. I sprinted across the finish line in 3:47:45. I was disappointed in my time but not my effort. I left absolutely nothing on that course! I might have run a wee bit smarter but I had given it everything I had on that day! Thankfully my time was at least good enough to win 1st place in my Age Group so I will have to live with that!
After the race our hosts gave us a tour of the Yakima area including a visit to a brew pub and a winery for tasting. The Yakima Valley is an agricultural region with fruit, hops and vineyards. Add a great dinner with lots of wine and my legs weren’t feeling any pain when I went to bed? On Sun morning Chris drove back to Seattle by himself while we waited for our other son Jason and our precious granddaughter Priya to pick us up. Mike and I attended a breakfast with runners and members of the 100 Marathon Club so I could say my farewells and a special thanks to Bob and Lenore. It is a great race and a great event. I recommend the race to all runners!
Later that morning Jason and Priya picked us up to continue our journey to Hermiston, OR. Jason is working a remote (one-week) shift in Hermiston for his Radiology Partners. Since his wife Ami is pregnant again (our 2nd grandchild) and working all week in Portland we agreed to join Jason for the week to babysit our precious granddaughter while he works. What a blast!
The Radiology Partners rent a beautiful house situated on a cliff overlooking the Columbia River with views for miles! There is a great dirt trail below the cliffs and along the river. Priya and I enjoyed a pleasant 8-mile run along the Columbia River on our first day and we will explore that trail in every direction before we leave. She loves to run with her Pappy! Life doesn’t get much better!
At the end of the week we return to Portland with Jason and Priya to visit Ami and then head back to Seattle by train to spend a few more days with Chris before returning home.
These long easy runs with Priya should be good for my new race/running strategy and my next race in 3 weeks. Remember – I am going to run for fun – just like the fun I am having on the morning runs with my precious Priya!
Stay tuned!
Sat, Mar 27/10
Yakima River Canyon Marathon
Yakima, WA
Marathon # 328
3:47:45 – 1 AG
I didn’t expect to write this report for another week or more but have access to a computer so might as well write it up while it is still fresh in my memory. After turning 66 last week I can’t be sure how long the old mind can retain memories any more. Heck I can’t even remember where I leave my keys most of the time?
As I mentioned in my last report I was trying to ‘key’ on this race since the course was reported to be a fast downhill course. I ran into a wee glitch the week before the race when Morton’s Neuroma flared up again in my left foot. Luckily a few days rest and another few days of cross training provided enough ‘rest’ time for the pain to subside and we left Florida on my birthday.
We arrived in Seattle late Thu night and stayed with our son Chris and he drove us across the Cascade Mtns on Fri to Yakima, WA. An ‘old’ (dating back to our early careers in Canada) friend living in Selah, WA- Mike Howell and his partner Beverley- invited us to stay with them.
As we approached Yakima we exited I 90 and drove the actual marathon course on Hwy 821 between Ellensburg and Selah, WA. The course follows the Yakima River through the Yakima Canyon and is very scenic with the river always on the right side and majestic hills and cliffs on both sides of the narrow road. The course is point-to-point and drops 300 ft from start to finish. However there was a slight catch – one small hill in the first Half and four hills in the 2nd Half – and two of them qualified as BAH (Bad Ass Hill)! When we climbed (drove) the 1st BAH at mile 14 I knew it would be tough – but the 2nd and BAH at mile 22 was a bitch! But at least I knew what to expect.
We arrived at Mike’s, unpacked and headed straight to the Civic Center in Selah to pick up my race packet and attend a reunion of the 100 Marathon Club, NA. Bob and Lenore Dolphin organized and manage the North American chapter of the 100 Marathon Club. They are also the race directors of the Yakima Marathon. All the volunteer work (plus Bob still runs marathons) must keep them in good shape because they are both in their young 80s? Bob & Lenore have been inviting me to run their race for years but there always seemed to be an international race to conflict with their date. Last year I committed to run their race and even bought airline tickets – but you know what happened – I suffered that strange/mystery injury and had to cancel. But I had finally made it to Yakima!
I met several old friends and members of the 100 Marathon Club that I hadn’t seen in years and even Mike enjoyed the war stories. The members introduced themselves and gave a short biography of their accomplishments and at the end one member tallied that the 40 members present had run a total of 8800 Marathons and Ultras! Yep – it was a room full of fanatics and nuts! But we all understood each other’s obsession/addiction!
I skipped a pasta dinner organized by the Club for dinner with our hosts so we could reminisce about the good old days and brag about our grand kids. On Sat morning my son and regular Sports Manager slept in while Mike drove me to the start line and cheered me at the start. The weather was great – a chilly 35 F at 8 am, low humidity and a light breeze. It was sunny but the course was blocked from the sun for the first few hours so I wore a throw-away T-shirt until the sun broke over the mountains around 10 am.
I planned to go out at an 8:15 pace and hold that pace as long as possible to see if I could break 3:45 – maybe even 3:40? The first 4 miles were flat or a slight downhill so I passed mile 1 in 7:58 and then slowed the pace down to 8:10s. The only uphill in the first Half at mile 5 slowed my split down to 8:26 but then I was back down to 8:15s. I passed mile 10 in 1:22:50 and reached the Half in 1:49:10. I was on pace to break 3:40 but knew that the 2nd half would not be that fast because of the hills and especially the BAHs! The first BAH climbed about 150 ft from mile 14 to mile 15 and slowed my split down to 9:49. That shocked me and I tried to make up some of that time over the next few miles and in hindsight that probably cost me my sub 3:45 target! After another (up)hill at mile 17 my splits slowed to 8:40s until I started to climb the BAH – or Dam Hill as it is called - at mile 22. That Dam Hill climbs 300 ft over 1 1/3 miles! I figured the best/smartest strategy was to climb it smoothly and methodically rather than charge up it. I wanted to have energy left over at the top since the final 5K dropped 300 ft to the finish line! Unfortunately that methodical climb resulted in an excruciatingly slow 10:57 split and that really cost me my sub 3:45 goal!
I tried to lower the hammer and make up for that loss of time on the final downhill and the final mile was my fastest split (7:56) of the race but not good enough to break 3:45. I sprinted across the finish line in 3:47:45. I was disappointed in my time but not my effort. I left absolutely nothing on that course! I might have run a wee bit smarter but I had given it everything I had on that day! Thankfully my time was at least good enough to win 1st place in my Age Group so I will have to live with that!
After the race our hosts gave us a tour of the Yakima area including a visit to a brew pub and a winery for tasting. The Yakima Valley is an agricultural region with fruit, hops and vineyards. Add a great dinner with lots of wine and my legs weren’t feeling any pain when I went to bed? On Sun morning Chris drove back to Seattle by himself while we waited for our other son Jason and our precious granddaughter Priya to pick us up. Mike and I attended a breakfast with runners and members of the 100 Marathon Club so I could say my farewells and a special thanks to Bob and Lenore. It is a great race and a great event. I recommend the race to all runners!
Later that morning Jason and Priya picked us up to continue our journey to Hermiston, OR. Jason is working a remote (one-week) shift in Hermiston for his Radiology Partners. Since his wife Ami is pregnant again (our 2nd grandchild) and working all week in Portland we agreed to join Jason for the week to babysit our precious granddaughter while he works. What a blast!
The Radiology Partners rent a beautiful house situated on a cliff overlooking the Columbia River with views for miles! There is a great dirt trail below the cliffs and along the river. Priya and I enjoyed a pleasant 8-mile run along the Columbia River on our first day and we will explore that trail in every direction before we leave. She loves to run with her Pappy! Life doesn’t get much better!
At the end of the week we return to Portland with Jason and Priya to visit Ami and then head back to Seattle by train to spend a few more days with Chris before returning home.
These long easy runs with Priya should be good for my new race/running strategy and my next race in 3 weeks. Remember – I am going to run for fun – just like the fun I am having on the morning runs with my precious Priya!
Stay tuned!
Monday, March 15, 2010
RR - Live Oak, FL
Race Report
Sun, Mar 14/10
Florida Sheriff’s Youth Ranch Marathon
Live Oak, FL
Marathon #327
3:47:15 – 2nd OA
I didn’t have a race planned for mid- March since my hometown marathon got cancelled. I was actually planning to key on the Sarasota Marathon to regain my AG title but that plan vanished with the cancellation. I boycotted the Half-marathon because of the exorbitant fee ($75) and looked for another race. I found a small inaugural marathon being run in Live Oak, FL to support the Florida Sheriff’s Youth Ranch. We had driven by Live Oak many times but had never explored the area so we decided to make a weekend trip and run the new race.
It was a longer-than-expected 4-hr drive north to Live Oak. We explored the small town (6500 residents) and then found the Florida Sheriff’s Youth Ranch – a ranch for troubled and neglected boys. It is a large ranch located on the Suwannee River in the boonies of North Florida – only 15 miles from the Georgia State Line. I had been informed that there would be a small turnout for the race but I was surprised that only 25 runners had registered for the races – only 8 runners in the marathon! I had a quick look at the course – a 6.55 mile loop on paved roads through and around the Ranch. There were at least 8 short hills – ‘gentle’ rolling hills in the loop –but we had to run 4 loops so you can do the math for total number of hills in the marathon! None qualified as BAH (Bad Ass Hill) but on the fourth and final loop those ’gentle’ hills didn’t feel so gentle anymore?
The race start had been moved to 7:30 am because of Daylight Savings Time and there were no street lights on the Ranch. The race started at an arena/corral in a field so we had to run a wee bit of cross country on each loop – and be careful where we stepped!
Pasta dinner was a disappointment as was the town of Live Oak. The only Italian restaurant in town was a Pizza Hut? And there wasn’t much entertainment either so we got lots of sleep before the race.
It was a chilly 43 F at 7 am as I drove back to the ranch in the dark. However the sun rose just before the start and the temps warmed up to a pleasant 60F by the end of the race. The humidity was low with a light breeze – i.e. perfect weather for running!
As mentioned the course was a 6.55 mile loop that was actually a trio of loops. This configuration made the race more exciting and challenging because you saw the small number of runners/competitors more often and could gauge your position in the race. I started out with a lead group of 5 runners and by the time we completed the 1st loop I figured the pecking order/positions for the race had been established.
A male runner in his 40s took the lead from the start – followed by another male runner in his 50s- followed by a young male runner in his 20s – then Maddog followed by a female runner in her 30s. At the end of the 1st loop (56:21 split for me) those 5 runners were all within 1/2 mile of each other with the rest of the runners spread along the course. By mile 9 or half-way through the 2nd loop I had determined that the very young male runner about 200 ft in front of me was the leader in the Half and I was not concerned about him. I mistakenly assumed that the female runner about 200ft behind me was also in the Half but I kept wondering why she wasn’t pushing harder to catch the male leader and win the Half? I could have easily pushed harder and passed the young male leader to win the Half?
When I completed the 2nd loop and the Half in 1:52:26 our positions had not changed. By then the leader had a 1-mile lead on me and the 2nd place male had increased his lead to ½ mile and I was pretty sure that would be the finish order unless one of those runners crashed – or broke a leg? Nevertheless I decided to continue to push the pace though the 3rd loop to run at least a fast 20-mile tempo run and then hang on as necessary for the 4th loop?
However as I climbed a series of rolling hills near 16 miles I was surprised to see that the 2nd place male had started to fade and I had closed the lead to about ¼ mile. I was even more shocked when I made a turn- around at 16 M in 2:17:27 to find the young female runner still riding my ass and only about 800 ft behind me? Obviously she was running the marathon. I was shocked – Maddog was scared shitless!
Maddog now had a double dose of motivation:
1) He could smell blood and a 2nd place Overall if he could pass the male runner who was fading
2) There was a female chasing his ass and about to pass him.
Now most of my readers know that Maddog is an old relic – a male, chauvinistic pig! In the good old days he would never- ever- let a female runner pass him or beat him. In the good old days he could do something to prevent that. However in the past few years he has had to eat a lot of humble pie and accept the fact that good old days are gone as he watches pretty young ladies pass his ass often and he cannot respond. Oh SHIT! I knew what was coming and I knew I could not stop it!
Maddog took over the race. He was determined – No – OBSESSED – that Hell would freeze over and he would run my tired OLD ass six feet into the ground before he would let that female pass him! There was no point arguing with him – I decided it was best to just relax and go along for the ride. Maddog lowered the hammer and dropped the pace to 8:30s. We caught and passed the 2nd place male near Mile 19. He asked me how old I was – he was 57! I made another turn and noted that I had increased my lead on the female runner. I completed the 3rd loop and reached Mile 20 in 2:52:16. I had hoped to ease back on the pace at Mile 20 and cruise the final loop but that was no longer an option since I was no longer in control of the race! Maddog kept pushing the pace. When I climbed the series of short hills and made the turn near 22 miles I noted that the female runner had also passed the 2nd place male – and had closed the gap down to about 500 ft! Damn that woman! Was she trying to kill me?
For I knew what was going to happen! Maddog was possessed and dug deeper and demanded that my old bod find some energy reserves to push the pace harder. I just kept my mouth shut and tried to shut down my brain so it could block/ignore the pain and agony that was sure to follow! When I made the final turn-around and passed mile 25 in 3:36:32 I was happy to see that my lead over the woman had increased again to about 1000 ft. I figured that lead should be safe because it would be very difficult to make up that distance in the final mile. But not Maddog! He wasn’t willing to risk a dramatic/heroic last-minute challenge and have that woman pass his ass in the last mile so he dug even deeper and screamed at my old bod to give one more jolt of adrenaline and somehow/somewhere found a small reserve of energy to push the pace even harder! Only when I made a final turn near 26 miles and stole a peek over my shoulder to discover that she had not closed the lead did Maddog ease back a little and let me cruise across the finish line in 3:47:15 – and 2nd place Overall. The young lady (38 years old) finished 90 secs behind me. I congratulated her on a great race and thanked her for riding my ass for 26 miles and making me push the pace. I also talked to the winner who strangely/coincidentally happened to be a Canuck from London, Ont?
I was very happy with both my time and performance on that hilly course. It should be great training for my next race in Washington State in 2 weeks. The Yakima Marathon is a fast downhill course with rolling hills and a couple of BAHs so hopefully this was a good training marathon?
And Yakima will be the last marathon I key on this season. Yes – you read that right and I ask all my readers to remind me of that statement/pledge. Thanks to smarter training I have remained injury-free since recovering from those mystery back injuries and I have no intention of going down that path again. Thus I need to ease back on my training and racing after Yakima. I am finally going to follow the wise advice of my good friend and mentor Wally Herman and ‘run for fun’ during the summer race season.
Wally will be very happy to hear this news!
Stay tuned!
Sun, Mar 14/10
Florida Sheriff’s Youth Ranch Marathon
Live Oak, FL
Marathon #327
3:47:15 – 2nd OA
I didn’t have a race planned for mid- March since my hometown marathon got cancelled. I was actually planning to key on the Sarasota Marathon to regain my AG title but that plan vanished with the cancellation. I boycotted the Half-marathon because of the exorbitant fee ($75) and looked for another race. I found a small inaugural marathon being run in Live Oak, FL to support the Florida Sheriff’s Youth Ranch. We had driven by Live Oak many times but had never explored the area so we decided to make a weekend trip and run the new race.
It was a longer-than-expected 4-hr drive north to Live Oak. We explored the small town (6500 residents) and then found the Florida Sheriff’s Youth Ranch – a ranch for troubled and neglected boys. It is a large ranch located on the Suwannee River in the boonies of North Florida – only 15 miles from the Georgia State Line. I had been informed that there would be a small turnout for the race but I was surprised that only 25 runners had registered for the races – only 8 runners in the marathon! I had a quick look at the course – a 6.55 mile loop on paved roads through and around the Ranch. There were at least 8 short hills – ‘gentle’ rolling hills in the loop –but we had to run 4 loops so you can do the math for total number of hills in the marathon! None qualified as BAH (Bad Ass Hill) but on the fourth and final loop those ’gentle’ hills didn’t feel so gentle anymore?
The race start had been moved to 7:30 am because of Daylight Savings Time and there were no street lights on the Ranch. The race started at an arena/corral in a field so we had to run a wee bit of cross country on each loop – and be careful where we stepped!
Pasta dinner was a disappointment as was the town of Live Oak. The only Italian restaurant in town was a Pizza Hut? And there wasn’t much entertainment either so we got lots of sleep before the race.
It was a chilly 43 F at 7 am as I drove back to the ranch in the dark. However the sun rose just before the start and the temps warmed up to a pleasant 60F by the end of the race. The humidity was low with a light breeze – i.e. perfect weather for running!
As mentioned the course was a 6.55 mile loop that was actually a trio of loops. This configuration made the race more exciting and challenging because you saw the small number of runners/competitors more often and could gauge your position in the race. I started out with a lead group of 5 runners and by the time we completed the 1st loop I figured the pecking order/positions for the race had been established.
A male runner in his 40s took the lead from the start – followed by another male runner in his 50s- followed by a young male runner in his 20s – then Maddog followed by a female runner in her 30s. At the end of the 1st loop (56:21 split for me) those 5 runners were all within 1/2 mile of each other with the rest of the runners spread along the course. By mile 9 or half-way through the 2nd loop I had determined that the very young male runner about 200 ft in front of me was the leader in the Half and I was not concerned about him. I mistakenly assumed that the female runner about 200ft behind me was also in the Half but I kept wondering why she wasn’t pushing harder to catch the male leader and win the Half? I could have easily pushed harder and passed the young male leader to win the Half?
When I completed the 2nd loop and the Half in 1:52:26 our positions had not changed. By then the leader had a 1-mile lead on me and the 2nd place male had increased his lead to ½ mile and I was pretty sure that would be the finish order unless one of those runners crashed – or broke a leg? Nevertheless I decided to continue to push the pace though the 3rd loop to run at least a fast 20-mile tempo run and then hang on as necessary for the 4th loop?
However as I climbed a series of rolling hills near 16 miles I was surprised to see that the 2nd place male had started to fade and I had closed the lead to about ¼ mile. I was even more shocked when I made a turn- around at 16 M in 2:17:27 to find the young female runner still riding my ass and only about 800 ft behind me? Obviously she was running the marathon. I was shocked – Maddog was scared shitless!
Maddog now had a double dose of motivation:
1) He could smell blood and a 2nd place Overall if he could pass the male runner who was fading
2) There was a female chasing his ass and about to pass him.
Now most of my readers know that Maddog is an old relic – a male, chauvinistic pig! In the good old days he would never- ever- let a female runner pass him or beat him. In the good old days he could do something to prevent that. However in the past few years he has had to eat a lot of humble pie and accept the fact that good old days are gone as he watches pretty young ladies pass his ass often and he cannot respond. Oh SHIT! I knew what was coming and I knew I could not stop it!
Maddog took over the race. He was determined – No – OBSESSED – that Hell would freeze over and he would run my tired OLD ass six feet into the ground before he would let that female pass him! There was no point arguing with him – I decided it was best to just relax and go along for the ride. Maddog lowered the hammer and dropped the pace to 8:30s. We caught and passed the 2nd place male near Mile 19. He asked me how old I was – he was 57! I made another turn and noted that I had increased my lead on the female runner. I completed the 3rd loop and reached Mile 20 in 2:52:16. I had hoped to ease back on the pace at Mile 20 and cruise the final loop but that was no longer an option since I was no longer in control of the race! Maddog kept pushing the pace. When I climbed the series of short hills and made the turn near 22 miles I noted that the female runner had also passed the 2nd place male – and had closed the gap down to about 500 ft! Damn that woman! Was she trying to kill me?
For I knew what was going to happen! Maddog was possessed and dug deeper and demanded that my old bod find some energy reserves to push the pace harder. I just kept my mouth shut and tried to shut down my brain so it could block/ignore the pain and agony that was sure to follow! When I made the final turn-around and passed mile 25 in 3:36:32 I was happy to see that my lead over the woman had increased again to about 1000 ft. I figured that lead should be safe because it would be very difficult to make up that distance in the final mile. But not Maddog! He wasn’t willing to risk a dramatic/heroic last-minute challenge and have that woman pass his ass in the last mile so he dug even deeper and screamed at my old bod to give one more jolt of adrenaline and somehow/somewhere found a small reserve of energy to push the pace even harder! Only when I made a final turn near 26 miles and stole a peek over my shoulder to discover that she had not closed the lead did Maddog ease back a little and let me cruise across the finish line in 3:47:15 – and 2nd place Overall. The young lady (38 years old) finished 90 secs behind me. I congratulated her on a great race and thanked her for riding my ass for 26 miles and making me push the pace. I also talked to the winner who strangely/coincidentally happened to be a Canuck from London, Ont?
I was very happy with both my time and performance on that hilly course. It should be great training for my next race in Washington State in 2 weeks. The Yakima Marathon is a fast downhill course with rolling hills and a couple of BAHs so hopefully this was a good training marathon?
And Yakima will be the last marathon I key on this season. Yes – you read that right and I ask all my readers to remind me of that statement/pledge. Thanks to smarter training I have remained injury-free since recovering from those mystery back injuries and I have no intention of going down that path again. Thus I need to ease back on my training and racing after Yakima. I am finally going to follow the wise advice of my good friend and mentor Wally Herman and ‘run for fun’ during the summer race season.
Wally will be very happy to hear this news!
Stay tuned!
Monday, March 01, 2010
RR Tampa
Race Report
Sun, Feb 28/10
Gasparilla Marathon
Tampa, FL
Marathon # 326
3:48:53 – 1 AG
Several months ago I selected the Gasparilla Marathon as a race to run for two reasons:
1) It was billed as the ‘final voyage’ of the Gasparilla Distance Classic Races because the marathon is being discontinued after this year.
2) I wanted to ‘key’ on this race for a fast time because the course is fast and flat and times can be good if the weather cooperates.
However reason #2 started to fall apart when fate and circumstances didn’t seem to fall in my favor? First there were the disappointing races in Jan followed by the week of ‘Gluttony & Sloth’ on the cruise followed by a week of illness (cold and congestion). After the Bahamas Marathon I was only able to complete a few LSD (Long Slow Distance) runs before I suffered another setback with a minor stomach virus. Thus I did not have much confidence or motivation going into this ‘key’ race!
A number of friends and fellow runners from our local Club planned to run the race also and on Fri I accompanied a few lovely young ladies to Tampa to pick up our race packets and buy a few items of gear at the race expo. We all agreed that we preferred to stay at home and drive into Tampa early on race day so we met at 4am on Sun morning and I drove three lovely ladies into Tampa. When we arrived at the Tampa Convention Centre near the race start at 5 am the weather was perfect for racing - a temp of 45 F, dry and a light breeze. During the race the weather became sunny and the temps never rose above the mid 50s!
My good friend Linda and I had decided to run together. I had researched the winning time for my AG last year (3:50) but did not have any confidence that I could run a sub 3:50 race to be competitive? Thus I volunteered to pace Linda to a sub 4-hr finish so she could qualify for Boston. However she declined stating that she didn’t want to put any stress/pressure on herself because it messed with her mind. Instead we decided to go out at an 8:45 pace, do a gut check at 5 miles to see if we could hold that pace and just let the chips fall? However we made a slight tactical error by waiting too long in the Convention Centre to avoid the ‘brisk’, cool temps outside and when we finally tried to get to the start line we had to fight/elbow our way through 20,000+ runners (in the Marathon & Half). We ended up about 500 ft from the start line and it took three minutes to reach the start line after the race started. Then we were completely boxed in and that cost us a 10:12 split for the 1st mile! Fortunately the course opened up at that point and mile #2 was an 8:38 split. Linda then lowered the hammer and dropped the pace to sub 8:30s and I was just tried to hang on? When she passed mile 5 in 44:35 and a split of 8:16 I shouted that she needed (read- I needed) to slow the pace down! Although my legs felt good/fresh I knew I couldn’t hold an 8:15 pace for another 21 miles so I decided to slow my pace down to 8:30s and just try to keep Linda in sight. I managed to keep her in sight through 10 miles (1:27:29 and a split of 8:23). At that point the course looped back and she had about a 500-ft lead on me. I shouted to her that “she was doing great and to run her own pace and not to worry about me”. I kept her in sight until the marathon course rejoined the half course (11M in the Marathon and 8M in the Half) where the course became a mass of humanity – many Half participants walking and marathoners trying to pass them. I lost sight of Linda and never saw her again?
I passed the Half in 1:53:51 and a split of 8:41. I did another gut check and my legs still felt amazingly fresh so I decided to push the pace down to sub 8:30s to see if I could get sight of Linda again? I expected to suffer my usual energy ‘lull’ or low around 16 miles but it didn’t happen so I continued to push the pace. Still no Linda? Around 18 miles the course has a 2-mile loop around a residential area and a park before it loops back on Bayshore Blvd along Tampa Bay to finish in downtown Tampa. I was hoping I wouldn’t meet her on the return leg because that would mean she had a 2-mile lead on me? Nope - no Linda! I passed mile 20 in 2:54:04 and a split of 8:51. My final gut check- the legs still felt good! I calculated that if I could hold a sub 9-min pace for the final 10K I could finish under 3:50! I decided to push the pace and go for it! I managed to lower the next mile split to 8:42 but then the course emerged from the residential area at mile 21 and dumped onto Bayshore Blvd. I knew what to expect at that point and I was not surprised! The final 5 miles on Bayshore are along Tampa Bay and there is no shelter from a wind that always seems to be there and blowing from the North – which means it is a headwind!
Fortunately I still felt strong and was cruising – unfortunately I was passing many runners and there was nobody to hide behind and draft. I started to whine and moan and feel sorry for myself until Maddog handed me a dose of reality. He reminded me that EVERY runner had to face the same course – the same wind – the same obstacles – and to get over it – suck it up and push on to the finish line. He was right of course (it is nice to have a Maddog riding along to provide support when needed) so I lowered my head, tucked in my shoulders and arms to reduce wind resistance – sucked it up, dug deeper and increased my effort to maintain a sub 9-min pace into that friggin headwind! As I approached mile 24 in 3:29:31 and a split of 8:56 I thought I saw Linda up ahead – about 500ft in front of me? I dug deeper, pushed harder and caught the female runner at mile 25 – but alas it was not Linda! However I decided to hold the faster pace until I crossed the finish line in 3:48:53.
Still no Linda? I figured she had either whupped my ass or had stopped for a potty break and I had missed her? About 30 minutes later the group finally met up again at our designated spot and I learned that Linda had indeed whupped my ass – by 1 minute! She finished in 3:47:39 – a PR and a BQ time – a fantastic performance and time! We decided to wander over to the awards ceremony to check the results and our standings. I thought that Linda must surely have won or placed in her AG? I wasn’t so sure about my time because I figured that some of the ‘top dogs’ in my AG would have shown up since it was the ‘final voyage’? Surprisingly it was the opposite? Linda’s great performance and time was only good enough for 5th place but my time won 1st place (21 runners) in my AG!
Needless to say I was pleased with both my performance and time! Both were much better than I expected and I never experienced any problems during the entire race. I have regained confidence in my conditioning and once again have the motivation needed to continue training hard to key on one final race for the Spring season – in late March in Washington State.
Stay tuned!
Sun, Feb 28/10
Gasparilla Marathon
Tampa, FL
Marathon # 326
3:48:53 – 1 AG
Several months ago I selected the Gasparilla Marathon as a race to run for two reasons:
1) It was billed as the ‘final voyage’ of the Gasparilla Distance Classic Races because the marathon is being discontinued after this year.
2) I wanted to ‘key’ on this race for a fast time because the course is fast and flat and times can be good if the weather cooperates.
However reason #2 started to fall apart when fate and circumstances didn’t seem to fall in my favor? First there were the disappointing races in Jan followed by the week of ‘Gluttony & Sloth’ on the cruise followed by a week of illness (cold and congestion). After the Bahamas Marathon I was only able to complete a few LSD (Long Slow Distance) runs before I suffered another setback with a minor stomach virus. Thus I did not have much confidence or motivation going into this ‘key’ race!
A number of friends and fellow runners from our local Club planned to run the race also and on Fri I accompanied a few lovely young ladies to Tampa to pick up our race packets and buy a few items of gear at the race expo. We all agreed that we preferred to stay at home and drive into Tampa early on race day so we met at 4am on Sun morning and I drove three lovely ladies into Tampa. When we arrived at the Tampa Convention Centre near the race start at 5 am the weather was perfect for racing - a temp of 45 F, dry and a light breeze. During the race the weather became sunny and the temps never rose above the mid 50s!
My good friend Linda and I had decided to run together. I had researched the winning time for my AG last year (3:50) but did not have any confidence that I could run a sub 3:50 race to be competitive? Thus I volunteered to pace Linda to a sub 4-hr finish so she could qualify for Boston. However she declined stating that she didn’t want to put any stress/pressure on herself because it messed with her mind. Instead we decided to go out at an 8:45 pace, do a gut check at 5 miles to see if we could hold that pace and just let the chips fall? However we made a slight tactical error by waiting too long in the Convention Centre to avoid the ‘brisk’, cool temps outside and when we finally tried to get to the start line we had to fight/elbow our way through 20,000+ runners (in the Marathon & Half). We ended up about 500 ft from the start line and it took three minutes to reach the start line after the race started. Then we were completely boxed in and that cost us a 10:12 split for the 1st mile! Fortunately the course opened up at that point and mile #2 was an 8:38 split. Linda then lowered the hammer and dropped the pace to sub 8:30s and I was just tried to hang on? When she passed mile 5 in 44:35 and a split of 8:16 I shouted that she needed (read- I needed) to slow the pace down! Although my legs felt good/fresh I knew I couldn’t hold an 8:15 pace for another 21 miles so I decided to slow my pace down to 8:30s and just try to keep Linda in sight. I managed to keep her in sight through 10 miles (1:27:29 and a split of 8:23). At that point the course looped back and she had about a 500-ft lead on me. I shouted to her that “she was doing great and to run her own pace and not to worry about me”. I kept her in sight until the marathon course rejoined the half course (11M in the Marathon and 8M in the Half) where the course became a mass of humanity – many Half participants walking and marathoners trying to pass them. I lost sight of Linda and never saw her again?
I passed the Half in 1:53:51 and a split of 8:41. I did another gut check and my legs still felt amazingly fresh so I decided to push the pace down to sub 8:30s to see if I could get sight of Linda again? I expected to suffer my usual energy ‘lull’ or low around 16 miles but it didn’t happen so I continued to push the pace. Still no Linda? Around 18 miles the course has a 2-mile loop around a residential area and a park before it loops back on Bayshore Blvd along Tampa Bay to finish in downtown Tampa. I was hoping I wouldn’t meet her on the return leg because that would mean she had a 2-mile lead on me? Nope - no Linda! I passed mile 20 in 2:54:04 and a split of 8:51. My final gut check- the legs still felt good! I calculated that if I could hold a sub 9-min pace for the final 10K I could finish under 3:50! I decided to push the pace and go for it! I managed to lower the next mile split to 8:42 but then the course emerged from the residential area at mile 21 and dumped onto Bayshore Blvd. I knew what to expect at that point and I was not surprised! The final 5 miles on Bayshore are along Tampa Bay and there is no shelter from a wind that always seems to be there and blowing from the North – which means it is a headwind!
Fortunately I still felt strong and was cruising – unfortunately I was passing many runners and there was nobody to hide behind and draft. I started to whine and moan and feel sorry for myself until Maddog handed me a dose of reality. He reminded me that EVERY runner had to face the same course – the same wind – the same obstacles – and to get over it – suck it up and push on to the finish line. He was right of course (it is nice to have a Maddog riding along to provide support when needed) so I lowered my head, tucked in my shoulders and arms to reduce wind resistance – sucked it up, dug deeper and increased my effort to maintain a sub 9-min pace into that friggin headwind! As I approached mile 24 in 3:29:31 and a split of 8:56 I thought I saw Linda up ahead – about 500ft in front of me? I dug deeper, pushed harder and caught the female runner at mile 25 – but alas it was not Linda! However I decided to hold the faster pace until I crossed the finish line in 3:48:53.
Still no Linda? I figured she had either whupped my ass or had stopped for a potty break and I had missed her? About 30 minutes later the group finally met up again at our designated spot and I learned that Linda had indeed whupped my ass – by 1 minute! She finished in 3:47:39 – a PR and a BQ time – a fantastic performance and time! We decided to wander over to the awards ceremony to check the results and our standings. I thought that Linda must surely have won or placed in her AG? I wasn’t so sure about my time because I figured that some of the ‘top dogs’ in my AG would have shown up since it was the ‘final voyage’? Surprisingly it was the opposite? Linda’s great performance and time was only good enough for 5th place but my time won 1st place (21 runners) in my AG!
Needless to say I was pleased with both my performance and time! Both were much better than I expected and I never experienced any problems during the entire race. I have regained confidence in my conditioning and once again have the motivation needed to continue training hard to key on one final race for the Spring season – in late March in Washington State.
Stay tuned!
Monday, February 15, 2010
RR Bahamas
Race Report
Sun, Feb 14/10
Bahamas Marathon
Nassau, Bahamas
Marathon #325 – Country # 102
4:14:04 – 1AG
This is the report that all my ’couch potato’ readers - you know who you are – the ones following the ‘Gluttony & Sloth’ program – have been waiting for!
Since I am writing it I obviously survived – but barely! And it wasn’t the ‘Gluttony & Sloth’ program I followed for one week on the cruise that almost did me in – it was the friggin,nasty cold and sinus/chest congestion that some kind bugger gave me during the cruise!
A few days after we returned home from the Caribbean cruise both the Sports Manager and I started sniffling and sneezing. I managed to get a few 10-mile runs in those first few days and my legs felt lazy and sluggish due to the ‘G & S’ program. Then the cold hit me full force and knocked me on my ass! My sinus’ were congested and Thu I spent most of the day in bed suffering from hot & cold sweats, high fever and flashes of vivid hallucinations! I was worried that I would never be able to get out of bed on Fri morning to catch my flight to the Bahamas? Thankfully the fever peaked and broke in the wee hours of Fri morning and I actually felt not too bad when I left for the airport.
I met up with my friend Edson at the hotel in downtown Nassau on Fri afternoon. Edson is from NYC and is a fellow Country Club member and longtime friend going back to the days when we were both completing the 50 States circuit for the 1st time. We agreed to share a room for the race since hotels are ridiculously expensive in the Bahamas. On Fri night we attended the reception for the race at the Atlantis Resort and picked up our race packets. After a shaky start the race organization was spending big bucks to make this inaugural race a success. We had great difficulty getting info on the race and I wrote the race director a strong letter complaining about the lack of info, etc. They made some changes quickly to better the race but were too late to make it the ‘big’ race they hoped for. However I think they will do much better in 2011.
There were lots of exhibitors at the race expo and free food was provided – the only pasta we enjoyed during our visit! The race director had reserved Bib # 102 for me to represent Country #102. Edson was completing Country #69. Since we were both tired we retired early. Up to that time I had felt OK but then the coughing started –and I coughed and hacked all night! I felt sorry for Edson but either he is a sound sleeper or a good friend because he didn’t complain that I kept him awake all night with my hacking. As soon as the stores opened on Sat morning I found a pharmacy and bought enough drugs- cough syrup. sinus spray, etc – to keep me drugged up and to control the coughing and ease the congestion!
For the rest of Sat we did a walking tour of downtown Nassau. Since it was my 3rd visit to the Bahamas I acted as tour guide as we toured around and bought a mandatory Bahamas rum cake to bring home as a souvenir. We scouted around for an Italian restaurant and quickly realized that we might not enjoy a traditional pasta dinner before the race. Downtown Nassau closes up at 6 pm when the cruise passengers return to the ships so there are few restaurants and shops open after 6 pm. There are two fancy Italian restaurants in downtown Nassau but it was Valentine’s Day/eve and both were booked solid and would not accept a reservation. We asked the concierge to find us an Italian restaurant but the only option he could find required a $20 taxi ride to the other end of the island so we decided to try our luck at finding a small local diner with pasta downtown. No luck! We ended up eating noodles at a Chinese restaurant – one of the very few restaurants open. I was concerned about breaking a long. long tradition but there was no alternative and besides it was only one more minor glitch on a screwed-up week of preparation for the race! Then it was time to retire early and I drugged up on cough syrup, etc so we could get a decent night of sleep.
Sun was ‘M’ day. I felt much better in the morning as we drove to the start line with a local runner who had offered us a lift. The weather was a pleasant 60F at 6 am with a light breeze that made it feel cooler. (This was not normal weather – the Bahamas was experiencing the same cold front that moved through the Eastern US). There were about 300 runners – 100 in the marathon and the rest in the Half and relay. The race started at Fort Mantague on East Bay St, ran across the West Bridge to Paradise Island and back across the East bridge before proceeding through downtown Nassau and along West bay St and the ocean to Old Fort Bay where it looped back to finish at Arawak Cay. I had no idea what to expect from my body. After a week of ‘G & S’ followed by a week of illness – I had absolutely no idea what to expect – except that it probably wouldn’t be good?
It didn’t take long to get an answer! By the time I reached the West Bridge at mile 1, I was already sucking desperately for air. I felt like I was running at 10,000 ft in the Rock Mtns! I realized how badly congested my lungs were – they could not suck in enough air to keep the legs moving! As I struggled over the West Bridge I wisely decided that I would just listen to my body and let it dictate the pace.
I passed mile 4 in 38:34 and a split of 9:45 and decided that was probably the best pace I could do on that day? If I could hold that pace I would finish under 4:15 for a BQ (Boston Qualifying) time which would just have to be good enough for Maddog! I wasn’t willing to push my sick old bod any harder! For the next 5 miles I tried a few tests /experiments and noted some strange results. If I tried to run faster than 9:45 I would start sucking desperately for air so I figured that was the lower limit of my pace for that day. Then I tried to push harder to raise my heart rate to its normal race levels. I noted that my heart rate was at 135bpm instead of the normal race level of 145bpm? No matter how hard I tried I could not get my heart rate up to 145bpm – the congestion became the limiting factor and I would start sucking for air and have to back off? I passed mile 10 in 1:35:07 and a split of 9:35 and my legs felt fresh and full of energy and I seemed to be breathing easier so I decided to try to push the pace again. I managed to get the pace down to 9:20s and my heart rate up to a blazing 143 bpm but that was the limit for both and I could only hold that pace and heart rate for about 5 miles.
I passed the half in 2:04:35 and once again naively thought that since I was running so slow and easy I should be able to hold that pace and finish under 4:10? Wrong! After the course looped back at Old Fort Bay the wheels started to fall off as the lungs started to plug up again? I started sucking for air again and the pace started slowing until I passed mile 20 in 3:10:33 and a split of 10:11. If I could hold a 10-min pace I would be close to my target of 4:15. I had passed one local runner around 10 miles that appeared to be in my Age Group and confirmed before the turn-around that there were no other AG competitors in front of me so there was not much motivation or reason to hurt myself or accept a lot of pain.
From the turn-around point to 23 miles I ran all alone which didn’t help but finally I started to overtake runners/walkers and that provided a boost. I managed to keep the old legs churning and crossed the finish line in 4:14:04.
I waited for Edson to finish in 4:52:58 so we could take a finish line photo and walk back to our hotel together. After a quick shower we headed to the airport where we enjoyed a quick lunch and parted ways.
Considering the circumstances and conditions going into this race I can’t say that I am disappointed or frustrated (or happy) about my time or performance! I am disappointed that I wasn’t able to show up healthy and in peak shape because the course is flat and fast and I believe I could have achieved a good time if I had been healthy. One upside to running so slow is that my legs were not the slightest bit sore after the race and hopefully I can begin some intense training soon to get ready for my next race in two weeks.
And remember the BIGGEST and BEST news of all! I survived a marathon after following the Gluttony & Sloth’ program – and even threw in a severe cold for an added handicap! That means that all you ‘couch potatoes’ and ‘G & S’ followers are pre-eminently qualified to run a marathon!
Of course I must add the flowing caveat or disclaimer “Don’t try this stunt at home”!
Stay tuned!
Sun, Feb 14/10
Bahamas Marathon
Nassau, Bahamas
Marathon #325 – Country # 102
4:14:04 – 1AG
This is the report that all my ’couch potato’ readers - you know who you are – the ones following the ‘Gluttony & Sloth’ program – have been waiting for!
Since I am writing it I obviously survived – but barely! And it wasn’t the ‘Gluttony & Sloth’ program I followed for one week on the cruise that almost did me in – it was the friggin,nasty cold and sinus/chest congestion that some kind bugger gave me during the cruise!
A few days after we returned home from the Caribbean cruise both the Sports Manager and I started sniffling and sneezing. I managed to get a few 10-mile runs in those first few days and my legs felt lazy and sluggish due to the ‘G & S’ program. Then the cold hit me full force and knocked me on my ass! My sinus’ were congested and Thu I spent most of the day in bed suffering from hot & cold sweats, high fever and flashes of vivid hallucinations! I was worried that I would never be able to get out of bed on Fri morning to catch my flight to the Bahamas? Thankfully the fever peaked and broke in the wee hours of Fri morning and I actually felt not too bad when I left for the airport.
I met up with my friend Edson at the hotel in downtown Nassau on Fri afternoon. Edson is from NYC and is a fellow Country Club member and longtime friend going back to the days when we were both completing the 50 States circuit for the 1st time. We agreed to share a room for the race since hotels are ridiculously expensive in the Bahamas. On Fri night we attended the reception for the race at the Atlantis Resort and picked up our race packets. After a shaky start the race organization was spending big bucks to make this inaugural race a success. We had great difficulty getting info on the race and I wrote the race director a strong letter complaining about the lack of info, etc. They made some changes quickly to better the race but were too late to make it the ‘big’ race they hoped for. However I think they will do much better in 2011.
There were lots of exhibitors at the race expo and free food was provided – the only pasta we enjoyed during our visit! The race director had reserved Bib # 102 for me to represent Country #102. Edson was completing Country #69. Since we were both tired we retired early. Up to that time I had felt OK but then the coughing started –and I coughed and hacked all night! I felt sorry for Edson but either he is a sound sleeper or a good friend because he didn’t complain that I kept him awake all night with my hacking. As soon as the stores opened on Sat morning I found a pharmacy and bought enough drugs- cough syrup. sinus spray, etc – to keep me drugged up and to control the coughing and ease the congestion!
For the rest of Sat we did a walking tour of downtown Nassau. Since it was my 3rd visit to the Bahamas I acted as tour guide as we toured around and bought a mandatory Bahamas rum cake to bring home as a souvenir. We scouted around for an Italian restaurant and quickly realized that we might not enjoy a traditional pasta dinner before the race. Downtown Nassau closes up at 6 pm when the cruise passengers return to the ships so there are few restaurants and shops open after 6 pm. There are two fancy Italian restaurants in downtown Nassau but it was Valentine’s Day/eve and both were booked solid and would not accept a reservation. We asked the concierge to find us an Italian restaurant but the only option he could find required a $20 taxi ride to the other end of the island so we decided to try our luck at finding a small local diner with pasta downtown. No luck! We ended up eating noodles at a Chinese restaurant – one of the very few restaurants open. I was concerned about breaking a long. long tradition but there was no alternative and besides it was only one more minor glitch on a screwed-up week of preparation for the race! Then it was time to retire early and I drugged up on cough syrup, etc so we could get a decent night of sleep.
Sun was ‘M’ day. I felt much better in the morning as we drove to the start line with a local runner who had offered us a lift. The weather was a pleasant 60F at 6 am with a light breeze that made it feel cooler. (This was not normal weather – the Bahamas was experiencing the same cold front that moved through the Eastern US). There were about 300 runners – 100 in the marathon and the rest in the Half and relay. The race started at Fort Mantague on East Bay St, ran across the West Bridge to Paradise Island and back across the East bridge before proceeding through downtown Nassau and along West bay St and the ocean to Old Fort Bay where it looped back to finish at Arawak Cay. I had no idea what to expect from my body. After a week of ‘G & S’ followed by a week of illness – I had absolutely no idea what to expect – except that it probably wouldn’t be good?
It didn’t take long to get an answer! By the time I reached the West Bridge at mile 1, I was already sucking desperately for air. I felt like I was running at 10,000 ft in the Rock Mtns! I realized how badly congested my lungs were – they could not suck in enough air to keep the legs moving! As I struggled over the West Bridge I wisely decided that I would just listen to my body and let it dictate the pace.
I passed mile 4 in 38:34 and a split of 9:45 and decided that was probably the best pace I could do on that day? If I could hold that pace I would finish under 4:15 for a BQ (Boston Qualifying) time which would just have to be good enough for Maddog! I wasn’t willing to push my sick old bod any harder! For the next 5 miles I tried a few tests /experiments and noted some strange results. If I tried to run faster than 9:45 I would start sucking desperately for air so I figured that was the lower limit of my pace for that day. Then I tried to push harder to raise my heart rate to its normal race levels. I noted that my heart rate was at 135bpm instead of the normal race level of 145bpm? No matter how hard I tried I could not get my heart rate up to 145bpm – the congestion became the limiting factor and I would start sucking for air and have to back off? I passed mile 10 in 1:35:07 and a split of 9:35 and my legs felt fresh and full of energy and I seemed to be breathing easier so I decided to try to push the pace again. I managed to get the pace down to 9:20s and my heart rate up to a blazing 143 bpm but that was the limit for both and I could only hold that pace and heart rate for about 5 miles.
I passed the half in 2:04:35 and once again naively thought that since I was running so slow and easy I should be able to hold that pace and finish under 4:10? Wrong! After the course looped back at Old Fort Bay the wheels started to fall off as the lungs started to plug up again? I started sucking for air again and the pace started slowing until I passed mile 20 in 3:10:33 and a split of 10:11. If I could hold a 10-min pace I would be close to my target of 4:15. I had passed one local runner around 10 miles that appeared to be in my Age Group and confirmed before the turn-around that there were no other AG competitors in front of me so there was not much motivation or reason to hurt myself or accept a lot of pain.
From the turn-around point to 23 miles I ran all alone which didn’t help but finally I started to overtake runners/walkers and that provided a boost. I managed to keep the old legs churning and crossed the finish line in 4:14:04.
I waited for Edson to finish in 4:52:58 so we could take a finish line photo and walk back to our hotel together. After a quick shower we headed to the airport where we enjoyed a quick lunch and parted ways.
Considering the circumstances and conditions going into this race I can’t say that I am disappointed or frustrated (or happy) about my time or performance! I am disappointed that I wasn’t able to show up healthy and in peak shape because the course is flat and fast and I believe I could have achieved a good time if I had been healthy. One upside to running so slow is that my legs were not the slightest bit sore after the race and hopefully I can begin some intense training soon to get ready for my next race in two weeks.
And remember the BIGGEST and BEST news of all! I survived a marathon after following the Gluttony & Sloth’ program – and even threw in a severe cold for an added handicap! That means that all you ‘couch potatoes’ and ‘G & S’ followers are pre-eminently qualified to run a marathon!
Of course I must add the flowing caveat or disclaimer “Don’t try this stunt at home”!
Stay tuned!
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
RR - Miami 2010
Race Report
Sun, Jan 31/10
Miami Marathon
Marathon # 324
3:58:07 – 4AG
This will be a short and quick report. I wasn’t supposed to run this race and I was very disappointed and frustrated with my time and performance.
I had promised myself during the final 5K of the race last year (see RR Miami 01-09) that I wouldn’t run the race again in 2010. However when the Sports Manager and I decided to take a cruise that started in Miami on race day it only made sense to run this race rather than run in another city/state and fly into Miami on Sun for the cruise.
I had trained hard the whole month of Jan and even went on the wagon (no booze) in an effort to lose an extra 5 lbs and get down to competitive race weight. I had high expectations – to run a sub 3:45 or better – if the weather was good!
Unfortunately it didn’t happen as planned/hoped! On sat we drove down to Miami to pick up my race package and join Joe and Brenda Treige for pasta dinner. The Treige’s are old friends going back to our early career days in Ottawa, Canada and were joining us for a one-week cruise of the Western Caribbean after the race.
The weather was hot on Sat and forecast to be warm again on Sun. Not good news! Sadly the weather was warm (72 F) and humid at the 6 am start on Sun. The only good news was that it was overcast and cloudy so the temps never warmed up much above the mid 70s. I was assigned to the 3rd coral with about 1000 runners in front of me (a total of 18,000 runners in the marathon and half). It took 2 min just to reach the start line and I was boxed in for the 1st mile across the Macarthur Causeway. I passed mile 1 in a slow 9:06 (chip time) and mile 3 in 26:33. I was already behind my target pace for a sub 3:45 – and my legs were not moving smooth and easy? When I passed mile 10 in 1:26:46 and a split time of 8:45 I knew that I would not achieve my target! I passed the Half in 1:54:38. I naively thought that I might be able to hold that ‘slow’ pace to finish with a sub 3:50 but that dream/fantasy also disappeared when I passed mile 20 in 2:57:47 and a split of 9:50. I was fading and now it became a struggle and took lots of willpower just to hold a sub 10-min pace so I could cross the finish line in 3:58:07.
I was very disappointed/unhappy/frustrated with my time and performance. I had tried to key on this race and felt that I was in good shape and ready to run sub-3:45 and maybe even close to 3:30? I can’t explain why I fell apart except for the weather? I was even more discouraged when I researched the ‘unofficial’ results online to learn the top three in my Age Group finished under 3:15. Damn – the weather never affected them!!! However the ‘official’ results later indicated that the winner finished in 3:48 – I would have won my AG if I could have achieved my target!
No sense crying over spilt milk – it was time to begin our one-week cruise to celebrate the Sport Manager’s birthday – and also begin a special training program called “Gluttony & Sloth”. Since I trained so hard all month and sacrificed booze for the whole month I felt I deserved a week of “Gluttony and Sloth” – not caring about what I ate or drank or if I exercised!
We met the Treige’s on the ship – the Carnival Valor – and enjoyed a wonderful week exploring Cayman Islands, Honduras, Belize and Cozumel, Mexico. And we ate and drank and partied without concern.
It was a fun week. And as I mentioned in a pre-race report I sacrificed my body for the betterment of all my readers. After one week of “Gluttony and Sloth” I returned home with an additional 7 lbs and a head cold thanks to some butthead on the cruise. And I have to run another (international) marathon next weekend!
This race will definitely be a test of the “Gluttony & Sloth” program. If I finish the race successfully – and alive – it will be Good News for many of my readers who are quite familiar with the program because it will mean that they are pre-eminently qualified to run a marathon?
Stay tuned!
Sun, Jan 31/10
Miami Marathon
Marathon # 324
3:58:07 – 4AG
This will be a short and quick report. I wasn’t supposed to run this race and I was very disappointed and frustrated with my time and performance.
I had promised myself during the final 5K of the race last year (see RR Miami 01-09) that I wouldn’t run the race again in 2010. However when the Sports Manager and I decided to take a cruise that started in Miami on race day it only made sense to run this race rather than run in another city/state and fly into Miami on Sun for the cruise.
I had trained hard the whole month of Jan and even went on the wagon (no booze) in an effort to lose an extra 5 lbs and get down to competitive race weight. I had high expectations – to run a sub 3:45 or better – if the weather was good!
Unfortunately it didn’t happen as planned/hoped! On sat we drove down to Miami to pick up my race package and join Joe and Brenda Treige for pasta dinner. The Treige’s are old friends going back to our early career days in Ottawa, Canada and were joining us for a one-week cruise of the Western Caribbean after the race.
The weather was hot on Sat and forecast to be warm again on Sun. Not good news! Sadly the weather was warm (72 F) and humid at the 6 am start on Sun. The only good news was that it was overcast and cloudy so the temps never warmed up much above the mid 70s. I was assigned to the 3rd coral with about 1000 runners in front of me (a total of 18,000 runners in the marathon and half). It took 2 min just to reach the start line and I was boxed in for the 1st mile across the Macarthur Causeway. I passed mile 1 in a slow 9:06 (chip time) and mile 3 in 26:33. I was already behind my target pace for a sub 3:45 – and my legs were not moving smooth and easy? When I passed mile 10 in 1:26:46 and a split time of 8:45 I knew that I would not achieve my target! I passed the Half in 1:54:38. I naively thought that I might be able to hold that ‘slow’ pace to finish with a sub 3:50 but that dream/fantasy also disappeared when I passed mile 20 in 2:57:47 and a split of 9:50. I was fading and now it became a struggle and took lots of willpower just to hold a sub 10-min pace so I could cross the finish line in 3:58:07.
I was very disappointed/unhappy/frustrated with my time and performance. I had tried to key on this race and felt that I was in good shape and ready to run sub-3:45 and maybe even close to 3:30? I can’t explain why I fell apart except for the weather? I was even more discouraged when I researched the ‘unofficial’ results online to learn the top three in my Age Group finished under 3:15. Damn – the weather never affected them!!! However the ‘official’ results later indicated that the winner finished in 3:48 – I would have won my AG if I could have achieved my target!
No sense crying over spilt milk – it was time to begin our one-week cruise to celebrate the Sport Manager’s birthday – and also begin a special training program called “Gluttony & Sloth”. Since I trained so hard all month and sacrificed booze for the whole month I felt I deserved a week of “Gluttony and Sloth” – not caring about what I ate or drank or if I exercised!
We met the Treige’s on the ship – the Carnival Valor – and enjoyed a wonderful week exploring Cayman Islands, Honduras, Belize and Cozumel, Mexico. And we ate and drank and partied without concern.
It was a fun week. And as I mentioned in a pre-race report I sacrificed my body for the betterment of all my readers. After one week of “Gluttony and Sloth” I returned home with an additional 7 lbs and a head cold thanks to some butthead on the cruise. And I have to run another (international) marathon next weekend!
This race will definitely be a test of the “Gluttony & Sloth” program. If I finish the race successfully – and alive – it will be Good News for many of my readers who are quite familiar with the program because it will mean that they are pre-eminently qualified to run a marathon?
Stay tuned!
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