A Night on the Mountain

Survival shelter made from pine branches Holy Cross Mountain



An Adventure Story
A Night on the Mountain
08/16/03


After a nice steak dinner washed down with a few Colorado microbrews last night I collapsed into bed at 6 pm and slept for a straight fourteen hours! Now I am rested and ready to tell my story about 'The Night on the Mountain'.

The adventure started Monday morning when I arose early and drove over by Vail to run/hike the Mount of the Holy Cross (14,005 ft) -one of the more rugged and tougher of Colorado's fifty-four Fourteeners. After driving 8 miles into the Sawatch Range on a 4X4 road I reached the Halfmoon Trailhead (10,320 ft) at 8am. The Halfmoon Trail is a 6-mile hike and a 5,625 vertical feet climb to the summit of Holy Cross. I figured it would take me about 7hours to make the return trip.

The trail climbs 1320 vertical feet over the first 1.7 miles to the top of Halfmoon Pass and then drops 1,000 feet to East Cross Creek. I was able to run most of that section of the trail. After crossing the creek the trail climbs up the east side of the mountain and emerges from the tree line about 11,600ft. At that point the trail ends and it is necessary to hike/climb on talus or large rocks along the north ridge of the mountain until that ridge merges with the upper part of the peak at 13,400 ft. A few sections of the route are scary as you have to peer down into many of the rugged and steep couloirs that the mountain is noted for. It was difficult climbing and thank goodness that some volunteers had built rock pillars or posts to indicate the correct route/path to follow up to the top of Angelica Couloir at 13,700 ft. From there it was a steep, tough climb to the summit. I reached the peak at 12 pm - 4 hours of tough climbing!
I figured it was going to take another 4 hours for the return trip because the climb back down through the talus would be just as difficult or more than the climb up? So after a quick snack and a few pictures at the summit I started back down. I had met two young men at the top but they had come up the south side of the mountain so I had the whole mountain to myself again as I started the descent down the north ridge to the east side of the mountain back to Halfmoon trail. And I made my first mistake of theday/trip. I had my GPS with me but failed to 'mark' my trail and tell the GPS to 'track back' on the trail.

I was sure that I knew the way back down and would not need the GPS. I had no problem climbing back down to the top of Angelica Couloir and on to the top of the north ridge. But at that point I made my second mistake. Instead of staying on the top of the ridge where I had to look down into the couloirs and dizzying heights I decided to veer off the west side of the ridge and follow it down. However by the time I reached the tree line I realized that I had strayed about 1/4 mile west of the ridge. That meant that I now had to traverse 1/4 mile of talus to reach the ridge. Although the GPS could not steer me back to the actual trail I had ascended I decided to use the compass feature to verify that I was heading back to the east side because I had become disoriented. However the batteries had died and the GPS was useless! So I set off in what I considered the east direction. But now I had a bigger problem. A violent thunderstorm and rain quickly moved over the mountain and I wanted off that mountain fast. As I neared what I figured was the ridge on the east side of the mountain I found a trail. It was not the Halfmoon trail but it did go down the mountain so I decided to follow it and hope that I could traverse across to the proper trail. Only after I had descended about 500 vertical feet did I realize that I was on a false trail and was actually descending a couloir.Too late to turn back. I could see East Cross Creek at the bottom of the mountain so I made the decision to continue the descent to the Creek and then hope that I could follow the Creek around to the east side of the mountain and find the Halfmoon trail where it crossed the Creek?
It turned out to be a real bad decision. The descent down the couloir was a nightmare. Very steep and a few sections of solid rock cliffs that I had to scale down. It took me over 2 hours to make that descent but finally I was down and unhurt!
Now reality and bad news started to confront me.

There were no trails on this side of the mountain and the terrain along East Cross Creek was impassable. Steep cliffs on the north side of Holy Cross jutted down into the creek on both sides of this small section of the creek blocking all routes out. I was trapped on this section of the mountain! After a brief moment of panic/anxiety training took over -thankfully. It was raining, there was lightning and it was now 6 pm and I knew that I was spending the night on the mountain! There was not enough daylight left to hike off the mountain safely even if I had known the way. Once I accepted that fact/reality it was time to act!

Thankfully I had two weeks of survival training in the Canadian Rockies forty years ago when I was in the military - and it all came back to me clearly! First action - take stock of what supplies I had. I had worn only a T-shirt and shorts on the hike but thankfully I had carried in a rain jacket and gloves. However everything was thoroughly soaked. The rest of my emergency kit consisted of one power bar for food and a Swiss army knife.That was it! The first survival priority is warmth and shelter. So I hiked for a short time to locate a high rocky outcrop on the edge of the forest and creek. The forest would provide protection from the rain and wind and the rock was high and dry. Unfortunately I didn't have any matches/lighter so a much needed and desired fire was out of the question. Thus a shelter was critical! I had less than two hours of daylight left to build my new home so I set to work immediately. Since I had no axe I gathered dead trees and limbs from the forest to build the frame of a lean-to which I placed against a huge rock and a tree. Then I used my trusty knife to cut large branches from pine trees and place them on the roof and sides of the frame. This would provide protection from the rain and wind. Then I gathered moss from the forest floor and rotten wood from old fallen logs to build a bed in my shelter. This would keep me off the cold, hard and wet rock. I made it even more comfy by cutting several small, soft branches from pine trees and stacking two or three layers on top of the moss/bark. Then I cut several more large branches so that I could cover myself with pine branches to provide another layer of protection and insulation. My final preparation was to cut down a small aspen and make a spear. I knew there was wildlife along the creek from animal trails and droppings and I wanted some kind of protection if needed. It was 8 pm, dark and raining when I finally crawled into the Wallace-Holy Cross Hilton and pulled an old tree stump and pine tree across the entrance. I was in bed for the night and had no intention of emerging until sunrise!

I allowed myself to eat half of the power bar because I knew I would need nutrition/energy to stay warm. Within a few minutes of being sedentary I started to shiver and realized that my wet clothes were stealing my body heat so I stripped and wrung out as much water as possible and then had to put the old, wet clothes back on. Everything except my hiking socks, which were so heavy and wet that I figured my feet, would stay warmer without the socks.Finally I pulled two or three layers of pine branches over me and settled down for the night. I figured I had 10 hours until sunrise to rest, analyze my predicament and come up with a solution.

I knew that it was going to be a very uncomfortable and miserable night -but I wasn't in danger of dieing! The temps, even at 10,500 feet are not cold enough at this time of the year to freeze. But I was concerned about the amount of body heat and energy that I would lose to the cold temps and what toll that would take on my body. I knew that my wife now realized that something had happened on the mountain and I wasn't coming home that night. She would be worried and would contact the police and mountain rescue. Of course they couldn't do anything until daylight. Now that I was settled in and more relaxed I pictured the mountain and map over and over again in my mind to understandwhat had happened and where I was on the mountain. I decided that I had only two options:
1) I could stay where I was until a search & rescue team came to my rescue. The problem with this solution was that I figured that I had descended down the north side of Holy Cross where there are no trails in or out because the terrain is so steep and treacherous. A rescue team would never think of looking there until they had exhausted all the obvious sections of the mountain. I could be stuck in my location for another two or three days! That would extract a terrible toll on my body without food and adequate clothing. I doubted that I would even have the strength/energy by then to hike out and they would have to bring in a helicopter to lift me out. This was not a desirable option.
2) I had to find a safe and not-too-difficult route to climb back up the north side of Holy Cross to the summit. From there I could find the proper trail down the mountain or wait for other hikers or a rescue team to arrive and show me the way down. This was the only viable option!

Now I only had to wait another nine hours to put my plan into action. It was a very long and miserable nine hours. But without my shelter and preparations it would have been pure Hell! I didn't sleep much and by 1 am the temps had dropped into the mid 30s and I had to start doing isometric exercises and massaging my bare legs to keep my body warm. I even attempted meditation to lower my pulse rate in an effort to use less energy.Thank goodness for the Times Indigo watch that I was wearing. It allowed me to track the time in the dark so I knew how much longer I had to hold on and wait for sunrise.

Finally at 6 am the first rays of sunrise started to peak over the mountain and I gathered my things and left the shelter. I ate another 1/4 of my power bar and reluctantly filled my camelback with water from the East Cross Creek. All the guidebooks warn you not to drink water from the mountain streams (unless you treat it) but I had no choice. I had run out of water coming down the north side and I needed water. My legs were starting to cramp from the cold and dehydration. My muscles needed water and I figured that I would just have to deal with the ramifications/consequences later.

I then hiked along the creek in both directions while I surveyed the north face of Holy Cross and looked for the best possible route back up that mountain. It was not good! There were steep cliffs everywhere and I could hardly believe that I had made it down that couloir without a fall or injury? Finally I decided that the East Ridge offered the best route. The tree lines eemed to rise more gradually than any other route and there didn't seem to be as many rock/cliff sections.

My mind was set. I headed across and up the north face towards that East Ridge. There were no trails and the terrain was treacherous but I had made a good choice. By criss-crossing over the ridge I was able to avoid all but two sections of cliffs which I had to scale. And the trees actually helped me by using the branches as ropes to pull myself up the steep terrain. After two grueling and exhausting hours I finally reached the treeline on the East Ridge around 12,000 feet and luckily (or was it miraculously) I stumbled across a well-maintained trail. Was it the Halfmoon Trail? No matter– it was obviously a well-traveled trail and I decided immediately that I was following that trail down the mountain. It would eventually lead to a trailhead and to people, cars and safety! Within 30 minutes I met the first hiker coming up the mountain and he confirmed, “Yes, this is the Halfmoon Trail”! Hallelujah! I now was 100% confident that I was getting off this damn mountain safely and ALIVE!

But the ordeal was not over yet. Another 30 minutes later I reached East Cross Creek at 10,600 feet. A quick look north and west confirmed what I had already determined - it was impossible to hike to this crossing along the creek. But now I had another difficult challenge. I had to climb the 1000 vertical feet of Halfmoon Trail back up the other side to the top of Halfmoon Pass. My legs were mush! They were totally exhausted and cramped from the cold and demanding climb up the north face of Holy Cross. But like many of my marathons in the past I just told myself to do it –one slow, excruciating step at a time! I met a lot of hikers coming down the pass (where were all those hikers the day before when I needed them) but no rescue team? And finally one long, painful hour later I crested the top of Halfmoon Pass (11,640 ft). I was almost out! Only 1.7 miles and 1300 vertical feet of descent and I would back at my car! That was the only thought that kept me going – my legs were finished - so cramped that each step was painful. I met several more hikers on the descent but still no rescue team?

At 10am – four grueling and painful hours after I had left the lovely, palacial Wallace-Holy Cross Hilton, I was really off the mountain. Fortunately I had left a quart of high-energy drink in the car and I immediately downed the whole quart to replenish both my liquids and much-needed nutrients. I discovered a note on the car from a sheriff so I knew that Nicole had called in the crisis/problem. Just as I was leaving the trailhead the sheriff drove back in to check if I was still on the mountain. If I had not returned there they were preparing to launch a search and rescue team to start the search. Fortunately he was able to call it off and even agred to call Nicole to inform her that I was off the mountain safely and on my way home.

All I could think of on the long drive home was my hot tub! After apologizing to Nicole for putting her through Hell I intended to sink into the tub and stay there until every molecule of my body was warm again and my sore, cramped muscles were soothed and relaxed. And that is exactly what Idid!

While I was submerged in that glorious hot water I relived the past 24 hours and reflected on what I had learned from this adventure:
1) I will never go into the mountains again (even for a supposedly short day trip) without a complete emergency kit. Warm clothes and rain gear for my whole body, an emergency foil/solar blanket, waterproof matches, more food and tablets for disinfecting water and of course my trusty Swiss knife.
2) I am certain that I would still be on that mountain right now if I was not in such good physical condition. I would never have had the endurance and mental toughness required to hike back up the north face of HolyCross to find my own way out.
So all those marathons, hikes and maniacal training that I do saved me a lot of pain and discomfort and maybe even saved my life! I will never stop running marathons or even hiking 14ers and most certainly I will NEVER, NEVER stop keeping myself in peak physical condition all the time!

I hope that some of you may learn something useful from this adventure. I know that certainly have!

Race Report - Leadville Trail Marathon

Leadville Trail Marathon
July 5/03

Well, most of the July 4th weekend went off as planned.We went to the Drifters concert on Fri night and they were great. As they promised "we could understand every word they sang" and I even knew every song they sang!The fireworks display over Lake Dillon afterwards was fantastic.Sat night we went to the Lovin Spoonful concert and they were also great.Now let me see - there was something else planned for this weekend. Oh yeah - it's like childbirth - your mind tends to forget painful experiences so that you won't stop yourself from doing it again! There was the Leadville Trail marathon - and it was a bitch - an ABSOLUTE BITCH!In retrospect I now realize that I made a serious tactical error in my training for the race. None of the 70+ mile weeks with 21-mile hikes into the mountains included runs or hikes above 12,000 ft and it cost me dearly in pain and suffering! Where do I start to relate this story before my brain erases it forever from my memory?Let's start on Fri when I picked up my race package at race HQ in Leadville. I talked to the race director because I wanted answers to some questions such as:1) Should I wear trail shoes since much of the course was on 4X4 roads? A -Yes2) Do I need to carry water with me since there were water/aid stations every 3 to 4 miles? A - Yes and that recommendation may have saved my life!3) Should I carry warm clothes i.e. jacket, gloves, etc with me since the weather was forcast to be very warm? A - YesSo I showed up at the start line the next morning with both a survival pack and a waist belt with only a water bottle. The temp was a high 51 F already at 8am and forecast to reach the low 80s so I decided not to carry the survival kit/pack because of the weight and it is cumbersome to run with. But I did strap on my waist pack with water bottle.The race started in Leadville at 10,200 ft and climbed out of the town on paved and dirt roads into the Mosquito Mountains. The first 1 1/2 miles were paved and dirt roads and I was able to run them. Then the course turned on to a 4X4 road - very steep and rocky. I quickly established MY ground rules for the race. If a road or trail had a slope of 10% or less I would run it - above 10% I walk! I started walking, along with the pack I was with, at 2 miles!The course climbed quickly on very steep and rocky 4X4 roads and trails to the top of Ball Mountain (12,000+ ft) at mile 4. Then we did a loop UP and Down and around Ball Mtn. I quickly realized that were were NO flat sections to this course! Turned out that maybe there was a total of maybe 1 mile of flat in the whole race - the other 25 miles were UP and Down! Of those 25 miles maybe 8 miles had a slope of 10% or less - the remainder had a slope greater than 10%. The average was probably 20 to 30% but there were many sections with a slope of 45+%.During the loop around Ball Mtn I didn't have any serious problems with altitude other than sucking for air especially on the uphill sections. At the end of that 1st loop I reached a water station at 7.5 miles - time 1:35. The next 2.5 miles were all downhill on a dirt mining road that was in good shape so I was able to haul ass and reach the water station at 10 miles in just under 2 hours. Not bad time - averaging 12 minute miles. If I could hold that pace I would finish in 5:12 - much faster than my goal of 6 hours! Yeah right! Wishful dreaming!For now we had dropped down to the low point of the course - below 10,000 ft and the next 3 miles climbed 3,000+ vertical ft to the top of Mosquito Pass. I managed to run less than 1/4 mile of that 3-mile section! It was a friggin tortuous nightmare! After I climbed above 12,000ft altitude sickness set in. My usual symptoms of altitude sickness are difficulty breathing and stomach cramps - only this time the stomach cramps were much more severe than normal! Several times I was forced to stop and double or bend over which seemed to relieve the pain somewhat and help my breathing. Some good Samaritans/runners became concerned and asked if they could help but I knew the only cure was to get my sorry, sick ass down off the mountain! And that was not an option. With only 1 1/2 miles and 1000+ vertical feet to go to the top I was not about to give up! So I struggled on painfully in what seemed excruciating slow motion. 'One step at a time' I kept reminding myself!Strangely, when I reached about 13,000 ft the symptoms eased a little and I was able to pick up the pace and ten minutes later I reached the summit of Mosquito Pass at 13,188 ft. It had taken me 70 minutes to climb 3 miles! Time - 3:10!I felt so shitty and was still in so much pain that I don't even remember looking at the view from the summit. I just refilled my water bottle, gulped down a carbo gel and cup of water and headed back down the mountain. I was very concerned about the trip back down the pass because the trail was very steep (45+ % slope) and the footing was rocky and loose. So I was using my legs as brakes to keep my speed in control and sure enough within the first 1/2 mile my left leg cramped and locked up! I tried to find a stretch to alleviate the cramp/pain but nothing worked so I had to lay down on the trail and massage the leg for 3 or 4 minutes to get the muscles to relax. As I was laying there an old-timer came by and suggested that I might be dehydrated and needed to drink more water. I thought that I had been very careful to that point because I was drinking at every water station and had been drinking about half of my 16oz water bottle between stations. But at that point I was willing to try anything to prevent further cramps/problems so I started drinking my whole water bottle between stations and I never had any more problems.I made it back down to the water station at 10/16 miles in 43 minutes - time 3:53! The altitude sickness was gone but my legs felt like they had been beaten to pulp! I remembered that I had reached that water station in 2 hours. Now I had to do the reverse loop in the same two hours to achieve my goal of sub-6 hours! But the next 2.5 miles of the course were the good mining road - except now I had to climb the 2.5 miles. I didn't believe that a sub 6-hrs was possible? But if you don't try you will never succeed. So I took off and ran most of that 2.5 mile road back up to the top of Ball Mtn. Then reverse the loop around Ball Mtn and arrive back at the water station at 22 miles in 5:18. I now had 42 minutes to run the last 4 miles.I knew that 3 of those 4 miles were now downhill and there was one mile uphill but the biggest problem was that miles 22 to 23.5 were downhill on a very steep and rocky trail. If I wanted to achieve my goal of a sub-6 hr race I would have to haul ass on the downhill sections. That meant a big risk of falling and injuring myself especially on the trail section. And I had not fallen so far in the race. I decided to fall in behind a group of good trail runners so that I could watch the path they took down the trail and reduce my risk. It worked! I stayed on their ass all the way down that trail and averaged under a 10 minute pace. After a tough 1-mile uphill section we finally reached the last 1 1/2 miles of dirt and paved roads downhill and back to the finish line in town. At that point I handed the race over to Maddog and he dropped the pace to sub-8s and dragged my tired, sorry ass across the finish line in 5:55:54!I had achieved my pre-race goal but I was not happy with my race performance! Other than the sub 6-hr finish the only positive credit I could give myself was the fact that I had finished my first-ever trail marathon/race without a fall!But the Maddog was really upset! He was totally embarassed and disgusted with my performance! He says that he is embarassed and frustrated that he is trapped in such a sorry-ass, decripit, piece-of-shit old body! He is determined that he will drag my out-of-shape body up into the mountains to run and hike 13ers and 14ers and beat that p-o-s body into shape or kill it and leave it on some trail at 14,000 ft! and I must say that I have to agree with him. There is no room for wimps, sissies and p-o-s old bodies in this game/sport. Time to get serious. No more soft/fun hikes into the mountains. Time to begin Maddog's 'Kick Ass - Take No Names, High Altitude Training Camp' and get in shape! Anyone care to sign up? The camp starts on July 15 when we get back from Canada.

TR Latvia

TRIP REPORT
LATVIA & UK
5/14 – 5/20/03

Latvia? Where is Latvia? Good question! It is on the Baltic Sea across from Sweden. It is bound on the north by Estonia, on the south by Lithuania and the east by Russia and Belarus. Now for the story.

This is one marathon/trip that certainly had a lot of activity/frustration/history/memories even before the trip started. So where do I start to tell the story?

Maybe back as far as four years ago when we were living in the UK and I was actively pursuing my goal of running a marathon in every country in Europe. I really loved the Baltic countries and was trying to run/finish them all before we left the UK. I had completed all the Baltic countries except Latvia and Lithuania and no matter how hard I tried I could not find ‘official’ marathons in those two countries. There were all kinds of rumors and stories of marathons but I could never locate one and thus I had to leave those two countries uncompleted when we returned to the USA. I continued my search for marathons in both countries over the next three years and had almost given up when I had a stroke of luck!
Last December when I was running the Barbados marathon I met a fellow runner/friend from Sweden who insisted that there was a marathon in Latvia. We were discussing this mythical marathon while waiting for a bus to the start line at 4am when a runner from Latvia approached us and confirmed that, yes indeed, there was a marathon in Riga, Latvia and it was normally held in May. I got names and email addresses to contact and the search was on again. I was fortunate to email a fellow runner in Riga (Gunars Akerbergs) who understood English and agreed to help me. By late January Gunars had confirmed that the 13th International Riga Marathon would be run on May 17/03! Gunars also promised to help me locate a marathon in Lithuania since he normally runs one there each year! Believe me, without all his efforts and assistance this trip/race would never have happened.

While I was awaiting confirmation of the marathon I asked some fellow runners/ friends to join me since I knew that they also wanted to run a marathon in Latvia. Our final group was comprised of two Yanks and four Brits – or in case Big Dave reads this I had better correct that to read – 2 Yanks, 3 Brits and 1 Englishman. Big Dave (when you see the photos you will easily identify him as someone not to mess with) insists that he is ‘English’ – not ‘British’. No matter – Gunars adopted this mangy, crazy group of runners as his ‘family’ and he provided invaluable assistance such as submitting our entry forms and recommending a hotel. By February a plan/agenda was in place with much credit to our friend/runner Roger in London who put the final travel plans together for the group. We would meet in London and travel on to Riga together and share rooms since my sports manager was not going with me.

Although I had hoped/planned to cut back on the number of marathons I would run this year I still planned to train hard up to Latvia and then cut back over the summer. But as we know disaster/fate struck in the early spring. My hamstring problems got worse to the point that I couldn’t run/train and then a wee, medical mishap (yeah, I know – self imposed) occurred in March. I really thought that I had screwed up big time at that point and became concerned – almost depressed - that I would miss Latvia after all the trouble I had gone through to find and set it up? But then I decided that if I couldn’t run it, I would walk it – but I would finish it - and began the long road back.

So now the story jumps to the current time frame and a very tired Maddog arrives in London Heathrow after sixteen hours of journey (car, flight and airport time). Unfortunately I had an 8-hour layover in London and considered traveling into London on the tube to visit one of my friends and maybe crash for a few hours. But he wisely pointed out that it would take so long to get through immigration/customs and travel time on the tube that I would only get a few hours of sleep. So I decided to use my AA – Platinum card to get into the BA Lounge, find a nice long couch and crash there for a few hours. I actually managed to get about two hours of sleep/rest. The European airport lounges are much better than ours – they provide snacks and booze free so I decided to sample a few (well – many) beers and wines so I was quite relaxed and mellow by the time I headed to the BA gate to meet my group of friends. We finally arrived at our hotel in the ‘Old City’ of Riga around midnight. After checking in the group wanted to explore the old city and try a few Latvian beers. By now I was 29 hours into the journey – it was 5pm my body time and I had had maybe two hours sleep? But what the Hell! I trailed along for the first beer and then excused myself because I figured I was ready to sleep. If only! When I hit the pillow my body relaxed and was ready but the nasty old mind suddenly figured out it was only 6pm (body time) and it wasn’t ready to close down yet. So I laid there all night counting Latvian sheep and listening to my roommate snore. I was really missing my sports manager by now! Finally about 5:30am (local time) or 10:30pm (body time) - when I should have been able to sleep – I gave up, got dressed and explored the streets of the old city. Damn it was cold! Low 30s (F) and a wet mist/rain. Am I having fun yet! Damn right I’m not. Nobody said that international travel was all fun and glamour. But I did enjoy the architecture and history of the old city.

The ‘Old City’ was established in 1201 and the fortifications date back to the 13th century. Most of the old city has been restored since the days of communism. The Riga Castle dates back to 1209 but the restored castle and many of the old restored churches date back to the 16th century. The streets are all narrow, cobblestones and the city has wisely closed the old city off to most vehicular traffic so the streets are essentially pedestrian malls. There are several hotels, bars, restaurants and clubs in the old city and everything is within walking distance. It is very similar to Tallinn, Estonia which I have visited but my friends were quite surprised by how much the city had been restored and how clean and safe it was. And like Estonia, it is a cheap tourist destination. Other than hotels which are expensive everywhere in Europe, everything else was cheap. A good dinner costs about $5 US, a liter of beer – 1 Lat ($1.75 US). Most people in the service industry (hotels, bars, etc) speak English so it is easy to communicate and it is safe to walk around. I can’t understand why more tourists don’t take advantage of this cheap and very interesting, historical part of the world?

After my early morning self-guided tour of the old city I met the group and we set off to explore the city and find the race registration and our host Gunars. But first we had to ask a young boy how to pay for and use the city bus/transport system. He graciously taught the old foreign farts how to get around the city and we were off! We found the registration desk at a stadium and were pleasantly surprised to discover that the race organization had comped all of us; i.e. they would not accept the required entry fee for the race. They were pleased to have foreign runners enter their race. Then we found our host/friend Gunars and invited him for coffee so that we could thank him for all his assistance. As mentioned earlier Gunars had continued to research marathons in Lithuania and had obtained information and entry forms for the 2nd Panevezys International Marathon 0n August 30/03. Anyone want to join me because I am going!

The rest of the day we spent touring and then we had an early pasta dinner and I retired to bed with the hope of finally getting some sleep because my body seemed to be in a time warp. Thank goodness I was successful and slept for a wonderful, restful nine hours.

Saturday was M-Day. The race started at 12pm (noon) which is typical for many European races. I was concerned about traffic control (had forgot to ask Gunars about that) since it was a small race – only 118 runners. Most of the runners were from Latvia and Lithuania –only two runners from Germany, one from Poland and then our group of six from the US and UK. There was one slight problem for our group – there was a time limit of 5 hours for the race and Big Dave who has run 500+ marathons needs 5 to 6 hours to finish. The solution was for him to start the race ‘unofficially’ one hour early. Thus we all accompanied him to the start line at 10am for a team photo and then we cheered him off at 11am. Another runner, Cliff (from Waco, TX) decided to join him since he wasn’t feeling well and figured he could use the extra time also. The rest of the group waited for the official start at 12pm. The race started in front of the Freedom Monument on the edge of the old city and finished at a stadium in the new city. Fortunately the weather had improved – it was mid 40sF and sunny at the start. The only negative was a strong headwind blowing from the north off the Baltic Sea.

I took off at a 5min/km (8 min/mile) pace and was surprised when the youngest of the UK runners (another Dave) caught up to me at 1Km and stated that he wanted to run with me as long as he could. We slowed our pace down to 5:10 to 5:20/km which is the range I wanted and ran very consistently for the first 8 to 10Km as the course wound out of the city and around Lake Kisezers north of the city. The streets were completely closed down for the race/course which really surprised me. They had plenty of volunteers and police along the course to control traffic and provide directions. In fact there were more police on the course than runners – amazing for only 118 runners? Water stations were provided every 5km which is enough when it is not hot. After the first 5km, distance markers were only provided every 5km which can make it difficult to manage your pace properly. We passed Big Dave and Cliff around 8km and at that point the headwind started to become nasty so I taught Dave how to take turns blocking the wind and letting your partner draft. Dave stayed with me till about16km and then he started to fade and drop back and I had to push on by myself. We had been following a female runner with silver-gray hair whom looked like she was in the 50 or 60s age group and I had been quite impressed at how smooth, easy and fast she ran. I decided that I should be able to pass her but it took me till the water station at 20km to do it. She finished about 5 minutes behind me which is a damn good time for a veteran woman.
I crossed the Half in 1:50. I thought about trying to break 3:40 but that would mean negative splits and at that point my body was telling me it didn’t have negative splits in it for that day. So I decided to just continue my pace and stick with the plan to finish around 3:45. Around 18 miles I experienced a short stabbing pain in my left hamstring and immediately became alarmed –“Oh no – not that crap/problem again?”
But I eased off for a few minutes and it didn’t happen again?

Around 30K we turned off a country road and headed back into the city on a six-lane boulevard. We ran on that road for about 3 km and instead of using cones to block off a traffic lane they had police officers located every 100 meters to control traffic? I couldn’t believe it? Not only that - about 50% of the Riga police officers are female –very young and very, very pretty. Playboy could easily do a complete issue on the ‘cops of Riga’ – and I would certainly buy a copy! Finally I turned off that busy road and reached 35km as the course ran along a park. Time was 3:05 and I was starting to tire and there wasn’t much spring left in the legs. Now I became concerned that I would even meet my goal?
I tried to hang on and hold my pace till 40Km. I reached 40km in 3:32.30. I figured that I needed to drop the pace to 5min/km to break 3:45 but didn’t think the old legs had that speed/energy left in them. I needed HELP. So I called on the Maddog whom you know is very competitive and has no regard/respect for pain; i.e. crazy! He dropped the pace to 5/5:05 and dragged my sorry, tired ass through the last 2.2km. As the course approached 42km I was climbing the last hill and could see the stadium. All I could think was if I had to run one or two laps inside the stadium I wouldn’t make it! You can’t believe how happy I was to discover the finish line at the entrance to the track and I crossed it in 3:43:42!

I considered waiting around for the rest of the group but my legs started to tighten up and become sore and I knew that I had to get them into a hot bath as soon as possible so I headed back to the hotel alone. I had my bath, shower- wrote my postcards and was sitting in the hotel bar having a beer when the rest of the group returned to the hotel. They joined me later and we headed out for dinner to sample some local Latvian food and beer. The dinner was excellent and very cheap even with caviar and Latvian champagne included!

The following morning the group decided to take a train to Jurmala, the largest Baltic spa-town located on the Baltic Sea about 20 km from Riga. A round trip ticket on the train was 1 lat ($1.75US). There is a lovely sandy beach, about 32km long. We walked a few miles along the beach and through some of the shopping/entertainment areas. Unfortunately the weather was too cold for swimmers and more sadly nude sunbathers! So we decided to return to Riga for our farewell dinner. However on the return train ride we barely avoided a messy/ international incident with two Russians. They claimed to be ex-sailors and were drunker than skunks since they had been fishing and drinking vodka all morning. They took a liking to Big Dave’s tattoos and decided to become best friends.
However they became offended when we refused to drink their rot-gut vodka from the bottle that they had been slobbering in all day. We took a diplomatic approach and explained that we were athletes and didn’t drink but there were a few moments when I thought it might come to fisticuffs before we reached Riga? Fortunately they were forced to get off after two or three stops and diplomacy persevered! That is – diplomacy on our part. I have a better understanding of how deep the hatred is between Latvians and Russians when the Russians stood up in a train car in the middle of Latvia and declared “Latvians are shit - Russians are the best”! The Latvian train conductor indicated that she was calling the police to have them thrown in jail. And I understood most of the argument/discussion even though all the heated conversation was in Russian/Latvian!

We left the following morning to return to London. My ticket/routing required an overnight stay so I was fortunate that a good friend from the group (Tad) whom I have run many international marathons with agreed to put me up for a night at his place. He has a nice house in the Vauxhall district a few blocks from the Thames River. We left his place about 3pm to go pub-hopping around London. He took me to places I had never seen before (and most likely could never find again) around London and we finished the evening with a great dinner of fish and chips – what else??

Now I am back home and fortunately the jet lag on the return leg hasn’t seemed to have affected me as badly as the outgoing leg of the trip?
But even with that jet lag I still enjoyed the trip and the marathon. I am looking forward to visiting Lithuania in August – but not the long trip. I was hoping to tie that marathon in with a few others in the fall. But now it appears that I will have to make two more trips to Europe this year to accomplish my goal of finishing Europe this year! A short (ugh) trip to Lithuania in August and a month-long trip to the Balkans in October.
Stay tuned – and of course y’all are invited to join me????

RR Kentucky

We’re baaaaaaaacccccccccckkkkkkkkkkkkk! After a very loooooonnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggg drive to Kentucky I have decided that I will never drive to another marathon that is more than 500 miles from home! You see - we never quit learning.
But now it is time for the trip report.

Race Report:
Anthem Derby Festival Marathon
Louisville, KY
April 26, 2003
26.2 miles
Time – faster than expected

I decided to do the Derby Marathon with much trepidation for the following reasons:
a) Due to the hamstring problems and wee medical mishap I have only run/trained for the last six out of twelve weeks. My last marathon was Feb 2nd in Miami.
b) I have only run longer than a half marathon twice (14 & 17 miles ) in those six weeks
c) I have done almost no hard/fast training in those six weeks.

I knew that if I wanted to run respectively (i.e. under 4 hours) in the upcoming marathon in Latvia in mid-May then I had to ramp up my mileage and intensity. Since I absolutely detest long training runs I figured I needed to find a marathon to run in late April as I find it easier and better to run an actual marathon as a long training run. My sports manager claimed that she had never visited Kentucky so the Anthem Derby Marathon in Louisville, KY seemed to be a good solution to both needs?

I pulled out the old Atlas and decided “since we are retired and have lots of spare time we can drive there and save a bunch of money”. Turned out to be a bad decision. It’s a hell of a lot farther than it looks in the Atlas – 927 miles to be exact. But we did save some money! Took 2 days to drive to KY on a straight beeline north on I 75 to Lexington. Then we diverted to the secondary roads/highways so that we could enjoy the scenery and look at many of the thoroughbred horse farms between Lexington and Louisville. We made a brief stop in Frankfort to view the state capital (OK how many of you knew that? – I would have guessed Lexington was the capital?) We also drove by the Frankfort Cemetery where Daniel Boone is buried.

We arrived in Louisville late Thursday afternoon and decided to find the convention center downtown to pick up my race package and explore the downtown area where the race would finish. The Derby Festival has held a Mini-Marathon (half marathon) for 30 years but this was only the second year that a full marathon had been added to the event. The Mini Marathon is a very popular local race with 7000+ runners. The marathon had 700 runners in this its second year. In the past, idiots – er runners like me who were trying to run all 50 states had to run the first 26.2 miles of the Kentucky 50 mile ultra race. Now they have an official marathon to run. And as a side goal it would count as my second marathon in KY as I work my way around the 50 states for the second time.
The downtown is small and not that great so our walking tour took about one hour to complete. But at least I had the race package out of the way so we could play tourist on Friday. On Friday morning I had one more race logistic to take care of before we could go touring. Both races start together in Iroquois Park in South Louisville and finish in downtown Louisville. I needed to check out the start area so that my sports manager could drop me off there on Sat morning and meet me at the finish line. Fortunately it was within 10 minutes of our hotel and by luck was also very close to the Kentucky Derby Museum and Churchill Downs. After we reconnoitered the start area and how to get there we headed to the museum. The Derby Museum is quite interesting and we also walked around Churchill Downs. The race season, which lasts 77 days, started on Sat after the marathon so we weren’t able to watch any horse races. But we will have a much better appreciation for the race when we watch the Kentucky Derby next Sat (May 3).

Then we decided to drive to Hodgenville, KY to visit Abe Lincoln’s birthplace. How many of you knew that??? I always thought he came from Illinois so assumed (wrongfully) that he was born there. Nope. Born in a little old log cabin on Sinking Spring Farm. Lived there until he was two and then moved to another little log cabin 10 miles away on Knob Creek Farm where he spent his boyhood years. After all this history overload it was time just to drive around the countryside (in the rain) and soak up the scenery. Passed many distilleries – the legal type such as Jim Beam- but since we don’t like KY Bourbon we did not tour the distilleries.

We wound our way around many backroads of KY (managed to get lost a few times) back to Louisville for our usual pasta dinner. By now the rain/storms/thunder had become very violent and were forecast to last through the night and into the start of the race. Oh goody! They were right on most of the forecast. The storm was violent all night and still raging and raining as we left the hotel at 6:45am to head to Iroquois Park for the 7:30 am start.

I was not looking forward to running in a hard, cold rain so I wanted to stay in the car to the very last moment. Finally 10 minutes before the start I donned my standard race rain gear – a garbage bag- and headed for the start. The marathon gods must have been smiling down on us because about 5 minutes before the start of the race it quit raining? I barely made it to the start line in time. In fact I arrived there about one minute before the start and was not able to work my way back into the middle of the pack as planned.
My plan was to try to run an easy 10 minute pace with a goal of finishing under 4:20 and Healthy! However as I approached the start line I had to jump right onto the start line with all the big dogs. No you are wrong! I didn’t let Maddog do his normal stupid act of going out with the big dogs. I jogged to the side of the course and ate a lot of humble pie as THOUSANDS of runners blew by me. Nevertheless the throng still sucked me through the first mile in 8:15 – way too fast! So I threw out an anchor and tried to slow down more as another thousand runners passed by me! Mile 2 – 8:27. Still too fast. Throw out another anchor. Mile 3 –9:01. By now I was sick and tired of watching runners blow by me and the 9-minute pace felt easy and agonizingly slow so I decided to hold the 9-minute pace for as long as I could “and see what happens”. It will probably bite me in the ass by the end of the race but so be it!

The first 10K is run through Iroquois Park and is very hilly. By mile 7 the course flattens out as it heads downtown. The Mini and Full Marathons follow the same course till mile 12 where the Full splits off and heads east to Cherokee Park in East Louisville. I crossed the Half in1:55 and change. I was running a sub 9-minute pace! A quick calculation determined that if I could hold that pace I would break four hours. Two weeks ago when I finished my 17-mile training run I would have bet that there wasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that I could break four hours in this race. But what the hell – it won’t happen if I don’t try so I keep plugging. At mile 15 we enter Cherokee Park and another 4 miles of hills but finally emerge from the Park after 19 miles and flatten out again as we head back downtown to the finish. Mile 20 –2:57:49. If I can only hold this pace till mile 23 I know that Maddog can pull me through the last 5K on sheer guts and willpower.
Mile 23 –3:24:45. A sub- 4-hour finish is in the bag. I don’t even need Maddog to pull me through this one! The last few miles get a bit ugly but I can smell the finish line and I have performed so much better than expected or that I had a right to so nothing is going to stop me at this point. I crossed the finish line in 3:53:03!
Unbelievably this is good enough for 4th place in my age group which demonstrates that the competition wasn’t very deep?

But I finished with no injuries or pain during the race and crossed the finish line HEALTHY so I was very pleased. My legs are not used to the stress and distance and started to tighten up immediately. Unfortunately I had to head back to the hotel, take a quick shower and hop in the car for a 6-hour drive because we had to be back in Sarasota for a meeting on Monday. Good thing I brought my sports manager because she had to drive. My legs were so tight and sore it was agony just to sit in the car. And they continue to be so. It reminds me of my early marathon years. That is one reason I prefer to run a marathon every few weeks - you get rid of that crap!

But we are back home now and I will do another unusual thing – take a few days off to rest my legs before I continue my training for Latvia. I plan to increase my intensity and speed workouts for the next few weeks. Maybe 3:45 is not such a crazy idea for Latvia?
Stay tuned!

RR Miami

Miami Tropical Marathon
2/2/03


What a fun weekend! The weather was great, the marathon was fun and South Beach is a blast!Only a 4-hour drive from Sarasota to Miami but very boring since we used I 75 all the way. Spotted lots of alligators along 'Alligator Alley'. Then we were in Miami and as we made our way through the city to South Beach we both looked at each other and said "No way would I want to live here!" Too big and too busy for us poor old country folk!South Beach (or SoBe) is very charming with it's art deco district and there is lots of activity along Ocean Drive and the Beach. Biggest problem is parking! Very few hotels provide parking and street parking is impossible to find on a weekend so we had to scout around for a public or private parking garage that charge up to $20 flat rate per day with no 'in and out' priveleges. The best bet is to park your car, leave it and walk or taxi everywhere.However after we checked into our funky hotel in the art deco district only a block from the beach we had to head to downtown Miami to the host hotel to pick up my race package.I was somewhat surprised at the size of the race and the expo for an inaugural race - 2,000 runners in the marathon and another 3,000 in the Half. I was also slightly annoyed at some of the organization logistics. Every runner had to attend a 15-minute video presentation on the race before they could pick up their race package. What a joke. Nobody paid attention to the information about the race course, start and staging areas! (as proven the next morning) Then I had to search for the T-shirt and race package area after I got my number and chip?That job done we hunted down our running friend, Edson from NYC and drove back to SoBe for a nice pasta dinner at one of the many restaurants along Ocean Drive.Sunday was M-day. I had to get up at 4:30am to leave for downtown by 5am. Many party animals were still bar-hopping and staggering around SoBe as I made my way to the parking garage at 5am. Needless to say, my sports manager/birthday girl was not going to get up that early? She indicated that she might get up and watch us run past our hotel which was located at the 5-mile mark of the course. I arrived at the start about 5:30 am (for a 6am start) and immediately looked for the port-o-johns for my last minute duties. Another big logistics problem - they didn't have enough of them and the lines were a mile long. And there are no bushes in downtown Miami to hide behindSo I had to get in line and I was concerned that I would still be in line or in the toilet when the race started? Fortunately I got in (and out) about two minutes before the start of the race but then had to scramble to the staging area and jump in about two or three hundred feet from the start. I knew I was in trouble already when I found myself lined up behind 'runners' with backpacks? But I didn't have time to make my way closer to the start line before the race started. The staging area had the 2,000 marathoners on the east side of Biscayne Dr (in front of the AA Arena) and the 3,000 Half runners on the west side. But we all merged within the first 1/2 mile. Yes, you guessed it! It was a zoo! I was completely boxed in with walkers, idiots with packpacks and I couldn' t run faster than a 9 to 10 minute pace! This box or congestion lasted all the way across the Macarthur Causeway to SoBe.There was nothing I could do about it except console myself with the fact that it was probably better for my legs to start out slow and easy? Finally we reached Ocean Dr on SoBe around 3 miles and the course started to open up and I managed to pick up my pace. At mile 5 - No Sports Manager? Heck it's only 6:45am - I wasn't surprised!Around mile 8 I caught up with Edson. He had managed to get right on the start line so had beat all the crazies (who didn't obviously pay attention to that video presentation) and was running a smooth and easy 8:30 pace. So I slowed down and ran with him until we reached the half in1:51:07. All the Half runners had dropped off and the marathoners were now well spread out. So I did a body check - the legs/hams were tight and slightly sore but I had not experienced any sharp or shooting pains that had been plaguing me the past three weeks. And my energy level felt good since we had been running easy. So I decided to lower the pace and run a negative split for the 2nd half and ensure that I defended my'Three Amigos' championship.I immediately dropped the pace to sub 8s and held that pace until 20 miles. At that point I did my normal gut check and determined that nothing had changed since mile 13 so I might as well drop the pace to 7:45s until mile 23 and recheck. As I approached mile 23 I caught up to two young lads/runners from Rhode Island. I overheard that they were trying to pull each other to a sub-3:35 finish so I decided to stick with them for the last 5K. I drafted off them for the next mile and then I took the lead for the next 1 1/2 miles. They both praised and cursed me as I dropped the pace to 7:25! With only a 1/2 mile to go one young buck made his move and surged by me. Now it was my turn to bitch and moan as I tried to hang on to him as he pulled me across the finish line in 3:33:16!I was quite pleased with my performance and time. I had run 1:42:09 for the 2nd Half - a negative split by 9 minutes. But I don't know if it counts when you deliberately run the 1st Half slower than you are capable of? But more importantly I had not experienced any shooting pains or injuries in my hams. Maybe I am finally on the road to recovery?After I finished I did wait for Edson to cross the finish line in 3:48 to confirm that I had successfully defended the 'Three Amigos' Award. Then it was back to SoBe so that my Sports Manager - who was finally up - could explore SoBe and watch all the pretty people along the Beach. I decided to 'fall off the wagon' for the day and we checked out a few bars along the beach while searching for a good restaurant to celebrate the race and the sport manager's birthday. The weather was great. The temperature had been 51 F at race start but with a brisk wind blowing off the Atlantic had felt cool for the first Half. It had warmed up the the low 60s by the time I finished and then reached the high 70s in the afternoon as we strolles along the beach.We enjoyed a great birthday dinner at a restaurant on Ocean Dr with live guitar music as we watched the 'pretty people' stroll by. SoBe is a zoo on the weekends - wall-to-wall people and traffic from noon til ??? - even on Sunday night.Now we are back and it is time to get back to a normal routine. Legs are still tight and sore but I believe I am staring to heal and maybe can start some speedwork again? Next marathon in two weeks - glad I am slowing down.

RR Tampa Marathon

Race Report:
Hops Marathon
Tampa, FL
1/5/03

This race surprised even me! Since I didn't think that I was in good enough shape to run fast (a sub 3:30) and I aggrevated my right hamstring (again) this past week I decided to accept a request by a young female runner from the local Running Club to pace her to a sub 3:40 to qualify for Boston.When the alarm went off at 3am I think that I might have rolled over and stayed in bed except for that promise. So I dragged my lazy butt out of bed and drove into Tampa in plenty of time to meet Kara and be ready for the 6am start. Somehow we failed to find each other at the designated spot so I rushed over to the race start at the last moment and jumped right on to the start line and took off with the 'big dogs'. I reached the 3-mile mark in 23:30 and my right hamstring felt OK and I felt great so I decided "what the hell - might as well hold this pace and see what happens - I can always slow down in the 2nd half!"It was a crisp 38 F at the start with little wind - very cold for Floridians but great racing/running weather. Even after the sun came up the temps only reached the low 50s by the time I finished. So I held the pace under 8 min/mile and crossed the Half in 1:43:31. Surprisingly and happily I still felt good so decided to hold that pace until I finished or crashed - whichever came first? I even started to entertain silly illusions about running negative splits - Nah, I must be delirious as well as feeling good?Around 18 miles I caught up to a few runners that appeared to be in my age group. I passed all but one who decided that he did not want to be passed. I figured it was too early to get into a pissing duel/race so I backed off and fell in behind him until mile 20. I had already decided that if I still felt good then I would lower the hammer and push the last 10K. At 20 miles I did a gut check - what the heck is going on here? - I still feel good? So I dropped the pace to 7:35 to 7:40 over the next few miles and never looked back. It felt like I was in a special zone - no fatique, no pain and I was having fun? That lasted until mile 24 when REALITY HIT - HARD! All of a sudden my legs were tired and sore and I had to struggle to run a 7:57 over mile 25.At that point I decided that this wasn't fun anymore and I needed to get this 'shit' over with so I called on Maddog to find some energy somewhere and get me to the finish line as quickly and painlessly as possible! 'Quickly' the Maddog understands - 'Painlessly' is not in his vocabulary! When my legs cried out in pain and fatique - he ignored them. When my heart monitor beeped and flashed wildly - he ignored it. He was determined not to leave anything on the course as he dragged my sorry, tired ass through that final mile in 7:30 (fastest mile slpit of the race) to cross the finish line in 3:25:35. A Negative Split by more than one minute - even I had trouble believing my watch? But I was very pleased with my time and the even splits that I ran throughout the race. However I was slightly surprised/disappointed to discover later on that time only placed me 6th (46 runners) in my age group. There was obviously some fast competitors in the race (3rd place was 3:17)!Obviously it was just one of those days where everything went right - weather, flat, fast course, relaxed attitude and proper phase of the moon/planets, etc.Whatever, I'm not complaining. Now I have my sub 3:30 already accomplished for the year - one less goal to worry about!For you fellow runners thinking about running this marathon the change in date for this race has really helped. It is a good race/event. The course is flat and fast. The first half in not very exciting or scenic as it winds through downtown Tampa but the second half runs along the west shore of Tampa Bay. There are about 1200 runners in the marathon and there is a whole weekend of racing events if you are a glutton for pain. The Gasparilla Classic (15K) on Sat followed by a 10K on Sat and the marathon on Sun. You can enter all three races if you wish? I consider it 'my hometown' marathon and will continue to run it each year that I am here.

TR Barbados Marathon

Trip Report
Barbados Marathon
Georgetown, Barbados
12/01/02

If you ever wondered how hot it might be in Hell I have a suggestion --- try racing/running a marathon in the Caribbean.The Barbados International Marathon started at 5am so I ran the first Half hard and fast to take advantage of the darkness and cool 78F temps and humidity in the low 80s. By 6:30am the sun started to rise along with my body temperature and heart rate. By 8:15am I was approaching 37Km and the sun was beating down mercilessly on the dark asphalt. The temps had risen into the low 80s, the humidity into the 90s, my body temp was 100+ and my heart monitor was beeping and flashing wildly and continuously? Thus I was forced to go into 'survival mode' for the last 5 Km and struggled across the finish line in 3:44:48.That time was good enough to win the Senior or ROF (Real Old Farts) division!I would like to think that was my last marathon in that heat but unfortunately I know of three other marathons in the Caribbean that I have not run and I hate to leave a challenge/goal unfinished?But it was my last marathon for this year - # 205 and my 58th country which is more significant because I have now run my age in countries. Isn't that similar to that goal in golf - 'to shoot your age'? Only this goal seems to be more difficult since I know of only two (maybe three?) other runners in the world who have accomplished this feat!

RR Richmond Marathon

Race Report
Richmond Marathon
Richmond, VA
11/09/02


Hi from Richmond. Had great marathon weather on Sat, 11/9 for the race. Pretty fast course but I was concerned about a sore back and lack of training because of the back and all the travel/move issues over the past month. So I ran smart and SLOW to finish in 3:37:25 Although both my back and right leg tightened up around 15 miles I finished strong and healthy and successfully defended 'the tres amigos' championship with my running buddies from NYC and FL!Now we can continue to enjoy the weekend with Jason and his girlfriend and hopefully not think about all the problems waiting for us back in FL with the new house?

TR Croatia

TRIP REPORT
CROATIA
10/07/02 – 10/14/02

Now where were we? Oh yes - on the Balkan Express riding from Bucharest to Budapest to Zagreb. After a 24-hour train ride we arrived in Zagreb at 11:30 pm – just two minor problems. A) We did not want to stay in Zagreb because we had been there before and had already explored the city so we wanted to travel on to the coast of the Adriatic Sea - but B) the next train to Split, Croatia didn’t leave until 6am. So we found a hotel across the street from the train station and managed to grab 5 hours of sleep before we had to board the train for Split.

The train ride was interesting and scenic for the first 100 miles as the train traveled along and through a coastal mountain range with lots of forests in their final stages of fall colors. But then the mountains became more sparse and desert-like and boring except for a few lush agricultural valleys. Finally eight hours later we emerged from the mountains and started dropping down to the Adriatic Sea. Split reminded me very much of a city in Greece – all the buildings are white stucco with red tile roofs. It is the second largest city in Croatia and is very modern.

After leaving the train we were faced with a bit of a quandary. We were flying by the seat of our pants because we had no reservations or set plans for this part of the journey – and it was a national holiday in Croatia. That meant that the tourist/information offices were closed along with most businesses. So I parked my sports manager at a seaside bar and ventured off to find a hotel. I was in luck – I only had to walk a few blocks along the harbor into the old city to find a hotel right on the harbor. We couldn’t have asked for a better location. The ‘old city’ of Split is established on a site built by the Emperor Diocletian in 300AD as a retirement palace. Many ruins and walls from the original palace still exist and some restoration has been completed. It sits right on the coast overlooking the current harbor and the Bay of Solin. There are several outdoor bars and cafes along the harbor and it really reminds me of a fishing village in Greece. It is a great place to eat, sip wine, etc and people-watch. And there was some great people-watching to be done – the women in Split are gorgeous –much more beautiful than the rest of the Balkans?

We bought a guidebook and conducted our own walking tour of the old city. A fortified city and walls were built around the palace site in the 12th to 14th centuries and most of that city still exists. The streets are very narrow – about 4 to 6 feet wide and lined with shops and cafes. Local residents occupy the upper stories so it is quite active and very interesting to visit. I finally got to enjoy a great seafood dinner at our hotel while overlooking the harbor and bay.

The following morning I decided it was time to check out the legs with an easy 10-mile run along the harbor and coast. The right hamstring was still tight and very sore and I knew that I was going to have to find a masseuse to work on it before the race in Zagreb.
But now it was time to move on to Dubrovnik which is further down the coast and everyone said was the prettiest city in Croatia. The only way to get there was by bus or ferry so we chose to take an afternoon bus. Before leaving Split I walked to the train station and reserved a private cabin on the night/sleeper train back to Zagreb on Friday night. Now we were ready to leave. It was a 5-hour bus ride along the coast. Fantastic scenery with a rugged coastline on one side and mountains on the other. About an hour from Dubrovnik we passed through a border/customs checkpoint? We didn’t understand what the border was until 20 miles later when we passed through another border and learned that we had just passed through Bosnia. I didn’t realize that Bosnia had negotiated a sliver of land cutting through Croatia so that they had access to the Adriatic Sea?

Finally we arrived in Dubrovnik. Since we were still flying by the seat of our pants and had no idea where the ‘old city’ or hotels were located I found a young taxi driver who spoke English and asked his advice. He advised me that the best hotels were located close to the old city so I asked him to take us to the best hotel located closest to the old city. He dropped us off at the Excelsior Hotel – a 5-star hotel with 5-star prices. But it sat on a cliff overlooking the Adriatic Sea and the old city and I decided “what the hell –we deserve a nice treat”! So I booked two nights. After we checked into our room and were taking an elevator back to the lobby a strange thing happened. We overheard three elderly ladies talking in the elevator and realized that they were Americans and struck up a conversation with them. Turns out that they are neighbors who live in the $multi-million condos on the beach across the road from our new home on Longboat Key. Small world?
Later that night we met them again in the hotel bar and traded travel stories. These ladies certainly are not paupers and do not travel on the same limited/cheap budget that we do. But they didn’t know that since we were all staying at the best hotel in the city. They were quite impressed with our travel experiences – maybe even a bit ticked off that I had run marathons in more countries than they had visited. I told Nicole that she would probably find that she had been added to the ‘elite/snob social calendar’ when we moved on to Longboat Key. I can’t express in words how she felt about that prospect.

That evening we explored the ‘old city’. The old city is a fortified and walled city built in the 12th century. It is in remarkable shape. The original walls and fortifications are still intact. Much of the original city was destroyed by an earthquake in 1667 and rebuilt but some of the original buildings still exist. It is still the center of city activity with several shops, bars and cafes located on the lower levels along the narrow cobbled streets. The upper levels are occupied by local residents. Dubrovnik is considered to be the cultural center of Croatia with many concerts, shows, etc taking place in the old city.
We found a nice seafood restaurant with outdoor seating and enjoyed the house specialty an ‘Adriatic Sea Platter’ – local fish, squid and mussels. Very good but not cheap!

The following morning I did an easy 10-mile run through the old city and along the Adriatic Sea. My right leg was telling me that I definitely needed some massage work. Since the hotel had a spa I checked with the in-house masseuse but she couldn’t fit me into her schedule. I decided to wait until I got to Zagreb and look for a masseuse there.
On our final morning in Dubrovnik we went back to the old city for a final stroll. Unfortunately the weather had turned nasty – raining and windy – but I decided to walk along the top of the entire fortified wall. It provided some spectacular views of the old city and the coastline. But now it was time to take the long bus ride back to Split to connect with the night train back to Zagreb. The train departed at 9 pm and again I was asleep within 30 minutes of our departure and woke up as we arrived in Zagreb at 6 am. I love night trains. They rock you to sleep like a baby in a cradle and you wake up and you are in a new city. And a private sleeper cabin costs less than a hotel room? But my sports manger is still not convinced?

Although we arrived in Zagreb very early we were fortunate that our hotel allowed us to check into our room at 7am. After a quick shower and breakfast we went looking for the host hotel for the marathon and the registration desk. The marathon started and finished in front of the Opera Hotel that was only a mile from our hotel. I had booked the Hotel Dubrovnik that is located right on Jelacica square – the main city square. We found the registration desk easily and I signed up and received the last-minute information and details. I was ready for the marathon – except that I still needed a massage. Luck was with me – our hotel had a masseuse in-house and she agreed to take me right away. She was not as good as my masseuses in FL and CO but she was much cheaper – only $20 for a 1-hour massage! Now I was ready!

Sunday was M-Day! The race started at 9 am. The weather was cloudy and cool (low 40s). Since I was concerned about the state of my right leg/hamstring I decided that I would be smart and run slow and easy with a goal of finishing as healthy as possible. There were about 200 runners in the marathon and another 300 in a 10K race. Both races started together but at least the 10K runners were adults and although the start was congested it was orderly. The course started with a 10K loop that ran from the city center to the north and back to the finish line. The streets were closed down or at least one lane was coned off for the entire course and traffic control was much better and safer than that debacle in Bucharest. About 5K into the race the course funneled down into a single narrow lane that followed the tracks for the city tram. I was so focused on watching out for the other runners that I tripped I on something and went flying through the air? As I was falling I was concerned about landing on the tracks and breaking something but fortunately I landed on the pavement and escaped with only minor cuts and abrasions on my hands and elbow. I looked back to see what I had tripped on – a huge metal brake shoe that had fallen off a tram. But that little mishap was probably a blessing because I decided that I needed to pay more attention to my footing and discovered that several sections of the course followed the tram tracks and there were many man-made holes with missing covers. It would have been easy to step in one of those holes and break an ankle!

The 10K loop turned back to pass the finish line where the 10K runners finished and the marathoners continued on a 22K loop to the southern section of the city. I crossed the Half in 1:51:05. My leg felt good and I felt excellent since I was running slow and easy. In fact my biggest challenge (other than trying to stay on my feet) was trying to keep the Maddog in check. With the cool weather and a flat, fast course he was frothing at the mouth to lower the hammer and go for a sub 3:30 marathon! But I kept him under control on that 2nd loop – even on a nice flat section of the course that passed through a park with no traffic to contend with. However as the course looped back towards the finish line and approached 30K the leg still felt OK and I decided to let the Maddog out of his cage. I was curious to see if I could run a negative split on the second half and finish under 3:40?
Maddog immediately lowered the pace to sub 8:00s and it felt good and easy? The course looped past the finish line at 32K and repeated the initial 10K loop for the final 10K of the race. No repeat of the trip and flying act on the second time around though. As I approached 40K the right leg started to tighten up and hurt like Hell. But Maddog wasn’t listening as the leg screamed at me to back off – he just ignored the pain and screams and pushed my sorry ass through the final 2K to finish the race in 3:39:36 and a negative split of 1:48:35. Although the leg was tight and sore at the finish it didn’t appear to have suffered any additional injury so I was quite pleased with my performance and time. I hung around for about 15 minutes on the hope that they would post some results but finally left for the hotel and my customary soak in a hot bath. Later found out on the web that I had missed the 3rd place award by one minute.

That evening my sports manager and I found a restaurant in Zagreb that also specialized in wild game. We had a great dinner - but not as good as the one in Bucharest and it cost three times as much? The following morning I treated myself to another massage at the hotel. The masseuse worked all the toxins and lactic acid out of the legs and my right leg felt so much better. Then it was off to the airport and our flight back to Zurich. Our flight connections required an overnight stay in Zurich and we didn’t really mind because we have been through Zurich several times but have never had the opportunity or time to explore the city. We checked into a hotel at the airport and took a train into the city. We explored the old city and the city center and enjoyed a great dinner in the old city. I wouldn’t want to live there though – the prices are similar to NYC prices – very expensive!

Finally it was time for the long flight home. And as always – even though we had enjoyed another marvelous marathon adventure/trip, we were looking forward to going home and sleeping in our own bed. Time to get back to regular schedules and rest up for the next adventure! Stay tuned.