Bass Pro

The short:

I got 5th overall female in my 5th Bass Pro Marathon! I'm also getting old so I was the female masters champion. I registered for this race back in February, before I knew that October was going to try to kill me. The race doesn't do transfers or deferrals and is 20 minutes from my house, so I decided to start it with a training buddy and drop out if I needed to. Though I sure felt my post-COVID lack of reserves in the final miles, I got it done in 3:07:45. It was my slowest Bass Pro, though not by much - I won the race with a 3:06:57 in 2015 - and while I think it went about as well as it could have all-considering, I was sad not to nab an overall podium spot this year. I imagine I'll be back next year, ideally without the post-COVID/post-car accident training plan.

Results are here.

My Strava activity is here.

Miles from Mentor pre-race photo, missing a few

The long:

I love my hometown race. I don't like huge marathons, I love sleeping in my own bed and eating at home before the race, I love seeing the Springfield running community, and I love running an event with almost everyone I train with. My running buddies laughed at me (and said I'm the only one in the world who would say this) when I said I like Bass Pro far better than Chicago, but it's true! I'm not sure if anyone who doesn't live here would like this race, and if you like big marathons it is definitely not for you, but I get a bigger high out of this one than I get elsewhere.

Four weeks before this race I ran Chicago. That was in the plan. Also 3-4 weeks before this race I had COVID, and 2 weeks before this race I got into a pretty bad car accident. Those were not planned. As you can imagine, my body was a bit wrecked from those events and my mind was pretty wrecked from dealing with the other driver's insurance and searching for a new car, so I wasn't sure if I was up for running Bass Pro after all. But I'd entered back in February, so I decided I'd run with my training buddy Sally for as long as I could and then drop out; I'd be running that day anyway, after all. Two weeks before the race I thought I would for sure drop out, a week before I thought probably, but as the race got closer and I continued to regain strength I started thinking that maybe I could run the whole thing. Sally was ready to run 7:00-7:10, and I started reasoning that since I ran that pace in Chicago with the beginnings of COVID, I could probably manage it with some after-effects of COVID. There are calculators on how to adjust paces for temperature, humidity, and elevation, but not for post-COVID - but I now have some thoughts, hah.

In Chicago, I wasn't excited about the race; I was just tired. Before this race, I got very excited! It was so nice to feel like my pre-race self again! I loved going to the expo and the thrill of race morning with friends. Pre-race is always fun, relaxed, and stress-free here. I'm with friends I train with every day and I'm parked 100 m from the starting line.

Memorize these turns...

Expo (notice I look short in this group)

The front of the Bass Pro field is variable year-to-year. I've won the women's race with a 3:03 and 3:06, I've placed 2nd with a 2:54, and I've taken 3rd with a 2:59. On this year's starting line I spotted a fast-looking Kenyan woman wearing a full marathon bib, showing it was likely I wouldn't be competing for the win even if I was 100%. Sally also knew a woman from Columbia who would likely run 3:0x, and then you never know who else will show up! Plus, Sally was very fit so I knew there was a good chance she'd outlast me. I aimed to focus on going out conservatively and helping Sally as much as I could. My friend Michelle was running the half and also wanted to do about the pace we were doing, so we planned to run with her as well.

Starting line selfie

From the start, we settled into pace and I kept thinking about how much better I felt than in Chicago! In Chicago, I knew that something was off from mile 1, but this mile 1 felt effortless and exciting, as the first mile of a marathon should. Sally felt fantastic as well. The weather was warmer than we'd have liked, at over 50* at the start and mid-60s by the finish, but we took confidence that we'd trained in much worse all summer.

The first 10 miles flew by, and Sally, Michelle, and I ran stride for stride. The course has a lot of turns and I told them what was coming so we could stick to the tangents as closely as possible. We saw many friends and loved ones along the course, and it's always fun to be cheered for by name frequently! We stayed steady and passed people who'd gone out too quick, including the 1:45 half pacer (!!!). We stayed pretty much right at 7:00 pace, with some variations for elevation. This course has about 900 ft of elevation gain, so it's not going to be metronome clockwork - though I bet my GAP was for most of the race. When the half and full courses split at about mile 10.5, I cheered Michelle off with enthusiasm while Sally and I pressed on in the other direction. My husband told us we were in 5th female position at that point, which surprised me. I knew there were 2 in front of us in the full but hadn't known there were 4, and we were on about 3:04 pace, which I thought would be worth a podium spot.

Mile 9ish (notice I look tall in this group!)

Miles 12-17 of the course are the hilliest, but Sally and I both felt great and I reasoned that it would be a good break for the legs to work a little differently. I told her not to worry if our pace slowed a bit through that section. In hindsight, I think we should have slowed a little, but we didn't. This was partially my fault because I saw what I thought was a sports bra not far ahead of us and started working to reel her in. Once we were closer, I could tell it was actually a man in a hydration vest and no shirt. We came through the half in 1:32-mid-ish (no marker), both feeling positive and ready to do it again. I was really excited for her to get a big PR!

Mile 15 has a long incline, I hadn't realized the man in the hydration vest wasn't a woman quite yet, and I think my 6:58 up it was too quick based on the elevation. Sally started to fall a step back and stopped talking, so I started encouraging her ("It will be way easier after we finish this incline, we are going to catch that woman," etc.). She pulled back up and mile 16 was a little quick in 6:45, but also had decline. I was looking back a little bit and making sure she could latch on. I didn't want to separate and I wanted us both to move up in the women's field. By then I had realized hydration vest guy was a man, but soon after spotted an actual woman ahead of him. I got a side stitch from about 15-17, but it didn't slow me down, was just uncomfortable and made me take about 3 miles to get down my mile 15 gel.

During mile 17 Sally told me I could go ahead. I slipped into coaching mode and told her to just sit on me, to let me pull and do the work. That worked for awhile, but then between some combination of me working towards the woman in front of us and her feeling a little more fatigued, we separated. At that point, I was in mile 18 and feeling confident about chasing down the woman in front of me. Before the race, I had a lot of reservations about my body not being in a good place, but for a good 23 miles of the actual race I didn't think about that one bit.

I continued to focus on gradually pulling in the woman ahead of me, and I was gaining. At mile 20 I saw my family and I felt really confident I was going to move up before I saw them again. Jon told me that 3rd place was about 2 minutes up and she was really hurting, so then I thought perhaps I could even move up into a podium position after all. I was pumped with how great I felt for that point in the race!

I felt really strong until I didn't, which happened somewhere during mile 21. Initially I figured it was just a rough patch, but by 22.5 I could tell I was fading. I could tell by the body language of the woman in front of me that she was also fading, so it was probably going to be a matter of who struggled less. She had a good 15-20 seconds on me, but I was the hunter, which I kept telling myself gave me the advantage. 

Passing 23 I really tried to pump myself up. I'd done a fast finish 13 miler on the course the week before, and told myself to speed up like I did then. I wasn't gaining any more but she wasn't extending her lead either. As we neared 24 though, I felt myself fading more and more. For the first time during the race, I thought about being post-COVID and how my usual strong finish might not be in the cards, but I also kept trying with absolutely everything I had.

I saw the photographer at mile 23
 & *thought* I was smiling!

The final 2 miles of this race go like this, repeatedly: incline, turn, incline, turn, incline, turn. Some years I've still been able to close fast, other years I've lost time. I hadn't been looking at my splits since about halfway (early on I did because I didn't want to mess up Sally's race), but those final 2 miles ended up being my slowest at 7:42 and 7:39. The woman in front of me was pulling away, partially because she was chasing down the third place woman (Jon said it was a pretty dramatic finish between the two; 4th moved into 3rd with about 15 meters to go!). Anything can happen in the final mile of a marathon, so I kept pushing with all I had. I didn't have what I'd hoped to, but I tried my hardest. The first 21 miles of this race were far easier than Chicago, but the final 5 miles and especially the last 2 were much harder (I'd kept a little in the tank at Chicago, hoping to use it at Bass Pro...the irony). My legs felt like they were going to give out and the finish could not come soon enough.

Coming down the final stretch and hearing numerous familiar voices cheering for me is always a joy! I was really glad to make it in after just a week before the race being pretty sure I'd be too weak to run the whole marathon, and after how hard those final 2 miles were! I was pretty sure I'd won masters, but it wasn't until I went inside to change and had Jon pull up the results on his phone that I knew for sure. I was sad not to make it onto the overall podium, but I was thankful for the masters win and feel that I did the best I could with what I had. 

My time was 3:07:45 - in Chicago I ran 3:07:38. Bass Pro was warmer and has significantly more elevation, so this performance was my best marathon of my season of COVID-screwed up marathons. I executed Chicago better, with my half splits being just seconds apart, but the gauge of how to pace is different with post-COVID weakness and I don't have it figured out. I ran an 18 miler two weeks before this where I felt great for 14 miles then faded for 4, making me think there was no way I was going to be able to run 26.2 when I was bonking at 14. I gained strength between that run and the race, but not enough to stay strong through 26. The rising temperature probably also played a role. 

When you slow at the end of a marathon, the vast majority of the time it is because you ran too fast for your fitness at some point before then, but I kind of wonder if I'd have slowed no matter what due to COVID depletion - probably to a lesser extent had I gone out more conservatively, though. I am usually a strong finisher (unless going for an aggressive goal, see OTQ failures), and I also generally "know" the correct effort level; in Chicago I wasn't feeling like myself but I gauged what I could give really well and ran quite evenly. In workouts when I don't hit paces I am pretty much always off pace from the start. If I could run the race again, I would have either stuck to 7:10 for the first 10 miles or reduced the effort on the hilly section to see if that made a difference and because it would have made me a better pacer for Sally - but, alas, if we got do-overs in races I'd probably keep doing each one forever striving for perfection!

Post-race I enjoyed the awards ceremony, lots of socializing, and brunch with my teammates. I rode the marathon high all day! I hope I have some more faster marathons in me, but I've also realized that it doesn't matter too much if I run personal bests or worsts (I won't say it doesn't matter at all, though!). I love the process, the running community, the miles, the atmosphere - I love it all. I am thankful God gave me this sport, which has shaped me as a person for nearly my entire life.

Awards shot before Karen had to leave

Awards shot post-brunch

I was really proud of my training buddies! Sally came away with an 8 minute PR with a 3:12. Karen ran her debut marathon in 3:13. Casey was 2nd OAF in the half in 1:23 with a new state record for age 39 (I didn't have this one so it was more exciting; last year she broke my age 38 record), Rebecca was 3rd OAF in the half with 1:24, Jessica ran a beautiful negative split in her 1:33 half that exceeded what she'd been doing in training, Elise ran a 1:36 off of very little post-partum training with David’s help, Colin ran his longest post-injury run, Spencer ran a 1:25 half still feeling COVID-crappy (he had it right after me but did not get it from me!), and several paced others to their goals [note: the 1:45 pacer that went out at 7:00 pace was not from my group, lol!]. Abby and Sarah biked everywhere on the course to cheer, and Trae and Andy drove everywhere to encourage us. My heart was so full.

Awards by the fire when it's in the 70s

You can read about my past Bass Pro Marathons: 2021, 2016, 2015, and I don't have a recap for 2010 but I won overall female in 3:03 and befriended Julie that year. I also ran the half in 2017 and 2014, and the 5k in 2022. Fun fact: I have run 4 different courses in my 5 times running this marathon, with this race being my first time to run a course a second time (only 2021 and 2023 were the same route).