Run for the Ranch 6 hour: Laps 9-13

The short version is here, and laps 1-8 are described in detail here.

Lap 9 - After a little dip during lap 8, I was doing okay again. I felt like I needed to back off the effort some in order to make it 5 more laps, and running solo probably helped me at that point because I could go with my own ebb and flow. I knew I'd be at 29.5 when I finished lap 9, so even though I'd been having some doubts I knew I was going to keep going because I was sure not willing to run "only" 29.5 at 50 seconds/mile slower than my 50k pace. I was probably feeling my lack of an actual training cycle for this event - remember, I did 20 miles 3 weeks out and 30 miles 2 weeks out, but I hadn't done a whole slew of 20+ milers since my Twin Cities training cycle, or back-to-back long runs since early 2022 (plus I was doing track workouts during the 5 weeks leading up to this race, lol!). Julie was out running the course, and found me walking up the little hill about a mile out from the finish area and ran back with me. I asked her about Eric, and unfortunately he'd called it for the day due to stomach issues. From mile 29 on, my miles were all 8:37-9:25 and averaged about 9:00; I wasn't moving quickly but I never stopped plugging away.

Funny fact: driving to race I heard the song Save Your Tears on the radio, and while many songs cycled through my head when I was running solo, the lyric I sang to myself most often was "Save your tears for another day..." Not an encouraging one, but I never really felt discouraged. I didn't ever feel like I was knocking it out of the park, but I did always feel like I was doing it.

Just keep runnin'!

Lap 10 - Throughout lap 10 I was excited because I knew when I finished it I'd have a new mileage PR. The course marshals at the corner where Missy and Rebecca were cheering started getting into the race and saying something to me each lap, such as asking what the farthest I'd run before then was. My friends cheering was also amazing, and it was so kind of them to come out for a couple of hours in the brutal weather. I was so pumped up by my new PR when I came through lap 10, I thought that 9.9 more miles seemed completely reasonable. I had points in the race where I thought "Geez, I hope I make 32", "36 would be fine", and "39.3 is a marathon plus a half, that would be really good!", but I was always in a good place when I passed the finish area so never truly considered stopping. I was monitoring the course clock at each lap, and I still had about 1:36:20 left when I finished lap 10, so I knew even if I averaged 10 minute pace for the last 3 laps I'd get them in.

We ran through this and could see the elapsed
time at the end of each lap

Lap 11 - The course was really thinning out by this point, with most of the marathoners finished. I was doing well considering. I think laps 9-10 were my most difficult, then 11-13 were a little slower but felt better. I walked up the little hill during laps 9 and 10, but never needed to after that. I started thinking about how I felt better at that point than I did with 10 miles to go in Boston, so that was comforting since I knew I'd gritted through worse. The wind was extremely annoying but expected each lap. The aid station volunteers and course marshals felt like old friends at that point. I found humor in the teenagers chasing each other, the other kids who didn't know what gels were, the amazing volunteer at the 180* turn with two puffs on her hat, and the aid station that was scraping ice off their table with a windshield ice scraper. When I passed the clock I had well over an hour left, so I knew I was going to make my 13 lap goal.

Lap 12 - On this lap I mostly kept thinking "I'm doing it!!!" I felt confident about completing 6 more miles, then 5, then 4. I was very insistent that I was not stopping at 39.3. I knew I would not have time for 3 more laps, so I didn't push because it was going to be 42.6 miles either way. I mostly felt like I was in the final 10k of a marathon that I was bonking - and I've had plenty of practice with that over the years! It's a feeling I'm familiar with; I can't run fast, but I can keep running.

Lap 13 - I knew I was going to do it, so this was kind of a victory lap. I also knew I had plenty of time to complete the last lap so didn't strain. I passed each volunteer and aid station for the final time. I thanked each of them profusely, and remarked that it was a really, really long time to stand outside. I updated the OMRR members who asked my distance. I lapped another woman who was in the 6 hour, and she said, "You are absolutely remarkable". I called back, "You are remarkable; you are running for 6 hours!" (she went on to be the second female finisher). About halfway through the lap, I suddenly had to pee pretty badly. I hadn't gone since lap 4. I went back and forth about whether or not to stop, and decided to hit the porta potty at the final aid station that was just a step off the road. I knew I had enough time cushion, and also that there was no way I'd have time for a 14th lap, so I went ahead and stopped to go. I was worried that I'd pee myself when I stopped running if I didn't!

Not actually the finish because the
photograph didn't stay all 6 hours

The finish - In my head this was a huge deal, but in reality it was anticlimactic. Well, I did see two marathoners heading into the finish ahead of me and decided I was going to outkick them, which I did - even though it counted for nothing except feeding my competitive spirit. Colin was waiting along with his friend Amy, and he was the only one around who knew how far I'd run. He ran the same distance, but faster - not fast enough to have time for a 14th lap either though. He and I won overall male and female, but no one really knew that either. The spectators had pretty much all gone home and even the timing guy was inside his trailer. I was bursting with endorphins but also started getting cold in the bitter wind real quick.

Colin and I grabbed our aid station supplies and headed to the indoor area. What I wanted most was to take off my shoes! I did so, and also went to the bathroom to take off my sweaty sports bra and inner layer shirt. I raced in last years rabbitELITE jacket because it's the warmest rabbit top I have, with this years thin tech short sleeve under it. I had ZERO chaffing anywhere from my clothing, which seems like a major accomplishment. I scrubbed my hands that were sticky from gels and milky from UCAN. I put on a sweatshirt, but then thought I needed my rabbit uniform on for photos, so I put my rabbit thin long sleeve on over the sweatshirt. It looked kind of ridiculous.

After I changed I wasn't sure what came next. What do people do after running for 6 hours?? Colin was also standing around aimlessly, and we both said we weren't sure what to do. I tried some leg swings halfheartedly, and drank some chicken broth with a few noodles in it. Once we got our awards, I made Colin take photos with me, which continued to feed my excitement. I couldn't really believe we'd done it - we'd run 42.6 miles! This wasn't a goal I even had until about a month ago, but it sure felt good to accomplish it, though it's kind of still sinking in. I'm starting to understand why this ultra thing is addicting!

This is how it started

The progression

He humored me

This one is my favorite!

The story continues here.

Run for the Ranch 6 hour: Laps 1-8

The short version is here, and pre-race is here.

The half, full, marathon relay, and 6 hour races all started together. Eric, Colin, Spencer, and I immediately settled in together as planned. Spencer had won the 1 mile that took place 45 minutes before the other races, and wanted to do 13 miles total so planned to run 3 laps with us. I was super excited and a race environment makes me want to race, but clearly no one needs to be racing a quarter mile into a 6 hour race. I aimed for that "run all day pace" feeling since we were, pretty much, running all day. I didn't look at my watch during the event, but early on Eric kept us updated on our splits. I think he was more concerned about going out too fast than Colin and I were, since he'd done 39.3 miles before with 26.2 being smooth and 13.1 being rough, per his report. Since I had no idea what I was doing, I didn't have that healthy fear. The paces we would run all seemed so much easier than any other race paces I'd done, it didn't seem like 7:30 was really any different from 8:00.

Lap 1 - This one consisted of non-stop chatter. We talked about a little bit of everything, laughed, complained about the hairpin turn, and wished away the headwind on the long stretch going west. It felt like just a normal easy pace long run. We were joined by a man who was running the marathon, looking to negative split a 3:20 - after he left us, we didn't pass him back, so hopefully he did it!

Looking happy...

...yet...

...very cold

Lap 2 - This was pretty much a repeat of lap 1, except without marathon guy. Lots of talking and I felt invincible. I was also trying to pose for photos when I saw Julie taking them.

Wahoo

Lap 3 - Another lots of talking and super relaxed lap. Spencer finished when he hit 10 miles and wished us well. I told him to tell the Miles from Mentor message group that we were in good spirits. Only 30-some miles to go!

Power of the pack

Lap 4 - We had been dropping the pace just a tad as the race progressed - which is typical of an easy long run, but maybe not something we should have been doing in this race. My splits for miles 11-13 were 7:35, 7:39, 7:14. The 7:14 was because I jumped into a porta potty very quickly during the 7:39 mile (so that one was probably more like 7:19) then reeled the guys back in. I tried to take my time catching back up, but I was anxious to rejoin the group because it's always harder solo. Eric was monitoring our splits, and kept telling us we were a little fast, but no one did anything about it. I think we passed the half marathon point in 1:43.

After a few laps, I learned the
professional photographer's location

Ultra fun

Lap 5 - On this lap, I noticed a decrease in conversation, so I brought up my proposed game: we pick a theme word for every lap, and try to use it as many times as we can during that lap. I got the idea from the book Running Man when they had a theme word every day they were running across the Sahara Desert. I'd already talked to Colin about it and he wasn't interested, so I told Eric his vote would be the tie breaker. He said he didn't think he was going to be talking much more and that he wasn't feeling very well. I encouraged him that it could turn around any moment, and I offered him UCAN if his nutrition wasn't settling well. My word game was vetoed, and Eric stopped at the end of this lap. 

Lap 6 - By now, the field was thinning out with a lot of half runners finished. We lapped runners from all of the different events, and I never knew who we were racing, who we were passing, or who we were lapping - but I had a pretty good idea that we were leading the 6 hour race. I felt bad that Eric had pulled out but thought he would possibly sit out a lap then join back in; when I mentioned that to Colin he said, "That's an option??!". I've run many, many training miles with Colin, some of them on the same road the race was on, so it just felt like a normal training day at that point. I didn't think much about what was ahead, which I think served me well.

Lapping a marathoner

Lap 7 - On lap 7, our friends Missy and Rebecca showed up, and they were all-star cheerleaders! Colin and I continued a little faster than we should have, clocking 7:29, 7:19, 7:30, 7:28, 7:17, 7:20 for miles 17-22. I'd wanted no faster than 7:45 and preferably 8:00, but since I wasn't looking at my watch and we no longer had Eric monitoring splits I didn't realize we'd sped up. At about mile 22 we climbed the hill of the loop, and Colin pulled a little ahead of me. He is better on hills than I am, but he then continued putting distance on me. I didn't feel comfortable speeding up so I let him go. I was staying right around 7:30 - he had some 7:00ish miles in there! The clock was on 2:58 when I passed through for lap 7, so I told myself "you only have to do 6 laps in the time you just did 7". Nothing to it, right? Halfway there, time-wise.

Lap 8 - I was solo now, and the wind kept picking up. The marathon point felt like a good milestone, though during this lap was the first time I started having some doubts. To hit my goal, I had to finish a marathon then run 16.3 more miles...seems a little crazy, eh? I started thinking I should feel better than I did, considering I was running 1:15ish/mile slower than if I had been racing a marathon. I started thinking that I felt better during the 30 mile training run than I felt during this race (which was accurate, but probably not encouraging). I felt like I was running a little low on fuel, and started wondering if I wasn't taking enough to account for the cold weather, since you burn more glycogen when it's cold. I took a SIS gel, which has over 200 calories and is sugary sweet immediate carbs, at the end of that lap. Those are really hard for me to choke down, but I think it helped! I crossed the finish for the marathon at 3:23:59-3:24:00. That mark gave me a boost (plus reminded me that I ran plenty of marathons over that time in my 20s!), and I was off to chase my next milestone, a new distance PR.

The story continues here.

Run for the Ranch 6 hour: Pre-Race

The short version is here, and this posts starts the long version!

In early November, I started thinking about running one of the events at Run for the Ranch (R4TR). The race is put on by my local running club, Ozark Mountain Ridge Runners. I like to support OMRR, and the event location is less than 10 minutes from my house. The race has 4 different distances: a 1 mile, a half marathon, a full marathon, and a 6 hour race. I had reasons for doing each of them...the 1 mile state record is very attainable since there aren't many certified mile road races, it's been awhile since I've raced a half, I could use a sub-3 marathon this year, and I'd never run for 6 hours.

Then I got COVID and decided I wasn't doing any of them! But I ended up bouncing back quickly and after running 20 miles on Nov. 26 (because I was doing a mileage challenge that week), I decided that I was going to run for 4 hours on Dec. 3. If I could accomplish it and still wanted to run the 6 hour, I'd do it. Both things happened, and I was pretty amazed at how good I felt after running for 4 hours, which got me 30.2 miles. The other race options at R4TR seemed really fast, but running slowly for a long time seemed doable. I was also excited to try something different, with zero expectations (though not completely, because I looked at the 2022 ultra rankings before the event). I knew I'd likely have a lot of thoughts about what I should have done after the event, but much like with my first 50k, ignorance was bliss!

I didn't have any specific training for this race aside from the 4 hour run two weeks before it, but I figured I'd had 3 years of running 4000+ miles a year so that should count for a lot. I also rationalized that the way I gutted out both of my 2022 marathons had to have been good training - seems like I'm really good at running 7:15-8:15 pace when my body has nothing to give [spoiler: the end of this one would be slower than that]! Between the Twin Cities Marathon and this race I did one 20 miler the 30 miler, and on all of the others weekends I was running 14-18 milers so I wasn't unprepared - just not as prepared as if I'd focused on this race in advance (even before a marathon I do multiple 20+ milers, and before a 50k I do a lot of back-to-back longs runs). I didn't do any long race specific workouts; actually I did a speed block with my friend who was training for the one mile at this race.

I managed to talk my running buddy Colin into most of my 4 hour training run and this 6 hours event. He ran the Dogwood 50k (technical trail) last month, so had a recent run with 4:20 on feet, and I kept telling him that meant he was better prepared than me. Neither of us really knew what we were doing though. I talked to my friend Julie a couple of weeks before the race and found out her husband Eric was also running it, with similar pacing ideas as me and Colin. Eric had run it before, covering 39.3 miles, so had a better idea of what he was in for.

With Colin, Eric, & 6 gels in my
tights side pockets

Before the event, I asked the race director several questions, and he was kind enough to help me with all of them. He also told me I could set up a table by the course with my drinks and nutrition, a personal aid station of sorts. I took advantage of that and set up a TV table with my nutrition, a change of shoes, and extra clothes. Colin and Eric also placed supplies by the table, but the photo below is of just mine. My fueling plan was to take a gel or bottle every lap, plus water at the race aid stations as needed. I also laid out some UCAN bars in case I was run/walking at some point and wanted them.

Running forever takes a lot of stuff

On race day, after I set up my aid station, I sat in my warm car until 10 minutes before the start, when I got out to pee in a porta-potty that I was parked 20 feet away from. I then got back into my car until 5 minutes before the start. The wind chill was 13* at the start, with a brisk west wind of 20 mph. It was weird doing zero warm up, aside from foam rolling before I left my house and walking to the starting line, and it also made for a much colder bit waiting for the gun to go off!

I planned to run by effort, and fully expected I'd slow down sometime after 25-30 miles. I don't think anyone negative splits ultras this long. I also figured that Colin, Eric, and I would probably go through rough patches at different points, but as long as one person felt okay at any given time, we'd keep each other going. When I ran my 30 mile training run, I didn't feel that good at mile 15, but then at 20 I felt like I could go forever, the last 10 miles were a breeze, and I didn't fade one bit. That experience was helpful to think back on. I figured I'd go through similar phases in this race, and knew that things could always turn around from a bad patch. I also knew that there was a lot I didn't know - but I had 6 hours to learn it!

The story continues here.

Run for the Ranch 6 hour: Finally, a PR in 2022!

The short:

Even marathon pace seems fast and intimidating in my head right now, but running slowly forever seemed like something I could do! Enter the Run for the Ranch 6 hour race. It entailed running a 3.275 mile loop as many times as you could or wanted to within a 6 hour time frame, and the most loops won. If two people ran the same number of laps, the one who did it faster won. I'd never run a 6 hour before, so as long as I surpassed 50k for distance, which I felt very confident about, I was in for a PR.

It's good to have training buddies
 who are just as crazy as you

8 laps was a marathon, 12 laps was 39.3 miles, etc. Only full laps counted, so if you wanted to run over 40 miles officially you had to run 42.575 miles. I kind of felt like, "Who wants to stop at 39.3??" and set my goal at 13 laps - plus I thought 42 miles would be neat since I am 42 years old. I really had no idea how my body would respond to running for 6 hours, but I did a 4 hour (30.2 mile) training run 2 weeks before the race that made it seem reasonable. I'm sure true ultra runners are laughing at my random goals and rationales!

I managed those 13 laps for 42.575 miles and 1st overall female on December 17. This ranks me #6 on the North America female 6 hour list for 2022, so not too shabby for my first go at this - especially in a wind chill of 13* on a course wide open to the 20 mph wind. However, I realized that if all ground covered in the full 6 hours (instead of only full laps) counted I could have been #4. #5 only ran 0.025 farther than me and #4 did 0.625 farther, which I know I could have covered in the time remaining, especially because if every bit had counted I would have pushed more on the final 2 laps and wouldn't have stopped to pee at the final aid station. I have since learned that a lot of timed races have a smaller loop in the final hour for this reason. I am also #2 for women age 40-49, behind world record holder Camille Herron.

The things I had to do to get a PR in 2022! I was fortune to run about half of the miles with my running buddy Colin, who also ran 42.575 miles, but faster than me. His performance is #17 for men's 6 hours this year, but he could have been #9 if partial laps counted or there was a shorter loop option at the end.

I've been running for over 30 years now, so it's not terribly often that I get to try new things. I am thankful for this opportunity less than a 10 minute drive from my house! It's pretty incredible what God made our bodies capable of. Ozark Mountain Ridge Runners did a great job putting on this event, and if you ask me volunteering at an aid station for 6 hours in that weather sounds a lot harder than running in it for 6 hours.

Official results are here (search for my bib 3012).

My Strava activity is here.

North America ultra rankings are here.

Details:

Pre-Race 

Laps 1-8 

Laps 9-13 

The Aftermath 

Overall male and female!

The Bass Pro 5k was A-okay

I wasn't sure about running a Bass Pro Marathon weekend event. After TCM, the half and full marathons seemed like bad ideas (though I did consider the full as a "redemption" attempt!), so I thought the 5k was my best option, even though I am definitely not a 5k runner. I rationalized that I'd be at the event even if I didn't race; I love seeing so many members of my local running community and the hometown vibe is great! I also figured even if things went poorly I should be able to win masters in the 5k. And of course I'd be running that day anyway! I signed up for the 5k the day that online registration closed, with low performance expectations but high excitement expectations!

These two dominated the half!

I knew the course wasn't certified and from running it in training knew it would read long (it uses the same start line, finish line, and final ~2 miles of the half and full courses, so logistically it makes sense but it either has to be long or short to work within those parameters) - so I had a little anxiety thinking that I probably wouldn't be under 20:00. Then I gave myself the "no one else cares" pep talk! 

I really didn't know what I was going to get pace-wise, and the course is mildly hilly, so I did know I wouldn't get even splits from even effort. I currently have a free trial of Strava Premium, so my main goal for the race was to run even grade-adjusted (GAP) splits by feel. I didn't know what that would look like in actual splits, but it didn't matter - if I had all GAP splits of 6:30 and worked hard, it was going to be a successful day in my mind. In general the 5k is the least competitive distance of marathon weekend, but I found out a couple days before that Claire, a former Drury runner who is now training with the University of Arkansas, was running (she has college track eligibility left but not cross-country). I knew she'd recently run another road 5k in 16:11, so it was clear I would be racing for second female even if I was at my best! I think knowing that I wasn't going to win going in made me less worried about how it would go.

Team photo, that most of the team missed

Team photo part 2 - caught a couple more

On race morning, after running group team photos, I warmed up with Casey and Spencer, who were both running the half. We also did drills and I jogged more while they did strides. The half and full started at 7:00 a.m., and I thought that I had plenty of time between then and my 7:15 a.m. 5k start, but between cheering while waiting for all of the runners to go by and running back to my car, I actually had very little time. The race announced that it was 3 minutes until the 5k start when I was opening my car door with all of my warm up gear and training shoes still on! I got my warm ups off and shoes changed as quickly as I could in a slight panic, while also debating whether I had time to pee or not. I really needed to and almost just went right next to my car on the asphalt (lolol), but was able to tuck into a construction porta-potty then do a ~200 m sprint to the start. Several runners make jokes about me really jumping in at the last minute. I had no time to think, because then we were off!

There were a lot of middle and high school boys in the race, so for the first bit I was pretty far back. I also saw about 5 teenage girls ahead of me, along with Claire who was out in front of everyone right away. I settled into the effort that felt manageable for a 5k and moved into second female position by about a half mile into the race. The really fun thing about 5ks with teenagers is that if you run even remotely close to an even pace, you keep passing them the entire race. And that is just what I did - passed a teenage boy then reeled in the next! My competitive instincts kicked in and I really enjoyed pushing myself.

When we ran the course recently in training, I told my running buddies that it didn't play to my strengths. The hills are minimal but I am not good at running fast up any elevation. Threshold to marathon pace is fine on hills, but 5k pace - oof! However, during the race they actually felt alright. I think passing boy after boy helped. I've raced the final 2 miles of the full and half numerous times on this route, and it's gone both ways different years - sometimes I don't really notice the hills and can negative split, other years they seem like mountains and I fade. Based on how I've been doing lately, I just expected they'd be horrible, but they felt better during this race than on any of the easy pace training runs I did on them this season!

Another thing about 5ks is that they are over really quickly. I got into a final kicking battle with a teenage boy on the homestretch (which I lost), and saw the clock just ticking over 19, which was a nice surprise! My watch read 3.19 miles at 6:02 pace, which was also a nice surprise! That's not an exceptional performance for me and I have run a half marathon at close to that pace before, but for what I expected on this day, it was fantastic! It was one of those cases of Happiness Equals Reality Minus Expectations. Plus, I did not have any dizziness symptoms during or after the race, which was a victory in itself.

I felt even happier about it when I looked at my grade-adjusted paces, to see mile splits of 5:57, 5:58, 5:57. One could only get a tiny bit more even than that! That also means that my GAP average was sub-6, which I would for sure not have predicted. I was at about 18:44 at the 5k point on my Garmin. My official time was 19:13 though.

Proof I can still do this
when I feel normal!

After I grabbed lots of goodies from the finish chute then dropped them at my car, I joined my friends David and Amy to run-cheer for the other races. I loved running around the course and cheering for the half and full so much that it made me just want to run the 5k followed by run-cheering every year, hah! I know the course well so was able to see runners in many places, especially since I ran about 12 miles spectating. My top training buddy Casey, who I also coach, ran a PR half of 1:21:57 and was 2nd overall female, and looked amazing doing it! Rebecca was 3rd overall female in the half. Kimi won the marathon by 20 minutes. I saw so many Ozark Mountain Ridge Eunners and friendly familiar faces out there - I want to do every long run like that.

All in all, this went about as well as it realistically could have. I'm not back to where I want to be, and I still experience dizziness every morning when I first get up, but I'm trending in the right direction. I have an ENT appointment on Dec. 5 since all things point to inner ear, so most likely I will be fine by Dec. 4, hah. I'm thankful I had this race and got to experience the magic of Bass Pro Marathon weekend with my training group, who brightens all of my 5:30a's.

Official results are here. 

My activity on Strava is here.

Articles about the race are here and here, and I also stumbled across this one about last year that I hadn't seen before.

Additional update: I got a sore throat the day after the race (11/7/22) and tested positive for COVID on 11/8/22. I then found out I was exposed at the race expo by one of my running buddies. After not getting it for almost 3 years I sure thought I was in the clear! 

Expo fun

Found myself in the start photo on the registration website, from 2014

TCM Pro Perks

I was blessed to be accepted into the professional field of the Twin Cities Marathon. I had the open and masters qualifying times (2:47:30 and 3:00:00), but I applied only 3 weeks before the race, when the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon cancelled. They didn't have to let me into the filled race, but they were generous enough to do so!

TCM was held in conjunction with the USATF 10 mile championships, which drew many big names in the sport. You can see the start lists here. One of my highlights was sharing an elevator with the 2020 Olympic Marathon Trials Champion Aliphine Tulimuk! I also saw most of the professionals at some point during the weekend - including Emily Durgin, Annie Frisbie, Dakotah Lindwurm, Fiona O'Keffe, Lauren Paquette, and Nell Rojas. Kim Conley was probably the biggest name in the marathon, and I saw her all around the event!

On Saturday, my parents and I got to spend some time in the professional hospitality suite, which was also where I picked up my race packet. I didn't go to the main expo, which was nice - I have been to hundreds of expos and they usually tire me out more than anything. We were supposed to get one friends and family pro pass, but they were kind enough to give me two so both my parents could accompany me in pro areas! We ate lunch in the hospitality suite, which had about 10 different kinds of sandwiches, lots of sides, and any extras you could have wanted. It was also available for Saturday and Sunday breakfasts, but since we were staying in a different hotel due to only knowing I was entering this race 3 weeks before, I didn't partake in those.

After lunch we went to the marathon professional meeting, which was somewhat similar to Boston's but without top tier elite. The race organizers had everything planned well and instructions were clear.

On Sunday morning, I rode one of the pro busses to the start. They left from the host hotel, which would have been super convenient had I been able to stay there, but they were still pretty easy to drive to and board. The busses were school busses, just like the main field had, but the drive was pretty quick and the weather good. Our bus driver got lost and turned on her iPhone navigation at one point though!

The pro bus dropped us off at a hotel near the start, where we had a staging area. Despite getting lost, we were still pretty early, so everyone sat around for awhile before heading out to warm up. It was nice having an indoor area to wait around in, do activation, organize our drop bags, etc. - not to mention indoor bathrooms! We all walked over to the start together, where we had our own porta-potties, a block of road to warm up on, and a gear drop. They had two volunteers monitoring the bathrooms, and they checked everyone's bibs before letting them into the special area.

Then there was the race...

Immediately after I finished, a man met me and walked me to the nearby pro post-race area. He also had my gear bag to me by the time I had my shoes off! There was food, drinks, a private changing area, and massage tables. I usually don't get a massage post-race, but there was no waiting so I did - just after Kim Conley! My parents were able to come into the pro area to meet me, so we easily connected post-race.

Although I give my race a D, the pro experience definitely gets an A. Now I need to run another fast marathon before all of my 2:4X races are too out of date to use for pro field apps!

-------------------------------------

Update on what happened during the race: diagnosis, a vestibular balance disorder. When tested for it I did several exercises that a person with a fully functioning vestibular system can do without getting dizzy, and I became so dizzy I was also extremely nauseous. I feel immensely better having a label and plan of attack for this, especially because I've continued to feel abnormal and unstable. I will be treated with the Epley Maneuver, sleeping at 45* angle for awhile, and doing exercises to help normalize my vestibular system. I have dealt with vertigo before (see November 26 here), and it's pretty much the same thing. My mom also deals with it, and her mother did as well, so mine seems to be genetic. It's not harmful in and of itself (it can cause falls and other accidents), but uncomfortable - and not beneficial for racing performance, that's for sure.

Aliphine is in the side of this photo!

Twin Cities Marathon: The Joy is in the Journey, Only

I’ve started and deleted this post several times. I loved this marathon training cycle and went into the Twin Cities Marathon feeling that I didn’t even need to run the marathon to be satisfied. I then finished TCM thinking that I’d have definitely been happier if I had not run it! I thought I’d had bad marathons before – such as the first time I tried to break 3:00 and ran 3:01, the times I tried to OTQ and ran 2:46-2:49, or the time a wrong turn cost me a PR - but I've kind of felt like 2022 said, “You thought those were bad? I’ll show you!”

The short:

My training indicated that I was ready to run 6:20-6:30 pace at TCM. I wanted to start conservatively, which I did at around 6:40 pace for the first 3 miles and then moved closer to 6:30 until about 10. My effort level felt correct for the beginning of a marathon, the endorphins started flowing, and I began feeling confident about having a good day. Around mile 10, both of my legs began feeling clumsy and uncoordinated – particularly not ideal in Alphaflys! The unbalanced sensation got progressively worse and my pace got progressively slower, until I rallied a little in the final half mile when another masters female nearly passed me. I ended up finishing in 3:06:50. The bright spot was that I managed to get on the female masters podium in 3rd, but I was pretty disappointed in my performance. The time wasn’t what I trained for, but the worst part was that I felt really betrayed by my body and had no explanation of why.

My race results are here, including videos of my finish at the bottom.

My dad's video of the finish is here.

We finished by the beautiful capitol building

The long:
Twin Cities was a last-minute pivot, when the Milwaukee Marathon cancelled about 3 weeks before race day. Since my training had been targeted at October 2, I wanted to find an alternative race the same weekend, and the Twin Cities organizers were kind enough to let me into the professional field of the already full race. I greatly appreciated this gesture and the opportunity to run a marathon as planned, and I don’t want my notes about my disappointment to take away from that. The professional perks I received were super helpful (I wrote a separate post about those awesome experiences), the race as a whole was very well-run, and the course was beautiful and lined with cheering spectators.

You can see me at the back of the pro field at the start

I was somewhat nervous about the long climb near the end of the race, and the fact that the point-to-point course gained about 100 ft more in elevation than it lost. It was also warmer than I’d like at high-50s/low-60s, so I wanted to keep my effort and pace extra controlled at the start. Because of this I checked my splits for the first 3 miles, and thought the 6:39, 6:46 (uphill), and 6:28 (downhill) I ran were pretty perfect. I settled into 6:30ish effort from there and everything felt great. I generally race best by feel, and I didn’t look at my watch for the rest of the day.

Of course I didn't buy the pics!

Around mile 10, I kind of tripped over my own feet. I thought it was just a fluke, the uneven road, or the huge soles on my Alphaflys initially, but I continued to have some clumsy feelings. I’d experienced some of the same on my shake out run the day before, but figured it was just from the long car ride and ignored it.

I could tell I was slowing down between mile 10 and the half because I started getting passed. I reminded myself that this bad patch could end any time, and then I would get back on pace. The half point had a clock, and I saw 1:27:58 on it and told myself, “you can do that again!”. Although I didn’t have a specific time goal for this race, I wanted to pace well and finish strong, and be under 3:00.

I did everything I could think of to stay engaged and positive, including trying to latch onto people who passed me, keying off the energy of the spectators, using the downhills, positive self-talk, smiling, caffeine gels, etc. My legs felt kind of like they do when I haven’t run for a long time – you know that first run after injury when everything feels sloppy? I stumbled several times but was always able to catch myself, which I was thankful for.

Just keep smiling...

The miles from about halfway through mile 20 were the most demoralizing of the race, because I was getting passed almost constantly. The 3:00 group went by me around mile 17, and although I hadn't been able to hang onto anyone else, I tried even harder to hang onto them, but my body wouldn’t respond. I made peace with not going sub-3, and with just doing what I could and finishing. I didn't want another poor marathon performance, but I wanted a DNF even less. Even though I was getting passed left and right, it was mostly by men, and the hope that I was possibly in a masters female podium position helped keep me going.

Around mile 20, the course begins a long, mostly gradual, but nearly constant climb. By the time I got to it, so much had already gone wrong that it didn’t even matter, but surprisingly from 20 to the finish I began passing people. It wasn't because I was speeding up; there are a lot more people bonking at 3:00-3:10 than in the 2:40s! Encouraging those I passed helped me continue on. Those 3 miles would have been tough to run fast on; even though they were not steep, the incline was just so long without respite and everyone was on already fatigued legs. On a good day I could have minimized the time lost, but that course would be difficult to negative split on!

Final kick

I was relieved to finish the worst of the climbs, though there were still hills in the next couple of miles. Since halfway I’d been counting down to mile 25 (e.g., at mile 15 I told myself “only 10 miles left!”) because I knew the final mile had a lot of downhill. As I started down the final half mile, a woman who looked like she was in masters passed me. I was able to pick it up and outkick her; I was determined not to give up a place. Her chip time was faster than mine, but my gun time was faster than hers – fortunately prize money goes by gun time! Though I'm thankful I had that kick, it also bothered me; why could I do that when I couldn't run any better for the 16 miles before then?! 

The experience of this event was great. My Minnesota trip with my parents was amazing. The actual race was disappointing and upsetting. I’m thankful for another marathon finish, and any day any of us can complete a marathon is a good day – but I feel really betrayed by my body. I am usually so good at pacing by feel, but now I feel like I can’t trust how I feel (but on the other hand, that went great in all of my 2022 races that were not marathons!). I used to be able to finish marathons feeling super strong, but I have completely bombed both of my 2022 marathons. My marathon split of my gravel 50k remains my fastest marathon this year, which feels pretty sad. I used to see people have fantastic training cycles then significantly underperform in the marathon and wonder, "How could that happen?" Well, now I know!

Finish tent

My training for TCM wasn’t that of a 3:06 marathoner, but on October 2 that was what I was. Although I am thankful I got to run the race, I am also pretty confident I’d feel far better about my running if I hadn’t run it! Why did my body respond so differently in this race than it had in all of my long training runs? Why couldn't I make myself run better? Why have all of my 2022 races gone fine except for my marathons? Why can't I do what I used to do in the marathon this year? Of course, there was no way to know how it would go in advance. I’ve been reflecting back on all of my long run workouts that went well and that I finished strong – including a 6:13 mile at the end of my 10 miles at 7:30 + 10 miles at 6:30 business, which was the day I ran 24 miles at 5 a.m. at the end of 3 x 100 mile weeks at basically the same pace I ran TCM. I wanted to feel strong in the final 10k of TCM – like I did at Tobacco Road, at Phoenix, at Grandma’s 2018. Even other marathons that I “blew up” slightly at the end like CIM, Indy, and Grandma’s 2019 I didn’t really blow up compared to this (I mean, I even ran a 2:58 wheezing at Houston 2020). It’s frustrating! If you train with me, follow me on Strava, or read my monthly recaps on here, you know how consistent I am with training. Yes, I absolutely love training, but when you follow a solid schedule exactly and feel great doing it, you expect a reasonably good race performance out of it.

I basically just want to marathon train without actually racing a marathon now. That may sound crazy, but sign me up for it! I love running, but I'm not too fond of racing right now. I love the day-to-day of marathon training, but the actual events are raining on my parade this year. For several years I thought it would be a long time before I'd ever run another marathon over 3:00; now I feel like I'll never run another under 3:00. One bad marathon is a fluke; two is a pattern.

“Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” - Romans 5:3-5

I heard a lot of "Go 123" cheers + my
last name was not correct...

Late addition: 

Update on what happened during the race: diagnosis, vestibular balance disorder. When tested for it I did several exercises that a person with a fully functioning vestibular system can do without getting dizzy, and I got so dizzy I was nauseous. I feel immensely better having a label and plan of attack for this. 

Outtakes (some bits I kept from the posts I deleted):

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...

Bests:

• Female masters podium (3rd)
• Faster than Boston
• Beautiful course and well-organized event
• Fun pro field experience
• Wonderful racecation with my parents

Worsts:

• Weird clumsy, uncoordinated sensations in my legs starting around mile 10 and progressively worsening
• My training wasn't that of a 3:06 marathoner
• Over 6 minutes slower than my 2022 gravel 50k marathon split
• Two disappointing marathons in a row, i.e., all of my 2022 marathons

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A perk of marathon training without racing would be that I'd never have to taper, right??

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The joy is in the journey until a crap race sucks the fun out of it.

It's hard to resist the Plaza 10k!

The short:

Racing during a ~100 mile week went "so well" last month that I decided to do it again! In my head I am faster than I ran at the Plaza 10k, but I was proud of myself for putting myself in there with a lot of women who were about 15 years younger than me. I ended up 3rd overall female and 1st masters female, and set a new state road racing record for age 41 with 38:16. It was also my first time racing a few days after a 24 mile workout!

Results are here.

My state record is here.

My Strava activity is here.

On the Plaza mid-race

The long:

In my opinion, the Plaza 10k is the best 10k road race in Missouri by far, and this year was my fifth time running it. Being in mid-September, it always falls during marathon training for me, and previously I've run 3-4 miles before and 8-10 miles after the race to make it into a big day. My coach didn't want me to do that this year; he wanted me to get in a 24 mile workout around the time of the race, so after weighing our options we landed on doing the 24 mile workout on Wednesday, September 7. That gave me 3 days between the workout and Plaza on September 11, although those recovery days weren't short either - because it was also peak mileage week!

I felt great considering going into the race, and the temperature had cooled down enough to feel like an amazing contrast, at 56* on race morning. I met my friend Andrew, who was kind enough to pick up my race packet on Saturday for me, and ran a warm up with him and a couple of his Kansas City friends. My uptempo running and strides during my warm up felt smooth, and I was excited to give it a go.

Start

I saw numerous fast women warming up and on the starting line. I wanted to podium, but my bigger goal was to set the state record for my age (41), so initially I prioritized pacing well over competing. I got out at a pace that felt sustainable for a 10k, which ended up being a 6:02 first mile. This course isn't an even pacing course due to the hills, but mile 1 is flat. I didn't look at my splits until afterward, but that was probably a pretty perfect start.

The course turns right just before the mile mark, and it's easy to see the runners in front of you. At that point I counted that I was in 9th female, but the majority of the women ahead of me were relatively close. My competitive nature kicked in and I forgot about my time goals and began chasing down the women in front of me. I'd moved up to 6th by the end of mile 2, which has some ups and downs but is a net downhill. My split was 5:54.

By the halfway point, I'd moved into the 3rd female position. Mile 3 has some ups and downs and is a net uphill, and my split was 6:11. The course used to have a clock at the 5k mark, and I kind of miss that but also kind of don't - in past years I'd always think, "that's my fastest 5k this season", and this year was the same!

Mile 4 has a long gradual decline, with some flats. It is usually my fastest mile, though this year I ended up splitting 5:56, so not quite. The women in 4th and 5th were right on my tail and I could tell they were friends working together. They passed me back just before the mile 4 marker, but I wasn't going to let them go and latched on.

I'm not sure where this is at, but the 
woman who was 4th is visible

Mile 5 in a long incline, a little downhill, then another long incline, and it's always my slowest mile of this race. I felt really strong and passed the two women back plus passed a couple of men, even though my split was only 6:18. The two women were not letting up though, and it wasn't long before they were trying to pass me back. I decided that if they beat me and congratulated me in the finish chute I was going to tell them I was old enough to be their mother, haha!

I wasn't fresh, but I had marathon strength and was able to put some distance on the two ladies in the final mile. I felt really strong and sure thought I was running sub-6:00 pace, but my split was 6:08. There are several little hills in the final mile and they add up! However, what I had was enough to maintain my lead on the next two women, plus the 6th woman who was right on their heels. I kept telling myself "Go, go, go, they are coming!" I really started pressing when I passed the mile 6 sign, which seemed earlier than in years passed - then when I heard my Gamin beep mile 6 probably 200 m after the sign I knew the sign was early and I probably still had 0.3 to go because my Garmin always reads long at this race [note to self: all of the mile markers seemed to be estimations, with mile 1 also being early].

When I saw the finishing clock I knew I'd better get in quick to get the state record. The record I broke was 38:24, so I had it by 8 seconds with my 38:16 but it's always hard to judge just how far you are from the finish line. My chip time was probably 38:14, but they only give gun time for overall winners, and gun time is used for records anyway.

Sure looks like 38:15 to me though!

I wasn't thrilled with my time, but I was thrilled with the state record and for holding my own with all of the younger ladies in that race! I never really understood why people were so into masters running and age grading times until recently. 5 years ago I'd have thought nothing about going head-to-head with a bunch of 25 year olds, but now I am pretty proud when I can.

I ran a 4 mile cool down - definitely the shortest I've ever run after this race - for about 13.5 miles on the day. I then enjoyed the rest of the day in Kansas City! I visited a restaurant and shops on the Plaza, Loose Park, and City Market before dinner with a friend in downtown Parkville.

Sidebar: I've been training for the Milwaukee Marathon for months, and on September 9 they cancelled the race due to the city not issuing the verbally promised permits. I did not see that coming! I scrambled to find another marathon that I would be excited about and could drive to on the same date, October 2 - I'd already done my 24 miler after all! After a few days of communication, on September 14 I was officially accepted into the professional field at the Twin Cities Marathon. I am thankful Twin Cities let me in at the last minute, and that I'm able to keep the same targeted race date!

Plaza Chiefs support

Loose Park rose garden

City Market