Pikes Peak Marathon Race Report

Three years ago, actually just after I started running marathons, I did what most long distance runners do. I created my racing bucket list. If you haven't done this yet don't worry you will, its just one of those things runners end up doing. When I created this it included the usual suspects like Boston, New York and London but it also had some races that were off the beaten track. One of those races was the Pikes Peak Marathon in Colorado. With a reputation as being the hardest marathon in North America no other sales pitch was required to have it make my list.

Two years ago when I began doing Ultra Marathons my bucket list ended up going through some major renovations. I began to care a lot less about running Boston (more about this in a later post) and New York. Western States and UTMB became the must do races however one thing didn't change and that was that Pikes Peak was still right on top of that list.

For those of you unfamiliar with this race its a 13 mile climb up a mountain and then 13 miles back down. That doesn't sound hard enough? Well then you have to take in to consideration that you start at 6000 ft and then climb 8000ft to the summit at 14,115 feet with more then 3 miles of it above the tree line. On top of that its mostly single track trail shared by both the runners going up and back down so collision potential is high.

Since I had never been to Colorado we decided to make this race into a week vacation and so I dragged both my wife Kim and my mother along to participate / observe my never ending quest to do really dumb things. I had managed to talk Kim into registering for the Ascent (13 miles up) which is run the day before the marathon. I mean how hard could it be?

Prerace
We flew in to Colorado Springs on Friday afternoon. A quick scan of the horizon revealed the monstrosity that we were suppose to run. How did we know which mountain was Pikes, thats easy we just looked for the highest one.


Kim at the Airport

A quick stop at our hotel and then we were off to the race kit pickup. Got our kits no problem but of course no shirt as you don't get a shirt until you finish. Damn didn't I pay for that already. How dare they make me earn it. Expo was pretty small and featured the only disappointing thing about the race. The official race jackets were sold out in my size. Damn dude what the hell. I had squirrel away the cash to grab one of these things. Oh well more beer money for me.

At this point I guess its got to be said. I am very worried about this race but have been trying not to show it. I know that Kim is going to have a hard time as she lost 6 critical weeks of training with an injury. I am also going to be in for a major beat down. My injured ankle is really bad. So bad that it hurts to walk on it. The week I have taken off has done nothing to help it in fact it feel worse then before the rest.

Before we leave the kit pickup I do what I have come to refer to as my "test run". I jog for about 15 meters. My ankle is excruciatingly painful. I can not believe that it hurts so much. I begin to suspect that there will be no race for me on Sunday.

Saturday Ascent
We head down to the start line to see Kim off. She looks pretty nervous but is up for giving the race a try.





After Kim heads out me and my mom head up to the summit via the train. Man its really high. I walk down past the finish line to try and get a better picture of runners coming up the mountain. I only climb down 50 meters or so but am sucking wind like theres no tomorrow. Crap what the heck have I gotten myself into. I have never been at altitude before and if walking feels like this running is going to be really hard.

We head back down the mountain to wait for Kim to finish. Unfortunately she ended up missing a cutoff by 2 minutes and DNFs. Its her first DNF and she is very upset by this (I know all about DNFing grief) but I am so proud of her for even trying given how difficult the course is and her injury issues. Read her blog account of her race HERE

Sunday Marathon
I get up at 5 AM and soon we are on the way to the start line. My ankle is hurting. I am not really sure I can even start the race but decide to give it a try. I know I will be slow and probably do more damage to myself but then I don't want the regret of not at least trying to run. I had expected to run the race in 6 - 6:30 depending on how much of a factor the altitude becomes. I am now going to be running just to make it under the 10 hour cut off. I need to get me that race shirt. Just before I walk to the start line I ask Kim to hang around for 20 minutes after the start just in case I cant run and drop out right away. Then its race time.





The first mile of Pikes Peak is on road and mostly uphill. I know this will be really hard on my ankle so I start out slow and look for something to distract my mind from the punishing pavement. I happen to glance over and notice a runner wearing a Mohican 100 race shirt so I ask him if he ran the 100. He tells me he ran 50 and we chat for a few minutes. It turns out that he is from Burlington, ON. I have somehow managed to find one of only 5 other Canadians running in this race. We talk some more and then I see see the trail head coming up so I speed up a little to get past people before it gets narrow.

Once you are in the woods the real fun begins as you hit the first set of switchbacks and start to climb. They seem to never end and soon I lose track of the number of switchbacks on the way to Bar Camp. Is it 12 or 16 or more, I cant say for sure but its a lot. The trail is not technical but its some of the steepest climbing we will do all day. My ankle hurts but taking it easy keeps the pain at a manageable level. I am in the middle of a long line of runners but slowly things start to thin out some.



Somewhere around the 4 mile mark the climbing temporarily comes to an end and we are treated to some nice flat trail running and even a couple of small downhills. Its a welcome break that lasts for the next couple of miles. I want to push some but its a no go with the lame foot. I have also started to feel the altitude and the lack of air is causing me to breath heavy. I wonder what it will be like higher up but try not to think to much about it.

Soon enough the climbing starts again as we move through the last mile before Bar Camp. As I turn a corner I look to my left and see a large doe less then 5 feet off the trail. It is chewing a mouthful of grass and staring at me with a who the hell are you look on its face. Its so close I could probably reach out and touch it. Five feet behind the doe is a much larger stag who seems very unimpressed. As I pass by the deer I pray they will not bolt and run me over. I also am thankful that it wasn't a bear.

I hit the aid station at Barr Camp, half way up the mountain, in 2 hours. I am happy with this given my situation. The weather has been great so far, warm, sunny and not a cloud in the sky. So far the trail has not been technical at all but a mile later this all changes. The higher up we go the rockier it gets and straight ahead running shifts to picking you lines and footing. Usually I love this stuff but not when I am gimpy. It makes for tough going. Its also becoming harder to get enough oxygen to my lungs, my chest feels like it is being squeezed in a bear hug. Come on lungs do your thing.

Somewhere before A-Frame the lead runner Matt Carpenter passes me going back down the mountain at roughly the speed of light. Its truly surreal. As far as I can tell he is 8 miles ahead of me already. I don't see another runner descending for a good 45 minutes.

The technical running causes me more pain and I am getting slower the higher up I climb. By the time I reach the A-Frame aid station I am beginning to struggle. I am well below the cut off times but still I feel the wheels could come off at any point in time. If I can just finish this race I swear to god that I will take time off and let my ankle heal properly. Is it just me or is making deals with god a really bad sign.

Within minutes of heading out of A-Frame the trees become short, stubby and increasingly farther apart. Soon I am passed the tree line and into the rocky part of the climb. At first this goes reasonably well or at least as well as it can go when there is no air to breath. At some point after 12,000 ft things begin to get really tough. I am moving slower then I ever though possible, the lack of oxygen is making even basic thinking a major chore and now runners are coming down at me a regular intervals. This makes the technical climbing even more of a challenge.

I ever so slowly make my way up the 16 golden stairs. There are no stairs instead there are switchbacks, the 16 switch backs of hell. I keep thinking I will be at the top soon but every time I look up I can see a winding column of people still climbing. The tempeture has started to cool and a nice cold wind is blowing into my face. I am just thinking about how nice it feels when I hear a race marshall yell out "Thats not a good wind, weathers coming in".



What? I look over my shoulder to see that the clear blue sky has been replaced with dark fast moving storm clouds. Oh crap! I make an effort to pick up my snails pace to a slow death march in hopes of getting off the summit before the storm hits. A couple of minutes before I get to the turn around a runner going the other way yells at me "It gets way easier once you turn around". I have my doubts about this. I am crashing in slow motion and cant imagine that easier is on the menu anytime soon.

I hit the summit in 4:48 turn around and head back down. Two things happen almost instantaneously, my ankle is now in severe pain and I can breath again. The bracing needed to go downhill is putting pressure on my ankle in such a way that it makes things worse, much worse. Yet now heading downhill instead of up I can breath almost normally.

As I attempt to run the 3 miles back to the tree line I can feel the temperature drop and then suddenly I am being showered with ice pellets. They are small but they hurt especially on my bare arms and shoulders. I think about putting on my jacket but don't want to take the time to get it out of my pack. I am racing (slowly) to get back under the tree line before there is any lightning. My leg is not letting me move fast however and everyone and their dog is passing me along here.

I struggle with this very technical portion. Not only do I have to pick my footing carefully but I also have to try and pick footing that prevents me from having to step down any significant drops onto my screaming ankle. This is really tough to do and makes for slow going. I make it to the stubby trees and then into the tree line just as the ice pellets let up and I hear the first crack of thunder.

Now I am beginning to think I might just make it to the end of this race. I have lots of time left to finish and before I know it I am out of the technical section. I pass two search and rescue people taking out a runner on horseback. He looks okay but he is not very happy. Seeing the horses makes me realize just how in the wild I actually am. Then I am coming into Barr Camp.

Its all straight ahead running from here with some very steep downhills but very little technical. I am able to get into a rhythm and begin to run better. I am still slow but thats okay. I see the 3 miles to finish sign and I still have 3 hours until the cut off. I know I will finish this unless my foot falls off. I slow down a little on purpose as I want to make sure I don't fall now and hurt myself more. I am also frustrated as I wind down the switchbacks. My legs feel great and so strong but I cant really use them. My strength is downhill running and I cant capitalize on it. It sucks but I just remind myself that I didn't think I would be running at all.

I head out of the trail and onto the road for the final stretch to the finish. Its downhill and road but I fight the urge to speed up. Somewhere in the back of my mind I have an image of my ankle finally giving out half a mile from the finish line and me attempting to crawl it in.

As I run along I look down at the road and see the word BEER drawn in large pink chalk letters with an arrow pointed towards some people on the sidelines. As I reach them they hand me a small cup of beer which I gladly accept. It is the best tasting beer I have ever had and by the time I down it I am almost at the finish line.

I end up crossing the finish line in 8:01:11.



Post Race
Kim and my mum are waiting at the finish line. With the exception of my ankle I feel great. I pick up my shirt and medal and then we go to the post run area. They have Mr. Sub sandwiches, brownies and beer which turns out to be an excellent combination.

I think I can honestly say that this was one of the best races I have ever run. Every single aspect of this race was outstanding from registration, to aid stations, to course, to post race. These guys really take care of their runners in what must be a logistical nightmare. I cant recommend this race enough. Oh and also its really freaking hard (this years winning time was 3:48).





So is this the hardest marathon in North America? I cant say for sure but I don't know how you could make a race harder then this. I will be doing this one again with the hope of being able to run on both legs next time, although I most probably will be doing the Double (Saturday Ascent, Sunday Marathon).

Pikes Peak Marathon this weekend ... Injury update

On Friday morning Kim and I will board a flight and head out to Colorado Springs for some Mountain Madness. On Saturday Kim will take on the Pikes Peak Ascent and then on Sunday I will run (I use that word lightly) the Pikes Peak Marathon.

I might have to pack some adult diapers because at this point I am on the verge of crapping in my pants. This seemed like a great idea when I first signed up. What an awesome idea, start at 6000 feet, climb 13 miles to 14,115 feet and then turn around and run back down. I mean how hard could that be there is only one uphill and one downhill on the entire course. So the one hill is the entire thing but I just ignored that part.

Then I ran Bear Mountain which is a speed bump compared to Pikes and that was kind of hard with no where near the sustained and constant elevation gain. Oh and just to make it all the more interesting there is that whole above the tree line, at altitude, 40 percent less oxygen thing that I will be experiencing for the first time. For those of you that dont live near Toronto that means my altitude training takes place at 100 ft. above sea level. There are no mountains here although I did lots of hill running. The closest thing I did to high altitude training was sitting in the cheap seats at the Skydome. I didnt even bother to go up to the top of the CN Tower.



So why did I pick this race. Am I crazy ... well yeah kind of but that wasn't it. I got it into my head that someday I wanted to run some of the more well know US 100 milers. Leadville and Wasatch are two that immediately come to mind but besides the running 100 miles they have another component that adds to the difficulty level for a flatland runner like me. They are run at high altitudes. Now I am not stupid (stop laughing), just crazy so I figured I would run something shorter at altitude first and see what that feels like. Running the shorter marathon distance seemed like just the ticket. Worse yet I have dragged Kim into this kamikaze mission as well.

At this point my biggest worry is not the climb its actually the 13 miles of downhill on shared single track trail with runners going in each direction. The downhill is always the running that beats the legs up badly and this downhill is going to be a quad buster for sure.



Injury Update
My run at Pikes Peak will be made even more difficult as I am currently nursing a bad ankle. As some of you already know I turned my ankle at the Limberlost 56km run a month ago. It gave me some issues at the Burning River 100 but felt okay a few days after. The next weekend I ran at Dirty Girls with a plan to put in 40 -80km but stopped at 40 when the ankle began to hurt. Last week it felt great even during some hard hill work but then on Saturday I aggravated it at Canada's Wonderland. Apparently it didn't like all the roller coasters and water park.



I was forced to shut my sunday run down after just 3km as a precaution. That is not good. Its feeling better but not healed yet. I will not run this week and hope that it feels better before Sunday. Just to be clear I could run right now but I want to get this thing as close to 100% as I can.

The original plan was then to run something at the Lean Horse in South Dakota the following weekend but right now the distance is up in the air. Whether I attempt 100, 50m or 50km will all depend on how the ankle fares this sunday.

Stay tuned.

Toronto Marathon Race Report

Toronto Marathon Race Report

Okay so this race report is going to be shorter then my long drawn out usual reports. I am calling it a shorter report for a shorter race.... HA. Sunday May 15th was the Toronto Marathon. This race used to held in the fall until former mayor David Miller and his socialist cronies on the Toronto City Council decided to make the organizers bend over and grab there ankles in a disgusting display of attempted social engineering and the political favouritism. The Toronto Marathon had to move or more then likely it was going to be eliminated.

Crap, starting to rant and I don't want to get too into this issue at this time. I promise to do a much bigger post just on how these guys got screwed over in the next few weeks. That said they were put into a near impossible situation and handled it very well.

Prerace

Okay so originally I was planning on running this marathon as hard as possible (racing it) to put up a good time. Those plans changed however when I decided to run Bear Mountain. Just a word of advice, don't run a 50k race and a 50 miler during your taper time, you will be tired during the marathon.

So my new plan was to run hardish for 21km and then assess but with the plan to most likely slow it down some in the second half. I had been having an issue with my knee all week. Now this is a chronic structural injury so I know exactly what the deal is. In my early 30's I suffered a complete tear of my ACL. That means I no longer have the ligament that goes from the top of the shin area to under the knee cap (think the middle of your knee). There is no fixing it outside of major reconstructive surgery. Usually this is not a problem and running doesn't aggravate it but every now and then it rears its ugly head unexpectedly. The last time was at Dirty Girls in 2010. I would wear a protective sleeve and hoped for the best.

I woke up Sunday morning to crappy weather with more crappy weather forecasted for the rest of the morning. It was rain with 25 - 30 km winds and it was going to stay that way. I thought about staying in bed but I was going to have to run on Sunday anyway so might as well do it in the race.

I had planned to meet JD at the start line well before the race. Unfortunately I was traveling to the start line using the TTC (city transit) so the 45 minutes it should have took ended up taking more then an hour and a half. No I am not bitter about that at all. Seriously.

Got to the race with a whole 5 minutes to spare, lined up and we were off.

The Race

I really like the course for the most part. Its a fast course with little uphill and a good amount of downhill in the first half of the race. I got off to a good start, fell into a sub 5 minute pace early and cruised along. It rained, it drizzled, it rained but we were mostly sheltered from the wind and it was not to cold so all was good.

I crossed the 21km mat in 1:43 and was in really good shape, not tired, not bonking and I was surprised that my legs didn't feel heavy given my 50 miler a week before. My quads felt good, my glutes were a little sore and my HR was good and controlled. I though maybe I would keep up this pace for another 10km and then slow it down a little. That way I don't torch my legs completely and might still end up with a PB.

This idea was very short lived and by 22k I started to feel some knee pain. Within the next km or 2 my knee was hurting really badly. It was so bad in fact that I actually began to think I was going to have to drop out of the race. I just could not run on it. GRRRR.

I continued to hobble along. I was suddenly really slow.We were now on the Lakeshore a place where I have run many times. It was miserable with cold rain and wind. Somewhere around 28km JD caught up to me. He was running with the 3:40 bunny. I chatted with him a bit and told him to tell Kim that I would be later to the finish then projected. I honestly thought that I would have to start walking soon because of my knee.

Soon I was at the turn and headed back along the Lakeshore in the opposite direction. The wind and rain was in my face again. How is that possible, how can the wind be in your face going east and then going west. Stupid Lakeshore.

At 33km my knee started to feel less painful (maybe it went numb) and I was able to pick it back up. It was very frustrating, I felt good but could not run due to the knee. As the knee pain lessened I picked it up to a 5:30 pace and then just held it there. I could very easily go faster but I was really worried that if I did the knee would start to get really bad again. More important then any time I might put up in this race was getting healthy for my upcoming 100 milers so I kept it slow and steady.

Soon we were off the Lakeshore and tackling the slight uphill all the way to the finish. I started to pass a lot of people along here and soon saw Kim near the finish line.

Then I was done.

Post Race

Saw a lot of people that I knew just after the finish line who had come in just before me or just after. Lots of Longboaters and a number of runners that were taking my Running Room clinic. It is so cool to see people finish that you helped to train.

I wanted to wait around for the other clinic finishers but was starting to get cold and that can be trouble after a long race so Kim and I headed home. I got changed and then we headed over to Coach Rogers place for a little Longboat post race get together. Thanks for the burgers Roger! They went great with my giant beer.

Final time 3:47:23

Next up Sulphur Springs

Melbourne Florida Marathon - race #2 of the Marathon Vacation

Okay so this race report is going to be pretty freaking dated but I promised to write it so here it is. Sorry for the delay but I am really busy (read really lazy) right now. Lucky for you because it is so late its going to be shorter then usual. Next week I should be getting back to posting regularly because I have got lots that I want to talk and complain about.

After the Miami Marathon we drove up to Orlando and hit the theme parks like the world was coming to an end. We managed to squeeze all the Disney parks in as well as both Universal Parks. What a blast!. Both Kim and I are thrill ride junkies (I know hard to believe) so the fun never stopped. No running AT ALL but we did about 13 hours of walking a day so the legs didnt exactly get a lot of rest.

On Saturday we drove 2 hours to Melbourne and picked up our race kits. Its a small race and it was really weird going from a huge expo at Miami to a tiny one at Melbourne but people were nice and we got everything picked up. No tech shirts but great running hats so that was cool because I badly needed a new hat. Then we drove back to Orlando to get in an afternoon of roller coasters.

Okay so this might be completely of topic but has to be mentioned. What the heck is up with serving sizes in Florida. I am not sure if its just Florida or other places in the US (didnt see it in NYC or LA) but it was kind of crazy. Servings were HUGE, it was INSANE. We ordered Nachos from the appetizer menu as a snack and this is the monstrosity that we were given. When I asked for Nachos I didnt mean all of them.

Sunday morning we got up at 4 am and drove back to Melbourne for the race. I planned to take it easy and run my normal long run pace. Kim wasn't sure how hard she was going to run. I think both of us were tired from all the running around during the week. I was feeling like I might have to take a vacation to recover from my vacation.

We found a place to park near the start line and changed into our racing stuff. It was just starting to get light out and it was overcast. I keep hearing a strange click, click, click of metal from behind me. I turned around to see what it was and saw the biggest Vulture I have ever seen walking along the steel roof of the building next to us and eyeing me up. It was big, ugly and looked hungry. Not exactly the kind of thing you want to see before running a marathon. Maybe the bird knew something that I didn't. Tried to get a picture but it was still to dark out.

We then made it to the start line and before you could say roadkill we were off.

The Race

The course was really flat and enjoyable but early on it was really congested with the HM and Marathon starting together. There were a couple thousand in the HM and only 300 in the Full. It was slow going for the first 3k until things got spread out and then it was fine. The course is decent with the HM running one loop that includes two long bridge crossings and the full doing the same course twice.

Things went well early but I realized very early on that this was going to be a tough run flat or not. It was overcast so no direct sun and in the mid 60s but man was it humid, I am guessing around 90-100 percent humidity. I was sweating buckets by the 6k marker.

The first loop sailed by quickly and as advertised it was flat except for the bridges. The first one had about a 300 meter uphill that was not to bad a grade but the second on was much longer and steeper and came around the 19k mark. I can remember cresting the hill the first time and thinking this is really going to hurt the next time I cross it.

Somewhere just after 22k I started running and talking with a guy from Jacksonville. He told me it was always humid like this. I was getting tired but having someone to run along with was cool. We only ended up running together for a few miles though as he actually ended up having to stop and walk because of leg craps. It was fun while it lasted but then I was on my own again and headed into the last and always painful 10k.

The heat was really getting to me by this time and since I was only suppose to be running this race for training I slowed down some more and then headed up over the bridge. As I had suspected it was much harder the second time and the few runners I could see where mostly walking it. Once I got to the top it was a quick 3k to the finish line where Kim was waiting for me.

Post race

I got some food into me and then wanted to get my post race beer but no luck. It seems all the beer was consumed by the HM people. GRRRR.

I finished in 3:57:51 which was okay. I ended up working harder then at Miami for a slower time but that was mainly because the conditions.

I think this was a pretty decent race for a smaller event but had one or two minor complains. The early aid stations were badly understaffed the first time around ( I ended up running right through one and had to come to a stop at another). I realize that is how it goes sometimes at smaller races so no big deal. The bigger thing is that they gave out water in harder plastic cups which you could not squeeze. This meant you either stopped running to drink or you ended up snorting Gatorade. I ended up with a lot of Gatorade up my nose during this race.

Miami Marathon - race #1 of the Marathon Vacation

Kim and I left the (very) cold comfort of the Canadian winter and headed down to Florida on our belated honeymoon / vacation / running adventure. We caught a morning flight on Saturday January 29th for Miami and as it turns out we managed to get out of town at the right time as storms pounded Ontario and the Northeastern US. Cya later suckers! Sorry about that but I could not resist. BTW we are home now and I have been running in -20 degree weather so add me to the suckers list.

In a strange but true coincidence my friend and ultra buddy JD was flying out to Arizona the same morning so we actually met up on the other side of security for a drink before grabbing our flights.

The flight went well and was not only on time but got into Miami early. I had never been to Florida before but coming in for a landing everything seemed bright, sunny and kind of shiny. Also as the plane banked towards the airport we got a really good view of South Beach which was amazing. From the air its just a strip of sandy beach, blue green water and huge hotels ... amazing.

We got to our hotel which was right on beach and then walked 10 minutes over to the convention centre to pick up our race kits. The room was just okay but the location was great, right on the the Lincoln mall / walk and 2 minutes from the beach. We decided we would take the race provide morning shuttle and then stopped on our way back to the hotel for the biggest piece of pizza I have ever seen.

The next morning it was up at 3:30 (urrrggg) and off to the shuttle to the start line. The start was at the America Airline Centre and it was open for runners to hang out in. Weather for the day looked great, sunny with a high of 73.

Before long we were in our corals and ready to go. I got to say this was a huge event, very well run and planned with more then 20,000 in the half and at least 7000 in the full marathon. Then before you knew it we were off.

The Race / Run

It was still dark for the first 4 or 5k of the race as we followed the course from miami onto the causeway and into South Beach. I found myself going slow as there was a little bit of a bottleneck early on but after 15 minutes or so you were able to get some running room. Now this is my only bitch about the entire event and its not aimed at race organizers but at you my fellow marathon runners. Okay only some of you so please pay attention. I am begging you, seriously begging you. Please line up in the proper coral for your $#($# pace!!!! Sorry but its got to be said. Why oh why do people running 2:30 HM and 5 hour marathons or are walkers constantly feel the need to line up in the sub 4 hour corals. Can anyone explain this to me? Anyone? This event had well marked corals and they were checking bibs so why the heck am I passing walkers and people running 7 minute kms 1o minutes into the race. No big deal for me as I not racing for time but for someone that was this costs them time and energy.

Okay back to the good stuff. The course takes you across the causeway past 6 or 7 huge cruise ships at the docks and then into South Beach. I got to say I have never actually seen these floating hotels in real life. The closest I have gotten is reruns of the LoveBoat (Picard has got nothing on Capt. Stubing). At the same time we were running into the morning sunrise which made everything somewhat surreal.

A quick 4 miles through South beach including running right up ocean drive and then we were headed back over to Miami. I was running well at this point. It was warm but not too hot and I was sticking to my pacing plan. I keep my pace right at the top range of my easy run pace and had to constantly keep it in check as my legs tried to trick me into picking it up to race pace.

As we came back into Miami at mile 11 they had a huge cheering section set up which was really great as huge crowds were right on top of the runners. This really helped to reinvigorate me. I had begun to think how nice it would be if I was running the HM. At around mile 12 the course loops back towards the finish line which was very near the start and the Half Marathoners split off their day all but done.

I was still running well but it was getting hot. I had been occasionally gelling, was hydrated and had dropped a few salt tabs but the change in temperature from frosty Toronto was beginning to show. I could see salt crystallizing on my arms which is never a good sign and the miles seemed to be come longer and longer. At the 30k point my pace slowed a little but not to much, my quads were tiring but not really that badly. I reminded myself as I have often done in previous marathons a little piece of wisdom that fellow Longboater Rob Campbell once gave me. He said the slower you go the longer you end up being out on the course and the longer you prolong the pain. At the same time I also started my own little motivational mental chat. No its not one of those running world I am strong Blah Blah Blah chants. Mine actually goes along something like this .... 9k to finishing beer, 8.5k to finishing beer, 8k to finishing beer.

The last 6k of this race were tough as you looped out onto a road that extended out into the harbour and then back again. It was hot and there was no shade just baking asphalt and exhausted runners passing you headed back the other way. Then it was 3 more k in the downtown area before hitting a nice 800 meter hill just before the finish. Hey race director thanks for putting the only hill on the course 400 meters from the end. I expect they had a good laugh during the course planning meetings.

I hit the finish line in 3:52:27 which was not bad for a long run.

Post race

They had limitless free beer, rice and beans at the finish line. Hey aren't you glad you didnt have to share a room with me after that. I am gaseous at the best of times. I was able to find Kim at the finish no problem. She ran her HM well ... read about it here.

After getting some beer calories into me we caught the race shuttle back to the hotel and then hit the beach for a few hours. By mid afternoon my legs were feeling decent so we walked around for a while and then headed to Joes for Stone Crabs. They were expensive but really good and worth the 2 hour wait for a table (more beer here). Then it was back to the hotel as we were going to be up early to drive to Orlando and then eventually Melbourne for next weeks race.

If you get the chance run this race. I honestly cant think of a single thing that they didnt / dont do right at this race. Two giant thumbs up.

Next up Melbourne race report

The Year of Adventure - 2011 Racing Plans

This year I am designating the YEAR OF ADVENTURE with a focus on more US races including a few races that are on the must do list. The year is set up with a focus on road racing early in the spring before hitting ultras the rest of the year.

Racing Plans

Last year in the first half of the season I found that running marathons and 50ks as long runs in training worked really well for me. That means I plan to do some of that again this year. That will include marathons in Florida and Vegas as well the usual pile of OUSER races.

Here are the big races / runs I am hoping to hit this year as long as I am able physically, mentally and financially. For a full racing schedule check out race listings on the right side of my blog.

Jan 30 and Feb 6 - Miami marathon and Melbourne marathon

Basically two glorified long runs in Florida on consecutive Sundays. The bread of our holiday sandwich which will include a week of beaches and theme parks ...... mmmhhh theme parks.

March 5 - Red rock marathon in Las Vegas.

A weekend in Vegas, a Saturday morning running in the desert. For some strange reason this falls right into the middle of my hill training. Coincidence, I think not, time to pound those hills.

May 15 - Toronto Marathon

My target Marathon for the Spring. Really hoping to be able to grab a Boston Qualifier out of this one because after this race my year becomes all about the Ultra. I should have a realistic idea of my chances by looking at my Around the Bay time at the end of March. We shall see.

June 18 - Mohican 100 miler

After being spit on twice by the lottery gods and not getting into Western States or Massanutten 100 I spent a good deal of time pondering what 100 miler to do. So many great choices but decided to go with the Mohican as its close by so we can road trip there. Looks like JD is likely to be doing this one as well. Ahhh, shared pain.

July 30 - Burning River 100

back to Ohio for the Burning River 100 miler. This will be the first point to point 100 that I have ever attempted so should be fun.

August 20th - Pikes Peak Marathon

Start at 6000 feet, run 13.1 miles up to the peak at 14,000 feet, run back down 13.1 miles to where you started. How cool is that? Something tells me that this might be a tough one but I will get lots of mountain training here in Toronto .. HAAA.

Sept. 24 - Virgil Crest 100 miler

A quick trip across the border to New York State for my final 100 miler of the season. Its a UTMB qualifier (4 points) so I expect it to be tough going right from the start.

Late Oct. - Rim to Rim to Rim

Its off to the Grand Canyon with JD and others to run R2R2R. For those that dont know this is not a race but is a must do run. You run from one rim of the Grand Canyon to the bottom, across the canyon and up the other side to the other rim. Then you turn around and go back. Total distance is about 50 miles.

Nov 7th - NYC Marathon

The lottery gods surely you have spit on me enough this year already. We will be running NYC if I manage to somehow get my name pulled in the lottery. Kim got selected last year but deferred it so we could go together this year. After being rejected in the last 5 lotteries I have entered my number has to come sometime doesn't it?

Goals for 2011

What to do about these damn goals. You would think this would be easy but as I learned last year some surprising things happen over the course of a year and that can make planning difficult. Who knows by June I may have given up this distance racing thing altogether and switched to endurance Yoga (seriously not a chance) or Jazzercise. Not that theres anything wrong with that.

General Goals

1. STAY HEALTHY - I did okay in this area last year but still lost weeks after 100 milers. I have begun be more careful and take extra down time when needed cause I am getting older and more brittle by the moment.

2. Specific Cross training - Back to the gym, the place I loath, for easy weights and ab / core work. Maybe some knitting as well. I have a number of areas of "interest" that need strengthening most importantly my repeatedly injured upper ankles.

3. Continue to build that base - Looking to get 5000k in this year barring injury.

4. Take a shot at my BQ - I got a spring marathon targeted for this. Not sure if I will get there or not but sure going to try. My biggest problem is running a marathon full out tends to screw with my ultra training.

5. Qualify for UTMB - Hope to get my race points in so that I can apply for Mont-Blanc in 2013. Ooopps, guess I should have mentioned that to the wife before posting it here.

6. Have fun- The biggest goal of all is to just train as hard as possible and run the best that I can while still having fun. Yes that horrible grimace on my face during races means I am having fun or I want to quit. Its one or the other.

Racing plan for next year coming up!

Pacing the Mississauga Marathon .. Training done tapering for Sulphur Springs 100 miler

Mississauga Marathon
This time it was a much different marathon for me as I was not race and not training (okay a little) but for me the main focus was pacing my better half to a new marathon PB, hopefully.

I have to say I was somewhat nervous about this but I was also looking forward to it. I don't get to run with Kim very often so that was going to be fun. I have paced Kim in shorter races but this would be for a very long time and also at a slower pace.

Kim ended up running great and PBed by 39 minutes finishing in 5:21. It was not easy as she hit the wall in the early 30ks but toughed it out. I also learned that trying to run slower then your body wants to go is much more difficult then you might think.

Training done into the taper
With Mississauga done I managed to come through the hardest part of my training for Sulphur Springs which included 2 marathons and 2 50k trail races over the last 6 weeks. No major injures as far as I can tell.

I began a slight taper last week dropping my mileage down to 100k. This week I scaled back to around 75k and next week will do two very short runs just to keep the legs moving.

Everything seems to be lining up well for the 100 miler. I am really not sure what to expect from my body on race day as I have never attempted anything this long before but I guess I will find out soon enough.

Hamilton Marathon Race Report

Sunday November 1st was race day for the Hamilton Marathon. I had been excitedly anticipating, no wait dreading, no wait anticipating this race for some time. I had done a ton of training but still was a bit worried about this one. Call it piling on a load of self inflicted pressure.

Truth is I had yet to figure out the Marathon. 5k, 10k no problem I got it worked out. Half Marathon, 30k no problem I got it down. 50k, 50 miler no worries I got that one figured out as well. Marathon... hmmmm... not so much. In both Marathons I had run so far I had hit the wall and failed to go under 4 hours.

My solution, training base mileage like a mad man and doing MANY, MANY 20 milers. Well that went as planned as I averaged 60 miles a week and put in thirteen 20+ mile Sundays. You would think that would make my approach to the race pretty straight forward but no the specter of my crash and burns still lurked just over my shoulder.

I then proceeded to hassle all my running friends for their advice... repeatedly. I may have personally been responsible for dispersing crowds when they would see me coming. I got lots of great advice, be aggressive, lay back, don’t be to aggressive, don’t lay back too much. Problem was that all of it conflicted and yet all of it made perfect sense. SIGH

In the end I did what I always do which is to run as close to the edge as I can and hope my blow up is a small burp and not a fart of room clearing proportions.

The Plan - I decided on a fairly aggressive (for me) 5 minute a K or 8 minute miles. I would run this pace for as long as possible and keep a close eye on my HR if it got too high too early I would adjust my pace otherwise I would hold on to this pace as long as possible. A goal = 3:30 (dream goal), B goal = 3:45 (reasonable), C goal = under 4hr (I blowed up real good)

PRERACE
Got picked up at 5:30 on Sunday morning by fellow Longboater and running buddy Gregoire Bonhomme who was running the HM. Kim was kind enough to give up her Sunday morning and come along with us. I was very happy as she is amazing support and I also had a feeling that I might need someone to help me stagger home afterwards if things got ugly.

Got to Hamilton picked up our race kits and grabbed the bus that would take us up to the start line. One of the race directors who was running the HM was on our bus and she entertained us with the history of the race while giving out free hats. She was so excited about the race. It was really cool to see one of the organizers so stoked about the race and thankful for all the people who were running it (are you listening VRpro!!).

Arrived at the start line where they had a high school for us to keep warm in before the race. Weather conditions were excellent about 2 degrees and almost no wind. Met up with other Longboaters here including Roger Moss, and Eric Mohr who were doing the Marathon and Lynn Bourque who like Gregoire was running the HM (also saw George Hubbard warming out outside).

After a brief wait I headed outside to the starting corral. I ended up walking right past fellow blogger Caroline, check out her blog here. We chatted a bit (congratulations on a great race Caroline) and then before you knew it off we went.

THE RACE

We headed out of the school parking lot and along the first stretch of road. I quickly fell right into pace and worked hard not to run faster then my 8 minute mile plan. It was a challenge but it always is. The road headed out among farmers fields and countryside and was really nice. It was calm, quiet and flat, flat, flat. I hit 5k at 25 minutes right on pace. Somewhere around this time I notice a guy just ahead of me who I had been running in front of me for some time. He was pounding out 5 minute Ks at a very steady pace so I decided to tuck in just behind him and let him do the work.

The next 10k went by in a flash all run on flat roads in the country. I geled at 45 minutes as planned. Splits were staying very consistent thanks to my new pacing friend who was still ahead of me. Around this time the two of us became separated from the packs in front and behind. I decided that I would pick it up and run beside the guy as I knew he had no idea I was pacing off him and he was kind of out there alone now.

As soon as I got up beside him he started to chat with me. Mark was from Hamilton and this was also his third Marathon. We ran the next 3 miles at a nice steady pace. I geled again just before the 21k mark but as we hit the half way point I got my last mile split. Oh Crap 7:45 and more alarming my HR had jumped up 5 beats. It was here that I had to make my only really big decision of the day. I either stay with Mark who was running a bit faster now or stick to the plan. You feel great said that little evil voice in my head. Keep going fast. What could happen? I immediately said good luck to Mark but I was slowing it down. I hit the half way mark at 1:46 right on time.

Just after the 22k mark we headed down the Red Hill. The next 6k were all downhill but in a good way. Most of this downhill was more of a slight decline with only a few steeper places so it was not too hard on the quads. Before I knew it I was headed off the highway and onto the streets of Hamilton running towards the lakefront.

I passed the 30k mark at 2:30 still right on schedule but I was starting to hurt at this point. Why oh why is the marathon so freakishly long? I geled again at this point and tried to get mentally focused as clearly my legs were letting me know that this thing was about to start getting ugly. The route keeps heading out along the lake on part of the Around The Bay course. I got a bit slower here dropping from 5 minute Ks to 5:10. As I made my way past the 33k sign I caught back up to Mark and said hello as I passed him and headed on towards the turn onto the lake. My decision to pull it back know seemed like a good one.

I made the turn onto the lake at about 35k with legs that were struggling now. Other then all the pain I felt pretty good. My pace had dropped again to around 9 minute miles. Now it was just focusing on the next 10 feet ahead of me and keep on running for 3 more miles.

It’s amazing how long 3 miles can seem but I sucked it up and keep on going as the last few Ks slowly ticked past. I saw George H. and Christine right before the 41k sign and they both cheered me on as I went past. It gave me a very much needed lift. George yelled to me that Kim was waiting for me at the finish line.

I managed to speed up slightly for the last 1.2K knowing that I was almost done. I really wanted to kick in the final stretch but decided to just stay steady. I was completely toast at this point and worried that I might not make it the last 200 meters if I tried to go any faster.



I crossed the finish line and Kim found me right away. I told her get me out of the finish chute area as quickly as possible. I knew that I probably looked pretty bad at that point and didn’t want one of the Vultures a.k.a medical volunteers (no disrespect intended) to swoop down on me and try to take me off to the vast wasteland known as the medical tent. If they were to ask me my name at that point I would have probably answered with something like "dududdda". I had been dancing along the wall, just teetering on the edge for more then 3 miles and had arrived at the finish just in time to meet it full force.

Kim who is very familiar with the exhaustion that comes at the end of long races having been there herself quickly got me out of there. We found place to sit down, I ate some soup and got into some warm clothes, twenty minutes later I felt a great deal better.

This was a MASSIVE PB for me. I finished in 3:38:08 which was just a few seconds under a 30 minute improvement. As important as the PB was even more important for me was that I seemed to finally figure out how I should be approaching and running this distance. Final stats below.

Gun time 3:38:28
Chip Time 3:38:09
Overall placing 262/925
Age group 46/84
Pace 5:11 K (8:20 mile)

Back Home .... Paris Marathon Race Report

So we are finally back after spending 2 weeks on our own European Vacation (Chevy Chase would have been proud of all our shenanigans). There was Louvre, Notre Dame, St. Peters, The Sistine Chapel, The Coliseum, planes, trains and automobiles, and Kim’s very first earthquake. OH YEAH and then there was the Paris Marathon of course.

We arrived in Paris on Friday 2 days before race with the plan to stay off our feet as much as possible and adjust to the time change. Yeah great plan in theory, in practice, not so much. I mean it's easy to plan not to walk around Paris when you’re not in Paris but quite a bit harder when actually there. Oh well what are you going do. Okay on with the race info.

Prerace
We hit the Marathon Expo on Friday and picked up our race kits and timing chips. It was a pretty good Expo overall. I got all kinds of information on other European Marathons, and then realized that they were all written in French... DOH!! Decent race kit with some samples and Saturday Pasta Dinner was included. Shirts were not tech however but were nice, well made T shirts. We decided to break down and buy a couple of souvenir tech running shirts. I thought about buying some gels but decided against it. All the gels were in tiny plastic tubes that reminded me of crazy glue instead of "normal" packets. Oh those crazy Europeans. Although maybe taking nourishment out of a squeeze tube would make me feel more like an astronaut. No problem I had planned ahead and brought some from home.

Saturday morning we headed out to the Breakfast Run which was a fun relaxed 5k put on by the Marathon. It was nice as I was able to run a bit and get the legs loose for the next day. Not much of a breakfast at the end however. Some water, bananas, coffee but no problem I had kind of anticipated this and had eaten before hand at the hotel. I was more interested in getting a short run in than the breakfast portion of it.

We returned to the Expo Saturday night for free pasta dinner. The dinner was okay. I had very low expectations as I know that in big races like this it's mass feeding time, a fattening up of the herd before the slaughter. The pasta wasn't great but wasn't bad so I will give it a tentative / reluctant thumbs up. Also it was FREE which is always my favorite part.

The Race
Got up on time after a pretty good sleep, ate breakfast and headed by Metro to the Start / Finish area at the Arch de Triumph. We spent a good half hour fighting our way through a massive traffic jam of people to get to the baggage check, dropped off our stuff and made our ways back to the starting corrals. I left Kim at her corral and headed further up to my own making it there with 5 minutes to spare. This seemed like being early unlike my first marathon where I was in the porta potty when the starting horn sounded and I had to sprint to get to the starting line (sprinting before the start of a marathon is definitely not recommended).


Weather was not bad for running, around 15 degrees, sunny, no wind to speak of but was somewhat humid.

The gun sounded and we were off….. well sort of. I had never run in a really big marathon before and with 37,000 runners Paris is definitely that especially given many of the streets are quite narrow by North America standards (more about this later). It took over 9 minutes of a slow walk to reach the actual starting line and good thing because the road was littered with hidden obstacles. Discarded runner’s sweaters, pants, water bottles, garbage bags etc. where everywhere and well hidden in the feet of the packed together crowd. I had been given a heads up about this before hand (thanks Sabrina) so knew enough to tread carefully here.

Once I actually got over the start line things picked up. I was able to quickly get up to speed or in this case over speed. I had vowed to not come out too quickly but realized by the end of mile 1 this was nearly impossible. The street was jammed and I sort of just went with the crowd. I mean I felt great so what if I was running a little faster then planned, what could happen (all long distance runners feel free to insert laughter here).

Oh oh, first minor glitch. I had pinned my gels to the back of my shorts as I had seen others runners do this. Less then half a km into the race it was clear that this was not going to work for me. The gels were bouncing up and down, flopping around worse then a freshly caught fish on the dock. A quick check revealed that one had already gotten loose and escaped. I pulled off the rest and decided to carry them by hand before they all got away. Astronaut food tubes now seemed like a much better option, damn me and my mocking.


Course was beautiful as we ran right through the heart of Paris starting just in front of the Arch de Triomphe. I tried to take in as much as possible but with the street jammed with runners you really had to watch the road. I remember almost hitting a barrier separating road lanes as I took my eyes off the street to look at the Louvre as we passed it. Talk about getting you to refocus.

I came into the first water station at 5k feeling pretty good. Water stations were every 5k on the course and were very chaotic with so many people trying to get to them and then back onto the course. Water was given out in bottles instead of cups so you could take the bottle with you and carry it for a while. There was no Gatorade / Eload type drink except at the 40k station which made my tightly clutched gels all the more important. Stations also had dried fruit (no thanks), sugar cubes, oranges and bananas.

Oh… oh. glitch number 2 appeared just after the first water station. I passed the station took a sharp left hand turn and then came to a complete stop behind the runners in front of me… hmmm. Talk about a strange experience. The race had come to almost a total stop. We had turned onto a narrow street that was only maybe 50 meters long and then turned back onto another street this had caused a major bottleneck reducing the speed to slower than walking pace. This cleared up as soon as you turned the next corner but cost around a minute, I vowed to make this up over the next few miles (oh wait wasn’t I already running faster then planned).

Race route continued out past la Bastille and into a large park that took us past Chateau de Vincennes. We looped around the park and then headed back in to the heart of the city again and the half way point of the race. By this time it had begun to get hotter out but still not too bad. I still felt pretty good and was keeping a steady pace. I had hoped that things might thin out as runners spread out over the race course but it was just as crowded at the 21k mark as it had been at the start of the race.

Crowds and fan support were really great along the course with people cheering you on almost everywhere on the route and it seemed that more people jammed the sidelines the farther you got into the race.

Race route continued back into the city passing close to Notre Dame Cathedral and then hugging the bank of the Seine River from the 25k mark for the next 8k. This included passing through 3 underground tunnels. Two of these were shorter and you were able to see the end of the tunnel once you entered it. The other one was much longer and was very hot and humid inside, you couldn’t see the end of it for quite some time. The French runners were chanting something in unison that echoed loudly in the tunnel. Sorry I have no idea what they were yelling but it was very entertaining nevertheless. As I came out of the last tunnel close to the 30k mark I wondered how Kim’s race was going so far. I also noticed that I was starting to tire but was still holding pace pretty well. At 30k my time was a PB faster then my time in any 30k race. That would be great except for the fact that I still had 12k to run.

The route from 30 to 35k took us along the river past the Eiffel Tower but on the opposite side of the Seine and then moved father east into another large park. Somewhere along this stretch I began to slow down.

The last part of the Paris marathon takes you through this park and then finishes at Ave. Foch back in sight of the Arch. For me the last 7k became a struggle to try to keep running as I got slower and slower. My early fast pace had finally caught up to me turning my legs into jello and causing bad cramping in my right hamstring. Unlike my first marathon I didn’t hit the wall but the cramping in my leg killed any chance of finishing fast.

Somewhere between the 35k and 40k water stations I saw an extra station. They were giving out some kind of cake (huh?) and cups of what looked like apple juice. I passed on the cake but grabbed the juice in chugged it. ARRGGG it wasn’t juice it all but some kind of alcoholic cider (I think). Not exactly what I needed at that point, that will teach me to take unknown beverages from strangers.

Finally I rounded the corner out onto Ave. Foch and down to the finish line. It was just as crowded at the end of the race as it had been at the start which is pretty unbelievable. It was so crowded in fact that I had to wait in line for about 10 minutes just to get my chip taken off. Here is a picture of me crossing the finishline. I leave it to you to find me.. kind of like the runners version of Where's Waldo


Post Race
I got my finisher's medal, a rain poncho (they give them out instead of blankets) and some food and then found a curb to sit on for awhile. I thought about getting a massage on my legs but the lineup was massive so I took a pass on it. I hoped that Kim’s race was going well and that she was enjoying it. The finishers area was a zoo but very well managed. Numerous and I mean numerous people were sprawled out in the middle of the roadway either being attended to by emergency personal or other racers. I walked past one guy lying on his back, his eyes were cloudy and staring off into nothingness. Some other guy was asking him if he could see him, pretty scary stuff. I was glad it wasn’t me.

I rested on the curb for awhile and then I went up as close to the front as I could to watch others finishing and to wait for Kim to finish her race. I hoped she wouldn’t be in staring guy condition. After watching people come in for a while I saw Kim off in the distance running for the finish line. Way to go Kim on finishing your first marathon. She looked to be in pretty good shape so we got some food (more food for me) and sat down to eat. While we rested we watched some poor guy who was walking along pass out on his feet and smash face first into the road. He was out for about 10 seconds and then came to as other people tried to help him. Poor guy’s face was really cut up. I reminded myself to make sure I sat down if I started to feel dizzy.



Conclusions
The Paris Marathon is a great race in a fantastic city. As with most big races not really a race to attempt to run a PB due to how crowded the course is but besides that an amazing experience. The race organizers have to be commended for how well this race is managed and run. I would do this race again in a second. Great course, great organization, really great fan and city support.

TRES BIEN