Sunday, February 18, 2007
Lost Dutchman Marathon 2007
Are all great sagas trilogies?
This is the conclusion of my February 2007 Trilogy. Now that Becky is going to do a race preview this week, I'm not going to race this weekend.
Last Sunday, 8 days after the Pemberton 50K, I ran the Lost Dutchman Marathon. It's a beautiful, fun course, not a trail run, but with several miles on dirt roads. It has lots of rolling hills to make it interesting, and views of the Superstition Mountains from a lot of different perspectives, starting from right underneath some weird rock formations.
The weather was great again. It was a little warm for out-of-towners, but it was overcast almost all day. I drank as much as I could on the course, but was never in danger of getting dehydrated or overheated.
I drank so much I had to make a pit stop at mile 11. My ankle had been fine over the dirt roads in and out of the washes in the desert at the start of the race, but I stepped on a rock as I came out of the porta-john and turned it again. I hopped for a while, limped for a while longer, and ran on as well as I could. The pain subsided.
Once again, it was good to not have any great expectations, to tell myself that if it felt hard, I could just ease up. I had no goal other than to finish.
I came to the end feeling strong. I actually kicked in.
Lost Dutchman Marathon
This is the conclusion of my February 2007 Trilogy. Now that Becky is going to do a race preview this week, I'm not going to race this weekend.
Last Sunday, 8 days after the Pemberton 50K, I ran the Lost Dutchman Marathon. It's a beautiful, fun course, not a trail run, but with several miles on dirt roads. It has lots of rolling hills to make it interesting, and views of the Superstition Mountains from a lot of different perspectives, starting from right underneath some weird rock formations.
The weather was great again. It was a little warm for out-of-towners, but it was overcast almost all day. I drank as much as I could on the course, but was never in danger of getting dehydrated or overheated.
I drank so much I had to make a pit stop at mile 11. My ankle had been fine over the dirt roads in and out of the washes in the desert at the start of the race, but I stepped on a rock as I came out of the porta-john and turned it again. I hopped for a while, limped for a while longer, and ran on as well as I could. The pain subsided.
Once again, it was good to not have any great expectations, to tell myself that if it felt hard, I could just ease up. I had no goal other than to finish.
I came to the end feeling strong. I actually kicked in.
Lost Dutchman Marathon
1. 8:19
2. 8:07 16:27
3. 8:14 24:41
4. 8:00 32:42
5. 7:53 40:35
6. 7:55 48:30
7. 8:04 56:35
8. 8:12 1:04:47
9. 8:20 1:13:07
10. 8:30 1:21:38
11. 8:44 1:30:23
12. 9:32 1:39:55
13. 8:45 1:48:40
14. 8:54 1:57:35
15. 9:06 2:06:41
16. 9:00 2:15:42
17. 9:03 2:24:45
18. 8:54 2:33:39
19. 9:10 2:42:49
20. 8:43 2:51:35
21. 9:25 3:00:59
22. 9:14 3:10:13
23. 9:33 3:19:47
24. 9:51 3:29:38
25. 9:24 3:39:03
26. 9:17 3:48:21
26.2 1:56 3:50:17
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Pemberton Trail 50K 2007
The average person might think it unwise to run one's first ultramarathon race 6 days after running a marathon. It worked out okay for me, though.
It's refreshing to run with no goal other than to feel good the whole race. I had told my friends that my goal would be to finish in less than 5:30, and I would be happy with anything under 6. That turned out to be pretty easy.
Weather was great. It was overcast most of the day, but it was still warm. The sun came through toward the end of the second loop, but it was blocked out again after I finished.
I turned my ankle in the first mile. The trail was still a little crowded, and I couldn't always see the ground. I stepped in a rut, turned my ankle way too far to the inside, hopped a few steps, limped a few yards, and kept running as well as I could. It felt okay after a mile, but was sore later.
This race is two loops of the Pemberton Trail, which is rolling hills the whole way. No mountains, but lots of up and down, some of it quite steep. I actually enjoyed it. The difference between this and the Desert Classic Marathon was like night and day.
The first loop went well. I thought it was probably too fast. Toward the end of the loop, I saw friends of mine, Clint and Jen, who hadn't run a marathon the week before, and should be going a lot faster than me. I knew if I was with them, I was going too fast.
I caught up with them at the half way aid station, but stayed there for like 7 minutes. I knew if I could see my friends ahead, I would probably try to keep up. It was better to let them go.
The second loop felt good starting out. I passed 20 miles, "the wall," with no ill effects except for a problem I've had that comes and goes in the ball of my right foot. The trail is rocky in that section, and it was tough on that foot.
After I left the aid station out there, though, the trail was more dirt and less rock, and the pain subsided.
I passed Clint at close to 23 miles. He was cramping and having a rough time. He caught up with me at the last aid station, 26 miles, the marathon milestone, and thought I would run in with him.
I felt so good though, I took off and ran some of the faster miles of the day. I passed a few people in the last couple of miles, and felt strong.
I was very happy with my finish time of just over 5 hours. It gives me a nice round number to shoot for in the next one. And I'm sure I will run more 50K trail races.
It's refreshing to run with no goal other than to feel good the whole race. I had told my friends that my goal would be to finish in less than 5:30, and I would be happy with anything under 6. That turned out to be pretty easy.
Weather was great. It was overcast most of the day, but it was still warm. The sun came through toward the end of the second loop, but it was blocked out again after I finished.
I turned my ankle in the first mile. The trail was still a little crowded, and I couldn't always see the ground. I stepped in a rut, turned my ankle way too far to the inside, hopped a few steps, limped a few yards, and kept running as well as I could. It felt okay after a mile, but was sore later.
This race is two loops of the Pemberton Trail, which is rolling hills the whole way. No mountains, but lots of up and down, some of it quite steep. I actually enjoyed it. The difference between this and the Desert Classic Marathon was like night and day.
The first loop went well. I thought it was probably too fast. Toward the end of the loop, I saw friends of mine, Clint and Jen, who hadn't run a marathon the week before, and should be going a lot faster than me. I knew if I was with them, I was going too fast.
I caught up with them at the half way aid station, but stayed there for like 7 minutes. I knew if I could see my friends ahead, I would probably try to keep up. It was better to let them go.
The second loop felt good starting out. I passed 20 miles, "the wall," with no ill effects except for a problem I've had that comes and goes in the ball of my right foot. The trail is rocky in that section, and it was tough on that foot.
After I left the aid station out there, though, the trail was more dirt and less rock, and the pain subsided.
I passed Clint at close to 23 miles. He was cramping and having a rough time. He caught up with me at the last aid station, 26 miles, the marathon milestone, and thought I would run in with him.
I felt so good though, I took off and ran some of the faster miles of the day. I passed a few people in the last couple of miles, and felt strong.
I was very happy with my finish time of just over 5 hours. It gives me a nice round number to shoot for in the next one. And I'm sure I will run more 50K trail races.
1. 9:34
2. 8:59 18:33
3. 9:50 28:24
4. 9:43 38:07
5. 9:20 47:27
aid station
6. 9:39 57:07
7. 9:17 1:06:24
8. 9:01 1:15:26
9. 9:12 1:24:39
10. 8:25 1:33:04
aid station
11. 8:51 1:41:56
12. 8:06 1:50:02
13. 8:09 1:58:11
14. 7:40 2:05:51
15. 8:48 2:14:40
aid station (start second loop)
16. 16:46 2:31:26
17. 8:47 2:40:14
18. 10:10 2:50:25
19. 9:53 3:00:19
20. 9:51 3:10:11
aid station
21. 11:42 3:21:54
22. 10:48 3:32:42
23. 10:21 3:43:03
24. 10:17 3:53:21
25. 10:21 4:03:42
26. 10:26 4:14:08
aid station
27. 13:22 4:27:30
28. 8:26 4:35:56
29. 8:15 4:44:12
30. 8:45 4:52:57
31. 7:30 5:00:27 (not a full mile)
Sunday, February 4, 2007
Desert Classic Marathon 2007
With this marathon coming only three weeks after the Rock 'N' Roll Marathon, I was faced with that conundrum, is it better to train for the next marathon, or recover from the previous one? And of course, I didn't really do either.
I went into the Desert Classic hoping to be able to take a shot at 3:30 again, but I wasn't up to the challenge. It was a small marathon, only 42 finishers. The course couldn't be more simple, straight out and back, twice, on a flat blacktop road. It's generally rolling uphill going out, and generally rolling downhill on the way back. It's never steep.
The wind can be a problem on this course, but not this time. On the second loop, there was a little bit of a headwind on the return trip, but basically I was just really tired after about 17 miles.
The weather was good. It was cold at the start, but not bad, and I threw off my hat and gloves at the halfway turnaround at the start/finish line.
My 3:41:08 was good enough for an age group third place. Everyone ahead of me in my age group, and most of the lead runners, were from out of state.
I went into the Desert Classic hoping to be able to take a shot at 3:30 again, but I wasn't up to the challenge. It was a small marathon, only 42 finishers. The course couldn't be more simple, straight out and back, twice, on a flat blacktop road. It's generally rolling uphill going out, and generally rolling downhill on the way back. It's never steep.
The wind can be a problem on this course, but not this time. On the second loop, there was a little bit of a headwind on the return trip, but basically I was just really tired after about 17 miles.
The weather was good. It was cold at the start, but not bad, and I threw off my hat and gloves at the halfway turnaround at the start/finish line.
My 3:41:08 was good enough for an age group third place. Everyone ahead of me in my age group, and most of the lead runners, were from out of state.
1. 7:44 0:07:44
2. 8:00 0:15:44
3. 7:38 0:23:22
4. 7:41 0:31:04
5. 7:50 0:38:55
6. 7:51 0:46:46
turnaround
7. 7:34 0:54:20
8. 7:39 1:02:00
9. 7:30 1:09:30
10. 7:47 1:17:17
11. 8:08 1:25:26
12. 7:58 1:33:25
13. 7:56 1:41:22
turnaround
14. 8:07 1:49:30
15. 8:23 1:57:53
16. 8:33 2:06:26
17. 8:24 2:14:51
18. 8:54 2:23:46
19. 9:15 2:33:01
turnaround
20. 8:38 2:41:40
21. 8:36 2:50:16
22. 9:21 2:59:38
23. 10:00 3:09:38
24. 10:51 3:20:30
25. 10:13 3:30:43
26. 9:38 3:40:22
26.2 0:45 3:41:08
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