50 State Club Update

The map is starting to look impressive. With 27 states complete I am over the halfway mark! I still haven't signed up with the 50 state club, as I am still somewhat non-committal. I ran LA earlier this year and will run Boston for the 3rd time next year, neither of which helps the cause. Also, even though I have Missouri in pink as an upcoming marathon for this year I still haven't fully committed to it. I just don't know if I can stomach another summer of marathon training for an  October marathon! This would be the Kansas City Marathon that I signed up for 3 years ago, trained all summer for, and pulled my hamstring 3 weeks out and missed. I am signed up for Delaware in December though (Rehoboth Beach), and I am fully committed to the Freedom Run in West Virginia next year. Once I get to 30 states I may have to sign up!

Marathon #43: Fargo, North Dakota May, 2016

Downtown Fargo

Standing inside the Fargodome with the masses...waiting for the race to start...a woman in a tutu leans into her nervous friend's ear and tells her, "It's just another day ending in Y"...Indeed, after months of training it boils down to this one day, and you get what you get and you make it what you make it. I am in awe of this woman and this advice for her friend who is having a hard time coming to terms with the enormity of the adverseness that awaits her, and in fact all of us, just outside those doors. When Mother Nature throws down a warm sunny day for a marathon you have to look inside yourself and say it. Just another day ending in Y...Deal with it. I want a tutu.

So let me back up. The three of us, me, Mark, and Jamie, coming off the LA marathon, ramped up our training to run faster times on a flatter and supposedly cooler course choice. We each had really strong training sessions going into Fargo. Mark's goal was 3:25, Jamie, around 3:40 to qualify for Boston, and I felt like I could possibly break 4 hours, which I haven't done since 2010. When the forecast started showing warmer temps I was disappointed for all of us. Still, we kept telling each other that maybe without the humidity it would feel cooler, maybe it will be cloudy, blah blah blah...

We met up with Robin (who flew directly to Fargo while we drove in from Minneapolis) at the expo, and convinced Zelda to pick up her half marathon race packet even though she wasn't running it, due to her foot not allowing her to train. When she saw the bib with her name on it her wheels started turning...DO IT DO IT DO IT...We all went out to eat dinner that night at a really good Italian restaurant (thanks Robin!) and then off to bed!

Race morning...Zelda is going for it!

So there we were, race day morning...indoors, trying to gauge what awaited us outside! I have never started a marathon indoors before. It was surreal, especially when the mayor of Winnipeg Canada took to the microphone (I'm not sure why) and started talking. His thick accent made me feel like I was in a Saturday Night Live skit. First they played the Canadian National Anthem (again not sure why), then ours, and off we went, out the doors into the bright, blinding sun!

Initially it felt somewhat cool, even though it was sunny. There was the usual jovial early mile mood among us. Robin and I ran together, sharing stories, but just past mile 6 I could tell I needed to back it down, so I told her I needed to slow down and let her go on, which was painful to do, because the distraction was really nice! I put my music on and started focusing on the fact that it was heating up rather quickly and I'd have to step it up on the water stops and electrolytes. Just after we split from each other we left a neighborhood and entered the first of two bike trails that undulated along a river and park area. Although pretty, it was annoyingly narrow, twisty, and hilly.  Not a fan!

I must say that Fargo really gets into their marathon. The streets and bike paths were lined with spectators, bands, boom boxes, college kids when we ran though the University, water hoses, kids with squirt guns, you name it. Anyhow, by the time the four hour pace group passed me by (mile 13?) I was well aware of the fact that I was already on "survival mode". Each water stop would involve walking and double fisting, getting in as much as possible, and sometimes doubling up on electrolytes. I'd throw everything at it, just to feel "OK", but it wasn't working. After the college campus out and back we got on another annoying bike path. A woman running next to me, a local, yelled out to her spectator friend that it was a beautiful day for a run. What the heck? She sounded a lot like that lady in the Fargo movie when she said it was a beautiful day during the snow storm. Maybe it was a joke and I didn't get it. Her back was sweaty. I was so confused!

We were off the second bike path and back on the streets somewhere around mile 16 or so, which was kind of a relief, although the path did have more shade. When there was no shade it was a beat down. I had turned my music off at some point, but came across a horrendous voice of this guy trying to sing, oh my God! I shoved my plugs in my ears and cranked up my music as loud as I could until I got by him. I was succumbing to brief walk breaks by mile 18, getting high fives by little kids for "power" and interacting with the spectators along the way. A guy said to me, "It's a hot sucky day", and I said, "Is it? I thought it was me." We had our names on our bibs, so sometimes people would call out to me by name and that was nice. I'd whimper out a thank-you. At one water stop someone said something encouraging to me and I whined, "it's soooo hot", like a big baby.  A lady was handing out bottled waters so I took one and downed most of it as I walked around the corner. Seemingly without warning there it was, the glorious 20 mile marker, unceremoniously standing there with a pile of discarded water bottles piled up beneath it. Usually when I encounter mile 20 I make some noise, because to me mile 20 is a big moment in the marathon. It's the starting line of the second race, the race within the race, where all the craziness of marathon running lies. I took my bottle and did an underhanded throw into the pile, saying "fuuuuuck you and your woooood chipperrrrr" and resumed running again in silence. Just another day ending in Y...suck it up, buttercup.

We ran through downtown Fargo around mile 22. The people were lined up gauntlet-like, which was really cool, but after that stretch it grew quieter and bleaker as we headed back to the Fargodome. Those were the toughest miles yet. I had consumed all I could without getting "slosh stomach", but my calves started cramping up regardless, causing me to half stumble on occasion and force me to walk again. I knew that if this thing didn't end soon I would reach a point where I couldn't run anymore. Thankfully, the Fargodome appeared and we began to round it. I thought I saw Robin in front of me, but wasn't sure it was her. My mind loves to play tricks on me, so I didn't believe it was her. We turned into the dome to finish and there she was, just ahead of me past the finish line! If only we knew we were so close to each other! We could have suffered together! Jamie, Mark, and Zelda were waiting for us. Jamie rocked it! She ran a 3:41, qualifying her for Boston! BEAST MODE! Mark went for it, almost knowing it wouldn't work, but he had to try, finishing with a 3:46. Zelda ended up running the half! Robin and I finished with a 4:13 time. I found out later that I finished 3rd in my age group, but what's more interesting is that I went from 6th to 3rd during the last 10K, which is a testament to how ugly that last 10K was for all of us. Thank you, Tutu Lady, because your advice helped me on that last 10K so so much...

Finish inside the Fargodome

Later that day we participated in the 27th mile Pub Crawl, held in downtown Fargo. Thankfully all of the participating pubs were within walking distance of the hotel, so we managed to hit all the pubs and receive our 2nd medal of the day!

And a beer opener to boot

Fun fun fun

Although I wouldn't consider this marathon course one of my favorites, I did enjoy the people of Fargo and getting to hang with Robin for the first time, and also enjoyed the endless laughter that comes with hanging with the Saxtons and sissy Jamie! We missed Toby but he was car racing in New Orleans. His face time with us after the pub crawl was entertaining I'm sure. Best line of the week-end came from Zelda, "What is up with the kids these days and their snatch chat"?

I heard it was 29 degrees in Fargo for last year's race. Now I "betcha" that was a beautiful day!

Marathon #17: The Chicago Marathon, 2005

Chicago view from the "bean"

Below is my race summary, written shortly after running the Chicago marathon. At that time I had no idea that this would end up being the fastest marathon I would ever run, even though I was 44 years old at the time. It was my 3rd marathon in 5 months, so I was tired and had a nagging hamstring. My only goal was to enjoy the ride, so I actually swapped bibs with a friend, giving away my competitive start advantage so she could have a better shot at trying to qualify for Boston, walked back to the general masses and climbed over fencing to join them. They used this marathon in the movie "The Spirit of the Marathon", where they followed a handful of marathoners during their training and the race itself. There's a scene shot from above where the gun goes off and the masses start moving forward. You can't see me, but I am there. I'm not sure why, but every time I see it I get tears in my eyes.

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Just completed my third marathon this year of what has been my own version of  a Triple 

Cripple Crown of marathons, which began with Vancouver Canada in May and then San Francisco 

in July. I figured if the third marathon was significantly different as in not hilly it

would take away from some of the pain of it being the third. Yeah I'm sharp like that.

First of all, this marathon is BIG TIME. The whole city is on board. It's kind of

maddening to deal with all week-end,  starting on Friday. Luckily, everyone was wrapped 

up in the White Sox game on Saturday, which stole a lot of marathon thunder, but I was kind 

of relieved. And the White Sox won, which is good. We didn't want crabby spectators on Sunday!

Pre-race: It was near perfect 52 degrees and partly cloudy. The start was pretty 

organized for such a large crowd. The only issue I had was I had to climb over a chain link 

fence to get into the corral. I knew that skill would come in handy some day. People, you got

to love them, especially when you toe the line with 40,000 of them...And we're off! 

Crazy! wild people screaming from everywhere! Clothes flying--stuff all over the ground for 

at least a mile. The crowds throughout were just SO LOUD. I carried a small bottle of 

Gatorade so I could run past the first few aid stations. This was a good move.

I ran with the 3:45 pace group from about mile 6. It was great. The crowds would cheer 

louder for us as we came through, yelling 3:45, 3:45! Around mile 11 I picked it up to 

catch the 3:40 group. I think I caught them around 13-14, but couldn't really stay with 

them that long. I felt myself slowing down as I got closer to mile 20. My legs were 

feeling tired. Not sure if I liked the total flatness of the course. I was getting 

"scrappy" in the later miles. Getting tired of human contact. Seems like I was running 

into someone or someone was running into me quite a lot. Lots of people just coming 

to a complete stop right in front of me.  The water stops were just a big sticky mess

with slippery cups everywhere. It was hard to look out along the course--you really 

had to watch your footing and the people around you. Even at mile 23 I got boxed 

in and had to weave around.

Somewhere around mile 24 the 3:45 pace bunny comes by so I hook back on. There's no 

longer the big crowd of 3:45 runners with him--just a few. I hung on as hard as I 

could, but when he looked at his watch at mile 25 he got this worried look on his face and 

off he went. I was thinking jackass! I tried SO HARD to go with him but my 

calf would just seize up and I'd do this half stumble and have to slow it down. 

Chicago has a great long finish with bleachers full of screaming spectators on both 

sides. I wanted to sprint it, but the calf was making me look like an idiot every 

time I tried. I finished with a 3:46:33, which is a PR by about a minute.

Finish chute: Thankfully uneventful--got properly "processed" and moved along quickly. 

This marathon has its act together. From the expo-packet pick up to the race itself 

and post race, NO complaints, none. Oh, and later that night I shook the hand of the 

winner, Felix Limo. He was lying on the floor of the lobby with his sock foot in the 

air, trying to get his foot in our way as we were taking a picture of the lobby. 

That's one very fast foot.

Felix...would NOT sit in chair...