Top 10 Runs of 2012

One of many fun times in 2012

2012 was yet another great year of running of which I am very thankful for. I had very few injuries and managed to train for and finish all the races I had planned on. (With the exception of the Jogger Egg Nogger 15K a few weeks ago). We all shared our stories as we looped around the lake and up and over the hills in our neighborhoods. We had some highs and lows in our lives, per usual, but in summary, it was a great year overall.

Here are my top 10 runs, in calendar order.

1. Jan 8th: The First Light marathon in Mobile, Alabama. Although I had wanted to run this marathon for a long time, I was pleasantly surprised by the charm of Mobile, and the beauty of the course. Jamie and I ran, while Toby followed us along the course, providing us with mango Gatorade from time to time! (Yes, even in January it was a little warm). The residents of L'Arche Mobile (L'Arche is an international federation of communities in which people with an intellectual disability and those who help them can live, work, and share their lives together) hand-made our medals and handed them to us at the finish line! Even though our visit to Mobile was brief, it was a great one.

Jamie and I placed in our age groups!

2. Jan 28th: The Texas Half marathon. I'm always happy to survive a marathon and resume running and make a local race, such as this half marathon at White Rock Lake. Although the race itself wasn't all that spectacular, Laura Patterson and I had a good time running it. Afterwards we realized they had ran out of medals with finishers still on the course. We went to the finish line and gave our medals to two finishers who came in last.  It was a good day to be a runner!

3. March 3: Trinity River Levee Run. The race started and finished across the city's new Margaret Hunt Hill bridge. Seeing this bridge's construction from afar, I thought it was ugly, sticking up into the sky like a plastic straw, but up close I realized this bridge is spectacular! This was the first time in a long time that I'd ran a 10K, which used to be my favorite distance back in the day. I forgot how much I loved running 10K's. Even if these days the best I could do is get in under 50 minutes, it still felt "fast" and exciting! I vowed to do more 10K's during the year, but that never happened!

Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge race day morning

4. April 20th: The La Jolla Half Marathon in San Diego. Jamie trained on hills for this race, as I told her how hard it was 12 years ago when I had run it, but I had no idea that I would be going to run the race myself at the last minute. A month prior to the race they removed a cancerous mole from my foot, and since it was melanoma they cut a hole big enough to hold two quarters. (No, I didn't confirm this). With bandages still on my foot and no hill training to speak of I was in no shape for this race, but what the hell, it's San Diego, and I didn't want Jamie to go all by herself to San Diego! This course is stunning. It's a kick in the pants, but well worth it. I will not wait 12 years before I run this race again!

5. June 16th: Grandma's Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota. Wow, what an incredible trip this was. Jamie, Laura, and I loved everything about this marathon. In fact, this marathon is now one of my all-time favorites. I still well up with tears when I think about running that stretch through downtown Duluth with all the locals cheering their hearts out for us.

Marathon finish line marker

6. July 15th: Trail running out at Oak Cliff Nature Preserve: This ended up being my only trail run of the year, as there is just too little time to do it all! Cindy and Michael took Jamie and I out there for a loop around the preserve, and it was really fun! We planned to go out there again, but that didn't happen! Next year, we must get back out there!

Trail running is dirty!

7. Sept 2nd: My 17 mile solo "journey", of which I blogged about. I ventured out from my front door to get a long run in and it seemed like an eternity of running. Not that it was fun, so much as it was memorable. I certainly prefer to do my long runs with others, but every once in a while a long solo run is just good for my soul.

8. Oct 20th: "Susan's 20". Susan mapped out a 20 mile route that would give us a much needed break from White Rock lake. Heading out into the darkness, several of us, down the Katy trail to the American Airlines Center, with the Dallas skylight above us, that was cool, and having Kelly with us for her first 20 mile run: "When do we get to eat", and "I'm feeling not so good right now. I feel weird", and later, "I think I'm going to make it"...I really loved the diversion, and this stands out as one of my more favorite training runs of the summer. (And yes, it was still summer in October!)

9. Nov 19th: Tulsa's Route 66 marathon: Although this was not one of my favorite marathons, I had to list it, because even ugly marathons are a blessing and I am always grateful that I have the ability to run them. I know I won't be able to run marathons forever, so I consider every one a gift. I didn't have a disastrous marathon either, and some of it was enjoyable, but mostly it was work. Marathons can be like that! It was great to be on the course with lots of friends, especially Laura Hebert, who ran her first marathon!

Priceless moment of 2012

10: Dec 25th, Christmas Day.Toby and I watched radar all morning until we thought we saw a window of opportunity to get a loop around the lake in. Well my friends, that was a really small window. Rain, small hail, strong bitterly cold north winds, and just after we finished-snow! Still, it was a top 10 run of the year, as this was my first loop since the Tulsa marathon because I had been injured with a strained tendon on my foot. So, no matter the weather, I was right where I wanted to be!

Here's to 2013 and many more great runs for all of us! Below are a few more priceless 2012 moments caught on film:

At the start of First Light, but we are always like this!

Ouch!

Beautiful bridge!

Pre-race dinner in Duluth

Pit-stop on yet another hot training run!

Getting it done!

Oak Cliff Nature Preserve on a beautiful morning

Finally, a marathon together, well at the start anyway...

Crazy 2012 Weather

2012 has been yet another interesting year in the world of running. As the fall marathons started hitting the calendar the weather became the headliner. From stories of people who ran the Marine Corps marathon only to be stranded at airports, to the NYC marathon cancellation debacle, we witnessed something unprecedented, but becoming increasingly more common. The week after we ran the Grandmas marathon in June, Duluth had torrential downpours and the worst flooding they had seen in years. Look at the weather here in Dallas the past two years at the White Rock marathon: A horribly cold and rainy day last year, followed by higher than normal temperatures and extreme humidity this year. Marathon directors are starting to look at moving their races to less volatile dates, but it seems to me that no matter the date, the weather is a hit or miss. This is a sign of our times. Fretting over the weather has always been an issue when running marathons, but we never had to worry over extreme and potentially dangerous weather conditions. We never had to worry about marathons being cancelled. That was simply unheard of. This is no longer true today, and with good reason. The NYC marathon did indeed need to be cancelled, as would have Grandma's, had it been held one week later.

So what to do when planning to run marathons? Obviously, planning has gotten a bit more complicated. First of all, don't book anything that's non-refundable, or at least partially refundable. Secondly, have a back-up marathon a week or two later if possible. Third, and most important, pay close attention to the forecast and pull the trigger when it's becoming obvious that the weather is going to be potentially dangerous. (In the case of the NYC marathon it was after-the-fact, and the weather was actually picture perfect on race day, so I am not talking abut NYC here). Pulling the trigger on NYC would have been a really hard call!

Odds are that in 2013, no matter what, we will be running races in less than ideal conditions. We will be dealing with more unpredictability than before. On any given day we can get extreme heat, flooding, snow, storms, and possibly frogs, who knows? Be prepared for anything to happen!

What to Wear Cheat Sheet

In the summer what to wear is a no-brainer--as little as possible, but trying to figure out what to wear this time of year can be tricky. I have used this post-it note for as long as I can remember. I need to update it, as I wouldn't get caught dead in a jog bra without a shirt on anymore no matter how hot it gets!  When there is a wind chill I use the average between the actual temperature and wind chill. If there's a heat index temperature I use that value. Obviously, everybody's temperature ranges vary, so these values only work for me, but you get the idea.

Marathon #34: Route 66 Marathon, Tulsa Oklahoma, Nov 2012

Finally, a race "together"

First of all, I want to point out that this marathon is one of the most organized marathons I've ever ran. Everything was top notch. If I had to point out any glitches they would border on nitpicking. We stayed at the host hotel, the Holiday Inn downtown, which was right next to the starting line and within walking distance to the race expo. They offered all marathoners a 3:00 pm checkout on race day, and treated us like royalty. The expo itself wasn't huge, but they had a collection of vintage cars on display, which I thought was pretty cool. I was disappointed that they had a limited supply of official marathon gear, especially since it was Brooks race apparel, but in our race packets we received a really nice short sleeved tech tee, so that was enough.

Being able to stay in the hotel room race morning instead of standing in porta-potty lines was priceless. The starting of the race went off without any problems, and during the first half of the marathon we ran with the half marathoners, which wasn't too congested. All the water stops were flawless, with consistent set-ups from station to station, and all were almost exactly 2 miles apart (1 mile apart on last 6 miles). There were local bands on the course and spectators all along the course, cheering and having a great morning. Flash forward for a moment to the finish, where we received gorgeous medals and free beer in a nice set up in Veteran's Park. Buses promptly took us back to our hotel. Perfect race in every way. Except one. The course is butt-ugly! I'm sorry Tulsa! I know they don't have much to work with, and they tried to highlight all the points of interest in town, so it's not fair, but I am just being honest.

Actually, the first half was somewhat scenic, as it traveled through their cool Brookside area of town, along Swan Lake, through some high end neighborhoods and along the Arkansas River, but once we left the river the picture turned pretty bleak; old warehouses, freeway crossings, desolate areas of town, and add to that a lot of concrete on the course. I thought that once we reached the University of Tulsa (mile 21) the scenery would improve, but sadly, this ended up being another dead area of town. Dreadful scenery combined with one of the hilliest courses around (but hey, I knew it was hilly so no excuses there), and throw in occasional gusty south wind stretches, and it made for a very rough day.

As for the "Center of the Universe Detour", I somehow managed to run right past the turn without even seeing it, so no dilemma for me. I had actually forgotten all about it, so I wasn't even looking for it.Those from our group that did it said it was pretty cool.

Still, I am glad I ran this race. Sometimes the tougher the race the more appreciative I am about being able to work through the rough spots and make it to the finish. Our visit to Tulsa was great too. We had great food everywhere we went, and really enjoyed the Brookside area of town--wish we had more time to hang out there.

Everyone in our group ran great times. Even though some are unhappy about their times, they did awesome on a really tough course. I am especially impressed with Laura Hebert's 4:00:17 marathon, her first! She's a natural. It was great to be able to be a part of that this week-end.

Other group stats:
Jerod Honrath 3:14
Toby: 3:16
Erin: 3:39
Mark: 3:54
Jamie: 3:55
Me: 4:06
Kathy: 4:21

Zelda ran her first half marathon! Her time was 2:20, beating her goal of 2:30 by a long shot. Mike ran a 2:01. I wish I had seen the mad hatter sprint to break 2 hours! 

So in conclusion, would I recommend this marathon? At first I said no, but now I would say yes, knowing that the course is really hilly beginning to end, ugly for the majority of the 2nd half, and has a lot of concrete. Other than that, perfect.

November Marathon of the Month: Richmond Marathon

The Richmond marathon has been on my marathon wish list since I ran the half marathon back in the early 90's. As with most late fall New England marathons, the fall foliage is gorgeous, although the weather can be somewhat temperamental (especially these days)!
The course is quite scenic, starting in historic downtown Richmond, traveling through historic neighborhoods, along Monument Avenue, the James River, and finishing on Brown's Island. It's touted as "America's Friendliest Marathon". I've ran a lot of friendly southern marathons, so I consider this a challenge!

The general stats are good: great expo, easy race day logistics, well organized, no issues with the corresponding half marathon and 8K races, a relatively flat course, great tech apparel available, and it's a decent sized marathon, with approximately 5,000 marathoners. Also, it's a Saturday marathon, which I prefer over Sunday.

The cons? I touched on one, the weather. Come to think of it, it was pouring rain the year I ran the half, and there's been a few really warm years as well. Being later in November, they seemed to miss the wrath of the now somewhat famous storms Ivan, Irene and Sandy, and last year's weather was perfect, so as with all marathons, weather is a hit or miss. As for other cons, seriously, I scoured the submissions on marathonquide.com and their facebook page and couldn't find much of anything to complain about. One person complained that the colors of the bibs were boring! FOR REAL! The only legitimate complaint was that there were a few boring and lonely stretches.

Reviews raved about the downhill finish into the park on Brown's Island. This is a new addition since I ran the half. Apparently it's a beautiful park and the organizers had plenty of food and beer for the finishers. This appears to be a great improvement over the downtown finish I experienced, which wasn't bad--just not as scenic and possibly a little too congested.

I'd love to finally make it back to Richmond. Maybe next year? Who's with me?

Marathon #31: Outer Banks Marathon, North Carolina, 2011

The journey to the Outer Banks Post Race Pirate's Jamboree began in Kitty Hawk, traveling southward through Kill Devil Hills, Nag's Head, and finally, to the town of Manteo on Roanoke Island. It was a beautiful morning, mostly sunny, 50° and slightly breezy.  The starting line was the perfect size with about 600 marathoners, so there was no frenzy or hoopla--nice and calm.  (Except for Toby who was still in the porta-potty at the 60 seconds to go mark...He made it with 30 seconds to spare).  Toby, Jamie, and I were ready to get our pirate on!

The first 10 miles were along a quiet, tree lined road, with occasional views of the sound, and some friendly locals who said, “Thanks for coming to visit”. Though we didn’t see any damage along the course, Hurricane Irene did hit the Outer Banks pretty hard and I think they were really happy just to see visitors!   We had nice view/tour around the Wright Brothers Memorial, and except for one tiny hill, this part of the course was completely flat.

Wright Brothers Memorial in background

Jamie and I remained within eye-sight of each other and re-grouped at the woods entrance.  At this moment the race changed its profile entirely. Suddenly we were trail running! The terrain was gently rolling, along a dirt path, but not really technical. We were really enjoying this, even though we didn't hold our marathon paces through here at all. After a couple of miles in the woods we ran into some crazy volunteers with their snack table, typical of what you would see at a trail running event, with signs pointing upwards.  To our left was a huge ascent into the single track portion. Here the footing changed to hard sand and pine needles, and the terrain was much more undulating. It was surreal to be running through this and come upon the mile 13 marker deep in the woods.  It was like, "Oh yeah, I am supposed to be in the middle of a marathon". Very, very strange!! Shortly afterwards we exited the woods, and the shift of the legs back to flat asphalt was a little unsettling. It took me about a mile to get my pace back to where it was "pre-woods".

Miles 14 through 21 were good miles for us. The scenery of the second half of the course was not the greatest, but we were making the best of it, running strong, and laughing or shouting out when we'd see the Washington-Baum Bridge to Manteo in the horizon across the sound. (our singlemost giant hill). After mile 21 though, things got ugly, as they sometimes do, as we turned right, heading towards the bridge.  We knew the bridge would be before us, but it seemed like forever until we actually got there.  It was also starting to get “warm” (~65°), no clouds, and a bit of a headwind.  It was starting to become a real struggle for me at that point.

Jamie would not leave my side after my many attempts to unhinge her, like a barnacle from a pirate ship. I watched my pace slipping and tried my, "If you leave me now you can still break 4 hours" tactic, followed with, "You will really be mad at yourself for not breaking 4 hours" tactic. When we finally hit the base of the bridge I threw out my one successful trick. I said, "You make that bridge your bitch". And off she went!  About halfway up the bridge I did it, I stopped and walked. And it felt good. Man it felt good. Walking is the devil!  You are ruined after walking!

The dreaded bridge

At the base of the bridge there was Jamie, waiting on me, DAMMIT! I found myself lingering at the water stops and she'd get me going again.  Around mile 24 we came across this guy lying in the middle of the road. He tried to stand up, but fell back down, so he just sort of sat up and looked around. He appeared to be lucid. We asked him if he wanted help getting up and he said no, and just stayed seated right there in the road!

We finally turned off that stinking road right at the mile 25 marker, which I was hoping would rally me home, because finally there were spectators and noise and only 1.2 miles to go, but I found myself having to stop and walk. I was hot and dizzy and just done. I mean DONE.  Jamie got me going again though. She'd do this little start up jog beside me, like let's go, and that seemed to work.  There was a kid yelling, "You came this far. You can't quit now". I cried a little inside because I had no energy left to punch him in the stomach.  Once more I stopped, but Jamie and a fellow runner got me going again, with just one turn left to go there was the finish line! Finish time: 4:06.

This was the first time I finished a marathon and didn't care about putting the medal on. I didn't care about taking a picture with the pirates. I didn't even care where the beer was. That's when I knew I was in trouble. All I wanted to do was lie down.  Toby found us and led us to his “grassy knoll” spot. I  immediately lied down, repeating, "Oh my God, thank you Jamie, Oh my God, Jamie I owe you..."...  Jamie was feeling great, so she went off to get our bags, and Toby proceeded to lie down again, as he was not feeling good either.  I stopped sweating and started feeling normal again, so when Jamie returned we tucked Toby in and went off on a beer search.  It was a great post race party--lots of fun in a giant blocked off area of the town, so it wasn't overly crowded. Free beer and live music, hey!

He missed out on the jamboree

Stats and info:

Toby's time was a 3:23. His race had parallels to mine in some extent. I'll let him elaborate.

I got 3rd in my age group with the 4:06. 4th place was 4:07 so I really do owe Jamie big-time!  The finisher's medal is hands down one of my favorites. It's shaped like a pirate's map with a little sword charm dangling off it.  My 3rd place award was a treasure chest pin, which I attached to the ribbon. 

When the race organizers asked me to fill out an on-line survey, I could not come up with a single suggestion for improvement.  It was truly one of my favorite marathons, and one of our favorite trips.

The Outer Banks itself is worth visiting, but things were shutting down at this time of year. Kill Devil Hills (where we stayed), Nag's Head, Kitty Hawk and Manteo were all still somewhat alive, but driving to Cape Hatteras was somewhat a disappointment, as everything was dead down there. Still, we did see some of the damage from hurricane Irene down there and visited Cape Hatteras lighthouse.  And just our luck the 228 steps / 208 ft lighthouse climb was closed, oh darn.  We didn't have time to take the ferry over to Ocracoke Island, which I really wanted to do, but we just ran out of time.

Thanks to my mateys for a fun trip. It was fun pillaging the Outer Banks with ya!

Toby and is "sister wives", ha ha

Where it all began...

Clipped from the finish line video--loved this moment!