Kansas City Marathon Review

Kansas City Marathon, my 30th state and 47th marathon. We really liked this marathon! They got lucky with the weather today, too, maybe a little warm for the slow runners (like me) but 50 at the start and perhaps 73 or so at my finish.

My Race: The course is hilly, and I walked most of the way up most of the hills. I started with an extra (very ugly) cotton shirt and temporary mittens made from holey old sox, discarding all early in the race. I took six Clif Shot gels and at least six salt packets along the way. I took water at every aid station, but ended up thirsty anyway.

I met lots of Team In Training (TNT) runners, raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and thanked every one of them. They support myeloma research too, so they just might be saving my life. Thank you again!

No problems along the course except I really got tired of running uphill (duh!) and I did cramp up a little, though that was mostly after finishing. Otherwise I had fun and nothing hurts. Some of the time I ran beside a wheeler on a conventional chair, who was doing VERY well I thought. He described only one problem with the chair - it limited his downhill speed, because the front wheels would start to shimmy like the wheels on a grocery cart. He was a very competitive guy, too. I hope he can steal, borrow, or rent a racing chair sometime. He’ll do very well.

As I was truckin’ along, maybe mile 7 or so, Jay, husband of Amazing Cancer Girl, scooted up beside me and re-introduced himself. We had met at a conference last December. It took me a moment to connect the dots, but it was wonderful to see Jay again, and especially as a race volunteer. They live in KC.

The Marathon: It’s a great one, I’d recommend it to anyone. Be prepared for hills, is all. One WONDERFUL thing: Some of the race was on main thoroughfares, and those roads were CLOSED to motor traffic. No coned-off lanes, no cars at all. I felt safe. Love that! The police who managed the street crossings were wonderful, as were the volunteers who did that. There were enough spectators that I heard my name yelled in encouragement dozens of times (I wear “Don” on my shirt), and I high-fived a lot of little kids. The expo was good. Parking in a downtown ramp was free and easily reached from freeways (US 71 to 22nd St, W to McGee, S straight into the free ramp. Don’t be distracted by the $5 ramp on the left just before the free one).

The only problem I had was in the finish area. Sunshine tells me that there were finishers’ shirts for marathoners (though not half marathoners) but somehow I missed mine. Now I admit that I’m not the sharpest tack in the box when I’ve JUST finished a marathon, but I actually did make it a point to look around and TRY not to miss anything. I didn’t even know there WAS a finisher’s shirt, since we had all received a cotton shirt at the expo. They might have directed me to the shirts after putting on my medal, or whatever. Oh well, maybe half my fault and half theirs.

Also, they ran out of half-marathon finishers medals, and when my two girls asked for theirs, they were directed to a tent to sign up for medals to be mailed in a month. Nevertheless, it’s a good race, despite my bellyaching.

My Myeloma: I'm taking a novel drug called pomalidomide, made by Celgene, in a trial at Mayo Clinic. It's keeping the myeloma stable, so far, and I'm very happy that I'm not only above ground but able to run and enjoy life like any normal person. Yay to modern science! More about my myeloma here.

Splits: 11:16, 21:05 (2 mi), 21:36 (2 mi), 39:56 (4 mi), 9:44, 10:48, 10:58, 10:25, 20:41 (2 mi), 10:35, 23:30 (2 mi), 9:41, 22:32 (2 mi), 12:36, 13:50, 11:21, 11:44, 14:20 (1.2 mi), total 4:46:32, average pace 10:56, finished third of six in my age group.


A TNT runner, raising money for Leukemia, Lymphoma, Myeloma, and other blood cancers. Photo taken by Sunshine or Sweetpea. I don't know this runner, but I love her anyway.