Casper Marathon 2011

If you're doing 50 states, and need Wyoming, I certainly do recommend the Casper Marathon. We three ran it today - I ran the full and my sweeties ran the half, and we're all pleased with it despite near-record heat and flooded trails. My 52nd marathon and 35th state.

My Race:

I started out very concerned with the patellofemoral pain syndrome (runner's knee) that I've battled in my right knee as recently as Thursday. Happily, that turned out to be the least of my problems. It was never more than a murmur at any point in the race.

My plan was to run 30 seconds and walk 60, which ends up with an average pace that should have produced a finish of 5:30. I felt really good, though, and the knee wasn't bothering at all, so I shortened the walks to 30 seconds, resulting in an actual pace in the 11 to 12 minute range, which could have brought me in just after 5 hours, all else being equal.

But nothing was equal. The marathon started at 5270 feet and went up a bit from there. The temperature at the start was 48, but it rose to 81 at my finish, with intense sun and a dewpoint of zilch. There were definitely times when my mouth was calling for water but the next aid station was a mile away. I had carried water on my back for the first few miles, then decided I didn't need it and dropped it at the car when the course wound back past our parking area, later regretting that decision.

I did take six Clif Shot gels along the way, and maybe nine or ten salt tablets, but my calves started to cramp up at about mile 22 anyway, and I was forced to walk in from Mile 23. I could have gone faster, other muscles were willing, but when I tried to run the calves said NO, and they really meant it.

What affects this? Training (not good lately), hydration, salt, hills (there are a few), speed (I started faster than intended), probably core strength. It's possible that the mile-high altitude has some effect as well. For a while I was 17 minutes ahead of the planned pace for a 5:30 finish, but most of that pad evaporated during the walks and I finished in 5:23:54 (my watch), just 6 minutes ahead of schedule. Third in my age group of 70 to 98, though I have no idea whether there were more than three of us musketeers. And I could swear that I passed the guy who finished second, never to see him again on the course. I'll be interested in the results when they're published.

An odd fact: My finish time for this race is within two minutes of the finish time for my last marathon, in Rhode Island, even though EVERYTHING was different, including the amount of hills, altitude, temperature, humidity, sunshine, aid stations, running surface, and my race plan. The girls had the same experience, finishing within a very few minutes of their last race. Our bodies are the only constant - perhaps that's what it's about after all.

The Casper Marathon

This year the organizers had to battle a flooded race course and near-record heat, so if I have any suggestions for the race directors I'll put those in a separate email, not here, and I doubt I'll be telling them anything they don't already know.

A standard joke in our house is "don't invite us to your marathon," because quite often something unusual happens at the marathons that we do run. Heat, floods, hurricane, rain and bluster, fire on the course, you name it, we've been there. This race definitely fits the pattern.

The marathon course follows a lovely paved trail along the North Platte River. Today, that river is well over its banks and flowing rapidly toward the Missouri, then the Mississippi, and finally New Orleans. From Casper, it drops a whole mile on its way to the sea, and right now it's in quite a hurry to get there. Despite that speed, the water was high enough to cover some of the paved trails, so the race directors had to redirect us on dirt trails in a few places. No problem here - I love dirt trails, have been quite happy with marathons that are ALL trails. They improvised well.

Other wonderful stuff: All of the volunteers; Pizza and other great food at the finish including fruit and beer (several different labels); Fruit and GU at every aid station; Excellent mile marking and course marking; A superb indoor facility at the start; Same at the finish; The Half Marathon was on the same course as the Full; The finish is 170 feet lower than the start; Great news coverage afterward on local TV.

It's definitely not flat, but probably shouldn't be called "challenging." If I can do it, you can. Might be good to sleep IN Casper for two nights before the race, to adjust to the altitude. I'd like to come back someday with normal weather and no floods.

Splits: 11:05, 11:21, 11:23, 10:59, 11:10, 10:59, 13:45 (major potty stop), 11:43, 11:43, 11:06, 11:25, 11:00, 11:40, 11:07, 12:48, 23:27 (2 miles), 13:33 (minor potty stop), 11:25, 12:43, 12:49, 13:20, 12:18, 14:38, 17:25, 15:21, 3:12 (0.2 mi), total 5:23:34 by my watch, overall pace 12:20. I was shooting for 5:30, so it'll do! My calves are sore, everything else is tired, and I'm happy. It's a masterpiece.

A sample of the yummy food at the finish line. There is much more, not pictured, including vegetables with dip, muffins and cookies, plus pizza:

Land Between the Lakes Marathon

We didn’t find the Land Between the Lakes Marathon on MarathonGuide.com, for some reason, but we found it on MarathonManiacs.com. It’s a wonderful marathon (and 23k, 60k, and 50 miles) on a beautiful trail in the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area in the southwestern tip of Kentucky. We found no faults, have no suggestions for the race director. The race was perfect, the course was perfect, even the weather was perfect if you like it a bit warm. I’ve never heard of another race that would allow a runner to change distances during the race, not just down to a shorter race, but up to a longer one. It’s a hang-loose group, but they get away with it because they know what they’re doing. A trail race by trail runners.

If the race was perfect, I wasn’t. Oh, man. I trained for this race as best I could, almost entirely in the Stillwater Dome. The many corners are good for ankles, knees, and hips, perhaps, but the soccer surface didn’t prepare me for the hills, and today’s course was very hilly. According to the race web site, a marathoner will gain and lose a total of 2068 feet in the 26.2 miles. If that were straight up it would be four tenths of a mile, and I have a new appreciation for that elevation change when it comes as a long series of hills and valleys, the trail strewn with leaves, roots, rocks, and the occasional stream or muddy patch. No complaint about the trail, mind you, it’s exactly what a trail should be - I love this kind of running.

It’s a lot of work, though, and every muscle hurt, especially in the last six miles, especially the quads. Those hurt enough, toward the end, to actually keep me from running downhill. Since my muscles didn’t have enough steam left to run very far uphill, I was limited to running on the level in those last miles, and there really wasn’t much level to run.

Specific bodily failures:

• Left hamstrings ached a little, off and on. Not a limiting factor.
• Right quads hurt quite a bit, especially downhill. Limiting. Sometimes it feels good to exercise a muscle to exhaustion, but these were on fire and I was a little concerned about injuring them. Left too.
• Lisfranc ligaments in the left foot started to hurt late in the race. Ho hum - it’s arthritis from an old injury.
• The left calf cramped up. I was tiptoeing past a muddy patch and lifted my left foot over a log, which triggered the cramp. Imagine standing on one foot in a slimy bog, the other foot in the air, calf cramping painfully, and cussing a blue streak at maximum volume (that actually dulls the pain a little I think - I hope). The cramp eventually subsided, of course, and that left calf actually finished the race honorably. Maybe it’s good to have it cramp up once, and get it out of it’s gristly little system.
• All muscles ran out of gas. I hadn’t trained properly for this race.

What else?:

• Time 6:08:54, marathon number 49, state number 32, second of four in age group 70+, 76th of 105 overall.
• I’m 70, and got beat by a 76-year-old from San Antonio. I hate that - not just getting beat by an older guy, but a guy from Texas to boot. Nice guy though, we chatted briefly after the race. He did have souvenirs of the race, bloody cuts on his right arm, said he fell several times.
• I didn’t fall, but came extremely close three times, each time my right foot catching on some root or other trail hazard. Why always the right? Dunno. A little foot-drop going on? I think it might help to have glasses made for running - my bifocals can’t zero in on the traps that are just a step ahead.
• I took six Clif Shot gels with caffeine somewhere along the way, and I think seven salt packets. I have no idea how much water - I had it refilled at many of the aid stations. I was SO GLAD that I decided to carry water rather than depend on aid stations alone.
• Early in the race I watched a dog-like creature race at full velocity across the trail, perhaps 75 feet in front of me. It made quite a bit of noise and was gone in seconds. Colored like a gray wolf, it was the size of a coyote, maybe a bit larger. Another runner told me that coyotes are common in the Land Between the Lakes, and wolves are seen occasionally. I think this might have been a wolf/coyote hybrid, which I know does happen. In any case, it was clearly more afraid than I was, except if it had turned around, I’d have been looking for a tree. I had actually brought a knife on the trip, perfect as a defensive weapon against wild dogs or whatever, but had finally decided not to carry it on the race. Sometimes you should trust your first instincts. I wish I knew when to do that.
• I passed a lot of runners in this race, and some passed me too, but for much of the race no one else was in view.
• All of the trail was in a deciduous forest, quite primal. I’m not good at identifying trees without their leaves, but last fall’s leaves were still on the trail and appeared to be mostly red oak, or the Kentucky equivalent, and perhaps chestnut. I’d love to see it in summer.
• The most spring-like plants were short daffodils, just coming into bloom, growing in clumps. We never decided whether they were planted by people or if they just decided to set up camp there.
• Aid stations had grapes, bananas, oranges, M&M’s, potato chips, chocolate chip cookies, bites of race bars, Hammer Gels, PB sandwiches, rollups of some kind, and more, not to mention the cheerful volunteers. As I said, this was a good marathon!
• Sunshine and Sweet Pea finished the 23k too, well ahead of me. Good for them!

The end.

Springtime in Kentucky:

Prevent Runner's Muscle Cramps

After 41 marathons I have a formula that works for me most of the time. Take it for what it's worth. It has four components:

• Training;
• Hydration;
• Salt; and
• Stretches.

Training: Muscles are much less apt to cramp when they are conditioned properly. This means 20-mile runs, more than one, with an appropriate taper in the three weeks leading up to the marathon. Sub-optimal training is not a reason to sit out the race, but it will make the race more difficult and cramps more likely.

Hydration: According to my own weight measurements before and after running, my body uses about 5 ounces of water per mile, more when it's hot. However, according to Noakes, my system will probably only absorb about 2 1/2 ounces of ingested water per mile. When aid stations are spaced about two miles apart, one 5-ounce cup at every station usually works well.

Salt: In my last marathon I ran at about the same pace as a small Team In Training group that was shepherding a young runner through his first complete marathon. Calf cramps had prevented him from finishing a previous attempt. For some reason, though, no one had thought to bring salt. He did finish, but he had to fight through some serious cramps.  I wished I had enough salt to share.

Salt makes a BIG difference for me. I have been using electrolyte tablets from a medical supply company, containing about 180 mg of elemental sodium (about 450 mg salt) per packet, plus a little potassium. According to Noakes, a runner uses at least 400 mg elemental sodium (1000 mg salt) per hour, but may not need to replace all of it. I take one packet about every second water stop, or about every four miles, and at my pace that is usually at least 500 mg salt, equivalent to at least 200 mg elemental sodium, per hour. It seems to work.

Unfortunately, the tablets that I currently use are no longer sold. It's too bad, because each tablet is packaged in its own tiny sweat-proof wrapper, so I can just throw a half-dozen in my pocket and fish them out one at a time as needed. When these run out, here are some candidates:

• Succeed S!Caps. More than twice as large as the packets I'm taking now, so I'd take fewer.
• Thermotabs. Virtually identical to the tablets I'm taking now, 180 mg elemental sodium and a little potassium per tablet.
• Lannett Buffered Salt Tabs. Also virtually identical to the tabs I now take, 180 mg elemental sodium per tab. I suspect this is the same product as Thermotabs, with a different label.

I'm not impressed by the products that add other trace minerals and gratuitous vitamins and whatnot. Marathoners don't need it, and those products usually have less sodium, the most important ingredient. By the way, I also take Clif Shot gel packets during a marathon, about one per four miles, for perhaps another 50 mg elemental sodium in addition to the helpful carbohydrates and caffeine.

Stretches: We should stretch after every run for several reasons, and I think that cramp prevention is one of them. I find it very helpful indeed to stretch calf muscles right away after a 20-mile run or a marathon to prevent the cramps that can occur then. Sometimes, in fact, I have to stop and stretch during a race just to get to the end.

Please add comments with your own advice, if you like.

Deadwood Mickelson Trail Marathon 2009

Sunday, June 7, 2009:

I’m whipped! I don’t recall feeling any more beat up after a marathon than this one. But so far (barring a late-reporting injury) that’s the only bad news. Except that Sunshine and Sweet Pea decided not to try the half, because of injury and weather, so they didn’t get a half marathon in South Dakota. That’s bad news too, especially for them. But I did finish the marathon. Everything is sore, especially the right hip flexors and both calves, but getting better already.

I loved this marathon! Organization was faultless, volunteers were superb, and the venue was without peer. There is also a half marathon and a marathon relay.

The Deadwood Mickelson Trail Marathon runs on almost 26 miles of the incredibly beautiful 100+ mile Mickelson Trail. The trail surface is mostly packed limestone, almost as firm as blacktop when dry, if not quite so today. For people who need a little extra cushion, it would be perfect. It also gives up a lot of little rocks, though, and my shoes collected quite a few. See the photo. That biggest rock appeared at my toes (how did it get all the way up there?) at about mile 18 or so, and it hurt, so I considered stopping at a bench to take off the shoe and remove it, as I had done once before. But my calves were saying they might cramp up if I did that, so I motored on and the rock eventually found an out-of-the-way place to stay. I talked to one guy who had some very light and colorful gaiters over his shoes, from Dirty Girl Gaiters he said. When she gets back from fishing (!), I’m going to check out that web site again. I knew that rocks would be a problem, but I forgot that I wouldn’t be able to stop and shake out the shoes without other consequences. I have heavier gaiters for snowshoeing, but never even thought of using them to keep out rocks instead of snow. Duh.

Within a couple of miles of the start in Rochford, the trail goes uphill at about a 2% steady grade, eventually climbing almost 1000 feet before topping over and heading downhill again at about mile 14. It’s an old narrow-gauge railway right-of-way. The descent is a bit steeper, a lot steeper in a few places, taking us down about 1700 feet to Deadwood. I had anticipated going slowly up to the top and then faster on the way down. But the second part didn’t happen - I was so wrecked from the climb that I really couldn’t take advantage of the downhill.

Eventually I finished in 5:10:00, 302 of 367 overall, second of six in my age group, almost an hour after the first in my age group. He could have showered and been sipping a cup of tea by the time I stumbled across the line. The award is a cute railroad spike. They charge $5.00 if they have to mail the award, and now I know why. It's a real iron spike.

Weather was an issue. The forecast said low 40's for the whole distance, moderate crosswind, and rain likely, perhaps even lightning. 40 degrees doesn’t bother a Minnesota runner, in fact that’s a lovely temperature for running. But a hard rain can quickly turn it from nice to miserable, even dangerous. Happily, it rained right before the race and after I was done, but it never rained on me! Just a little mist and occasional fog. I carried a jacket around my waist, just in case, but never needed it. The trail was wet though. Most of the way that was no problem, because the packed limestone had absorbed the rain nicely. But for two or three miles the limestone was in poor shape and we ran on a thin layer of mud, maybe a quarter to a half inch, enough to make me choose my footing carefully to avoid a slip. The temperature varied too - in a couple of places along the trail I noticed frost on runners’ caps or shoulders - frozen sweat. My shoulders were like that too. But only my feet ever felt cold.

The Mickelson Trail is scrumptious. The waterfall in the photo is not actually on the trail (I didn’t carry a camera), but it is typical of scenes we saw on the way. Most of the trail is away from all signs of civilization, often traveling along and above an ancient brook or small river. The grade tends to be steady, but the trail winds a lot. Forests, fields, spring wildflowers, interesting rock formations, even caves. We ran on wooden bridges and even through a tunnel. The trail parallels a road here and there, but never a major highway, and it occasionally passes by a rural (VERY rural) home or ranch. It goes through the ruins of the mines that once gave purpose to the original railroad. I’d love to bike the whole 100+ mile trail. In the entire 26 miles we saw only four parties on bikes who were not obviously connected to the race; perhaps they were doing that. Be sure to bring a fat-wheel bike :-)

I don’t need an excuse for running so slowly, but if I did, what would it be? (1) I ran a marathon 7 days before, (2) The trail surface is slightly soft and absorbs a little extra energy from each step, (3) I carried a little more stuff (jacket, gloves, knee warmers...) than usual, (4) The race included more than 1000 feet altitude change, up first, and (5) Altitude reached about 5200 feet (a mile high), and that’s enough. Definitely a masterpiece.

I am SO impressed by Mr Dan Kuch, from Arizona, who finished this tough race in 2:46:33. Whooee.

Splits: 9:21, 9:17, 11:09, 12:04, 11:46, 13:08, 11:36, 17:19 (porta-potty & emptying shoes), 11:36, 11:23, 11:50, 11:46, 12:12, 11:30, 10:04, 10:48, 11:04, 13:06, 13:18, 15:02 (porta-potty), 12:43, 10:35, 11:34, 11:10, 11:22, 13:20 (1.2 mi), total 5:10:00, average pace 11:49. I’ll take it. My 36th marathon, 22nd state.


Tuesday, June 2, 2009:

NSPCC. I ran a mile, felt some pain in the left ankle, and stopped. The elliptical machine felt fine so I used that for a while.

Minneapolis Marathon 2009

This was a great inaugural Minneapolis Marathon. That's the bottom line. I loved it.

Negatives:

(1) But where’s my jacket? Half marathoners got a nice technical shirt in their race packets, but full marathoners were supposed to get a jacket at the finish line. I got a medal, sure enough, almost couldn’t avoid it, got a banana too, but never noticed anyone handing out jackets, or a table where they might have been handed out, or other runners carrying their jackets. Did I screw up? Probably. I admit that when I finish a marathon my brain is mostly on vacation, and I actually didn’t think about the jacket until after I got home, so maybe someone tried to hand me one and I blew them off. Or did they run out of jackets? Not likely - they knew exactly how many marathoners were in the race weeks ago, because registration was closed. Oh well, I’m sure I missed something. And I don't really need another jacket.

(2) I didn’t get water at the first aid station, Mile 2. It appeared they had some, but there was a long line of runners stopped and waiting for it, so I decided to just motor on. The remaining aid stations did their job correctly. They’ll have that fixed next year I’m very sure.

Positives:

All the rest is positive. This was my 35th marathon, and it ranks very high in quality. Very high indeed. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THE COURSE! Nearly all of it was on parkways or trails, and nowhere did the runners have to share a road with automotobile traffic. There were a few bikes, especially on the trails to Fort Snelling State Park, but they don’t hurt nearly as much if they hit you. And you can yell at ‘em or sock ‘em in the nose. Besides, the race’s own bike patrol booted them off the road whenever they encountered them. The course was partly out-and-back, with big loops at the front and the back. Some folks are put off by the out-and-back, but not me. I like to see the front-runners and give them a little encouragement as they head toward me, and same for those who are slower than me. The course was a bit hilly ("challenging"), but I don’t mind that - I just use the hills as another excuse to walk, then the downhills as a very good reason to run. Nobody passes Don on the downhill. Well, rarely.

I was surprised by the number of spectators, and by their enthusiasm. Not as many as TCM, but enough to be a nice distraction. I wear DON on my shirt, and got lots of "go Don" affirmation. Beautiful day, too, about 45 at the start and 70 at noon.

I finished second out of ten in my age group! Imagine. Sounds good until you know that my time was 4:49:00, which means that most of us old farts in the 65-69 age group went over five hours. And it means the the "big guns" didn’t show up for this race. Not a single one of us ran a Boston-qualifying time of 4:15. Three weeks from now, at Grandma’s, several will do that. Last year 11 of 51 did.

I’m happy with my time though. I just can’t run 4:15 any more, and this was actually a bit faster than I intended because there’s another marathon coming up in a week. I started out running three minutes and walking two, modifying that as needed to deal with hills. That put me right on pace. After mile 20, though, many of the runs were shorter and so were the walks. I didn’t slow much though - the last 10k was about 1:07, which is a pace of 10:48, slightly better than the overall pace of 11:01.

Pains: Nothing worrying. Calves wanted to cramp up ten minutes after the finish, but I stretched ‘em out and they didn’t. Both knees are complaining a little, but they're better already and will probably be fine tomorrow. The cancer-drug-induced neuropathy in my feet (previous post) did NOT get worse during the marathon. That’s very good news if my feet stay that way overnight, because I'd hate to think that running is harmful to my feet. I feel pretty good, actually. Recovery run Tuesday or Wednesday.

Splits: 11:32, 10:43, 10:28, 21:03 (2 mi), 23:06 (2 mi), 11:03, 10:21, 11:10, 42:39 (4 mi), 13:51 (potty stop), 11:03, 10:22, 12:24, 11:03, 11:07, 10:19, 21:38 (2 mi), 11:02, 10:12, 14:00 (1.2 mi). Total 4:49:00, pace 11:01. Slightly better than Lincoln, which was not as hilly as this one.

Great race - I already like the Minneapolis Marathon better than TCM, not least because it has a 7-hour time limit and TCM are such jerks about their 6-hour limit. I may do this every year.

Night Cramp - Ouch!

Yikes! In the middle of the night after Sunday’s 10-mile run I was awakened by an excruciating cramp in the right calf. Normally the best way to relieve a cramp is to go into a stretch, but I was in bed and that didn’t seem like an option. I just moaned and waited the minute or two required for the cramp to pass. Then I could get up and do the stretch, although by then the muscle had injured itself a bit and it hurt to stretch. It still hurt Monday morning and all that day.

I’ve never had a night cramp before, and hope I don’t again. Why did it happen? Two possibilities that I can think of: (1) I ran ten miles the previous day without taking any water during the run. Normally I do take water for a run longer than eight miles; and (2) This was DEX day - the day that the dexamethasone has its maximum effect, and in fact I had taken the DEX just a few hours earlier. Can it have this kind of effect? Never heard that before, but there aren’t that many runners taking DEX so it could be an unreported side effect.

Tuesday, though, I had a nice four-mile run on the Gateway trail. NO pain in that calf during the run, although I could still feel where it injured itself. I did have a slight pain in the outside of the left ankle, new and strange, that did not entirely go away. I think it will though. Doesn’t feel like a serious thing. I hope.

I was doing well enough, but stopped to help a little turtle across the trail and out of bike danger, and then I walked for a while with another runner as we chatted. So the overall pace is glacial, but the run served its purpose. Hoping for a long run Thursday if the ankle will cooperate.

Splits: 9:07, 21:02 (2 mi), 9:18, total 39:27, pace 9:52.



This morning's breakfast: Gluten-free oatmeal with dried cranberries, organic strawberries, organic walnuts, frozen blueberries, kiwi, a dark chocolate wafer, and organic fat-free milk.