Don’t Invite Us To Your Marathon!

We’re piling up quite a list of marathons that we ran but which did not go well for the organizers, and sometimes not for us either. More about that later. Anyway, for me The Denver Marathon was number 39, state number 23.

Team In Training: 60 TNT people ran this race, either the half or the full. Together, they raised $120,000 for blood cancer research. This benefits leukemia and lymphoma, and also myeloma, which is my particular interest.

By the way, I visited Mayo Clinic last Thursday and my "M-Spike" (key cancer marker) was 0.9 again, so my myeloma seems to be stable. Stable is good. If (when) it starts to increase, then we need to figure out a new treatment, which I probably won’t like even as much as this one. But that future will take care of itself.

The Denver Marathon:

• 1924 souls ran the full and 4480 ran the half marathon.
• We all started at once, so the first mile or two were a bit congested, but I did OK anyway. The half marathon splits off from the marathon at about mile 12.
• Quality was about average for a marathon this size:
  • Registration didn’t respond to our questions in a timely fashion, though we did solve our problem another way.
  • Spectators were relatively scarce for a race of 6400 runners.
  • Aid stations were a little disorganized - I missed the second aid station because I drink water instead of sports drink and I didn't find water on my side of the road.
• Good stuff:
  • All roads, no trails, plenty wide for the runners after a mile or two.
  • Start time was 7:00 am. VERY GOOD DENVER MARATHON! An early start paid off today for many of the runners, because the temp rose at a rate of at least six degrees per hour.
  • There was a fair amount of shade.
  • The expo included all of the usual exhibitors.
  • The finish area was very nice, with tents full of goodies set up by several vendors, available to runners and public.

Weather: Temp was 50 at the start - perfect. For the fastest runners the temperature was no problem. But for me, it was 81 and sunny at the finish, about 12:20 pm. I don’t run well at 81 degrees. Calves cramped up after mile 20 or so, especially the left, and quads were sore too. I actually had to walk most of the last three or four miles, and the splits show it. Factoid: A week ago Denver logged a record LOW for that day, and today the temperature reached 84, a record high.

My little problems:

• This marathon took 25 minutes longer than the Twin Cities Marathon two weeks ago. Why?:
  • (1) Denver is a mile high, and the difference in oxygen supply really can’t be ignored. I also ran too long in Deadwood, another mile-high city;
  • (2) The temperature was definitely a factor; PERFECT at TCM and way too hot here; and
  • (3) I ran a marathon just two weeks ago. Duh. Much as I don’t want to believe it, I probably don’t recover as quickly as I once did, since I’m 68 and on cancer meds.
• My legs let me down: Hip flexors started to yell at about mile 7, and that became pain in the quads toward the end. Calves, especially the left, threatened to cramp up at about mile 20 and beyond. In the last four miles this threat became reality and I was reduced to walking most of the time, occasionally stopping to stretch against a stop sign. This combo of quads and calves was quite painful after the finish; usually my aching muscles recover somewhat within minutes of the finish, but today they actually seemed to get worse. The walk to the car was torture, though it started to improve as soon as I sat down.
• But: No knee or hip pain, no comment from the Achilles' tendons! Just muscles and maybe ligaments, which will recover better than before.
• Hydration: I did it right! Runners ALWAYS finish a marathon dehydrated, because the stomach just won’t take fluids fast enough. But I peed within two hours of finishing, a very good sign. Yes, runners actually do talk about that stuff, and the other stuff too.
• Nutrition: I took five Clif Shot gels along the way, each of them with 50 mg caffeine, and five electrolyte packets containing 440-mg of salt with a little potassium and calcium.
• Sun screen: I used it before the race and was mighty glad because I got a little burn anyway.

I’m happy. Another state logged and we had a good time. Great to be home!

We seem to bring bad luck to the marathons we run, such as:

• Today's record high in Denver;
• Black-flag (hot) at two of the last three Grandma’s Marathons, plenty warm at the other one too;
• Record low temperature at the Deadwood Mickelson Marathon this year;
• Amazing rainfall (from hurricane Ike leftovers) at the 2008 Lewis & Clark Marathon, drowning part of the course and causing the race to be CANCELLED during the running;
• A house fire on the race course in the 2008 Flying Pig Marathon, requiring the race organizers to re-route the course as the race was under way! They rose to the challenge, although the new course increased the distance a little and must have disappointed those who almost qualified for Boston;
• Record high temperature at the 2007 Chicago Marathon which, along with race-management ineptitude, caused that race to be CANCELLED during the running;
• There are more, but you get the idea.

Splits: 11:06, 10:55, 44:39 (4 mi), 11:21, 22:43 (2 mi), 11:52, 14:58 (potty stop), 11:11, 11:25, 12:28, 10:22, 23:05 (2 mi), 35:58 (3 mi), 12:22, 11:31, 13:24, 29:17 (2 mi), 14:11, 2:36 (0.22 mi), total 5:15:24, pace 12:02. I fell behind the 5:00 pace team, but stayed ahead of the 5:30 pace team. It’ll have to do. Next marathon will be at sea level!


My sweetie all ready for the start. Behind her is the capitol building, and behind that the sun about to rise. She and Sweet Pea ran and finished the half.