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:

Four More Runs

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Today we ran the Charities Challenge Indoor Races again, this time called Challenge Isolation, held this time at the indoor track of Concordia College in St Paul. It’s a nice 4-lane track, though not as nice as the 6-lane track at Bethel, where most of these races are held.

I ran just two races this time. The 55-meter in 10.76, and the 200-meter in 37.99. The short one is 55 m because there literally isn’t room to run 5 meters more and make it 60 m. My 200 m was about 2 seconds quicker than in previous races this season - I hope that trend continues. There is one more race in this indoor series, and I’d like to get comfortably under 36 seconds. In addition to the races, I ran about four miles of warmup and cooldown.

Friday, January 14:

Jim and I ran in the Stillwater Bubble, sort of celebrating a minor event. He’s half again as fast as me, but we both enjoy the conversation and he stuck with me. 60 minutes, about 6 miles.

The left foot still hurts from the re-injury on Tuesday. Otherwise, though, it’s a masterpiece!

Tuesday, January 11:

Stillwater Bubble again. I ran about 70 minutes, about 7 miles in my walk/run style, until our grandson showed up. Then we ran some more! He just loves to run - his mother says it might be genetic. Ya think?

Afterward I did have some pain in the left foot, at the lisfranc ligaments, an old injury. I suppose it’s caused by the zig-zagging around after a five-year-old. Lots of fun, though.

Sunday, January 9:

University of Wisconsin River Falls Indoor Track. The Stillwater Bubble is open for runners and walkers only on weekdays, but the track at UWRF is open most weekend days, $4 each. We stopped by there for a 4-mile run after visiting a friend in western Wisconsin. It’s a normal 200-m indoor track, six lanes, with the faster runners in the inner lanes and walkers in the outer. Everyone runs in the same direction, which reverses every day.

No problems, no pains. I did a few sprints on the straight sections. It’s a masterpiece.


Recent post-run breakfast: Frozen organic blueberries and strawberries, organic pears, oatmeal with raisins and cranberries, a chunk of very dark chocolate:

Where the Wind Comes Sweeping Down the Plain

And up the river valley! Tulsa Route 66 Marathon review. This one is as good as they get.

I recommend it to anyone:

• Plenty of time to finish, for either the full or the half marathon.
  
• Well-organized expo with lots of vendors.
  
• Enough spectators to make it interesting.
  
• Not a single car to be seen on either route - the roads were totally closed to vehicle traffic. Yay!
  
• Fall color was at its peak, and there really are trees in Tulsa, especially in the neighborhoods. Very pretty.
  
• Aid stations were well-managed, porta-potties were actually plentiful after the first few miles.
  
• The race was organized into three corrals, started about seven minutes apart. That worked fine, even though my sweeties and I started in the last corral.
  
• It was warm and VERY windy, but you get whatever weather happens on marathon day.
  
• Music of one kind or another at MANY places along the course, mostly NOT obnoxious. You could dance to some of it.
  
• I have no suggestions for the race management except more food at the finish - they ran out of the best stuff.

My race: Not so hot. I finished in 5:19:02, eighth of 12 in my age group. I hadn’t trained very much since my last marathon five weeks ago because of a cold and fever. Also some joints hurt, the course was hilly and windy, and the weather was pretty warm, going from 63 at the start to 73 at the finish. But mostly it was my lack of trim. How much can you lose in five weeks? A lot, I guess; this one took more than a half hour longer and that one was hilly too. Nevertheless, I FINISHED my 48th marathon in my 31st state.

My left hip hurt quite a bit after mile four or five, enough to slow me down, but got somewhat better after I took a naproxen (Aleve) around mile 10 or so. That hip problem is new, and I hope it’s not a harbinger of oncoming arthritis. Others in my family have had hip replacements and I’m not interested! Several other parts hurt as well - left lisfranc ligaments, both hip flexors, right toes, yada yada, it’s a marathon, duh. Happily, though, the calves both complained a bit but neither cramped up, not even after the race. I did take six gels and six salt packets along the way, with at least 5 oz water at every aid station. That helps a LOT.

This race did offer a rare treat: Just after mile 16 the marathon course converged briefly with the half-marathon course, and the timing was perfect: I caught up to my two sweeties and was able to run with them for more than a mile. We never get to do that in a real race, only in training, so we stayed together and made the most of it. Then they turned around with about a mile left to go, and I jogged on ahead for my remaining eight miles or so. Needless to say they finished first, but they always do.

Along the course:

• Young woman wearing a T-shirt: “Balls are my business.” I might have asked, but she was going faster.
  
• Signs “Up With Trees” all along Riverfront Drive. Tulsa plants trees. Indeed, the maples were in technicolor.
  
• Sign propped in front of a boy in a stroller: “This is a really boring parade!”
  
• Shirt: I’m older than you, more devious, and I train while you sleep!”
  
• ”Banana Man,” a sharp young Texan who had run another marathon the DAY before, taught me about organic bananas.
  
• Bumper sticker on a rusty pickup: “A dead Yankee don’t tell no lies.” Same with a dead redneck, you neanderthal.
  
• Otherwise, Tulsa was warm and welcoming.

Splits: 11:55, 10:42, 10:49, 10:47, 11:08, 22:01 (2 mi), 22:09 (2 mi), 23:14, 24:52 (2 mi), 24:40 (2 mi), 13:25, 16:44, 14:02, 13:15, 14:22, 12:12, 13:25, 23:58 (2 mi), 11:38, 12:10, 1:40 (0.22 mi), total 5:19:02. Uffda. I can do better and I will.

Tuesday, Nov 16, 2010:

Jim and I ran together in the Stillwater Bubble, 1000-foot loops, at a pace that I’m sure was 9-minute miles or so, for 50 minutes. It was my first run in almost a week, and Jim’s first in even longer, so we took it easy. After three miles I was actually having trouble keeping that pace, so we walked one of the short sides of the rectangle and ran the rest. No problems, no pains.

One of Tulsa's many parks:

14-Mile Day

Happy Mothers Day!

Sunday, May 9, Run In The Park:

The grass trails in the park were in perfect shape this afternoon, despite the 3/4 inch rain 36 hours before. I love those trails. There is one particular route that is ten miles exactly. Temp was 55 degrees, perfect for shorts and a short-sleeved technical shirt.

Minor complaints from the left lisfranc joints, the right ankle, and the left hip (that’s a new one). Time 1:46:30, pace 10:39, I wish it were faster, but I did run most of the time and it was what I could do today. Nice park, nice trails, enjoyable run.

Sunday, May 9, Race For The Cure:

The Race for the Cure 5k is a huge annual event in Minnesota, drawing tens of thousands of runners and walkers. We three almost always go, to support a sister-in-law who is a survivor, and in the hope of a cure, of course! The weather was spectacular today, cool (36 degrees) but bright sun and no wind. One shirt, a wind jacket, and tights were plenty, maybe a little too much.

I didn’t start far enough toward the front, and was held back by the crowd some of the time, but still finished in 28:30, which is plenty good enough. Including the run to the start, and more after the race, total distance was at least 4 miles.

Saturday, May 8, St Croix Valley Runners:

The St Croix Valley Runners, five of us today in the cold, windy mist. Two Daves out in front, with George, Gauss, and me following well behind in no particular hurry. Five miles in 48 minutes, pace 9:36. Nice run - I enjoy chatting with those guys.


Breakfast with oatmeal on the top for a change.

Everything Aches

Actually only every MUSCLE aches, which is fine. Muscles are supposed to ache after a 20-mile run, so they will take the next long run a little more seriously. I ran on the N St Paul Community Center upstairs track, 20 miles, 270 laps, 1080 corners all to the right, about 35,100 paces. This was a difficult run for me, much more difficult than the 16-mile run six days ago. I’m not sure why, because I prepared for this one in about the same way, but I suppose it could be partly BECAUSE I ran 16 miles 6 days ago. Maybe. I used to be able to get away with that.

A slight pain in the arthritic left Lisfranc joint came and went, as did a slight ache in the once-injured right hamstrings. Hip flexors on both sides started to complain at about mile 14, but didn’t get too bad. This is normal for the last year or two. The only new pain was in the right leg, just below the knee joint, toward the outside, where some bones come together to support the knee joint. That showed up in mile 19, but disappeared soon after the run was over. Nothing hurts now :-)

The track is banked at the corners, so feet, knees, and hips were spared unusual stress, but evidently that benefit didn’t extend all the way up my body. Most disconcerting was the weariness in my trunk, as I tended to lean to the left, having trouble holding that shoulder up, starting as early as mile 6. That may be another reason why the run was difficult. The track was clockwise today, so all 1080 turns were to the right. One woman actually asked if I was trying to compensate for an injury, leaning so much to the left. It appears that I am sadly in need of core training.

I was able to run continuously for 18 miles, though, walking only briefly for water and gel breaks. The watch never stopped - no bathroom breaks. From 18 on, I did have to walk every fourth lap because I could barely hold myself upright and, besides, my legs were plumb out of energy.

I took 5 ounces of water every two miles, gel every four, and salt every four. No cramps! Splits: 9:47, 9:34, 9:44, 9:40, 10:03, 9:45, 10:18, 9:49, 10:23, 9:46, 10:25, 9:55, 10:32, 11:12, 10:44, 10:44, 11:12, 11:01, 12:20, 12:33, total 3:29:26, average pace 10:28. For the log: 130 paces around one full lap, 12 paces around one corner, so 48 corner paces in one lap. I can use those numbers to calculate roughly how much farther my left foot had to travel than my right foot did. Trivia. Next run: 3 miles for recovery, maybe Wednesday. I hope I can do that on a straight road.

Today's breakfast after the run.  Gluten-free cereal beneath.  The yellow is mango.  Mmmmm.

Easy Sixteen Again

Since I’m not trained for a marathon, but scheduled to run one, I thought I’d half-run half-walk it. But it turns out that you have to TRAIN even for that. When I tried it a week ago my hips were mighty sore the day afterward, most likely from the walking part. I sure was glad that I hadn’t done a whole marathon. So today I did sixteen more miles, the first fourteen walk/run and the last two all running, just like a week ago. Friend Norm joined me for the last mile, on his way to his seven or eight miles running.

This run was a little faster than last week’s, by about a minute and a half total. So maybe training actually works? Better yet there was plenty of gas in the tank at the end. I ran that mile with Norm, who didn’t really want to start his run at a high pace, or I might have run mile sixteen faster than 8:20. Two pains: (1) A slight pain in the left back, muscles and not bones, maybe six inches above the navel; and (2) the Lisfranc joint in the left foot, a chronic problem that can hurt but is not a stopper. NOT a problem: (1) The hip flexors of two days ago; (2) the blister on the right big toe (wrapped in tape); and (3) so far no pain in the hips. Yay!

Norm started his run a few seconds behind me just as I started my last mile. When he caught up to me, he asked if I always ran with my left shoulder lower than the right. That was news to me - I have known for years that I tend to veer to the left when tired, but hadn’t realized that I actually TILT to the left. I wonder why that is. I have also assumed that the tiredness is related to my legs, which are, after all, doing most of the work. Maybe, though, I lean to the left because of tiredness in the upper body, signaled by the pain in the left back. Hmmm. I think so, because my legs really weren't very tired today. Some core exercises might help.

Thinking now about a 5:00 marathon. Let’s assume: Delays like potty stops will take up seven minutes, so I need to run a pace for a 4:53 finish. Running pace will average 9:15, and walking pace will average 14:00. Question: How much of the time must I run, while walking the rest? Average pace for a 4:53 finish is 11:11. Solving 9:15*X + 14:00(1-X) = 11:11. X = .6, more or less. So if I can run 6/10 of the distance, walking 4/10, I should finish with about seven minutes to waste along the way. 6/10*9:15 = 5:33. So in each mile run 5:33 and walk to the next mile marker, which should take 5:38. Pretty much half and half, by time, and just under 16 miles total running. I might be able to do that - worth a try.

Splits: 11:23, 10:54, 10:58, 11:22, 11:08, 11:07, 11:10, 11:18, 11:11, 11:18, 11:05, 11:10, 11:14, 11:17, 8:47, 8:16, total 2:53:35, overall pace 10:51.


Dinner one day last August: No-hormone no-anything chicken (or is it turkey?), organic sweet potatoes, local organic parsnips, organic catsup, organic mustard.