Hartford Marathon report---finally!

I ran the Hartford Marathon on Saturday, October 15. Hartford took care of Connecticut on my quest to run a marathon in all 50 states. I now have just 13 states to go.

As marathons go, Hartford is just okay. It’s not the best, it’s not the worst. There were a few good things, a few not-so-good things. Overall, just kind of so-so. Which, I guess, is better than truly horrible. I just wasn’t in love with it, if you know what I mean.

I was also expecting that I would be able to run it a little faster than I did, but I swear I am not letting that affect my judgment.

A Long Weekend of Driving
Tommy came along and we drove out to Hartford. As it happened, my van was rear-ended a couple of weeks before, and while it was in the shop I was driving a Town & Country rental with unlimited mileage. So we were able to drive out in that thing and not put the mileage on one of our own cars. It’s not fun to drive in any way, shape or form, but was free. Except for the gas that it sucked down. Wow, it’s a guzzler. And that is just one of its faults, but don’t get me started.

For the race, we stayed at the Residence Inn in Rocky Hill, which is a suburb southwest of Hartford. We stayed there because I waited too long to make a hotel reservation downtown---who knew that everything for race weekend would book up two months in advance?---and also because Tommy could use a corporate discount. It was not much of a drive into town, and it was nice to have a kitchen.

On the way to the Hartford, we spent Thursday night at a Holiday Inn Express in Clearfield, PA (because I had a free night). On the return trip, we first drove up to Boston to see Susan and Ross, and then headed back via New York State (Tommy had business outside Syracuse). We spent Sunday night in Springfield, MA, and Monday night in Erie, PA, staying at Red Roofs. It is pretty weird to stay at a Red Roof without any dogs. Especially when there is a dog show in the town, as happened to be the case in Springfield!

Yeah, pretty much it would have been better if I had flown. We tried to break it up, but it was a lot of hours in the car. A car that I hated. But I digress.

Race Expo (and Pasta Dinner We Missed)
Even though we certainly didn’t linger in Clearfield, PA on Friday morning, it still took us until almost 4 pm to reach Hartford. It took us awhile, driving around in Friday afternoon downtown Hartford traffic---not that bad, except when you don’t know the area at all---to figure out where to park for the expo. The expo was in the XL Center, and we ended up in the garage across the street.

I had purchased tickets for the 5 pm seating of the pasta dinner. So now I was stressing out because I wanted to pick up my race packet and have a chance to thoroughly shop the expo before dinner.

Who am I kidding? I had been stressing out for probably two hours before we got to Hartford, worrying if we were going to make it on time.

Packet pickup was quick, albeit a bit confusing. The confusion kind of set the tone for the activities surrounding the race. Basically, there really was not a lot of direction or signage. And I guess I am old fashioned, but I really like to get printed instructions ahead of time. There was a little bit of info on the website, but not enough so that even if you printed it out would you have a truly clear idea about what was where. Maybe if you lived in Hartford and had done the race before it was enough. But not for somebody visiting for the first time.

I know this is also partly my fault because I’ve gotten kind of sloppy abut reading the directions at these races. After so many races in so many places, I guess I just assume that I’ll get there and figure it out.

Well, maybe it also would have helped if their race website was a little easier to navigate, and if they had sent out some detailed info via email, the way many other races do. They sent info, but not enough. And their website sucks---too much focus on their foundation and the charities, and not enough on the race.

So, I walked up to the first table and got my bib. That was it, just the bib. No bag to put it in. No goodies. No directions about where to go next. I noticed there was a little box of pins on the table but I didn’t bother to pick them up because I had packed extras, and I also assumed that at some point I would get a bag and maybe there would be pins in there.

I had to ask the volunteer about where to go next. If I had not asked, apparently she would not have said anything. She also did not say anything about the pins. I know I have complained about volunteers who are a little too explicit about exactly what the pins are for and how they should be used, but this was kind of the opposite. I would reflect on this later, and observe the results of her reticence while I waited for the race to begin the next morning (when random strangers kept asking me if I knew where they could find some pins).

I asked the volunteer about the location of the pasta dinner. She had no information.

So, it turns out that the next place I go is a table around the corner, where I get my shirt (long sleeved, technical, not bad) and a little orange sack designed like a backpack and made out of that material like you find in the reusable grocery bags. Turns out that does not work very well when you try to turn it into a backpack. It falls apart really fast. So, the result is you are going to throw it away, maybe even sooner than if it were an actual plastic bag! What is so green about that, I wonder?

There is nothing in this bag. It is not secure enough to use as a gear check bag, and it is kind of awkward to put your expo purchases in. I am not a fan of this bag.

I figure out the timing chip is already attached to the back of my race number, so we don’t have to pick up the chip.

I asked the volunteer at the shirt table about the location of the pasta dinner. He had no information.

We found a booth labeled “Information.” There was a large course map on display and a volunteer was going over that with some people. There was another volunteer standing around, so we asked him about the location of the pasta dinner. He did not have any information, and he was kind of rude about it.

I was getting hungry at this point. But we decided to put aside all thoughts of the pasta dinner, and do a quick walkthrough of the expo.

One thing I did like at Hartford was that you were able to pick up your packet (such as it was) before going through the expo. That is one thing that I really dislike about the Flying Pig.

The expo was about the size of the one at Flying Pig, maybe a little smaller. Hartford gets about 14,000 participants across all the events (half-marathon, relay, marathon) so that’s about right. They had a good selection of vendors. I ended up buying a couple of cute tee shirts (one technical, one cotton) with a dog-related theme (dog holding a race number that says 26.2 and the shirt says Marathon Dog).

There was an area selling Hartford Marathon logo wear, and I probably would have bought a hat or something, but they were a little overpriced for the lack of quality.

At this point we were expo’d out, and I was even hungrier, so we decided to try a little harder to locate the pasta dinner. On the way out of the expo I stopped at what appeared to be the “Trouble” desk. Somebody there was able to explain to us that the pasta dinner was located in Bushnell Park, about a half mile away from the expo.

Bushnell Park was also the start/finish area of the marathon. We had passed by it on our way to the XL Center. But now it was raining outside, and we were loath to move the car to another location more convenient to the park in the middle of rush hour on a Friday.

So we gave up on the pasta dinner for which I had stupidly paid in advance. It was windy and cold and rainy and miserable, so even if it were right next door to the expo the idea of sitting outside (under tents, but still) and eating pasta cooked for hundreds of people was not very appealing.

We drove to our hotel, checked in, and headed out to find an Italian restaurant nearby with the help of the GPS. Which turned out to be more difficult than you would think, since all the Italian places it could find seemed to be out of business. After a bit of driving around, we did locate a newish place not too far from the hotel, called Pazzo Cafe. Although the parking lot was full, we were seated right away. Décor was that trendy, casual, open kitchen, wood fired pizza oven kind of thing. Excellent bread. Decent wine list. Large portions. I had cavatappi with an eggplant sauce. I forget what Tommy had. Pizza? That’s right. This place also had an amazing selection of wonderful gelatos. I had two scoops for dessert, one scoop of chocolate and one scoop of mint chocolate chip. Tommy a piece of carrot cake, which I ended up having some of later back at the hotel. We agreed it was maybe the best carrot cake we had ever had in our lives.

The portions were so large, that we could take the leftovers back to the hotel with us, which worked out great for me after the race. I didn’t need my turkey sandwich when I could eat all the leftover pasta and pizza.

Getting to the Start
The morning was relatively stress-free for an out of town race with limited information. I was up early for my pre-race coffee and yogurt. The traffic getting back downtown was not bad at all on Saturday morning, and the highway seemed to dump us out right at Bushnell Park.

I got out of the car and left Tommy to go look for parking on his own. We agreed to meet after the race at the supposedly designated family reunion area, wherever that was. They said they had one.

It was a lovely morning in Bushnell Park, but the grass was soaked from the rain the day before. I got on the portapotty line, which was already rather long. Worse, as I approached the front of the line, I could see that the area directly in front of the portapotties was basically a mud pit. At least, I hoped that was mud. It was pretty disgusting. So, as you went in and out of the portapotty, you ended up with shoes that were covered in mud. Not the best way to start the race, I thought. Should have brought plastic bags to put on my shoes. Oh well.

After the portapotty stop, I walked around the little marathon village they had set up. There were a lot of tents and vendors, but no signage telling you which way to go to the start or providing any sort of useful information. Periodically, a guy on a loudspeaker would announce that the gear check area was in front of Bushnell Theater, but who knew where that was if you didn’t live in Hartford?

It was still early. I noticed that the booth for Dick’s Sporting Goods was unoccupied, so after making a pass around the village (picked up a little tube of free sunscreen, which did prove useful), I sat down in one of the chairs.

Almost as soon as I sat down, people started coming up to me and asking me questions:

Which way is the volunteer check in? Where is the gear check? Do you know where the kids’ fun run starts? And my favorite question, do you know where I can get some pins?

I had passed the volunteer check-in so I could actually help out with that one. In exchange, I asked people if they could tell me where the start line was, but nobody knew.

An official-looking guy dressed in a business suit came over, and I thought he was going to tell me I had to move. But no, he just was looking for the volunteer check-in. I pointed him in the right direction.

It was all pretty funny.

So I stayed seated there until about 15 minutes before the race was to begin, when I followed a growing wave of foot traffic in a direction that I hoped would lead to the starting line. This it did. And I also now knew where the Bushnell Theater was, but I wasn’t checking any gear.

Next point of confusion: I looked around for the pace signs to try to figure out a good place to line up. Then I noticed that all of the pace team leaders were hanging out together in front of the theater (I never did see any of them during the actual race, which was a little strange). So that was not very helpful. I found some people who looked like they were as slow as I was. I started chatting with a guy who told me that yeah, this was where all the over 10 minutes a mile people were, so it was the right place.

One nice thing at the start was that they had a big video display that was right in front of where I was standing, so I could see the people making the announcements (even though they still weren’t all that intelligible) and the woman who sang The Star Spangled Banner. They also showed a little video about selected people and their marathon “stories” but I didn’t pay much attention to that.

The Race
And soon, we were off. Overall, I’d have to say that it was not the most scenic or interesting urban marathon I’ve ever run. Also, it was not the most well-designed.Lots of turns, and retracing of steps. It was mostly flat, with a few hills provided by overpasses, and also by getting up and down from the riverfront. I know there are some pretty neighborhoods in Hartford (saw them later when driving around) but for some reason the course did not take us through them. It was a combination of boring downtown, industrial area, riverfront bike trail, and one somewhat upscale neighborhood in which we went down and back (and one much sketchier ‘hood that we went through on the way back).

There’s not a lot that is very interesting along the way. The aid stations are well-organized and well-staffed. There were occasional spots with live or recorded music, including a couple of bagpipers. Not too much crowd support. Not the worst race, but not the best, either. Just kind of ho-hum. Won’t make my list of favorites. It was just okay.

There were a lot of Maniacs and Fifty Staters. This is a big race weekend in New England, and there were several possibilities to complete a “double” by running Hartford on Saturday and then Mt. Desert Island (Maine) or Breakers (Rhode Island) on Sunday. There was one woman who was just in front of me for the first few miles who was wearing a sign on her back stating her intentions to finish Hartford and Breakers that weekend. I was glad that I had decided not to try that myself. It also made me feel good to eventually pass her. Would have been more demoralizing if she had easily pulled ahead of me. I’m just not ready for a double.

The first couple miles basically serve to get you out of the downtown area and into a combination of industrial areas and a riverside park. I know Hartford probably wants us to remember the park but unfortunately there was a lot of industry in there, too. I missed the first mile marker, but reached mile 2 in 19:58.

By the start of the third mile we had turned onto a paved path that runs along the Connecticut River. Mile 3 took me 9:56. I decided that I needed another portapotty visit. This hasn’t happened to me in quite awhile during a marathon so I must have been overhydrated or something. Anyway, just as we were leaving the industrial area and heading onto the bike path, I noticed a couple of portapotties on the side, off of the trail. I’m not even sure if they were actually associated with the race, but there was no line so I went in. This cost me a minute but it was worth it for the comfort factor. Mile 4 was 11:11.

I remember two things from mile 5, which took us back into downtown. First, there was some woman complaining to some guy that her GPS was a tenth of a mile off, and asking if he thought the course was measured wrong. I tried to explain to her that race courses are measured on the tangents, so unless she was always running the shortest tangent, every time we turned a corner she was adding distance. And we were turning a lot of corners. So really, a tenth of mile over five miles is not that bad. Anyway, she didn’t understand what I was trying to say. So I gave up.

Second thing is that I ran by Tommy, who lamely tried to take my picture but couldn’t figure out how to get the camera to work in time, so I just kept going because I was feeling good and didn’t want to stop.

Mile 5 was 10:04. I don’t remember too much about miles 6-11 (I am looking at the course map as I write this). My times were 10:02, 9:41, 9:52, 10:44, 10:06 and 10:02. I was having GU Chomps (Green Tea flavor) every four miles or so, and walking through the water stations. I guess some of this was along the river, and some of it was industrial. Nothing very memorable.

Around mile 11, we began a long out-and-back stretch that would take us through a neighborhood of large old homes. Even here, I was surprised that there were not more people out cheering. The Hartford Marathon is comparable in size to the Flying Pig in Cincinnati, and I was thinking about how much more interesting a course we have here, and how much louder the people cheer in Hyde Park Square. There was nothing like that in Hartford. In this neighborhood (whatever it is called) there were a few houses with parties going on out on the front lawns, but there were many empty spots as well.

The cool thing about the out-and-back was that it gave me an opportunity to see the fast runners on their way back (mile 23 is near mile 11). I saw the two Kenyan guys who would finish first and second, followed by serial marathoner Michael Wardian (the previous year’s winner, a fellow Maniac who would go on to win Mt. Desert Island in Maine the very next day).

I was still feeling okay, and keeping a pretty even pace for miles 12-16 (10:05, 10:39, 10:09, 9:55, 10:18). I was looking forward to the turnaround at mile 17, when it looked like we would be headed downhill. Funny how when I run these out-and-back portions of a race, I always think it will be downhill on the way back. It’s just an optical illusion.

Mile 17 was 11:47, and I was starting to struggle a bit. And then I found out that we were not going downhill after all. And now, we were running into a headwind, which would be with us for the remainder of the race. At this point I started getting really bored with the race and just wanted it to be over, and I was again very glad that I did not have to get up and do the same thing tomorrow in a different city.

Mile 18 was 9:25 (perhaps mile 17 and 18 markers were in the wrong places), but after that I was struggling again. 10:49 for 19, 11:05 for 20, 22:30 for 21 and 22, 12:05 for 23.

I had kind of been hoping for a sub-4:30 time, but that was not happening now.

At mile 24, we headed back along the river trail and into downtown. Mile 24 was 11:57, mile 25 was 11:59, and mile 26 was 11:14. Saw Tommy, who took my picture, as I ran towards the finish line. We passed under that little stone archway thing that is part of the race logo and replicated in the design of the finisher’s medal, but I did not even notice at the time. 1:57 for the last .2 and I was glad to be done with it.

It has been bothering me that I did not know anything about what that stone archway was supposed to represent, so I looked it up online. It is called the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch, and it is in honor of the 4000 Hartford residents who served in the Civil War, and the 400 who died in Union uniforms. I never would have guessed that it was a war memorial. I am surprised that there is no info (or maybe I am not surprised considering the general dearth of info) about the arch on the race web site, since it is used as the race logo and therefore somewhat significant. Again, they seem to be assuming that the people who run this race are all from the Hartford area. Ha, and in truth is not really a race worth travelling for, after all.

So, that time put me 20 of 46 in my age group and 1557 of 2217 marathoners. I guess this race is a little smaller than the Flying Pig. I was disappointed that I didn’t finish any faster than at Leading Ladies, since I felt so good going into the race. But I guess the Leading Ladies course was faster than I realized. And, I had not expected to have so much trouble running into that headwind.

Post-Race
In addition to the traditional space blankets and the finisher’s medal (which is rather a nice one), they handed out reusable orange (the ING race sponsor color) water bottles at the finish line embossed with the race logo and the word “Finisher” on them. I thought that was a nice touch, but it would have been even nicer if they had rinsed the bottles out before filling them. Very strong taste of plastic in there. Had to dump it.

They also do a nice job with the food at the end of this race. There was a large tented area with a bigger variety of items than at most races. My favorite was the hot tomato and chicken soup with parmesan cheese. It was nice and salty and warm, just the perfect thing after an autumn race.

After getting some food, I was ready to find Tommy. Since he had been nearby when I crossed the finish line, I did not expect it to be too difficult to locate him. But what did present a challenge was finding the location of the reunion area where we had agreed to meet. I wandered around the park for a bit, asked various people for directions, and wasn’t having any luck. As I had noticed in the morning before the race, there were no signs anywhere, and nobody seemed to know where anything was---actually, I had a little trouble even finding my way to the food tent, to tell the truth.

Eventually, I found a volunteer who thought that he had seen some signage up on the street with alphabet letters (A-H, I-M, etc. that sort of thing) indicating it might be a reunion area. So I walked out of the park and toward that street, where I did find these signs. They weren’t very big. I stood on the sidewalk by the A-H sign. Nobody else was waiting there. I was getting cold. I walked up and down the street for a few minutes. I thought about how many people I had asked before I located the reunion area, and I thought about how unwilling Tommy was to ask for directions.

I wished I had carried a phone. I was just about to ask someone if I could borrow their phone to try to reach Tommy when he finally appeared.

The good news was that he had found a parking space that morning in the lot directly across the street from the park, so now that we were reunited, I did not have far to walk at all. We headed back to the hotel, where I feasted on our leftovers from the night before---no need of a turkey sandwich this time.

Hartford Touristing

After eating and getting cleaned up, we headed off for the Mark Twain House---the only thing we were going to have time to see while in Hartford, although honestly I am not sure that there is all that much else to see there besides the University of Connecticut and all the insurance companies.

We were lucky enough to get two of the last tickets for the last tour of the day---I had not realized that there were scheduled tour times and a limited number of tickets.

Ok, here is what I remember: Samuel Clemens moved to Hartford with his wife, Olivia. They rented a house in the Nook Farm neighborhood (a writer’s enclave, and I presume, the source of the name for the Barnes & Noble e-reader). They had this house built for them (Livy came from money). Harriet Beecher Stowe was a neighbor. It is a pretty cool house. The time they lived in this house marked the most productive period of Clemens’ life---he wrote Huckleberry Finn, Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court while living there. The Clemens lived very well, until some bad business investments forced them to move away, and eventually sell the property.

At one point, the structure was in danger of being demolished and replaced with a car dealership! Would have been a shame. In addition to the house, there is a museum, gift shop, and café.

Oh yeah, and he had a lot of cats. Like Hemingway. And some of the descendants of these cats still roam the grounds.

The entranceway of the house reminded me of an M. C. Escher lithograph, because there is a big square space where you can look straight up and see all the other floors of the house. Or maybe it was the woodcut designs on the walls. Anyway, it reminded me of Escher’s “Relativity.”

After our tour, we drove around the neighborhood. There was a very pretty park (Elizabeth Park) with a restaurant/event space inside of it, where I had thought maybe we could have dinner, but there was an event going on so we didn’t try. The neighborhood around Elizabeth Park reminded me of Wyoming in the Greater Cincinnati area, and I wondered why the marathon didn’t go through here. It was close to downtown and a lot nicer than most of the area we ran through.

I screwed up the restaurant pre-planning for this race. I had been looking for restaurants close to the Mark Twain house (how I found Elizabeth Park) but did not look for things near our hotel.

We drove back near the hotel and tried to use our GPS to locate potential steak houses. No luck. We ended up at Wood-n-Tap, a bar and grill (seemed to be part of a chain) that Tommy had been to while on a business trip. He was not enthused about it because he didn’t remember it as being very good. And he was correct. The beer was okay but the food was pretty bad.

The Rest of our Trip
Sunday morning after breakfast we drove up to Boston and spent the day with Susan and Ross, hanging out around their apartment in Somerville. We got there just in time to see Susan finish a 5k race just around the corner from the apartment. Apparently Davis Square is a very popular location for Boston-area races.

We had lunch at the Boston Burger Company place on the first floor of their building (can you imagine living on top of that?), afternoon coffee at Diesel Café, and dinner at Foundry on Elm (gastropub that is just a couple of blocks away). These places were all really great, of course. Good food and 5k races all within walking distance of home, does it get any better than that?

We spent the night in Springfield at a Red Roof Inn. It felt weird to stay at a Red Roof without a dog or two or three. Especially when there was apparently a dog show going on in the area.

Monday morning we drove west to Fayetteville, NY, where Tommy had some business in the afternoon. We ate lunch at Hullar’s, an excellent little homestyle restaurant and bar that Tommy had been to several times before---a great little chowhoundie find. Had some wonderful French onion soup, and meatloaf with mashed potatoes.

While Tommy visited the plant, I drove around the town. I took some pictures of the Craftsman Inn, which is where Tommy usually stays. It is a neat place, filled with Stickley furniture.

Across the street there is a mall that includes some interesting outlet stores (Stickley furniture, L. L. Bean). We didn’t have room in the car to bring back any furniture, but I took a look around the L. L. Bean outlet. Didn’t find anything worth buying. There was also an Eastern Mountain Sports, and I checked that out as well but didn’t find anything good there either.

At some point I realized that this is the home of the Fayetteville-Manlius high school, a perennial high school cross country powerhouse that generally does well at the Nike Cross Nationals (NXN). How many times has their girls' team won that thing? The fact that I know this stuff just shows what kind of a crazy running geek I have become. Anyway, I drove by the high school. If they were selling logo-wear from that school somewhere in town, I swear I would have bought something.

Soon it was time to pick Tommy up and continue our journey home. We stopped for the night in the Erie, PA suburbs, near the casino. This is where we bought the Bad Monkey beer. I had heard of this beer before---and it was originally named "Butt Monkey." Seriously. It was disgusting, but I am saving the bottle in honor of Eddy. I did not realize until I researched it online that they stopped brewing this beer a couple of years ago. No wonder it tasted so nasty.

And the next day we drove home. It was after this trip that Tommy decided to redeem some frequent flyer miles for our Thanksgiving travels! We put a couple thousand miles on that Town & Country in the three weeks that my van was in the shop. We managed to suck all the newness out of that baby, all right.

I am taking a break from running the states for the next year. My next few marathons will be closer to home. I plan to pick it up again next October, after Susan’s wedding.

Leading Ladies Marathon, August 21

I ran this race back in August but have not made time to write about it until now. I took copious handwritten notes while I was there---did not have a laptop with me---with lots of detail about the trip, including the people I sat next to on the flights and what I ate for every single meal. But I will skip most of that stuff in this report. In fact, I won’t even go back and look at those notes right now. I’ll just see how much I can remember off the top of my head.

The Leading Ladies Marathon is an all-woman race in Spearfish, South Dakota. The race director, Elaine Doll-Dunn, is a Maniac and a 50-Stater and married to Jerry Dunn (race director of a few other races in similar places). I was looking forward to a small but well-executed event, by runners and for runners, and this race did not disappoint.

OTOH, I was a little worried about feeling awkwardly out of place, as I often do whenever surrounded by large groups of women who already know each other or who are really into the female bonding thing. I had hoped that my daughter and sister would be accompanying me to this race, but it did not work out. So I was travelling alone, and I really am a loner at heart, anyway. I was pleasantly surprised when I got to Spearfish. There were plenty of other women there by themselves. I was not made to feel weird at all.

How I Got There
From Cincinnati, I flew into Rapid City, SD via Minneapolis on Delta. I rented a car from Dollar (best price, offsite pickup but there was a shuttle driven by a friendly elder gentleman), and the car rental place was a Subaru dealer, so it was all good. I enjoyed my weekend of driving in my cute little Subaru sedan.

Where I Stayed
I stayed at the Holiday Inn Convention Center hotel in Spearfish, which was the race hotel. The pasta dinner and expo were at this hotel, and the bus to the start line departed from there. Had I known the area better, I might have stayed at one of the places across the street, which I suspect were cheaper---it would have been no big deal to walk up the hill and across the parking lot to catch the bus. There’s also a Best Western (I think that is what it was) in downtown Spearfish that is probably close to the finish line, and if not there is plenty of parking to drop a car at the finish and pick up the bus (which made a stop there) to the start. Holiday Inn was over-priced, but at least I got Priority Club points.

Tourist Attractions
I flew in Friday morning and walked around Mt. Rushmore before driving up to Spearfish. It was ridiculously cold and I didn't have quite the right clothes. Fortunately for me it warmed up a bit by race day.

Friday evening, I had dinner in downtown Spearfish and walked around some. Saturday morning, I had breakfast at Perkins across the street from the hotel, and then wandered the grounds of the historic D.C. Booth Fish Hatchery (in the park near the finish line of the race). Had lunch at a little coffee shop.

Sunday, post-race, I had lunch at a sports bar downtown, then walked around the High Plains Western Heritage Center. Had a chocolate milk shake at Culvers (a chain restaurant across from my hotel). Ate dinner at the hotel restaurant, which was decent but I wish I had gone there for lunch instead.

On Monday, I drove to the Crazy Horse Memorial before dropping off the rental car. In retrospect, I should have done that on Friday, also, because I only had an hour there on Monday.

Changed My Mind
So I went back and read this over and who am I kidding? Of course, if you are reading this, you want to know about the food. Maybe you don't need to read about the woman who sat next to me on the first flight who wiped down the entire seat cushion with an anitbacterial cloth before sitting down, or the guy on the second flight who had just returned from Alaska, but you do want to read about the food.

So here is more detail about the food:
Between flights in Minneapolis, I had a breakfast sandwich from Caribou Coffee. I was trying to eat healthy, so I had the egg white, cheese and spinach on a wheat bun. Kind of bland. I would not recommend it. And I'm not sure the egg white even makes up for the cheese.

Friday night dinner in downtown Spearfish: Ate at a somewhat overpriced place called the Bay Leaf Cafe. Food was just ok. Ambiance was of a slightly rundown 70s cafe, trying to be gourmet. I know, it is probably somebody's dream I am stomping on here. I had a cup of clam chowder, herb-crusted walleye, and a chocolate mint cheesecake (that last part was a little better than okay). Ordered a glass of wine that was terrible. Served in the wrong type of glass, and did not go well with the walleye. Actually could not finish it. Also, flies buzzing around in the restaurant that I had to fight off. Gross.

Saturday morning: Two cups of coffee in the room before showering. Perkins was Perkins. I had three pancakes with butter and syrup (you have to pick your poisons), 2 poached eggs, fruit instead of hash browns (ate some of it), OJ and more coffee.

Lunch at Common Ground coffee shop. Had smoked salmon cream cheese on a bagel. Read article in local magazine about how owner catches salmon in Alaska over the summer, and that was the salmon in my cream cheese.

Pasta dinner is covered below.

Race morning: two cups of coffee and half a Bobo's Oat Bar.

Post-race: Disappointed (as is mostly the case) in the variety of food at the finish line, and there is no one there to bring me a turkey sandwich. Good thing I got a ride back to the hotel swiftly. Back downtown, I had a burger at a sports bar, the name of which escapes me but that is where the waitress tipped me off to the shakes at Culvers, which I hit later that afternoon.

Dinner at the hotel restaurant. Surprisingly good. Had salmon with an orange butter glaze, incredible cheddar smashed potatoes (would like the recipe for those), and turkey wild rice cream soup (too rich for an appetizer, didn't finish it), and a Ranger IPA draft.

Breakfast on Monday morning: Coffee shop in the WalMart plaze across from the hotel. Nice ambiance inside but the coffee was weak and the bagel was a fluffy roll.

Try to eat "lunch" in the lone sitdown restaurant in the Rapid City airport, but there is just one overworked waitress for all the customers, so after 15 minutes I gave up and had a grilled chicken salad from the carryout place by the gate.

Where I Buy My Souvenirs
Race expo and packet pickup: This was surprisingly good for such a small event. There were a couple of local running stores represented, and they had brought an interesting assortment of products. I bought some stuff, including a running skirt, a couple of tops with running-related designs, and some spicy beef jerky. I also bought a cheap wine glass with the race logo hand painted on it, mostly because I felt sorry for the person selling them as there did not appear to be many takers. The race shirt is a short sleeved white performance top in a woman’s cut. It feels kind of itchy but I haven’t tested it out yet. The half-marathon shirt was in black, which I would have preferred.

Entertainment
Guest speaker: Pre-dinner. Better than expected. Helene Neville is a cancer survivor who ran across America last year. To be a little different and make it more challenging, she took a southern route (CA to FL) in the summer. She showed us slides and talked about the experiences she had on her trip.

I'll admit, I was not expecting much from her talk. I thought it was going to be just another story about some cancer survivor who ran across the country. Ho hum. But it was better than that. Helene was very real and refreshing, funny and sweet. I enjoyed her talk very much. Helene did not seem to be a very experienced motivational speaker (despite what her web site says!), but we were a gentle and welcoming audience, and receptive to her story. Maybe what helped make her presentation compelling was precisely the fact that she does not think of herself as very extraordinary. She is just a regular person who decided to try to do some extreme things.

Helene is a nurse, and her mission is to inspire other nurses to be healthy---to eat better and exercise. She does charity/fundraising work for a Catholic elementary school in the Philadelphia inner city. Her next adventure will be to run 300 miles non-stop, at the end of which she will be announcing her candidacy for the Senate, from Nevada, if I am remembering correctly. Note to self, get her book. Helene was not running in the race, but I remember seeing her volunteering at an aid station somewhere past the halfway mark.

Pasta Dinner
As I expected, the food was decent since we were in a hotel. Rigatoni in plain and whole wheat, spinach linguini, alfredo and meatball sauces, and rigatoni in a veggie cream sauce. And chocolate brownies. (I confess I had to go back to my notes for this part).

Dinner company better than expected. I sat at a table with five other women: Ruth from NYC (by way of Dayton, OH), Debbie from Columbus, OH, and another woman from Rapid City (but by way of Ashland, OH) so we were joking that we were the Ohio table, until we were joined by a couple of women from Oregon. We had some good conversations about the races we had done. The Oregon women were 50-Staters/Maniacs. Ruth was run-walking a marathon a month. She was not a 50-Stater yet, but she had multiple completions in NY and was working on doing it enough times to get a permanent automatic entry.

Debbie was doing just her second marathon and hoping to BQ after a 4:08 last year in Columbus. She said her workouts all indicated that she was just on the cusp, and she had a lot of people back home who were pulling for her. I asked if she had done her Yasso 800s and she didn’t know what I was talking about. The woman from Ashland was going to do the full as her first marathon, but had chickened out and switched to the half. She had just returned to the US from S. Korea with her husband, who is in the military, and they have a young child.

Bus Ride to the Start
I was down in the lobby at 3:45 am to catch the bus, which departed at 4. Yikes! But at least with the time change, it was two hours later for me. I saw next to a woman from the Denver, CO area. We were a little quiet at first but soon started chatting. She had done seven or eight marathons before, mostly in Colorado. She recommended Steamtown as the one for me to do in CO. Like Debbie from dinner, she was hoping for a BQ, but I thought she had a little more realistic idea about it than Debbie did.

At the Start
I hit the portapotty line right away, then took a couple of pictures. It was not too cool at the start, so I went with just my ratty old blue anorak over a technical tee. It was bright enough for my sunglasses, even at 6 am. I had not been crazy about the long ride to the start plus the wait outside once we got there, but I survived. It was not raining. I felt good. The altitude did not seem to be bothering me and I had no niggling aches. My goal was just to finish in under 5 hours, in relative comfort.

The Race Itself
The race begins with a little downhill jog, and then we were on a dirt/gravel road uphill for most of the first mile. People were commenting on how the race was supposed to be downhill, but I just thought that I was used to being lied to by race directors, so what else was new? I was hoping there would not be so much gravel, though!

Fortunately, we were soon on regular asphalt. The race was mostly downhill, but with enough breaks and changes in the cant of the road that you didn’t get fatigue from over use of specific muscles.

I ran most of the race alone, but almost always with other women in sight. Had a little conversation around mile six or so with a woman from New Jersey, who was breathing hard and complaining about the altitude just before she left me in the dust. She had run Boston four times, and she was further along the 50-State odyssey than am I, and she happily shared these facts with me. Is that a New Jersey thing? She appeared to be of Ethiopian heritage, so I decided that would explain how easily she could pass me despite her problems with the altitude.

I felt solidly mid-pack, not a bad place to be. The scenery was beautiful. I carried a camera but did not stop to take pics (except of the Elvis impersonator near the halfway mark). I was going to take pics if things started going really bad, but since I was running pretty well I didn’t want to stop.

I kept a pretty steady effort, slowing down a little in the second half but not dramatically so. Crossed the finish in 4:36:26 chip time, which put me 10 of 31 in my age group and 69 of 155 overall. My time was about what I expected, and it wasn't too much of a struggle. So once again I am left wondering what would happen if I actually trained properly.

I enjoyed this race and my weekend in South Dakota. I would highly recommend this race to any woman who appreciates a small but well-organized marathon in a scenic locale. It's a race that I would go back to again and again if I lived near there, but I don't, so I won't.

Warrior Run 5K

I wanted to race one more 5k before my marathon next weekend. At last week’s race, I was not completely confident that the course was accurately measured, and I know I lost some time when I stopped to mess around with my race number. I’ve been feeling pretty good lately and I wanted to see just what kind of speed I really have.

The Warrior Run, in its second year, is a fundraiser for the suicide prevention program at Children’s Hospital Medical Center (“Surviving the Teens”). The race was created by the friends and family of Jim Miller, who was a runner and active member of the community before his death from suicide in 2008. You can read about Jim Miller here. You can read a newspaper article about last year’s race here.

I picked this race out of the available options for a number of reasons---it was for a good cause, close to home, they said there would be food afterwards, the timing Saturday night would enable me to still get a long run in on Sunday, and I am familiar with the course. It is run almost entirely through pleasant residential streets in the village of Mariemont. And it also helped that when I looked at the results, the times from last year were not that competitive, so I figured I had a chance at another moment of glory. I wanted to finish in the top ten women and win my age group.

Also, I had a fair amount of confidence that the race director for this one would put together an accurately measured course.

All of these things turned out to be true, except this year, the field was a bit more competitive.

Picked up my bib number at The Running Spot on Friday afternoon. The shirt is included. It’s orange, which is okay with me. Cheerful. The volunteer told me they were using chip timing but we had to pick up our chips up at the start.

Red Wine & Gin are Not a Race-Ready Combo
Friday night I made steak for dinner (which seemed to necessitate sharing a bottle of Shiraz). Prior to dinner, it just felt right to celebrate one of the last warm evenings of the season with a gin & tonic on the patio. I should have known better.

I just can’t drink that much anymore, and it is always a bad idea for me to mix gin and red wine in the same evening. I didn’t feel that bad Saturday morning, but by afternoon I was dragging. Had to take a nap. Had to have three cups of coffee. And a cup of tea. Really wasn’t in the mood to race but went over anyway.

Parking was recommended at Mariemont High School, but that is a mile away from the start/finish of the race. I need a mile warm up anyway but I didn’t want to walk that far afterwards. They did have a shuttle bus, but I didn’t want to deal with that. Fortunately, it was no problem finding a spot in the lot behind the Dilly Café/Mariemont Inn, only about a quarter mile from the start.

The race start and finish was on Pleasant St. (remember, I said it was a pleasant neighborhood) next to the Bell Tower Park. There were lots of kids and families gathered in the park, hanging out by the playground. Booths were set up offering the promised food items, including pizza, chili, ice cream, baked goods, and fruit cups. I liked what I saw. I didn’t think I would be very hungry after the race but maybe some ice cream.

After attaching my chip to my left shoe, I stopped at the portapotties. My mouth felt dry, so I grabbed a bottle of water from a cooler and headed out for my warm up. I wondered if I really needed to get any warmer. It was much warmer out than last weekend. I felt crappy but I made myself do a mile anyway. I jogged down the street and saw where the one mile marker was positioned. Good to know that there would be mile markers at this one. I passed by an aid station where the volunteer asked me if the race had started already. No, not for another 20 minutes, I told her.

I did some strides. I still felt yucky. I was thinking that maybe if my first mile was over 9 minutes I would just drop out. I was thinking that if it looked like I was not going to break 25 minutes, I would not cross the finish line. I was thinking maybe it was a stupid idea to be doing this race a week before the Hartford Marathon.

I finished the bottle of water. I made another stop at the portapotties, and took my place behind the start line. We were packed in tight on Pleasant St. I tried to find a spot close to the front and ahead of any obvious walker-types. The walkers are supposed to start after the runners but sometimes they don’t get the message, or maybe they don’t realize that they are walkers until the rest of us start running.

I saw a woman whom I thought might have been my age group competitor, Cyndi K., but I was not completely sure. Otherwise I didn’t see anybody there I knew.

And then we were off, and I discovered that I had not entirely succeeded in getting ahead of the walkers, because I had to elbow a couple of women aside right away. After that it was crowded, but moving at the right pace. We headed out onto Rt. 50 for a few blocks, before turning back into the neighborhood for the remainder of the race. I was passed by one woman who looked like she was in my age group, but I caught up to and overtook another couple of possible rivals before the first half mile.

I felt bad. I did not know if it was because I was running fast, or if it was just because I was still hung over. I remind myself about how I am trying to stop giving in to that desire to quit, in running and in many other parts of life. And dropping out really is not in the spirit of the day.

I hit the first mile marker in 7:47. It was comforting to realize that I felt bad because I was actually running what for me is a fairly fast pace.

Now I knew that I was not going to drop out. I told myself, 16, 17 more minutes, you’ll be done. You can handle that, right?

Picked up a cup of water at the aid station and swished some around my mouth. Walked for just a few paces. Halfway into the race and I was no longer thinking about feeling hung over. I was just racing. Mile two was 8:09. Okay, a bit slower, but maybe there is a slight incline here and also I did lose a few seconds at the aid station.

In 5ks, I always start counting down the minutes until I will be done after I start the last mile. So now I was telling myself, eight or nine more minutes and I would be done. You can do this for eight more minutes, I told myself.

As we approached the three mile mark and the turn for home, I noticed a couple of women that I remembered from the start, who might have been in my age group. I didn’t think I could catch them, but when we turned the corner it seemed like they were slowing down.

I kicked and passed those two women (and a few men) and almost caught one other, crossing the finish line in 24:29 official time. I had the last mile as 7:52 on my watch, and 40 seconds for the last bit.  I was out of breath but I did not throw up. Yay for me.

I was quite pleased with my time, which was about the same as last weekend on a much cooler day. Hangover was gone. I felt fabulous. I love racing!

I walked around for a bit, and then decided to have a little ice cream. And a brownie. Incredible brownie. I went back to the dessert booth to inquire about the caterer who had made the brownies. I was still walking around stuffing my face with brownies and ice cream when Cyndi K. came over and introduced herself to me.

A Little Friendly Competition
She said she thought she had seen me at a few of the trail races, and her name was Cyndi. I had to stop myself from saying her name before she did. I told her I was Monica. We chatted for a bit about how we just do these things for fun, and we really don’t train very hard, and how we just love to get out and run in these different parts of town (that last part is true). Cyndi said that she is really more into triathlons (of course she is). I was surprised that she didn’t know that the Ironman was going on in Kona as we spoke. I told her that I had been watching it streamed live before I left for the race, and the elites were just about halfway through the bike at that point.

“I just love the human interest stories, that’s my favorite part.” said Cyndi.

“Me too,” I said.

Sure we do.

And more like that for a little bit. I was conscious of having chocolate fudge all over my face. I told Cyndi I needed to be heading out, and we said our goodbyes until the next time.

When I tell Tommy this story later, he just has a good laugh about how funny women are! I mean, if Cyndi really doesn’t care that I have beaten her in our last four races, why did she come over to say hello? All out of the blue and at random like that? Tommy asks why we can’t admit that we are competing with each other.

Well, mostly I am competing with myself. But I can’t help but be aware of the others, these people that I see every week and whose names get published along with mine on lists with our respective times next to them. We are racing, after all. We are racing to see how fast we are. But we are also racing to see if we are faster than somebody else.

I went off to look for a napkin. I decided not to stay for the awards, because on the web site they said they were only going one deep in the age groups. I was pretty sure I had beaten Cyndi (note that we did not discuss our finish times or places at all), but I didn’t know who else was there. This particular race director sometimes is a little slow getting the awards going, and I didn’t want to hang around for an hour and not get anything.

Turns out, I was 3 of 13 in the age group, and they did go three deep on the awards. Oh well, I suspect it was not anything I really need to add to my collection. I was 13 of 186 women, and 61 of 237 runners overall. By comparison, last year my time would have easily won the age group and finished in the top ten women. But it was more competitive this year.

Overall, it was a very enjoyable event, and one that I will add to the calendar for the future.

Glenwood Gardens 2011

And now, I will write about the "trail" race I ran on Saturday night, September 17. Glenwood Gardens is a park in the northwest suburbs on Cincinnati. I have never been to this park during the day, but it is supposed to be pretty. It is hard to tell at night!

This was my second time at this event. Because we are running in the dark, and there are no street lights in the park, it helps to wear a headlamp. I purchased one last year just for this race, and I haven't had a reason to use it again since.

Last year I was recovering from bronchitis, and getting ready for the New Hampshire marathon. Still, I ran faster than I expected. So this year, since I have been pretty healthy lately and my training is going well, I was hoping for some significant improvement.

This doesn't really qualify as a true "trail run," even though it is included as part of the Dirt Days trail series. But this is good for me, because I am relatively better on the roads than I am on the trails. The course is mostly flat, but a large part of it is on a gravel path.

And that was the only little hitch in my plans for the evening, because the trail shoes I wanted to wear, the well-cushioned Saucony Xodus 2.0s with the great traction, were missing one of their insoles. The insole disappeared after the last time I wore these shoes, which was to show Zen in conformation outdoors in the rain. I took the insoles out so the shoes could dry, and one of them disappeared. I think Zen got ahold of it and Tommy took it away from her but he doesn't remember what he did with it and she is not telling, either. I have been unable to find a replacement insole that works for this shoe.

So, I put on my more lightweight Salomon trail shoes, which are not very well cushioned and don't have much tread left on them either. The tread is not so important but cushion would be nice. At the last minute, I throw a pair of regular running shoes (Nike Structures) in my bag. When I get to the race, I decide that I am better off wearing the regular shoes, because it is not a real trail race after all, and the extra bit of cushion will protect my feet better on the gravel.

After parking my car, I picked up my bib number and one of the little red flashing lights they want us to wear on our backs to aid with visibility. I hook the light on the back of my cap. After a visit to the rest room, I spend a little time in the car. It is too early for a warmup but I get antsy. So I decide to go out for a little walk around the race course. This gets boring pretty quick so I end up jogging anyway.

I'm not good at map reading, so I didn't spend any time looking at the race map, and I also don't remember a whole lot about the route from last year. I remember that we start on the paved path and run that for at least a half mile or more before we hit the gravel, and that we seem to retrace our steps or repeat a loop somewhere along the way. And that's about it for what I remember.

There are little lights set out to mark the course, but there is no signage anywhere you have to change direction. I jog around for awhile, not sure where I am going, until I start to get nervous that I am going to get lost in the park and miss the start of the race. So I head back towards the sounds of the music, and the light on top of the hill near the parking lot. I make it back in time for another pit stop, and ditch my jacket in the car.

At the start line, I line up a little closer to the front than usual, near some of the women I recognize from the other trail races. People are chatting about their standings in the Dirty Dozen. I am thinking about how my standing is going to improve dramatically after this race. The standings are based on your five best times, and this will be my sixth race, which means that my horrific 70th place from the very first race last March will drop off. Even if I am the very last woman in this race---which isn't going to happen---there are few enough entrants that my placement will be much better.

There is a woman, about my age, whom I have beaten soundly in my last couple of road races. who also does these trail races, but I have never beaten her in a trail race. I'm not 100 percent sure I recognize her, and it is dark out which doesn't help, but I want to try to beat her in this one. I figure since this race is more like a typical road race than a trail run, I have a good shot at that.

From the start, I feel like I am further ahead in the pack than I was last year, and I feel good. There are no mile markers in this race, and I am so unfamiliar with the park, that for most of the race I really have only a vague idea of where I am. I find myself running most of the race with a man and a young girl. The course feels different to me than what I remember from last year, but I don't remember it very clearly and it is also possible that our route is actually different this year. The turns and the areas where the path forks are not especially well-marked. There are supposed to be people out there directing us but there don't seem to be as many people as they need.

So I stick with this guy and the girl and try to turn where they do, assuming that we are following the right path. After awhile they pull away, but fortunately for me at that point the remainder of the route is pretty clear.

A young man and woman (younger than me, anyway) catch up to me. The woman is wearing a Boston Marathon shirt. I ask if they know how much more we have left, and the woman says about a half-mile. I let them pull ahead, even though I could stay ahead of them if I really tried. I guess I am intimidated by her Boston shirt and figure she should be faster than I am.

Soon we are approaching the lights of the finish line. I can see on the clock that my time is much better than last year. I kick and try to see if I can catch BQ woman and her friend, but I run out of real estate. Finish the race in 30:08, which is two and a half minutes faster than last year.

I hear that someone has ordered pizza, so I hang around to get some. After I change into dry clothes, the pizza tastes pretty good to me. I sit on a bench, where I am joined by another woman, and we chat about the trail races in general. We agree that they are a fun change of pace. I say that I am happy that I ran so much faster than last year.

Then it is time for the awards. I do not make the top ten women or the top ten age graded, and I do not win a door prize. That's okay. Later, I find out that I just missed placing. I was 11th woman of 47 (43 of 112 overall), and I was also 11th overall of 112 runners based on age-graded times. That is the best age-graded time I've ever run in one of these "trail" races.

The bummer is that if I had not let that woman in the Boston shirt pass me, I would have placed as 10th woman and 10th age-graded. And won, I think, a pair of socks? Another lesson in not slacking off too soon. I did not have to let that woman pass me, but it just did not seem worth staying ahead of her at the time.

However, I did manage to beat the woman I had never before beaten in a trail race, and by several minutes. So that was pretty cool. Still not sure who she is. I must have been ahead of her almost the whole way, because I didn't really pass anybody after the first quarter mile.

And my 11th place finish does significantly improve my place in the standings, by wiping out that awful 70th place from the first race.

One more trail race to go on October 23, the Stone Steps 27K. I'm hoping to improve on my time from last year at that one, even if I don't manage to finish any further ahead. Last year I was second to last, but it is such a small field of runners I could be faster this year and still be almost last.

Aviator Flight Fest 5k

I did this race on Saturday morning, October 1. After running so well in my last trail race a few weeks ago, I wanted to see what kind of 5k speed I have right now.

This is the first year for this race. There were actually quite a number of races going on last weekend in Cincinnati. Something like 8 or 9 5ks, plus a trail half-marathon up at Caesar's Creek. I would have gone for the trail race, but Tommy was going to be at an all day shooting match and I didn't want to leave the dogs home alone for that long.

I picked this race because they promised technical tops and pancakes afterwards. So it sounded like the best value of the morning 5k races. I might have done the Reggae Run in the park by my house on Saturday night, but that is such a tough course and my chances of making it into the top 50 women to win a coffee mug are not great. I did sign us up for the Reggae Run anyway so we would get race shirts and tickets to the party (which I did attend on my own but that is another story).

The race starts and finishes at Sycamore Junior High (whose team name is "The Aviators"), and follows a loop course over almost entirely residential streets. There is an aerial video of the course here. The only difference in what we ran was that we entered the track in a slightly different place, ran a little over a half lap, and then came up the middle of the field to the 50 yard line for the finish.

Left the house at 7:30 am for the 8:30 race. I'd never been to Sycamore Junior High before. Never had any reason to go there. It is a 1960s era structure in very good repair. Parked in the side lot of the school, and walked through the school to a back parking lot where they were having a fitness festival (to start after the race).

I was able to do my warmup on the track. Pretty nice facility for a junior high, I would say: Turf infield and tartan-type track. It was supposed to be sunny that morning according to the weather forecast from the night before, but instead it was overcast and drizzling. And cold! Temperature in the 40s. I was wearing capri-length tights and a long sleeved shirt, and I added a water-repellant pullover. Kept the pullover on for my warmup.

And here is where I made a crucial mistake. Usually, if I am wearing a jacket during a race, I still pin my race number inside on my shirt. Because I know eventually the jacket is coming off. For some reason, this time, I assume that I am really going to keep that pullover on. Which was ridiculous. In a 5k, where I was going to be really booking it? I seriously thought I was going to finish the race with that pullover on? But for some reason, on this day, I decided to pin my number on the outside of the pullover.

Lined up for pre-race announcements in the parking lot. This went on for awhile, because they wanted to thank every possible person who contributed anything to this first time event. Most runners were wearing the technical top, which was that garish yellow-green color that seems to be popular in race giveaways this year. But it was a pleasant community atmosphere, similar to the Clark 5k from a few weeks ago, although I was assuming there would be some more competitive runners among the young people at Sycamore. I was wrong about that.

We all walked out to the start on Cooper Rd. in front of the school. I lined up pretty close to the front. I didn't see anyone I recognized, and I wondered which of the 8 or 9 other races my regular age group competition had selected this time.

The course is a nice one. It is fairly flat with just some slight rolls along the way---can't even really classify them as hills, but just enough variation to keep the legs from getting fatigued. There were two aid stations, or maybe it was just one aid station that we passed by twice. There is a part of the course where we do retrace our steps.

My only real complaint about the actual race is that, just as in the Clark race, there were no mile markers. I don't understand what is up with this. I know a lot of people are now wearing Garmins or other tracking devices, but still it would be nice to know where the race director thinks the miles begin and end when I am really trying to figure out my pacing.

But it was not too big a deal because at least I had watched the video, and when we were running back towards the school I had a good idea how much race was left.

It was about halfway through the race that I decided to ditch the pullover. Now, what I should have done, if I had been thinking clearly, was simply to remove it and tie it across my waist. There was no real reason that my race number had to be pinned to my front for the entire duration of the race. It is not like there was a photographer out there taking pictures along the way and the only way to identify me would be by my race number.

But no, I decided that I should unpin the number and re-pin it to my shirt. I have done this before without breaking stride but it has been many years. Many years since I have been quite this stupid. So, I try to unpin and re-pin it while running and that doesn't go so well. No blood shed, but I end up having to stop and walk for a bit, during which time I am passed by several people that I had passed easily earlier in the race. I end up with the number pinned very awkwardly to my front, with just the top two pins, before I give up.

I tell myself that after this little rest, I can recover and run faster. I spend the rest of the race chasing down all those people who passed me during my mental lapse. I achieve this, but I still wonder what my time would have been if I had just run properly the entire way.

My finish time on my watch was 24:34, which was my fastest 5k in a number of years, so I was pretty pleased---although without having those mile markers along the way I do find myself wondering about the accuracy of the course. It felt more accurate than the Clark race did, however.

I walked around for a few minutes, drank some Gatorade, and had a pancake with butter and syrup. I figured out that if you roll them up, these post-race pancakes are easy to eat with one hand while standing up! I have learned from my last post-race pancake experience that it is good to get on the pancake line before the bulk of the field has finished the race!

So, two good things: ran a decent time and got to eat a pancake.

I heard them announce that the awards would not take place until 10 am, when the fitness festival was supposed to start. It was only about 9:20 then, so I decided not to stick around. I can understand that they had to wait until most people had finished, and that they wanted to encourage people to stay for the festival, but it was a cold and miserable morning and I needed to get home. Plus I knew they were only going one deep in each age group, so it didn't seem worth hanging around on the off chance that I had won.

So, that is my second complaint about the event: I wish they had started the awards at 9:30 or even 9:45. Then I might have hung around and even visited the fitness festival afterwards. Or, I wish they had posted results as we had finished. If I knew I had won an award, I would have hung around until 10 am to collect it.

When the results were posted online, I found out that I had won my age group after all (1 of 8 in the age group, 8 of 90 women, and 40 of 180 runners overall, not too shabby). They had my time as 24:22, which was 12 seconds faster than my watch. I know that is wrong but I'll take it! I'm pretty sure the placement is right.

Planning to run one more 5k this Saturday night to get one more take on what my current speed is at, before next weekend's marathon, and then starting all over again with some new goals.

I am kind of excited

I have been thinking about making requalifying for Boston my goal for the next year. But I am a bit dismayed by the realization that even if I do manage to run a qualifying time, there is no guarantee to get in due to the increased demand of the last couple of years. The new system they have instituted makes things a bit more fair, but it still will fill as soon as it opens.

I knew about the Gansett Marathon in Rhode Island, that was started a couple of years ago as an alternative for people who were closed out of Boston. It's the Saturday before Boston, and unlike Boston, you absolutely have to run a qualifying time to get in (Boston has spots open for charity runners, celebrities, foreign tourists, what have you---if you want to run Boston that way, you can get in). It's a little race without all the hoopla, or in other words, precisely the kind of thing that I really like best anyway.

But I had assumed the qualifying times were more stringent. I thought everybody had to run under 3:20 orf 3:30 or something like that. Turns out, Gansett has the same standards now as Boston. So that means, 4:00 right now for me until I turn 55, when I get an extra ten minutes. And just like it does for Boston, my April birthday gives me a little bonus in that I can run that 55 year old time while I am still just 53 years old. Even better, it looks like they give you a two-year qualifying window, so I could actually run that 4:10 anytime after next April 21, and I could use it in 2014.

And if I run sub-4:00, I could go sooner.

But the big thing is I feel pretty confident that the way things are going right now, I can get a 4:10 next year. It is nice to know that I can use it for something prestigious, even if I do get closed out of Boston.

State-to-State 2011

Now I will begin writing about some races, not in order. I have been neglecting to record anything about my races lately, and I want to do it and I always have lots of ideas about what I want to say, but I am just not finding the time.

Gotta start somewhere, so starting with the one I did Sunday: the 9th annual State-to-State Half-Marathon. This is one of those races I have done every year since it started, so now I have to keep doing it every year because I have a "streak" to protect.

The race starts and finishes in Oxford, Ohio (home of Miami University) and follows a mostly out-and-back course of rolling hills into Indiana and back. It begins in "uptown" Oxford, passes through some residential areas and then into farmland, and back again. The first and last tenth of a mile or so is on red bricks, with the rest of it on your normal asphalt roadway.

I have a little spreadsheet of my results from this race each year. The data includes my weight, my time, my placement, and any relative details about why things unfolded the way they did. I've never run a very good time here. The first year was just before my knee surgery, when I was already slightly injured but in denial about it. And I've never managed to get back into the kind of shape I was in before that injury.

My best time at this race was a 2:04 in 2006. By comparison, my 1/2 marathon PR is 1:47, set on the much flatter Dayton course in 2002, just before I qualified for Boston. My worst time was last year, when I struggled through a 2:19 (recovering from bronchitis, overweight, undertrained, hot day?).

This year I had an idea about trying to go under 2:00. It seemed possible, though less realistic than something in the 2:03 - 2:05 range. So I decided I would aim for the sub-2:00, but not let myself be disappointed in a 2:04, which would at least beat last year's time. I figured I was definitely in at least 2:04 shape.

Got up at 5 am for my two cups of coffee and one cup of vanilla yogurt. Dressed and in the car by 6 am. Arrived in Oxford around 7 am and found my regular parking spot on Church St. (two blocks from the start) just waiting for me.

Hit the portapotties before the lines start to form. Picked up my bib (# 3, I assume in deference to my exalted standing as a streaker), shirt and timing chip. The shirts this year are a little better than usual---long-sleeved technical shirt, in white, with the race logo (which is rather ugly and uninspired). This is not why I do this race. I do it because I am a streaker!

Yes, as races go, and as half-marathon races go, it is not my favorite. But it is okay. Its charms have grown on me over the 9 years of participating. It is, for one thing, a good value. It is reasonably well-supported. The drive is on the long side for a local event, but easy enough to get to. I know the course really well by now. It has become a very comfortable event for me.

I see a couple of other people with low bib numbers. In most races these are reserved for the elite runners. But none of these people look any fitter than I am. So maybe we are all the streakers. I wonder if they are going to recognize us in some way at the start, thank us for our years of support, or whatever. But nothing like that happens. In the 5th year they gave us all autographed copies of a book about a race across the country during the Depression. I am assuming that they will do something for us in the 10th year. My plan is to keep running this race every year until I am the only streaker left.

I was wearing black capri tights, a black short-sleeved technical top (from the Mason Half-Marathon) and my white cap from Fargo. In a little fanny pack, I am carrying my car key, 2 packs of GU Chomps, a chapstick and a small tube of Aquaphor. It was still a little chilly, and at the last minute I decided to add my blue long-sleeved technical top from Milwaukee. It is light enough to take off and tie around my waist, and would keep the drizzle off if it started again.

Hit the portapotties again. Had to wait on line this time. Went out in the street behind the start line. Did not see anyone I knew. Heard some people talking about a 2:00 pace so lined myself up by them. Not as far back as I usually start. Hoped I wouldn’t get passed by too many people right away.

No National Anthem this year (I think they played it before they started the walkers, a half-hour earlier). No hullabaloo, no announcements. At 8:00 am we are off.

It takes me about ten seconds to cross the start line. I’m in the right place, not getting passed and not having to run around people. I get water at the first aid station. They have them every mile this year. I don’t seem to remember that many in the past. I miss the first mile marker but that’s okay because I know where I am. I take off the blue shirt and tie it around my waist. I think about ditching it but it doesn’t weigh that much. I pass the people playing drums who are out there every year.

A sub-2:00 is about 9:05 to 9:10 pace. My first two miles take 17:54, so I’m just about there. We go through the upscale subdivision, we go through the assisted living complex. I am wondering if I am overdressed, and I hope the sun doesn’t come out. Mile 3 is 9:03, still right on pace. I have some Chomps. I am taking water or Gatorade at every aid station, and walking a minute per mile. Sometimes I walk for 30 seconds through the aid station and another 30 seconds on an uphill. There are a few people who pass me when I take my walking breaks, and to amuse myself I keep track of how long it takes me to catch up with them after I start running again, and when in the race they disappear for good. Disappear behind me, that is.

Mile 4 is 9:12, but I don’t worry about it with the hills. I pass some black cattle chomping away in a field, including one very large bull. Good morning, Mr. Bull! I pass some horses, who come running out towards the fence to greet us and I swear they are smiling. Good morning, horses!

Mile 5 is 8:53. Mile 6 is 8:59. I have some more Chomps. We cross over into Indiana. We hit the turnaround. I think about how I always slow down so much in the second half of this race. You are running into the sun and the wind. I wonder what is going to happen today.

Mile 7 is 9:47. I try not to be disheartened. It is still overcast and the temps are holding steady. I try to focus on how good I feel, how if I can just run the next 6 miles in an hour I will have a sub-2:04 at least. I remind myself about how in the middle of this race sometimes the mile markers seem a little off and also there are the hills.

Mile 8 is 8:39 and that's more like it! Mile 9 is 9:30. I'll be done in less than 40 minutes, I tell myself. I'm skipping the Chomps now and sticking with Gatorade.

Mile 10 is 9:32. The horses and the cows all seem to have gone inside. Mile 11 is 9:24. I look forward to the downhill portion of mile 12. The drummers are still out to lend their support. Mile 12 is 9:01.

The last mile is mostly uphill, but once you hit the bricks, you can see the finish line. I try to pick it up. And then I can see the clock and realize that I am going to break two hours for sure. I run a 9:12 for the last 1.1 miles, kicking hard at the end. I don't throw up, but have some problems in the other direction, so to speak. I don't care. I cross the line in 1:59:15 on the clock, 1:59:04 chip time.

I get my medal, catch my breath, check out the food. I'm not too hungry, but I have some more Gatorade, and later I go back for a cheese stick. I hang around a little while, and notice that they are posting the results up on a concrete pillar. I debate looking at the results vs. waiting to find out when I get home. Finally I go to check.

I discover that I have gotten second place in my age group. Yeehah! I am pretty excited about this, because I have never placed in my age group at this race before, never even really come close. Woo! I have to look at it a couple of times, walk away and keep coming back and looking at it to make sure I'm seeing it right.

Now I have to wait for my award to come in the mail. Anti-climactic but better than nothing. Not too bad for an old gal. Not super speedy but respectable, almost local-class time. And faster than last year, by a bunch. The little bits of more serious training I have been doing are working.

Race Back to Clark

This is about a race I did on August 13.

Why this race instead of others going on that day: because the start and finish lines were a mile from my house.

Cause the race benefits/celebrates: Clark Montessori High School is ready to move into its brand new building, after several years of operating out of another building in a bad neighborhood on the other side of town.

How I found out about this race: First I heard of it was when I saw some little road signs set out in the grass across the street from the Kroger the week before. That is not the way I usually find out about races.

The course: 5k start and finishes in front of the school. Covers some streets found in both the Flying Pig and the Hyde Park Blast races, and passes by my old house.

What I did the day before: Went for a little jog along the course. Found two different descriptions of which way we would go, so I picked the one that made most sense to me. My take on it had us running against traffic, and on the busiest and least-scenic streets first. It was a mostly downhill first mile, mostly flat second mile, and a slightly uphill third mile.

I picked up the course at an intersection about a half-mile from home, so it makes a nice little four-mile route that I think I will do again. I already run most of these streets regularly and have for years, but not in this exact configuration.

The weather: was supposed to be overcast but turned quite sunny by the 9 am start. But at least it was cooler and less humid than it had been recently.

What I wore: Black shorts, black shirt, pink cap from Charlotte Thunder Road Marathon, Nike Pegasus shoes. Debated wearing bike shorts instead and also bringing Chomps. I was going to try to make this into a 10-mile run by combining a long warmup and cooldown with the race.

What I was expecting at the race: There were two other well-established 5ks and a 10k event going on at the same time in other parts of town. So I was expecting that most "regular" racers would be doing one of those other events. At this race, I expected students, parents, maybe a few alumni and teachers. And chaos, I expected a bit of chaos. Which is not a big deal if you are ready for it.

What I found at this race: Pretty much as expected! But overall a nice community event with just a few glitches that are easy to fix, and did not prevent me from having a nice time. These little community 5ks are my absolute favorite kind of race.

Pre-race: Left house around 8:20 to jog the mile up to the start line. Picked up my race number at the table on the sidewalk. I had thought we would probably start and finish in the school parking lot, but it looked like maybe it wasn't ready/safe enough for us to do that yet in the construction zone. So the start and finish was out on Erie Ave., offset from each other by about .1 miles.

I know from my jog that the loop is slightly less than 3 miles around, so I figure we are going to have to run past the finish line in the beginning or do something a little different to get it up to 3.1. The web site says the race is USATF-certified---except they spell it USTAF-certified. Ohoh. Harbinger of chaos!

I asked a volunteer which way we were running, and he tells me that it is the opposite direction of the way I jogged yesterday. Oh goody, so the last mile is all uphill. Well, it's not like I haven't run up that hill a few times before. But I was kind of looking forward to running down it.

Well, it's still early and I'm bored, so I jog a little more up and down Erie Ave. I run into Ralph B., an old runner guy I used to work with who lives on the race course, on his way to the start. I don't know if he remembers me or not, but he asks me if it is too late to register and I tell him he has plenty of time.

I wonder where David Jones is. He also lives along the race course. Maybe he is at Newtown.

Lots of teenagers and parents around. Everybody is smiling and happy. Some people are wearing shirts that say things like "it's good to be back home" or something like that on the back. It is a very nice atmosphere.

At the start line: There are some announcements and I can hear them but I can't remember what the guy said. I decide to line up pretty close to the start. Even if these teenagers are on the Clark cross-country team (if Clark has such a thing), I don't expect many to be very fast. And there are not too many potential old lady competitors for me in view. Many of the women are not even wearing running clothes, so we assume they are walkers. This does not seem to stop them from lining up near the front.

For example, there are two older women right behind the start line, and if I don't look like a runner to some people, well, let's say these two women really don't look like runners. They don't even look like walkers, despite wearing running shoes. I guess they want to be close to the start so the race will be as short as possible for them? One of them is wearing a backpack. The other one---get ready, this is amazing---is reading from a Kindle! Well, she does have an earphone in so maybe she is listening to an audiobook. But really! She has a giant shoulder bag and she is holding the Kindle, and she is right up at the start line of the race!

So I make sure I am not right behind these two. Having to throw some elbows or run right over their backs just doesn't seem in the spirit of the day. The announcer does say that walkers should start in the back, but these gals don't move.

I am next to Cindy Moore and her husband, who is pushing their toddler in a jogging stroller. Cindy Moore is younger and much faster than I am. I am wondering if she is maybe going to win the race. I think about telling her she needs to get in front of the lady with the Kindle, but I stay quiet.

The race: starts a couple of minutes late but not too bad. Fortunately it's not too crowded, and unlike at the Kilgour 5k, the kids are older so there is less chance of getting tripped. I feel like Cindy Moore is behind me, and wonder what's up with that.

We run west on Erie and turn right on Paxton for a short, steep climb (but it's very short and early in the race). A pack of three young girls with heavy footfalls are chatting and soon complaining about how tired they are already.

We take the first right onto Victoria. This is a lovely street of homes built mostly around 1920. Our old neighbor when we lived on Marburg used to say that if you had $5000, you built a house on Marburg, if you had $10000, you built one on Portsmouth, and if you had $15000, you built one on Victoria. (Our house on Marburg was where the builder supposedly lived, and where he must have used his leftover windows and doors and all the other mismatched odds and ends. But it is still a nice solid little house).

Anyway, Victoria is a very nice street. There is a water stop a bit past the first half-mile. Kinda early. Doesn't make sense. And the guy manning the water stop is calling out split times. Chaos? Would make make more sense if we were going the other way, close to what would be the two-mile mark.

Victoria ends and we turn left onto Portsmouth, passing Coffee Emporium (one of the race sponsors).

Around this time I realize there are no mile markers. Chaos! Well, I certainly know right where I am, and I'm a pretty good judge of my own pace, so I can deal with it. I would be irritated if I wasn't so familiar with the route.

Portsmouth is a nice street too, just not as nice as Victoria. Both roll just slightly and have plenty of large shade trees. Victoria and Portsmouth find their ways onto all of my neighborhood long runs. When I lived on Marburg, I ran them just about every day.

Portsmouth ends back at Paxton, where we turn right and then make another quick right onto Wasson. This is the "ugly" and "commercial" section of the course. We run by the Kroger and Richards Industries. But the really bad part is that we are running into the sun. Now, if we had my way (and my way is always so much better!) we would have gotten this stretch over early, and we would have had the sun at our backs. Better to run into the sun on Portsmouth. But here we are.

People I am aware of during the race: Okay, the pack of three girls had passed me but then I caught them again and now they are well behind me. There is a young boy and a woman/girl (can't quite tell her age, could be anything) just in front of me for the second mile, and I stay behind and draft off them a bit but then I have to go around them. And I am thinking, what is wrong with you kid that you are letting an old lady "chick" you? Sad.

Another woman comes from behind and passes me. She is tall, and looks to be over 40. I hope she is not in my age group. She puts some distance between us, and I wonder how far behind me she started.

We turn right on Marburg, and we pass my old house and I barely notice, as I am really focused on the race. We make the final turn onto Erie for the last hill, and I just keep telling myself this is my hill, I run it all the time, no big deal. I am running beside a young girl. A woman tells us that we are in the top ten females. I find this motivating but I don't know what happens to the kid, because she drops back.

I would like to pick it up and see if I can catch the tall woman, but I don't want to kick until I see the finish line. She is slowing down. And there it is, so I kick, and I almost catch her.

No finish line clock. Chaos! I look at my watch. No way! I know instantly the course is at least .2 short. Chaos! If we'd had mile markers out there it would be even more obvious. I have not run within two minutes of that time in ten years. Get serious. I did not run a 5k three minutes faster than I did two months ago.

Kinda bummed, because I would have liked to see what my time would be on an accurate course! Oh well.

I grabbed a bottle of water and walked up a little dirt trail to the school’s turf playfield. There was a great potluck spread put out by the parent volunteers, but I wasn’t ready to eat yet. I had some Gatorade and then I went off for a little jog around the neighborhood, then came back and ate some food. There were sandwiches and a great assortment of stuff, but I had some sweet baked goods because that was what seemed most appealing at the moment.

I wanted to hang around for the awards, because there were not that many women in this race and I was pretty sure I was getting something. Also, I was caught up in the warm feeling of the parents and the students and the teachers, who were all so happy to be on the site of their new facility. It felt like leaving early would be dishonoring them.

But, I was just about to leave when the awards started. Well, turns out that not only did I win my age group (1 of 5) but I was also the fourth woman overall (4 of 65). I told you Clark does not have much of a sports program. And I was 36 of 141 runners, and I also beat all but one of the 107 walkers. But many of them were like the woman with the Kindle, so they really can’t be counted!

I beat the trail runner woman again! And most amazingly, I beat Cindy Moore. That has never happened before. Not even close. I wonder if she is sick? Or pregnant? Something definitely weird about that.

Including my jog to the start line, after the race, and then back home, I had a total of 7 miles for the day. Not quite the 10 I had planned on but it would have to do.

Lady Distance Classic 2011

Catching up and writing about some recent races.

Thinking about how it’s kind of funny that although I am not really a fan of women-only events, in running or in life in general, two of the races I ran in August were exactly that.

First, about the Fleet Feet Lady Distance Classic, which I ran all the way back on August 7. This is an annual event that I have done every year since its inception. There is a 10k and a 5k. The last few years I have done the 10k.

The good things about this race are:

• They give you a technical top

• There is a great “fitness festival” after the race that is mostly a “food” festival and not even so much about fitness

• It is reasonably well-organized.

Not much that I don’t like about it, really. It starts pretty early but on a hot August day that is not such a bad idea. The course is not too boring even though half of it runs through an office park. I guess the only thing I’m really not crazy about is all the women who know each other and are part of the same training groups or whatever, so when I show up all by myself I have nobody to talk to. But I don’t have time to join those training groups so what can I do?

Last year I ran a 55:15 for 4th in my age group. This year I am a little thinner and a little fitter, so I was hoping to take a chunk off that time and possibly get a placement. But realistically, I should have been expecting a slightly more modest improvement based on my recent 5k times.

It was warmer and more humid than last year, so that didn’t help.

I “warmed up” (as if that were necessary) by jogging to the start from the parking area (half mile? Or less?) and then jogging around some more.

First three miles go mostly around an office park, and then back to the starting area. I went through the first two miles in 17:13. There is a “stroller” division that starts after the regular runners, and each year I gauge my progress by how long it takes the strollers to catch up to me. This year I was almost to mile three before the first stroller passed me, which was better than last year. Mile 3 was 8:56.

I saw Judy Harmony around there somewhere, but she turned off to finish the 5k.

The second half of the 10k is hillier. You run around some subdivisions and then back to the Blue Ash Rec Center. Mile 4 was 9:16 (uphill), mile 5 was 8:08 (downhill), mile 6 was 9:43 (uphill, but at least I didn’t blow up like I did last year) and then 1:41 for the last .2.

My official, chip time was 54:42, which was only 33 seconds better than last year, so I was kind of bummed out about it. But as I said earlier, that was really what I should have reasonably been expecting. I did beat one of the trail running women who always beats me out on the trails, and I beat her by over a minute. I also beat Jennifer Black (sister of my Congresswoman) by about 45 seconds, and it has been a long time since I finished a race ahead of her, so that is something.

Afterwards, it took me awhile before I was ready to eat. They had a sno-cone stand. I had two sno-cones. They were very good. Later I made my way to The Cake by Margo. I told the volunteer that I had been looking forward to The Cake all week long.

Looked like it was going to be awhile before they gave out the age group awards, and I didn’t think I had won anything, so before too long I was jogging back to the car, ending up with about 8 miles for the day. Was 7 of 31 this time around, and 82 of 387 runners overall. Didn’t recognize the names of most of these women, so I wonder where my usual competition went. Numbers are down a bit from previous years, what is up with that? I wouldn’t think the economy would affect entries at this event, and it is the type of race I would expect to keep growing in popularity.