North Face Endurance Challenge: Kansas City 50K

It's been some time since I've typed up a race report.  Looks like Utah Valley, Leading Ladies, American Discovery Trail, and New Hampshire are missing from the blog...but those are stories for another day.   Even after finishing 8 marathons in 7 new states this year, 2012 has also been a very disappointing year for me from a race perspective:  food poisoning kept me from running Napa Valley, an injury kept me from running Maine after training all summer in hot temps for the New Hampshire/Maine double, I skipped Des Moines to let the injury heal in time for NYC, and then, well, don't get me started about NYC.  After missing 3 marathons in a row this fall, I really needed something to get me out of my running race funk.  Enter the NFEC 50K.

I signed up for the NFEC 50K during the summer when it sounded like a great idea because it was "on sale" for 50% off.  Besides the marathon, the Route 66 Marathon with a Detour to the Center of the Universe was the furthest I had run in one race (and that was like 26.5 miles).  This would be my first 50K.  Going into it, I was pretty nervous, because the Kansas City Half was the furthest I had run since my peroneal tendon injury at the end of September. 

I went into the 50k with low expectations, and simply wanted to beat 6.5 hours, which seemed completely doable.  Eladio, my coach, told me to treat the 50k like a training run, and take walk breaks every 5 to 10 minutes and/or walk the hills.  After running the NFEC Half in August 2011, I knew good and well what "hill"acious situation I had potentially gotten myself into.

...cut to me at the starting line.  I ran the first six miles with Jim and Pritha, where they took a pit stop and I kept on chugging along.  They would catch up to me and pass me around Mile 14.  Until Mile 28, they were generally in my sights on the straightaways, which really helped me mentally.  With only about 200 runners doing the ultra, by the marathon/ultra split, the course was very sparse.   By the time the course reached the Riverfront Park, I decided to run 4 minutes/walk 1 minute Galloway style.  If the walk came on a downhill, I banked it and used it to walk up a hill later.  I am confident that this strategy saved me on this tough course.  (I have used it before in a marathon and PR'd.) 

Mentally, I struggled with the 50k from the start.  In the back of my mind, I kept figuring out how many more miles were left.  When I was at Mile 15.5 and knew I still had another 15.5 to go, it was extremely discouraging.  It was hard to push past the Mile 26 marker, but how else was I going to get to the finish?  I told myself that I had just run a marathon, but parked 5 miles away and had to run to get to my car.  (Whatever works, right?) 

As far as race organization, I thought the aid stations were very well staffed and well stocked.  Many thanks to the Runner's Edge volunteers at the first few aid stations!   The later aid stations were equipped with bananas, oranges, chips, chicken broth, and one even had soda.  At that point I didn't care if it was Pepsi, Coke, RC, or Shasta.  All I saw was bubbly caffeinated goodness.  That was a high point of my run.  After Mile 22, I felt like I was running from buffet station to buffet station.  I definitely ate my way along the course.  (Many thanks to Todd for being along the course with Pritha's pup Kobe!  Girl Scout shortbread cookies were an extra special treat!)

Two big downsides to the race organization:  1) Beginning at Mile 8, the mile markers (when there were mile markers) were easily 1/2 mile off.  Eventually they were only 1/3 mile off, then 1/4 mile off.  By the end of the race, they seemed more accurate.  I allocated about 1/10 of a mile for the portion of the course that goes down stairs from City Market to the riverfront park.  2) The medals.  Seriously?  The 5k/10k/half/full/50k all get the same medal, but with different stamped ribbons.  Seriously?  Come on North Face, you can do better than that. 

Yes, this course is hilly.  Extremely hilly.  Like in a "Designer Showcase of Eladio's favorite hills on all Runner's Edge routes ever and then some hidden gems" - way.  However, it didn't seem as bad as it could be simply because I knew where all the hills would be.  Well, except for the hills on the ultra-only loop.  Except for Riverfront Park, the run was either up or down.  It seems to follow the trend for some of the other marathons I've done this year.  The elevation chart:

The course gives an excellent scenic overview of Kansas City:  Nelson, Plaza, Westport, downtown, City Market, riverfront, Cliff Drive, scary ghetto area, Kansas City Museum, the Concourse, more downtown, Crown Center, the KC Art Institute and Kemper Museum.  I really enjoyed the course.  There was a lot to look at. 

For local runners that want to try a 50k road race (it's tough to find 50k races that are road races instead of trail runs), I would give this race 4 out of 5 stars.  It was pretty well done, despite the mile marker glitch.  For running the 50k, I got a shirt, arm warmers, hand-held hydration bottle pack thing, and two $5 tickets for food (that I didn't use), and a beer ticket.  Not bad. 

I guess Dean Karnazes was at the finish line festival until 1:00.  I was kind of sad that he didn't stick around for the slow pokes, but he probably needed to go run himself... 

Standout moments:

*Seeing people on the course that I knew.  The ultra-only portion of the course is a loop/out and back.  The out and back gave me the opportunity to realize there were still people behind me, and I knew some of them.  It was just nice to see some familiar faces after running solo for so long.

*Galen met me on his bike around Mile 24.  Having him at each mile marker until the finish helped break up the monotony of running solo.

*Marathoners wearing their 2012 NYC Marathon shirts (and 1 wearing the bib).  At this point, it's not about the hurricane; it's about how unprofessional the NYRR is being....

*Some younger volunteers at an aid station told me I was doing "wonderballs."  Hmm.  That's a new one.

*At the Catholic church on Gillham, a groom and his two groom's men were having their photos taken.  One of the groom's men said, "You are doing great.  He's getting married today and would rather be in your shoes." 

*I passed some marathoners after the ultra rejoined the marathon course.  :)

*Running solo down the middle of the street in Downtown KC.  It amazed me that the police had the streets completely blocked off.  Since I was at the tail end of the ultramarathoners (and marathoners) t was surreal to just be running all by my lonesome down the middle of Oak Street.

*The foot pain.  My peroneal tendon acted up from the Valentine district to the Liberty Memorial, but was generally calm for most of the rest of the race.  But  my feet.  Oh my feet.  Not having run long since September really did a number on my feet.  The balls of my feet and my toes starting hurting around Mile 16.   Everything else felt generally okay, but I have not had my feet hurt like that since my early marathons. 

*The wind from the south.  By the time I was running the last four miles, all of which were to the south, the wind was coming from the south.  Great fun. 

*Mile 26.  I reached the marathon point in 5:15, which is right on target with where I wanted to be. 

*Mile 30.   Seriously...30 miles is a long way to run.

*Finishing.  Because 30 miles isn't enough...Mile 31.  It's been a while since I've been so overjoyed to see a finish line and to just be done.  I finished in 6:24:04. 

Fargo Marathon

I typed this up in May...at some point I thought I'd add to it...but there just isn't much else to say.

The Fargo Marathon was a week ago, and I am still collecting my thoughts.  The known fact is that I finished my 20th marathon in my 16th state with a 21 second personal record (PR).  The unknown that I am still pondering is how I felt about the Fargo Marathon. 

I have to say that this is the first marathon that I've run for which I cannot come up with words to describe how I felt about the race.  Perhaps it has something to do with the marathon being sandwiched in between 9 hour drives to and from Fargo?  Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that it was the third marathon I'd run in less than a month?  Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that I had run a race every weekend from April 1 until the Fargo Marathon (consulting my calendar that is 8 weekends in a row)? 

Fargo is flat, fast, and friendly.  The spectator support is incredible.  The course is incredibly flat.  The race director is one of the quickest to respond to email questions that I have experienced.  I ran the 5K the night before and came home with a 5K finisher's medal, a marathon finisher's medal, and a Go Far Challenge medal.  Bling is always good.  The race shirts and the sackpack we received with registration are incredibly nice.   The course is just so....  so...  dull.   Unless a friend is running the 50 states, I just cannot recommend going out of the way to run this one.

The Next Best Thing to Race Bling

As most people know, I am a blingaholic.  I live for race bling.  However, I have also developed a second collection of race memorabilia that is close to my heart.  No - I don't mean race jackets and T-shirts, although that collection is also quite impressive.  My home has become a marathon poster art gallery.  Enough so that I have moved the majority of the marathon posters to adorn the walls of my garage. This blog post is a celebration of my marathon posters.

I discovered early on that it is way way way too expensive to frame inexpensive or free marathon posters.  I simply go to Michael's and buy a premade frame in the closest size to the poster.  Slightly tacky, yes, but for a garage gallery a $10 frame beats a $100 frame. 

Poster 1:  Kansas City Marathon 2006

The Kansas City Marathon is dear to my heart.  It was my first marathon.  Oddly, it took me until 2010 to actually frame the poster.  I have always liked the play on running and jazz.  The runners are the music notes on this sheet of music. This poster hangs in the entry way from my garage.

 Poster 2:  2009 Country Music Marathon

The 2009 Country Music Marathon was actually my third marathon.  The experience was horrific.  I ended up walking almost the entire 2nd half because the temperatures were excessively hot for the end of April.  This is the only one of the posters that I paid to have custom framed.  After paying $10 for the poster and $90 for the frame, I decided buying the el cheapo frames at Michaels that somewhat fit the posters works well for me.  This one actually hangs in my bedroom, which is kind of funny, since seeing it always reminds me of that nightmarish marathon.



Poster 3:  2009 Twin Cities Marathon

The Twin Cities Marathon was my fourth marathon.  I absolutely love the course, and I absolutely love how they captured the fall colors in this poster.  This poster has the honor of hanging in a cheap frame from college, but has the prestige of hanging in my home office. 



Poster 4:  2010 Little Rock Marathon

Huge medal.  Teeny tiny free poster. 



Poster 5:  2010 Lincoln Marathon

I was on a roll for free posters in 2010.  The Lincoln Marathon was my sixth marathon.  This poster plays off the Gettysburg Address.  "One Score and 6.2 Miles of Perseverance."  I like the creativity of the poster, but it's nothing much to look at.  Even so, since it was one of my first posters, it is hanging in my home office.



Poster 6:  2010 Chicago Marathon

Yikes.  This bad boy was a freebie.  I used to have in the laundry closet, but it kind of scared me when I would open the doors.  Now it's in the garage and is one of the first things I see when I pull in.  Did I mention it was free?

Poster 7:  2011 Walt Disney World Marathon

This poster is a celebration of the Goofy Race and a Half Challenge.  It's in my basement along side all of my marathon medals.



Poster 8:  2011 Flying Pig Marathon

This is just a fun poster. I love the piggie, so it also is showcased in my home office. The Flying Pig Marathon is great in that they give you a nice free shirt, a wonderful free backpack, a free poster, and an awesome piggie medal. I love the pig.

 















Poster 9:  Missoula Marathon Poster

I started running out of room at home, so this one is on my desk at work.  The Missoula Marathon is my second favorite marathon next to Disney.  This poster reminds me of the beautiful scenery running over the bridge on the way in to Missoula.



Poster 10: 2011 Disneyland Half Marathon

This is the only half marathon poster that I have in my collection.  I bought the 2011 Disneyland Half Marathon poster to balance out the 2011 Disney World Marathon Weekend poster.  It hangs in the basement on the wall with my half marathon medals.  Along with the Disney Coast to Coast medal, it is a fun reminder of my year of the Disney races.



















Poster 11:  2011 Kansas City Marathon

This poster is currently in the stage of getting flattened so that I can place it more evenly in the frame.  I like how this poster is a running shoe print with all of the KC landmarks featured.  Unfortunately the poster is such a funky size it is next to impossible to find a premade frame that somewhat suits it.  This poster will end up in the garage.



Poster 12:  2012 Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon

My latest acquisition in the "free" category.  You get what you pay for...  The poster is SO much better than the shirt.  The free shirt tried to feature this shoe with the Pegasus wing and shape of the race course.  It works better on the poster.  I like the faint outline of the Louisville skyline in the background.  One I get it better situated in the frame, this one will reside in the garage gallery.

Get Down and Derby!

It's been a while since I've posted any race reports.  Spring has been busy with the Indian Creek Half, the Easter Egg 5K, Rock the Parkway Half Marathon, the Garmin Marathon in the Land of Oz, and the Kansas Half Marathon. 

Adding to the list of running business, I completed the Kentucky Derby Marathon in Louisville, Kentucky  on April 28, 2012.   The Kentucky Derby Marathon was my 19th marathon in my 15th state.  (Yep - ONLY 35 more states to go!)  As always, these are my random thoughts, more for me to reminisce in the future about the race, but here for all in case one is interested in participating in the future.

Going in to the marathon, I had heard several poor reviews about the event.  I felt that the event didn't live up to those standards, but with every marathon I've done there are pros and cons.

The majority of cons in this case  were packed into the packet pickup at the Expo.  Approximately 3,000 people run the full marathon and 15,000 run the mini-marathon.  Upon arriving at the Expo, there was one line for the marathon approximately 40 people deep and 21 lines for the half marathon with hardly anyone in line.  (Yes, I stood there and counted.)  The mini-marathoners also got practical hunter green short-sleeve shirts.  The full marathoners got what I considered a puke gray color, if puke could be gray, long-sleeve shirt.   I won't even go into the logo.  Guess a gal always needs a throw-away shirt.

Race day did not disappoint.  There were ample port-a-potties, the corrals were marked well, and the general start line area appeared to be organized.  I met up with Marathon Maniacs and 50 States Marathon Club for our pre-race photo and caught up with some friends before the race.

Since I had just run a full/half weekend before this race, I decided to just have fun and go with the flow.  I carried a camera with me and took a few photos the first half of the race.  The first 8 miles of the race are very flat and go through scenic portions of Louisville as the course winds it way to Church Hill Downs.  At Mile 5, all of us got a good scare when the skies opened up and literally poured for about 2 minutes.  Then just magically stopped.   Around the same time, I saw my favorite spectator race sign of the day:  "You trained for this race longer than Kim Kardashian's marriage."  Ha!  Creative!  There were a few overpass bridges we ran under, and I remember needing to watch my footing.  The road  surfaces were really uneven. 

Church Hill Downs is THE highlight of the race.  At Mile 8, runners enter the gates of Church Hill Downs, run under the grand stand past the wagering windows, and through the tunnels beneath the race track.  Runners can go off course and peek in at the track where jockeys were exercising the horses.  It was definitely a fun mile to see Church Hill Downs and watch the horses on the track.  I actually forgot for a moment I was in the first half of a marathon and needed to move along.  Leaving Church Hill Downs, and approaching Mile 9, was the course split.   I think I will always remember the monotonous chant "Course. Split. A-head.  Mar-a-thon-ers.To.The.Right.  Mi-ni Mar-a-thon-ers. To. The. Left."  (Say it kind of robotically and you have it down.)


Me taking a breather in Church Hill Downs



I was slightly relieved to leave the half marathoners behind.  The course was somewhat crowded and it reached just the perfect level of participants at the split.  Miles 9 to 11 or 12ish are a primarily gentle decline out-and-back to Iroquois Park.  On my run to the park, I was able to cheer on the Maniacs and 50 Staters already heading back out of the park, so that helped the time go by.  It was also around Mile 10 that I heard "Macarena."  Heeeeeey Macarena.   Yep - that stayed with me a while.

Iroquois Park is a hillacious beast of 4 miles.  Since I like hills, it was a nice break from the flat and gentle downhill incline, but it is definitely an up and down four miles.  I enjoyed the serenity of the park.  There weren't many spectators, but you could hear all the birds chirping and the woodsiness of the park was very pretty.   The aid stations in the park handed out mini bottles of water that we could carry along with us, which was nice.  Two pegasuses  (pegasii? what is the plural of a pegasus anyway?  if there are more than two is it a herd?) were dancing at the Mile 15 aid station.  No - I was NOT hallucinating.

The park seemed to go on for a while, but I was still feeling strong when I popped back out onto the out-and-back portion of the course.  This became a gentle incline from Mile 16 to Mile 20.  Around Mile 18 we merged back with the half marathon course, where half marathoners were still walking the course.  At Mile 18, I was started to need a little musical stimulation so I finally started my iPod.  Around Mile 19, I stopped to take some photos of the University of Louisville.

And then came Mile 20 or 21.  The armpit of the race.  It seems like every marathon must test the strength of the marathoner and expose them to a not incredibly scenic, not very shady, boring section of town.  That summarizes Miles 21 to 25.  Except for the big hill at Mile 23 .

By the time I reached Mile 20, I was really surprised that I was still feeling great.  I wasn't tired.  My feet didn't hurt.  My quads were only a little sore.   I had been carrying a 4:53 Races 2 Remember Smart Pace Band in my pocket, and I had generally memorized the 13.1 and 20 splits.  However, the last 10 marathons I have run, I have been pretty consistent with hitting the 13.1 and 20 mile splits that I would need to run between 4:45 and 4;50.  I either don't care, or I've gotten so tired (usually due to site seeing the previous day) that I just try to finish and don't care about my pace. 

At Mile 21, I could have easily finished the race near 4:45 but I didn't start mentally negotiating pace with myself until Mile 22.  By Mile 23, I just decided to see what I was made of and went from running 11:00+ minute miles to 10:18, 9:49, and 10:40 minute mile.  I passed several 50 Staters or Maniacs but I was just so down to business that I didn't even muster up a grunt to say "Hello."  (Sorry guys.)  Around Mile 25.5 was a straight away to Mile 26, and 26.1 with one right turn to reach the finish.  I just started ticking off runners that had succumbed to the "death march", ran down the yellow line in the center of the road, and stared straight ahead.  (And tried not to laugh when Dancing on the Ceiling came on my iPod.)  I finished in 4:49:25, a 5.5 minute PR over my 2011 Oz Marathon time!!!  Heeeey Macarena!  (It's STILL stuck in my head.)

This is the first marathon where the only walk breaks I took were through the aid stations (or to have my photo taken at Church Hill Downs).

The finish line area left room for improvement.  Instead of bottles of water, the race only had teeny tiny cups of water.  Hungry?  Too bad.  You could have a banana or a bagel.  I grabbed about 5 cups of water, a banana, and then walked the 0.5 mile back to my hotel.

One of the highlights of my race experience occurred on my walk back to the hotel.  I heard a gal behind me say "Hey, 50 Stater.  Hey you!  Thanks!"  I turned around and realized she was talking to me.  This young woman had run her first marathon.  She told me how she was really struggling the last four miles and saw how strong I looked and just wouldn't let me out of her sights.  She said she knew if she stopped she would have just walked her race in.  A good majority of the runners at that point of the race were doing the "death march"/"walk of shame" call it what you want.  We've all been there.  I just thought it was the coolest thing that she tracked me down to thank me.  I congratulated her, and then I laughed.  I told her that I moved faster the last three miles of that race than I ever have in any marathon - that I was just trying to PR.  After 19 marathons, even if I hadn't PR'd, to know that you helped someone finish just made it all worth it.

Next up?  Fargo in May.  Utah Valley in June.  Do I go for another PR?  I guess I'll decide when I get to Mile 20 of those races.  The race for me really does begin at Mile 20!