Race Report: Running Ragged 20in20, Day 19

Today was the second to last day of the Running Ragged 20in20 Series.  We were back at Quarry Park & Nature Preserve, but today we had another new course.  It was our 5th different route through this park.  Parts of this course overlapped one we ran before, but now there’s more color.

Since the beginning of this series, I’ve had occasional issues with my left Achilles tendon.  It hasn’t been serious, but I pay close attention to it.  Yesterday, I started to notice my right Achilles tendon.  I iced it after the race and I was stretching it throughout the afternoon and evening.  By this morning, I was noticing the left Achilles tendon more than the right one, but I needed to pay attention to both of  them.

Today, we were joined by Jeff, who ran several races earlier in this series.  His presence ensured that we would once again have enough finishers today.  Meanwhile, there were still eight runners who have finished marathons every day.

Last night, I had an unusually large dinner.  In addition to a small deep-dish pizza, I also ate an order of cheese curds.  When I eat large dinners – particularly meals with a lot of protein – I often get hot during the night.  I woke up feeling hot at 3 AM, and it took a long time to get back to sleep.  For the second straight day, I filled one of by bottles with Coke, instead of just drinking Gatorade.

The temperature at the start was the same as yesterday, but we didn’t have any rain.  It wasn’t going to warm up as much today, so I once again opted to wear tights.  I regretted it yesterday, but that may be the only time I’ve ever regretted wearing tights.  In general, I’d rather err on the side of being too warm.  My legs don’t respond well if they get cold.  As soon as I got out of the car and felt the cold wind, I knew I made the right choice.

During our pre-race briefing, Daniel described the new course.  He told us to let him know after the first lap or two which course we liked better, this one or the one we ran yesterday.  Whichever course was more popular would be the course for tomorrow.

As Jesse led us through the first lap, the first runner behind him was Chris, who was doing the half marathon.  I followed Chris, but didn’t try to keep up.  Nobody else was keeping up with me.

The entire course was gravel.  We started out on a wide section of trail that leads to the most popular swimming hole, known as Quarry #11.

I was stopping to take pictures, so by the time I reached quarry #11, I had already lost sight of Jesse and Chris.  We were told what to expect, and the course was well-marked, so I didn’t have any trouble finding the way on my own.

The next section of trail wasn’t as wide.  This section is kind of rolling.  It led us past the observation deck.

As I kept stopping to take pictures, I was surprised nobody was catching up to me.  I knew I was going the right way, or I would’ve been worried.  Where was everybody?

So far, we were following the same route as a course we ran two weeks ago.  After the observation deck, we made another sharp left onto a trail we hadn’t seen before.  This trail took us around one end of a meadow.  Last week, we ran by the same meadow, but this time we were on the other side.

Along here, I saw Chris and Jesse coming back.  Our route continued just far enough to connect up with the trail we ran last week.  Then we turned around and came back.  I still didn’t see any of the runners behind me.  Finally, when I was about a third of the way back, I saw a group of runners coming around a turn.  They were all walking.

It was obvious by now that I wasn’t going to have any competition today.  That left me free to run the whole race at my own pace.  I needed to run 14 laps.  On other days when we had a 14-lap course, I usually paced myself for 20-minute laps.  I was unsure if I would do that today, or if I would slow it down to 21 minutes per lap.

Because I was taking pictures, my first lap was slow.  That lap took 20:36.  I still didn’t know if I would pace for 20 or 21 minutes per lap.  Either way, I didn’t have time for much of a walking break.  It’s just as well, since I was still trying to get warm.  I was wearing a jacket, but I was still cold.

After putting my camera away and drinking some Coke, I started my second lap.  For the second straight lap, I ran the whole way, except this time I wasn’t stopping to take pictures.  In contrast to yesterday, I ran at a nice relaxed pace.

During my second lap, I started to see other people running.  I think I know why they all started out walking.  By this point in the series, most people are waking up feeling stiff.  They probably wanted several minutes of walking to loosen up before beginning to run.  Most of them were going to do liberal amounts of walking anyway.

When I finished my second lap, my time was 39 minutes.  If I wanted to pace for 20-minute laps, I would only get to walk for a minute.  I decided that pace was too fast today.  I committed to 21-minute laps and started my third lap with a three-minute walking break.  By now, I had finally unzipped the front of my jacket.  It would be another lap before I would finally be warm enough to take the jacket off.

At the aid station, they had some peanut butter & jelly sandwiches made with cinnamon raisin bread.  They were kept in a sealed container.  We’re not supposed to handle the food ourselves, unless it has already been divided into individual portions and sealed in baggies.  As I went past the food table, I asked Kelly if she could hand me a PBJ when I came past on my way back, after going through the rest of the aid station and turning around.  As I started my 5th lap, my walking break was just long enough to finish eating it.

On other days, I always found 20-minute laps to be surprisingly easy, even though it put me on pace to break 4:40.  Today, I was going slower, but it didn’t feel any easier.  Other days, my walking breaks quickly grew to be more than four minutes.  Today, they were never longer than three minutes, and often they were only 2:30.  I was running at a slower pace, but it didn’t feel as easy as I thought it should.

They usually had music playing at the aid station.  When I finished my 7th lap, they were playing “Living on a Prayer” by Bon Jovi.  The first words I heard as I reached the aid station were, “Woah, we're half way there.”  The timing could not have been better, as I was now half done with the race.

It gradually warmed up, but not as quickly as other days.  I ran eight laps before I was finally warm enough to take off my gloves.  Now I just had six laps to go.  At that point, it usually starts to feel easier, just because there aren’t many laps left.  Instead, I started to notice some soreness at the top of my left hamstring.  I noticed the same thing yesterday morning, but I didn’t notice it during yesterday’s race.

I couldn’t tell if it was the muscle or the tendon, which made me nervous.  What I did notice is that I always felt it when I was going uphill, even if the slope was gradual.  I was afraid to put any effort into hills.  For the rest of the race, I ran much slower when I was going uphill.  That caused my overall pace to slow down, with the result that my walking breaks started getting shorter.

I was about halfway through my 10th lap when I realized I was slowing down going uphill, but I wasn’t speeding up going downhill.  I didn’t feel any soreness going downhill, so there wasn’t any reason I couldn’t run faster on those sections.  After that I ran the downhill sections faster to compensate for slowing down going uphill.

When I finished my 10th lap, I told myself I had 18 laps to go.  I only had four more laps today, but I’ll need to run another 14 laps tomorrow.  That was a way to remind myself that I shouldn’t just pace myself for today, but I should pace myself for both today and tomorrow.

In the second half of the race, the sun sometimes came out, and I wondered if I would start to get too warm.  Then it would cloud up again and the wind would pick up.  It went from warm back to cold quickly.

I gradually noticed my left leg less and less going up hills.  Instead, I started to notice tightness in my right Achilles tendon.  One way or another, I couldn’t run uphill without some body part complaining.  Now I wasn’t just slowing down on hills.  I sometimes felt like I was grinding almost to a halt.  It wasn’t that I couldn’t go faster.  I was afraid to go faster.  To compensate, I not only picked up my pace on the downhill sections, but also on the flat sections.  After that, my walking breaks grew to three minutes again.

On gravel courses, I usually wore gaiters.  Today, I forgot them.  In the last few laps, I was noticing grit getting into my shoes.  It entered around my ankles, but gradually worked its way into the toe box.  It was never a big issue, but it was annoying.  I’ll be sure to remember my gaiters tomorrow.

In my last lap, I finally had the energy to go faster.  I sped up more on the flat and downhill sections, and I didn’t slow down as much on the uphill sections.  Because that lap was fast, I came in way under my target time for that lap.  I finished the race in 4:48:51.

Henry happened to be finishing a lap, so I got to talk to him before he headed out again.  Yesterday, I wrote that Henry wouldn’t have time to run the marathon on the last day.  Today, I learned that he would.  After tomorrow’s race, he’s traveling to run in a 48-hour race, but it’s OK if he arrives late.  The clock will already be running, but he can start whenever he gets there.  His goal is to run 50 miles, and he won’t need the whole 48 hours to do that.  That means there will be eight runners finishing all 20 marathons.

For most of this series, my biggest concerns were my right knee and my left Achilles tendon.  Now my biggest concerns are my right Achilles tendon and my left hamstring (or tendon).  Neither of those was an issue before yesterday.  I’m beginning to feel like I’m being held together with duct tape.

I’m also at the point where all of the races are taking a cumulative toll on me.  I had three hard races in a row.  On Sunday, I ran my fastest race of the series.  On Monday, I ran on a grass surface that tired me out.  Yesterday, I started too fast and overheated later, because I was overdressed.  Today, I ran at a pace that should’ve felt easy, but it didn’t.  I may have finally reached the point in this series where nothing will be easy anymore.  Thankfully, after 19 marathons, I only have one more to go.

Race Statistics

Distance:  26.2 miles

Time:  4:48:51

Average Pace:  11:01

Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:  424

Minnesota Marathons/Ultras:  77

Series Statistics

Races Completed:  19

Under Five Hours:  19

Average Time:  4:40:11

Wins:  12