Today was the eighth day of the
Running Ragged 20in20 Series. Today, we
returned to Bend in the River Regional Park, where the series began. This course is all gravel and fairly
flat. It’s even easier than yesterday’s
course, so I thought I might have a realistic chance of beating yesterday’s
time. I’ve been faster every day, and I
wanted to keep that going for one more day, if I could.
It was 48 degrees at the start
of the race. Normally I’d wear tights
for anything below 50, but it was going to warm up at least 20 degrees by the
time I finished. I wore shorts and a
singlet, but also started the race wearing a jacket and gloves.
I’ve been icing my knee three
or four times a day. Yesterday was the
first time I didn’t ice it immediately after the race. I was in a hurry to run some errands. I was noticing some minor discomfort in that
knee later in the day. I iced it in the
evening and twice this morning.
In contrast to the last five
days, today we needed to run 14 laps to complete a marathon. It was the same out-and-back route that we
ran last Saturday.
There’s a core group of runners
who are racing every day, but other people are dropping in to do one race or a
few races. Every day, we’ve had at least
one new arrival. Now that it was a
weekend, we had several new arrivals.
For the past few days, I’ve only
been competing with myself. Today, there
was a possibility that one or more of the runners with fresh legs would be too
fast for me. Before deciding if I would
compete, I had to see how fast some of the other runners were.
As I started running, I felt a
little bit of discomfort in my right knee.
It only lasted for a few minutes.
As I got warmed up, it became less noticeable. In time, I didn’t notice it at all.
Tim led the way through the first
lap. Tim often starts fast, so that wasn’t
surprising. The next runner behind Tim
was Dylan. Dylan was one of the runners
with fresh legs. This was his very first
marathon, so I had no idea how fast he might run.
I gradually moved past Dylan. I wanted to talk to Tim, so after the turnaround,
I sped up enough to catch him. Then I
felt some discomfort in my left ankle.
There wasn’t any uneven footing.
I think it was a case of running too fast before my legs had a chance to
warm up. I was wearing shorts and there
was a cold wind. I ran the rest of the
first lap with Tim. By the end of the
lap, my ankle felt OK again.
I didn’t know for sure if I
would try to beat yesterday’s time, but I tentatively set a target pace of
19:50 per lap. At the end of one lap, I
was already two minutes ahead of that pace.
Tim told me he was going to
slow down, so I started the second lap by myself. I walked for the first two minutes. While I was walking, Dylan passed me. I didn’t worry about him getting ahead of me. Without know how fast he would run, I needed
to run my own race.
During the second lap, another
one of the new arrivals caught up with me.
His name was Mike. He was a more
experienced runner. I ran with Mike until
the end of that lap. His pace felt
somewhat tiring to me.
By the time I finished the
second lap, I was four minutes ahead of schedule. I started the third lap with a four-minute
walking break. Mike continued running. I didn’t worry about keeping up with either
him or Dylan. At this point, I was just
racing myself. I wanted to beat my time
from yesterday.
By the end of my third lap, I
was starting to feel warm with my jacket on.
When I got back to the aid station, I took it off and put it in my drop
bag. Within a few laps, I would also
take off my gloves. It started out cold,
but it was a sunny day, and it warmed up quickly.
We weren’t the only people at
the park. I saw a group of about six
people who seemed to be checking out the farmstead and taking pictures. The women were all wearing nice dresses. As the day progressed, I saw more people in
the area. I eventually learned that they
were there for a wedding.
I was consistently having
walking breaks that were at least four minutes.
Our course started out with a loop around the farmstead. Then the trail straightened out, and we ran
parallel to the river bluff. At the
start of my fifth lap, my walking break was so long that I made it almost all
the way around the farmstead before starting to run.
I was suspicious about how long
my walking breaks were getting. I began
to wonder if 19:50 per lap was the right amount of time for each lap. I realized that 14 laps at 19:50 per lap actually
adds up to 4:37:40, not 4:36 like I thought.
My time yesterday was 4:36:07. I’m
not sure how I arrived at 19:50, but 19:45 would’ve been closer.
I wondered at first if that
really mattered. I was finishing each
lap about four minutes ahead of schedule.
Assuming I also finished my last lap that far ahead of schedule, my
current pace would still be fast enough to beat yesterday’s time.
Whenever I saw Mike or Dylan, I
noticed how far ahead they were. Mike
was never that far ahead of me. Dylan
got farther ahead each time I saw him, but this was his first marathon. I didn’t know if he would pace himself
well. He might go out too fast and blow
up. I wasn’t going to try to catch
either of them yet, but adjusting my pacing plan would keep me a little closer
to them. At the end of that lap, I
recomputed my target time, using a target pace of 19:45 per lap. That shortened my next walking break by 25
seconds, but I was still able to walk for three and a half minutes, and that
was after making a bathroom stop.
When I finished my seventh lap,
I was half done. I got there in 2:14,
which was four minutes ahead of yesterday’s pace.
In the second half of the race,
I kept seeing more people arrive for the wedding. Some of them were in formal attire. I saw them gather behind a barn for what
appeared to be the wedding ceremony. I
would’ve considered taking pictures, but my camera was in my drop bag.
During my eighth lap, I accidentally
stepped in a small hole near the side of the trail. It was a bit jarring, but I didn’t trip. I was glad I stepped in the hole with my
right foot. If it was my left foot, it
could’ve aggravated my Achilles tendon.
It seemed like Mike’s lead over
me peaked at about four and a half minutes, and then he started coming back to
me. It occurred to me that if I took
shorter walking breaks, I could reel him in.
There wasn’t any point in doing that, however, unless I could also catch
Dylan. Dylan’s lead kept growing every
lap. As I was starting my 11th lap, I
saw Dylan nearing the end of his 11th lap.
I was still on my walking break.
I guessed that he was now 15 minutes ahead of me. If he gained another three or four minutes,
he would lap me.
After reaching the turnaround
point of that lap, I expected to see Dylan soon. I kept looking for him as I ran. I was surprised how far I was getting without
seeing him. When I finally saw him, his
lead was much smaller than before. It
couldn’t be much more than 10 minutes.
He was walking. It was the first
time in the race I saw him walk. This
wasn’t a planned walking break. He was
suffering.
It's worth noting that the last
time I saw Dylan, he was about 20 miles into the race. That’s where the wheels usually come off if
you started too fast. As I got closer, I
saw the expression on his face. It was a
portrait of pain.
As I continued through my 11th
lap, I started looking for Mike. I saw him leaving the aid station just before I
got there. His lead couldn’t be more
than a minute.
As I left the aid station, I
was almost five minutes ahead of schedule.
It occurred to me that if I skipped my walking break, I could shave
about two and a half minutes off my time for the next lap. That would probably be enough for me to pass
Mike. I had three laps to go. If I skipped my walking breaks on all three
laps, I could shave about seven minutes off my time. The last time I saw Dylan, his lead was bigger
than that, but he was evidently slowing down.
I decided to skip my walking break and immediately start running. I had already made another bathroom stop on my previous lap. I was glad to know I wouldn't need to stop again.
As I started my 12th lap, I looked
for Mike. While I was going around the
farmstead, I could never see far enough ahead of me to see him. Later, after the trail straightened out, I
saw him. I could tell he wasn’t running
as fast. I would pass him on this lap.
Just before I caught up to
Mike, I saw Dylan coming back from the turnaround. He was back to running now. As he went by, I looked at my watch and made
note of the time. I passed Mike and kept
running toward the turnaround. As I made
the turn, I looked at my watch again.
Three minutes and 16 seconds had elapsed since Dylan ran by me. His lead was actually double that, so it was
about six and a half minutes.
If Dylan was running as fast as
before, I wouldn’t be able to make up a six-and-a-half-minute deficit in just
two and a half laps. Whether I could
catch him would depend on how fast he ran and whether he did more walking.
As I got close to the
farmstead, I could see the aid station from across a meadow. I saw Dylan leaving the aid station. He was walking with Kristina. I continued around the farmstead. The next time I saw Dylan, he was still with Kristina,
but now they were running. Kristina was
going to stay with him for the rest of the race and make sure he finished.
As I started my 13th lap, I
skipped my walking break again. I didn’t
even look at my time. I just continued
running. This time, instead of looking
for Mike, I was looking for Dylan. I
couldn’t see far enough as I was going around the farmstead. As I got to the straight section along the
river bluff, I still couldn’t see him.
Eventually, I caught a glimpse of him, but he disappeared around a bend
before I could see if he was running or walking. A short time later, I saw him again. He and Kristina were walking.
I eventually passed Dylan. He was clearly suffering, but Kristina and
another runner were staying with him and helping him stay focused on finishing.
After making the turn, I could
see I was already building a lead. I
kept running, but didn’t feel the need to push the pace. When I finished that lap, I was more than ten
minutes ahead of my original pacing plan.
I assumed I had a big enough lead that I could afford a walking
break. I didn’t walk for ten minutes,
but I did walk for four minutes.
I saw Dylan go by shortly
before I finished my walking break. I assume
Mike was right behind him, but I was talking to a friend, so I didn’t actually
notice Mike.
I ran the rest of that lap, but
my pace was somewhat relaxed. After
making the turnaround for the last time, I started looking for Mike. I assumed by now that he would have passed
Dylan. I kept running. I saw Dylan before I saw Mike. I kept looking. Where was Mike? I was relieved when I finally saw him. He was slowing down, but he was going to
finish.
There was one more small bit of
drama. As I reached the farmstead, the
wedding party was all gathered together.
I thought the ceremony was earlier, but this gathering looked
formal. They were on the trail. I didn’t want to disrupt them by running
between them, but I barely found enough room on the trail to get around them.
I finished the race in
4:25:11. That’s almost 11 minutes faster
than yesterday. For the seventh straight
day, I ran faster than the day before.
For the sixth straight day, I won the race.
I assumed Dylan would walk most
of the way. After seeing how far back
Mike was, I wondered if it was really necessary to skip those two walking breaks. Maybe I would’ve passed them both even if I
stuck to my original pacing plan. I didn’t
have to wonder about that too long. Long
before I expected to see him, Dylan came running toward the aid station. Kristina was no longer with him. Dylan was running so fast that she didn’t try
to keep up.
Dylan finished about five
minutes after I did. If I stuck to my
original pacing plan, I would’ve finished a minute or two behind him. The extra effort was worth it.
I was able to add my eighth
medal to the base plate. I’m now 40
percent of the way through this series.
This will be the last day that I try to run faster. Tomorrow we’ll be on pavement, and I want to
use that opportunity to do some race-walking.
That’ll give my knees, ankles, and quads a long-overdue break.
When I left the park, it was 72
degrees. I wasn’t expecting it to get
that hot. It was also a sunny afternoon. I’m sure the heat played a big role in the struggles
of both Dylan and Mike. I never noticed
the heat while I was running. I think my
long walking breaks kept me from overheating.
When I got back to the hotel, I
made a point of icing my knee before doing anything else. Neglecting to do that is a mistake I won’t
make again.
One last footnote to today’s
race: I never had any discomfort in my
right foot.
Race Statistics
Distance: 26.2 miles
Time: 4:25:11
Average Pace: 10:07
Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:
413
Minnesota Marathons/Ultras:
66
Consecutive Days: 8
Consecutive Wins: 6
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