Race Report: Running Ragged 20in20, Day 20

Today was the last race of the Running Ragged 20in20 Series.  We were running at Quarry Park & Nature Preserve for the third time this week and the 11th time overall.  Yesterday, we were asked to vote on which route through the park we wanted to run today.  The route chosen was the same route we ran on Tuesday.  We also ran this route last Thursday and Friday.  It’s the only course we’ve run four times.  It’s also the flattest route in this park, which is probably why people chose it.

Before the race, we took four group photos.  The first group was everybody who was running today.

Next, we had a photo of everybody who ran all 20 days, regardless of which distance.  The third group photo was of the eight runners who ran marathons all 20 days.  This was called the 524 group, because we ran 524 total miles.

Finally, there was a photo of the 262 group.  These were 13 runners who did half marathons all 20 days.

We have a Facebook group for runners doing the series.  This morning I posted, “Run like there’s no tomorrow.”  With respect to this series of races, that was literal, and I thought it would be a good way to encourage people.  I was nevertheless reluctant to post that.  That phrase is usually used as expression, implying we should run with reckless abandon.  Personally, I didn’t plan to do that.

As recently as last weekend, I envisioned going out with a bang by running my fastest race on the last day.  That seemed plausible, since I would no longer have any reason to hold back.

A lot has happened since then.  The cumulative fatigue from all these races has worn me down.  Also, I have some minor injuries that could easily get much worse if I’m not careful.  I still wanted to break five hours, since I’ve done that every day, but beyond that, I just wanted to be careful.

As far as injuries go, I had two big concerns today.  The first was my right Achilles tendon.  To mitigate that problem, I ran today’s race with heel lifts in both of my shoes.  A heel lift is a thin pad that goes under your heel.  Its purpose is to raise your heel slightly, so there’s slightly less tension on your Achilles tendon.  While I was primarily concerned with my right Achilles tendon, the left one has also been worrisome.  Also, I didn’t want to put a heel lift in just one shoe, as that might cause an imbalance in my stride.  By putting them in both shoes, I would still strike the ground the same way with each foot.

My other concern was a tendon where my left hamstring connects to my pelvis.  There wasn’t much I could do about that besides running cautiously, particularly going uphill, which is where I was noticing it yesterday.

Today was the coldest day of the series, with a high temperature of only 48 degrees.  I wore the warmest clothes I brought, which included the cheetah tights and hat.  Today, I added arm warmers to the ensemble.

Our course was relatively flat, which helped with several of my injuries.  The biggest hill was a sudden 10-foot rise near the start and finish of each lap.  I often referred to it as the 10-foot speed bump.  Today, I always walked up that hill, just to be on the safe side.

Today, we were joined a couple runners who had run with us a few times before.  One was Kristina, who was mostly with us on the weekends, while working during the week.  We were also joined by one runner who was doing her very first marathon.  Finally, some of the runners who were usually doing half marathons chose today to step up to the marathon, since they didn’t have to leave anything in the tank for tomorrow.

As we started running, I eased into my pace very gradually.  One of the things I was trying to do today was to avoid sudden accelerations.  Despite my gentle start, I noticed that hamstring tendon the moment I started running.

In the first lap, Kristina and I were running at about the same pace, but I was always behind her, because of my slow start.  Ordinarily, I would have sped up to run with her, but that would’ve been an unnecessary acceleration.  I was very disciplined about that.

At the end of my first lap, I was still cold.  The wind was strong, and I was feeling a few stray drops of drizzle.  I didn’t want to drink anything yet, so I went through the aid station without stopping.

I usually run at a pace that feels natural, and then use walking breaks to slow myself down.  Today, I didn’t do that.  Slowing to a walk would inevitably mean accelerating back into my running pace.  To avoid those extra accelerations, I just did continuous running at a slow, but steady pace.

There were two places where I slowed briefly to a walk.  One was going around the sharp 180-degree turn at the turnaround point.  The other was going up the “speed bump.”  In both cases, I resumed running just as I was beginning to run downhill.  That made it easier for me to glide back into running without putting any extra strain on my legs.

I didn’t take any pictures during the race.  I’ve run this race before, so I already had pictures of the course.  More important, stopping to take pictures would’ve meant accelerating from a standing start to resume running.

In the second lap, I was once again running at about the same pace as Kristina, but this time she was behind me, because she stopped at the aid station and I didn’t.  Because of the way I was pacing myself, I didn’t get any opportunities to run with anyone else until much later in the race.

During that lap, I was still noticing occasional drops of drizzle, but it wasn’t enough to get my clothes wet.

When I finished my second lap, I still didn’t feel like drinking, but I knew I should.  After that, I drank a little bit of Gatorade after each lap.  Those brief stops were unavoidable, but by now, my muscles had more time to warm up.

Early in my third lap, I noticed more drizzle.  If I had noticed it sooner, I would’ve grabbed my jacket while I was at the aid station.  I wasn’t going to go back, so I had to live with it.  Fortunately, the drizzle didn’t last that long.  It was one more lap at the most.

In the second half of that lap, I saw Kristina walking, so she could talk with Nat.  Kristina was probably the only runner who could give me competition, but she didn’t come here to compete with me.  She was here to support everybody.  At different times during the race, I saw her walking or running with several different runners.

After a few laps, I got the impression that my hamstring tendon might be feeling better, but I couldn’t tell for sure.  Sometimes, I just tune things out.  All I could know for sure is that it wasn’t getting worse.

By the middle of my 4th lap, I started to see the sun shining through gaps in the trees.  That’s when I knew for sure that we were done with the rain.

I wasn’t paying much attention to my lap times.  When I reached the halfway mark, I saw that my time was about the same as it was on other days when I was taking walking breaks and pacing for 20-minute laps.  Today, I was achieving the same pace just by running slowly.  Earlier in the series, running this slow would not have felt natural.  Today it did.

With six laps to go, there was a big contrast between how I felt today and how I felt yesterday.  Yesterday, it was at this point in the race that my hamstring tendon first started to bother me.  Today, it was at this point in the race that I could tell for sure it was feeling better.  Although I felt better, I still kept to my slow, but steady pacing.  What I was doing seemed to be working, and I wasn’t going to make any changes.

I also realized that neither Achilles tendon was bothering me at all.  I never felt them once.  The heel lifts were apparently working.  Wearing them came with some small risk.  While they reduced the tension on my Achilles tendons, they probably increased the tension on my plantar fascia.  For today, that was an acceptable trade-off, but it would not have been a good long-term solution.

I only filled one bottle with Gatorade today.  After my 10th lap, I ran out of Gatorade.  I didn’t want to stop long enough to refill it.  After my 11th lap, I stopped just long enough to get a cup of chocolate milk from Kelly.  Then, with only three laps to go, I stopped drinking.  It was a cold enough day that I could get by without drinking for the remaining laps.

At this point, I stopped counting down remain laps.  Instead, I counted down the remaining half-laps.  I did this for two reasons.  First, half-laps corresponded more closely with the number of remaining miles.  Second, it allowed me to recognize tangible progress at both ends of the course, rather than just at the aid station.  That was a psychological thing.  It’s like running a marathon where the course is marked in kilometers instead of miles.  There are more of them, but they go by quicker.  The closer I am to the end of the race, the more often I want to be able to acknowledge some progress.

In my second-to-last lap, I saw Jim ahead of me.  I wanted to run with him, but I wasn’t going to speed up to catch him.  My pace was a little faster than Jim’s, so I eventually caught up to him anyway.  Then I slowed to his pace, so we could run together for the rest of the lap.  By now, I knew I would break five hours by a wide margin, so I didn’t mind if I gave up a minute or two.

After that lap, Jim let me go, and I went back to running on my own.  I don’t know if I ever got back to the same pace as before, but that didn’t matter too much.

This was my 4th marathon on this course, so by now I had run this same out-and-back route 55 times.  I just had to run it one more time.  When I got to the turnaround, I rejoiced in knowing that it was my last 180-degree turn of the series.

On my way back, I passed Angela.  She said something that should’ve been obvious, but had not occurred to me.  I was going to be the first person to finish the series.  That was obvious because I had known for a long time that I would be the first person to finish today’s marathon.  This series was the first of its kind.  There was supposed to be a 20in20 series in the United Kingdom in August, but it got cancelled.  That meant I was going to be the first person to finish a series of 20 marathons in 20 days.

As I continued through my last lap, I ran past the Quarry #2 swimming hole for the last time.  Then I ran by a pair of stinky outhouses for the last time.  Next, I ran across the boardwalk for the last time.  Finally, I slowed to a walk, as I went over the “speed bump” for the last time.

Normally, at this point, I would be accelerating toward the aid station and finishing as quickly as I could.  Today, I was more restrained.  I kept up my slow, but steady pace right to the finish.  I finished in 4:40:48.  That was remarkably close to my average finish time for the series.

After finishing, we each received a certificate indicating how many total miles we ran.

This is a shirt I got with packet pickup three weeks ago.  It was never intended to be a finisher shirt, but that’s how I treated it.  I didn’t put it on until after I finished all 20 races.  Because of that, this shirt now has more meaning for me.  I really earned it.

This post wouldn’t be complete without a photo of my medal, now that it’s completely filled in.  I'm not normally a fan of huge medals, but this one is different.  It represents the whole series, not just a single race.

Last, but not least, for the first time in my life, I’m going to put a sticker on my car.  You know how people have stickers that read. “13.1” or “26.2.”  Well, there are very few people with one of these.

Race Statistics

Distance:  26.2 miles

Time:  4:40:48

Average Pace:  10:43

Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:  425

Minnesota Marathons/Ultras:  78

Series Statistics

Races Completed:  20

Under Five Hours:  20

Total Time:  93:24:13

Average Time:  4:40:13

Fastest:  4:18:32 (Day 16)

Slowest:  4:59:09 (Day 1)

Wins:  13

Total Miles:  524

Average Pace:  10:42