On April 11, I ran the
inaugural Albuquerque Marathon. The
Albuquerque Half Marathon has been around for more than 20 years, but this was
the first year they added a marathon option.
I had three reasons for
running this race. First, New Mexico is
one of the states where I’m trying to get a second Boston qualifier. There are limited opportunities in New
Mexico, and this was the only one I could fit into my schedule this year.
We had hoped this trip to
Albuquerque would give us an opportunity to visit Deb’s brother, who lives a
couple hours away from there. Finally,
this trip gave us a chance to make a side trip to Santa Fe. Neither of us had ever been there before.
Wednesday, April 8
Direct flights from
Minneapolis to Albuquerque are seasonal.
In April, we have to make connections at one of the Delta hubs. The hub that would make the most sense is
Salt Lake City, but we couldn’t find flights through Salt Lake City that fit
our schedule. Our other options were
Atlanta or Las Angeles. Either way, it’s
a long travel day. We opted for the
Atlanta route.
We arrived in Albuquerque
in the late afternoon, and checked into a hotel near the airport. I had just enough time to do a workout before
dinner.
This hotel has an evening
reception with appetizers on Wednesdays.
For Deb, that was all the food she needed for dinner. I needed something more substantial, so I
walked to a restaurant that was just down the block from our hotel. We were up pretty early that morning, so we
didn’t leave the hotel after dinner.
Thursday, April 9
Thursday was the day we
were planning to visit Deb’s brother, Jim, and his wife, Kath. Unfortunately, they both came down with a
respiratory infection that’s been going around in the community where they
live. It wasn’t a good time for them to
have visitors, and we didn’t want to risk catching what they had.
Instead, we drove to
Santa Fe for the day. The drive from
Albuquerque to Santa Fe normally takes about an hour. Because of road construction, the drive took
almost two hours.
When we got to Santa Fe,
we started our sightseeing on the Old Santa Fe Trail. After a quick stop at the visitor center, we
walked over to San Miguel Chapel, which is the oldest church in the United
States.
Next, we visited the
oldest house in the United States, which is now a museum with a gift shop.
Deb visited some nearby
shops, while I visited Loretto Chapel, which is famous for this spiral
staircase.
We browsed through a few
more shops in that area before moving our car closer to the Santa Fe Plaza.
Around the plaza, there
were numerous local artists selling their crafts. We browsed for a while and then stopped for
lunch at a café next to the plaza.
After lunch, we only had
about an hour before we needed to move our car.
Deb started exploring more of the shops, while I visited The Cathedral
Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi.
When we were done in that
area, we drove to the railyard arts district.
Deb’s knee was starting to bother her, so we weren’t there very long
before driving back to Albuquerque.
We had dinner at 66
Diner, which is a burger and malt shop on Route 66. We discovered this place on our first trip to
Albuquerque, back in 2008.
Friday, April 10
Something I ate on
Thursday disagreed with me. Halfway
through the night, I woke up with an unsettled stomach. For the rest of the night, I made frequent
trips to the bathroom, and I couldn’t get back to sleep. By the time I got up, everything I ate or
drank on Thursday had gone through me.
When I got up, I felt
weak, partly from lack of sleep, but mostly because I was dehydrated, and I
didn’t have any food in my system. I
needed to rehydrate, but I had to do it gradually. We didn’t leave the hotel until it was time
to go to packet pickup.
Packet pickup started at
11:00 AM at a running store in Albuquerque.
I got there right at 11:00, so we could have the rest of the day to do
more sightseeing. By now, my digestive
system seemed stable.
Since we had already been
to Santa Fe, we were able to spend Friday afternoon driving the “Turquoise
Trail” as far as Madrid. We stopped at a
few shops along the way, but we spent most of our time in Madrid, where there
are numerous small craft shops and art galleries. We didn’t buy anything in Santa Fe on
Thursday, but we bought a few things on Friday.
It got hot in the
afternoon, and when we got back, Deb wasn’t feeling well. She stayed in for the rest of the day, so I
was on my own for dinner. I again walked
to the restaurant that’s just down the block from our hotel.
When I left the hotel,
the sky was as white as milk. When I
noticed how windy it was, I realized I was experiencing my first dust
storm. I’m really glad that didn’t
happen while we were on the road.
I went to bed shortly
after dinner, and I slept well all night.
I really needed that.
Saturday, April 11
Saturday was race day. I woke up feeling much better than I did the
day before. The race didn’t start until
7:30, so I didn’t have to rush to get going.
The race started and
finished near a church in the Rio Grande valley. We were able to park at the church.
I arrived at the church
about an hour early. They were still
setting up the finish area. About 25
minutes before the race, I left my phone and warm-ups in the car and got in the
bathroom line. While I was waiting, I
saw several hot air balloons. I wanted
to take a picture, but I no longer had my phone with me.
The temperature was in
the mid-50s. I expected it to get into
the mid-60s by the time I finished, but I didn’t think that would be a big
deal, since the humidity was low. My
last three races were all hot, but I was optimistic that this one would have
favorable weather. One thing I didn’t
consider was the sun. I was expecting it
to be cloudy, but it was a sunny morning.
The elevation was about
5,000 feet above sea level. Atmospheric
pressure at this elevation is only about 83% of what it is at sea level. That means I was taking in less oxygen with
each breath. My past experience is that
my marathon time would be five to ten minutes slower at this elevation. On a hilly course, it would slow me down even
more. Fortunately, this was a relatively
flat course.
I’ve run a qualifying
time at this elevation before, but I was in much better shape then. None of my recent races have inspired much
confidence. To qualify, I was going to
need a good race.
Deb and I had already
been in Albuquerque for three days, but that’s not enough time to adapt to the
higher elevation. Everything I’ve read
on the subject suggests that our timing was worst case. Until your body adapts sufficiently, you feel
slightly more tired each day. Indeed, I
felt fine on Wednesday and Thursday, but on Friday I was already finding that I
got tired more easily.
Since arriving in
Albuquerque, I hadn’t done any other running.
I knew the elevation would affect me, but I went into the race
well-rested.
The qualifying standard
for my age group is 4:05. That’s an
average pace of 9:21 per mile. Often,
I’ll aim for a time under four hours. Just
finishing in 4:05 was going to be difficult enough, so I didn’t try for
anything faster.
There were 182 runners in
the marathon. The half marathon didn’t
start until later. With such a small
field, there weren’t any pace groups. I
was on my own to set the right pace.
The elevation made it
harder for me to know if I was starting at the right pace. It didn’t feel like I was going fast, but I
was breathing much harder than usual.
Was I starting too fast, or was that just the elevation? When I finished my first mile, I saw that it
was probably both. I ran the first mile
in 8:45. Normally, that would be just
fine, but at this elevation, it was too fast.
In the next mile, I
throttled back my effort and let a few runners go by me. After crossing a Bridge over the Rio Grande,
we went down a ramp and turned onto a paved path in the river valley. We went under the bridge and came up a small
ramp on the other side. It wasn’t a big
hill, but it was enough to get me out of breath.
Even after the hill, I
was still out of breath for a couple minutes.
I eased up some more and several other runners went by me.
My pace for mile two was
9:09. That was better, but it was still
faster than my target pace. I eased up a
little more, and more runners went by me.
In mile three, I hit my target pace.
Now, I just had to hold it.
We didn’t reach an aid
station until early in the fourth mile.
After that, they were spaced about two miles apart. That made it difficult to drink enough to
stay hydrated. The air was really dry,
and the cups at the aid stations were small.
At many of them, I was drinking both water and Gatorade.
We were running south
through the Rio Grande valley. The trail
we were on was fairly flat. Over the
next few miles, I tried to find runners I could follow who would keep me on the
right pace. Some miles were too fast and
some were too slow, but on average, I was on the right pace for my goal. It was distressing, however, how hard I was
breathing at this pace. I didn’t know
for sure if my effort was unsustainable or if feeling short of breath
was just going to be normal at this elevation.
In the middle of mile
eight, we reached the southernmost point on the course. We turned around and started heading north on
a road that was parallel to the path we were on earlier.
I immediately found the
pace to be more tiring. It’s possible we
were going slightly uphill here. I
started to fall behind the runners who had been right in front of me previously. When I got my split for mile eight, it was a
couple seconds too slow, but my effort felt unsustainable.
Then I noticed that we
had a headwind. I didn’t notice any wind
when we were running in the other direction.
It wasn’t a strong wind, but the same pace now took a little more effort. I tried hard to keep up the same pace, but
mile nine was a few seconds slower than mile eight.
By now it was obvious to
me that I couldn’t sustain this effort for another 17 miles. I was almost at my aerobic limit. On top of that, I was no longer going fast
enough. I realized at this point that I
had to give up on a Boston qualifier. It
just wasn’t realistic. I was upset with
myself for giving up so early. In
retrospect, I should have given up on it much earlier. I didn’t realize it yet, but I had run too
close to my limit for too long, and it had already broken me.
In mile ten, I eased
up. I tried to find a pace that would be
sustainable, but even after slowing down, I still found that the pace had me
breathing hard.
I came to a confusing
turn. I saw that the runner ahead of me
had turned left. When I got there, I
didn’t see where they went. I was momentarily
confused, but there were course marshals who were shouting at me. I needed to keep turning left and go down a
ramp before turning again to go under a bridge.
I hesitated for a few seconds, but then I saw where they were directing
me.
After running under the
bridge, I had to come up a small hill.
Then I paused to drink at an aid station. Each of those things slowed me down.
Mile 10 took me 10
minutes, but the pace still wasn’t sustainable.
I kept slowing down. I wasn’t
keeping up with any of the runners around me.
A few more runners passed me in each mile. My pace for mile 11 was 10:10. In mile 12, it slowed to 10:24. Mile 13 took 10:38.
At halfway, I was almost
five minutes slower than my goal, but the worst was yet to come.
My pace stabilized in
mile 14, but I started to feel the need to make a bathroom stop. I remembered seeing on the course map that
there were bathrooms along the route, but I couldn’t remember where they were. I had to slow down a little more until I
could make a stop.
In mile 15, I reached
another confusing turn. Again, there
were course marshals who saw my hesitation and immediately pointed me in the
right direction. I turned onto a paved path
and ran down a hill to reach a street that went under the bridge we had just
crossed. The runner in front of me made
a U-turn onto the street. I was about to
follow him, but a volunteer told me I had to go straight here. It took me a while to realize that the runner
in front of me was in the 10K race. Their
course overlapped with ours. I would
eventually make that same U-turn, but not until much later in the race.
Just past the 15-mile
mark, we turned onto a dirt trail. Then
I spotted a port-o-potty that was a short distance away from the trail. It wasn’t put there for the race, but it was
close enough to the trail that I took the opportunity to stop.
Ultrarunners have a
saying. “Beware the chair.” As soon as I sat down, I realized how
tempting it would be to pause long enough to catch my breath. I had been out of breath since early in the
race. Even after slowing down, I was
still breathing hard.
I resisted the
temptation. I finished as quickly as I
could, and I made my way back to the trail.
Then I saw another runner making the same detour.
I was on the dirt trail
for about a mile. It was hard-packed,
and it was fairly flat until just before we got back onto paved streets. Then I had to go up a small hill.
My pace now was about a
minute slower than it had been before my bathroom stop. I was coming unglued. I knew my time would be slow, but I needed to
keep moving. I just wanted to finish.
Surprisingly, there weren't as many runners passing me. I was starting to pass a few runners who were taking walking breaks.
I was somewhere around 17
miles when another runner commented as she passed me that she was getting
hot. By now, it was about 60
degrees. That wouldn’t normally feel
that hot, but it was sunny, and much of the course was exposed to the sun. At higher elevations, you really feel the
difference between sun and shade. It
occurred to me that my shirt felt sweaty, in spite of the dry air.
At 18 miles, I finally
succumbed to the temptation to take a walking break. I had seen several other runners walking
already. I walked for a few minutes, but
then another runner saw my Comrades Marathon shirt and encouraged me to start
running.
Her name was Vanessa, and
she wanted to know more about the Comrades Marathon. We ran together for about a mile, and I told
her why I like Comrades so much.
We reached a small hill
leading up to a bridge, and I told Vanessa I needed to walk the hill. She went ahead and said I would probably see
her later. I was skeptical that I would
catch up again, but it turns out she was right.
As I started walking up
the bridge, I met up with the same runner who had previously commented about
being hot. Her name was Kariann. She was having foot cramps, so she also had
to walk up the hill.
When I got to the top of
the hill, I told Kariann I was going to run the downhill side. She needed to keep walking, so I assumed I
wouldn’t see her again. I was wrong.
Now, we were on the
shoulder of a busy street. There was a
line of orange traffic cones between us and the traffic lanes.
As I kept running along
the street, I could see Vanessa a couple blocks ahead of me. She was still running. I occasionally needed a short walking break,
so I kept falling farther behind.
On my left, I saw a pink
adobe building with a sign indicating it was a farm-to-table restaurant. Deb likes farm-to-table restaurants, so I
tried to remember the name, in case Deb might wasn’t to go there for dinner. In the next block, I saw an antique store,
which is something else Deb likes.
As I kept running down
this street, I noticed that Vanessa was turning her head to look back. I saw her do this twice. I wondered if she was looking to see if I was
going to catch up to her.
My attention was somewhat
unfocused, but the next time I looked forward, I saw that Vanessa had turned
around and was now running toward me.
When she got closer, she said we had missed a turn.
I turned around and
followed her back, looking to see where we had missed a turn. What should have been obvious is that there
were no longer any traffic cones between us and the traffic.
By this point in the
race, it was a struggle to force myself to keep running. It was even harder to force myself to run
when it wasn’t even part of the course.
I was already broken physically.
Now, I was broken mentally as well.
As we continued to
backtrack, we met another runner who had also missed the turn. Eventually we saw it. There was an intersection where the traffic
cones went around a corner. It was a
sharper than 90-degree turn, which might explain how we didn’t notice it.
It’s worth noting that
there wasn’t a course marshal at this turn.
All of the other turns had course marshals. Before the race, the race director told us
several times to follow the signs and follow the cones.
Did I miss the turn
because it was such a sharp corner? Did
I miss it because I saw Vanessa going straight?
Did I miss it because I had “marathon brain.” All I know for sure is that wouldn’t have
realized I was off course if I didn’t see Vanessa coming back. If I had been the first person to miss this
turn, I hate to think how far off course I would have gone.
I was almost to the
20-mile sign, when my watch read 21 miles.
My missed turn caused me to run an extra mile.
I was back on course now,
but I still had more than six miles to go.
My running had degenerated into a slow shuffle, and I kept taking
walking breaks.
As I reached an aid
station at 21 miles, I was intending to drink a cup of water and a cup of
Gatorade. I got out of breath as I tried
to drink the water. I finished that cup,
but I wasn’t able to drink Gatorade as well.
This was more than just the elevation.
It was a symptom of heat stress.
It wasn’t even that hot yet. It
was probably only 65 degrees, but the sun was intense, and I was dehydrated.
To keep from just walking
the rest of the way, I came up with a way to use the traffic cones to pace
myself. I forced myself to run for the
next three traffic cones. Then I would
walk for one traffic cone. I kept this
up for the next three miles.
I eventually came to the
same spot where a 10K runner had made a U-turn earlier. Now, it was my turn to make the same
U-turn. I was almost to the 24-mile
sign, and I saw Kariann a short distance ahead of me. She was mostly walking. I forced myself to run until I caught up to
her.
She was still having foot
cramps when she tried to run, so she was limited to mostly walking. At this point, having someone to run with was
more important than trying to go faster.
I ran with Kariann for the next two miles, although we were mostly
walking. Along the way, I learned that
she also missed the same turn, but she didn’t go as far off course before
seeing runners coming back.
With about a mile and a
half to go, we crossed a bridge over the Rio Grande. I recognized this as the same bridge we had
crossed early in the race. We were
retracing the first mile of the race, but after passing the spot where we
started, we would need to go another half mile to reach the finish line, which
was closer to the church.
Early in the race, I
remembered seeing an aid station that wasn’t set up yet. We turned a corner and I saw it again. There was nobody there.
I desperately needed to
drink. I saw two large dispensers and bags
with paper cups. I grabbed a cup and
tried to fill it. Both dispensers were
empty. I had to tough it out to the
finish line.
When we reached the “26”
sign, I told Kariann I was going to try to run the rest of the way. She needed to keep walking. I ran most of it, but there was one small
hill that I needed to walk as I was coming into the church parking lot.
I’ve made reference to
various hills where I needed to walk or slow down. I can’t emphasize enough that this is a flat
course. I wouldn’t normally call these
hills, but between the elevation and my struggles with the conditions, I had to
slow down on anything that was even slightly uphill.
I finished the race in
5:13:40. That was well over an hour
slower than my original goal. By the
time I finished, it was 70 degrees, and the sun was still intense. It’s worth noting, however, that I expected
to be on the course this long.
I have to question
whether qualifying for Boston twice in every state is still a realistic
goal. New Mexico is a problem. I can think of only two other races where it’s
even feasible, but neither is going to be easy for me. Also, the other two are tough to fit into my
schedule.
Finish line food included
pizza and ice pops. The RD said there
was also ice cream, but I didn’t see where that was. They had a variety of other snack foods, but
I mostly needed water. I didn’t see any
bottled water, but they had cups and two large dispensers. I drank one cup of water as I walked to my
car. I should have drank more.
When I got back to the
hotel, I drank two bottles of water that I had in the fridge. I was a wreck, so I didn’t leave the hotel
again until it was time for dinner.
Sunday, April 12
We flew home on
Sunday. We were able to get a routing
through Salt Lake City, so getting home didn’t take as long. Our first flight wasn’t until noon, so we
didn’t need to be in a rush to get going.
Neither of us felt like
doing more sightseeing. My Achilles
tendons were so tight I could barely walk.
I usually find my strength training exercises to be a good recovery
workout, but this was the exception. A
few exercises were difficult, and calf raises were almost impossible. I also found my exercises to be more tiring
than usual.
It wasn’t until Sunday
that I looked up the official results.
Despite everything that went wrong, I placed second in the 60-69 age
group. Apparently, it was a tough day
for everyone.
The time limit for the race was advertised as six hours, but I saw finish times as high as 6:25. Even with the extra time, there were only 142 finishers out of 182 registered runners.
