Today was day four of the
Jackal Marathons. Today’s race was the Dragonfly
Jackal Marathon. It was the same course
as yesterday, nine laps of a paved loop through Pinson Mounds State Park. There are a lot of dragonflies in the park.
The temperature at the
start was in the mid-60s. That’s about
the same as yesterday. Today, it warmed
up faster, getting into the 80s. It was
another sunny day.
My goal was to finish
within six hours. Yesterday, I did that
by a wide margin, but I knew it would get hotter today.
There’s a small hill near
the beginning of the loop, where we left the parking lot. Yesterday, I walked this hill in eight of the
nine laps. Today, I walked it in every
lap.
In my first lap, I got
out of breath just walking up that hill.
That didn’t happen in subsequent laps.
I think it had to do with not being warmed up yet.
As soon as the road
leveled out, I was able to run comfortably.
After that, I only walked in one other place. That was a small rise that comes late in the
loop. Everywhere else, I ran.
My pace in the first lap
was about 30 seconds per mile faster than yesterday. By my second lap, my pace was about the same
as yesterday. By the fourth lap, my pace
was already deteriorating.
Yesterday, I waited until
the last two laps before starting to put crushed ice in my hat. Today it warmed up quicker, and I started
putting ice in my hat on the fourth lap.
I once again had to
negotiate with myself about when to start taking more walking breaks. At first, I thought I would need to do that
beginning with the fourth lap. Then I
thought it would be at 13 miles, which came about halfway through my fifth
lap. When I got to 13, I walked just
long enough to drink some Gatorade. Then
I started running again. I was on
autopilot. In lap six, I finally had to
start walking more.
Each lap was a little
less than three miles. The first mile
was the easiest mile. This mile had a
nice downhill section. That section was
also shady. It was easy to get through
this mile without extra walking.
The second mile was
gradually uphill. It had a mixture of
sun and shade. In the middle laps, this
was the only mile that felt unusually tiring.
It was here that I started to walk.
At first, I had two
rules. I had to keep my walking breaks
short, and then I needed to run at least twice as far as I walked. Often, I ran three times as far.
Before the end of that
lap, I added a third rule: no walking in the sun. That rule was a carryover from last year,
when it was much hotter.
Last year, the pavement
was heating up in the sun. By the middle
of the race, I could feel the heat rising from the hot pavement. The pavement was only hot where it was sunny,
so taking a walking break in a sunny area meant spending more time on the hot
pavement.
This year, the pavement
wasn’t getting hot, but I still felt hottest when I was in the sun. For that reason, it still made sense to avoid
spending extra time in the sun.
If there was a long
stretch that was shady, I didn’t walk the whole thing. I only walked as much as I needed to walk. If there was a long sunny stretch, I forced
myself to run all of it.
The last mile of the loop
only had one short hill. The rest was
either downhill or flat. This mile,
however, was almost all out in the sun.
There were a couple places where the course crossed through a line of
trees. Those were the only shady spots,
but the shade was brief.
I stuck to my “walk the
shade, run the sun” rule through that entire mile, even though it meant running
almost the entire mile.
In that last mile, there
was a building with bathrooms. The
bathrooms were air conditioned. I made a
bathroom stop in that lap, and I immediately noticed how much cooler it was
inside. I had to resist the temptation
to linger. I didn’t stay indoors any
longer than I needed.
When I finished that lap,
I put more ice in my hat, as usual. Then
I checked my time. That lap took 40
minutes. That was slower than any of my
earlier laps, but it was reasonable. I
was still keeping a faster pace than I would need to finish in six hours.
When I reached the middle
mile of lap seven, I needed to do more walking.
I revised my rules for walking.
Now, I just had two rules. I had
to run more than I walked, and no walking in the sun.
After that lap, I checked
my time again. That lap also took 40
minutes, even though I walked more. That
was a pleasant surprise. In retrospect,
it’s probably because the previous lap included a bathroom stop.
In lap eight, I was more
willing to take long walking breaks in the shade. In the middle mile of that lap, I walked
everything that was shady. On the long
sunny stretches, I sometimes looked for trees that were casting shadows across
the course. I would walk briefly while I
was in the shadow and resume running on the other side.
With more walking, that
lap was slower, but only by a minute and a half. As I started my last lap, I could walk almost
the entire lap and still break six hours.
I didn’t.
There’s a reason why it
was important to me to break six hours.
I’ve never taken six hours to finish a marathon that was on pavement or
gravel. I’ve been slower than six hours
eight times in my life. Every one of
those races had a significant trail component.
I took two walking breaks
in the first mile of that lap. I walked
the hill coming out of the parking lot, and I walked another short hill. After that, I run the rest of that mile.
I was just getting to the
end of that mile when another runner passed me.
We had been leapfrogging at different times during the race. As he ran by me, I knew I wouldn’t catch up
to him again. I was just getting to the section
where I planned to mostly walk. At the
time, I thought that meant I would finish last.
I was OK with that. All I cared
about was breaking six hours. At this
point, I could easily do that by walking the rest of the way.
I walked every shady
section, and I sometimes walked briefly even where it was sunny. The real test of my resolve came in the last
mile.
When my watch read “25,”
I took my last drink of Gatorade and checked my time. If I walked the rest of the way, I would have
a time in the 5:50s. If I ran enough, I
would have a time in the 5:40s. I
decided I would rather have a time in the 5:40s.
In the last mile, I stuck
to the “walk the shade, run the sun” rule, even though almost all of that mile
is sunny.
When I got to the last
place where the course crosses through some trees, I relished my last walking
break. Then I ran the rest of the way. It helped that this last section was all either
flat or downhill.
I finished in
5:43:58. I thought I was last. As it turns out, there was still one other
runner on the course. I was still in the
finish area when he finished.
In addition to our
finisher medals, everyone got a hat today.
They did this last year too, but it was on the second day. I had forgotten about it. I had a choice of colors. Last year, I got a black hat, so this year, I
chose a red and white hat.
The runner who came in
behind me ran negative splits today. That’s
amazing on a day when the second half was much hotter.
Tomorrow will be his 500th
marathon. For months, he’s been adding
extra races to his schedule so he could hit 500 here. I don’t think I would’ve made the same choice. Tomorrow’s race is by far the toughest of the
series. I’m signed up for it, but I can’t
say for certain that I’ll be able to finish it.
In other news, I didn’t get any bites from the horse flies. Before the race, I really coated myself with bug spray. It worked.
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