Race Report: 2025 Med City Marathon

On May 18, I ran the Med City Marathon in Rochester, MN.  Rochester is only 75 miles from where I live.  That’s close enough that I could easily drive there, but far enough that I still chose to stay in a hotel.

Until a few days ago, we were having highs near 90 degrees.  Cooler temperatures arrived just in time for race weekend.  On Saturday, the high was in the 50s.  Overnight, it dropped into the upper 30s.  I brought my warmest tights, T-shirt, and hat.  That’s the cheetah outfit.

I drove to Rochester after lunch on Saturday and checked into a downtown hotel.  Then I walked to packet pickup, which was held at the Historic Chateau Theater.  The race shirt was a tank top.  I always like it when that’s an option, because I already have too many T-shirts.

Before dinner, I sampled some beers at a bar that was across the street from my hotel.  I was talking to a runner sitting next to me who was doing the half marathon, but his daughter was doing the marathon.  It was going to be her first marathon, and she was nervous about it.  I offered to run with her, and I told her what I would be wearing, so she could look for me before the race.  I asked what her name was, and she said it was “Abbi.”  I’m putting that in quotes, because I didn’t ask her how it was spelled.  It could be Abby or Abbey.

I had dinner at an Italian restaurant that was close to my hotel.  After dinner, I went to bed as early as I could.  I was able to get to sleep right away.  I slept well at first, but I woke up around 1:45.  Then, I couldn’t get back to sleep.  I got at least seven hours of sleep, so I wasn’t too worried about it.

I usually run with a fanny pack, which I use to hold things like car keys hotel rooms cards, and my driver’s license.  As I was getting dressed, I realized that I neglected to pack my fanny pack.  If I had noticed that the day before, I could’ve bought something at the expo.  Now, it was too late.

The only thing I needed to bring with me was a hotel room card.  I found that the least intrusive way to carry it was to tuck it inside my waistband.

The race finishes in the downtown area, but the start is at an event center near the airport, which is eight miles away.  They had buses to take us to the start.  The buses left from in front of the Mayo Civic Center, which was about four blocks from my hotel.

The race website said the buses would begin loading at 5:20.  It didn’t say when the last bus would leave.  I probably should’ve asked at packet pickup, but I didn’t.  Without knowing, I showed up at 5:20.  I was on the first bus.

The start area was only eight miles away, so it didn’t take long to get there.  Then, I had a long wait outside.  We were dropped off next to an evetn center, but the building wasn’t open.

They had a gear check, but I chose not to use it.  To stay warm in the start area, I brought a Tyvek jacket and a heat shield.  It was windy, so I stayed close to the building, where I wasn’t as exposed.

Two members of the 50sub4 Marathon Club live in Rochester, and others had traveled here for the race.  About 20 minutes before the race, we posed for a group photo.

I discarded my heat shield when I went to line up for the race.  I kept the Tyvek jacket on.  I was originally planning to take it off and tie it around my race before I started running.  Instead, I unzipped it in front, but I kept it on until I got warmed up.

I’ve run this race before, but the course has changed since the last time I ran it.  The old course was hilly in the first half, but flattened out in the second half.  The new course approaches the city from a different direction, so it doesn’t have any of the hills I remembered.  The big challenge in the early miles was the wind.  It was a cold wind, and we were mostly running into it until we got into the city.

I didn’t know if I would recognize “Abbi.”  I'm not good at recognizing people that I've only met once.  I remembered what her hair looked like, but most women with long hair wear it differently when they run.  “Abbi” had told me she was going to start the race with the 4:00 pace group, so that’s where I lined up.  When a young runner with blond hair recognized me, I assumed it must be her.

I asked “Abbi” if she was planning to run the whole race with the 4:00 group or if she was just starting with them.  She said four hours was her goal.  I also asked her how far she went in training.  She told me about her last few long training runs.  The longest was 22 miles.

Early in the race, “Abbi” and I both followed the pace group.  In addition to the 4:00 group for the marathon, there was a 2:00 group for the half marathon.  The two groups were running together, so it was a large group.  I found running behind this large group to be useful to shelter from the wind.

“Abbi” was wearing ear buds, so I seldom talked to her.  To hear me, she had to take them out, so I just stayed with the pace group.  Every now and then, I looked to see where she was, but I assumed she would be able to stay with the group in the early miles.  If she struggled to keep up the pace, it wouldn’t be until later in the race.

After a few miles, I started to notice that I was getting splits from my watch way before we reached the banners marking each mile.  It’s not unusual for a GPS watch to be off, but the discrepancy seemed unusually large.  I think the placement of the banners was inconsistent.

I talked to one of the 4:00 pacers, and she said they were pacing according to their watches, but going a little bit faster in case their watches were recording splits too soon.  Our target pace was 9:09 per mile, but the pacers were keeping us closer to 9:00.

About halfway through the fifth mile, I started to feel perspiration under the sleeves of my jacket.  That’s when I finally took it off and tied it around my waist.

The early miles were gently rolling, but with a downhill trend.  At one point, one of the pacers told us we were about to start running down a hill that was about a mile long.  Some runners went ahead, but I held back and stayed with the pacers.

They had a marathon relay.  After running downhill, we reached the first exchange point.  There was also an aid station there.  A bus to transport relay runners was parked in the middle of the street, forcing us onto the shoulder just as we were going through the heavily congested relay exchange point.  Making matters worse, there were rumble strips between the driving lane and the shoulder.

I realized at some point that I would need to make a bathroom stop.  I knew I would need to pee before too long.  I also felt pressure in my intestine, and I wasn’t willing to assume that it was just gas.  I told “Abbi” I was going to make a bathroom stop the next time we reached an aid station, but I would try to catch up later.

Somewhere near the end of the eighth mile, we ran under a bridge, and I saw an aid station with two port-o-potties just past the bridge.  I took the opportunity to stop.

Taking care of my business took longer than it should have.  I had to take off my gloves, and I also had to be careful not to lose my hotel room card.  The pressure I felt was just gas, but I still took the time to empty my intestines as much as I possible could.

When I was done, I got a drink from the aid station.  As I resumed running, I looked at my watch.  I had lost roughly two and a half minutes.

I’m used to running marathons at a slightly faster pace than the pace I was running today.  I was confident that I could speed up by about 15 seconds per mile, but at that pace it would take 10 miles to catch up to the group.  I didn’t know if “Abbi” would begin to struggle at some point.  If she did, I wanted to be there to help her get through the late miles.

I was now surrounded by runners who were going a little bit slower than the pace I was going before.  To pick up my pace, I needed to be passing everyone around me.

I picked up my pace until it felt tiring.  I passed the 8-mile banner almost immediately, but I wouldn’t know my pace until I finished mile nine.  I was surprised to see how fast I was running.  I ran that mile in 8:02.

At that pace, it would only take another mile and a half to catch up to the group, but I knew this pace would wear me out.  I eased up a little, but then I realized I was no longer passing people.  I had to accelerate again to make sure I was still gaining ground on the group.

Mile 10 was almost as fast.  I ran it in 8:09.  Looking ahead, I could see where runners were making a U-turn and going up a ramp.  I saw the 2:00 pacer, but I didn’t see a 4:00 pacer.

As I got closer, I saw a sign indicating this was where the marathon and half marathon routes diverged.  The runners doing the half marathon did the U-turn.  The runners doing the marathon kept going straight.  Looking farther ahead, I saw the 4:00 pace leader.  Now that I could see the group, I knew I would catch up to them.

Midway through the next mile, I caught up with the group.  As I pulled alongside “Abbi,” she noticed I was back.  I told her I had been running 8-minute miles, and I would probably regret that later.  I was really worried that those fast miles would destroy me for the late miles.

Most of the runners were wearing extra layers, but as it gradually warmed up, they discarded them.  “Abbi” had started the race in a green long-sleeved shirt.  At some point, I noticed the shirt was gone.  I still recognized her from her ear buds and a pink case on her lower back that held her phone.

By the time we reached the halfway mark, I was finding it more difficult to keep up with the group.  Most of the time, the pace felt manageable, but if I fell behind at an aid station, it was more difficult to catch up.  It was also tough keep up on hills.  In general, the rest of the course was fairly flat, but it wasn’t perfectly flat.  There were occasional small rises, and now I found them to be tiring.

In the second half of the race, I started getting splits from my watch after we passed the mile markers.  I never trust my watch completely, but I trusted it more than I trusted the mile markers.

Most of the time, we were on roads, but some sections of the course were on paved trails through a forest.  At one point, we saw a family of ducks running across the trail.  They were the tiniest baby ducks I’ve ever seen.  Earlier, we had seen a wild rabbit run across the trail.

If not for “Abbi,” I would’ve dropped back and finished at my own pace.  I forced myself to keep up with the group, because I wanted to help her get through the difficult miles at the end of the race.  All first-time marathoners struggle at least a little bit.  My only goal for this race was to help her get through those miles.  Finishing your first marathon can be a life-changing event.  I wanted to see her finish.

At one point, our remaining pace leader told us we were coming up on “the hill.”  This was the only tough hill on the course.  It wasn’t steep, but it was long.

For the first half of the hill, I was able to keep up.  Then I started to lose contact.  I kept the group in sight until I reached the top.  As we started running back downhill, I worked hard to catch up.  I was actually breathing harder on the downhill than I did going uphill.

Up until now, I rarely talked to “Abbi.”  Now I started talking to her more often.  When we got to 20 miles, I told her that most first-time marathoners would be struggling at this point, but she was going strong.  She appreciated hearing that.

Since reaching the city, we had been running in a big loop.  At 22 miles, we completed the loop and began to repeat a section we had run before.  Miles 23 and 24 were the same as miles 9 and 10.  Coincidentally, those were the two miles I had run much faster the first time around.  Knowing how fast I had run these miles before made me feel more confident that I could keep up with the group as we ran them again.

When I saw the “23” banner I told “Abbi” she set a PR.  What I meant by that was that she had run farther today than she had every run.  In reply, she asked, “I told you that?”

I reminded her that she said her longest training run was 22 miles.  Then she said that she had run marathons before.  Her PR was 3:59.  She thought I meant that she was on pace to beat that time.

I realized now that my entire race was based on a misunderstanding.  This woman obviously didn’t need my help to get through the tough miles.  This wasn’t her first rodeo.  I was left wondering if I had completely misunderstood my previous conversations with “Abbi.”  I also wondered if I was still talking to “Abbi.”  Did I somehow get her mixed up with another runner in the pace group who looked similar.  It didn’t help that nobody was wearing the same clothes now that they were wearing at the beginning of the race.  I’m going to continue referring to her as “Abbi,” but I didn’t really know if this was the same runner.

“Abbi” was obviously feeling strong, and she was determined to beat her previous best of 3:59.  The two of us were now pulling away from the pace group.  I was tempted to ask her what her name was, but I felt awkward asking.  If this really was “Abbi,” she already told me her name.  By the time I finally decided to ask, it was too late.

As we passed the 24-mile banner, “Abbi” was clearly feeling strong.  She picked up the pace to the point where I could no longer keep up with her.  I had lost my chance to ask her name.

“Abbi” was wearing her race bib on her back.  I could make out the first and last digits, but I couldn’t read the middle digit.  Her hair was in the way.

When I reached the “25” banner, I made one last attempt to catch up with “Abbi.”  I sped up as much as I could, but I was still losing ground.  By the time I reached the “26” banner, I could no longer see her.

I finished at the best pace I could.  I finished in 3:57:27.  Despite running miles nine, ten, and part of eleven at a pace that almost broke me, I managed to run fairly even splits.

After I got my finisher medal, I started to look for “Abbi.”  I couldn’t find her.  She was already gone.  I picked up some post-race food and headed for the results tent.

They had monitors where you could type in your bib number and see your official result.  The sun was shining on the monitors in such a way that I couldn’t read them.  I had to ask one of the volunteers to look up my result.  That’s when I found out that I placed second in my age group.  Nothing about this race went as planned, but it had a happy ending.

My hotel was just around the block from the finish area.  As I was walked back to the hotel, I spotted another 50sub4 runner.  We’re in the same age group, and he had finished in 3:45.  He was the winner of our age group.  If I had been trying to go all out for a fast time, my goal would’ve been 3:50.  I still would’ve been second in my age group.

After the race, I searched the results for every possible bib number starting with “4” and ending with “2.”  My best guess is that the runner I was talking to in the late miles was a woman named Emily who finished in 3:56:10.

I also searched the results for any woman named Abbi, Abby, Abbey, or Abigail.  Initially, I didn't find her.  When I reviewed the complete race results the next day, I found her.  She finished the race nine seconds after I did.   When I sped up to try to keep up with Emily, Abbi sped up to follow me.  I still feel bad about mistaking Emily for Abbi, but I'm relieved to know that Abbi had a strong finish.

At the end of the race, I was confused, but I now realize that it was only in the last few miles that I mistook Emily for Abbi.  My biggest regret now is that I didn't get to see Abbi finish.

Race statistics:

Distance:  26.2 miles

Time:  3:57:27

Average Pace:  9:03 per mile

First Half:  1:58:35

Second Half:  1:58:52

Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:  545

Minnesota Marathons/Ultras:  105

Race Report: 2024 Berlin Marathon

In late September, I traveled to Berlin with Marathon Tours & Travel to run the Berlin Marathon.  This is the second time I ran this race.  I also ran it in 2016.

Foreign travel is expensive, so I rarely go back to run the same race again.  I had two reasons for going back to Berlin.  My first reason was to qualify for the Boston Marathon.  Of the six World Marathon Majors, Berlin is the only one where I had not run a Boston qualifier.  I’ll get to the second reason later.

I was able to get into the marathon through the lottery.  I wanted to stay at a hotel that was close to where the race started and finished, but when I started pricing hotels, I was shocked how expensive they were.  I could’ve stayed at a hotel that was farther away, but I didn’t want to spend half of my time on trains.  I also wanted to have the convenience of walking to the start on the morning of the race.

Going to Berlin with Marathon Tours was expensive, but not any more expensive than it would’ve been to book a close hotel on my own.  If I was going to spend that much, I wanted the benefits of going with a tour group.  To save money, I shared a hotel room with my friend, Tom.  I’ve known Tom for about 13 years.

Wednesday, September 25

I left Minneapolis Wednesday night on an overnight flight to Amsterdam.  My flight wasn’t until 9:20 PM.  I don’t know why I scheduled such a late flight.  I booked this flight months ago, so it’s hard to recall what other options I might have had.

One good thing about having such a late departure is that it gave me plenty of time to do a quality training run on Wednesday.  I wouldn’t run again until Saturday.

Thursday, September 26

My flight to Amsterdam arrived on time, but my flight to Berlin was delayed.  By the time I got to Berlin, it was 5:30 PM.  It took another 45 minutes to get to my hotel.

There was a welcome reception for all the runners who were traveling with Marathon Tours.  By the time I checked in and brought my bags up to my room, it was already 6:30.

The reception was so crowded that I had trouble finding Tom, but he eventually found me.  We were at the reception until 8:00 when it ended.

I went to bed early, but couldn’t get to sleep until 1 AM.

Friday, September 27

Our hotel package included a buffet breakfast.  After breakfast, me met in the lobby for a half day city tour of Berlin.  Our first stop was the East Side Gallery.  This is a section of the Berlin wall that was decorated with murals by local artists.

Our other stops included Museum Island, the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, the Memorial to the Sinti and Roma, the Holocaust Memorial, the Topography of Terror museum, and Checkpoint Charlie.  I had seen most of these sights before, so I didn’t take many pictures.  We walked got out of the bus and walked through the Brandenburg gate.

After the tour, we were dropped off at the marathon expo.  There was a long line to get in.  I picked up my race materials for both the marathon and the 5K race.  We could spend as much time at the expo as we wanted.  After the expo, we were on our own to get back to the hotel.  Everyone who was running the marathon received a four-day transit pass, so it didn’t cost anything to take public transportation back to the hotel.

Tom and I were met at the expo by our friend Lynne.  The three of us had a late lunch at a German restaurant near the Brandenburg Gate.  Getting back to our hotel was an adventure, as the streets near the Brandenburg Gate were all blocked off for the opening ceremony of the marathon.

We had such a late lunch that neither of us needed another meal.  We ended up just eating dessert at the hotel before going to bed.

I had an easier time getting to sleep the second night, but I woke up several times during the night.

Saturday, September 28

They used to have a fun run Saturday morning called the breakfast run.  This year, they replaced the breakfast run with a 5K race.  The 5K race started at Potsdamer Platz, which was close to our hotel.  That made it really convenient.

The race didn’t start until 10:00 AM, so I was able to have a leisurely breakfast at the hotel before getting ready for the race.

The temperature was in the mid-50s, with a little bit of wind.  It was a short enough race that I could get away with being overdressed, so I wore my cheetah outfit.

Tom and Lynne were also doing the 5K race.  Lynne met us at our hotel, and we went to the start together.  The starting line was only about a block from our hotel.

The course for the 5K race was similar to the last 5K of the marathon route, but there was an extra out-and-back near the end.  I think they added the out-and-back so they could have us start at Potsdamer Platz, instead of having to block off more streets.  While the route wasn’t identical to the finish of the marathon, it was still a nice preview of the late kilometers of the marathon route.

The last two times I ran a 5K race the day before a marathon, I went all-out.  Both times, I felt like my performance in the marathon suffered as a result.  Instead of running a maximum effort, I used this race as a tune-up for the marathon.  My goal was to run it at about the same pace that I was planning to run the marathon.

In the first mile, I tried to tell myself that these were the first five kilometers of a marathon.  Subconsciously, I knew I wasn’t running that far, and I went a little too fast.  It didn’t help that I was surrounded by runners who were racing for a fast time.  I ended up running the first mile in 8:21, which is too fast.

In the second mile, I tried to relax, but I was still influenced by the pace of the runners around me.  That mile was a couple second slower, but it was still too fast.

By now, I was on the out-and-back section of the course.  After the turnaround, I was running toward the Brandenburg Gate and the finish line.  I was going into the wind, but I didn’t need to worry about the wind slowing me down.  I was going too fast anyway.

When we passed the point where we previously turned onto this street, we shifted over to the left side of the street.  The rest of the race was exactly the same way the marathon finishes.  I could see the gate ahead of me, but I resisted the temptation to pick up the pace.

After going through the gate, I could see the finish line, which was in a large city park called Tiergarten.  Having run the marathon before, I already knew about how far it was from the gate to the finish line.  It was still useful to see it again before the marathon.

I finished in 26:24.  I slowed down a little in the last mile, but it was still faster than my goal pace for the marathon.  This race was instructive.  I knew what this pace felt like.  If I felt the same way at the start of the marathon, I would know it was too fast.

After finishing, I received my medal.  On my way through the finish area, I also picked up a heat sheet, a water bottle and a cream-filled donut.  I was dressed warm enough that I didn’t need the heat sheet to make it back to my hotel, but I saved it to wear before the marathon.

The most direct route back to my hotel would have been to turn left and walk though Tiergarten.  Instead, everyone was directed to the right.  Our route out of the park took us to the opposite side.  To get to my hotel, I needed to cross the course, and there were barriers on both sides of the street.

On Friday, I had noticed a U-Bahn (subway) station near the Brandenburg Gate.  I was able to get to the other side of the course by going into the station, going under the street, and coming out the exit on the other side.  Once I was on the other side of the course, it was an easy walk back to the hotel.

After we each had time to get cleaned up, Tom and I had a light lunch at a restaurant near our hotel.

We didn’t have anything scheduled for the afternoon.  I did a workout at the hotel, and we went to a brewery in search of interesting beers.  Then we relaxed at the hotel until it was time for dinner.

Marathon Tours hosted a pasta dinner for all their runners at the Ritz Carlton, which was a block away from our hotel.  After dinner, we relaxed, got organized for the marathon, and went to bed early.

I slept well for a few hours.  After that, I slept off and on.

Sunday, September 29

Sunday was race day.  Our hotel started their breakfast service earlier than usual, so I had time to eat breakfast before getting ready for the race.

The start area was in Tiergarten.  We needed to enter the park through a security checkpoint near the northeast corner of the park.  From my hotel, I needed to walk almost a mile to get to the entrance.

There were 10 start groups, divided into four waves.  The first four groups were in the first wave, which started at 9:15.  I was in group E, which was the fifth group.  That put me in the second wave, which didn’t start until 9:45.

When I registered for the race, I had the option of paying an extra five euros to be able to check a gear bags.  Not knowing what the weather would be like, I paid the extra five euros to keep my options open.  It was a chilly enough morning that I decided to wear my cheetah gear again.  I also wore extra layers as I walked to the start.

From our hotel, it was a 15-minute walk to the entrance to the start area.  The race organizers recommended arriving at least an hour before the start time for your wave.  We had to go through a security checkpoint, and I didn’t know how long that would take.  I left the hotel at 8:15 to give myself plenty of time to get through the checkpoint, wait in the bathroom lines, and check my gear bag before lining up for the start.

Although my wave didn’t start until 9:45, I knew they would start moving people forward as soon as the runners in front got started.  For that reason, I made a point of getting to my corral before 9:15.  By 9:35, we were all the way up to the starting line.  That gave me 10 minutes to duck out of the corral and make a final bathroom stop.

When I checked my gear back, I kept my Tyvek jacket with me.  I also had the heat sheet that I received after the 5K race.  After my final bathroom stop, I discard the heat sheet, and I tied my jacket around my waist.

As I mentioned earlier, I wanted to run a Boston qualifying time.  For my age group, the qualifying standard is 3:50.  That’s an average pace of 8:46 per mile.  The course is marked in kilometers, but my watch is configured to give me my time for each mile.

They had pace groups, but there wasn’t a 3:50 group.  There were three 3:45 groups.  One was in my wave, but not in my corral.  The other two were in later waves.  I assumed if I was on pace for 3:50 that the 3:45 group in corral F would catch up to me by the end of the race.

I started at a pace that didn’t feel quite as fast as the pace that I started the 5K race.  My pace for the first mile was 8:27.  That’s still faster than my goal pace of 8:46, but it felt more reasonable.  After that, I tried to gradually ease up until I found the right pace.

My cheetah outfit made it easy for friends to spot me.  During the first mile, my friend Glen saw me.  We ran together for almost half of the race.

We started out running west through Tiergarten.  After getting out of the park, we eventually turned to our right.  After that, we gradually circled back until we were heading east.

Shortly after that first turn, I got warm enough that I was ready to take off my gloves.  By the time we had gone five kilometers, I could feel the sun, and I warmed up quickly.  The hat I was wearing is fairly warm, and I could already feel sweat under my hat.  I wondered if I was going to regret wearing such warm clothes.  As it turns out, I felt hotter at 5K than I would later in the race.

Although I was trying to slow down, my pace for miles two through five bounced between the 8:20s and 8:30s.  It wasn’t until mile six that I slowed to 8:40.  By then, we had run past the Reichstag, and we continued into the east side of Berlin.

I wasn’t as hot now.  We occasionally felt a nice cool breeze.  That went a long way toward keeping me from getting too hot.

There were 15 aid stations on the course.  Six of them had water, sports drink, tea, and bananas.  The others just had water.  I was planning to drink the sports drink whenever it was available.  At 9K, I headed for the last set of tables.  A sign indicated that these were the tables for the sports drink, but a volunteer said, “wasser.”  Thinking this was another water table, I went past it.  I ended up eating a banana instead of drinking at that aid station.  The volunteers were peeling the bananas before handing them to us, which made it easy to eat them quickly.

At another aid station, I accidentally drank the tea instead of the sports drink.  I only ended up drinking the sports drink four times.

Glen sometimes fell behind me at aid stations, but he quickly caught up with me.  After one of the aid stations, it took longer to catch up.  When he caught up to me, he said I sped up.  I didn’t realize I was going faster, but I sped up to 8:16 in that mile.  After that, I eased up.  The next mile was 8:49.  That was the first mile that was slower than my goal pace, but overall we were well ahead of pace.

Other than the Reichstag and the tall antenna tower in East Berlin, I wasn’t paying any attention to landmarks.  I was focused on my pace, my effort, talking to Glen, and not bumping into people.

Starting with mile eight, we were keeping our pace in the 8:40s.  I had hoped that as we got farther into the race, there would be less variation in the pace of the people around us.  Instead, there was more variation.  We were catching up to the slowest runners from wave one, and the fastest runners from wave three were catching up to us.  I like to stay on a consistent pace by keeping up with the runners around me.  To do that, I had to gauge which runners were going at the same pace.

At about 20K, I took longer at an aid station.  I had to slow almost to a stop to get to the tables without bumping into people.  Then it was hard to resume running at my previous pace, because runners who were still drinking were going slow.  When I had room, I put extra effort into getting back to the same pace.  I overcompensated and sped up to 8:38 in that mile.

After that, Glen never caught up to me.  He may have taken longer at that aid station, or I may have sped up too much for Glen to catch me.  After that, I was on my own.

Often, I'll see spectators holding up amusing signs.  The best sign I saw during this race was on the back of a runner.  It read, "I'm just doing this to find a boyfriend."  Her shirt also had a large QR code, presumably to contact her.

I reached the halfway mark in 1:53:45.  I was 1:45 ahead of schedule.  I still felt OK, and I had room to slow down a little in the second half.  At this point, I was feeling pretty confident that I would break 3:50.

I had a couple more miles in the 8:40s.  Then I sped up to 8:31.  That was another mile where I was working a little harder to compensate for taking extra time at an aid station.  Once again, I overcompensated.

There was an aid station at 27.5K that had gels.  I don’t usually eat gels during a race, but I didn’t think I was taking in enough calories, so I took one.

At 28K, I was two thirds done.  I remember reaching this same point in 2016 and asking myself how I felt.  I felt better at 28K this year than I did in 2016, but I didn’t feel as fresh as I did at 14K.

Most of the time, I was passing the slow runners, keeping up with some of the faster runners, but getting passed by the fastest runners.  In mile 19, I seemed to be passing almost everyone.  When I got the next split from my watch, I saw that I sped up to 8:22.  That was my second fastest mile so far.  I had already gained another minute since the halfway mark.  If I could keep that up, I would run negative splits.  With that in mind, and with only 7.2 miles to go, I put more effort into my pace.

Over the next five miles, I kept logging mile splits between 8:20 and 8:24.  Each one made me even more determines to keep up the faster pace.

By now, I was noticing much more wind.  My hands were starting to get cold.  I no longer had any concern about getting hot.

At about 38.5K, I reached Potsdamer Platz.  This is where the 5K race started, so the rest of the race was going to be familiar.  I just needed to repeat a subset of what I did on Saturday.  Interestingly enough, the previous six miles were all faster than my average pace in the 5K race, which I thought was too fast for a marathon.

Eight years ago, a friend caught up to me at this same point in the race.  I was beginning to struggle, so I couldn’t keep up with him.  This year, I felt good, and I was determined to finish strong.

The hardest part was the long stretch before the next turn.  That was almost a mile.  At one point, I thought I saw the runners ahead of me turning, but it was only a place where the street shifted slightly to the left.  I should’ve remembered that from the 5K race.

When we finally did turn, I saw the 40K sign.  There was an aid station, but I skipped it.  I ran mile 25 in 8:06, and I didn’t want to stop or slow down for anything.

After that turn, there were five more.  They’re all fairly close together.  Each time I made a turn, I could see the next one.  I was trying hard to see if I could run mile 26 as fast as I ran mile 25.

When I made the last turn, I could see the Brandenburg Gate.  Before I got there, I got my split for mile 26.  I was so disappointed that it wasn’t as fast as mile 25, that I momentarily lost some of my incentive to run hard to the finish.

After running through the gate, I could see the finish line.  Then I ran hard again, but it was too late.  I finished in 3:45:01.  That’s almost five minutes faster than my original goal, but I was disappointed that I didn’t break 3:45.  Had I known it would be that close, I would have fought harder to shave off a couple seconds.  I was pretty happy though, to have run negative splits by more than two minutes.

Almost immediately after crossing the finish line, I got cold.  I was glad I had my jacket.  I untied it and put it on before continuing through the finish area.

The finisher medals had designs on both sides.  One side depicts Berlin landmarks.  The other side denotes this being the 50th Berlin Marathon.

Our route out of the finish area was the same as the route after the finish of the 5K race, but I had to make a slight detour to retrieve my gear bag.  On the way there, I was handed a bag with post-race snacks.  It included a bag of chocolate kisses, a candy bar, a chocolate filled croissant, pretzels, an apple, a banana, and vitamin water.  I ate half of those snacks while walking back to the hotel.

I walked back to the hotel the same way I walked back after the 5K race, but it was slower this time.  The sidewalks were congested with slow-moving runners and spectators.  It was worse when I got into the U-Bahn station to go under the street.  The hallway was jammed with hundreds of runners going one direction and hundreds of spectators going the other direction.  Everyone wanted to cross under the street.

It seemed to take forever to get out of the station.  Then I had to move through more thick crowds before getting back around the Brandenburg Gate and out to the street.

By the time I got back to the hotel, I was cold, even with my jacket.  I took a long hot shower to warm up.  Then I ate the rest of my snacks and started tracking Tom’s progress.  Tom was in the last start group, so he started almost an hour after I did.

After Tom got back and had time to shower, we went to a post-race party hosted by Marathon Tours.  We got there late, so we were there until the end.

I mentioned earlier that I had two reasons for doing this race again.  The first reason was getting a BQ in every major.  The second reason was Oktoberfest.  Oktoberfest started on September 21, and it runs through October 6.  Being in Germany at this time gave me an opportunity to travel to Munich for Oktoberfest without having to make an extra trip.

Tomorrow morning, Tom and I will take a train to Munich.  I’ll post an Oktoberfest report in a few days.

Race statistics:

Distance:  42.2 kilometers

Time:  3:45:01

Average Pace:  8:35 per mile (5:20 per kilometer)

First Half:  1:53:45

Second Half:  1:51:16

Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:  528

Boston Qualifiers:  169

World Marathon Majors:  26 (13 Boston, 5 Chicago, 4 New York, 2 Berlin, 1 London, 1 Tokyo)

Appalachian Series, Day 7

After running the sixth race of the Appalachian Series on Wednesday, I returned to run the seventh race of the series today.  Today’s course was the same as yesterday’s course.  It straddles the Virginia/West Virginia border, so runners can count it for West Virginia one day and count it for Virginia the next day.

I ran yesterday’s race because I needed one more marathon in West Virginia.  I ran today’s race because I was already here.  After traveling this far, why not do an extra race before going home?

Yesterday, I arrived early and made a last-minute decision to take the 6:30 early start instead of the 7:30 regular start.  Now that I know that most runners take the early start, I decided to do the same thing again.  I already had my race packet, so I didn’t need to allow as much time to get ready for the race.

Today’s weather was colder.  When I arrived in the start area, it was 39 degrees, but the temperature was still dropping.  It was forecast to reach a low of 36 before starting to rise again.

I wore my warmest tights.  Those are the cheetah tights.  I also wore the cheetah shirt and hat.  I didn’t think to bring arm warmers, so I wore a long sleeve polypro shirt under my T-shirt.  I risked being overdressed, but I could always take walking breaks if I was too hot.

I wore extra layers before the race, but I took them off before they started the pre-race announcements.  In retrospect, I should’ve kept my jacket on until we started running.

Pre-race announcements took much longer than I thought.  There were several runners reaching big milestones today, and we took the time to recognize each one of them.  Then the whole group sang “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” which has been somewhat of a theme song for our two days in Bluefield.

The irony is that we weren’t actually in West Virginia during pre-race announcements, or for much of the race.  Our starting line was in West Virginia, but once we entered Virginia, we never went back to West Virginia.

By the time pre-race announcements were over, I was freezing.  I was wearing gloves, but my hands were particularly cold.  I felt like I was dressed adequately for running in this weather, but I wasn’t dressed warm enough for standing around for so long.

For the second straight day, I started the race with Tim.  Tim started at a surprisingly fast pace, and I had to work to keep up with him.  I asked him why he was running so fast and he said he needed to run fast to get warm.

When we reached the first hill, we took a walking break.  Yesterday, we didn’t walk any of the hills until the second lap.  On average, our pace for the first lap was about the same as yesterday.  That’s where the similarity ended.

Our course was inside a valley.  The wind was blowing through the valley.  The way the course is laid out, we were usually running through the valley.  We rarely ran across the valley for very long.  As a result, we were usually had either a headwind or a tailwind.

After the first lap, Tim made a bathroom stop.  Ordinarily, I would’ve walked until he caught up to me, but we had a headwind at the beginning of the lap.  It wasn’t a strong wind, but it was cold, and if I walked this part of the course, I would get too cold.  I kept running until I reached the hilly part of the course.  Then I walked the hills until Tim caught up to me.  It didn’t take long.

Tim was motivated to run faster today.  It was the last day of the series, and he was planning to start driving home right after the race.  The sooner he finished, the sooner he could get on the road.

Yesterday, we slowed to a more relaxed pace in the second lap, and we also starting walking up all of the hills.  Today, we didn’t slow down, and we only walked a few of the hills.  I would’ve been content to go at a slower pace, but Tim was motivated, and I was trying to keep up with him.

After the last hill, there’s a long flat section that leads us back to the start/finish area.  Tim accelerated through this section.  I was starting to find the pace to be tiring, so I allowed myself to drift behind him.

I was hoping Tim would make another bathroom stop.  That would give me time to catch up.  Tim drinks a lot of coffee before the race, so he usually makes a few bathroom stops early in the race.  Today he didn’t.

When Tim didn’t stop after the second lap, I realized I would need to put in extra effort to catch up to him.  I managed to catch up to him before we reached the hills again, but I was working much harder than yesterday.  By the end of our third lap, I noticed that we were already about three minutes faster than yesterday.

By now, I was finally starting to warm up, but only when we had the wind at our backs.  As soon as we turned around and headed into the wind, I would get cold again.  That pattern persisted throughout the race.

Early in the race, it was cloudy.  During our fifth lap, I saw the sun for the first time.  I was hoping it would feel warmer now.  Unfortunately, the wind got stronger.  The colder breeze easily cancelled out the warmth of the sun.

The last day of a series is hot dog day.  It’s a tradition to have hot dogs at the aid station.  They usually have some type of hot food other days as well.  Yesterday, I didn’t eat any hot food during the race, but today I had a hot dog after the fifth lap.  Tim also stopped to eat a hot dog, so I didn’t have to worry about falling behind again.

When we finished our sixth lap, we were half done with the marathon.  My time for the first half was 10 minutes faster than yesterday.  I expected Tim to go even faster in the second half.  I didn’t know how much faster I could run.

I had to refill my bottle after that lap, so I fell behind.  I had to work hard again to catch up to Tim, but I was able to do it.

For a few laps, I had wanted to make a bathroom stop, but then I would fall even farther behind.  I had doubts about whether I could catch up to Tim again if I got too far behind.  During our seventh lap, Tim mentioned that he was going to make a bathroom stop at the end of the lap.  I thought this was my chance to make a bathroom stop without losing time.  It didn’t work out that way.

Tim was done in the bathroom quickly.  I took much longer.  By the time I started my next lap, Tim had a sizable lead.  I decided to pick up my pace and see if I could catch him.  That was a mistake.

In the early part of the lap, which is through a parking lot, I accelerated.  I wasn’t sure if I was gaining any ground.  It looked like I would have to run all the hills to catch up to him.

When I got within sight of the first hill, Tim was already on the hill.  He was running it!  That was the steepest hill.  If he ran that one, he would almost certainly run all the other hills as well.

I ran all the hills, but I didn’t gain any ground by doing it.  On the flatter sections in between, I picked up my pace.  I still didn’t seem to be gaining any ground.

As I approached the turnaround, Tim was already coming back.  Another runner said, “You can still catch him.”  He was wrong.  By the time I made the turn, Tim had already disappeared over the next hill.

I continued to push the pace, but I wasn’t getting any closer.  I eventually realized that I was falling farther behind.  Tim had kicked it into another gear, and I didn’t have that gear today.  By the end of that lap, it was obvious that I would never catch him.  I had to accept that I would be running the rest of the race by myself.

Trying to catch up with Tim took way too much out of me.  That lap wore me out, and I was never the same after that.

I still had four laps to go.  That’s almost nine miles.  I had to conserve energy, so I could finish the race.  For the rest of the race, I ran at a much more relaxed pace.  I also walked most of the hills.  It was still a struggle.

In the lap where I was chasing Tim, I got hot and sweaty.  Earlier, I was either comfortable or cold, but never hot.  For one lap, I was overheating.  That probably contributed to my fatigue in the laps that followed.

After slowing down, I went back to being cold, but only when I was running into the wind.  When the wind was at my back, I would get hot again.  It was amazing how different the weather felt when I was running in different directions.

When I finished my tenth lap, I had another hot dog.  I still had two laps to go, and each one was difficult now.

When I finally reached my last lap, I took some satisfaction in knowing that each time I ran one of the hills, I was running it for the last time.

Yesterday, I raced through the last part of my final lap.  Today, I dragged myself through it.  I finished the race in 4:54:19.  My time was similar to yesterday, but my splits were a mirror image.  Yesterday, I was much faster in the second half of the race.  Today, my second half was much slower.

After finishing, I got a Virginia medal to add to my chain.

Before leaving, I ate another hot dog, and I drank two glasses of chocolate milk.  I didn’t spend much time in the finish area, because I knew I would quickly get cold.  It had warmed up a little, but it was still in the low 40s, and there was still a cold wind.

Tim wasn’t the only runner who was going home today.  Several other runners had the same idea.  Everyone wanted to get home.  I’m waiting until tomorrow.  I felt like a train wreck after the race, and I needed the rest of the day to recover.  Besides, I’m going to need a full day to travel home.  Before I can fly home, I have to drive back to Charlotte, and that’s a three hour drive.  I’ll start that drive tomorrow after breakfast.

Race statistics:

Distance:  26.2 miles

Time:  4:54:19

Average Pace:  11:14 per mile

First Half:  2:23:30

Second Half:  2:30:49

Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:  510

Race Report: 2024 Las Cruces Marathon

On January 6, I ran the State 47 Las Cruces Marathon.  I ran this same race a year ago.  Deb’s oldest brother lives nearby, so it was a chance to visit.

Wednesday, January 3

The closest airport is El Paso, TX, but there aren’t any direct flights there from Minneapolis.  Instead, we flew to Tucson, AZ.  It’s a longer drive, but we were able to get a direct flight to Tucson.  Deb is still in a wheelchair, so fewer flights meant fewer times that Deb had to endure boarding and deplaning via an aisle chair.

Rather than fly and drive the same day, we spent the night in a hotel near the Tucson airport and waited until the next day to drive to Las Cruces.

Our flight arrived almost an hour early, but we lost that time and more when we got to our hotel.  We had booked a handicap accessible room at Home2 Suites, but there was a mix-up with our reservation.  When we arrived, they didn’t have any accessible rooms available. The hotel manager was very apologetic and found us an accessible room at Hilton Garden Inn, which was only a block away.  Our room was free, and we also got a free breakfast.

Although it took longer than expected to get into a hotel room, I still had time to go for a run before dinner.  The weather in Tucson was warmer than the weather in Las Cruces, and it was much warmer than the weather at home.  It was nice to be able to run in shorts and a T-shirt.

The restaurants near the airport were all fast food and chain restaurants.  For dinner, we drove into the city, where we found a nice diner.

Thursday, January 4

Thursday morning, we drove to Hatch, NM, where we had lunch with Deb’s brother Jim and his wife Kathy.

From Hatch, it was a 30 mile drive to Las Cruces.  Deb’s knee was bothering her, so after we checked into our hotel in Las cruces, Deb relaxed at the hotel for the rest of the day.  I waited for it to get warmer, and then I went for an afternoon run.

Rather than run on the streets near our hotel, I drove to La Llorona Park, which is in the Rio Grande valley.  I knew I could park there and run on a paved trail that follows the river.  This section of trail is part of the marathon route, and it has also been used for the Day of the Dead Series.  I’ve run back and forth on this section of trail dozens of times, so I felt at home running there.

The weather in Las Cruces on Thursday wasn’t nearly as nice as the weather in Tucson on Wednesday.  The temperature was in the upper 40s, but the wind was so strong that it was blowing sand out of the mostly dry river bed.  I also had to endure a brief rain shower.

Neither of us needed a big dinner, so rather than go out, we picked up some fast food and stayed in for the evening.

Friday, January 5

We didn’t have to be up early for anything, so we slept in and had a leisurely breakfast at the hotel.

For races, I run with a fanny pack, so I have a place to put things like car keys, room cards, and gloves.  I discovered on Thursday that the fanny pack I brought from home wasn’t in my suitcase.  I realized I must have accidentally left it behind when we left our hotel in Tucson.  Housekeeping found it and set it aside, but the soonest I could go back and get it was Monday.

There was a Wal-Mart near our hotel, so after breakfast, we went to Wal-Mart to buy a new fanny pack.  Then we went to packet pick-up, which was at a nearby Holiday Inn.  Besides my race bib and T-shirt, my race packet included a pair of sunglasses.

We spent the rest of the morning exploring shops in Old Mesilla, where we bought way too many sweet treats.  We also had lunch there.

After lunch, we went to the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum.

On our way back to the hotel, I saw someone running on a trail that runs parallel to the freeway.  I had never noticed this trail before, even though it goes near our hotel.  For my afternoon run, I went running on my newly discovered trail.  It was the day before the marathon, so I didn’t run as far as I did the other days.

For dinner, we went to an Asian buffet that was right next door to our hotel.  I’ve stayed at this hotel four times, and I’ve driven by there many times, but this was the first time I tried it.

Saturday, January 6

Saturday was race day.  The race didn’t start until 8:00 AM, so I didn’t have to get up outrageously early.  As is often the case, I was awake before my alarm went off.

The start and finish were both on the track at the Field of Dreams stadium.  There was plenty of parking, and the stadium has heated bathrooms.  That was especially nice, since the outdoor temperature was in the 30s.  It was cold enough for tights, so I wore my cheetah garb.  I recall wearing the same outfit for this race last year.

I started coming down with a cold just before Christmas.  It was worst the week between Christmas and New Years, but I still had some congestion and an occasional cough.  I could tell from my training runs during the week that my cold was slowing me down.  Since I wasn’t fully recovered, I wasn’t inclined to pace myself too aggressively during the race.  There would be other races where I could try for a fast time.  This one was all about finishing.

The course was mostly out-and-back.  The majority of the course was paved, but there was a mixture of surfaces.  After running around the track, we came out of the stadium onto city streets.  We followed city streets for about a mile before running on a dirt trail for one block.  Then we turned onto an asphalt trail that took us to the river.

Just before getting to the river, we crossed a dirt trail with some rocks.  Then we got onto a wide concrete sidewalk along the river.

I started the race at a pace that felt comfortable.  I was surprised to see that I ran the first mile in 9:15.  It didn’t feel tiring, but I knew that pace was too fast, so I eased back until I was averaging about 9:30 per mile.

About three miles into the race, I heard two women behind me talking.  Their names were Merry and Kimberle, and before long they had caught up to me.  I remembered meeting Merry a few months ago at the Clarence DeMar marathon, so I said hello.

Next, we ran under a bridge and through the parking lot of La Llorona Park, where I had started my run on Thursday.  There was an aid station set up in that parking lot.  We each got something to drink, but as Kimberle and I left the parking lot, Merry was no longer with us.  I ended up running with Kimberle for the rest of the race.

For the next few miles, we were on the same paved trail where I was running on Thursday.  When we reached the end of that trail, we crossed a road and turned onto a different trail that took us away from the river valley.

Along this section, we were briefly talking to another runner who was wearing a Boston Marathon jacket.  The jacket caught my eye, because it was from 2013.  For the next mile or so, the three of us were trading stories about our experiences at Boston.

Roughly eight miles into the race, we turned onto a two lane road.  We were on this road all the way to the turnaround.  On one side of the road, we ran past groves of pecan trees.

Early in the race, my hands were cold, even though I was wearing gloves.  As the sun got higher in the sky, I started to warm up.  Along this road, I finally felt like I was warm enough to take off the gloves.

I was also wearing arm warmers.  About two miles after taking off my gloves, I started to wonder if I would also need to take off the arm warmers.  I didn’t, because I started to feel a cool breeze.

The turnaround was between 12 and 13 miles.  Before the turn, I didn’t know which direction the breeze was coming from.  After the turn, it was obvious.  The wind was at our backs before.  After turning around, we were running directly into it.

Shortly after turning around, we reached the halfway point.  At the time, I was on pace to finish in about 4:12, but I realized the second half was going to be slower.  Running into the wind was tiring.  I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep up the same pace going into the wind.  I also knew we would be running into this wind for most of the remaining miles.

The wind wasn’t just tiring.  It was cold.  I was glad I never took off my arm warmers.  After less than a mile going into the wind, I had to put my gloves on again.

I had a pair of shell mittens in my fanny pack that I had been wearing over my gloves before the race.  After another mile running into the wind, my hands were cold enough that I had to put on my mittens as well.

I wasn’t paying close attention to my pace.  I found the pace tiring, but I was trying to keep up with Kimberle.  We had about three more miles before the next turn, and I found it difficult to keep up.

Finally, after about 17 miles, we left that road to turn back onto the trail that would take us back to the river.  Now, the wind was at our side.  I no longer felt cold, so I immediately took off the mittens.  I was tempted to take off the gloves too, but I knew we would be going in this direction for less than a mile.  Then we would get back onto the trail by the river, and we would have a headwind again.

Before we got back to the river, Kimberle mentioned that her heart rate was getting too high, so she needed to take a brief walking break.  I was all too happy to slow the pace down.  For about five miles, I had been finding the pace to be too tiring.

Once we were alongside the river, the terrain was familiar to me.  That helped, but we had a tiring headwind again, and we still had eight miles to go.

For the rest of the race, our pace was much slower.  Kimberle needed to manage her pace to keep her heart rate from climbing.  We ran at a slower pace, and we took frequent walking breaks.  At this point, I could have gone faster, but I was enjoying the company, and after several tiring miles, it felt good to slow down.

The next few miles were familiar to me.  Then, as we retraced the last two miles through the river valley, the wind got stronger.  Those miles were tiring.

It got a little easier when we finally turned away from the river.  We still had more than three miles to go though.

Instead of taking the most direct route back to Field of Dreams, we had to do two extra out-and-back sections that we didn’t do earlier in the race.  Those miles were slow, but at least we were no longer fighting a headwind.  When we had the wind at our backs, it suddenly felt hot.

When we finally got back to the stadium, we had to run twice around the track before finishing.  Having run this race before, I knew that was coming.  I told Kimberle about it, so she would also know what to expect.

In the last 100 meters, Kimberle started her sprint to the finish.  I sped up too, but didn’t quite keep up with her.  I finished a step or two behind her.

My time was 4:32:10.  That was disappointing, but not surprising.  I was almost 20 minutes slower in the second half.  That was mostly due to the tiring headwind, but I was also holding back at times so I wouldn’t leave Kimberle behind.

The finisher medal was in the shape of New Mexico.  Runners who placed in the top 47 got a small roadrunner pendant that attached to the bottom.  I didn’t place in the top 47.  I was 80th.

By now, it was 50 degrees.  It was a sunny day.  It was only the wind that made it feel colder.

Post-race food included birthday cake.  January 6 is the anniversary of New Mexico becoming a state in 1912, so we were celebrating New Mexico’s 112th birthday.

By the time I finished the race, Deb was getting hungry for lunch.  I hurried back and got cleaned up as quickly as I could, so we could go out for lunch.  We wanted something quick, so we went to a nearby place with burgers and frozen custard.

On our way back from lunch, we saw some vendors selling rocks, geodes, fossils, and jewelry in a parking lot.  We stopped to shop for almost an hour before returning to the hotel.

We stayed in for the rest of the afternoon, and I had a good soak in the whirlpool.

For dinner, we went to Bosque Brewing.  They were one of the race sponsors, and runners could get a discount on food or beer by showing their race bibs.  Besides their beer, also have a full food menu.  We got their street tacos.

Sunday, January 7

We were originally planning to spend the day with Jim and Kathy, but Jim wasn’t feeling well.  There were other things we could’ve done in Las Cruces or El Paso, but we decided to drive to Tucson a day early.

There was a strong wind advisory in the forecast for later in the day and all day Monday, and we wanted to get ahead of that.  The section of I-10 between Las Cruces and Tucson is prone to dust storms, and the last thing we wanted was to get caught in a dust storm during the four-hour drive back to Tucson.

We left Las Cruces right after breakfast.  During the last hour of the drive, the wind was picking up, and we could see dust clouds to the south.  Thankfully, we didn’t have to drive through any dust clouds.

We ate lunch on our way into Tucson and then stopped by Hilton Garden Inn to pick up the fanny back that I had left behind on Thursday.  I didn’t get a roadrunner for my finisher medal, but I saw one outside the hotel.

Rather than stay at Hilton Garden Inn again, we opted to stay at Home2 Suites.  We appreciated the way they took care of us after the reservation mix-up earlier, so we gave them a second chance.  They had an accessible room for us, and we were pleased with the accommodations.

Deb and I have been to Tucson before, so we’ve already done most of the sightseeing there.  That’s just as well, since it rained all afternoon.

I wanted to do a short recovery run, but I wasn’t excited about running in the rain.  Instead, I settled for doing some walking on one of the treadmills in the fitness room.

After a big lunch, neither of us had room for another big meal.  Instead, we opted for smoothies from a place near our hotel.

Monday, January 8

Our flight wasn’t until the afternoon, so I had time to go for a run before heading to the airport.  The temperature dropped into the low 30s, so I had to bundle up.  It won’t be any warmer at home, so it’s time to get used to it again.  At least Tucson didn’t have any snow.

Race statistics:

Distance:  26.2 miles

Time:  4:32:10

Average Pace:  10:23 

First Half:  2:06:15

Second Half:  2:25:55

Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:  503