Race Report: 2025 Pettit Indoor Marathon

On March 9, I ran the Pettit Indoor Marathon.  This race is held inside the Pettit National Ice Center in Milwaukee.  This is where Olympic speed skaters train.  In the center of the building, there are two hockey rinks.  Around the hockey rinks, there’s a speed skating track.  Around that track, there’s a three-lane running track.

This isn’t the first time I’ve run an indoor marathon.  I’ve done six others, including one called Heatbreaker that was in this same building.

When I ran the Heatbreaker Marathon in 2014, I drove to Milwaukee.  My lower back and legs are less tolerant of long drives than they were when I was younger.  Also, you never know what road conditions will be like at this time of year.  For those reasons, I flew to Milwaukee and rented a car.

I flew to Milwaukee Saturday morning, arriving just in time for lunch.  I don’t recall why I scheduled an early flight.  I didn’t need to check in for the race until Sunday morning.

After picking up my rental car, I went straight to a Chinese restaurant, where I had lunch.  After lunch, it was still too early to check in at my hotel.  There was a brewery near my hotel that was open, so I stopped in to have a beer flight and watch a soccer match.

After checking into my room, I spent most of the afternoon relaxing at the hotel.  I charged up my phone, did a workout in the fitness room, and organized my clothes for the race.

I had dinner at Rocky Rococo, which has pan-style pizza.  It’s a Wisconsin chain, and I never go to Wisconsin without stopping there.  They’re best known for pizza by the slice, but you can also order a whole pizza.  My hotel room had a kitchenette, so I got a pizza that was enough for two meals.  I ate half for my pre-race dinner, and saved the other half for after the race.

When I scheduled this race, I didn’t notice that race day was the same day that we set the clocks ahead.  With that in mind, I went to bed an hour earlier to compensate.

There was a clock on the night stand, but I didn’t know if it would adjust automatically for Daylight Savings Time.  Some do.  Some don’t.  My room had a microwave, so I set the clock on the microwave to reflect the time change.  I often get up during the night.  If I looked at the clock on the microwave, I would know it was the correct time for Sunday morning.

I slept OK for most of the night, but I woke up at 4:30 and couldn’t get back to sleep.  After laying awake in bed for the next 45 minutes, I finally got up and started getting ready.

The marathon started at 8:00, but we could check in any time after 7:00.  My hotel had a free breakfast, but it didn’t start until 7:00.  I wanted to leave before then, so I had my leftover Chinese food for breakfast.

When I got out to my car, the windows were covered with frost.  Fortunately, there was a scraper in the car.  After scraping the frost off the windows, I started the car and saw that the inside of the windshield was all fogged up.  Before I could see to drive, I had to warm up the car long enough to get the windows defogged.

The temperature inside the Pettit National Ice Center was a constant 55 degrees.  Knowing that took all the guesswork out of how to dress.  I could run in shorts and a T-shirt, knowing I wouldn’t get too hot or too cold.  I also didn’t have to worry about rain or wind.

Per-race check-in was in a room upstairs that overlooks the ice arena.  Thankfully, that room was warmer.  I waited there until it was almost time to line up for the race.

The field was limited to 130 runners.  With that many runners going at different speeds, I expected to constantly pass slower runners, while faster runners were constantly passing me.

My past experience with indoor races is that inevitably, you don’t take the shortest path.  You may only run a few extra yards in each lap, but it adds up.  I fully expected to run as much as an extra half mile by the time I was done.  With that in mind, I couldn’t expect to be as fast as I would be in a typical road race.

I often set qualifying for Boston as a goal.  The organizers of the Boston Marathon have a rule that you can’t qualify for Boston at in indoor race, even if the course is certified.  In Minnesota, we call that the “Randy Peterson” rule.   Randy Peterson is the only runner to get into Boston with a qualifying time from an indoor marathon.  They accepted his qualifying time, but immediately added a new rule saying you couldn’t qualify at an indoor race.

Since there was no point in trying to qualify for Boston, I set my sights on breaking four hours.  That was a realistic goal for an indoor race, but it would still take my best effort.

The race is chip timed.  We wore timing chips on our ankles, and our laps were automatically recorded each time we crossed the timing mat at the finish line.  They had a display just past the finish line that showed our lap counts, and the time of our most recent lap.

The track is 443 meters per lap.  To complete a marathon, we needed to run 95 full laps, plus an extra 110 meters.  We did the extra 110 meters at the beginning.  Our starting line for that lap was about one fourth of the way around the track from where we finished each lap.  The first time we crossed the timing mat, it was only a partial lap, but that still counted as a lap.  Including that short lap, we needed to do a total of 96 laps.

If you divide four hours by 96 laps, it works out to 2:30 per lap.  The first lap was short, so it would obviously take less time.  If I could average 2:30 for all subsequent laps, I would break four hours.  That was my plan.

I wore two watches.  Because we were indoors, it didn’t make sense to try to time the race using a GPS watch.  I timed myself using a plain Timex watch.  I wore my Garmin watch on my other wrist, so it could keep track of my step count.

I started kind of fast.  My partial lap took less than 30 seconds.  My next few laps were in the 2:20s.  Before long, I had made up the time from my partial lap.  For the rest of the race, I was keeping my average lap time under 2:30, but I was effectively one lap ahead.

I was surprised how cold I felt.  My hands were cold, and I wished that I was wearing gloves.  My hands felt better after a few laps, but I can’t say that I was ever completely comfortable.

There were a few runners here who were much faster than everyone else.  There was a protocol for letting the faster runners run in lane one.  If a faster runner was approaching a slower runner from behind, they would yell, “Track.”  The runners ahead of them would then move out of lane one to let the faster runner pass without having to go around them.

I was initially skeptical of this system, but it actually worked well.  There were only a few runners who were concerned with always taking the inside lane.  Also, at least half of the runners stayed in lanes two or three for the entire race.

I started out running in lane one.  The first time a faster runner needed to pass me, it took me by surprise.  I was still in my second full lap, when I heard someone yell, “track” twice in rapid succession.  I quickly moved over.

After that, I made a habit of running in lane two on the straight sections.  I only ran in the inside lane on the turns.

Before entering a turn, I always looked over my shoulder to see if a faster runner was approaching from behind.  If there was, I would wait until they passed before moving into lane one for the turn.  If nobody was approaching, I could move into lane one right away.

There were three fast runners who passed frequently.  The fastest runner was lapping me roughly every other lap.  He was finishing three laps in the same time it took me to run two laps.  Sometimes, he would catch up to me in a turn, and I would need to move over to let him pass.

This was a cupless race.  There were tables where we could leave water bottles that were labeled with our bib numbers.  The volunteers organized them by bib number.  When you wanted to take a drink, you yelled out your bib number as you ran by.  One of the volunteers would find your bottle and hand it to you the next time you ran by.  You needed to carry the bottle with you for one lap while you drank.  Then you handed it to one of the volunteers the next time you ran by.  If your bottle needed refilling, you could just tell the volunteer if you wanted water or Gatorade.  They took care of it.

I can’t say enough about how good this system worked and how good the volunteers were.  I never had to slow down or stop.

They also had a table for runners who wanted to be self-service.  You could put your food, bottles, or other supplies there and handle it yourself.

I got into a habit of drinking Gatorade every sixth lap.  After drinking, I was always surprised how quickly it was time to drink again.  That’s because taking a drink became a three-lap process.  For example, when I saw that I finished my 18th lap, I knew it was time to ask for my bottle.  The tables were near the end of each lap, so by the time I came around to request my bottle, I was almost done with my 19th lap.  I would get my bottle the next time I came by.  Now I was almost done with my 20th lap.  I would carry the bottle with me for most of my 21st lap before handing it back to one of the volunteers.  Before I knew it, I was done with 21 laps.  In just three laps, I would begin this process again.

I had so much to think about that it kept me focused 100% of the time.  I was always paying attention to my effort and my lap times, keeping them as close as I could to 2:30 per lap.  I was constantly paying attention to running the shortest path I could, while getting out of the way of the faster runners.  On top of that, I had to pay attention to my lap count, so I would know when to request my bottle.  If you think an indoor race is boring, guess again.  It’s intense.

Believe it or not, I actually got confused about whether I should be grabbing a bottle from the volunteers.  More than once, I couldn’t remember if I had just requested a bottle or if I had just returned my bottle.

They had a sound system, and each runner could pick one song for the playlist.  I chose “Jessica” by the Allman Brothers Band, but I never heard it.  They probably didn’t get to it until after I finished.

Every now and then, I would hear a light buzz from my Garmin watch.  It did that every time I reached a multiple of my step goal.  That happened four times during the race.

For the first hour of the race, I was so focused that I barely noticed the music.  Then I started to pay more attention to it.  I heard something by Eminem, but the sound quality was kind of muddy, so I couldn’t make out the lyrics.  I only know it was Eminem, because he has such a distinct style.

The first few songs I recognized were “Whole Lotta Love” and “The Immigrant Song” by Led Zeppelin and “You Need to Calm Down” by Taylor Swift.  Over the course of the race, I heard lots of familiar songs, but I also heard several that I didn’t know.

Besides the display near the finish line, there were two leader boards at different places around the track.  They each cycled through all the runners in order of our current position in the standings.  I was about a third of the way through the race before I noticed where I was in the standings.  I was in 18th place.

The PA announcer didn’t generally say what song was next, but there was one exception.  At one point, he asked if we were ready for some thunder.  I was expecting to hear “Thunder” by Imagine Dragons.  Instead, the next song was “Thunderstruck” by AC/DC.

On one of my laps, I felt my timing chip riding down on my ankle.  I stopped briefly to reposition it, and to tighten the strap.  That lap was a little slow, but I picked up my effort on the next lap to make up the time.

Before long, I wanted to make a bathroom stop.  There were two port-o-potties right next to the track, but I didn’t want to stop again.  I didn’t want to lose more time, and I didn’t want to get out of my rhythm, so I held it for the entire race.

I wasn’t quite halfway through the race when I noticed that I had moved into 17th place.  At the same time, I also noticed that the runner in 16th place was 60 years old.  I didn’t know if they had age group awards, but I wondered if I was competing for one.  That gave me the motivation I needed to keeping pushing the pace as I entered the second half of the race.

Although my target pace was 2:30 per lap, most of my laps were a couple seconds fast.  That adds up.  Eventually, I was finishing my laps a minute and a half ahead of schedule.  That’s on top of completely making up the time from my partial lap.

I don’t know exactly what my halfway split was, but my best guess is that I was on pace for a time around 3:55.

For the longest time, I was focused on the leader boards.  You could only see about 20 runners at a time, and it was somewhat random which part of the list I saw when I went by.  I was curious to know if any of the other runners ahead of me were in my age group.  It took several laps, but I eventually determined that I was in second place among men over 60.  The guy right ahead of me was in first place.  Overall, we were still 16th and 17th.

The leader board also showed how many laps we had each completed.  The guy ahead of me always had the same lap count as me, but I didn’t know where he was or what he looked like.  He was on the same lap, but his lead could be as much as a quarter mile.

By now, there were skaters on the speed skating track.  Occasionally the PA announcer would tell us the name of an Olympic gold medalist who was coming around the track.  Then we were told that someone else famous had entered the building.

The other famous person wasn’t a skater, but she was an Olympian.  It was Rachael Gunn, a.k.a. “Raygun,” the break dancer from Australia.  I’m not sure why she was here, but I decided it was time to get my phone out and take a few pictures.

I wasn’t originally planning to take pictures during the race.  I wasn’t even planning to have my phone with me.  I was planning to take a few photos before the race and then put my phone in my car.  I made a last-minute decision to keep my phone in my fanny pack, because it was cold outside, and I didn’t want to make a last-minute trip to my car.

A lot of people don’t like to run multiple laps, because you always see the same scenery.  That’s true, but this race had some unique sights.

It’s not every day that you get to watch speed skaters as you’re running.

At first, Raygun was doing some break dancing for us, but I didn’t have my phone out yet.  By the time I tried to take a photo, she wasn’t doing the same moves.  I couldn’t get a good picture anyway.  I had my camera app in burst mode, but every photo was blurry – all 99 of them.

I was getting tired, but I was determined to catch up to the runner ahead of me.  Taking photos caused me to have a couple of slower laps, so I tried to really pick up my pace after putting my phone away.  Just as I was beginning to bear down, they played “Under Pressure” by Queen & David Bowie.  That was just the music I needed.

The next time I saw the leader board, I saw that I had moved up to 14th place.  I had passed the guy in my age group who I was chasing.  He was in 15th place now.

I continued to pick up my effort.  I was consistently running laps in 2:26 or 2:27.  I kept looking at the leader boards to see if I was moving up, but my timing was always off.  I always saw people who were farther back in the standings.  For the rest of the race, I never saw the top 20 again.

They announced whenever someone was getting close to finishing, starting when they had five laps to go.  At one point, I heard them say that the leader was starting his final lap.  I was just entering the first turn.  I knew the leader couldn’t be too far behind me, so I stayed in lane two all the way around that turn.  As it turns out, he didn’t pass me until I was out of the turn.  Two of the other fast runners passed me just before the leader did.

The leader finished in 2:31:10.  The next two runners were several laps behind him, but after they finished, I wasn’t getting passed as often.  It got much easier to run in lane one going through the turns.

In a race like this, you’re never conscious of how many miles you’ve run.  It’s all about laps and time.  When I passed the three-hour mark, I was relieved to know that I had less than an hour to go.

On one of my laps, I crossed the timing mat at about the same time as the other guy in my age group who I had been chasing earlier.  When I looked at the board, I saw both of our lap times.  His lap time was 2:59.  Earlier, we were both running our laps in 2:30 or faster.  I still was, but he had slowed down dramatically.  That’s when I knew I had won my age group.  I also knew by now that I would break four hours.  Now, I was focused on finishing strong.

With 16 laps to go, I felt like I was getting close.  That may sound like a lot of laps, but they go quickly.  I felt like I was in the home stretch.

I was fighting to pick up the pace, but my lap times weren’t getting any faster.  Most were in the 2:26 to 2:28 range, but I had a couple as slow as 2:31.  I had to work harder to run the same pace, but I was determined to try to speed up.

My most recent drink of Gatorade was during my 80th lap.  I decided to wait until after my 88th lap before requesting my bottle for the last time.  It was the usual three-lap process.  By the time I started drinking, I was beginning my 90th lap.  When I handed my bottle back to the volunteers, I was about to finish my 91st lap.  I had five laps to go.

After crossing the timing mat, I heard the PA announcer say “David Holmen has five laps to go.”  For the next four laps, I tried to pick up my pace.  I kept from slowing down, but I wasn’t really speeding up, despite the extra effort.

As I started my last lap, I heard, “David Holmen is on his final lap.”  I was already accelerating.  In front of me, I saw a group of runners who were temporarily taking up all three lanes.  For the first time in the race, I shouted, “Track!”  Then I sped by them in lane one.

I ran that last lap as hard as I could.  By the time I was out of the first turn, my breathing was so labored that I was wheezing loudly with each breath.  I didn’t have to yell, “track” again.  Everybody heard me coming.

When I passed the volunteers at the water tables, they were all cheering loudly.  That was by far my fastest lap.  I ran it in 2:09.

I finished the race in 3:55:16.  My best guess is that I ran roughly even splits, despite stopping to take pictures in the second half of the race.

I finished 12th overall.  For what it’s worth, I was first among men over 60, but they didn’t have any age group awards.  That’s not unusual for a small race like this.  I fought for it just in case.  The important thing is that it kept me focused.

The same volunteer who gave me my finisher medal also removed my timing chip.  I’m glad she was on top of that, because I could’ve forgotten to turn it in.  By now, I had forgotten that I was wearing it.

After gathering up all my stuff, I finally made a bathroom stop.  Then I went upstairs to have some snacks and talk to other runners.

Although I never heard them play “Jessica,” I did hear them play “Thunder” by Imagine Dragons.  That song started shortly after I got upstairs.

I was expecting to be cold when I walked out to my car, but I was surprisingly comfortable.  It was a sunny day, and I felt more comfortable in the sun than I did inside the building.

When I got back to my hotel, I took a long hot shower.  Then I had the other half of my pizza from Rocky Rococo.

Besides counting my steps, my Garmin watch was also recording my heart rate.  When I downloaded the data, I saw that my heart rate peaked at 143 beats per minute.  That’s consistent with other races where I’ve gone all-out.  I didn’t have my watch in “run mode,” so I don’t know what my average heart rate was.  I only know my range for the day.

Race statistics:

Distance:  26.2 miles

Time:  3:55:16

Average Pace:  8:58 per mile

Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:  540

Indoor Marathons:  7

Race Report: 2025 Malta Marathon

On February 23, I ran the Malta Marathon.  I was signed up for this race in 2022, but the race was cancelled that year.

Malta is an island nation located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, south of Sicily.

Malta has a long history.  The Maltese Islands have been inhabited for more than 7,000 years.  Because of its strategic location, Malta has been controlled by foreign powers for most of its history.  Malta gained its independence in 1964.  Before that, it was a British territory.  English is still one of the official languages.  Because of Malta’s close proximity to Italy, many people also speak Italian, and Italian food is common.

Friday, February 21

I arrived in Paris on an overnight flight from Minneapolis.  I made connections in this airport a month ago, but I was arriving and departing in the same terminal, so it was straightforward.

This time, I needed to get from Terminal 2E to Terminal 2D, and it was way more complicated than it should have been.  First, I had to go through security.  Then I had to take a shuttle bus to Terminal 2F.  From there, I took a different bus that stopped at every terminal before finally making it around to Terminal 2D.  I didn’t reach Terminal 2D until an hour after getting off the plane.

I still had to go though passport control, and then there was another security checkpoint with an insanely long line.  Fortunately, I had scheduled a long enough layover in Paris that I wasn’t in any danger of missing my connection.

From Paris, I flew to Malta’s international airport, which is near the capital city of Valletta.  My hotel arranged for my transport.  I was met at the airport by a driver who took me to my hotel.  It took about 20 minutes to get to the hotel.

I stayed at the Barceló Fortina Malta, which is in Sliema.  When I arrived, it was still too early to get into a room, so I charged my phone in the lobby while I was waiting.  The Barceló Fortina Malta was the headquarters hotel for the race, so I was able to pick up my race packet without leaving the hotel.

My room had a balcony overlooking the harbor.  Looking across the harbor, I could see Valletta and the inner harbor.

After getting settled into my room, I went out to do some sightseeing in Sliema.  I started by walked to Tigne Point.  From there, I had more complete views of Valletta.  There’s a fort at Tigne Point, but it’s currently being restored, so I couldn’t see much of it.

After detouring around some construction, I walked up the shoreline on the east side of Sliema.  It’s a rocky shoreline, but there are areas where the limestone is smooth enough that it’s used as a beach for swimming or snorkeling.

There are many old fortifications around the island.  Some have been restored.  Others have been repurposed.  This old fort has been converted to a restaurant.

This is St. Julian’s Tower, which overlooks St. Julian’s Bay.

As I continued around the north end of Sliema, I had views of the city of St. Julian’s, which has a more modern look.

I had dinner at an Italian restaurant with a view of St. Julian’s Bay.  After dinner, I took a different route through the city to get back to my hotel.  By the time I got back to my hotel, it was getting dark, and I could see the buildings of Valletta lit up.

I managed to stay awake until it got dark, but then I was ready to crash.  I slept well for the first few hours.  After that, I woke up and had trouble getting back to sleep.  Partly, that was because of the seven-hour time difference, but I was also a bit too warm.  I couldn’t get the room as cold as I like it for sleeping.

Saturday, February 22

My room rate included a buffet breakfast.  I didn’t know if I’d have time for lunch, so I ate a big breakfast.

The hotel was connected by a tunnel to another building which had a gym, a spa, and a pool.  Before beginning my sightseeing for the day, I did a workout in the gym.

After my workout, I took a ferry to Valletta, where I had booked a three-hour walking tour.  After getting off the ferry, I walked up to a vantage point where I got a good view of Sliema, looking back across the harbor.  My hotel is the large building in the center.

My tour started just inside the city gate.  I had some extra time, so I walked to the Triton Fountain, which is just outside the gate.

Most of the buildings in Valletta were built in the 1500s by the Knights of St. John, but our tour started with the newest part of the city.  The area just inside the city gate was so badly damaged during World War II that the area had fallen into disrepair.  This area was rebuilt in 2011.  The new project included a new city gate, the parliament building, an open-air concert venue where the opera house used to be, and a plaza dedicated to Jean de Vallette.

After that, we gradually moved farther into the city, focusing on older buildings and the history of Valletta.  I didn’t take pictures of many of the buildings.  This tour was more about the city’s history.

About halfway through our tour, we took a short break at the Upper Barrakka Gardens.  This break coincided with a ceremony at noon when they fire the cannons.

From here, I could see two of the fortified cities on the other side of the Grand Harbour.

After our break, we gradually made our way to St. John’s Co-Cathedral.

The city’s main square is normally an open space, but it’s currently occupied with seating set up so different groups can rehearse for the upcoming Carnival celebrations.

The last stop on our tour was the Lower Barrakka Gardens.

From there, we could see the entrance to the harbor, as well as a monument honoring unknown persons who died during the siege of Malta during World War II.  The statue at one end of this monument symbolizes a burial at sea for anyone who died aboard the various merchant ships that were sunk during the war.

After the tour, I went back to St. John’s Co-Cathedral, so I could tour the inside of the cathedral.  It’s called a co-cathedral, because there are several different chapels inside.  The Knights of St. John came from several different parts of Europe, so they spoke several different languages.  There are chapels for each of these languages.  There's also a crypt for the grand masters.  I took quite a few photos inside the cathedral.

The cathedral also contains two famous painting by Caravaggio.

I made it back to the ferry terminal just in time to catch the next ferry back to Sliema.  I had been on my feet for more than four hours, so I spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing at the hotel.  That gave me time to charge my phone, go through my photos, and organize my clothes for the race.

I had an early dinner, in anticipation of going to bed early.  As soon as the sun went down, I opened the door to my balcony to cool the room down before going to bed.  I had to close it before going to bed, so the street noise wouldn’t keep me up.

I slept well for about four hours.  By then the room had warmed up again, and I couldn’t get back to sleep.

Sunday, February 23

Sunday was race day.  The race started in Mdina, so I had to get up early to catch a bus to the start.  The bus left from a bus stop near the ferry terminal.  It was just a few blocks from my hotel.

I got up at 4:00 to start getting ready.  I was going to miss the hotel’s breakfast, so I made some tea and ate a slice of cake that I saved from my dinner the night before.

For the third straight race, I was conflicted about whether to wear shorts or tights.  When I got up, it was 46 degrees.  I expected the temperature to be in the upper 40s when the race started, but rise to 60 degrees by the time I finished.  If I wore shorts, I would be cold in the start area and for the first half of the race.  If I wore tights, I would be too hot toward the end of the race.  My legs don’t respond well to cold conditions, so I opted for tights again.

The course was point-to-point, so I had to take a bus to the start.  Buses left from near the ferry terminal, which was a short walk from my hotel.  We needed to be on a bus by 5:45.  I made a point of getting there a little early, so I was already on a bus at 5:30.

The race started in Mdina, which was the capital of Malta before Valletta was established.  As the crow flies, Mdina less than 13 kilometers from Sliema, so the bus ride only took 20 minutes.  The race didn’t start until 7:00, so we were dropped off more than an hour before the start.

When we were dropped off, it was still dark.  I didn’t see any signage indicating which way we should go to get to the start area.  None of the other runners seemed to know where to go, so runners were walking in different directions.  As it turns out, we were only about 100 meters from the starting line, but it wasn’t set up yet.

I saw several runners walking through this gate.  I didn’t know if the start was in that direction, but I decided to follow them.  If nothing else, it gave me a chance to see some of the old city.

Before long, I saw runners coming back after realizing this wasn’t the way to the start.  I’m still glad I followed them, because I got to do some early morning sightseeing.  This was my only chance to see more of Mdina.

I got back to our drop-off point in time to see the glow of the sunrise on the horizon.

I eventually saw where they had port-o-potties and where we could check our gear bags.  I still didn’t see where the starting line was going to be.

While I was waiting in the start area, I starting talking to another runner.  Her name was Candice, and she said she was hoping to run a pace of about 8:45 per mile.  That’s about the pace you need to break 3:50, which was my goal.

They had pace groups with target times in 15-minute increments.  The pace group closest to my goal time was 3:45, but I didn’t think I could run that fast.  I managed to do it in my last race, but that was a faster course.  This course has a couple of downhill sections, but most of the course is rolling hills.  I thought I’d be doing well just to break 3:50.

Candice and I decided to start together.  If all went well, we might run the whole race together.  We lined up a short distance behind the 3:45 group, but we weren’t planning to run with them.

The course was slightly uphill for the first kilometer.  We weren’t keeping up with the 3:45 group, but we kept them in sight.  Just doing that felt tiring.

After the first kilometer, the course turned downhill.  It was quite noticeably downhill for the next five kilometers.  This was the fastest section of the course.

The course was marked in kilometers, but Candice and I were both used to pacing ourselves in miles.  We each had watches that gave us our pace in minutes per mile.  I never noticed my time for the first mile, but Candice said it was 8:15.  That was faster than I expected, but it explained why it felt tiring.

The next few miles were even faster.  Miles two and three were both faster than eight minutes.  Mile four was 8:11.  These miles were much faster than our goal pace, but they didn’t feel tiring.  They were only fast because gravity was doing most of the work.

The next 14 miles were rolling hills, with very little net elevation change.  Our pace varied, but our goal over this section was to average 8:45 per mile.  If we could do that, we’d have room to slow down in the late miles, when we might be struggling.

To the best of my recollection, mile five was fairly flat.  We slowed to 8:28, but that was still faster than our target pace.  The next mile was slightly uphill.

During mile six, I saw that we were running back toward Mdina.  I had my phone with me, so I stopped briefly to take a picture.  Candice slowed down until I caught up with her.  That mile took 8:59, but we were expecting that.

In the next mile, Candice stopped at an aid station to make a bathroom stop.  I walked until she caught up with me.

While I was walking, I saw the 3:45 pace group go by.  Evidently, we had passed them during one of the downhill miles.  I didn’t notice at the time.

When Candice caught up to me, we were beginning a somewhat tiring hill.  We could still see the 3:45 group ahead of us, but we gradually fell farther behind them.

In that mile, we slowed to 9:24.  That wasn’t too surprising.  I had walked a fair distance before Candice caught up to me.

Over the next few miles, our pace varied.  On average, we were keeping close to our target pace of 8:45.

For several miles, we were doing loops and out-and-backs, but we never got that far from Mdina.  In mile 11, we went up a long gradual hill.  That hill took a lot out of me.  For the first time, I fell behind Candice.  Then we turned and started coming back downhill.  I picked up my pace enough on the downhill that I was able to catch up with Candice, but I wondered if that would happen again on other hills.

At halfway, we were on pace to break 3:50, but not by a wide margin.  I knew there was another long downhill section later in the race, but I didn’t know exactly when it started.  Candice was keeping a good pace, but I didn’t know if I could keep up with her long enough to reach that downhill section.

There was a spot where we left the road to run a loop on sidewalks before returning to the road.  Right at the beginning of this section, I fell behind again.  I was never too far back, but I couldn’t catch up to Candice until we were back on the road.  I managed to catch up with her, but I was less and less confident that I could keep up the pace for the rest of the race.

Candice had to catch a flight later in the day, so she was motivated to finish as quickly as she could.  I told her if I fell behind later in the race, she would need to go ahead without me.  Every time I said something like that, she told me I would be fine.  I don’t think she realized that I was struggling with the pace much more than she was.

For the most part, the course was open to traffic.  On some sections, we had a lane to ourselves.  In other places, we had to share the road with two-way traffic.  Early in the race, there weren’t many cars.  As the race progressed, there was much more traffic.  At times, it made us nervous.

Because the course looped around so much, there were a few places where we could see Mdina in the distance.  At about 16 miles, I realized we were running the same section of road where I had stopped to take a picture earlier.  Seeing Mdina atop the hill was a majestic sight, but I didn’t want to keep seeing it.  I wanted to start working our way toward Sliema.

In the next mile, we went through the same aid station where Candice had made a bathroom stop earlier.  I remembered going up a hill shortly after that, so I expected to go up the same hill again.

We reached a roundabout, but this time we left in a different direction.  We both recalled turning onto a sidewalk before, but this time, we turned onto a street.  I was overjoyed when I realized we wouldn’t have to go up that hill again.

It was here that we began to have more downhill running.  This time, it wasn’t all downhill.  There was a downhill trend, but we still had the occasional uphill section.

In some miles, we were a little fast.  In others, we were just keeping up the pace we needed.  It was less tiring, however.

At about 19 miles, Candice started to speed up running downhill.  I couldn’t quite keep up with her.  Then, we started an out-and-back section that was rolling.  Going out, there were two downhill sections and one uphill section.  Coming back, there was one downhill section and two uphill sections.  Each time we went uphill, I fell farther behind.

At the turnaround, I was already half a block behind Candice.  We were now mixed in with half marathoners, most of whom were walking.  There were enough walkers between us, that I sometimes lost sight of Candice.

Coming back, just as I crested a hill, I reached an aid station.  I drank half of my water and poured the rest on my legs.  I was worried about overheating later, so I wanted to get my tights wet.

By the end of the out-and-back, I was about a block behind Candice.  When I got my split for mile 20, I saw that I had kept up the same pace, in spite of the hills.  She was speeding up.

After the out-and-back, we began a long downhill section.  The next mile was comparable to the fast downhill miles at the beginning of the race.  I tried hard to use the downhill to catch up.  At first, I didn’t seem to be gaining any ground.  Candice was speeding up too.  Eventually, I could see that I was getting closer.  Then we went up a ramp to get to a bridge.

Going up the ramp, I was forced to slow down.  I had to make sure my effort wasn’t going to break me.  I started to fall farther behind again.

I ran that mile in 8:11.  I was pleased with my pace, but I realized I would never catch up to Candice again.  I was on my own now.

The next few miles were rolling.  I was surprised how hilly this section was.  In mile 22, I slowed to 8:56.  I gave back some of the time that I gained in the previous mile, but I was still reasonably confident that I was on pace to break 3:50.

Mile 23 had a hill that was much steeper than the others.  Up until now, some of the hills were long, but none had been that steep.  This hill forced me to take a walking break on the steepest section.  If I forced myself to run it, I would never recover from the effort.

In that mile, I slowed to 9:23.  Now I was no longer sure if I was still on pace to break 3:50.

I knew the last few kilometers were around the harbor.  I expected those miles to be flat.  First, I needed to get there, and there were still more hills.

At about 38K, I saw a tall wall made of weathered limestone.  I realized this must be part of the city wall of Valletta.  Running alongside this wall, the road turned sharply downhill.  I tried to use the hill to pick up my pace as much as I could.  This hill took me all the way down to the Valletta Marina.  Now, the rest of the race was alongside the harbor.

It was still a long way around the harbor, but I fought to keep up the best pace I could.  When I saw my pace for mile 24, it was 8:43.  Initially, I was pleased to have kept up a pace that was faster than 8:45.  I was less pleased when I remembered that a good portion of that mile was downhill.  I didn’t know if I could keep up that pace on level ground.

At an aid station, I again drank some of my water, but poured the rest on my legs.  I was still concerned about getting hot.  It was probably 60 degrees by now, and the sun was high in the sky.

Now that we were next to the water, I started to notice a cool breeze.  The breeze hitting my wet tights cooled me off.  I no longer had to worry about overheating.

I had not taken the time to figure out if I was on pace to break 3:50.  In a way, I didn’t want to know.  Without knowing, I told myself that I was on pace, but every second counted.  I had to fight for it.

At 40K, I could see Fort Tigne in the distance.  I looked for the finish line.  Then I realized that Manoel Island was in the way.  I wouldn’t be able to see the finish until I ran most of the way around the harbor.

Shortly after that, I saw my time for mile 25.  I slowed to 8:58 in that mile.  That was discouraging.  Then, I looked at my total time.  It was 3:37 and change.  I had more than 12 minutes to run the last 1.2 miles.  If I could keep up my current pace, I would have more than a minute to spare.  That was a pleasant surprise.

In the last 1.2 miles, I fought hard to keep up my pace.  I was passing as many runners as I could.  It seemed like I had it in the bag, but only if my watch was giving me an accurate distance.  If my watch was reading high, which is common, it might be too close for comfort.

At 41K, I could look ahead and see where I boarded the bus earlier in the morning.  I couldn’t see the finish line yet, but soon I saw my hotel, and I knew the finish line was before the hotel.

As I got farther around the bend, my watch gave me a split for mile 26.  It was 8:50.  That would have been encouraging, but I knew I had more than two tenths of a mile to go.  My watch was reading high.

It wasn’t until I could see the finish line that I knew for sure I had enough time to get there.  I ran hard all the way and finished in 3:48:58.  I had a Boston qualifier with slightly more than a minute to spare.

I had lost sight of Candice at least a few miles earlier, but trying to catch up to her was the only thing that kept me from slowing down more than I did.  I kept chasing her, even when I knew I couldn’t catch her.  That extra effort made the difference.

I figured she finished at least two minutes ahead of me, but she was probably still in the finish area.  I quickly realizing, however, that the finish area was too insanely crowded to for me to have any hope of spotting her in the crowd.

I continued moving forward and received a banana and my finisher medal.  I was surprised by the size of the medal.  It’s about four inches in diameter.  I don’t know if they’re always this big, or if it’s just because this was the 40th Malta Marathon.

I was about to step onto the sidewalk and look for Candice, when I remembered that I had checked a gear bag.  I looked for other runners who had already retrieved their bag, so I could ask where they got them.  I knew it was somewhere close to my hotel, but I wasn’t sure exactly where.  I kept moving forward.

I found out the gear retrieval was inside the parking garage that’s underneath my hotel.  I remembered seeing the ramp that leads down into the garage, so I kept walking in that direction.  When I got there, I saw Candice.  She had already retrieved her gear bag.

Candice asked me how my race went and told me that she had struggled with the last few miles.  Then she had to leave to take a ferry to Valletta, so she could get to the airport.

My hotel was so close to the finish, that it was only 11:00 when I got back to my room.  After taking a relaxing bath and changing into clean clothes, it still wasn’t noon yet.

After a race, I usually eat post-race snacks and skip lunch.  This time, I wanted a real lunch.  There are a number of restaurants on the street where the race finished, but I expected those to be crowded.  Near Tigne Point, there’s a mall called The Point.  I knew there were restaurants there, so I headed that direction instead.

After lunch, I went back to the hotel to take it easy for the rest of the afternoon.  Before long, I started to get sleepy.  My lack of sleep didn’t seem to hold me back during the race, but it caught up to me in the afternoon.

I felt rejuvenated by the fresh air as I walked to dinner.  Several of the restaurants along the waterfront have outdoor seating under heated canopies.  I had dinner at a Mediterranean restaurant that I had walked past a few times before.

After dinner, I had a nice visit with two friends from Denmark who were having dinner at another restaurant just down the block.

When I got back to my room, it was much cooler than the night before.  I shut the balcony door and hoped for the best.

I slept well for about four hours.  By then, the room had warmed up, and I had trouble getting back to sleep.  For the rest of the night, I slept intermittently.  I’d open the balcony door long enough to cool the room down.  Then I’d close it and go back to sleep.

Monday, February 24

I had one more day for sightseeing before flying home.  I slept a little later and then had a leisurely breakfast at the hotel.

Later in the morning I took a 90-minute boat tour.  That didn’t start until 10:30, which gave me time to do a workout at the hotel.

The tour began with a trip around Marsamxett Harbour, which is the body of water between Sliema and Valletta.  We went about halfway around Manoel Island, giving me a view of Fort Manoel

Next, we went past the marinas and along the northern shore of Valletta.  After that, we left Marsamxett Harbour, sailing between Fort Tigne and Fort St. Elmo.

After going out to se and sailing around Valletta, we entered the Grand Harbour.  From here, I had views of Valletta from the other side.

We sailed through every part of the Grand Harbour, giving me close-up views of the three fortified cities on the southern side.  The cities of Birgu (Vittorioso) and Senglea are on two long peninsulas.  Each has forts overlooking the Grand Harbour.  I had seen these two cities from Valletta on Saturday, but this tour gave me panoramic views from the water.

The third city is Cospicua, which is farther inland, between the other two cities.

The tour finished at noon.  Then I had lunch at a nearby brewery.  My lunch included a sampler flight of seven of their beers.  In the U.S., beer tasters are typically four or five ounces.  I was surprised to see that these “tasters” were 280 milliliters, which is about 9 ounces.  Had I known they were that large, I wouldn’t have tried that many.

After drinking almost four pints of beer, I needed to go back to my hotel and take a nap.  I slept through the afternoon, not waking up until 7:00 PM.  I don’t think that was just from the beer.  It was also the cumulative lack of sleep over the previous three days.

I had dinner a little later than I planned.  Then I went to bed as quickly as I could, as I needed to get up early on Tuesday to get to the airport.  I only slept for four hours, but that was on top of a five-hour nap.

Tuesday, February 25

I had to be up early to get to the airport for a 7:10 AM departure.  On my way home, I made connections in Amsterdam.  This connection was much easier.  It’s a large airport, but it’s all in one building, and I know my way around.

Race statistics:

Distance:  42.2 kilometers

Time:  3:48:58

Average Pace:  8:44 per mile (5:26 per kilometer)

First Half:  1:53:34

Second Half:  1:55:24

Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:  539

Boston Qualifiers:  176

Countries:  53