Race Report: 2026 Twin Cities Marathon

On October 4th, I ran the Twin Cities Marathon.  This was the 17th time I’ve run this race.  It starts in downtown Minneapolis, and the finish is in front of the state capitol in St. Paul.

Last year, this race was a reunion for the 50Sub4 Marathon Club.  I knew I wouldn’t have time to go home before going to our post-race gathering, so I spent the night in a downtown St. Paul hotel, so I could shower after the race.

Before last year, I always parked in a lot near the capitol that had event parking on race day.  That property has had a change in ownership, so I didn’t know if I could park there this year.  With that in mind, I considered staying in a downtown hotel again.

The hotel I stayed at last year was in a really convenient location, but when I checked for availability, they were sold out.  There were other downtown hotels with rooms available, but there were either too expensive or had a two-night minimum.

I checked again on Thursday, and a room had opened up at the downtown Doubletree.  Surprisingly, it wasn’t too expensive, and I could get a late checkout.  With that in mind, I made a last-minute reservation to stay there again this year.

The expo was at RiverCentre in downtown St. Paul.  After checking in at my hotel, I walked over to RiverCentre to pick up my race packet.  I like the design on the race T-shirt.

While I was at the expo, I saw a few local runners I know.  I also stopped by the booth for the pace team, to see which pace groups would be starting in my corral.

As usual, I went to Cossetta’s for my pre-race dinner.  This year, the Minnesota Wild had a home game on Saturday.  On game days, Cossetta’s gets really busy before the game.  The line for ordering pasta was insanely long, but the line for pizza wasn’t too bad.

I went to bed early, but I only slept for about four hours.  Then I woke up and couldn’t get back to sleep.  I eventually nodded off again, but woke up from a bad dream.  After that I never got back to sleep again.  I didn’t worry too much about the lack of sleep.  I had the same experience last year, and I had a good race.

Staying downtown meant I didn’t have to get up as early, and I didn’t need to worry about finding a place to park.  My car was already in the ramp connected to my hotel.  I just needed to walk over to the Intercontinental, where I could catch a bus to the start.

I could board a bus anytime between 5:00 and 6:45.  The earlier buses are mostly for people running the 10-mile race, which starts an hour before the marathon.  I waited until 6:00 before leaving my hotel to walk over to the Intercontinental.

I got dropped off in the start area about 90 minutes before the marathon started, so I had a long time to sit around.  The temperature was about 50 degrees, but it would warm up to 60 by the time I finished the race.  To stay warm in the start area, I wore a pair of wind pants that I was willing to discard and a Tyvek jacket that I could tie around my waist.  There was a gear check in the start area, but I didn’t want to have to take the time to retrieve a gear bag after the race.

The start corrals are next to the football stadium.  Outside the stadium, there’s a mock-up of a Viking ship.  I discovered two years ago that there are benches inside the “ship.”  It’s the only place I know where you sit down and be somewhat sheltered from the wind.  I sat there until it was time to get into a bathroom line.

Before the race, I wasn’t sure what my goal should be.  I had two goals in mind.  The more ambitious goal was 4:05, which would give me a Boston qualifier.  This was my first opportunity to qualify for 2028, and this is a relatively flat course.   Qualifying today would be ideal, but I had serious doubts about whether I was in good enough shape to run that fast.

The more conservative goal was to simply make progress.  My fastest recent time was 4:22:53 in August at Humpy’s Marathon in Alaska. I was pretty confident I’m in better shape than I was in August.  At a minimum, I wanted to beat that time.

They had pace groups for 4:05, 4:10, 4:15, and 4:20, but those groups were all starting in corral two.  I was assigned to corral one.  I could have moved back, but starting later would mean finishing later, and I worried about having time to get back to my hotel after the race.  I chose to start in corral one and be on my own to find the right pace.

There was a half marathon that started 20 minutes before the marathon.  Their start corral was in front of the marathon corrals.  After the half marathon started, I saw runners in corral one moving forward into the half marathon corral.  I was still in a bathroom line.

Ideally, I wanted to line up at the back of corral one, but I was no longer sure where that was.  I thought everyone from corral one had moved into the half marathon corral, so I lined up near the back of that corral.  In retrospect, I think only about half of the runners moved forward.  As a result, I lined up farther forward than I intended.

It was tough to gauge my pace in the first mile.  People around me were going different paces.  At times, I felt like I might be going too fast, so I eased up a bit.  I didn’t know my pace until I finished the first mile.

For my more ambitious goal of 4:05, I needed an average pace of 9:21 per mile.  I ran the first mile in 8:39, which was obviously too fast.

In the next mile, I wanted to slow down, but that was easier said than done.  It was still somewhat crowded, so the path of least resistance was to go at the same pace as the people around me.  They were all going fast, so I was still getting pulled along at a faster pace than I wanted.

After turning onto Lyndale and running past the sculpture garden, we started up a small hill in front of the Walker Art Center.  Here, I finally unhitched myself from the people around me and eased back to a pace that wouldn’t be too tiring going up the hill.

When I finished mile two, I saw that I had slowed somewhat, but I was still going about 20 seconds faster than my target pace.  At this point, I had chosen 4:05 as my goal.

In mile three, everybody was passing me.  That led me to believe I had slowed down.  In fact, I sped up.  Mile three was faster than either of the previous miles.  After only three miles, I was already almost two minutes ahead of a Boston-qualifying pace.

The next four miles were going south past the chain of lakes.  This is my favorite part of the course.  It has nice scenery and great crowd support.  Here, I settled into a pace that was still a little fast, but not crazy fast.  My pace was also more consistent here.  For the next six miles, my pace was between 9:01 and 9:06.

The last of those lakes was Lake Harriet.  I was coming around the east side of the lake when I noticed an aid station on the left side of the street.  I was all the way to the right.  Crossing the street without bumping into other runners was difficult.  I had to stop for several seconds.  Despite that, my pace in that mile was the same as the previous mile.  After that, I always looked for the blue banners at the aid stations, so I would know which side of the street I should be on.

After leaving the lakes, we turned onto Minnehaha Parkway.  The first two miles along the parkway are rolling.  Despite running up and down a few hills, I still kept a consistent pace.

By now, I had been passed by two different pace groups.  Both of them had target times of 3:50.  Then I heard people in the crowd cheering for a 3:55 group.  They passed me on one of the hills.  After passing me, they didn’t pull away from me as quickly as the 3:50 groups did.

As I was approaching 10 miles, I asked myself how I was feeling.  Despite my faster than expected pace, I felt OK.  I didn’t feel like this pace was going to wear me down.

When I saw my split for mile 10, it was almost 20 seconds faster than the previous mile.  It’s possible that I was influenced by the pace group that recently passed me.  For a long time, I was staying pretty close to them.  In the next mile, I eased up.

Just before the 11-mile mark, we left the parkway to turn onto Cedar Avenue, and we began a loop around Lake Nokomis.  Lake Nokomis used to be the race venue for the FANS 24-Hour Race, so I always feel at home there.  I’ve run hundreds of miles around this lake.

The halfway point was on the east side of Lake Nokomis.  When I got there, I was almost four minutes ahead of schedule for a 4:05 finish.  That gave me room to slow down in the second half, if necessary.

By now, my pace was taking more effort.  With only half of the race to go, however, I was more willing to put in the extra effort.  I was gaining in confidence that I really was in good enough shape to sustain this pace.

All of the aid stations had water and Nuun.  The one just past halfway also had pickle juice.  It doesn’t taste great, but it’s an easy way to make sure you’re getting enough salt.

After running around Lake Nokomis, we got back onto the Minnehaha Parkway.  I had room to slow down in the second half of the race, but for now, I wanted to keep running at the same pace.  There’s a tough uphill section from 20 to 23.  If I was going to give time back, I wanted to do it there.

Somewhere around 14 miles, a runner on my left recognized a friend in the crowd and turned to run over to them.  When he realized he was going to run into me, he grabbed me to keep me from falling.  The next few seconds were surreal.  I never left my feet, but I felt like I was suspended in mid-air.  He apologized, and I quickly got back into the same rhythm as before.

In mile 15, I inadvertently sped up again.  I had been keeping my pace close to nine minutes, but suddenly I ran a mile in 8:43.  The fact that I could do that without trying was a good sign that I wasn’t close to running out of gas.

After running through Minnehaha Park, we turned onto the West River Parkway, which follows the west bank of the Mississippi.  My goal for the next five miles was to keep up the same average pace until the 20-mile mark.  Then I could slow down as much as necessary on the uphill section between 20 and 23.

I was at roughly 16 miles, when I saw someone in the crowd holding up a sign with an elevation chart.  It had a “you are here” arrow.  At the time, I thought his chart grossly exaggerated the uphill section later in the race.  In fact, it was pretty accurate.  It looked just like the elevation chart created by my watch.

A short time later, I saw another spectator who was handing out small bottles of Fireball.  I’ve sometimes indulged in beer, Fireball, or other adult drinks during a race, but not today.  I wasn’t going to do anything that might jeopardize my chances of breaking 4:05.

The West River Parkway is mostly flat, but there are two noticeable hills.  The first one is where you come back uphill after crossing under the Lake Street Bridge.  The second one is a mile later, when we had to go up a ramp to get up to the Franklin Avenue Bridge.  When I reached that ramp, I just followed the runners ahead of me.  I didn’t worry if the hill slowed me down, although I don’t think it did.

After crossing the river on the Franklin bridge, we turned onto the East River Road.  I had one more relatively easy mile before reaching the uphill section I had been anticipating.

When I reached the 20-mile banners, I did a time check.  To break 4:05, I just needed to run the last 10K in 64 minutes.  I could afford to slow down to a 10-minute pace, not just on the uphill section, but for the rest of the race.  Now I wondered if I could break four hours.

Mile 21 wasn’t all uphill.  There were a couple short hills, but there were flat sections in between.  I didn’t slow down at all in that mile.

Early in mile 22, we turned left and ran up a long gradual hill that took us away from the river and up to the University of St. Thomas.

As I rounded the corner to begin this hill, I saw some children handing out small cups of water.  I think they were in front of their own house.  I could have used a drink of water, but I didn’t want to slow down as I was starting up a hill.

I saw a lot of people walking on this hill.  I ran the whole thing, but I wasn’t keeping up with other runners who were running the whole thing.  For the first time, I noticed soreness in my quads.

After reaching the top of that hill, we turned onto Cretin Avenue for one block before turning left onto Summit Avenue.  I heard multiple people in the crown cheering, “Go, Banana!”  Sure enough, a guy in a banana suit ran by me.  I was still too fatigued from the hill to keep up with him.

When I turned onto Summit Avenue, I could tell immediately that it was uphill.  I couldn’t see the 22 banners yet, and I knew this hill continued through mile 23.

My time for mile 22 was 9:20.  That was my slowest mile so far, but even that mile was fast enough for a Boston qualifier.  I wasn’t giving any time back yet.

That changed in the next mile.  Mile 23 was all uphill, and my quads were already fatigued from the previous two miles.  Despite my best efforts, I slowed to 9:33 in that mile.

After finally cresting the hill, I wanted to pick up my pace, but first I had to recover from those three uphill miles.  They took a cumulative toll on me.  I had heavy legs for the rest of the race.

Since crossing the river, we had been following the same route as the 10-mile race.  In addition to our mile markers, I was seeing theirs.  When I saw the “7” banner, I knew I had exactly three miles to go.  I did another time check.  At this point, breaking 4:05 was in the bag.  The only question was whether I would break four hours.  That was my goal from this point on.

In the next mile, I managed to pick up my pace.  It wasn’t as fast as the first 20 miles, but it was fast enough that it was now obvious that I would break four hours.  That didn’t mean it would be easy.  The last two miles were one continuous gut check.

I kept up a similar pace in mile 25, even though there are a couple of small hills there.  Mile 26 is all either downhill or flat, but I was running out of gas.  I slowed to 9:32 in that mile.

Just before 26, we ran by St. Paul’s Cathedral.  They were ringing the church bells for us.

I had my phone with me, but up until now, I hadn’t taken any pictures.  I didn’t want to lose any time.  Once I knew I could stop to take a picture and still break four hours, I decided to take a picture of the finish, which is in front of the state capitol.  This is my favorite finish line approach of any marathon I’ve done.

The approach to the finish is downhill.  Everyone else was sprinting down that hill.  I couldn’t speed up at all, so everyone was passing me.  That’s OK.  I finished in 3:58:59.  That was beyond my wildest expectation.

As usual, the finisher medal includes a leaf.  I can remember when leaves were in peak color during this race.  In recent years, the leaves have been turning color later in the month.  Next year, the race will be a week later.  If they want peak colors, they should probably make it two weeks later.

Not checking a gear bag saved me time after the race.  I needed to check out from my hotel by 2:00, and it was already noon, so I didn’t want to waste any time.  I grabbed post-race snacks that I could easily eat while walking to my hotel.  I had to walk about a mile to get there.

I got back to my room by 12:30.  I easily had time to take a bath and do some post-race stretches before changing into clean clothes, packing up, and checking out.

Four months ago, I couldn’t walk up a flight of stairs without getting out of breath, and I was frustrated with my slow race times.  At the time, I wondered if my days of qualifying for Boston were over.  After three months of taking an iron supplement, I feel like I’ve made a full recovery.  I’m already registered for the 2027 Boston Marathon, and I’m now qualified for 2028.

Race statistics:

Distance:  26.2 miles

Time:  3:58:59

Average Pace:  9:07 per mile

First Half:  1:58:37

Second Half:  2:00:22

Marathons/Ultras in 2026:  37

Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:  609

Boston Qualifiers in 2026:  6

Lifetime Boston Qualifiers:  193

Minnesota Marathons/Ultras:  124

Race Report: Northwest Series, Day 6

Today was the last day of the Mainly Marathons Northwest Series.  For the second straight day, we were running alongside the Snake River in Hell’s Gate State Park.

I slept well, but I woke up with a considerable amount of soreness.  Some of that was from my fall yesterday.

The scrape below my knee looked ugly, but it didn’t hurt.  The scrapes on my hip were barely noticeable, but that’s where I had a lot of soreness.  My elbow didn’t look too bad, but I had yet to wash out the blood stains on the sleeve of my jacket.

I don’t usually take anything for pain or soreness, but I took some Tylenol before leaving the hotel.

As usual, I took the 6:30 start.  It was dark when I arrived at the park, but it was light by the time I started running.  Now that I knew the layout of the park, I made a point of parking near one of the bathrooms.

Today’s weather was similar to yesterday.  It was chilly enough at the start that I had to start the race with a jacket and gloves.  My legs were cold, so I had to run fast enough to stay warm.

As I got warmed up, I gradually settled into a more relaxed pace.  Halfway through my fourth lap, I took off my jacket and gloves.  I may have been a bit premature with the gloves.  For the next lap or two, my hands and arms were cold.

Yesterday, I saw a few deer, but I wasn’t able to get a picture.  Today, I ran the whole race with my phone, so I wouldn’t miss any photo ops.  I was nearing the end of my fifth lap when I saw another runner stop to take a picture.  I looked in that direction and saw a few deer milling about.

There’s a long-standing tradition that the last day of a series is hot dog day.  They have hot dogs at the aid station, and some runners dress for the occasion.

During the first half of the race, I only took one walking break.  I had several other stops though.  Besides stopping to take photos, I had two bathroom stops, I stopped to eat a hot dog, and I stopped to demonstrate some stretches for a runner with sciatica.  When I reached the halfway point, my time was slower than any of the other days.

I usually start taking walking breaks in the second half.  Today, I felt like I needed to keep running, but I ran at a relaxed pace.  I had two more bathroom stops, and I stopped at the aid station one more time to eat a hot dog.

I was halfway through my 11th lap when I caught up to Clyde.  I asked Clyde what lap he was on.  He started an hour earlier, but we were now on the same lap.  We each had three-and-a-half laps to go.

Next, I asked Clyde if he was on pace to finish in seven hours.  Clyde was confident that he was.  That meant I could walk the rest of the race with Clyde and still finish in six hours.

I thought we might be cutting it kind of close, so I kept a close eye on our pace.  Clyde maintained a brisk pace, and we were always on schedule.  By the last lap, we no longer needed to walk fast, but we did.

I finished the race in 5:53:41.  I kept my times under six hours all six days.  That was my goal.

Today, I got two pieces to add to my chain of medals.  The first one was the medal for today’s race, which was the other Idaho medal.  The second was an extra piece that goes to anyone who does the whole series.

Here’s the entire chain.

As I was leaving Hell’s Gate State Park, a deer darted across the road right in front of me.  Fortunately, I was already slowing down for a speed bump, so I was in no danger of hitting the deer.

When I got back to the hotel, I finally took the time to rinse the blood stains out of my jacket.

Tomorrow, I need to drive back to Spokane and fly home.  My flight isn’t until the afternoon, so I won’t have to get up as early tomorrow.  I’m looking forward to that.  I’m also looking forward to not having another race until October.

This was the fourth time in less than a year that I’ve run marathons on five or six consecutive days.  That’s unusual for me.  Until recently, I rarely did more than one multi-day series in a year.

Race statistics:

Distance:  26.2 miles

Time:  5:53:41

Average Pace:  13:29 per mile

First Half:  2:48:28

Second Half:  3:05:13

Marathons/Ultras in 2026:  36

Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:  608

Race Report: Northwest Series, Day 5

Today was day five of the Mainly Marathons Northwest Series.  It was the first of two days in Idaho.

Every other morning, I take an iron pill.  On the days I take those, I sometimes get the runs.   I didn’t have any problems on Saturday or Monday.  Today, I wasn’t so lucky.

I may have eaten breakfast too soon after taking the pill.  I also ate a breakfast that was probably too rich.  Ten minutes later, it went right through me.  I made two more trips to the bathroom before leaving the hotel.  Then I crossed my fingers that I was done.

Our race venue was Hell’s Gate State Park.  There’s normally a fee to enter the park, but that was included in our race entry.

The aid station was set up in the campground, but we couldn’t park there.  We had to park in the day use area, which is about a quarter mile away.

Most runners took the early start at 5:30 AM.  I didn’t want to get up that early, and I also didn’t want to run in the dark for the first hour.  I opted for the 6:30 start.  Unfortunately, that meant parking farther away, since all the closer parking spaces were already taken.

After parking in the closest available space, I notice a nearby building.  I had plenty of time, so I investigated to see if this building had bathrooms.  It did.  I’m real glad I took the time to use this bathroom, because there weren’t any bathrooms in the start/finish area.

It was still dark, so I needed to carry a flashlight as I made my way from my car to the starting line.  It was chilly, so kept my warm-up pants on until the last minute.

As usual, the course was out-and-back.  Usually, the aid station is set up at one end of the course.  Today, the aid station was in the middle.  We needed to run roughly half a mile to the south before turning around and coming back to the aid station.  Then we ran a similar distance to the north before turning around again.  When we got back to the aid station, that was one lap.  I needed to run 14 laps for the marathon.

Yesterday was the only day that it was warm enough in the morning that I could start the race without a jacket or gloves.  Today, I needed to keep them on.  As I started running, my legs were cold.  I didn’t have the luxury of taking any walking breaks.  I had to run to keep warm.  Fortunately, this course was flatter than the others, so there weren’t any places where I felt the need to walk.

The path we were on was paved, but there were rough patches with small rocks imbedded in the pavement.  I was near the end of my first lap when I caught my foot on one of these small rocks.  I hit the pavement hard.

As I got up, I could see scrapes on the side of my leg.  My hands and arm were protected somewhat by my gloves and jacket.  Even so, my hands hurt for several minutes.

After getting up, I immediately resumed running.  I still needed to run to keep my legs from getting too cold.

I looked at my sleeve to see if my jacket was torn.  I couldn’t see any tears, but I saw a couple dark patches.  Evidently, my elbow was bleeding under the jacket.

I kept my jacket on until I was halfway through my fourth lap.  Sure enough, there was a small scrape on my elbow.  I kept my gloves on until the end of my fifth lap.  My hands looked fine.

Early in my sixth lap, I felt the urgent need to rush to the bathroom.  There were two buildings with bathrooms.  Neither one was right along the route.  The one closer to the trail was the one near my car.  That was at the other end of the course.  The one I would pass first was farther away from the trail.

I couldn’t hold it in while running.  I had to slow to a walk until I reached the first building with bathrooms.  Then I had to take a long detour off the trail.

Later in that same lap, I stopped at the other bathroom, just to make sure I was done.  Since I was already close to my car, I stopped to get my phone, so I could take some pictures of the course.

This was our view from the northern end of the course.

Coming back from there, we ran by two beach areas.

This is the aid station, right in the middle of our route.

South of the aid station, we ran past the campground.

The aid station always has a hot foot item.  Today, it was a breakfast “hot dish” made with tater tots, eggs, cheese, and Spam.  Halfway through my seventh lap, I picked up a cup of the hot dish at the aid station.  I had to walk until I finished eating it.

When I finished that lap, I was half done.  My time at the halfway point was slower than any of the other days.  Between the bathroom stops and the walking, I lost a lot of time.

Usually, I start doing extra walking in the second half of the race.  Today, I felt like I should keep running for a few more laps before slowing down too much.

I had to make one more bathroom stop.  Other than that, I forced myself to keep running until I was done with my 10th lap.

With four laps to go, I wasn’t sure exactly what pace I needed to break six hours.  I knew 16-minute miles was fast enough and 17-minute miles would be too slow.

I saw my friend Fran a short distance ahead of me.  I kept running until I caught up with Fran.  Fran was walking, but she often walks at a brisk pace.

I asked Fran what pace she was walking.  She said about 16 and a half minutes.  That was probably fast enough for me, so I started walking with Fran.  I quickly found I had to work hard to keep up with her.  She didn’t want to slow me down, so she was picking up her pace.

After one lap with Fran, I checked my watch.  I needed to walk the last three laps in an average of 32 minutes.  It seemed like we were going faster than that.

In one of our laps, I saw Clyde was a short distance behind us as we reached one of the turnarounds.  One lap later, it seemed like he was still the same distance behind us.  I told Fran we were walking as fast as Clyde, who is usually the fastest walker on the course.

Fran seemed skeptical, but when we reached the turnaround at the other end of the course, it was obvious that we were now farther ahead of Clyde.  Knowing we were walking faster than Clyde seemed to light a fire under Fran.  We walked even faster.  In one mile, we got as fast as 14:50.

Each time we finished a lap, we were faster than the pace I needed.  With a lap to go, I told Fran a casual walking pace would be fast enough.  At this point, she was determined to stay ahead of Clyde.

We were almost back to the aid station, in the middle of the lap, when Fran tripped on something in the trail.  She bumped her head, and she got some scrapes, but she seemed to be OK.  When we reached the aid station, Fran stopped briefly to clean herself up.  Despite the fall, and the time at the aid station, we were even farther ahead of Clyde when we reached the last turnaround.

This was my last lap, but Fran was doing the 50K race, so she still had a few laps to go.  It was Clyde’s last lap, so Fran just needed to stay ahead of Clyde until we got back to the aid station.

When we were almost there, I broke into an all-out racewalk until I reached the finisher bell.  I finished in 5:50:32.  Fran applied an icepack where she bumped her head.  Then she started her next lap.

Today I received the first of two styles of medal for Idaho.

After a race, my top priority is usually soaking my legs and stretching.  Today, it was cleaning up my scrapes.  I had a bloody scrape on my right knee and smaller scrapes on my right hip and right elbow.

When I took off my socks, I saw a blood stain from one of my toes.  I had a sharp corner on one toenail, and it was cutting the adjacent toe.  It looked messy, but it didn’t hurt at all.  Those things always look worse than they are.

There’s just one more race in this series.  We’ll be on the same course tomorrow.  I’ll probably go out of my way to park in the same place, so I can be close to the bathroom.

I felt tired today, and I expect to be even more tired tomorrow.  I may also have some sore spots.  I’m glad tomorrow is the last day of the series.

Race statistics:

Distance:  26.2 miles

Time:  5:50:32

Average Pace:  13:22 per mile

First Half:  2:42:34

Second Half:  3:07:58

Marathons/Ultras in 2026:  35

Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:  607

Race Report: Northwest Series, Day 4

Today was the fourth day of the Mainly Marathons Northwest Series.  Today, we were in Clarkston, WA again running the same route as yesterday.

I got to bed early, and I got a good night’s sleep.  For once, I didn’t feel like I was dragging myself out of bed in the morning.

We didn’t experience as wide of a temperature range today.  It was warmer at the start, but it didn’t warm up as quickly in the late morning hours.

My goal today was the same as yesterday.  I just wanted to keep my time under six hours.  As usual, I planned to mostly run in the first half, so I could do a lot more walking in the second half, as it got hotter.

Yesterday, I picked out two small hills to walk during my first seven laps, and I started walking two more hills later.  Today, I was walking all four of those hills from the very beginning.

During my first lap, I had another nice sunrise view through the river valley.

For the first three laps, I was running by myself.  I was able to run most of laps four and five with Ken.  I think those laps were a little bit faster, but they seemed easier.  In laps six and seven, I was on my own again.

At the halfway point, my time was similar to the last two days.  That gave me room to do more walking in the second half.

Yesterday, I noticed my heart rate was spiking in the second half of the race.  It was a hot sunny day, and I probably didn’t realize how hard I was working.

Today, it didn’t get as hot.  We had some clouds, and I sometimes felt a cool breeze through the river valley.

I kept an eye on my heart rate, and I never saw it get any higher than 119.  As long as it stayed low, I could continue running.

I ran at the same race for three more laps.  With four laps to go, I could afford to walk for the rest of the race, but I wanted to find someone else to walk with.  The people I walked with on other days did shorter races today.

As I was finishing lap ten, I noticed that Clyde was also finishing a lap.  Clyde had taken the earlier start, but we each had four laps to go.

Clyde is a power walker.  He walks the entire race, but he walks faster than anyone else on the course.  I knew if I walked the last four laps with Clyde, I would stay on pace to finish in six hours.

Walking at Clyde’s pace forced me to work, but I really enjoyed those laps.  It turns out
Clyde and I have similar backgrounds.  We have more in common than I would have guessed.

After power walking the last four laps, I finished in 5:41:52.

There are two styles of finisher medals for each state.  Today, I got the second Washington medal.

There are two races left in this series.  For the next two days, we’ll be in Idaho.

Race statistics:

Distance:  26.2 miles

Time:  5:41:52

Average Pace:  13:02 per mile

First Half:  2:33:52

Second Half:  3:08:00

Marathons/Ultras in 2026:  34

Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:  606

Race Report: Northwest Series, Day 3

Today was day three of the Mainly Marathons Northwest Series.  I usually find the third day of a series to be the day it starts getting difficult.  I found the first two days to be difficult, so I expected today to be a struggle.  I slept better than the previous night, but I still didn’t get as much sleep as I wanted.  My biggest concern was a tight Achilles tendon.

The temperature at the start was warmer than the previous two days.  Also, I was taking the 6:30 start instead of the 5:30 early start.  For those reasons, I didn’t have to be afraid of getting too cold if I took walking breaks in the first half of the race.

Today, we were running an out-and-back route that was mostly along the Snake River in Clarkston, WA.  I was staying in Lewiston, ID, which is just across the border.  It only took about 10 minutes to drive to the race venue from my hotel in Lewiston.

Our route started in a parking lot, where the aid station was set up.  After leaving the parking lot, we ran around a small park.  Then we continued onto the Green Belt Trail, which is a paved bike path alongside the river.  We ran almost a mile before turning around to come back the way we came.  To complete a marathon, I need to run 14 laps.

For the third straight day, I started out drinking Coke before switching to Gatorade.  Today, it seemed to help more, although I was still tired.

Today’s course was mostly flat, but there were a few small rises.  From the first lap, I was walking two of these small hills and running everywhere else.

The first time I got into the river valley, I saw a nice sunrise through the valley.  I would’ve taken a picture, but I left my phone in the car.  This is a picture that was posted to our Facebook group.

My legs never got cold, but I still started the race with a jacket and gloves.  I was able to take off the jacket after my first lap.  I took off the gloves after my second lap.

I noticed some discomfort in my Achilles tendon, but it was mild.  It was something I could easily tune out, and it never got worse.

I continued to walk the same two short hills for the first half of the race.  Twice, I did a little bit of extra walking while talking to a friend.

Despite taking walking breaks, my time at the halfway point was only about a minute slower than yesterday.  The hills I was walking were so short that it didn’t slow me down much.

Starting with my eighth lap, I slowed it down a bit.  I was still mostly running, but I picked out two more small hills to walk.

During my ninth lap, I noticed something unusual.  I happened to glance at my watch, and I saw that my heart rate was 139.  In the previous two races, I rarely saw it get any higher than 110.

In the next lap, I looked at my watch again, and my heart rate had climbed to 143.  That’s about where it tops out in a race where I’m going all out.  This wasn’t an all-out effort.  I didn’t feel like I was working any harder than I did in the first two races, although today was a hotter day.

I considered doing more walking, but I wanted to wait until I caught up to my friend Karen.  I caught up to Karen early in the next lap.  Then I started walking with her.

I initially assumed I could walk with Karen for a lap or two, but I would eventually need to do more running.  As it turns out, our walking pace was fast enough that I was able to walk with Karen for the rest of the race.

After walking for a while, I looked at my watch.  My heart rate had settled down to 100.  After another lap, I looked again, and it was 95.

With two laps to go, I needed to make a bathroom stop.  While I was already stopping at the aid station, I also went to my car to get my phone, so I could take a few pictures of the course.  Karen went ahead, so I needed to run until I caught up to her.

This picture shows the park we were running through at the beginning of each lap.

These pictures show our views of the Snake River from the trail.

Without doing any more running, I was able to finish the race in 5:53:42.  That’s slower than the previous two races, but my only goal was to keep my time under six hours.

Today, I got my first of two Washington medals.  Each one will have a different design.

The runner hitting a major milestone today was Keenan Haga.  Keenan got an extra medal today for completing a Macon.  That requires some explanation if you don’t know who Larry Macon is.

Larry Macon was the first runner to ever run 100 or more marathons in a calendar year.  He did that several times.  The first year he did that, he ran 105 marathons.  Mainly Marathons has a special medal for anyone who runs 105 marathons in a year.  Today, Keenan reached that milestone.

I finished my race just in time to get a picture of Keenan with his Macon medal.  The medal is a caricature of Larry, who used to be a regular at these races.

When I downloaded the data from my watch, I looked at the graph of my heart rate.  It got as high as 153.  As you can see from this graph, there were a couple laps where it was much higher than it had been in the first half of the race.  I can’t explain that, but I’ll probably keep an eye on that tomorrow.

Yesterday, I discovered a good restaurant just down the road from my hotel.  There are so many things on their menu that I want to try that I’m going back tonight.  I may eat dinner there every night that I’m in town.

Race statistics:

Distance:  26.2 miles

Time:  5:53:42

Average Pace:  13:29 per mile

First Half:  2:34:19

Second Half:  3:19:23

Marathons/Ultras in 2026:  33

Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:  605

Race Report: Northwest Series, Day 2

Today was the second day of the Mainly Marathons Northwest Series.  Today’s race was in Hermiston, OR.  It was the same course as yesterday’s race.

Today I arrived earlier, so I could take the early start at 5:30 AM.  I wanted to finish earlier, since I needed time to drive back to Kennewick and get cleaned up before checking out and getting on the road.  Today was the only day that I’ll have to do that.  The next four races are all close to each other, so I’ll be able to stay in the same hotel for the rest of the series.

I only slept for about half the night.  Then I woke up and couldn’t get back to sleep.  I’m usually able to shake that off, but today I couldn’t.  I was dragging.

During pre-race announcements, they always recognize runners who are reaching a big milestone.  Today was Clyde Shank’s 800th marathon, but this was no ordinary celebration.

Clyde does cryochamber treatments to help him recover from races.  He recently posted a picture on Facebook that showed him standing next to the cryochamber in his underwear.  Today, to tease him about that, dozens of runners doing the early start wore tidy whities over their running clothes.

Clyde was a good sport about it.  He also put on a pair of underwear over his running clothes.  It was a real spectacle throughout the races seeing all these runners wearing underwear over their running gear.  I wonder what other people using the trail thought of it.

I learned yesterday how dark it is before 6:30.  There’s no light sources along the course, so a flashlight or headlamp was essential for the first hour.  I started the race with a small flashlight.

I wanted to go a little faster today, so I could get back to my hotel sooner.  At a minimum, I wanted to keep my time under 5:30.  Five hours would be better, but I had to see how it went.

Because I was starting earlier, it was chilly for an extra hour before it started to warm up.  I wore a warmer T-shirt than the one I wore yesterday.  Like yesterday, I started the race with gloves and a Tyvek jacket.

Most people who took the early start were walking, but there were several other people who started out running.  I just followed them.

A few of those runners took walking breaks the first time they reached a hill.  My legs were cold, so I had to keep running to stay warm.

I started at about the same pace as yesterday, but by the time I reached the turnaround, I was already falling behind the lead group of runners.  From that point on, I was always running by myself.

As I was finishing my first lap, I saw a faint orange glow on the horizon.  The course was still dark though.

By my second lap, I was already slowing down.  Already, I was almost a minute per mile slower.  I kept up that slower pace for the first half of the race.

After my second lap, there was enough light that I no longer needed my flashlight.  I stopped at the aid station to put it in my drop bag.

Now I could clearly see where the hills were.  I was tempted to walk the hills, but my legs were still too cold to take walking breaks.  I had to keep running until it warmed up.

The temperature was still dropping until the sun rose.  An hour into the race it was a degree or two colder than when we started.

As I reached the turnaround in my third lap, I saw a blanket of fog over a field that was just past the turnaround.  I’m sure that fog was there earlier, but it was too dark for me to see it.

After three laps, I was roughly on pace for a five-hour finish, but I knew that wasn’t a realistic goal.  I had already slowed down since my first lap, and I would eventually need to start taking walking breaks.

By the end of my fourth lap, I was feeling sweat under my jacket.  My legs were still cold, but I needed to unzip my jacket.

They always have some type of hot food at the aid station.  Today, it was breakfast poutine.  As I started my fifth lap, I grabbed a cup of it at the aid station and walked while I ate it.  It was nice to eat something warm, but the walking break gave my legs a chance to get colder.

After another lap, I was finally warm enough that I could take off my jacket.  I still needed my gloves for two more laps.

As I started my sixth lap, I was no longer worried about my legs getting cold if I walked.  I was tempted to start walking the hills, but I forced myself to keep running them for one more lap.

After six laps, I was half done.  My halfway split was 12 minutes slower than yesterday, even though I didn’t do any walking yet.  I was just slow today.

For the first half of the race, I was drinking Coke.  I was hoping the caffeine would give me an energy boost, but it didn’t seem to help at all.  Before starting lap seven, I filled my bottle with Gatorade and made a bathroom stop.

Starting with lap seven, I took walking breaks on the hills.  On the way out, there were two short hills that I consistently walked.  After that, it was mostly downhill all the way to the turnaround.

Coming back from the turnaround there were two long uphill sections.  The first one was a gently enough grade that I could force myself to run it.  The next one was more tiring.  For the rest of the race, I always had to walk that section.

There were two more short uphill sections after that.  In lap seven, I was able to run them.  Starting with lap eight, I had to walk the last one.

With four laps to go, I had to drag myself through each lap, but I was disciplined about where I walked.  I stuck to the same pattern for the rest of the race.

It wasn’t until my 11th lap that I realized I was getting hot and sweaty.  It warms up quickly after the sun comes up, but starting earlier meant I got farther into the race before I felt the heat.

As I started my last lap, I allowed myself to take an extra walking break, so I could eat a turkey sandwich.  As soon as I put the last bite in my mouth, I forced myself to resume running.

I always found the turnaround point to be the toughest part of the course.  After the turn, I was beginning the uphill direction.  I wanted to immediately start walking, but I had to force myself to run.  I was relieved when I made that turn for the last time.

I finished the race in 5:20:20.  The first half was slower than yesterday, but the second half was much faster.  I needed to do that, so I could get on the road as soon as possible.

I got another piece to add to my chain of medals.  This was another Oregon medal, but it was a different style from yesterday’s medal.

I managed to leave by 11:00.  I got back to my hotel in Kennewick around 11:30.  I didn’t need to check out until 2:00, so I had more than enough time to have a snack, take a bath, do some stretching and finish packing.  I didn’t take any longer than I needed.  I had a long drive ahead of me, and I wanted to get on the road as soon as I could.

For the rest of this series, I’ll be staying at a hotel in Lewiston, ID.  From Kennewick, it took about two hours and 45 minutes to drive to my hotel in Lewiston.  The drive was mostly on two-lane local roads.  At one point, I went an hour and a half without seeing any towns.  When I finally drove through a small town with a gas station, I stopped to fill up.

Tomorrow’s race is in Clarkston, WA, which is just across the river from Lewiston.  I can take the 6:30 start, so I won’t need to get up as early.  Today was the only day that I needed to change hotels after the race, so I won’t need any more early starts.

The first two races of this series were much more tiring than I expected them to be.  That doesn’t bode well for the rest of the series.  My only time goal is to keep the rest of my finish times under six hours, but that may prove to be difficult.  I desperately need to get more sleep tonight.

Race statistics:

Distance:  26.2 miles

Time:  5:20:20

Average Pace:  12:13 per mile

First Half:  2:33:02

Second Half:  2:47:18

Marathons/Ultras in 2026:  32

Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:  604

Race Report: Northwest Series, Day 1

On September 19, I ran the first race of the Mainly Marathons Northwest Series.  This series consists of marathons on six consecutive days.  The first two marathons are in Hermiston, OR.  The next two are in Clarkston, WA, and the last two are in Lewiston, ID.

The most convenient airport was Spokane, WA.  I flew to Spokane yesterday and drove to Kennewick, WA.  My hotel in Kennewick is 28 miles from the race venue in Hermiston.  I could’ve stayed at a hotel in Hermiston, but I chose to stay in Kennewick so I could stay at a hotel where I could guarantee a late checkout.  That’ll be important tomorrow.  After tomorrow’s race, I’ll want to go back to the hotel to shower and change clothes before getting on the road to drive to my next hotel.

After checking in at my hotel, I drove to Hermiston to pick up my race packet.  I could’ve waiting until this morning, but going there yesterday gave me an opportunity to find the race venue when it wasn’t dark.  Getting my race packet yesterday also saved me some time this morning.

For people doing the whole series, race numbers are assigned according to how many marathons you’ve run.  I’ve run a lot of marathons, but there were six people here who have run more.  I’ll wear the same race bib for the whole series.

The race started at 6:30 AM, with an optional early start at 5:30.  I had to allow 30 minutes for the drive from Kennewick, and I didn’t need to be in a rush to get back after the race.  For those reasons, I chose to take the 6:30 start.

The course was a 1.1-mile segment of the Oxbow Trail.  There were multiple distance options.  The marathon was 12 laps.

The temperature at the start was in the low 50s.  The sun was just rising, so it felt chilly.  I started the race with gloves and a Tyvek jacket.

Because this was the first race of a six-day series, I was planning to pace myself cautiously.  My only goal was to keep my time under six hours.  I planned to take walking breaks, but I had to wait until it warmed up.  Early in the race, I needed to run to stay warm.

As I started running, I noticed another runner who was starting at about the same pace.  I started running with her, and we started talking.  Her name was Julie, and she was doing the half marathon.  Her goal was two and a half hours.  That seemed like a reasonable pace for the first half of my race, so I ran with Julie for the first six laps.

The beginning of the trail was next to a barren field.  I was afraid this would be a boring course, but I was pleasantly surprised.  After the second turn, we entered an area with plush vegetation on either side of the trail.  There were a lot of gentle turns, so we weren’t just running in a straight line.  I enjoyed the scenery much more than I thought I would.

Julie was trying out a run/walk strategy.  I walked when she walked.  At first, my legs got a little cold during the walking breaks.  Fortunately, they were short.

Seven is the lowest bib number I’ve ever had for one of these series.  Early in the race, I saw why.  Several of the regulars weren’t here.  The race was still well-attended, though.  I saw several new faces.

By the end of our second lap, I had warmed up enough to unzip my jacket.  During the third lap, I took it off and tied it around my waist.  By the end of that lap, I needed to take my gloves off.

Julie wanted to keep her average pace under 11 minutes per mile.  Whenever I checked, our pace was in the 10:40s.

As we got into Julie’s last two laps, we had a couple of faster miles.  One was as fast as 10:06.  I sometimes found the pace a little tiring, but I was planning to slow down as soon as Julie was done with her race.

At the halfway point, I was on pace for a time in the low 4:40s.  That’s faster than I would’ve run on my own, but carrying on a conversation the whole time made those first six laps feel easy.

Before starting my seventh lap, I made a bathroom stop.  Then I continued on my own.  Without Julie setting the pace, I eased into a more casual pace.  I also did more walking.  I started walking the uphill sections.  On average, I was going at least a minute per mile slower now.

During my eighth lap, I caught up to my friend Fran.  She was walking, but at a brisk pace.  I started walking with Fran, so we could talk.

Fran’s walking pace was fast enough that I felt like I had to work to keep up with her.  After a lap at Fran’s pace, I realized I could walk with her for the rest of the race and still finish in less than six hours.  I wanted to keep some running in the mix, so I coaxed Fran into running briefly on the downhill sections.

It was a sunny day, and there wasn’t any shade on the course.  As the temperature climbed into the 70s, it felt much hotter.  I was getting hot, even though we were mostly walking.

In the first half of the race, I was drinking Coke and Gatorade, but I wasn’t eating anything.  In the second half, I occasionally grabbed a small bite to eat at the aid station.

I found the second half of the race to be tiring, even though it was much slower than the first half.  Maybe brisk walking was more tiring than an easy running pace.  Maybe the heat wore me down.  Maybe I ran the first half too fast and it caught up to me.  I’m not really sure.

Late in the race, I heard some other runners say that they saw bobcats on either side of the trail.  We were right at the edge of town, where it borders on wilderness.

I finished the race in 5:42:14.  My second half was roughly an hour slower than the first half.  That was mostly by design, since I knew the second half would be much warmer.

As with most Mainly Marathons series, the finisher medals are designed to form a chain.  The top piece goes to anyone doing at least one race of the series.  The next piece was the medal for today’s race, which depicted things Oregon is known for.

I didn’t eat much during the race, so before leaving, I took the time to eat part of a sandwich and drink some chocolate milk.  I had a snack after getting back to the hotel, but I waited until later in the day before eating a real meal.

One down, five to go.

Race statistics:

Distance:  26.2 miles

Time:  5:42:14

Average Pace:  13:03 per mile

First Half:  2:21:05

Second Half:  3:21:09

Marathons/Ultras in 2026:  31

Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:  603