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

Race Report: A Race For The Ages - 2026

Over Labor Day weekend, I ran a race in Manchester, TN called A Race for the Ages.  This is a fixed-time race, but there’s a twist.  Older runners get more time.  Everyone has at least 40 hours, but runners who are older than 40 get one hour for every year of their age.

The race director is Gary Cantrell (a.k.a. Lazarus Lake).  “Laz” is best known as the race director of the Barkley Marathons and Big’s Backyard Ultra.  He comes up with some innovative race concepts.  He also designs races that give you a chance to find your limits.

The race finishes at noon on Labor Day.  Your start time depends on your age, with older runners starting earlier.  I first heard of this race several years ago.  When I looked into the details, I saw that my start time would be in the middle of the night.  I decided to wait until I was old enough that I could start in daylight.  This year, for the first time, I could start before sunset.

John Greene travelled to Tennessee with me to crew for me.  John and I have crewed for each other at FANS, and John has also crewed for me at other ultras.  My best performances in ultras gave been at races where John was with me.

Thursday, September 3

John and I flew to Nashville Thursday afternoon.  From there, we drove to Manchester.  The drive time was about an hour.  We arrived in Manchester around 5:00 PM.

We had reservations at Hampton Inn.  When we got there, there were several people already there who were waiting to check in.  Some had already been waiting for more than an hour.  The wifi went out earlier in the afternoon, and the hotel couldn’t process any credit cards without a wifi connection.  The guy at the front desk said he couldn’t check anyone in without running their credit card.  That was corporate policy.

John and I waited there until 8:00 before finally going to dinner.  When we got back from dinner, the wifi was still out.  We cancelled our reservations there and drove to another hotel that had been recommended by a friend who was also doing the race.

This hotel also had no internet.  It was a city-wide outage, and every hotel in Manchester was affected, since they all use the same internet provider.  The owner of this hotel, however, was willing to check us into our rooms and wait until the next day to process our credit cards.

John and I were going to have different sleep schedules, so we each had our own room.  By the time we got into our rooms, it was after 9:30.  The temperature in my room was 80 degrees.  I can’t sleep in a warm room.  I turned down the AC and went to the lobby to hang out with other runners until the room cooled down.

I finally went to bed around 10:30.  The room was a little cooler, but it was still too warm for me to get to sleep.  I tried to sleep for several hours, but didn’t fall asleep until about 4 AM.  I got about an hour of light sleep.  I don’t think I got any deep sleep.

Friday, September

By Friday morning, the hotel had their wifi working.   John and I finished the check-in process and had breakfast at the hotel.

We stopped by Hampton Inn to confirm that our reservations there were cancelled and there wouldn’t be any charges.  Then we stopped by the race venue to see how things were set up.  While we were there, I spotted a couple runners I know.  Next, we stopped at Food Lion to get beverages for the race.

We had lunch at a local diner.  Then I went back to the hotel to try to take a nap.  My hotel room was now at a comfortable temperature, but I wasn’t able to fall asleep.  After resting in bed for a few hours, I got up and started getting organized for the race.

We had an early dinner, so I wouldn’t be starting the race on a full stomach.  About an hour before I was due to start, we went to the race venue, so I could check in.  That gave us an opportunity to watch the 66-year-old runners start.  The announcer listed all of their names and their previous mileage at this race.  The most accomplished runner in the group was Ann Trason.

After they started, I was able to pick up my race packet.  It included a sweatshirt, a warm hat, an umbrella, and a participation award.

After that, we had an hour to wait before I could start.  During that hour, I drank an entire bottle of sweet tea.

The course was a paved one-mile loop through Fred Deadman Park.  The whole course was paved.  It was relatively flat, but there were several turns.

I’m 65 years old, so I had 65 hours to run or walk as many laps as I could.  I could take breaks at any time, but the clock was always running.

Well over half of the other runners were older than me, so they were already on the course when I started.  The oldest runner had already been on the course for 24 hours.  The youngest runners wouldn’t start until 8 PM on Saturday.

I’ve never done anything this long before, so I didn’t know what I could realistically expect to do.  The farthest I had ever run before was 124.81 miles.  That was in a 24-hour race.  I’ve attempted three 48-hour races, but none of them went well.  I always got to 100 miles, but I never exceeded my best 24-hour total.

The weather was about as hot as you can imagine.  Afternoon highs were in the upper 90s, with enough humidity to feel 10 degrees hotter.  In the early morning hours, it dropped into the low 70s.

Friday was the hottest day, but my start time wasn’t until 7 PM.  That was late enough in the day that the heat was beginning to wane.  Also, the sun was about to set.  The first night was my best chance to get some miles in before the heat forced me to mostly walk.

My first goal for this race was 125 miles.  Beyond that, I had to see how the race progressed.  I knew the heat would be a challenge.  Getting so little sleep the night before also didn’t help.

The first lap was the only one that I ran without any walking breaks.  I went at a pace that should have been leisurely, but it quickly started to feel tiring.  I noticed the humidity while I was waiting for my turn to start, but I felt it even more now.  It made that first lap feel much longer than a mile.

One part of the loop had speed bumps.  They weren’t a big deal now, but I wondered if those would seem larger as the race progressed.

After that, every lap included some walking.  Early in the race, I was doing much more running than walking, but I walked enough to ensure my overall pace wouldn’t be tiring.  I established a rule that every lap had to include some walking.

I was able to complete three laps before it got dark.  After that, I relied on light from the various lights in the park.  That included stadium lights from the baseball diamonds.  There was no need for a flashlight or headlamp.

I quickly got into a nice rhythm.  I felt much better now than I did in my first lap.

I had a cooler with several bottles of Gatorade, packed in ice.  There was an aid station with large dispensers of water, Sword, sweet tea, and lemonade.  I started out drinking Gatorade, but as I finished the bottles I brought, John was refilling them with Sword or sweet tea.  I needed the caffeine from the tea to stay alert during the night.

After a few hours, John went back to the hotel to get some sleep.  I didn’t need as much support the first night, and it was important for John to get sleep so he would be coherent when I was too tired to think straight.

By midnight, I had logged 23 miles.  Then I stopped to eat my first meal.

The aid stations at most ultras have a variety of snack foods.  This race is different.  Every six hours, we had a meal, catered by Cracker Barrel.  At 6 AM, noon, and 6 PM, we got full meals.  At midnight, we had a snack that included fruit and a choice of soup.  The choices of soup were chicken noodle or potato.  I opted for the potato soup.

Saturday, September 5

Despite not getting much sleep before the race, I had no trouble getting through the first night.  I was sometimes drinking sweet tea instead of Gatorade or Sword, and the caffeine helped me stay awake and alert.

At 6 AM, I had my first Cracker Barrel breakfast.  It includes bacon, a hash brown casserole, a biscuit with gravy on the side, and baked apples.

I sat down in a chair that I had brought from home, and I ate everything except the gravy.  I ate as quickly as I could, washing it down with Gatorade.  I’ve never eaten a full meal during a race before, but I wanted to experience this race exactly the way Laz organized it.  I wasn’t eating any solid food between meals, so I needed to get all the food I could whenever it was available.  It took me about 10 minutes to finish eating.  That was pretty consistent with all of the meals.

After eating, it was tough to force myself to run.  As I ran my next lap, I saw the sun rising.  I knew the humidity was also rising.  That was confirmed when I saw a layer of fog over all the baseball diamonds.

I got back into the same rhythm and ran three more laps by 7:00.  In the first 12 hours of the race, I ran 48 miles.  I was averaging four laps per hour.

Now that the sun was up, I needed to stop to apply sunblock.  I also reapplied Aquaphor in areas where I might chafe.

I needed to do more walking now.  I was walking the longest uphill section, but there were other areas that were also slightly uphill.  I started walking those sections as well.  I was now doing twice as much walking as before, but I was still doing more running than walking.

When John got back, he added more ice to our cooler, so I could start putting ice in my hat.  I did that a couple times, but there were also a couple laps where I forgot to do that.  I really noticed the difference in those laps.

I was originally planning to run through the first night and the subsequent day before taking a sleep break.  John persuaded me to try sleeping during the day instead.  That way, I could avoid running during the hottest hours of the day and get back in time to run through the night, when it’s not as hot.

At first, it was cloudy, so the temperature wasn’t rising as fast as it did Friday morning.  Around 9:00, the sun came out.  Suddenly it felt much hotter.

I wanted to get to 60 miles before taking a break, but I was worried.  I couldn’t tell if I was properly hydrated.  I also couldn’t tell if I was getting the right amount of electrolytes.  Rather than risk blowing up in the heat, I went back to the hotel after only 58 miles.  It was a little after 10:00 when John dropped me off.

When we got back to the hotel, I didn’t take the time to shower.  I wiped down briefly with a wash cloth, but I was still somewhat sweaty.  That made it difficult to climb into bed.  My skin was sticking to the sheets.

At first, I didn’t know if I would be able to fall asleep.  I was in an awkward position, but it was hard to move.  I was tangled up in the sheets.

The next thing I knew, I was walking up.  I looked at the clock.  I slept for less than three hours, but it was my first deep sleep since arriving in Manchester.

I tried to walk to the bathroom, but my left Achilles tendon was so tight that I was walking with a limp.  I was up now, but getting myself ready to run again would be a long process.  I started with a warm bath.  Then I was able to do some stretches.  Finally, I got dressed in a clean set of running clothes and a dry pair of shoes.

Besides having timing chips on our race bibs, we also had chips on our shoes.  When I left the course, I had to turn in my shoe chip.  The first order of business when we got back was to get my shoe chip and attach it to my new shoes.

We got back to the course around 3:00.  I had missed the noon meal, so I asked if they still had any.  They did, and they were still hot.  It’s easy to keep meals hot when it’s 94 degrees with sunny skies.

The noon meal consisted of a chicken breast, corn, fried okra, cornbread, and a biscuit.  I ate the chicken, okra, and cornbread.  I gave the biscuit and corn to John.

Earlier, I established the rule that every lap had to include some walking.  Now, I had a second rule.  Every lap also had to include some running.  That was hardest in the first lap after returning.  There was a downhill section at the beginning of each lap.  If nothing else, I forced myself to run that.

On my first lap, I noticed two things.  First, the port-o-potties on the course felt like ovens.  Second, there was heat rising from the pavement, which had been heating up under the afternoon sun.

To cope with the heat, I was putting ice cubes in my hat before every lap, and I was going at a slower pace than I did earlier.

My only goal for my afternoon laps was to finish them in 20 minutes or less.  After a couple of laps, I found that I was walking so briskly that I was finishing laps in 16 or 17 minutes.  I was power walking.  I kept up that pace for several hours.

By the time they served the 6 PM meal, I had already completed 11 additional laps.  Then I sat down to eat again.

The evening meal consisted of a huge piece of fried chicken, cheesy hashbrowns, cornbread, a biscuit, and coleslaw.  I couldn’t eat it all.  I managed to eat a little more than half of it, then I resumed the same mix of running and power walking.

It was John’s birthday, so he had gone to have a nice dinner.  He got back just before 7:00.

At 7 PM, it had been 24 hours since my race started.  So far, I had finished 71 miles.

After a couple more hours, I decided to stop power walking and just walk at a more casual pace.  I haven’t trained to do this much power walking, and I was worried I would wear myself out.  Even with less effort, I was still finishing my laps in about 18 minutes.

John went back to the hotel around 10:30, so he could get some sleep.  Shortly after that, I started to hear thunder.

There wasn’t any sign of rain at the park, but I sometimes saw flashes in the distance.  I was seeing distant lighting in two different directions.  We seemed to be in between two storm cells.

By midnight, I had logged 88 total miles.  Then I had my midnight snack.  It was the same snack we had the previous night.  I had the potato soup again.

Sunday, September 6

I was just about to start running again when another runner said she was going to do one more lap before the storm hit.  I asked her what she was seeing on her weather app.  She said the storm would arrive at 12:30 and last about an hour.

I should have checked my own app.  Instead, I followed her lead and tried to squeeze in one more lap.

I picked up the pace on that lap, but I was still mostly walking.  When I felt drops, I started running.  I somehow found the energy to run the rest of that lap.  I still had a quarter mile to go when it turned into a downpour.

When I finished that lap, I quickly loaded the chair and cooler into the car.  By the time I got into the car myself, my clothes and shoes were soaked.

I drove back to the hotel to wait out the storm.  While I was there, I decided to try to take a nap.

Getting to sleep wasn’t easy.  For starters, it had only been about 11 hours since I woke up from my afternoon nap, so I wasn’t getting sleepy yet.  Secondly, I suddenly noticed painful spots on my feet.  I had been tuning them out before, but now the discomfort was impossible to ignore.  Finally, I felt wired from all the caffeine I had been consuming.

I wasn’t expecting to go back to the hotel for at least 10 more hours.  All evening, I had been drinking either sweet tea or a blend of sweet tea and lemonade.  It wasn’t until now that I realized I was drinking way too much caffeine.

I eventually nodded off, but not for very long.  When I woke up, it was 3:00.  Just like in the afternoon, my Achilles tendon was so tight that I could barely walk.  I had to take a bath and gradually work on stretching everything before I could go back to the course.  I finally got back around 4:40.

When I finished my next lap, I drank the last few ounces of sweet tea from a bottle that was already open.  After that, I didn’t have any caffeine for the rest of the morning.

I ran a few more laps before breakfast.  Breakfast was pancakes with maple syrup, scrambled eggs, and sausage patties.  It was so filling, that I felt full for the rest of the morning.

John got there around 7:30.  By then, I just needed two more laps to get to 100 miles.  I finished my 100th lap at 8:20 AM.  At this point, I was assured of a 100-mile buckle, but that was only an intermediate goal.

I was completing about three laps per hour.  In the next two hours, I ran six more laps.  By then it was getting hot, so John and I went back to the hotel.

I managed to take a nap, but I only slept for about an hour and a half.  When I woke up, it was about 12:30 PM.  Then I once again began the long process of bathing, stretching, and working on muscles with the massage stick.

Before going back to the course, I checked the live results.  Despite taking four sleep breaks, I was in fifth place overall.

We got back to the park around 2:00 PM.  The good news is that I still had 22 hours to add to my total.  The bad news is that I had to endure the heat for five hours before the sun went down.

I had missed the noon meal, but they still had biscuits and cornbread.  I ate a biscuit right away and saved the cornbread for later.

As I resumed running, I quickly got into a rhythm of running the downhill segment at the beginning of each lap and walking everywhere else.  To cope with the heat, I put ice in my hat before each lap.

Most of the other runners were coping with the heat by carrying umbrella to shield themselves from the sun.  That’s why we all got umbrellas in our race packets.

Despite the afternoon heat, I had the energy to power walk.  For the next three hours, I was averaging about 17 minutes per lap.  I would’ve been happy with 20-minute laps.

By 4:00, I had moved into fourth place.  At 5:00, John left temporarily to get some dinner.

The heat was waning, but I no longer had the energy to walk at a brisk pace.  I had to slow down.

After a few slower laps, I realized that I hadn’t put any ice in my hat since John left.  That’s why I had less energy, even though it wasn’t as hot now.  I was getting hotter without the ice in my hat.

At 6:00, I had my last dinner of the race.  It was another huge meal.  It included chicken & dumplings, macaroni & cheese, steamed carrots, a biscuit, and cornbread.  I ate most of it, but I had to save the biscuit & cornbread for later.

When John got back, I resumed putting ice in my hat.  I was able to pick up the pace again.

In the first 48 hours of my race, I ran 123 miles.  Two laps later, I reached 125 miles.  This was now the farthest I had ever run.  With each additional lap, I would add to that.

My goal at the beginning of the race was 125 miles, but I had known for some time that this was just another intermediate milestone.  I had more than enough time to run 150 miles, and I wouldn’t settle for anything less.

After it got dark, I traded my hat for a headband.  I continued at the same pace until 11:00.

After 11:00, I started to do more running, so I could squeeze in another lap before the midnight snack.  In retrospect, that was a mistake.

I sat for several minutes while I ate my midnight snack and did a few things on my phone.  Sitting after running a few faster laps was a bad combination.

Monday, September 7

When I resumed running after a meal, I typically felt stiff.  After other meals, I quickly loosened up.  This time I didn’t.  I also had extreme soreness in my quads and glutes, which wouldn’t go away.  Now, I was not only running at a slower pace, but each lap was agonizing.

Before midnight, I had run 139 miles.  After grinding out three painful laps, I was at 142.  The next big milestone was 150.

John and I discussed my options.  One option was to endure eight more painful laps and then stop at 150 miles.  Eight more laps at my current slow pace would take about three hours.  I didn’t think I could endure the pain that long.  I also didn’t like the idea of stopping at 150.  I really wanted to keep going until the race was over and run as many miles as I could.

I had some Tylenol and ibuprofen back at my hotel room.  My second option was to send John back to get them.

A third option was to take a break and go back to the room, to see if I could alleviate my soreness by taking a bath, stretching, and working on my legs with a massage stick.  That had worked well after sleep breaks.

I ran one more lap while considering my options.  I chose the last one, but with a small modification.  After taking something for the soreness, I climbed into bed for an hour.  That gave me a chance to rest and cool down before starting my recovery regimen.

As soon as I climbed into bed, I noticed soreness in my feet that I had tuned out while I was running.  I also noticed blisters on my left foot.  One was a large blister around my heel.

Before getting dressed I tried to drain my blisters.  That was a mistake.  Heel blisters are notoriously difficult to drain.  All I managed to do was inflame it.  Now blister pain was also going to be a bigger problem.

We got back to the race venue at 4 AM.  When we got back, I smeared from Aquaphor over the blisters to reduce friction.

We had been gone for about two and a half hours.  That was time well spent.  When I resumed running, I felt good as new.  I had no soreness or stiffness as I ran the downhill section of the course.  When it was time to switch to walking, I suddenly found myself race-walking.  Where did that come from?  I had to force myself to slow down, so I wouldn’t wear myself out.

In the next two hours, I made short work of the seven additional laps I needed to get to 150 miles.  Then I stopped to eat breakfast.

The breakfast included bacon, two biscuits, an egg casserole, and baked apples.  John helped me by eating one of the biscuits and a strip of bacon.

The runner who had previously been in third place stopped to take a break after running 150 miles.  When I ran my 151st lap, I moved temporarily into third place.

Since different runners take breaks at different times, the standings change frequently.  
Earlier, I had been in second place, but only because other runners took breaks.

I kept up a good pace for two more laps.  Then it got difficult.  With more than four hours to go, it was getting warmer, and I was running out of energy.

150 miles had been a significant milestone, but I wanted to keep going.  I had time to get into the 160s if I could keep moving until the end of the race.

The runner who had been in third place previously was back on the course now.  He could run faster than me, so it seemed doubtful that I could hang onto third place.

I was nearing the end of my 157th lap when I suddenly felt a painful blister under one of my toes.  The larger blister on my heel was tolerable, but this one was much more painful.

I finished that lap, but I didn’t think I could continue.  John knew there were trophies to the top three men and women, so he was encouraging me to keep running.

I took off my shoe and sock to see if I could drain the blister.  That’s when I saw a much larger blister on the side of my heel, right where I had tried to drain my heel blister.

I drained both blisters as much as I could.  Then I covered the larger blister with Aquaphor and put on my sock and shoe.

At John’s urging, I tried to run another lap.  I made it about 50 feet before stopping.  It was much too slow and much too painful.  My lead over fourth place was only about a lap and a half at this point.  We still had still three hours to go.  There was no way I could continue running at a pace that would keep me in third place.

I walked away from the course with three hours left on the clock.  I ran a total of 157 miles.  That’s more than 22 miles farther than my previous best.

Everyone who ran at least 100 miles got a belt buckle.  I didn’t take home a trophy, but I did take home a belt buckle.

Race statistics:

Distance:  157 miles

Time:  65 hours

Average Pace:  24:50 per mile

Marathons/Ultras in 2026:  30

Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:  602

Lifetime 100s:  17