Race Report: Ljubljana Marathon

On October 18th, I ran the Ljubljana Marathon.  Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia, which became an independent country in 1991 after the Ten-Day War of independence from Yugoslavia.

Thursday, October 15

I arrived in Amsterdam Thursday morning on an overnight flight.  I had a long layover before my second flight, so I didn’t get to Ljubljana until the afternoon.  As the plane was approaching the city, I was struck by the contrast between the city and the surrounding area.  The city is located in a wide flat valley, but it’s surrounded by mountains.

My hotel was near the city center.  I met someone who was on the same flights and was staying at the same hotel.  He had a rental car, and he gave me a ride to the hotel.

After checking in, I went for a run through Tivoli Park, which is a large city park just west of the city center.  I had to run half a mile on crowded sidewalks to get to the park.  After that, I was running on gravel trails.

As soon as I entered the park, I discovered that the city streets may be mostly flat, but the park isn’t.  Some of the hills in the park were so steep that I had to take walking breaks.  I probably could have taken a less hilly route, but I chose a route that went by certain landmarks.  The main ones were the Memorial for the 1991 War for Slovenia, the Church of Virgin Mary's Visitation, and a nearby chapel in the woods.

From up on the hill, I occasionally had views of the city.

I was intending to go back the way I came, but I made a wrong turn somewhere.  My route back ended up being less direct.  My run was both longer and hillier than I planned, but it was a good workout.

I had dinner at a nearby pizzeria.  I’ve now had pizza in 62 countries.

I started coming down with a cold earlier in the week.  My symptoms were mild, but I didn’t get much sleep Monday or Tuesday.  I didn’t sleep at all on my overnight flight.  By the time I went to bed on Thursday, I was desperate to get some sleep.  I had no trouble getting to sleep, but I woke up a few hours later, and it took a long time to get back to sleep.

Friday, October 16

I didn’t have to set an early alarm.  The only reason I set an alarm at all was to make sure I didn’t sleep through too much of the morning.  I was awake at 6:00 and dragged myself out of bed when my alarm went off at 7:00.

I had a leisurely breakfast at the hotel.  Then I went to the expo, which was held at the Ljubljana Exhibition and Convention Center.  That was just a short walk from my hotel.

This was a large event.  They had a 5K and 10K on Saturday and a marathon and half marathon on Sunday.  Altogether, there were more than 21,000 runners from 84 different countries.  The expo was comparable in size to major marathons.  Besides my race bib and T-shirt, my race packet included a backpack.

In the early afternoon, I took a free walking tour, where the tour guides work for tips.  Our meeting point was Congress Square, which is the same place where the marathon finished.  From there, you can see Ljubljana Castle.

We spent two hours walking through the old city center.  Here are a few of the sights I saw along the way.

After my walking tour, I went for another run through Tivoli Park.  This time, I stayed close to the perimeter of the park, so I could avoid the steep hills.

During my walking tour, the guide suggested some local foods to try, and he also recommend a restaurant near the market.  I went there for dinner.  He also recommended trying pumpkin soup, so I started with that.  For my entrée, I ordered the beef stew with bread dumplings.  The server was excited that I ordered that.  When he brought it, he said that was an excellent decision.

Saturday, October 17

The hotel restaurant was on the top floor.  While I ate breakfast, I could see that it was another cloudy morning.  I spent the morning at the hotel.

After the fog had (mostly) lifted, I hiked up the hill to Ljubljana Castle.  The highlight of the castle is the viewing tower.  From there, you can see the whole city.  This is the view looking toward Tivoli Park.  You can also see the finish line next to Congress Square.  Look for the red and blue carpets.

While I was there, I saw runners finishing one of the Saturday races.  I’m not sure if it was the 5K or the 10K.

On my way back from the castle, I walked through the marketplace, which is busiest on Saturdays.

Last April, I was introduced to a runner who is doing something extraordinary.  Mike is a pilot, and he’s spending 26 weeks flying all over Europe and North Africa in his own plane.  Every weekend, he’s running a marathon in a different country.  This weekend, he ran the Ljubljana Marathon.

Mike arrived in Ljubljana on Saturday.  After he picked up his race packet, we got together for drinks at a local beer bar.  Then we had dinner together.

I didn’t have any cold symptoms when I went to bed, so I thought I was getting over my cold.  I had never been too congested to be able to breathe through my nose.  A few hours after going to bed, I woke up, and my mouth was dry.  My nose was stuffed up, so I was breathing through my mouth.  I got back to sleep, but I knew I wasn’t over the cold yet.

Sunday, October 18

Sunday was race day.  The race didn’t start until 9:00, so I had the luxury of eating breakfast before the race.

The weather was similar to my last two races.  It was about 45 degrees at the start, and I expected it to get up to about 60 by the time I finished.  For the third straight day, it was foggy.

The race started along a street that goes right by my hotel.  I only had to walk a few blocks to get to the starting line, but I had to walk much farther to get to where I needed to line up.

They had five start zones (corrals).  I was assigned to zone D, which was for runners expecting a time between 3:45 and 4:00.  Mike was also in zone D, and we made plans to meet at the back of zone D.

When the race started, it took a while for everyone in front of us to start moving.  Then we gradually started moving forward.  After walking for several minutes, we finally reached the back of start zone C.  We still couldn’t see the starting line.  In all, it took 16 minutes to get there.

We expected to the first mile to be slow, because of congestion.  In fact, the runners ahead of started running before they reached the starting line, and they spread out quickly.

Mike has been consistently running times in the 3:50s.  With my cold, I didn’t think I could run that fast.

We decided to run together at first, but at some point, I would need to slow down, and Mike would go on ahead.  His goal was to finish is less than four hours.  To do that, he needed an average pace of 5:40 per kilometer, which is about 9:09 per mile.

We ran the first mile in 9:38.  I didn’t feel like I could go much faster than that without wearing myself out.  I thought my limit was probably about 9:30 per mile.

Mike suggested that if we ran the first half in 2:05, he could still speed up enough in the second half to finish in four hours.  That was out tentative plan.

Because of the fog, the streets were wet at first.  It wasn’t enough for the streets to feel slippery, but it was a reminder that the humidity was high.  We only ran a few miles before I was able to take my gloves off.

After the first mile, we ran faster.  Whenever my watch gave me a split, the pace was faster than 9:20.  At one point, we got as fast as 9:11.  I sensed that this pace would probably break me eventually, but I was hoping to run with Mike for the first half of the race.

The first 12 kilometers were through neighborhoods north and west of where we started.  There were a lot of turns.  Mike is good at running the tangents, and he always noticed when there was a turn coming up.  He frequently told me we should angle toward that side of the street.

After about 12K, we crossed through Tivoli Park.  Unlike the trails in the park, the road was reasonably flat.  Going through the park, it no longer felt like we were in the city.  We were on a two-lane road, with trees on both sides.

At 13K, I told Mike to go ahead without me.  Keeping up with him was starting to take more effort.  Mike went on ahead, and I eased up a bit.

My first mile without Mike wasn’t actually any slower.  My pace was 9:13.  The difference was that I was no longer pressing to keep up.  I was a little more relaxed.

I checked my time when I got to the 15K mark.  My pace between 10K and 15K was actually a few second faster than it had been over the previous 5K.

After that, I gradually slowed down.  Over the next few miles, my pace slowed to 9:24, then 9:36, then 9:40.

Earlier, Mike had commented about how people cheer you in different ways in different countries.  Here, the two cheers I heard the most were “Hup, hup, hup, hup” and “Bravo!’

There was another reason I told Mike to go ahead.  I felt like I would need to make a bathroom stop at some point.  At 17K, I saw a row of port-o-potties.  Two of them were vacant, so I could have stopped, but I was worried that I wouldn’t get back into the same rhythm.  I didn’t have an urgent need to stop now, so I decided to wait until the second half of the race.

Just before 20K, I reached the point where the marathon and half marathon routes diverged.  Runners doing the half marathon stayed on the left side of the street and began running toward the finish, which was close to where we started.  Those of us doing the marathon kept to the right.  We eventually turned to begin running through neighborhoods south and east of the city center.

There were more runners doing the half marathon.  After the split, the course was much less crowded.

I reached the halfway point in 2:03:32.  That’s faster than Mike and I had planned to run the first half, even though I was slowing down now.

As I began the second half, I noticed my hands were getting cold.  It was several degrees warmer now, but it was overcast, and there was a breeze.  The breeze was all it took to keep me feeling chilly.

I continued to slow down.  I tried to find a pace that wouldn’t cause me to blow up, but I also didn’t want to just take it easy.

Around 23K, I saw more port-o-potties.  This time they were all occupied, and couple runners were already waiting in line.  I still didn’t have an urgent need, so I kept running.

I had a couple miles as slow as the 9:50s.  Then I tried hard to keep my pace from getting any slower than that.

At one point, a runner in front of me dropped a gel packet.  I think it fell out of a pocket.  She didn’t seem to be aware she had dropped anything, so I stopped and picked it up.  Then I had to pick up my pace to catch up to her.

When I tried to hand her the gel packet, she seemed confused.  She didn’t realize it was hers.  She accepted it from me, but she didn’t know why I was handing it to her.

Just then, I reached a slightly downhill section.  Because of that, I kept going at a faster pace than before.  That ended up being my fastest mile of the second half.

With just over 10K to go, the sun came out.  My hands here still cold, but it would take me at least another hour to finish the race.  Now, I wondered if I would start to get hot.

At this point, I expected to finish somewhere between 4:10 and 4:15.  If I could keep running at the same pace as my most recent mile, I could break 4:10.  Instead, I started to slow down.  For the first time, my pace was slower than 10 minutes per mile, despite my best effort.

By now, I no longer had any sense of where I was in relation to the city center.  I was pretty sure this part of the course was north of where we started, but I didn’t study the course map well enough to be sure.

With 4 miles to go, I really wanted to make a bathroom stop.  I didn’t just need to pee.  Now, I also felt pressure in my intestines.  Stopping would mean I’d probably be slower than 4:15.  If I saw a port-o-potty, I would’ve stopped, but I didn’t see any for the rest of the race.

With 5K to go, I noticed my hands were no longer cold.  At this point, however, I no longer needed to worry about getting hot.  It wasn’t that far to go.

When I started to see office buildings, I knew I was in the modern downtown area.  That’s just north of the city center, where we started.

With 3K to go, I started to see barricades lining both sides of the street.  Then I looked to my right and recognized a building I had walked past on my way to the starting line.  We were on the same street where we started, but now we were running in the opposite direction.  I had already run right past my hotel without realizing it.

Ahead of me, I could see the starting line, but we turned before we got there.  We had to take a circuitous route to get to the finish line.  First, we ran west for two blocks.  Then we turned onto a street that’s follows the eastern edge of Tivoli Park.

It seemed like were on this street for a long time.  We finally turned at the 41K sign.  Then we made another turn at the same point where the marathon and half marathon had diverged earlier.  For the remainder of the race, we followed the same route to the finish that the half marathon had taken earlier.

I expected one more turn.  Instead, there were several.  I lost my sense of direction.  In wasn’t until after the last turn that I could see the finish line ahead of me.

The approach to the finish line was on a wide carpet.  I think that spared us from having to run on cobblestones.  I was about 10 meters from the finish line when I almost tripped on the carpet.  I crossed the line in 4:14:21.

After I finished, I was met by an announcer at the finish line.  He looked at the name on my race bib and tried to figure out where I was from.  He assumed it was one of the Scandinavian countries.  I told him I was from the United States, but my ancestry was Scandinavian.  Then he turned on his microphone and announced, “David Holmen just finished the marathon.  He’s from the United States, but where is your heart?”  He turned the microphone toward me, and I said, “My heart is in Slovenia.”

Just beyond the finish line, there was a large screen that displayed the names and times of people who just finished.  I found my name, but the time listed was 4:30:49.  That was obviously my “gun” time.  It included the 16 minutes it took us to reach the starting line.

After turning the corner, I received my finisher medal.  The medal design featured a dragon.

Earlier, I had walked across a bridge that’s adorned with dragon statues.  I’m not sure if it’s a symbol of the city or a symbol of Slovenia.

Next, I received a finisher T-shirt.  That surprised me, since I also received a T-shirt at the expo.  This one was a different color, and it said “Finisher.”

As I continued through the finish area, I was met by Mike.  He had finished more than 20 minutes ahead of me, but he waited to greet me at the finish.

A volunteer offered me a bottle of water, but I could see just ahead where I could get a can of Heineken 0.0.  Heineken was a sponsor of the race.  I couldn’t open the beer while holding my T-shirt, so I wrapped the T-shirt behind my neck.

Mike walked with me most of the way to my hotel, while I drank my beer.  By the time I got to the hotel, I realized the T-shirt was no longer behind my neck.  Somewhere along the way, it had fallen off.  At this point, I wasn’t going to try to find it somewhere on the sidewalk.  It was too crowded.

Later in the day, I met Mike for an early dinner.  We would’ve gone to the same restaurant where I had dinner on Friday, but they weren’t open yet.  I knew there were other restaurants with good local food near the town hall.  It didn’t take long to find a restaurant there that we both liked.

Monday, October 19

Flying home from Europe is always difficult if you need to make a connection in a European hub.  To have a workable connection, you generally need to take a really early flight.

My flight to Amsterdam departed at 6:00 AM.  Ideally, I like to arrive at an airport two hours before my flight, but the airport didn’t open until 4:30 AM.  Getting to the airport at 4:30 meant leaving my hotel at 4:00.  To be ready, I needed to be up by 3:00 AM.  Ugh.  That’s not how you want to start your day when you’re going to be travelling for 20 hours.

The good news is that my flight to Amsterdam was on time.  Now, I have a long layover before my flight to Minneapolis.

Race statistics:

Distance:  42.2 kilometers

Time:  4:14:21

Average Pace:  6:02 per kilometer (9:42 per mile)

First Half:  2:03:32

Second Half:  2:10:49

Marathons/Ultras in 2026:  39

Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:  611

Countries:  62

Race Result: 2026 Hartford Marathon

On October 10th, I ran the Hartford Marathon.  I scheduled this race so I could try for a second Boston qualifier in Connecticut.  It’s the only marathon in Connecticut where I would have a realistic chance of getting a BQ.

Until a week ago, I didn’t know if I was in good enough shape to run a Boston-qualifying time.  Then I qualified with six minutes to spare at the Twin Cities Marathon.  The good news is that I came into this race knowing I can run that fast.  The bad news is that my effort last weekend took a lot out of me.  After that race, my left Achilles tendon was as tight as it’s been in months, and I only had six days to recover.  I didn’t do much training during the week.  I just did strength training and a few short recovery runs.

I flew to Hartford Friday morning.  I was staying in a downtown hotel, so I didn’t need to rent a car.  I took a taxi from the airport.  After that, I could walk everywhere.

When I got to my hotel, it wasn’t even 11:00 yet.  Surprisingly, I was able to check into my room right away.

The expo didn’t open until noon.  In the meantime, I did a little sightseeing in the downtown area.  I didn’t plan to have my phone with me during the race, so this was my chance to take pictures of the landmarks near the start and finish.

This is the Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Arch in Bushnell Park.  We ran through this arch just before finishing the race.

The starting line was in front of the Connecticut capitol building.  This was the second time in a week that I was starting or finishing a race in front of a state capitol.

The expo was held at the Connecticut Convention Center.  After picking up my bib and T-shirt, I browsed the various merchandise, sampled a beer from a local brewery, studied a map of the finisher area, and visited the booth for the pace team.

I spent the rest of the afternoon doing a workout at the hotel and relaxing until it was time for dinner.

The race didn’t start until 8:00 AM, so I didn’t have to get up too early.  I still went to bed early.  That made it possible to get a full night’s sleep and still wake up an hour before my alarm.  I was able to eat a light breakfast and take my time getting ready.  I’ve never felt so relaxed on the morning of a race.

The temperature started out in the mid-40s.  It would rise to 60 by noon, but I dressed for the cooler temperatures at the start.  They had a gear check in the start/finish area, but I chose not to check a gear bag.  I waited as long as possible before leaving the hotel, so I wouldn’t be standing around in the cold for too long.  From my hotel, it was about a 15-minute walk to get to the start corrals.

The qualifying standard for my age group is 4:05.  That was my goal.  They didn’t have a pace group for 4:05, but I knew one of the guys leading the 4:00 pace group.  His name is Ken, and I’ve run with him at several races.  I decided to line up with the 4:00 group and follow them for the first mile before deciding if that pace was comfortable or if I needed to drop back and run on my own.

The pace felt comfortable enough at first.  We left the downtown area and headed to the western side of the city.

The two biggest hills on the course both come in the first five miles.  The first one started during the second mile and topped out halfway through mile three.  It was gradual, but it was long enough to be tiring.  I was able to stay with the 4:00 group through this hill. That was encouraging.

After that, we had a nice downhill section.  On the downhill, I had to ease up to keep from getting ahead of the pace group.

The second hill came in mile five.  I expected this hill to be just like the first one, but it was shorter.  On this hill, I was so determined to keep up my pace that I got out in front of the pace group.

Next, we ran through Elizabeth Park.  This park had some nice flower gardens.  It also had a nice downhill section.  I had to keep telling myself to ease up, so I wouldn’t get too far ahead of the 4:00 group.  Sometimes, I could hear Ken talking to the group, so I knew they weren’t too far behind.

I was running ahead of the group for the next several miles.  Ahead of me, I could see a 2:00 group for the half marathon.  As long as I stayed behind them, I wasn’t too worried about going too fast.

After eight miles, we re-entered the downtown area.  During the next mile, we reached the point where the half marathon course diverged from the marathon course.  I could no longer count on seeing the 2:00 pace group in front of me, so I had to start paying more attention to my pace.

We left downtown Hartford on a bridge over the Connecticut River.  This bridge was a bit of a hill.  I made note of the fact that we would need to cross it again later in the race.

The next few miles were through East Hartford.  After that, we started a long out-and-back that took us into the countryside.

I had been easing up, and the 4:00 group eventually caught up to me again.  I was with them when we reached the halfway point.

Soon, we started to see the fastest runners coming back on the other side of the street.

I stayed with the pace group for the next several miles.  With each passing mile, I got more confident that I could keep up this pace for the whole race.  To help pass the miles, Ken and I were each telling stories.

When we reached the turnaround, it got easier psychologically.  Now, instead of running farther away from Hartford, we were running back toward it.

At 18 miles, Ken told us that we were 75 seconds ahead of schedule.  Anyone who felt strong could go ahead, but he was going to start slowing down.  I continued to run with the group.

At 20 miles, I was on roughly the same pace as my last race.  That race had a long uphill section from 20 to 23.  This race was relatively flat from 20 to 23.  That made me more confident that I could stay with the group.

I was talking with a runner from Boston who was running her first marathon.  Her name was Nikki.  At 22 miles, I noticed that we were getting ahead of the group.  Nikki seemed to be running strong, so I kept running with her and didn’t worry about our pace.  She’s familiar with the Boston Marathon, so I sometimes told her where we would be if we were at the same mile marker on the Boston course.

With about two miles to go, I told Nikki that I didn’t know if I could keep up with her for the rest of the race.  She thanked me for helping her run faster, and then she went ahead on her own.

I kept running at the same pace, while Nikki accelerated and gradually pulled away from me.  For the next mile, I could still see her.  Then I walked for a few seconds while I drank at an aid station.  That’s when I lost sight of her.  That was at mile 25.

Next, we had to cross the bridge over the river again.  I thought that would be the last hill.  I was wrong.  I kept up my pace on the uphill side of the bridge.  The downhill side gave me a chance to recover.  Then there was one more uphill section as we came back through the downtown area.

I struggled on that last hill, but I recovered as the street leveled out.  I’m not familiar with all the downtown streets or buildings, but I knew where I was when I crossed Trumbull Street.  That’s the street I took to get to the start/finish area before the race.

To my left, I could see the post-race area in Bushnell Park.  Ahead of me, I could see a different section of the park.  I just had to continue a little farther before making the last turn.  Just before I got there, I reached the 26-mile sign.

Mile 26 was my slowest of the race, but I was almost done.  I made the last turn, ran through the arch, and then ran to the finish line.  I finished in 3:59:18.

My second half was 30 seconds slower than my first half.  If I could’ve stayed with Nikki, I would’ve run negative splits.  That would've been a tall order though.  She really accelerated in those last two miles.

After I finished, a volunteer handed me a souvenir water bottle that was already filled with water.  Another gave me a heat sheet.

The finisher medal depicts the Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Arch.

Post-race food included popcorn, bananas, granola, pumpkin muffins, chocolate milk, and soup.  I took what I could carry and found a place to sit so I could eat.  I had enough to drink that I skipped the beer garden.  Instead, I went to the results tent, where I found out I was fourth in my age group.  I just missed placing high enough for an award.

I easily ran fast enough to get my second BQ in Connecticut.  Now I’m one step closer to having two BQs in every state.  I’m just missing Missouri, New Mexico, Ohio, and Alaska.  I’ll have a shot at Missouri next month.  The other states will have to wait until next year.  Alaska may be the toughest one to schedule.

Race statistics:

Distance:  26.2 miles

Time:  3:59:18

Average Pace:  9:08 per mile

First Half:  1:59:24

Second Half:  1:59:54

Marathons/Ultras in 2026:  38

Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:  610

Boston Qualifiers in 2026:  7

Lifetime Boston Qualifiers:  194

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