Race Report: 2026 Victoria Falls Marathon

On July 5, I ran the Victoria Falls Marathon in Zimbabwe.  This race has been on my bucket list for years.

I do a lot of solo travel, but sometimes I prefer to be with a group.  For this trip I was traveling with Coddiwomple Travel.  Besides the marathon, their itinerary included visits to two national parks and a sunset cruise on the Zambezi River.  I also booked a guided tour of the falls from both sides of the river.

Tuesday, June 30

Malaria is endemic in Zimbabwe, so I needed to start taking anti-malaria medication two days before I arrived.  That happened to be the same day I left home.  Malaria risk at this time of year is relatively low, but I wasn’t taking any chances.

I left Tuesday afternoon for Johannesburg, South Africa, with a layover in Atlanta.  I’ve been on the Atlanta to Johannesburg flight before.  It’s a 15-hour flight.

Wednesday, July 1

With the time change, it was already 7 PM when I arrived in Johannesburg.  I had a 15-hour layover before my flight to Victoria Falls, so I checked into an airport hotel for the night.

I didn’t get any sleep on my flight, so I was pretty tired.  I went to bed within an hour of getting to the hotel, but it took me several hours to get to sleep.  I only slept for an hour or two before I needed to get up again.

Thursday, July 2

After breakfast, I had to hurry back to the airport for my flight to Victoria Falls.  Because I left the terminal, I had to allow time for going through security again.

I arrived in Victoria Falls around noon.  On arrival, I had to pay for a visa for entry into Zimbabwe.  My itinerary included day trips into Zambia and Botswana, so I had to get a KAZA visa.  This type of visa allows multiple border crossings between Zimbabwe and Zambia.  It also allows for day trips into Botswana.

Coddiwomple Travel provided transportation to our hotel.  I was surprised how far away the airport was.  It took about 30 minutes to get into town.  For the next five nights, I stayed at Ilala Lodge Hotel in Victoria Falls.

When I got to the hotel, I was met by the tour guide from Coddiwomple.  I was the first person in our group to arrive.  The others came in on a later flight.

I had a surprisingly filling sandwich on my flight, so I wasn’t hungry for lunch.  I did a workout at the hotel, explored some local shops, and then I had an early dinner.

I have a knack for finding good pizza in any city.  I found a place a few blocks from the hotel called The Three Monkeys.  They had a variety of different brick oven pizzas.  Most of them were fairly traditional, but they had one with bacon and bananas.  I’ve never had banana slices on a pizza before, so I had to try it.  I wasn’t disappointed.

Ilala Lodge was right next to Victoria Falls National Park, and animals from the park would sometimes wander onto the property.  In the afternoon, I saw two warthogs from my balcony.  At dusk, I saw two elephants from a walkway behind the pool area.

Later, I met the other members of my tour group at a reception by the hotel pool.  We were a small group, but there were enough appetizers to feed a much larger group.  The appetizers ended being our dinner.

I had an easy time getting to sleep that night, but I still wasn’t able to sleep through the night.  Adjusting to this time zone was taking longer than usual.

Friday, July 3

Friday was a free day to explore Victoria Falls on our own.  I booked a guided tour of falls.  This tour took me through two national parks, one in Zimbabwe and one in Zambia.

First, I saw the falls from the Zimbabwe side of the river.  Here’s a sampling of the photos I took.

To get to the other side, I had to go through border crossing stations on both sides of the bridge.  Each side had long lines.

Once across, I was able to view the falls from the Zambia side of the river.  This side had different views.

Near the falls, there’s a lot of spray, and in a few places, it felt like it was raining.  I was wearing a rain poncho, but my pants got wet below the knees, and my sleeves got wet below the elbows.

When I got back to the hotel, my race packet had been delivered to my room.  Besides my race bib and T-shirt, there was a visor, a pair socks, a fanny pack, a towel, and a buff.

I had lunch at a smokehouse/brewery near the hotel.  Then I walked to where the race starts and finishes. 

I spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing at the hotel.  I met a runner from South Africa who runs the Comrades Marathon every year.  While we were talking, a large group of elephants came onto the property.  They were behind the trees, so I couldn’t get an exact count, but I saw at least five adults and about as many baby elephants.  Later, I saw more elephants, and I finally got a clear picture.

For dinner, I went back to The Three Monkeys, so I could try one of their other pizzas.

Saturday, July 4

On Saturday, we had a game drive in Zambezi National Park.  We had to leave early, so the hotel gave us grab-and-go breakfasts.  When we got to the park, we had to drive a long way before we saw any animals.  The first giraffes we saw were too far away to get a good photo.

As we continued through the park, we started to see more animals, and we got closer to them.  We saw zebras, giraffes, warthogs, cape buffalo, and greater kudu.  We also saw a variety of birds, including pelicans.

When we got back to the hotel, I did a workout.  Then I relaxed until our next outing.

In the afternoon, we went into Zambia to have high tea at the Royal Livingstone Victoria Falls Hotel.  This is the nicest hotel on the Zambia side of the river.  It’s right on the river, and there are zebras, giraffes, and other wildlife right on the property.

While we were there, we discovered that there’s a marathon next weekend in Livingstone, Zambia called the Zambezi Waterfront Marathon.  Had I known that before, I would’ve planned a longer trip, so I could run marathons in both Zimbabwe and Zambia.  At this point, it was too late to change my plans.

After we got back from Zambia, we had a pre-race pasta dinner at the hotel, even though we were all still full from all the food we ate at high tea.  The food was served family-style.  It was more food than we could eat, so we all got to-go boxes.  The others took the leftover pasta and meat.  I took the leftover desserts, which gave me food for my pre-race breakfast and a post-race snack.

Sunday, July 5

Sunday was race day.  Our tour package included bus transportation to the start, which was at Baobab Primary School.  The race started at 6:15 AM, but I had to catch the bus at 5:20.  I considered just walking, since the start was only about a kilometer away.  I took the bus on the recommendation of the hotel staff.  It’s still dark at that hour, and we were right next to a national park with various wild animals.

I was the only one running the marathon who was picked up at this hotel.  They had a later pickup time for people running the half marathon.  After I was picked up, the bus stopped at one other hotel before driving to the school.  We got dropped off about 30 minutes before the marathon started.

The temperature in the morning was in the 40s.  I knew it would get much warmer later, but I tend to dress for the temperature at the start.  I wore tights and a T-shirt, but I also wore a Tyvek jacket while I was waiting for the race to start.

They didn’t have portable toilets in the start area, but we could use the bathrooms in the school buildings.  In the boys’ bathroom, none of the stalls had toilet paper.  There wasn’t even a place for toilet paper.  Fortunately, I only needed to pee.

I knew we would be running near the falls in the early miles.  I didn’t know if I would get wet from the spray coming from the falls, so I kept my jacket on as I started running.  I unzipped it in front, so my race bib would be visible.

When we started, it was still dark.  The only light was from street lamps.  As we left the school grounds, we were initially running on grass and dirt, so I started hesitantly and watched my footing carefully.  Once we turned onto city streets, I was more confident in my footing.

After about one kilometer, I could see the glow of the sunrise.  I could also see the mist rising from the falls.

The aid stations had water in cylindrical plastic bags.  To drink, you needed to tear a hole in the bag with your teeth and then squeeze the water out.  I’ve seen the same thing at races in central America and the Caribbean.  Tap water in Zimbabwe isn’t generally safe to drink.  Seeing that it was in sealed bags gave me confidence that it was similar in quality to bottled water.

We ran past the immigration station on the Zimbabwe side of the river, and then we started running toward the bridge.  Before I reached the bridge, I noticed the road was wet.  As I got onto the bridge, I could feel a little bit of spray from the falls.  It felt like light drizzle.  That’s why I kept my jacket on.

There are immigration offices on each side of the river, but they’re both a distance away from the river, because they need to be located where there’s enough room for cars to park.  The actual border is the Zambezi River, so as soon as we crossed the bridge, we were in Zambia.

Most of the course was relatively flat, but there were some uphill and downhill sections.  One of the uphill sections was right after crossing the bridge.  I had to slow down a little, but I didn’t have to walk.  That was encouraging.  In my last several races, I had to walk almost every hill.

We ran almost to the gate by the Zambia immigration station.  Then we turned around and crossed the bridge again.

When we crossed the bridge on Saturday, you could see the falls.  Sunday morning, there was too much mist.

After crossing the bridge for a second time, we didn’t take the same road back into town.  Instead, we turned onto a road that took us closer to the river.

Now that I was no longer near the falls, I took off my jacket and tied it around my waist.  I had already taken off my gloves.

About four miles into the race, I started to notice some discomfort from a tight Achilles tendon.  It was encouraging that I didn’t notice it before.  Usually, I feel it from the first mile.  I probably helped that I had a few days off from running before the race.

The aid stations were closer together than I expected.  After drinking water at the first two, I decided to skip every other aid station, so I wouldn’t overhydrate.

The first few aid stations only had water, but I eventually reached aid stations that also had Coke.  The first time I saw Coke, it was at an aid station that I was planning to skip.  Whenever I saw it at an aid station where I was drinking, I opted for Coke instead of water.

Just past the 9K sign, I saw a 26K sign.  At that point, I knew we would be running along this road again later in the race.  It eventually became clear that the marathon was two loops, but I suspected there would be differences between the two loops.

At 12K, I saw baboons running across the road.  I had already seen baboons in two of the national parks, but apparently, they’re all over the place.

Some aid stations also had fruit.  I ate a banana at one, but I mostly just drank water and Coke.

At 14K, I was one third done, so I checked my time.  I was almost on pace to finish in 4:30.  I expected to slow down as it got hotter, but I was pretty confident that I would break five hours.  That was my only goal, other than finishing.

At 15K, I reached a hill that was steep enough that some of the runners ahead of me were walking it.  That seemed prudent, so I also walked most of this hill.  I had been running well, but I didn’t want to wear myself out by working too hard on a hill.

At the top of that hill, I turned onto a road that was paved with bricks.  The footing was really uneven here.  It felt like cobblestones.  I found running this section to be tiring, in addition to being uncomfortable.

I eventually realized, that this section was still slightly uphill, which is one reason it was tiring.  The uneven footing also made it tiring.

After that section, there was another hill where I needed to take a walking break.  After that, it got easier.

Up until now, I had been averaging about 10:30 per mile.  The mile with the hills and the next mile were both slower than 11 minutes.

There was a half marathon that started later than the marathon.  I had seen some half marathon runners go by, but only the fastest ones.  Shortly past 17K, I reached a junction where the two courses diverged.  Runners doing the half marathon turned left.  Those of us doing the marathon kept going straight to do an extra out-and-back section.  As a result, our first lap was longer.

After two slower miles, I was able to bring my pace back down to where it was before.  Then I reached the halfway point.  I was no longer on pace for 4:30, but I was easily on pace to break five hours by a wide margin.  The question was whether I would come apart in the second half.  It was warming up quickly, and the sun was getting higher in the sky.

Now that it was warming up, I started drinking at every aid station.  I drank Coke when I saw it.  Otherwise, I drank water.

I finished the out-and-back section and came back to the junction where the half marathon turned.  Now, we were on the same route again.  I had somewhere between 3K and 4K to go to finish the first lap.

At 24K, I saw some portable toilets, so I stopped.  I knew I would need to pee at some point, and I was also feeling some pressure building in my colon.  I was dismayed to see that the portable toilets also didn’t have toilet paper.  Apparently local runners know to bring their own.  I didn’t have the foresight to do that, so I resigned myself to holding it in until after the race.  That made the rest of the race somewhat uncomfortable.

The first lap was roughly 25K.  Then the half marathon runners turned to head back to the school, while those of us doing the marathon continued straight to begin our second lap.

I knew at this point that the second lap would only be 17K.  The difference is that we took a shorter route through town, and we didn’t run out to the bridge again.

Traffic on the bridge had been closed for the race.  That meant closing the only nearby border crossing.  I’m sure they wanted to re-open the border as soon as possible, which is why we didn’t run across the bridge again.

After running through town for another kilometer, I turned back onto a road that I had run before.  I once again saw the 9K sign, followed by the 26K sign.  From here on, I was running on roads that I had run before.  I knew what to expect now.  There was one tough section with steeper hills and bricks that felt like cobblestones.  Other than that, nothing would be too tough,

I wanted to do another time check at 28K.  I never noticed the 28K sign, but all my recent mile splits were under 11 minutes.  That made me pretty confident that I was staying on pace for a time under five hours.

At about 29K, I caught up to the back of pack of the half marathon.  Everyone at the back was walking.  The half marathon walkers greater outnumbered the marathon runners.  I had to scan the road ahead to spot the marathon runners, so I could try to keep up with the runners ahead of me.

At 32K, I reached the first of the two hills where I had taken walking breaks before.  I knew that was followed by the brick/cobblestone section.  Running on that surface was uncomfortable, so I wanted to walk it this time.  I contemplated running the hill.

When I saw other runners ahead of me starting to walk up the hill, I had second thoughts.  Then I noticed for the first time how hot and sweaty I was getting.  The sun was intense now.  That persuaded me to walk the hill again.

Because I walked up the hill, I forced myself to run on the uncomfortable brick section.  This time, I was much more conscious that it was slightly uphill.

When I finished that section, I reached the second hill that I had previously walked.  It wasn’t actually any steeper than the brick section.  I needed to walk most of it, because I was already tired from the previous section.

I knew that mile would be my slowest of the race.  The first time, my pace slowed to almost 12 minutes.  I expected to be slower than 12 minutes this time, but I was a bit dismayed to be slower than 13 minutes.  The good news is that I knew it would be easier the rest of the way.

I once again reached the junction where the half marathon turned left and the marathon went straight.  We had about 8K to go.  They had slightly more than 3K to go.  I was jealous.

I was determined to bring my pace back down, but I had to focus on one section of the course at a time.  First, I needed to reach the turnaround of this out-and-back section.  That was a little over two kilometers.

When I reached the turn, I focused on keeping up my pace until I got back to the same junction.  That was also just over two kilometers.

I got back to that junction, turned right, drank Coke at an aid station, and then forced myself to run up a short hill.  A short time later, my watch gave me a split for 24 miles.  I knew I had more than 2.2 miles to go.  The 39K mark would be two miles to go, and that was nowhere in sight.  I had to ignore my watch and just look for the kilometer markers.

When I reached the 39K mark, I should have done a time check, but I didn’t think of it.  I pressed on.

I eventually reached the 40K sign, followed by the 19K sign for the half marathon.  I had 2100 meters to go.  If I could run it in 11 minutes, I could break 4:40.  It was mostly downhill, but the remaining distance was too far to have any realistic chance of running it in 11 minutes.  I was going to finish with a time in the low 4:40s.

I enjoyed the nice long downhill section.  I never saw the 41K sign, but I knew I was getting close when I could see tents that were set up in the finish area.  As the crow flies it was close, but we had to take a circuitous route.

We turned left and follow the road alongside the school until we reached the entrance to the school grounds.  After running up a small hill, I turned onto the dirt and grass section.  I had to make a big curve that was sort of like running halfway around a track.  Then the finish line came into sight.

I ran under the same arch that had been the starting line.  I thought that was the finish line, but I hesitated for a few seconds before stopping my watch.  Then I walked the rest of the way through the finisher chute.

By my watch, I finished in 4:42:06, but I wanted to see what my official time was.  I continued through the chute and got my finisher medal.  Another volunteer handed me a bottle of water.  I was hot and thirsty, but I didn’t want to drink any more water until I got back to the hotel and made a bathroom stop.  I gave the water bottle back.

After finishing, I saw a large display screen that showed the times of recent finishers.  It showed my time as 4:42:29.  I didn’t know if that was gun time or net time, but that’s the same time I saw later when I looked up my result online.  Either way, I was pretty happy with that time.  It was my fastest time in two months.

I could have taken a shuttle back to the hotel, but they only ran once per hour.  It was faster to walk.

I was wearing a T-shirt from the Comrades Marathon, and throughout the race, I often got shoutouts from other runners who noticed it.  We were close to South Africa, so there were a lot of other runners who have either run Comrades or are familiar with the race.  While I was walking back to the hotel, I also heard someone in town say, “Comrades Marathon.  Much respect.”

When I got to the hotel, I didn’t wait until I got back to my room.  I stopped at the closest bathroom, which was inside the lobby.

After taking a shower and sitting for a while, my Achilles tendon got much tighter.  For the rest of the day, walking was difficult.

Later in the day, we had a sunset cruise on the Zambezi River.  While we were waiting for the sun to set, we occasionally saw hippos popping out of the water.  We also saw crocodiles on a nearby island.

We stayed until the sun set.  Then we went back and had a nice dinner.  We were sitting at the same table as some runners from South Africa, and we got along well.

By the time we got back to the hotel, it was late, so I went to bed as quickly as I could.

Monday, July 6

On Sunday, we visited another national park.  This time, it was Chobe National Park in Botswana.  We left right after breakfast.  First, we had to drive to Botswana.  We got through passport control on the Zimbabwe side fairly quickly, but it took more than two hours to get through the line on the Botswana side.  We heard later that they had a power outage that morning.  I assume a long line built up while they were unable to process anyone.

When we arrived at the national park, we began our safari.  The first part was a boat ride on the Chobe River.  I was surprised how much wildlife we could see from the water.  We saw impalas, cape buffalo, hippos, giraffes, and elephants.

After a lunch break, we continued our safari on land.  There, we saw kudu, impalas, giraffes, cape buffalo, hippos, elephants, and a lion.

On the way back, border control went quicker.  We got back to our hotel around 7 PM.  We hadn’t had dinner yet, so it turned into a late night.

Tuesday, July 7

Tuesday was the only day that I didn’t need to get up early, but I woke up at 4:30 and couldn’t get back to sleep.  On the bright side, it gave me plenty of time to do a workout and pack for the journey home.

Coddiwomple arranged transport to the airport for my afternoon flight to Johannesburg.  My first flight was about 30 minutes late, but that wasn’t a big deal.  I had a 6-hour layover in Johannesburg before the long flight back to Atlanta.

I had some drama when I got off the plane in Johannesburg.  I was almost to passport control when I realized I had forgotten to take my carry-on bag out of the overhead bin.  I turned around and ran back down the long hallway as fast as I could.

Along the way, I passed a South African Airlink employee who was pushing a wheelchair.  I told him I forgot my bag, but he already knew.  He told me the flight crew had it and they were bringing it off the plane for me.  When I got back to the jet bridge, they were waiting for me.

On my way back, another Airlink employee offered to give me a lounge pass.  I thanked him, but I already had access to the lounge.

After passport control, I stopped to open the Delta app to see where the lounge was located.  The app gave me confusing directions.  I saw two more Airlink employees and asked them how to get to the lounge.  They said they would take me there, and one of them carried my bag.  I still had to go through security, but they escorted me to the head of the line.  Then they brought me to the lounge.  I can’t express enough how impressed I am with this airline’s customer service.

I still have two more flights.  Hopefully, I won’t have any more drama..

Race statistics:

Distance:  42.2 kilometers

Time:  4:42:29

Average Pace:  6:42 per kilometer (10:46 per mile)

First Half:  2:19:11

Second Half:  2:23:18

Marathons/Ultras in 2026:  21

Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:  593

Countries:  61

I Think I understand Why I'm Not Getting Enough Iron

This is a follow-up on yesterday’s post about anemia.

As I mentioned in my last post, my anemia could be a nutritional issue, or it could be a symptom of some other medical condition.  I’m now fairly optimistic that it’s a nutritional issue.

There are two sides to that.  I need to get enough iron in my diet, but I also need to absorb the iron I’m eating.  I think I’m getting enough iron, but I don’t think I’ve been absorbing enough of it.

To absorb iron, it’s important to get enough vitamin C.  I don’t think that’s a problem.  I eat a lot of fruit, including tangerines and cherries, which are both good sources of vitamin C.  I also take a multivitamin that included vitamin C.

There are a number of foods which can interfere with the absorption of iron.  That’s where I think my diet has been a problem.

I think like an engineer.  For most of my life, I was a software developer.  A big part of my job was diagnosing and fixing problems.  If something used to work, but now it doesn’t, the first question I ask myself is, “What changed?”

I made major changes to my diet 15 months ago.  I used to be on a typical American diet.  Now, I’m on a Mediterranean diet.  If the dietary changes I made 15 months ago were causing problems, why did I only recently start having problems?  With that in mind, I started to look for more recent changes in my diet.

Yesterday, I started taking an iron supplement.  When I read the instruction sheet, I saw this: “Some foods like eggs, whole grain breads, cereal, dairy products, coffee and tea may made this drug not work as well.”  I also read elsewhere that coffee, tea, and dairy products can inhibit the absorption of iron.  That’s when the light bulb went on.

I’m not a coffee drinker, and I seldom eat eggs or cereal.  I drink tea in the morning, but that’s not a recent change.  I’ve been drinking tea for years.  My diet includes whole grain breads, but that’s also not a recent change.  What did change recently is the volume of dairy products I consume.

In January, I started drinking warm milk in the evening to help me get to sleep.  Most nights, I drink one cup of milk.  Some nights, I have a second cup.  Drinking a cup or two of milk each night was a big change to my diet.

The timing makes sense.  I started drinking a lot more milk in January.  Since then, I haven’t been absorbing enough iron.  By March, I was starting to have some disappointing race results.  By April, I was much slower.  Every month since then has been worse, as my iron levels kept declining.

In addition to taking an iron supplement, I’m making a few changes to my diet.  The biggest change will be eliminating the evening milk.  Instead, I’ll drink tart cherry juice, which also helps with sleep, but won’t inhibit absorption of iron.  It’ll actually help with absorption, since it’s a source of vitamin C.

I’ll still drink tea, but instead of 3-4 cups per day, I’ll cut back to one or two.  I'll still drink tea with breakfast, but instead of drinking tea with my lunch, I’ll drink orange juice, which also gives me more vitamin C.

With these changes, I should be able to absorb enough of the extra iron.

I haven’t ruled out other possible causes of my anemia.  I still plan to have a colonoscopy to screen for colon cancer, but I’m hopeful that’s not the problem.  I would’ve been due for a colonoscopy next year anyway.

Before I can get better, I first have to stop getting worse.  Recently, I’ve been getting significantly more tired from one month to the next.  Hopefully, my iron levels will now stabilize.

It’ll take longer to actually feel better.  It takes time to produce red blood cells.  I expect it’ll take at least a few weeks before I start to have more energy.  It’ll probably take a few months for my iron levels to get back to normal.

I have several races scheduled next month.  Those will still be slow.  Summer races tend to be slow anyway.  I’ll be content just to finish.

My more important races aren’t until the fall.  By then, I’ll hopefully be feeling better and running stronger.

One of my biggest goals every year is to qualify for the Boston Marathon.  Right now, I can’t come anywhere close to running a qualifying time.  Fortunately, I’ve already qualified for next year’s race.  Qualifying for 2028 won’t begin until September, and I’ll have almost a year to get a qualifying time.  I can afford to be patient. 

I Finally Understand Why I'm Feeling So Sluggish.

For the past few months, I’ve been feeling sluggish and having poor race results.  I’m finally starting to understand why.

I first noticed a drop-off in my race performance earlier in the year.  In most races, my goal is to run a Boston-qualifying time.  In early 2025, the time I needed to beat was 3:50, and I was doing that consistently.

Later in the year, I had moved into a new age group.  I only need to beat 4:05, but I still tried to run faster if I could.  I was consistently running times in the 3:50s, and on a good day I could get into the 3:40s.

By the beginning of this year, I was still running qualifying times, but I could no longer get under four hours.  The only time this year that I’ve broken four hours was at the Mt. Charleston Marathon, which has more than 5,000 feet of net descent.  On a course like that, I expect to be 20 minutes faster.

In March, I had my annual follow-up with my cardiologist.  A year earlier I learned that I not only had high cholesterol, but I had more arterial plaque than more than 90 percent of other men my age.

I mentioned my drop-off in performance to my cardiologist.  I wondered if I wasn’t getting blood to my muscles as efficiently because of all that arterial plaque.  She said it doesn’t work that way.  If I was slowing down, it was either my training or just the result of getting older.

Just to be on the safe side, she ordered a stress echocardiogram.  It showed no abnormalities.  All my images looked normal, and my vital signs were normal.  That was at the end of March.

Since then, my performance has dropped off dramatically, and I’ve sometimes felt tired just doing normal daily activities, like walking up stairs.

It started with the Albuquerque Marathon.  I was hoping to get my second BQ in New Mexico.  The elevation in Albuquerque is about 5,000 feet.  I expect to be at least five minutes slower at that elevation, so I knew I would need a good race.

I started out on pace, but I was intensely out of breath.  It didn’t feel like I was at 5,000 feet.  I felt more like I would expect to feel at 8,000 feet.  I held the pace for eight or nine miles, but then I had to give up on a BQ.  After that, the rest of my race was like train wreck in slow motion.

My next race was in Newport, RI.  That’s at sea level, but it’s a hilly course.  I was hoping to finish in four hours, so I could quickly get on the road to drive to Boston.  I started with the 4:00 pace group, but I fell behind on the first hill.  I caught up on the downhill, but I had the same experience on every hill.

After about five miles of repeatedly falling behind on hills and catching up later, I finally couldn’t catch up again.  I ran the rest of the race on my own pace.

Later in the race, on another hilly section, I had to start taking walking breaks on the hills.  I was blowing up badly.  I eventually finished in 4:40.

Two days later, I ran the Boston Marathon.  After blowing up in Newport, I knew that race would be slow, but I was still surprised how slow I was.  It was my slowest Boston Marathon ever.  It was slower than the year I race-walked the whole way, and it was slower than the year that I had only six weeks of training.

My next race was the Flying Pig Marathon in Cincinnati.  I had two weeks to recover from Newport and Boston, and that’s usually enough.

This was another goal race for me.  I was hoping to get my second BQ in Ohio.  The course is somewhat hilly, but the hills all come in the first half of the race, when I would still be fresh.  I’ve qualified for Boston on this course before, so I knew it was possible with a good race.

Early in the race there are a few bridges.  Those were tiring, but I was staying on pace.  The toughest section was a long hill between the downtown area and the zoo.  I knew I would fall off the pace on this section, but I was hoping I could make it up later.  I lost too much time.  By the time I finally crested the hill, I knew a BQ wasn’t happening.

Near the halfway point, the 4:10 pace group caught up to me.  I ran with them for a few miles, but that pace was still too fast for me.  I dropped back and slowed down, eventually finishing in 4:32.  Earlier in the year I was disappointed that I couldn’t break four hours.  Just a few months later, I was 30 minutes slower.

It got much worse.  My next race was the night Marathon in Luxembourg.  That race has a tough uphill section later in the race, but I was struggling long before I got there.  Even on smaller hills, I needed to take walking breaks.  In that race, I couldn’t even break five hours.

Since then, my races have all been on difficult courses or in hot conditions, so I expected to be slow.  Still, my results have been somewhat alarming.  At the Icefjord Midnight Marathon in Greenland, I needed almost all of the seven-hour time limit.  I was the last official finisher.  It was the first time I ever finished last in a marathon.

In the Jackal Marathons, I was always one of the last finishers.  There were never more than two people finishing behind me.

It’s not just my races that have been slow.  My training runs have been really sluggish.  I start a run feeling like I’m running at a somewhat spirited pace.  Then I see my first split, and it’s much slower than I was expecting.

I’m not a young man any more.  I know my days of effortlessly running an eight-minute pace are over.  Still, there’s something wrong when I’m putting in the same effort and my pace is slower than 12 minutes.  That's not run/walk.  That's my running pace.

I feel like I’m totally out of shape.  I’ve kept up my training, yet every run feels like it’s my first run in six months.

I’m still doing the same strength training exercises that I’ve done for the last few years.  When I run a marathon, I don’t get sore muscles, nor do I feel sore the next day.  The leg strength is there.  I just get tired.

A while back, I was talking with one of my sisters.  She asked me if I’ve been tested for anemia.  At the time, I didn’t think that was likely to be my problem.

More than a year ago, I switched to a Mediterranean diet.  I rarely eat red meat now, and that’s one of the best sources of iron.  I eat a lot of salads with spinach, and that’s one of the better plant-based sources of iron.  I take a daily multivitamin, and I assumed that had some iron.  When I discovered my multi didn’t have any iron, I decided it was finally time to see a doctor.  I didn’t know if was anemia, but I felt like there had to be a medical reason.  The rapid drop-off in my cardiovascular fitness couldn’t be fully explained by aging or any recent change in training.

I had a doctor appointment yesterday.  After discussing my symptoms and my medical history, the doctor ordered several lab tests.  The first result to come back was the blood counts.  My red blood cell count, hemoglobin, and hematocrit were all low.  My ferratin was also low.  Those are all indicators of anemia.  My blood just isn’t carrying as much oxygen as it should.  That completely explains my poor race performances and how sluggish I’ve been feeling.  It’s a real relief to know that there’s a medical explanation.

All of my other test results were normal.  One mystery was solved, but the next question is why I’m anemic.

I’m hoping my anemia is just a result of not getting enough iron in my diet.  It’s also possible I’m not eating the right foods for iron to be absorbed well.  If it’s just a nutritional issue, that would be the best-case scenario.

The worst case is that my anemia is a secondary symptom of some other underlying medical condition.  One possible cause could be colon cancer, so I need to have a colonoscopy.  The earliest I could get an appointment was August, so I won’t know any more until then.

In the meantime, I’ll be taking an iron supplement. 

My 10 Most Difficult Marathons

I just finished the Jackal Marathons.  Those were among the toughest marathons I’ve run, so it seems like this is a good time to compile a list of my most difficult marathons.

A lot of different factors can make a race difficult.  Some are difficult because of the elevation or the amount of climbing.  Others are difficult because of extreme weather conditions.  I personally find trail marathons to be more difficult than road marathons, if I have to worry about tripping on rocks or roots.  Finally, racing on consecutive days is always tougher than racing with fresh legs.

One way to take all those factors into account to rank races according to how long it took me to finish.  That’s what I’m doing here.  The following is a list of my 10 slowest marathons, followed by the factors that made them difficult.  I’m not considering ultramarathons.  I also omitted one race where I was just taking it easy.  In these races, I was really trying.

Race:  2025 Native Jackal Trail Marathon

Time:  8:17:41

This was the fifth race in a five-day series.  Every race in that series saw the heat index climb above 100 degrees while I was running, and it took a cumulative toll on me.  This race was the hottest of the series, with the heat index hitting 109 while I was still running.  Adding to the difficulty, it was mostly on trails, and there were numerous steep climbs.  I had sweat streaming out of every pore, and I was so exhausted by the end that I sometimes had to stop to catch my breath after each step up on the steeper climbs.

Race:  2026 Native Jackal Trail Marathon

Time:  7:50:01

This was the same race a year later.  The factors that make this race difficult were all still there.  I was faster this year only because it wasn’t quite as hot.  The temperature peaked in the low 90s, with a heat index in the upper 90s.  I was still on the course at the hottest hour of the day.

Race:  2026 Backass Jackal Trail Marathon

Time:  7:27:19

This was a trail race on a hot day.  It was the second day of a series, so I was already tired from running the same course the day before, when it was extremely hot.  What made this race more difficult than usual was a thunderstorm and the subsequent deterioration of the course.  It rained hard for almost an hour.  By the time the rain was done, the trails were filled with water.  As the day progressed, the trails got increasingly muddy.  It was difficult to get any traction going up hills.  Going downhill was scary, because I couldn’t control my momentum.  At any time, one of my feet might go sideways.  I slipped and fell in the mud numerous times.

Race:  2017 Moose Mountain Marathon

Time:  7:18:45

This is a technical trail race.  It’s the last 26.2 miles of the course for the Superior Sawtooth 100.  What made it particularly difficult for me if that it was literally my first run in more than 12 weeks.  Earlier in the summer, I had back surgery, and I wasn’t allowed to run while I was recovering.  I took up race-walking so I could still do marathons.  I had been doing tons of walking, but no running.  I could walk fast on a road course, but not on technical trails.  On race day, I did a mix of about 40% running and 60% walking, after doing no running in training.

Race:  2026 Icefjord Midnight Marathon

Time:  6:51:37

This race was about one third trails and two third roads.  The trail sections were over uneven rocky terrain with some steep climbs.  Here’s what the trails looked like:

The best runners could actually run these trails, but the best I could manage was to hike those sections.  Even the road portions were difficult.  The biggest hills were on the road sections, and I needed to take walking breaks.

Race:  2026 Jackal Trail Marathon

Time:  6:45:35

This was a trail race.  It was on the same trails as the Backass Jackal Trail Marathon.  I’m always slow on trails, but this race was tough because of the heat and humidity.  The heat index reached 103 by the time I finished.  It was the first day of the Jackal series, but I couldn’t claim to have fresh legs.  Just six days earlier, I ran a 24-hour race in hot humid conditions.

Race:  2025 Backass Jackal Trail Marathon

Time:  6:45:20

This was the second day of the 2025 Jackal Marathons series.  I had tired legs from the day before, and it was the second consecutive day that the heat index climbed above 100 degrees while I was still running.

Race:  2025 Jackal Trail Marathon

Time:  6:27:53

This was the first day of the Jackal Marathon series, so I had fresh legs, but I struggled with the trails and with the extreme heat and humidity.  Like every race of the series that year, the heat index was above 100 degrees.

Race:  2001 Pike’s Peak Marathon

Time:  6:23:07

Several things make this race difficult.  First, the elevation ranges from about 6,300 feet at the start to 14,100 feet at the summit.  In the first half of the race, the air gets thinner and thinner.  In the second half, you’re already intensely out of breath, and it’s hard to catch your breath until you’re done.  Second, the climb is steep.  The average grade is more than 10%.  That’s just an average.  Some parts are close to level, but other parts are much steeper.  Descending isn’t any picnic either.  The steep descent beats up your legs.  Finally, it’s a trail race.  At the lower elevations, it’s dirt or gravel.  Above the tree line, it’s rocky.

I don’t live in the mountains.  I trained for the climbing by doing long treadmill workouts, setting the incline as steep as 15%.  I couldn’t train for the thin air.  I live at a lower elevation, and I didn’t arrive in Colorado until the day before the race.

Race:  2015 Eugene Curnow Trail Marathon

Time:  5:56:11

Technically, this was my 11th slowest marathon.  I skipped one race, because it was a race where I was walking with friends and not caring at all about my time.  In this race, I was doing my best.

This race was on technical trails.  Different sections of the course were challenging in different ways.  Making things worse, I was injured.  I was running this race with a groin strain in my right leg.  It was painful taking big steps uphill, and it was painful descending.  I had to fight like mad to keep my time under six hours.

Race Report: 2026 Native Jackal Trail Marathon

On June 17, I ran the Native Jackal Trail Marathon.  This was the last of the Jackal Marathons.  The first four marathons in this series all have the potential to be difficult, depending on the weather.  This one is much tougher.  This race can make you cry.

The course was 10 laps of a loop through Chickasaw State Park.  The loop is about 40 percent road and 60 percent trail.  The road portion includes a long gradual hill that most people have to walk.  The trail portion includes four steep climbs.

The loop is advertised as 2.65 miles.  I suspect it’s longer.  Maybe it doesn’t matter.  The difficulty can’t really be measured in miles.  All I knew for sure is this race has much more elevation change than the other ones.

My previous impression of this race was definitely influenced by the fact that the heat index got up to 109 degrees last year.  Also, I was constantly tormented by deer flies.  Last year, I had multiple bites on each lap.  This year, I had a better experience.

This race venue was the farthest from my hotel in Jackson.  It was a 40-minute drive.  This race also had the latest start time.  It didn’t start until 8:30 AM.

Fifteen runners signed up to do all five races.  All 15 finished the first four and were at the start for day five.  All 15 of us finished.

People have wondered why this race starts so much later than the others.  The park opens at 7:00, so we’re not waiting for the park to open.  Personally, I think it’s so we all have time to reflect on whatever poor life choices led us to be here.

I was pleased to see that it didn’t rain overnight.  We didn’t have to contend with muddy trails.  That was a relief.

When I arrived at the race venue, the temperature was 67 degrees.  By the time the race started, it had cooled off to 66.  That’s much cooler than I was expecting.  There was also a nice cool breeze.  That gave me hope that I could keep up a good pace in the early laps.

The forecast high was 91, with a heat index of 98.  Because of the later start, I knew I would still have a few laps to go when we reached the hottest temperature of the day.  It wasn’t as hot as last year, but it still got pretty hot.

The time limit was 8:30.  Last year, it took me 8:17.  So far, I had been slower this year in every race of this series.  I didn’t want to be slower in this one.  I knew the time limit was just a guideline, but I really didn’t want to be on the course after 5 PM.  I also didn’t want people to be waiting for me to finish.

The start/finish area was at one end of a parking lot.  As we left the parking lot, we ran up a short hill.  I always had to walk that.  After coming back downhill, we had about a quarter-mile of mixed terrain.  I usually made good progress there.

Next, we got onto another road.  We ran by one end of a lake and then started a long gradual climb.  I could run some of it, but I always had to walk most of it.

After reaching the top, we turned left and started running downhill, but only briefly.  Then we left the road to get onto the trail.  The rest of the loop was on a narrow trail with several steep climbs.

Each steep climb was eventually followed by a long gradual descent.  Those were the easiest places to run.

After the second steep climb, we descended all the way to lake level and came out next to the lake.

There were a few bridges, as well as two stream crossings without bridges.

The four steepest climbs were tiring, even though I was walking.  The last climb had logs built into it to form steps.  Last year, I tripped on one of the logs and tweaked my lower back.  This year, I was more careful about that.

The last part of the loop was a descent that finished with a set of steps, leading back down to the parking lot.

Each time I came into the parking lot, I had to do three things.  First, I needed to make sure my lap was recorded.  Next, I needed to reapply bug spray.  I did that every single lap, in hope that the deer flies would leave me alone.  Finally, I needed to refill my bottle.

The first time I entered the forest, I no longer felt the breeze.  Instead, I immediately felt the humidity.  It felt much warmer on the trails than it did out on the road.

It was much easier to avoid roots on this course.  On the climbs, the roots formed natural steps.  Most of the descents and flat sections had very few roots.  There were a few gnarly sections, but those roots were easy to see.

Having run on this course before, it only took one lap to reacquaint myself with the course.  On my first lap, I recognized all the major landmarks as I reached them.  By my second lap, I could remember what was coming.  Familiarity made the trail feel easier this year.

There were a few new features this year.  Recent storms had taken down some trees.  In a few places, we had to step over trees that were across the trail.

For the first few laps, I was on pace to finish in 7:30.  As it got warmer, my pace slowed, but not dramatically.

In my fourth lap, I tripped on a root and fell.  That was the first time I’ve fallen on this course.  I landed on a bed of pine needles.  I wasn’t hurt, but I scraped my elbow.

As it got hotter, I needed to do one more thing before starting each lap.  I had to put crushed ice in my hat.  I started doing that at the beginning of lap 5.  I also used some of the ice to clean the scrape on my elbow.

During my fifth lap, I had an awkward step with my left foot, and I turned my left ankle.  That caused me to go off the side of the trail.  I had to grab a tree to keep my balance.

I also turned that same ankle on day one.  I didn’t injure it, but after that, the uneven footing often made my ankle sore.

When I finished my fifth lap, I was half done with the race.  At this point, I was on pace for a time in the 7:30s, but subsequent laps were a little slower.

I was never bitten by any flies.  Maybe my bug spray was working.  Maybe the flies just weren’t as bad this year.  I talked to other runners who also weren’t getting bit.  I took no chances.  I continued to reapply bug spray every lap.

For a couple laps, I was the last runner on the course.  Then I caught up to Mike, who was running his 500th marathon.  I ran the last three laps with Mike, which made them seem easier.

With three laps to go, it was obvious I would beat my time from last year.  After thinking about it some more, I realized it was also obvious I would finish in less than eight hours.  That took the pressure off.

Running with Mike in the last few laps, I relaxed a little.  I didn’t work as hard to run everywhere I could.  We still ran the easy descents, but we walked some sections that we probably could have run.

Before we finished, it had warmed up about 25 degrees.  Somehow, it didn’t bother me too much.  I had still one other thing I could do to try to cool myself.  I had a cooling bandana that was soaking in ice water.  It’s effective in cooling me down, but only until my body heat warms it up.  Since its effect is only temporary, I waited until the last lap before putting it on.  I did the same thing in Tuesday’s race.

The bandana felt good when the wind was hitting it.  By the time we reached the trail section of the course, the bandana was already warming up.  After that, it was just extra weight.

On our last lap, I was counting down the remaining steep hills.  When we were on the last hill, Mike said he was going to hang back.  I continued at my own pace.  When I finished, I told everyone Mike was coming.  They were all waiting to congratulate him on finishing his 500th marathon.

I finished in 7:50:01.  I was 27 minutes faster than last year.  In addition to my medal, I received a belt buckle for running all five Jackal marathons.  I’ve done that twice now.

There was still one other runner on the course, but he finished a few minutes after Mike.  Later, several of us went to dinner together in Jackson.

Would I do this series again?  Only if my fitness improves.  I need to be confident that I won’t be bumping up against time limits.  If I do return, I would probably wait until the last minute to sign up.  I would want to know what the weather was going to be like. 

Race statistics:

Distance:  26.2 miles

Time:  7:50:01

Average Pace:  17:56 per mile

First Half:  3:48:01

Second Half:  4:02:00

Marathons/Ultras in 2026:  20

Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:  592

Jackal Marathons:  10