This morning, I race-walked the Mankato Marathon. I’ve done this race before, but this year it
was one of the quarterly reunions of the 50 States Marathon Club. This was the first time the club has held a
reunion in Minnesota, so I didn’t want to miss it.
I ran this race three years ago, so I knew what the course is
like. The early miles are rolling, with
one big hill at five miles. In the
second half, there’s a long downhill section, as the course descends into the
Minnesota River valley. Finally, the
late miles are relatively flat.
Before each race, I ask myself, “Should I run this or walk
this?” I thought running the long
downhill section would be too hard on my back, so I walked this one.
I drove to Mankato on Saturday. I stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn, which is
near the finish line. It’s also close to
where I could catch a bus to the start.
After checking in, I drove to the campus of Mankato State University –
Mankato to pick up my race packet.
After returning to the hotel to organize my clothes for the
race, I returned to the MSU campus to attend the 50 States Marathon Club
reunion meeting. One of the things they
do at these meetings is to recognize members who have finished marathons in all
50 states. This was the first reunion
I’ve attended since finishing my second circuit of 50 states in December of
2015, so I was one of the honorees.
I didn’t have to go far to find my pre-race pizza. There was a restaurant inside the hotel with
brick oven pizza.
I woke up too early, but that’s OK, because I was also able
to get to bed early. I got about six and
a half hours sleep, which is better than average for the night before a race.
There were buses to the start, which left between 6:00 and
7:05. I left the hotel just after 6:00,
and I was on a bus by 6:15. Within
minutes of getting dropped off in the start area, I saw four other members of
the 50 States Marathon Club. One asked
if there were any coffee shops nearby. I
knew there was a Caribou Coffee across the street, so the five of us walked
over there. When we got there, we
spotted more 50 staters who were already there.
At 7:30, we walked back to the start area. By then, I had taken off my warm-up pants and
prepared my gear bag. We watched the start
of the 10K race, and then I checked my gear bag and made a last minute bathroom
stop before lining up.
It was 46 degrees at the start, but there wasn’t much wind. That’s a big contrast with three years ago,
when strong winds made the start intolerably cold. It was forecast to get into the low 60s by
the time I finished. I started the race
wearing gloves and a Tyvek jacket, knowing I could take them off when I warmed
up.
I saw a 5:00 pace group.
I also saw a 2:30 pace group for the half marathon, which is the same
average pace. I lined up between
them. My PR was 5:03, so starting on
pace for five hours was ambitious but not totally unreasonable.
After leaving the parking lot and making a few turns, we
eventually headed south on Monks Avenue.
This was the beginning of a large loop.
Even with the jacket and gloves, I was cold for the first two or three
miles.
My first two miles were 11:11 and 11:15. That’s faster than a five hour pace, but I
was right with the 2:30 pace group for the half marathon. I figured staying with them would keep me
from going out at a crazy fast pace. The
5:00 pace group for the marathon was right behind us.
After about three miles, the marathoners turned left, while
the half marathoners turned right. I
could no longer follow the 2:30 pace group for the half marathon, but I heard
the 5:00 group right behind me.
After the turn, we were on a bike path. Without the half marathoners, but race was
just the right size. There were enough
runners around me that I wasn’t by myself, but the course didn’t feel crowded.
Soon, I warmed up enough to take off my gloves. I kept the jacket on for a few more miles.
The fifth mile was all downhill. Here, the 5:00 pace group moved past me. They could speed on running downhill, but I
found this hill to be uncomfortably steep.
If anything, I slowed down.
The sixth mile was all uphill. This was the toughest hill on the
course. The 5:00 group was taking
walking breaks, which allowed me to gradually gain ground on them. I caught them right at the top of the hill. I was getting warm going up the hill, so I
finally took off my jacket and tied it around my waist.
In these early miles, I continued to average about 11:15 per
mile. At one point, I heard the pace
leader tell his group they were about a minute ahead of schedule. Starting at a five hour pace was
ambitious. Being ahead of that pace was
reckless.
I still have blisters from the Amsterdam Marathon. The hills aggravated a blister on the heel of
my left foot.
Although the biggest hill was behind us, there were still
smaller hills. On another downgrade that
was uncomfortably steep, I once again fell behind the group. My pace going up and down hills didn’t vary
as much as theirs did. I caught them
going uphill, when they took another walking break. It was a long enough walking break that I
moved ahead of them. We were playing
leapfrog.
At this point, we were about as far from the city center as
we would get. We were running between cornfields. There were also a few bends in the road, and
the turns were slightly banked. The
slanted road surface made the blister pain spread around the side of my left
heel.
For a couple miles, I was out ahead of the 5:00 group. Just as they caught up to me, Ken, the pace
leader, announced it was time for a walking break. Then I moved ahead of them. This pattern repeated for the next few miles.
Around 10 miles, we entered a residential neighborhood, and
there was a large cluster of people cheering.
I’m not sure if this was an organized “cheer squad,” or if several local
residents were all watching for friends at the same spot. Going through here, the cheering was actually
loud. It was like a miniature version of
the Wellesley scream tunnel.
The next time the 5:00 group caught up to me, I said, “Since
you caught up to me, it’s probably time for a walking break.” One of the runners said, “We walk when Ken
says it’s time to walk.” On cue, Ken
said, “We’re going a little fast. Let’s
take a walking break.” After that, I
moved ahead of them and didn’t see them again for several miles.
For a five hour marathon, I needed to average 11:27 per
mile. So far, every mile had been faster
than that. Then, mile 12 was 11:38. That made me wonder if I could sustain my
pace in the second half. The next mile,
however, was faster.
I reached the halfway mark in 2:27:47. That was a new half marathon PR by 90
seconds. I set the old PR at the halfway
mark of the Amsterdam Marathon. In that
race, I fully expected to crash and burn in the second half. I slowed down by about five minutes, but I
still felt strong until the last mile.
In this race, I expected to slow down, but only by about four or miles
minutes. I thought I had a chance to
break five hours. At worst, I assumed I’d
still break 5:03, which would be a new PR.
Soon, we turned onto Monks Avenue for the second time. Emboldened by my fast halfway split, I sped
up to have my fastest mile of the race.
I walked the 14th mile in 10:50.
Then I began to deteriorate. Mile
15 was 12 minutes. That was by far my
slowest so far.
By now, I was getting warm.
The temperature was probably in the 50s, but the sun was out, and that
makes a big difference.
We eventually reached the intersection where the half
marathoners left us earlier. Now it was
our turn to turn right. The 16 mile sign was right at the corner. I walked that mile in 11:41. It wasn’t as slow as the previous mile, but the
trend was unmistakable. I was slowing
down. To encourage myself, I reminded
myself that I was still ahead of the 5:00 group. They were far enough behind me that I couldn’t
hear them.
I was beginning the fastest part of the course. The next mile would be flat, but then I would
begin a long downhill section. I couldn’t
remember if the grade was steep or gradual.
If it was gradual, I would probably speed up. At the very least, it would feel easier. If it was too steep, I would be
uncomfortable, and I might actually slow down.
The next mile took 11:39. That was slightly faster than the previous
mile, but still not encouraging. I
looked forward to the downhill section.
I needed it to get back on pace.
About halfway through the 18th mile, I reached the beginning
of the downhill section. Thankfully, the
grade was gradual. I thought I was
picking up the pace a little. That was
wishful thinking. When I reached the
next mile marker, I was distressed to see that I slowed to 11:49, even in a downhill
mile. I was still descending, but I
realized I would never see another 11:27 mile.
Now it was a question of limiting the damage. I still had a slim chance of breaking five
hours if I could get back to an average of about 11:40. Even at my current pace, I had a good chance
of breaking my PR of 5:03:08.
We left the road we were on and turned onto a paved
path. At first, we were running
alongside a highway. The grade wasn’t
uniform, but there was still.an unmistakable downhill trend. I saw a sign indicating steep grades
ahead. I knew they were steep
downgrades. The first one was
uncomfortable, but short. At the bottom
of the hill, I reached the 19 mile sign.
In another downhill mile, I slowed to 12:10.
I knew at this point I had no chance of breaking five
hours. I still clinged to hopes of
breaking 5:03, but I couldn’t afford to keep slowing down.
The 5:00 group finally caught up to me. One runner said, “We caught ya.” I said, “I knew you would. I’m deteriorating.” Imploding would have been a better description. I wanted to pick up my pace to stay with
them. I couldn’t. They passed me like I was standing still.
When I’m walking with a smooth stride, I sometimes feel like
I have wheels, and I roll over the pavement.
Now the wheels were coming off. I
still had seven miles to go, and I knew it would be a struggle. I was crashing and burning. I was fatigued, my legs were stiff and sore,
my blisters were painful, and I was hot.
The path we were on entered the forest. This was the most scenic part of the
course. I no longer saw the highway, and
I couldn’t even hear the cars. Instead, I
sometimes heard water from a nearby stream.
This section of the course was a nature walk.
Mile 20 took 12:17.
Each mile was slower than the one before, and I knew that trend would continue. At my present pace, I wouldn’t even break
5:03. At best, I might be 5:04 or 5:05,
and that’s only if I didn’t continue to slow down.
I tried to encourage myself by reminding myself that only a
few months ago, I didn’t know if I could walk fast enough to do a 5:30
marathon. That’s an average pace of
12:35. So far, every mile had been
faster than that. Right on cue, I slowed
to 12:35 in the next mile.
Now I just wanted to finish.
I felt dejected that I wouldn’t set a PR in this race. Then I remembered that I already set a half
marathon PR. I kept alive my streak of
setting PRs for either the marathon or half marathon in every race I
walked. That would have to be enough,
because the last five miles were going to be ugly.
I had a love/hate relationship with the mile markers. On one hand, each time I saw one, I knew I
was one mile closer to the finish line.
On the other hand, I hated seeing the way my mile times were
deteriorating.
I didn’t want to completely throw in the towel. Subconsciously, I might be giving up, but
consciously, I was really trying to maintain my pace. I set a goal of keeping my remaining mile
times under 13 minutes. Mile 22 was 12:45. That was a good start.
We were getting close to the downtown area. Then we reached a street with runners going
both ways. The runners on the other side
of the street were in the last mile of the race. To get to where they were, we had to cross under
the highway and do a three mile loop.
As I started the loop, nothing looked familiar. Up until now, I recognized most of the
course. Now I felt like I was doing it
for the first time. In mile 23, I sped up
to 12:30. That encouraged me to pick up
my effort. I once gain briefly felt like
I was I was rolling over the road.
Unfortunately, I was now rolling on a flat tire. My blisters really hurt. I was actually rolling on two flat
tires. My right foot hurt almost as much
as the left foot.
If mile 23 was encouraging, mile 24 was the last nail in the
coffin. I slowed to 13:23. So much for
keeping them all under 13 minutes.
Eventually we came alongside the Minnesota River. Suddenly, the route looked familiar
again. I remembered what the rest of the
course looked like. I also enjoyed the
river views. Neither of these helped me
pick up the pace, but they both made it easier to keep moving.
Mile 25 took 13:29. I
wanted to tell myself to keep the last full mile under 13:30, but I thought
that would only lead to disappointment.
I focused on finishing.
I got back onto the street with two-way traffic. I didn’t see anyone going the other
direction. Was I really that close to
the back of the race? There was a Burger
King on the corner. Another runner
thought it was unfair that we had to go by Burger King twice. I think it was making her hungry.
As I made the turn onto Front Street, a volunteer said we
were getting closer, adding that there were several blocks to go. I was glad he didn’t say “almost there.” Soon I saw the 26 mile sign. Looking farther ahead, I could see the finish
line. I really was almost there. I was pleasantly surprised to see that mile 26
took 13:22. I actually sped up. I pressed on and finished in 5:09:24. After having high hopes of breaking five
hours, that seemed really disappointing, but it’s still my second fastest time race-walking
a marathon.
After crossing the line, I received my finisher medal and
T-shirt. They’re old school when it
comes to T-shirts. You have to earn it.
Post-race food included bagels, popcorn, pretzels, gummies
with vitamins, and chocolate milk. I
think they also had bananas, yogurt, water, and Gatorade. I needed the food. I didn’t have any breakfast, and my only food
during the race was one gel packet.
I continued through the finish area to get my gear bag. Then I headed to the post-race part area. My race bib had a tear-off tag for a free
beer. I went to Pub 500 to redeem
it. As I left the pub, I saw two other
50 staters sitting on the patio. I
joined them, and while we talked, we kept seeing other 50 staters who had just
finished. I’m sure I was there for at
least an hour before walking back to the hotel.
My fast time last week at the Amsterdam Marathon made me
overconfident. My implosion in this race
brought me back to earth. I still think
I have it in me to walk a marathon in five hours, but it’s going to take a good
race and smart pacing. Doing the first
half in 2:27 probably isn’t going to work.
I’m a little disappointed with my performance, but I still
enjoyed the race. It was nice seeing so
many friends.
Race Statistics
Distance: 26.2 miles
Time: 5:09:24
Average Pace: 11:48
Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:
343
Minnesota Marathons/Ultras:
46
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