Race Report: 2017 Flying Monkey Marathon

On November 19, I race-walked the Harpeth Hills Flying Monkey Marathon.  This was my third straight Monkey.  I ran it the first two times, but this year I decided to walk it.  This is an extremely hilly course, and I knew running down those hills would be too hard on my back.  Walking it was challenging, but easier on my body.

This race is run on a notoriously hilly road loop through Percy Warner Park in Nashville, TN.  The course forces you to run every hill in both directions.  Trent, the race director, is fond of saying, “Running is stupid.”  The runners are fond of saying, “I hate Trent.”  All kidding aside, this is race with a sadistic sense of humor.  It’s for runners who want to challenge themselves, while having fun and enjoying the scenery.

Every year there’s a different them.  The theme of this year’s race was 12 Monkeys.

I’ve done eight other marathons since my back surgery in June, but they were all races that I signed up for before my back injury.  Registration for this race was in August.  I only had one week to enter the lottery.  I knew I wouldn’t be able to run something this hilly.  It would be way too hard on my back.  I put my fate in the hands of the Monkey Gods, knowing I would have to walk the race.  Later that month, I got the bad news from Trent:

“Today is not your lucky day.  Today is, in fact, a bad bad day for you. I am sorry.  We have conducted the lottery, and you were selected to run. Yep. You are in. Words cannot express how sorry I am for you.  Or how sorry you will be.  Anyhow, looks like you are in.  Good luck with that.  You will most certainly regret it.  I'll be in touch.”

I flew to Nashville on Friday.  The first two times I did this race, I stayed at a Hampton Inn in the Bellevue neighborhood, which is west of the park.  This year, I decided to switch things up and stay at a hotel in Brentwood, which is east of the park.  It was a shorter drive from the airport, but a longer drive to get to the race.

After checking into my hotel, I drove to the Gordon JCC for packet pickup.  The first time I did this race, it was my 300th marathon or ultra, so Trent gave me bib number 300.  He gives returning runners the save bib number each year, so I’ve had number 300 ever since.  By chance, this year’s race was my 300th marathon, excluding ultras.  I didn’t plan that.  It’s something I didn’t realize until September.

I’ve always been impressed with the race T-shirts.  Everyone gets a short sleeved shirt with the race theme and a long sleeve shirt that’s customized with their monkey nickname and their previous monkey kills. My monkey nickname this year was “Walking Monkey,” and I had two monkey kills.

Staying in Brentwood gave me some new restaurant options.  I found some good brick oven pizza just a few blocks away from my hotel.

The race started at 8:00, but they had an early start at 7:00 for people needing more time.  I had mixed feelings.  If I took the early start, I’d have a better chance of seeing friends after the race.  On the other hand, I would have to get up earlier, and it would be colder.  I woke up at 2 AM and couldn’t get back to sleep.  That made the decision easier.  I arrived early and took the early start.

It was 41 degrees when I arrived at Percy Warner Park, but the temperature was still dropping. There was also enough wind to make it feel colder.  I wore my signature cheetah tights, hat, and arm warmers.  It’s the first time I’ve race-walked wearing tights, so I didn’t know how that would feel.  I just knew I would be too cold without them.  It was supposed to eventually warm up, but only into the mid-40s. Meanwhile, the wind was supposed to pick up.  I made a last minute decision to start the race wearing a Tyvek jacket.  As usual, I expected to take it off after I warmed up.

Before we started, Trent made some pre-race announcements.  He reminded us that the aid stations wouldn’t be up and running until 8:00.  I was prepared for that.  He also told us there wouldn’t be any course marshals for the first hour.  That meant we had to know where to turn.  I wasn’t prepared for that.

The first time I did this race, I was injured, and it took me 5:40 to run the course.  My goal this year was to see if I could beat that time walking.  I expected to finish somewhere between 5:15 and 5:30.  That’s slower than most people taking the regular start, but faster than most people taking the early start.  I needed to make sure I wasn’t in the lead in the early miles.  I wanted to follow people who knew the course.

We start on grass before getting to the road.  After making the first turn, there were only two runners ahead of me.  I work hard to keep them in sight.  I followed them onto the road and started climbing the first hill.  The road seemed more narrow than I remembered.  There was a good reason for that.

The two guys in the lead were already pretty far up the hill when I saw them look back at me.  They might have been unsure if they were going the right way and wanted to know if others were following.

I heard some shouting behind me.  Then my friend Diane shouted my name loudly. I looked back.  The runners behind me were turning around and going back.  We took the wrong turn.  I shouted to the runners ahead of me, but they had already disappeared around a bend.  I don’t know if they heard me.

I hurried back down the hill and followed everyone onto the correct road.  I was already pretty far up that hill before I turned around.  I probably lost about two minutes.  If I was aiming for a PR in this race, I would have been distressed about it, but you can’t PR at Monkey.  I put it out of my mind and kept walking.  I gradually moved up through the group of early starters, but there were now plenty of people to follow when we reached the next turn.

Soon we began the first long hill.  It’s one of the biggest hills on the course.  By the top, I was getting warm, but I kept my jacket on.

I was curious to know how the first downhill would feel.  I’ve run this course twice, but I’ve never walked it before.  It’s non-stop hills, but I couldn’t remember how steep the grades are.  On a gentle grade, I can walk faster.  On a steep downgrade, it’s tough to go fast and maintain a walking gait.  I sometimes have to slow down to keep from “lifting.”  I was relieved to discover that the first downhill section was nice and gentle.

Midway through the third mile, we reached a short but steep downhill.  I remembered this as the steepest hill on the course.  Here, I had to slow down going down the hill.  Fortunately, it’s also the shortest hill on the course.

Trent has mile markers, but they should be viewed as approximate.  When I reached the three mile sign, my watch read 33:56.  That seemed impossibly fast.  It would have been plausible without the wrong turn.  Knowing I had lost some time, I didn’t trust it too much.  Over the next few miles, I paid attention to my splits. You can’t tell much from one, but the trend was clear.  I was averaging slightly better than 12 minutes per mile.  That’s not as fast as my best races, but it’s a pretty good pace for this course.

Soon, I reached another long uphill section.  This one made me work up a sweat, so I took off my jacket.

Trent usually has a number of amusing signs placed by the side of the road.  Last year, people were stealing the signs, so this year he tied all the mile markers to trees.  There were a few other signs, but not as many as usual.

 I had a camera with me to take pictures of the signs.  I also planned to take a few pictures of the course.  After a few miles, I got into a comfortable rhythm and realized I could walk this course faster than I previously thought.  After that, I didn’t want to stop.

On one of the downhill sections, I felt one of my insoles slipping sideways under my foot.  I considered stopping at the next aid station to take off my shoe and fix it.  I’m glad I didn’t.  After that aid station, there was a longer downhill section.  I expected my insole to get worse, but instead it seemed to slide back into place.

We were getting spread out, so I couldn’t always see someone in front of me.  Between six and seven miles, I reached another road and wasn’t sure which way to turn.  I stopped and looked back.  I couldn’t see any runners behind me either.  I started to panic.  Did I make another wrong turn?  I didn’t want to backtrack all the way to the previous turn.

After a few more seconds, I saw a group of runners behind me.  I was still on course.  A volunteer who was just arriving was able to tell me which way to go.

On another downhill section, I felt my insole slipping again.  This time it slipped forward in my shoe.  This was a long hill. By the time I reached the bottom, my insole had slipped about two inches.  It folded under my foot.  This wasn’t going to slip back into place. I did my best to tune out the discomfort.

I expected it to get warmer eventually, but it still felt cold.  I was noticing more wind, and my hands and arms were getting cold.  The rest of me felt fine.  In fact, I could feel sweat on my back, legs, and under my hat.  My fingers, however, felt painfully cold.  My only option was to put on my jacket, but then I’d be sweating like crazy.  I had to live with cold hands and arms until it warmed up.

One of the major junctions on the course was next to the Percy Warner Golf Course.  This area was exposed and I really felt the wind.  As we passed the aid station, we made a sharp turn and started climbing a long hill.  I hoped climbing the hill would warm me up.  It helped a little, but my hands were still cold.

After about 11 miles, I started to notice the sun emerging from behind the clouds.  I expected the temperature to finally start climbing.  Also, direct sunlight makes it feel warmer.  I started to get more comfortable, but I wondered if I would go from being cold to being hot.

I was also about 11 miles into the race when the leader passed me.  Runners taking the regular start had to make up an hour to catch us on the road.  Our finish times would take that into account.  As more runners caught up, I no longer had to worry about having other runners to follow.  By now that really wasn’t an issue.  All the turns had course marshals now.  Still, I hate being alone on the road.

I reached the halfway mark in 2:34:46.  That was faster than I expected.  I was on pace to break 5:10, but I expected to slow down in the second half.  It seemed like I started too fast.  I was afraid the hills would eventually wear me down.  Also, I expected to get too hot.

At 15 miles, I realized my pace for the previous five miles had been faster than my pace over the first 10 miles.  That surprised me, since I thought I took the first 10 miles too fast.  I wondered if it was actually possible to walk the second half faster than the first half.  I had never walked negative splits in a race.  When I run a marathon, I usually start too fast.  I’m even worse at pacing when I walk.

I had 11.2 miles to go.  That made me realize I wasn’t out of the woods yet.  The backbone of this course is an 11.2 mile loop through the park.  By itself, it’s considered to be a difficult run.  I still had the equivalent of one full loop to go.

In the second half of the race, I started to recognize more and more of the aid stations. 
I was approaching them from the opposite direction now.  Everything that was uphill in the first half was downhill now.  Everything that was downhill in the first half was uphill now.  You might say this race is all about Karma.  When you go up a hill, you’re later rewarded with an equal downhill.  When you go down a hill, you’re later punished with an equal uphill.

At one point, the road made a junction with another road, and I saw a big group of runners coming down a hill.  It was obvious that they took the regular start.  I wasn’t sure if I should turn right or left, so I asked a volunteer.  She said, “You go up the hill.”  I replied, “Of course.”

When I went by the golf course again, I once again regretted how exposed it was.  This time instead of getting cold from exposure to the wind, I got hot from exposure to the sun.  It didn’t help that this was the start of a long climb.

Every mile I checked my pace.  I was consistently logging miles that were 12 minutes or faster.  As long as I kept doing that, I had a decent shot at negative splits.  That was my goal now.  I tried to power up the hills without slowing down.  I tried to gain time on the downhills.

At 20 miles, I noticed my pace over the previous five miles was once again faster than it was for the first 10 miles.  A negative splits race was within my grasp.  Now I was on a mission.

The last major obstacle came with just under three miles to go.  It was that same short but steep hill that was uncomfortable going down.  Now I had to climb it.  It was tiring, and it made me hot.  More importantly, it slowed me down more than any other hill.  Fortunately, it wasn’t long.

Whenever I was about to crest a hill, I felt myself shift into a faster gait.  I usually did it without thinking.  This time, I had to make a conscious effort.  It took time, but I eventually got back to my previous pace.  I was hot now, but with less than three miles to go, I could tough it out.

I was climbing another hill when I saw a yellow sign in the distance.  It had to be the 24 miles sign.  Often in a race, I’ll compare the remaining distance to a course that I train on.  One of my favorite routes for walking is a 1.1 mile loop through my neighborhood.  I just had to do it twice.  At the sign, I checked my watch.  I clocked another 12 minute mile.  Just past the hill there was an aid station.  I knew where I was.  I was about to make a left turn and begin a long gradual downhill section.  The last 2.2 miles were mostly downhill.  I had it.

I’ve done this race twice before.  Both times I found this downhill section to be painful.  My quads were sore and I actually slowed down going down this hill.  Not this time.  I had no soreness at all.  That’s a big difference between walking and running.  I still left good going downhill.

I sped up noticeably in the next mile.  Then I reached another aid station.  They asked if I wanted water or Sword.  I jokingly asked if they had beer.  I got an unexpected answer.  “We got Fireball.”  Best aid station ever.  That gave me the fire in my belly I needed to race through that last mile.

I left the road and crossed the grass again to get to the finish line.  For the last five miles I was targeting a 5:07 finish.  I finished in 5:05:55.  I walked negative splits by almost four minutes.  It’s worth noting that my wrong turn added about two minutes to my time for the first mile.  Even if you subtract two minutes from my first half, I still had negative splits!

The finisher medal was the usual Flying Monkey logo, but also incorporated the 12 Monkeys design.  With it, we also received a beer cup from Yazoo Brewing.  In addition to the Yazoo logo, the cup also had the 12 Monkeys artwork, so they were obviously custom-ordered for this race.

There was a huge spread of post-race food.  Trent always makes several pumpkin pies.  In addition, each runner brought some food.  There were also hot entries that must have been made by the volunteers.  I didn’t go through the entire buffet line.  I just had pizza, pumpkin pie, and some cookies.  There was also chocolate milk and a beer garden with Yazoo beer.

I always thought Trent said “Running is stupid” just to taunt us.  Now I realize he’s right.  Two years ago I ran this course in 5:40.  This year I walked it in 5:05.  When I’ve run this course, the downhill miles at the end were painful.  This year they weren’t.  Clearly, on this course at least, walking is much smarter than running.

When I finally took off my shoes, I saw the insole in my right shoe slid forward and folded under my foot.  Hopefully it’s not permanently creased.  The insole in my left shoe shifted sideways.  I expected to have horrible blisters.  I have a new blister on my right heal, but it’s not as bad as I expected.  My left foot feels fine.

I’m sure most of the runners have sore quads this morning from running up and down all those hills.  My quads aren’t sore at all, although I’ve got some soreness in my glutes.

Race Statistics

Distance:  26.2 miles

Time:  5:05:55

Average Pace:   11:41

Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:  345

Monkey Kills:  3