On September 25, I ran the Heartland Marathon. This race starts and finishes in Omaha, NE, but the majority of the race is in Council Bluffs, IA. I’ve never run this race before, but I’ve run the Omaha Marathon a few times, including one year when that race also went through Council Bluffs.
A lot has happened since
my last marathon. I didn’t know it at
the time, but when I ran the Tallinn Marathon two weeks ago, I was in the early
stages of a covid-19 infection. My only
symptom at the time was a mild sore throat, but I started to develop a cough
the day I flew home. The next day, I got
tested, and it came back positive. I
spent the next several days isolating at home, which isn’t conducive to
training. I tested negative a week after
getting home. Since then, I’ve been
running every other day, but I still feel out of shape. It’s been a long time since I’ve done any consistent
training.
Because of my covid-19
infection, I had to postpone treatment for a synovial cyst that’s contributing
to my sciatica. I also had to postpone my
physical therapy. During the week I was
isolating, the condition of my back got worse.
I was spending most of the day sitting, which is the worst thing for my
back. In the last week, I’ve managed to
spend at least an hour a day walking or running. As a result, walking is getting much more
comfortable.
In the past, I always
drove to Omaha. This year, I took a plane. It would’ve been a six-hour drive, and long
drives are too uncomfortable right now. Instead,
I was on the plane for just over an hour.
Even that was enough to have me feeling uncomfortable as I walked off
the plane.
I stayed at Homewood
Suites, which is just north of the downtown area. It was about a mile from where the race
starts and finishes, and it was also within walking distance of packet pickup
and downtown restaurants. I could’ve got
by without a rental car, but I checked for last-minute deals. On Friday, I saw that Avis had a good rate
that was only available to AARP members.
Renting a car was an extra expense, but it didn’t cost too much, and
having a car came in handy on race day.
When I left the airport,
it was 10:30 AM. I didn’t think I’d be
able to check into my room that early, but I was planning to have lunch downtown,
and the restaurants there don’t have parking.
I parked the car at the hotel, with the intention of leaving my bags in
the trunk until a room was ready. I was
pleasantly surprised to find out that I could get into a room right away. After checking in, I went to lunch.
I had lunch at a sports
bar called the Old Mattress Factory. The
neighborhood just south of my hotel has so many sports bars that you couldn’t
throw a stone without hitting one.
Packet pickup was at
Courtyard by Marriott, which was the host hotel. After lunch, I went to Courtyard to pick up
my race packet. The race T-shirt had a
design that featured the downtown skyline, with the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge
in the background. This bridge over the
Missouri River was the signature landmark on the course. We would cross it four times during the
marathon.
On my way back to the
hotel, I stopped at a pastry shop to buy something for my pre-race breakfast.
During the first year of
the pandemic, I was fairly cautious.
When I traveled, I avoided crowds.
I ate dinner alone, preferable at a restaurant with outdoor seating. In the last year, I got more comfortable
dining in restaurants and getting together with friends. Catching covid-19 on my last trip made me realize
I was getting too complacent. On this
trip, I kept to myself as much as possible.
Instead of group dinners, I went back to dining alone. Instead of going sightseeing, I spent most of
the afternoon in my hotel room, watching football.
I got outside briefly to
explore the neighborhood just north of my hotel. It’s an industrial area, but it also has an
artsy flair. Here’s an example.
I had dinner at another
sports bar. This one was just down the
street from my hotel. I had a pizza that
wasn’t very good, but was way too big. I
should’ve left half of it, but I’ve never been very good at walking away from
food that I’ve paid for. I finished it,
but I regretted it later.
When I went to bed, I
still felt full. For half the night, my
sleep was restless. Then my metabolism
revved up and I got hot. I threw off the
blanket, but I was still too hot to get back to sleep. I eventually felt more comfortable, but I
never got back to sleep. I was resting
in bed for the next few hours.
I finally got up a few
minutes before my alarm was due to go off.
Usually, on the morning of a race, I’ll switch into race mode, and suddenly
the lack of sleep doesn’t matter. Not
today. I did the things I needed to do
to get ready, but not with my usual ferocity.
I was dragging.
I made a cup of tea and
starting eating a large jelly donut I bought the day before. It was too much. I still felt full from dinner the night
before. This time, I had the sense to
only eat half of it. I didn’t want to
start the race feeling full.
The race started at
Miller’s Landing on the west bank of the Missouri River. It was about a mile from my hotel. I could’ve walked, but I would’ve need warm clothes
for before and after the race. The race
organizers didn’t provide any gear check.
There’s lots of parking near the start, so they assumed everyone would
drive and just leave their warm clothes in the car. That’s exactly what I did. That was the biggest advantage of having a rental
car. I was able to wait until 10 minutes
before the race before taking off my warm-up clothes.
The course was a 13.1
mile out-and-back that we ran twice. We
started out running south on the Riverfront Trail. I lined up between the 4:15 pace group and
the 4:30 pace group. A minute or two into
the race, I stopped to take a picture of the pedestrian bridge that we were
about to cross. A minute later, I
stopped again to see if I could get a better angle.
Each time I stopped, I
fell behind the 4:45 pace group. Then I’d
work hard to pass them and then catch up to the 4:30 group. The 4:15 group was right in front of the 4:30 group, so I easily caught them too.
The leader of the 4:15
group was named Eric. As we were on the
ramp up to the bridge, Eric explained to the group that he was taking the first
mile easy and would pick up the pace after the bridge. That made good sense to me. The bridge is the biggest hill on the
course. I found the pace to be fairly easy,
so I decided to stick with the group until they sped up to their pace. Then I’d have to see how it felt.
Once we reached the east
side of the river, we were in Council Bluffs, IA, where we would remain until we
crossed the bridge again, near the end of the first out-and-back.
Over the next few miles,
I found Eric’s pace to be surprisingly easy.
I was skeptical about holding this pace for the whole race, but it felt
fine in the early miles.
We followed the river
south for the next few miles. Then we
turned and started to work our way east until we reached the turnaround. We had the wind at our back. I made note of the fact that we would we
running into that wind on the way back.
The temperature at the
start was 54 degrees, but it was a sunny day, and it warmed up quickly. I remembered how quickly it warmed up on
Saturday. I expected the temperature to
reach 70 degrees before we finished. In
the late miles, having a headwind would probably help us with the heat.
When we reached the far
turnaround, we were one fourth done with the race. I checked my watch. We were actually about 30 seconds ahead of
schedule. If we kept up that pace, we
would finish in 4:13.
For the next two or three
miles, I didn’t notice the wind. By the
time we got back into the river valley, the headwind was much more noticeable. The same pace that felt easy earlier didn’t
feel easy with a headwind. I wasn’t
getting tired, but I could tell I was working harder.
With about a mile to go
in the first out-and-back, we started crossing the bridge for the second
time. The approach from this direction
was longer, but more gradual. When we
got far enough to see one of the supports, I stopped to take a picture. I told Eric I would catch up to him. I wasn’t sure if I would.
As I got a better view of
the bridge, I stopped again to get a better picture. I fell much farther behind Eric.
I could see Eric in the
distance, but I didn’t try to catch up until I was halfway across the bridge. As I started descending, I adjusted my gait
to take short rapid strides. I tried to
catch up on the downhill side of the bridge, but Eric was still way ahead of
me. With less than half a mile to go in
the first out-and-back, I continued to lift my effort. I gradually reeled him in, but it was hard
work.
When I reached the
halfway point, I saw we were now about a minute ahead of schedule. We were still on pace for about 4:13. By now, Eric was only about 30 feet ahead of
me. I caught up to him just before we
started climbing up to the bridge again.
When we reached the 14
mile mark, Eric said we just had 12 miles to go. I told him I preferred to think of it as being
3/4 done with bridges.
By now, nobody else was
still keeping up with Eric. It was just
the two of us. We spent the whole race
talking to each other, which made the miles pass more easily.
Keeping up with Eric got
much more difficult. I could do it, but
it was taking more and more effort. I
didn’t think I could keep up with him for the whole race, but I set an
intermediate goal of keeping up with him until the turnaround. If I fell behind after that, I would still
have a good chance of beating 4:20, which would still be faster than my last
race.
I had been drinking
Gatorade at the aid stations, but I still felt like I had a full stomach, and the
Gatorade wasn’t sitting well. I switched
to drinking water, in the hope that that wouldn’t make me feel as full. I was sweating noticeably now, so it was
important to take in whatever fluids I could.
We had about eight miles
to go when I tripped on something solid.
I didn’t see what it was, but we were running on a concrete sidewalk. I suspect one of the sections of concrete was
a little higher than the others, and I caught my left foot on it.
I lurched forward off
balance for the next few strides. I
managed to keep from falling, but my left leg absorbed a lot of impact. I immediately felt pain in the hamstring
tendon that’s been bothering me for most of the summer. Before today, it was improving. It was only in the last week that I could
finally run with a natural stride. Before
that, I had to force myself to run with a short stride and a rapid cadence.
Keeping up the same pace
was suddenly painful. I was afraid I
would have to slow down and abandon keeping up with Eric. I fought through the pain to maintain my
pace. I wanted to see if the pain would
increase, decrease, or stay the same as I continued running. We were about a mile and a half from the
turnaround. I tried to see if I could
keep up with Eric until the turn. Then I’d
re-evaluate.
It wasn’t easy or comfortable,
but I managed to keep up with Eric until the last turnaround. When we got there, we were still about a
minute ahead of schedule. I mentioned
that to Eric, and he said we would probably need to give that minute back when
we ran the bridge for the last time.
I wasn’t sure yet if the
pain in my left leg was diminishing, but it definitely wasn’t getting worse. When Eric asked me how I felt, I said, “the
same.” Then I explained why that was
good. The longer I felt the same, the
longer I had a chance of keeping up with him.
Coming back, we knew we
would have a headwind, but I didn’t really feel it until we got back to the
river valley. Before that, we had quite
a bit of shelter from nearby trees.
It was much hotter now. My stomach tolerated water better than
Gatorade, but I wasn’t drinking enough to stay hydrated. My mouth and throat felt dry.
The last few miles before
the bridge were grueling. I had mixed
feelings about running into the wind. I
knew it was keeping me from overheating, but it was also tiring. It was already hard to keep up with Eric, and
the wind made it harder.
With about two and a half
miles to go, we went up a small hill. I
fell behind Eric, and it took a long time to catch up to him. Then I found myself getting ahead of
him. Eric had slowed down to encourage
another runner who was struggling. I
wasn’t initially sure if I had sped up or if Eric had slowed down. I maintained my effort. My goal was to keep up with Eric until we
reached the bridge. If I temporarily got
ahead of him, that was fine. I just didn’t
want to fall behind him before the bridge.
Before reaching the
pedestrian bridge, we first had to run under the freeway. Just before we got there, I got to the “25” sign. My pace for that mile was 9:42. That was several seconds slower than the
previous mile. That’s when I knew for
sure. I didn’t speed up at all. I was slowing down a little, but Eric slowed
down more.
As soon as I went under
the freeway, I saw the “12” sign for the half marathon. From there, I could see the pedestrian bridge. Looking ahead, I saw the last aid station,
which was right before the approach to the bridge.
I drank water for the
last time. Then I made the left turn
onto the bridge. I looked back to see if
I could see Eric. I couldn’t see
him. I had to run the bridge by myself.
At first, the slope was
gradual, and I felt like I was keeping up the same pace. As the bridge got steeper, I could tell I was
slowing down. I did my best to limit the
damage. I told myself I just had to push
hard until I reached the center of the bridge.
Then it would get easier.
When I reached the center
of the bridge, I shifted to a short rapid stride and tried to pick up the pace
on the downhill side of the bridge. 13
miles earlier, I was trying to speed up to catch Eric. This time, I was trying to speed up to regain
some of the time I lost on the uphill side of the bridge.
Coming off the bridge,
there was a hairpin turn. I could see
farther behind me, so I looked for Eric again.
He was nowhere in sight. I was
going to finish on my own.
When my watch recorded my
split for mile 26, I was pleasantly surprised to see I ran that mile in
7:49. It was only seven seconds slower
than my previous mile, despite running the bridge.
A spectator approached to
cheer me on. I fully expected her to
say, “You’re almost there.” I hate
hearing that unless I can see the finish line. She surprised me by saying, “You can see the
finish. It’s right there.” That was exactly what I wanted to hear.
Looking ahead I could see
the finish area, but I couldn’t make out clearly where the line was. I passed the “13” sign for the half
marathon. I looked at my watch. It read, “4:12:06.” The finish was slightly uphill. I could see it taking me a minute, but not
much more. I was going to break 4:15 by
a wider margin than I thought.
I finished in 4:13:09. I was handed a bottle of water, which I
immediately started drinking. Then a
marine gave me my finisher medal. It was
made of wood and had a design similar to the T-shirt.
I started watching for
Eric. Several other runners finished between
us. He finished in 4:15:07. He didn’t break 4:15, but only because he
slowed down to help another runner get through the last two miles.
Finish line food included
pizza, but I couldn’t even imagine eating something that filling. It’s probably the first time in my life that
pizza wasn’t at all tempting. Instead, I
ate a chocolate chip cookie. That was
all the food I could handle. I did,
however, drink all my water.
Before leaving the finish
area, I learned that I took second in my age group. I had about 20 minutes before the awards
ceremony, so I walked to my car to get my warm-up clothes. It was warmer now, but the wind was getting
really strong. I’m glad that didn’t
happen until after I finished.
There was an announcer
near the finish line who was calling out the names of runners as they
finished. I heard a familiar name. I walked closer to the finish line, and
spotted my friend, Tom, who had just finished.
During the race, I had commented to Eric that I can go to a race
anywhere and expect to randomly bump into someone I know. This race was no exception.
I spent a lot of time
catching up on old times with Tom. The
awards ceremony was going to start in a few minutes, so I persuaded Tom to stick
around in case he won something. He was
skeptical, but he waited.
When they got to my age
group, they handed me my award and took my picture. As I stepped away from the podium, I saw Tom stepping
up. He won his age group.
There was a bar near
where my car was parked. Tom and I went
over there to have a beer and talk about ultrarunning. By the time I got back to my hotel, it was
almost 2:00.
When I got back, I had
more of an appetite. I made a cup of tea
and ate the other half of the jelly donut and I couldn’t finish in the morning. I didn’t leave the hotel again until it was
time for dinner.
I was surprised to come
close to breaking 4:20 two weeks ago. I
was even more surprised to run seven minutes faster today. Unfortunately, I have to worry about my
hamstring tendon again. I was just
beginning to get optimistic that I could heal from that injury while continuing
to run marathons regularly. I’ll have to
see how I feel the next time I run, but I’m once again concerned that I’ll have
to take a long break from running before that will heal.
I have five races
scheduled in October and November. After
that, I may have to take a break, so my left leg can heal.
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