Race Report: 2023 Houston Marathon

On January 15, I ran the Houston Marathon.  Of the 10 largest marathons in the United States, this was the only one I had never run before.  The main reason I never ran it before is that I wasn’t willing to commit to it several months in advance.  I usually wanted to keep my plans for that weekend open, because it was the same weekend as Bermuda, The Bahamas, Charleston, and the Aloha Series, among others.

I flew to Houston on Saturday.  I was able to get a direct flight, so I arrived in the early afternoon.  I stayed at a downtown hotel that was within walking distance of the start and finish, as well as the expo.

The expo was held at the George R. Brown Convention Center.  We had to reserve our packet pickup times.  That’s something other large races have started doing recently to manage traffic flow at the expo.  I chose a time that was late enough to give me time to get to check into my hotel, yet early enough that I would have time to go back to the hotel before dinner.

After picking up my race packet, I stopped by the Marathon Tours booth and the pace team booth.  Then I met my friend Stefanie, and we talked for about half an hour.  Several years ago, I traveled to Costa Rica with a large group of runners from Houston.  Stefanie was one of the runners I met on that trip.

For dinner, I went to Flying Saucer Draught Emporium, where I could pair pizza with a beer flight.

I didn’t sleep perfectly that night, but I got as much sleep as I usually do the night before a race.

When I get up, my legs are always stiff.  I need a warm bath or shower to not only loosen up my muscles, but also stimulate circulation in my legs.  When I tried to take a shower, I discovered the faucet wasn’t working properly.

When I turned it on, the water was ice cold.  I couldn’t get any hot water until I turned it all the way to the hot position.  Then it was scalding hot.  When I tried to turn it down, it was still just as hot.  The only way to get colder water was to turn it all the way off.  When I turned it on again, it was ice cold.  There was no in between

I tried this a few times, and I gave it time for the water temperature to change.  I finally concluded that the valve that’s supposed to mix hot and cold water was sticking.  It was either all hot or all cold.

I like hot showers, but this was too hot.  If I stood under the shower, I would burn myself.  By standing outside the stream of water and occasionally ducking my head under it for just a second, I was able to wash my hair.  What I really wanted to do was to use the shower to warm up my legs.  I couldn’t do that without burning myself.

After my aborted attempt to shower, I finished getting ready for the race.  Before leaving the hotel, I notified the front desk, so they could have someone from maintenance fix it before I got back from the race.

My hotel was only three blocks from the starting line, and it was even closer to where I needed to enter the start corral.  I had to be in the corral by 6:45, but I didn’t need to leave the hotel until after 6:30.

Corral assignments were based on your estimated finish time.  To get into corral A, you had to submit a recent race result that was faster than four hours.  I had a qualifying time for corral A, but I lined up near the back.  I was hoping to break four hours, but it was an optimistic goal.  If I did it, it wouldn’t be by much.

I met Stefanie near the back of the corral, so we could run together.  Neither of us is in peak shape right now.  We’ve both had our training curtailed by injuries.  We lined up next to the 4:00 pace group.  While we were there, Stef bumped into a few friends who were also starting with the 4:00 group.

Because of all the tall buildings, it took an unusually long time for my watch to find the GPS satellites.  Fortunately, I put watch in run mode about 15 minutes before the race started.

The temperature at the start was 55 degrees, and I expected it to get up to 70 by the time I finished.  Stef warned me that the humidity was high, so even the conditions at the start weren’t ideal.

From where we lined up, I couldn’t actually see the starting line.  I also never heard the gun go off.  Eventually, the runners in front of us started moving forward.  We had to walk two blocks and around a corner before I finally saw the banner over the starting line.

In large races, the first few miles can be congested, making it hard to establish the right pace in the first miles.  Our pace leaders nailed it.  We were right on pace from the very first mile.  Unfortunately, the pace was too fast for me.

The pace felt OK for the first two miles, but after that I felt like I was working too hard.  I probably should’ve slowed down to a pace that felt sustainable, but I didn’t want to be overly pessimistic.  I decided to keep running with the group until it was obvious the pace was unsustainable.

By the time we finished two miles, I was starting to notice the humidity.  It didn’t seem to be bothering me, but the air felt sticky, and I was definitely sweating more than I usually do this early in a race.

Stefanie and the pace leaders had all done this race many times, so they were familiar with every detail.  One thing that surprised me was learning how many fast runners there were who had to start in corral B, because they didn’t submit a qualifying time for corral A.  They were so many that there were pace groups for them.  The pacers warned our group in advance when to expect fast runners to start coming up from behind on one side of the street.

I don’t remember if there was a 3:00 pace group in corral B, but I remember being passed by a 3:10 pace group.

In the early miles, Stef was my tour guide.  She pointed out the different landmarks and the neighborhoods we were going through.

This is a flat course.  When I looked at the elevation profile, I only noticed one thing that looked like a hill.  That was a bridge that comes shortly before the halfway point.  Stef told me to also expect a couple of underpasses in the late miles.  That’s it.  Otherwise, the course is flat.

Stef also warmed me that the course is mostly concrete.  There were a few sections of asphalt, but the vast majority of the course was concrete.  That didn’t bother me, but runners who don’t like hard surfaces might be bothered by that.

I started to feel like I was working much harder than I should be to keep up with the group.  By 10K, I noticed I was breathing hard.  That’s normal in a shorter race like a 10K, but I don’t usually feel like I’m close to my aerobic limit in a marathon.  I’m more apt to feel the fatigue in other ways.  That was a clear sign that the pace of the group was too fast for me.

The marathon and half marathon started together, but eventually we separated.  After the split, the course was less crowded.  The 4:00 pace group, however, was a large group.  We not only filled the road, but the group extended back 50 feet at times.  As long as I was running with this pace group, it was still going to feel crowded.

The aid stations were all laid out the same way.  The Gatorade tables came first.  Then there was a small gap before the water tables.  I always drank the Gatorade.  I took it on the run, so I wouldn’t fall behind the group.

Sometimes, the cups didn’t have as much Gatorade as I wanted.  When that happened, I would either grab a second cup of Gatorade or wait for the water tables and grab a cup of water.  When I did that, it caused me to fall behind the group.  Getting back to the front of the group took extra effort, so I found myself running near the back of the group.

The course was marked in both miles and kilometers.  Earlier in the race, when I was at the front of the group, I always noticed the mile markers.  That’s probably because I could hear the pace leaders calling out our times.  Now that I was at the back of the group, I didn’t always notice every mile marker.  For some reason, I always noticed the kilometer markers.

At 14K, we were roughly one third of the way through the race.  That’s a good time to ask myself how I’m feeling.  I realized that there was no way I could keep up this pace for the entire race.  I had to decided if I would slow down voluntarily or if I would hold out as long as possible and then crash and burn badly.

It took some effort, but I worked my way to the front of the group, so I could tell Stef that it was only a matter of time before I slowed down.  After that, I gradually dropped to the back of the group.

At 17K, I was still running near the back of the group.  The leaders were half a block ahead of me, but I was still mostly keeping pace with them.  I wasn’t quite willing to let go yet.

The group was running at an average pace of 9:09 per mile.  If I had gone out a little slower from the beginning of the race, I might have found a pace of 9:20 or 9:30 to be more sustainable.  Having run too fast for this many miles, I realized that even 9:30 would not feel sustainable.

I feared that once I unhitched myself from the group and started running on my own, I would need to slow down all the way to 10-minute miles before the pace would feel more comfortable.  Slowing down that much would be demoralizing even if it was later in the race.  I didn’t want to slow down that much when I still had more than half of the race to go.

For one kilometer at a time, I stayed close to the group.  I knew I’d eventually have to slow down and run by myself, but I wanted to get to the halfway mark first.

After passing the 12 mile sign, I started moving around some of the other runners who were falling off the back of the group.  It took effort, but I gradually clawed my way back until I was only about 10 feet behind the leaders.  At that point, I noticed Stef was no longer with the group.  She had gone ahead on here own and was now almost a block ahead of the group.  I saw at least one of her friends had gone with her.

I knew I’d regret it later, but I lifted my effort enough to catch up to the 4:00 pace leaders.  Then we turned a corner and reached at aid station at the 20K mark.

After drinking at the aid station, I briefly fell behind again.  I could see the bridge just ahead of us.  I worked hard to catch up to the leaders and managed to stay with them on the uphill side of the bridge.  Then I surged ahead of them on the downhill side of the bridge.

At the 13 mile sign, there was a U-turn, followed by a sharp left.  It was only after making that turn that I saw the halfway mark.  I got there in 1:59:43.  Then I finally slowed down.

It took a few more minutes before the 4:00 group caught up to me. Then they went past me.  I made no effort to keep up with them.  For the rest of the race, I was on my own.

When I saw my split for the 14th mile, I was surprised to have already slowed down to 9:30.  It didn’t seem like the 4:00 group was that far in front of me.  Then I remembered that I was at least 10 seconds ahead of them after the bridge.  Now, I was about 10 seconds behind them.

Mile 15 was much slower.  I slower down to 9:58.  I expected to eventually slow down to a 10 minute pace, but I didn’t think it would happen that quickly.  It still wasn’t a comfortable pace.

For the first half of the race, we usually had cloud cover.  In the second half, it was sunnier.  It wasn’t until I could feel the sun on me that I started to feel hot.  Before that, it just felt sticky.  Thankfully, the sun sometimes went behind the clouds.  We also sometimes got a cool breeze.  It was getting warmer, but it wasn’t as hot as it could’ve been.

In mile 16, I slowed to 10:07.  If I only had a few miles to go, I might have been able to dig deep and stabilize my pace.  With more than 10 miles to go, I couldn’t do that.  I had a long way to go, and I had to ration my energy.  By now, I was noticing soreness in my legs.

My pace continued to deteriorate.  I slowed to 10:25 and then 10:34.  All I could do was drag myself through each remaining mile.  It was only a matter of time before I slowed all the way to 11 minutes per mile.

I wish I could say that I was taking it easy in the second half, but I wasn’t.  Even though I had slowed down, it was still difficult.  The first half of the race had broken me, and now I was struggling just to keep moving.

I had about 10K to go when I saw a row of port-o-potties.  I realized by now that I would eventually need a bathroom stop, but I wanted to wait as long as I could.  After I stopped, it might be tough to get going again.  I wanted to wait until I only had a few miles left.

With five miles to go, running suddenly felt more even more difficult.  I felt like my legs just couldn’t do it anymore.  I didn’t know how much I actually slowed down, but I felt like my gait changed to something more like a shuffle.  That was the first mile that was slower than 11 minutes.

I started to regret not making a bathroom stop earlier.  I assumed there would be more port-o-potties, but I didn’t actually know that.  Not every aid station had them.

After running mile 21 in 11:03, I ran the next one in 11:01.  My pace had finally stabilized.  Shortly after the 23 mile sign, I turned a corner and saw a row of port-o-potties.  They were across the street from an aid station.

I moved to one side of the street to drink a cup of Gatorade, and then I moved to the other side to use a port-o-potty.  I didn’t actually pee all that much, but I no longer felt the urgent need to go.  Now I just had to drag myself through three more miles.

As I resumed running, I noticed a pace group had gone by while I was in the port-o-potty.  They were almost a block in front of me.  I couldn’t read the sign the pacer was carrying, but the last pace group I had seen was the 3:55 group from corral B.  I knew there was a  4:00 group in corral B, so this must have been them.

Interestingly enough, I had yet to be passed by a pace group that was slower than the one I started with.  The 4:00 group was the slowest group in corral A.  There were slower groups in the other corrals, but we had a big head start on them.  All of the faster groups in corral B had passed me, but the slower groups were still behind me.

With about two miles to go, I saw a beer stop on my left.  By now, my race was already a train wreck, so I saw no reason not to pause and have a small sample of a beer from a local brewery.  Just after the beer stop, I saw a little girl offering a small cup of Gatorade.  I drank that too.  I saw another beer stop, but I skipped that one.  I didn’t want to go crazy.  I still had two miles to go, and at this point it would feel more like four miles.

At 25 miles, I checked my watch.  At the pace I was currently running, it looked like I would finish in 4:21.  When I realized I could still keep my average pace below 10 minutes per mile, I finally had a goal.  To keep my pace under 10, I just needed to finish in 4:22.  I picked up my effort as much as I could.  I didn’t know how much I could speed up, but at the very least, I wasn’t going to slow down.

For the previous 12 miles, everyone around me had been passing me.  Now, I was passing other runners.  To motivate myself to push harder, I just needed to have a goal that I knew was attainable.

In the last mile, I entered the downtown area.  I knew I would finish at the convention center, but I didn’t know our approach or how many turns there were.  I had no sense of direction.

I made a sharp left, followed by a sharp right.  A spectator at the corner said it was the last turn.  That wasn’t almost true.  It was the last sharp turn, but we would go around a bend just before the convention center.

The street was divided now.  On the other side f the street, I could see people walking.  They were the back-of-the-pack runners in the half marathon.

I kept up my effort as I passed the 41K sign.  When my watch recorded a split for mile 26, it was 8:55.  There was no longer any doubt that I was going to break 4:22.  I sped up by two minutes in that last full mile.

My watch had been recording splits too early for most of the race.  My watch said 26 miles, but it was really more like 25.6.  I still had more than half a mile to go.

They had signs for a half mile to go and a quarter mile to go.  Then I reached the 26 mile sign.  Farther ahead, I could see the 13 mile sign for the half marathon, but I couldn’t see the finish yet.  It was around the bend.

The finish line was right in front of the convention center.  I finished in 4:19:59.  Then I continued through the chute and into the convention center.  The first volunteer I encountered gave me a water bottle.  I immediately started drinking.  Just before entering the convention center, I received my finisher medal.

They used the entire ground floor of the convention center for post-race recovery.  As I entered the building, I took a banana from one of the volunteers.

After finishing my water and eating the banana, I made my way to the T-shirt tables.  This race is old school.  The shirt is a finisher shirt.  You don’t get it until after you finish.  Along with my shirt, I also received a beer mug.

I spotted Stefanie and went over to see how she did.  She had a good race.  She ran the second half a minute faster than the first half.  By contrast, I was 20 minutes slower in the second half.

I talked with several other runners after the race, and they all mentioned what a tough day it was.  I seldom felt hot, but I think I greatly underestimated how much the humidity was affecting me.

I saw an area labeled “Food Court,” and I went inside.  On our race bibs, we each had a food coupon.  I was surprised how much post-race food they gave us.  They had scrambled eggs, sausages, pancakes, and biscuits.  They also had hot and cold beverages.  It was more food than I could eat.  I regretted eating that banana.  When I was done eating, I made another bathroom stop.  Then I walked back to the hotel.

When I got back to the hotel, I stopped at the front desk to ask about my shower.  I was told the maintenance guy had fixed it.  Shortly after I got back to my room, there was a knock on the door.  It was the maintenance guy.  He had been to the room earlier to diagnose the problem.  Now he was back to install a new valve.  I couldn’t shower until he finished.  Fortunately, it only took him a few minutes.  Then I was finally able to take a shower.

My friend Devin, who lives in the Houston area, invited me to a post-race party at NettBar.  I first met Devin twelve years ago on a trip to Iceland.  I met his wife, Alida, a few years later on as trip to Costa Rica.  That was the same trip where I met Stefanie.  Nettbar was about three miles from my hotel.  I could’ve driven there, but I decided to walk.  Walking took longer, but it probably helped me to recover from the race.  The walk was tiring, but my legs weren’t as stiff afterwards.

I was at the party for about three hours.  I was able to spend time with Devin, Alida, and Stefanie, and I met several runners from their running club.

After the party, Devin and Alida gave me a ride back to my hotel.  It was only 6:00 PM, but it felt much later.  I was too tired to go anywhere for dinner, so I had dinner at the hotel restaurant.

I didn’t fly home until Monday afternoon, so I had time to have lunch with Devin and Alida before driving to the airport.

Race statistics:

Distance:  26.2 miles

Time:  4:19:59

Average Pace:  9:55 

Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:  474

Race Report: 2023 Las Cruces Marathon

On January 7, I ran the State 47 Las Cruces Marathon.  Until a few months ago, I had never heard of this race.  Apparently, they’ve had a half marathon for a few years, but this was the first time they’ve added a marathon.

I didn’t need a New Mexico race for my next circuit of states, but Deb has a brother who lives in New Mexico during the winter months, and this gave us a chance to visit.

The closest major airport is in El Paso, but there aren’t any direct flights from Minneapolis to El Paso.  We could’ve got there on Delta by making connections in Atlanta, but the flights were all expensive.  Instead, we flew to Albuquerque.  We also couldn’t get a direct flight to Albuquerque.  We had to make connections in Los Angeles, but at least that was an affordable flight.

Thursday, January 5

We flew to Albuquerque on Thursday.  Our flight to Los Angeles was delayed by more than an hour, but we were still able to make our connection.  We arrived in Albuquerque around 3:00.  From Albuquerque, the drive time to Las Cruses is about three hours.  Rather than drive to Las Cruces the same day, we spent one night in Albuquerque.  After checking in, I had time to do a workout in the hotel’s fitness room before dinner.

Friday, January 6

Friday morning, we started driving to Las Cruces.  We made two stops along the way.  First, we went shopping and visited a few art galleries in Truth or Consequences.  Then we visited Deb’s brother Jim and his wife Kath at the campground where Jim is the caretaker.

When we got to Las Cruces, we stopped at the Holiday Inn Express to pick up my race pack.  We were staying at a different hotel, so we went there next to check in.  After getting settled in, we went for dinner at Pecan Grill & Brewery.  This is a restaurant I discovered several years ago on my first visit to Las Cruces.  Their signature beer is a pecan amber ale.

I slept reasonably well, but I woke up a few times during the night.  Each time, I noticed some discomfort in my right leg from my sciatic nerve.  That’s something I’m more apt to notice when I’ve been sitting too much.  We spent most of Thursday on airplanes, and we spent a good portion of Friday sitting in a car, so it’s no surprise that my sciatica started to flare up.

Saturday, January 7

Saturday was race day.  The race didn’t start until 8:00 AM, so I had time to eat a light breakfast at the hotel.

After doing my stretches, I was still noticing my sciatica, so I made a point of walking around as much as I could.  I walked in the hotel, I walked in the parking lot, and I also walked around after we arrived at the race.  By the time I started running, it was no longer bothering me.

The race started and finished at the Field of Dreams track.  Don’t confuse it with the baseball field from the movie.  That’s in Iowa.

About 20 minutes before the race, I posed for group photos with various running clubs.  First it was the 50 States Marathon Club, then Marathon Maniacs, and then 50sub4.  The 50sub4 club had a surprisingly large contingent, considering this is a small race.

Before arriving at the track, I wondered if I would have time for a bathroom stop after the group photos.  That turned out not to be a problem.  The stadium had bathrooms with ample capacity.  There were also heated.

The temperature at the start of the race was 43 degrees, but it warms up quickly in this region.  I expected it to get into the mid to upper 50s by the time I finished.  The humidity was low, so I still dressed for 40s.  While we were shopping on Friday, I found a pair of sunglasses to go with my cheetah outfit.  This was my first chance to wear them in a race.

Before the race, I was talking with Glen, who I last saw three weeks ago in Hawaii.  Neither of us expected to break four hours today.  I told him I might be around 4:15, and he thought that sounded reasonable, so we lined up near each other.

The course was out-and-back, and it was fairly flat.  The first 300 meters were around the track.  I thought our starting pace felt a little fast, so I dropped behind Glen.  I didn’t want to pull us both out too fast.

By the time we left the track and turned onto the streets, I was no longer keeping up with Glen.  I wasn’t even out of the parking lot before I noticed my friend Michelle.  She didn’t know how fast she would run, but I started running with her.

Michelle’s pace also felt too fast for me, but I stayed with her for about a mile.  My pace for the first mile was about 8:30.  I didn’t know how fast I could run, but I didn’t think I could sustain a pace any faster than 9:00, so I started to drop back a bit.

In the second mile, we turned onto a dirt trail that was littered with small rocks.  That forced me to slow down, so I could watch my footing carefully.  If I wasn’t already falling behind Michelle, I would’ve dropped back here.  Fortunately, that uneven trail section was only about one block long.  Then we turned onto a paved bike path with nice smooth footing.

When I finished my second mile, I was surprised to see that I had only slowed down by about 10 seconds.  After that, I eased up some more.  For the next few miles, I averaged about nine minutes per mile.  That still felt somewhat fast, but at least it was more reasonable.  I could plausibly sustain that pace.

In the third mile, we turned onto a paved trail alongside the Rio Grande.  As I looked across the river bed, it appeared to be completely dry.  I couldn’t see water anywhere.  That surprised me, since I knew this region had seen rain recently.

We were just past three miles when I ran under a bridge and saw a parking lot on the other side.  I recognized it as the parking area for La Llorona Park.  I’ve run other races that started and finished at this park.

The aid stations were surprisingly sparse for a race that’s in a dry region.  I was expecting aid stations to be no more than two miles apart.  After drinking a cup of Gatorade at the aid station in La Llorona Park, I had to wait more than three miles before the next one.  Some runners were drinking both water and Gatorade.  I just drank a single cup of Gatorade, but I wondered if I would need to double my intake later in the race.

As I left La Llorona Park, I was on a trail that I recognized, but only for the next few miles.  Occasionally, we would cross a small bridge over a creek.  Most of the creeks were dry, but one had a healthy flow of water.  I looked to my right to see the water entering the Rio Grande and carving a narrow channel through the otherwise dry river bed.

After a few nine-minute miles, I slowed down a bit.  I was trying to find a pace that didn’t feel too tiring, but also didn’t feel easy.  Several runners passed me, but then I sped up again, so I could talk to two other runners from Minnesota.  Over the next few miles, I found the pace to be a little tiring, but I wanted to continue our conversation.

There was a half marathon that was larger than the marathon.  To keep the trail from getting too crowded, they started the half marathon 15 minutes after the marathon started.  I wondered how far I would get before the fastest runners in the half marathon caught up to me.  I thought it would take at least five miles.  When I got past the half marathon turnaround, I knew I would never see them.  I occasionally saw a half marathoner going the other way, but these were runners who opted for an early start, because they needed extra time.

Somewhere between eight and nine miles, we turned away from the river.  We briefly ran on a dirt trail that took us up onto a small ridge.  I joked to the other runners around me that this must be the big hill on the course.  It couldn’t have been much more than 20 feet of elevation change, but it really was the biggest hill on the course.

We turned onto another paved path and eventually turned onto a road.  We were on this road all the way to the turnaround.

Somewhere around 10 miles, we came to an aid station that had a port-o-potty.  The guy I was talked to needed to stop, so I went ahead on my own.  Now that I no longer needed to keep up with anyone, I eased up a little and once again tried to find a pace that wasn’t going to be too tiring.

As I got closer to the turnaround, I started to see the fastest runners coming back.  That was right around 11 miles.  The turnaround was at about 12.5, so the fastest runners were three miles ahead of me.  As I got closer to the turnaround, I was looking for Glen and Michelle.  They were pretty far ahead of me, but not as far as I expected.  I wondered if they had slowed down enough that I was starting to regain some ground on them.

There was an aid station just before the turn.  I drank a cup of Gatorade before the turn, and then I drank another cup on my way back.  Before that, I didn’t feel like I was drinking enough.  Drinking twice in rapid succession helped.

On the way back, I made a point of checking my time at the halfway point.  I was on pace to finish in about 3:55.  I didn’t know if I could sustain that pace in the second half, but I didn’t expect to slow down too much.  At this point, I fully expected to break four hours.

A mile or two later, I was having another conversation with a runner I just met.  We seemed to be keeping a consistent pace, but I didn’t know for sure.  I hadn’t seen any of my splits since the sixth or seventh mile.  I never heard or felt the vibration when my watch recorded a split.  When I saw a mile marker, I would look at my watch, but I was always a few second too late to see my time for the previous mile.  Dividing my cumulative time by the number of miles, I could see that I was still close to a nine-minute pace, but I wouldn’t know it right away if I started to slow down.

At one point, the runner I was with paused at an aid station and I found myself getting ahead of him.  Looking ahead of me, there was a large gap between me and the next runner ahead of me.  I find it easier to maintain my pace when I’m trying to keep up with people, so I made a concerted effort to try to close the gap.

Over the next few miles, I gradually reeled in and passed the next few runners ahead of me.  Then I caught sight of Glen and Michelle, running together.  They were only half as far in front of my as they were before.  Now I was determined to catch them, so I lifted my effort.  As I got closer, I finally looked at my watch in time to see one of my splits.  I ran the 18th mile in 8:57. 

We ran down the same short hill that we had gone up on the way out.  Here, Glen pulled away from Michelle.  When I caught up to Michelle, I said hello, but kept going.  Glen and I are in the same age group.  I thought if I could catch Glen, I would have a good shot at an age group award.

I caught up to Glen right at an aid station.  He paused at the aid station longer than I did, so I went right past him.  To maintain my pace, I needed to have someone to chase, so I immediately focused on the next runner ahead of me.

By now, I was back in the Rio Grande valley, and I was noticing a headwind.  It was tiring, but it also helped keep me from getting hot.  For much of the race, it was cloudy, but now the sun was out.

Over the next two miles, I gradually reeled in and passed more of the runners in front of me.  The wind was getting more and more tiring.  I didn’t know if I was maintaining the same pace, but I tried.

I went back to always looking at my watch just a little too late to see my splits.  I didn’t know what my time was for the 19th and 20th miles, but I couldn’t imagine I could be running the pace going into such a strong wind.  After mile 21, I saw that I had slowed to 9:30.  A few miles earlier, I was on pace to finish in 3:57.  Now, I was concerned that I wouldn’t even break four hours.  I needed to speed up by 10-15 seconds per mile, but the wind kept getting stronger.  It was not only slowing me down, but also wearing me out.

Just before getting back to La Llorona Park, I passed two runners who had passed me much earlier in the race.  I was slowing down, but I was still catching and passing the runners ahead of me.  Nobody was passing me.

After La Llorona Park, I knew I only had about one more mile before I would turn and get out of the wind.  That mile, however, was tough.  The wind just kept getting stronger.  My split for mile 22 was 9:38.  I was slowing down.  My only hope of breaking four hours was to get back to a nine-minute pace when I got out of the wind.  That didn’t seem likely.  The wind was taking a toll on me.

Just after leaving the river behind, I got another split.  I sped up to 9:34, but with 3.2 miles to go, I needed to average 9:00 per mile the rest of the way.  I no longer had the energy to do that.

The last aid station was right where I turned onto that short trail section with rocks.  I drank a cup of Gatorade, but eased into my pace slowly.  I had to run carefully on this section.  When I turned onto pavement again, I tried hard to speed up, but I couldn’t get back to my previous pace.  I slowed to 9:42 in that mile.

As the crow flies, I was less than a mile from the finish, but I still had 2.2 miles to go.  As I got close to Motel Boulevard, I saw a runner approaching from the opposite direction.  This was the point in the course where we had to do an extra out-and-back that we didn’t do in the first half of the race.  Instead of turning on Motel Boulevard to run back to the stadium, I had to keep going straight for about half a mile.

When I got to the turnaround, I didn’t recognize the next few runners behind me.  They weren’t runners I had recently passed.  They were other runners who passed the same runners I did.  I wondered if one of them would pass me by the end of the race.

When I finished this out-and-back and turned onto Motel Boulevard, I could see the stadium.  I had more than a mile to go, but the stadium looked like it was really close.  I knew I would run almost half a mile on the track, but it still didn’t seem like the stadium was more than half a mile away.

When I got to the street where I expected to turn, I saw a course marshal there.  Instead of telling me to turn, he told me I had to do “the loop” first.  By that he meant I had to run to the next intersection, turn around the median, and then run back on the other side of the street.  I knew about the previous out-and-back, but I didn’t know about this one.  I’m sure I saw it when I studied the course map, but I forgot about it.

When I eventually got to the stadium and entered the track, I still had 700 meters to go.  We had to go three quarters of the way around in the outer lanes before running one more lap in the inside lane.  They told us about this in our pre-race briefing, so it wasn’t a surprise.

While I was running, Deb went shopping at the farmers’ market, but she got back to the track in time to see me finish.  She took a picture as I finished my first lap around the track.

The second lap seemed easier, but only because I knew I was almost done.  I wasn’t able to speed up at all, but that didn’t matter.  I had known for a few miles that I wouldn’t break four hours.  It was only a matter of how much additional time I would lose as I kept slowing down.

I crossed the finish line in 4:03:05.  I didn’t break four hours, but it was still my best recent time on a course that wasn’t downhill.  Sadie, who had won the half marathon earlier, was there to get a picture of my finish.  Then I got a medal in the shape of New Mexico.

Deb met me just past the finish line and gave me a bottle of water.  I don’t usually need water after a race, but this time I definitely did.  I would spend the rest of the day rehydrating.

By now, Glen was on the track.  He finished a few minutes later, and Sadie took a picture of the two of us.

Deb and I stayed at the track long enough to find out if I placed in my age group.  There were three awards in each 10-year age group.  When I saw that my friend Bryan was third, I knew I didn’t place.  Bryan is much faster than I am, and I saw him way ahead of me when he was coming back from the turnaround halfway through the race.  When I eventually saw the complete race results, I saw that I was 31st overall but 5th in my age group.  This is the second straight race where I’ve been surprised how competitive my age group was.

After the race, Deb dropped me off at the hotel.  I needed a few hours to recover, while Deb did more shopping.

Neither one of us had a real lunch, so by the time we went to dinner, we both had big appetites.  After dinner, we stopped by Bosque Brewery, where I could get a discount on a beer by showing them my race bib.  They’re located near the Holiday Inn Express, so I’m sure they got some extra business from the runners staying there.

Sunday, January 8

We gave ourselves an extra day in Las Cruces before driving back to Albuquerque.  I was up early, so I went to the hotel’s fitness center to do a workout before breakfast.

We spent the morning shopping.  We started at a trading post about 15 miles out of town.  It was a touristy place, but they had the type of jewelry that Deb likes.  After that, we went to two different flea markets.  We got to the first one too early.  They were open, but on a Sunday, most of the vendors don’t show up until after church.  The second trading post was larger and busier.  We were there until lunchtime.

As we were browsing at the second flea market, I started having minor pain in both my right leg and my lower back.  Usually, walking around is good for my back, but the longer we were there, the worse I felt.  It was an outdoor market, so the morning air was chilly.  We spent more time standing than walking, so I probably wasn’t moving enough to stimulate circulation in my lower back.  Also, the ground was uneven, which may have been hard on my back.

After that, Deb dropped me off at the hotel, and she continued shopping on her own.  I spent the afternoon doing what I could to loosen up my lower back.  I soaked in the whirlpool, and I did some stretches, but what helped most was going for a run.

When Deb got back with the car, I drove to La Llorona Park and did an easy recovery run along the same trail we ran on during the race.  I’ve run eight marathons in New Mexico, and seven of them included this trail.  It’s a place where I didn’t have to deal with traffic and didn’t have to worry about getting lost.

I didn’t like how my right leg felt when I started running, but I was confident it would feel better after a mile or so.  As I continued running, I noticed some of the mile markers from the marathon were still there.  As expected, my leg felt better after the first mile.

I ran south on the trail for two and a half miles, and then turned around and ran back to my car.  It was a nice five mile recovery run.  After that, my right leg and lower back both felt fine.

There was a Mexican restaurant we were hoping to try, but they weren’t open on Sundays.  Instead, we had dinner at a Texas-style BBQ restaurant that we drove by  

Monday, January 9

On Monday, we needed to drive back to Albuquerque.  We stopped in Hatch to shop and have lunch with Jim and Kath.

From Hatch, it was a two and a half hour drive to Albuquerque.  By the time we got there, my sciatica was flaring up again.  Nothing is worse than sitting in a car.  My remedy was the same.  After we got settled in at our hotel, I went for a five mile run.

When I started running, my right leg was outright painful.  It probably didn’t help that our hotel was at the top of a hill, so I had to start out running downhill.  Just like the day before, my leg felt better after about a mile.  The first time I ran up a hill, I found it to be unusually tiring.  Then I remember that Albuquerque is 5,000 feet above sea level.  I didn’t notice the elevation when I was running up level ground, but I felt it going uphill.

Tuesday, January 10

Today, we fly home.  We’re able to make connections in Salt Lake City, which isn’t as far out of the way as Los Angeles.  Our flight to Salt Lake City isn’t until 12:30, so I had time to do another workout in the fitness center.  Often when I’m on a long trip, I have too many rest days.  This time, I found time to run or do other exercises every day except Friday.

Race statistics:

Distance:  26.2 miles

Time:  4:03:05

Average Pace:  9:16

Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:  473

My Goals for 2023

2022 had a few highlights, but it was also discouraging.  Injuries prevented me from doing any consistent training, and it’s hard to race well if you can’t train.

Finish My 4th Circuit of 50 States

I’ve run at least three marathons or ultras in every state, and I’ve run at least four marathons or ultras in 45 states.  To complete my 4th circuit of marathons or ultras in every state, I just need to run one more in Maryland, Oklahoma, Utah, Vermont, and West Virginia.

There’s no reason why I can’t finish this in 2023, so I’m making it a priority.  I already know which marathon I plan to do in each of these states, although I need to work out a few details on the travel.

Eventually, I’d like to also finish a 5th circuit.  I plan to make progress this year, but finishing my 5th circuit will be a goal for a future year.

This map shows where I stand now.  The blue states are the states I need for my 4th circuit.  The green states are the additional states I’ll need for my 5th circuit.  Finally, the red states are the ones where I’ve already run at least five marathons or ultras.

Run Marathons in Two New Countries

In 2010, I ran a marathon outside of the United States for the first time.  I ran in two new countries that year.  For the next several years, I continued to run marathons in at least two new countries every year.  That streak came to an end in 2020, because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last year, I ran a marathon in Tallinn, Estonia.  Estonia was my first new country in more than two and a half years.  This year, I’d like to get back to running in at least two new countries each year.  I have some candidates in mind, but I haven’t booked anything yet.

Get Back into Shape

In the past, I’ve sometimes listed losing weight, recovering from injuries, and increasing my mileage as goals.  I now consider those things as means to an end, where the end goal is getting into better shape.  That’s my goal for this year.  I need to do whatever it takes to get into better shape.

How do I define being in shape?  There are different degrees.  An intermediate goal is to be able to run a marathon in less than four hours.  The long-term goal is to be able to qualify for the Boston Marathon.  I’ve always considered that to be the standard of excellence.

Last year, I qualified for Boston on a course that descends 3,700 feet.  If my only goal was to keep running the Boston Marathon every year, that would be good enough.  Getting into Boston is certainly one of my goals, but I won’t consider myself to be in good shape until I can run that fast on a course that starts and finishes at the same elevation.

Can I do that by the end of the year?  I can if I do those other things, like losing weight, recovering from injuries, and increasing my mileage.  Do I need to do all three?  Maybe not, but it would certainly help.  The measuring stick for all of those is the same.  I need to do whatever it takes to be able to run a marathon in 3:50 or faster.

Do My Winter Running Outdoors

In 2001, I bought my first treadmill.  I bought it so I could train for the Pike’s Peak Marathon.  I needed to be able to run on a steep uphill grade for mile after mile, and that was the only way I could do it, living in Minnesota.

Once I had a treadmill, I couldn’t resist using it for all of my winter training.  The worst thing about winter running isn’t the cold temperatures.  I’ve run in temperatures as low as -17 F and wind chills as cold as -51 F.  What’s harder is running on streets that are coated with snow or ice.

Training on a treadmill allowed me to train at a faster pace.  I also didn’t have to worry about slipping on ice.  There’s a downside, however.  In recent years, I’ve found it increasingly difficult to run on uneven surfaces without tripping.  I used to chalk it up to years of primarily racing on roads, but doing so much of my training on a treadmill was probably also a contributing factor.  I’ve developed a bad habit of barely picking up my feet.

So far this winter, I’ve done all of my training runs outdoors.  I plan to keep that up for the rest of the winter if I can.

I’m drawing a line between running and race-walking.  I can’t do anything even resembling race-walking on an icy surface, so I’ll continue doing my race-walking workouts on the treadmill.

Place in My Age Group in the National Senior Games

I’ve signed up to compete in three events at the National Senior Games.  I’ll be doing the 1,500 meter race-walk, the 5,000 meter race-walk, and the 5K run.

Last year, I took 4th place in my age group in the 1,500 meter race-walk, with a time of 8:59, and I took 2nd place in my age group in the 5,000 meter race-walk, with a time of 31:31.  I didn’t do any running events.

Ideally, I would set my sights on improving this year, but I haven’t been able to start training until recently.  I’m going to stick with the same goals for 2023 that I had in 2022.  My goal for the 1,500 is to place in the top eight (high enough to earn a ribbon).  My goal for the 5,000 is to place in the top three (high enough to win a medal).

I’m not setting any goals for the 5K run.  I can’t even remember the last time I ran a 5K race.  I qualified for it, so I’ll give it my best shot, but I don’t know if I can reasonably expect to be competitive.

Move Up Among Minnesota Runners

In 2015, I made it onto the Megamarathon List, which lists every runner who has finished at least 300 marathons or ultras.  At the end of 2021, I ranked 398th in the world and 66th in North America, but I ranked 7th among Minnesota runners.

Since then, I’ve moved up two spots in Minnesota.  The end of year rankings haven’t been assembled yet, but I expect to be 5th among Minnesota runners.  One of my goals for this year is to move into 4th place.  Normally, this would be a moving target, but of the four runners ahead of me, I know of only one who is still active.  To pass Sharon Mordorski, I’ll need to run 15 more marathons.  In an average year, I run about 25, so running 15 shouldn’t be too difficult.