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
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