Race Report: 2025 Med City Marathon

On May 18, I ran the Med City Marathon in Rochester, MN.  Rochester is only 75 miles from where I live.  That’s close enough that I could easily drive there, but far enough that I still chose to stay in a hotel.

Until a few days ago, we were having highs near 90 degrees.  Cooler temperatures arrived just in time for race weekend.  On Saturday, the high was in the 50s.  Overnight, it dropped into the upper 30s.  I brought my warmest tights, T-shirt, and hat.  That’s the cheetah outfit.

I drove to Rochester after lunch on Saturday and checked into a downtown hotel.  Then I walked to packet pickup, which was held at the Historic Chateau Theater.  The race shirt was a tank top.  I always like it when that’s an option, because I already have too many T-shirts.

Before dinner, I sampled some beers at a bar that was across the street from my hotel.  I was talking to a runner sitting next to me who was doing the half marathon, but his daughter was doing the marathon.  It was going to be her first marathon, and she was nervous about it.  I offered to run with her, and I told her what I would be wearing, so she could look for me before the race.  I asked what her name was, and she said it was “Abbi.”  I’m putting that in quotes, because I didn’t ask her how it was spelled.  It could be Abby or Abbey.

I had dinner at an Italian restaurant that was close to my hotel.  After dinner, I went to bed as early as I could.  I was able to get to sleep right away.  I slept well at first, but I woke up around 1:45.  Then, I couldn’t get back to sleep.  I got at least seven hours of sleep, so I wasn’t too worried about it.

I usually run with a fanny pack, which I use to hold things like car keys hotel rooms cards, and my driver’s license.  As I was getting dressed, I realized that I neglected to pack my fanny pack.  If I had noticed that the day before, I could’ve bought something at the expo.  Now, it was too late.

The only thing I needed to bring with me was a hotel room card.  I found that the least intrusive way to carry it was to tuck it inside my waistband.

The race finishes in the downtown area, but the start is at an event center near the airport, which is eight miles away.  They had buses to take us to the start.  The buses left from in front of the Mayo Civic Center, which was about four blocks from my hotel.

The race website said the buses would begin loading at 5:20.  It didn’t say when the last bus would leave.  I probably should’ve asked at packet pickup, but I didn’t.  Without knowing, I showed up at 5:20.  I was on the first bus.

The start area was only eight miles away, so it didn’t take long to get there.  Then, I had a long wait outside.  We were dropped off next to an evetn center, but the building wasn’t open.

They had a gear check, but I chose not to use it.  To stay warm in the start area, I brought a Tyvek jacket and a heat shield.  It was windy, so I stayed close to the building, where I wasn’t as exposed.

Two members of the 50sub4 Marathon Club live in Rochester, and others had traveled here for the race.  About 20 minutes before the race, we posed for a group photo.

I discarded my heat shield when I went to line up for the race.  I kept the Tyvek jacket on.  I was originally planning to take it off and tie it around my race before I started running.  Instead, I unzipped it in front, but I kept it on until I got warmed up.

I’ve run this race before, but the course has changed since the last time I ran it.  The old course was hilly in the first half, but flattened out in the second half.  The new course approaches the city from a different direction, so it doesn’t have any of the hills I remembered.  The big challenge in the early miles was the wind.  It was a cold wind, and we were mostly running into it until we got into the city.

I didn’t know if I would recognize “Abbi.”  I'm not good at recognizing people that I've only met once.  I remembered what her hair looked like, but most women with long hair wear it differently when they run.  “Abbi” had told me she was going to start the race with the 4:00 pace group, so that’s where I lined up.  When a young runner with blond hair recognized me, I assumed it must be her.

I asked “Abbi” if she was planning to run the whole race with the 4:00 group or if she was just starting with them.  She said four hours was her goal.  I also asked her how far she went in training.  She told me about her last few long training runs.  The longest was 22 miles.

Early in the race, “Abbi” and I both followed the pace group.  In addition to the 4:00 group for the marathon, there was a 2:00 group for the half marathon.  The two groups were running together, so it was a large group.  I found running behind this large group to be useful to shelter from the wind.

“Abbi” was wearing ear buds, so I seldom talked to her.  To hear me, she had to take them out, so I just stayed with the pace group.  Every now and then, I looked to see where she was, but I assumed she would be able to stay with the group in the early miles.  If she struggled to keep up the pace, it wouldn’t be until later in the race.

After a few miles, I started to notice that I was getting splits from my watch way before we reached the banners marking each mile.  It’s not unusual for a GPS watch to be off, but the discrepancy seemed unusually large.  I think the placement of the banners was inconsistent.

I talked to one of the 4:00 pacers, and she said they were pacing according to their watches, but going a little bit faster in case their watches were recording splits too soon.  Our target pace was 9:09 per mile, but the pacers were keeping us closer to 9:00.

About halfway through the fifth mile, I started to feel perspiration under the sleeves of my jacket.  That’s when I finally took it off and tied it around my waist.

The early miles were gently rolling, but with a downhill trend.  At one point, one of the pacers told us we were about to start running down a hill that was about a mile long.  Some runners went ahead, but I held back and stayed with the pacers.

They had a marathon relay.  After running downhill, we reached the first exchange point.  There was also an aid station there.  A bus to transport relay runners was parked in the middle of the street, forcing us onto the shoulder just as we were going through the heavily congested relay exchange point.  Making matters worse, there were rumble strips between the driving lane and the shoulder.

I realized at some point that I would need to make a bathroom stop.  I knew I would need to pee before too long.  I also felt pressure in my intestine, and I wasn’t willing to assume that it was just gas.  I told “Abbi” I was going to make a bathroom stop the next time we reached an aid station, but I would try to catch up later.

Somewhere near the end of the eighth mile, we ran under a bridge, and I saw an aid station with two port-o-potties just past the bridge.  I took the opportunity to stop.

Taking care of my business took longer than it should have.  I had to take off my gloves, and I also had to be careful not to lose my hotel room card.  The pressure I felt was just gas, but I still took the time to empty my intestines as much as I possible could.

When I was done, I got a drink from the aid station.  As I resumed running, I looked at my watch.  I had lost roughly two and a half minutes.

I’m used to running marathons at a slightly faster pace than the pace I was running today.  I was confident that I could speed up by about 15 seconds per mile, but at that pace it would take 10 miles to catch up to the group.  I didn’t know if “Abbi” would begin to struggle at some point.  If she did, I wanted to be there to help her get through the late miles.

I was now surrounded by runners who were going a little bit slower than the pace I was going before.  To pick up my pace, I needed to be passing everyone around me.

I picked up my pace until it felt tiring.  I passed the 8-mile banner almost immediately, but I wouldn’t know my pace until I finished mile nine.  I was surprised to see how fast I was running.  I ran that mile in 8:02.

At that pace, it would only take another mile and a half to catch up to the group, but I knew this pace would wear me out.  I eased up a little, but then I realized I was no longer passing people.  I had to accelerate again to make sure I was still gaining ground on the group.

Mile 10 was almost as fast.  I ran it in 8:09.  Looking ahead, I could see where runners were making a U-turn and going up a ramp.  I saw the 2:00 pacer, but I didn’t see a 4:00 pacer.

As I got closer, I saw a sign indicating this was where the marathon and half marathon routes diverged.  The runners doing the half marathon did the U-turn.  The runners doing the marathon kept going straight.  Looking farther ahead, I saw the 4:00 pace leader.  Now that I could see the group, I knew I would catch up to them.

Midway through the next mile, I caught up with the group.  As I pulled alongside “Abbi,” she noticed I was back.  I told her I had been running 8-minute miles, and I would probably regret that later.  I was really worried that those fast miles would destroy me for the late miles.

Most of the runners were wearing extra layers, but as it gradually warmed up, they discarded them.  “Abbi” had started the race in a green long-sleeved shirt.  At some point, I noticed the shirt was gone.  I still recognized her from her ear buds and a pink case on her lower back that held her phone.

By the time we reached the halfway mark, I was finding it more difficult to keep up with the group.  Most of the time, the pace felt manageable, but if I fell behind at an aid station, it was more difficult to catch up.  It was also tough keep up on hills.  In general, the rest of the course was fairly flat, but it wasn’t perfectly flat.  There were occasional small rises, and now I found them to be tiring.

In the second half of the race, I started getting splits from my watch after we passed the mile markers.  I never trust my watch completely, but I trusted it more than I trusted the mile markers.

Most of the time, we were on roads, but some sections of the course were on paved trails through a forest.  At one point, we saw a family of ducks running across the trail.  They were the tiniest baby ducks I’ve ever seen.  Earlier, we had seen a wild rabbit run across the trail.

If not for “Abbi,” I would’ve dropped back and finished at my own pace.  I forced myself to keep up with the group, because I wanted to help her get through the difficult miles at the end of the race.  All first-time marathoners struggle at least a little bit.  My only goal for this race was to help her get through those miles.  Finishing your first marathon can be a life-changing event.  I wanted to see her finish.

At one point, our remaining pace leader told us we were coming up on “the hill.”  This was the only tough hill on the course.  It wasn’t steep, but it was long.

For the first half of the hill, I was able to keep up.  Then I started to lose contact.  I kept the group in sight until I reached the top.  As we started running back downhill, I worked hard to catch up.  I was actually breathing harder on the downhill than I did going uphill.

Up until now, I rarely talked to “Abbi.”  Now I started talking to her more often.  When we got to 20 miles, I told her that most first-time marathoners would be struggling at this point, but she was going strong.  She appreciated hearing that.

Since reaching the city, we had been running in a big loop.  At 22 miles, we completed the loop and began to repeat a section we had run before.  Miles 23 and 24 were the same as miles 9 and 10.  Coincidentally, those were the two miles I had run much faster the first time around.  Knowing how fast I had run these miles before made me feel more confident that I could keep up with the group as we ran them again.

When I saw the “23” banner I told “Abbi” she set a PR.  What I meant by that was that she had run farther today than she had every run.  In reply, she asked, “I told you that?”

I reminded her that she said her longest training run was 22 miles.  Then she said that she had run marathons before.  Her PR was 3:59.  She thought I meant that she was on pace to beat that time.

I realized now that my entire race was based on a misunderstanding.  This woman obviously didn’t need my help to get through the tough miles.  This wasn’t her first rodeo.  I was left wondering if I had completely misunderstood my previous conversations with “Abbi.”  I also wondered if I was still talking to “Abbi.”  Did I somehow get her mixed up with another runner in the pace group who looked similar.  It didn’t help that nobody was wearing the same clothes now that they were wearing at the beginning of the race.  I’m going to continue referring to her as “Abbi,” but I didn’t really know if this was the same runner.

“Abbi” was obviously feeling strong, and she was determined to beat her previous best of 3:59.  The two of us were now pulling away from the pace group.  I was tempted to ask her what her name was, but I felt awkward asking.  If this really was “Abbi,” she already told me her name.  By the time I finally decided to ask, it was too late.

As we passed the 24-mile banner, “Abbi” was clearly feeling strong.  She picked up the pace to the point where I could no longer keep up with her.  I had lost my chance to ask her name.

“Abbi” was wearing her race bib on her back.  I could make out the first and last digits, but I couldn’t read the middle digit.  Her hair was in the way.

When I reached the “25” banner, I made one last attempt to catch up with “Abbi.”  I sped up as much as I could, but I was still losing ground.  By the time I reached the “26” banner, I could no longer see her.

I finished at the best pace I could.  I finished in 3:57:27.  Despite running miles nine, ten, and part of eleven at a pace that almost broke me, I managed to run fairly even splits.

After I got my finisher medal, I started to look for “Abbi.”  I couldn’t find her.  She was already gone.  I picked up some post-race food and headed for the results tent.

They had monitors where you could type in your bib number and see your official result.  The sun was shining on the monitors in such a way that I couldn’t read them.  I had to ask one of the volunteers to look up my result.  That’s when I found out that I placed second in my age group.  Nothing about this race went as planned, but it had a happy ending.

My hotel was just around the block from the finish area.  As I was walked back to the hotel, I spotted another 50sub4 runner.  We’re in the same age group, and he had finished in 3:45.  He was the winner of our age group.  If I had been trying to go all out for a fast time, my goal would’ve been 3:50.  I still would’ve been second in my age group.

After the race, I searched the results for every possible bib number starting with “4” and ending with “2.”  My best guess is that the runner I was talking to in the late miles was a woman named Emily who finished in 3:56:10.

I also searched the results for any woman named Abbi, Abby, Abbey, or Abigail.  Initially, I didn't find her.  When I reviewed the complete race results the next day, I found her.  She finished the race nine seconds after I did.   When I sped up to try to keep up with Emily, Abbi sped up to follow me.  I still feel bad about mistaking Emily for Abbi, but I'm relieved to know that Abbi had a strong finish.

At the end of the race, I was confused, but I now realize that it was only in the last few miles that I mistook Emily for Abbi.  My biggest regret now is that I didn't get to see Abbi finish.

Race statistics:

Distance:  26.2 miles

Time:  3:57:27

Average Pace:  9:03 per mile

First Half:  1:58:35

Second Half:  1:58:52

Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:  545

Minnesota Marathons/Ultras:  105

Race Report: 2025 Patagonia Running Festival

On May 3, I ran the Patagonia Running Festival Marathon.  This race is held in Torres del Paine National Park, which is in southern Chile.  I traveled there with Marathon Tours and Travel (MT&T).

Monday, April 28

I flew to Atlanta, where I connected to an overnight flight to Santiago, Chile.  I’ve done lots of flights to Europe where I stayed awake on the overnight flight.  I do that because sleeping on the flight would make it more difficult to adjust to the local time zone. 

Traveling to South America is different, because there isn’t a significant time difference.  When the U.S. is on daylight time, there’s only a one-hour difference between Minneapolis and Santiago.

I was going to have some early mornings on this trip, so I needed to get sleep any time I could.  I waited until the meal service was over, and then I dd my best to get some sleep.  I managed to fall asleep three or four times, but I kept waking up because of noise and turbulence.

Tuesday, April 29

I arrived in Santiago around 7:00 AM.  After clearing immigration/customs, I took a taxi to my hotel in Santiago.  The people in my tour group were arriving at different times on different flights, so we were on our own to get to the hotel.

I got to the hotel a little after 8:00, but check-in wasn’t until 3:00.  I paid extra to get an early check-in, so I could go to a room right away.

MT&T provided a welcome brunch at the hotel.  I already had a breakfast on my flight, so I wasn’t that hungry, but this was my first opportunity to meet other people in my tour group.  I didn’t eat much, but I drank three cups of tea.

After the brunch, I did a strength training workout in the hotel gym.  Then I took a long-overdue shower before going out to explore the neighborhood around the hotel.

There were some days when we were busy all day.  Tuesday was one of the few days when I had time to get out for a run.  I joined one of the other runners in my group for an easy training run in the afternoon.  We followed a greenway that was near our hotel.

After my run, I joined a few other runners on the patio.  We talked until it was time to go to an evening reception with drinks and appetizers.  None of the runners I was talking to at the reception felt like walking to a restaurant for dinner, so we had dinner at the hotel.

I went to bed early, and got a full night’s sleep.  I really needed that.

Wednesday, April 30

We had a buffet breakfast at our hotel.  Then we left on a day trip to Valparaiso.  On our way, we stopped at a market in Casablanca.

Our walking tour of Valparaiso lasted about three hours.  That included a few shopping and coffee/bathroom breaks.  We saw some colorful neighborhoods.  Valparaiso has some good murals, but many of them have been ruined by graffiti.

Next, we went to a winery in Casablanca.  We toured the winery, had wine tastings, and ate lunch there.  They have an excellent restaurant.  It was the best meal I had in Chile.

On our way back to Santiago, we encountered heavy traffic.  It was frustrating how late it was by the time we got back.  I wanted to get to bed early, so I had a light dinner at the hotel, and then I tried to get to sleep.

I was tired, but I couldn’t fall asleep.  My alarm was set for 12:45 AM.  When I was still awake at 10:00, I started to stress about it.  I never got to sleep that night.

Thursday, May 1

We needed to be in the lobby at 1:30 AM for a 2:00 departure to go to the airport.  I never got to sleep, so I was already awake before my alarm went off.

I tried to sleep on our early morning flight to Punta Arenas, but I wasn’t able to sleep on the flight.

MT&T had three separate itineraries, so we were split into three groups.  I was doing the 7-day itinerary.  When we got to the airport in Santiago, we were joined by the runners who were doing the 11-day itinerary.  When we got to Punta Arenas, we were joined by runners doing the 5-day itinerary.  Those runners had to fly to Punta Arenas on their own.

Altogether, there were more than 100 of us.  We left for Torres del Paine National Park in three motor coaches.  The ride took about five and a half hours, including a stop for coffee, snacks, and a bathroom break.

During the first half of our bus ride, the terrain was mostly flat.  The wildlife we saw included guanacos, ostriches, and flamingos.

After our snack break, we started to get views of the mountains, but they were partially obstructed by clouds.  As we continued through a valley, we saw leaves in color.  In the southern hemisphere, it was autumn.

As we got closer to our hotel, the sky cleared up, and we had views like this.

We got to our hotel around 3:15.  That was much later than we were expecting, so the afternoon itinerary was rearranged to accommodate any runners who wanted to go on an afternoon hike.  Most of us went on the hike.

MT&T picked our race packets and brought them to our rooms.  Besides my race bib and T-shirt, the race packet included a water bottle, a warm headband, a buff, a lanyard, five gels, two energy bars, trail mix, cereal, two packages of drink mix powder, two packages of gummies, two candy bars, and a jar of honey.  I also got a hat, a lanyard, a luggage tag, and a thermos from MT&T.

After we all checked in, we had a briefing on the various activities we could sign up for over the next few days.  The only activity on Thursday was a hike to the confluence of the Serrano and Grey rivers.  Where the rivers meet, you can see a difference in the color of the waters from the two rivers.  Along the way, I saw a variety of geese I had never seen before.

I wasn’t expecting to see an aid station on our hike, but at the confluence, there were people from the hotel who set up tables with coffee, hot cocoa, water, and cookies.

Most people stayed for a while at the aid station.  A few of us hurried back to the hotel.  I was one of them.  I wanted to have time to catch up on a few things before we met again at 6:30.

We had dinner at 7:00, but we were told to meet at 6:30 for a surprise.  Out surprise included a Patagonia barbeque and some entertainment.

The barbeque wasn’t our dinner.  We still had a full meal afterwards.  During dinner, I was talking to a few of the other runners about all the extra food and gear we got in our race packets.  One of the challenges before going home would be figuring out how to pack all the extra stuff without having to check a bag.  Some things might have to be left behind.  At some point, someone suggested a new game show: “Check It or Chuck It.”

After not sleeping at all the previous night, I slept well Thursday night.  Again, I really needed that.

Friday, May 2

We didn’t have to be up early on Friday, as our excursion didn’t leave until 9:00.  That gave me time to do a workout before breakfast.

It was the day before the race, and we had an all-day excursion called Lookouts and Race Course Recon.  We started at the hotel and drove backwards along the course, stopping at various lookout points.  There were five different race distances, and we also stopped at the starting point of each race.

Several times during our drive, we saw groups of guanacos.

From the start of the 11K race, it’s possible to get s good views of the mountains with a river in the foreground.  Unfortunately, the mountains were completely obstructed by clouds.  As we continued driving, the clouds gradually cleared up.  This is the view from a lookout point that’s near the start of the half marathon.

We had one more lookout point before reaching the marathon start.

We saw where the marathon starts, but there isn’t a good view of the mountains there.  Then we continued along the road to other lookout points.

This region frequently experiences strong winds.  It was an unusually calm day.  It was so calm that you could see a reflection of the mountains in the water at our next stop.  Unfortunately, the tops of the mountains were obstructed by clouds.

We made an unscheduled stop when we saw this guanaco looking over a valley.

We made a lunch stop at Laguna Azul.  Then we headed back.

We made different stops on our way back, so we could see two waterfalls.

Our last stop was a lookout point at the top of the last hill on the marathon route.  From here we could see our hotel and the finish line of the race.

We had some free time to relax at the hotel.  Then we had a pre-race briefing, followed by a pasta dinner.  The briefing was supposed to start at 6:30, but it didn’t start until 6:45.  The briefing was still going an hour later, which made dinner late.  I ate quickly and went to bed as quickly as I could.

I got the room cooled down before going to bed, but I kept the window cracked open, so the room wouldn’t warm up during the night.

For the second straight night, I got a full night’s sleep.  This was already going to be a tough race, and it wouldn’t help if I had to start it without enough sleep.

Saturday, May 3

Saturday was race day.  Since the race was point-to-point, we had to take a bus to the start.  The bus to the start of the marathon left at 7:00, but we were requested to be in the lobby at 6:30.  Those of us who were with MT&T took a group photo before boarding the bus.

It’s possible to get a weather forecast for the national park, but the park is large, and I’m not sure where the weather station is, so I didn’t know for sure what the weather would be where we were starting.  I was expecting temperatures in the 30s with a 70% chance of rain.  I had no idea if it would be windy.

I opted to wear tights on my legs.  On my torso, I wore a rain jacket over a long-sleeve polypro shirt.  I brought both gloves and Gore-Tex mittens.  I brought a warm hat, but I wore a cap over it.  Basically, I was assuming we would have rain at some point, and I didn’t want to be caught unprepared.  We were advised to wear a buff, in case it was windy.  I chose not to, because it would get sopping wet if it was raining.  For the same reason, I didn’t wear gaiters.

We reached the start area about 30 minutes before the start.  We were able to stay on the bus before the race, so I didn’t feel the need to bring extra layers.  They had a gear check, but I didn’t need to check a bag.

This is a cupless race, and one of the tough decisions I had to make was whether to use a reusable cup or carry a bottle.  I had packed a bottle, but I didn’t have room in my suitcase for a fuel belt, so I would’ve needed to carry the bottle in my hand.  Having a bottle would’ve allowed me to drink between aid stations.  There were only six aid stations on the course.

I had a cup that I could clip to my fanny pack, so I wouldn’t have to carry anything.  With the cup, I could fill it and drink at aid stations, but I couldn’t drink in between.

I opted to go with the cup.  I made a point of drinking a cup of sports drink before the race, knowing I wouldn’t get another chance until 11.2 kilometers into the race.

The start was slightly uphill, and I was surprised how many runners started at a fast pace.  I followed the faster runners until the first turn.  Then it got steeper, and I let more runners get ahead of me.

In general, this race had a downhill trend, but it was also rolling.  Even during miles that were mostly downhill, there were usually one or two places where the road turned uphill.  On the uphill sections, I was forced to slow down.

We were running on gravel roads with lots of rocks in the road.  There were also lots of ripples in the road.  I had to watch my footing constantly, so I often had to keep from going too fast on the downhill sections, so I wouldn’t be in danger of tripping.

I didn’t bring my phone, because I didn’t think it would be a good day for taking pictures.  Early in the race, we had clear skies.  We had some great mountain views, but I wasn’t able to take pictures.

After a couple miles, I started to notice the wind.  It wasn’t too strong at this point, but we were running right into it.

At 11.2K, I reached an aid station.  I drank what I could, knowing there wouldn’t be another aid station until the halfway point.

For the first seven miles, my pace varied, but I was averaging about nine minutes per mile.  Then I started the first of three tough uphill sections.

There were only about 100 runners in the marathon, and by now we were getting spread out on the road.  As I starting this climb, I could see a few runners farther up the hill, but they quickly disappeared around a bend.

I thought I could run up this hill, but as I neared the top of the first section, I noticed my pace wasn’t much faster than a walking pace.  Rather than wear myself out, I switched to walking until I reached what appeared to be the top.  Then I resumed running.

That wasn’t actually the top.  As I turned the next corner, I saw more of the hill.  The hill continued around two more bends.  In all, it was about a mile long.

By the time I reached the top of that hill, I was getting hot and sweaty.  My polypro shirt is good for wicking moisture away from my skin, but the rain jacket was trapping that moisture.

That hill left me tired, but the next few miles were mostly downhill, so I was able to recover.  I wasn’t running quite as fast as I did in the early miles, but I was still running splits between nine and ten minutes.

Running downhill, I wasn’t working as hard.  I was still running into the wind, so I cooled down quickly.  I wouldn’t feel hot again for the rest of the race.

After about 11 miles, I started to feel a few drops of light drizzle.  I was wearing polypro gloves, but I also had Gore-Tex shell mittens in my pockets.  My plan was to put the mittens on when it started raining.

I was only two miles from the next aid station, where I wanted to drink and use the bathroom.  Those things would be more difficult with the mittens, so I waited.

After a minute or two, I no longer noticed the drizzle.  I felt like I made the right decision about the mittens.

Before I reached the halfway mark, I ran up a couple more hills that forced me to take short walking breaks.  These hills weren’t long, but they had sections that were steep enough to be tiring.

At 12 miles, I started to feel the drizzle again.  I was starting to run by a lake that I recognized from our recon the day before.  In the distance, I could see a building that I knew was just past the halfway mark.

The wind was getting stronger now.  I could see waves on the lake.  I was still running into the wind, but just past the halfway mark, I would turn and head in a more southernly direction.  The wind was from the west, so after turning, the wind would be at my side.

I was expecting an aid station with bathrooms at the halfway mark, since this was also the starting point for the half marathon.  I ran past the banners that marked the start of the half marathon, but I still couldn’t see an aid station.  The aid station was around a corner, in a spot where there was more space on the side of the road.

For the previous few miles, I sometimes saw a group of four runners who were farther up the road.  Sometimes they would disappear around a bend.  When I could see them, they were usually about half a mile ahead of me.

At the aid station, I caught up to them.  They had all stopped to eat and drink.  I filled my cup to take a quick drink.  Then I headed to the row of portable bathrooms.

I took my time in the bathroom.  I wanted to make sure I wouldn’t need to make another bathroom stop before the end of the race.

To use the bathroom, I needed to take off my gloves.  As I got back onto the course, I started walking up a steep hill.  While walking, I put my gloves on again.  Then I pulled on the mittens.

By now, I had fallen behind the four runners I caught at the aid station, but I caught up to two of them again on this hill.

The race had three tough uphill sections.  I had already run one of them.  My recollection was that the second one was right after the halfway point.  The hill I was on was steep, but it was also fairly short.  I was expecting something longer.

The wind was getting much stronger.  Now, I could see whitecaps on the lake.  I was relieved that I was no longer running directly into it.

After more than a mile of easy running, I reached a longer section that was uphill.  This was the tough hill I was expecting.  It was similar to the first hill in that I couldn’t see the whole hill at once.

I had made a turn just before starting up the first part of this hill.  I briefly had the wind at my back.  Just as I reached the point where I expected to walk, a strong wind gust helped push me up the hill.

By the time I finished the second long uphill section, I had passed another runner.  Then I noticed that the drizzle was turning into a steady rain.  My jacket was doing a good job of keeping my torso dry, but my tights and shoes were wet.  I could see rain dripping off the brim of my cap.

I told myself I was two thirds done.  As far as distance was concerned, I was really only about 60 percent done.  More significantly, however, I had completed two of the three tough uphill sections.

In theory, the next several miles were easier than the early part of the race.  There weren’t as many hills.  In spite of that, I was more apt to take walking breaks on the hills.

Just before 17 miles, I reached another aid station.  I wasn’t expecting to see it so soon.  I was expecting it to be at 28K.  I probably remembered that wrong.  It was actually 27K.  Unclipping my cup was more awkward now that I was wearing an extra layer on my hands.  Clipping it back onto my fanny pack proved to be even more difficult.  I had to come to a complete stop to do that.

As the rain continued, puddles formed all over the road.  The previous two days, the roads were dry and dusty.  It was quite a contrast.

I was starting to gain ground on another of the runners who I had frequently seen ahead of me.  Of the original group of four, she was now the only one who was still ahead of me.  At one point, she was more than half a mile ahead of me.  By the time I reached the Weber Bridge, I was only about a minute behind her.

The next aid station was at the starting point of the 11K race.  That was just on the other side of the bridge.  I was about to catch the runner in front of me, but she didn’t stop at the aid station, and I did.

After drinking at the aid station, I had more difficulty clipping my cup back to my fanny pack.  I had to take off my mitten.  Wearing just a glove, I still couldn’t get it clipped.  Water had soaked through my mittens and the gloves underneath.  My hands weren’t numb yet, but they were so cold that I didn’t have enough strength in my fingers to hold the clip open.  After trying futilely for two or three minutes, I finally gave up and put my cup in my pocket.  Then I zipped that pocket shut.  I was done drinking.

After stopping for so long, I was much colder.  While trying to clip the cup to my fanny pack, I had to lift the front of my jacket.  That allowed the front of the shirt underneath to get wet.  Also, I had been standing in the cold wind for too long.  The rest of the race wasn’t about pace or distance.  It was about enduring the cold long enough to finish.

With about nine kilometers to go, I turned a corner and ran by another aid station.  I skipped this one.  After turning, I was running directly into the wind.  I would have to run into this wind for a long time.

The woman ahead of me was at least half a mile ahead of me, but she sometimes stopped to walk.  We were on a long flat section, and I wasn’t slowing down for anything.  I was getting to be intolerably cold, and I was fighting to get to the finish at the best pace I could manage.

I was noticing water under my jacket.  Some of it was from when I lifted my jacket for so long trying to clip my cup to my fanny pack.  The back of my shirt also felt wet.  Maybe it was getting in around my neck and running down my back.  My sleeves wete also wet.  Maybe the strong wind was blowing water into my sleeves.  The more depressing possibility is that the jacket I thought was waterproof realty wasn’t.  At this point, everything I was wearing felt like a wet rag.

I was running through a section without any distinguishing landmarks.  There was flat grassland on either side of the road.  Obviously, running into the wind was tiring, but it was also cold.  My face started to feel numb.  My thumbs and some of my fingers were getting painful.  I pressed on.

I caught up the to woman I had been following.  In response, she picked up her pace.  For a few minutes, we ran side by side.  Neither of us said a word, but we were motivating each other to keep running.

With about four miles to go, my legs were getting really cold.  I was worried that I would get hypothermic and start to lose circulation to my legs.  I needed at least 40 minutes to finish the race, and I didn’t know if I could make it.

I eventually pulled away from the woman running next to me.  Then I saw two more runners in the distance.  Could I possibly be catching up to two runners who had previously been so far ahead that I never saw them before?  No.  These were the last two runners from the half marathon, which started later than the marathon.  I gradually caught up to them.  Then I passed them.

By now, my hands were no longer painful.  Now, they were numb.  I pressed on.  What else could I do?  There weren’t any more aid stations with medical personal.  I was now on my own.  I had to finish.  That’s why cold conditions scare me more than hot conditions.  If you’re too hot and you stop running, you cool off.  If you’re too cold and you stop running, you get colder.

With less than 5K to go, I went past the entrance to the national park.  Ahead of me, I could see the bridge over the Serrano River.  After crossing that bridge, I would start the last of the tough uphill sections.  This was probably the toughest hill, but I was glad to see it.  When I reached the top, I would be within sight of the hotel and the finish line.

I crossed the bridge and started up the hill.  The first part was runnable.  After turning a corner, I reached a section that was much too steep.  I had to walk it.

Most of the course was dirt roads, but the first part of this hill was paved.  With good footing, I was able to power walk it.  Going up the hill, I passed another walker from one of the shorter races.

When the hill leveled off, I was able to run again.  I still couldn’t see the viewpoint at the top of the hill.  Then I saw that there was more hill ahead.  I wasn’t even halfway there.  As the road got steeper again, I had to do more walking.

When I finally got up to the viewpoint, I was able to run again.  Just past it, I could see the 40K sign.

From here on, it was all downhill or flat, but now my feet were also getting numb.  They felt rubbery.

I had to go down a steep hill to get down into the valley where the hotel was.  Running downhill without being able to feel my feet was scary.  As I reached the steepest part of the hill, I also had trouble feeling my quads.  Running into the wind had chilled them.

The descent was uncomfortable, but I got it done.  The rest was flat.  I had to go past the hotel, and then turn and run on the grass.  After another sharp turn, I could run toward the finish line, which was behind the hotel.

As I approached, I took off both of my mittens and held them in my left hand.  I needed to stop my watch with my right hand when I crossed the finish line.  I was barely able to do it.

I finished in 4:23:01.  As soon as I received my finisher medal, I went into the hotel.  I was thankful that the race finished right behind the hotel, because I needed to get out of the rain and the cold wind.

They had an assortment of post-race food, including empanadas, pasta, bread, and Patagonian barbeque.  They also had an assortment of local beers.  I had to skip all that for now.  I headed straight for my room.

I had to ask one of the other runners to take my room card from my fanny pack and unlock my door for me.  I couldn’t do it.  My hands wouldn’t work.

With numb hands and feet, getting undressed was challenging, but I needed to get out of all the wet clothes.

Before I could take a shower, I needed to warm up my hands in the sink.  When I could feel my hands, I took a long hot shower.  After several minutes in the shower, my feet still felt rubbery.

I eventually dried off and got dressed.  Then I went back out to enjoy the post-race food.  I got some food and beer, found a table that had just been vacated, and I was joined by a few friends who had finished earlier.

I eventually learned that I placed first in my age group.  In theory, the awards were supposed to start at 3:00 PM in a room called the Salon.  The Salon was being used to treat runners who needed medical attention, so they did the awards ceremony outside instead.

By the time the awards ceremony started, the rain had stopped, and it was a sunny afternoon.  It was still cold though, so I had to go back to my room to put on warmer clothes.  I put on two jackets, a dry pair of gloves, and a dry hat.

Awards started with the 5K race.  Then they did the 11K, the half marathon, the marathon, and the 50K.  I had to wait a long time before they got to the marathon, but in the meantime, I saw several others in our tour group win awards in the shorter races.

In the evening, MT&T had a dinner for us.  At the dinner, they recognized everyone in our group who won an award.  People who weren’t at the awards ceremony to receive their awards were able to get them from our MT&T guides.

After dinner, I saw several runners the bar, so I was hanging out with them for at least another hour.

I usually sleep well after a marathon, but my sleep was restless that night.  I only managed to sleep for about half the night.

Sunday, May 4

It was a clear morning.  From behind the hotel, I could finally see the mountains without any clouds in the way.

[morning mountains (2)]

After breakfast, I went on an excursion called Grey Navigation.  We were driven to Grey Lake.  From where we parked, we walked about a mile around the south end of the lake.  Then we boarded a catamaran.  We cruised to the other end of the lake to see the Grey Glacier.

Grey Lake is between the Andes Mountains and the Paine Mountains.  We had good views of both mountain ranges.

Grey Glacier is part of the Patagonian ice sheet.  It’s the third largest mass of ice in the world.  Only Antarctica and Greenland have larger ice sheets.

There are three branches of the glacier that terminate at this lake.  We got close-up views of each branch.

After getting back to the hotel, I had some free time on my own.  That gave me time to do a workout.

It turns out we didn’t all get the same things in our race packet.  Upon learning that, one of the runners organized an exchange.  Before dinner, we could drop off items we didn’t want to bring home and pick up items we wanted to keep instead.  I dropped off a few food items I knew I wouldn’t eat.  I also dropped off a water bottle that I knew wouldn’t fit in my suitcase.  In exchange, I picked up an extra headband.

Monday, May 5

Monday was our last full day in Patagonia.  One of the excursions offered that day was an all-day hike to the base of the Three Towers.  People doing that hike wouldn’t get back until late in the day, and they would eat dinner later.

We had to be in the hotel lobby by 2:15 Tuesday morning for the long drive back to the airport.  I didn’t want to have a late night when I needed to be up that early, so I chose to do a shorter hike instead.

For this hike, we left before dawn, and drove to a trailhead that was about 15 miles from our hotel.  When we got there, it was still before sunrise, but there was just enough light to see the trail.  From there, we hiked about two miles each way, stopping at three viewpoints.  Our first viewpoint was at this waterfall.

The second viewpoint is a place where other runners saw a beautiful sunrise the day before.  By the time we got to this viewpoint, it was starting to drizzle, and there were too many clouds to see much of the mountains.  After pausing for a few minutes, we continued to the final viewpoint.  We had a nice view of a glacial lake, but the mountains were still obscured by the clouds.  On the plus side, I got to see a caracara flying overhead.  Our guide said there were two, but I only saw one of them.

After we got back, I had lunch at the hotel bar.  After doing some packing, I went for a short afternoon run.  I ran out and back along the last part of the marathon route.  Two of my friends ran the same route, but started about 10 minutes after I did.  I met them as I was coming back up the hill and they were on the way down.

We had a buffet dinner that started at 7:00, but a few other runners were ordering dinner at the bar as early as 6:00.  All of our food was included, regardless of whether we ate with the group or on our own, so I also ate an early dinner.  My alarm was set for 1:15 AM, so I got to sleep as early as I could.

I woke up a couple times during the night, but I may have slept for as much as four hours.  That’s way better than the night before our first long travel day.

Tuesday, May 6

We needed to be in the lobby with our luggage by 2:15 AM, but there were some things that I couldn’t pack until morning, so I was up an hour before we needed to leave.

For the entire ride, it was still dark outside.  The lights inside the bus were kept off so people could sleep.  I wasn’t able to sleep, but I relaxed with my eyes closed for about half of the trip.

On our flight back to Santiago, I struggled to keep my eyes open.  I was dozing off intermittently for about a third of the flight.

When I booked this trip, I didn’t know when we would get back to Santiago.  Rather than risk a tight connection, I chose to spend one more night in Santiago and fly home the next day.  I had originally booked a hotel in the same neighborhood where we stayed before, but that was before I knew how horrible the traffic is near the city center.  At least four other runners were staying at a Hilton Garden Inn near the airport, so I changed my reservation and stayed at the same hotel.  That made getting to and from the hotel easier, but the hotel was in a less exciting part of the city.

Two of the other runners staying at the Hilton Garden Inn were on the same flight.  After we arrived, I called the hotel to ask when and where we could catch their airport shuttle.  The directions to the shuttle location were sufficiently complicated that they asked for my phone number so they could send me instructions via a WhatsApp chat.

After leaving the terminal and walking across the street to a parking garage, we needed to wait next to a specific parking space.  Our instructions were to follow the llama signs to the mountain signs.  I’m glad I called.  I would never have found this myself.

The three of us were all going to be on the same flight Wednesday evening.  When we checked in, we asked for late checkouts.   We were each able to check out at 5:00 PM for no extra charge.

The three of us had lunch together in the hotel’s restaurant.  Later, I went for an afternoon run.  On the map, I saw what looked like a greenway, but there was no way to get to it.  I ended up running on sidewalks through a mostly industrial neighborhood.

The three of had dinner together at the hotel.  Two other runners from our tour group arrived on a later flight, and we saw them at dinner.

I got to bed later that night, but that was OK.  I didn’t have to get up early on Wednesday.

Wednesday, May 7

I slept as late as I could before going down to breakfast.  I got at least eight hours of sleep.  It was nice not having to set an alarm.

My flight to Atlanta wasn’t until the evening, so I had almost a full day.  There wasn’t much around this hotel, so rather than try to see any more of Santiago, I spent the day at the hotel.  I did some strength training and some running, but otherwise, I just relaxed.

The airport shuttle leaves every hour on the hour.  After we check out, we’ll take the 5 PM shuttle back to the airport.  That’ll give us more than three hours before our overnight flight to Atlanta.  Wish me luck on getting sleep on the plane.

Race statistics:

Distance:  42.2 kilometers

Time:  4:23:01

Average Pace:  10:02 per mile (6:14 per kilometer)

First Half:  2:05:36

Second Half:  2:17:25

Place in age group:  1st

Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:  544

Countries:  55