Today was my third of six daily marathons at Across the Years. Yesterday’s race went better than I expected, so I started the day feeling optimistic that I can hang in there for four more days.
When I rolled out of bed
this morning, walking to the bathroom was slow and painful. It was slow, because my Achilles tendons were
tight, forcing me to take small steps.
It was painful, because my feet were sore.
I wasn’t drinking during
the night, so by morning I felt dry. The
first thing I did was to drink a pint of water.
I’m wondering if dehydration is contributing to the soreness in my feet,
which is always worst in the morning.
By now, I’ve developed a
consistent routine for getting myself ready.
By the time I left for the race, I was walking normally. When it was time to run, I knew I would
somehow do that too.
Today’s weather was
similar to yesterday, but there wasn’t as much wind. I was cautiously optimistic that we would get
some cloud cover in the afternoon.
Yesterday’s nutrition
plan worked OK, so I did the same thing today.
I drank a variety of beverages, and I ate some solid food every fifth
lap.
There were dozens of
runners starting at 9:00 AM. Some were
doing today’s marathon. Others were
starting one of the various fixed-time races.
Most of them were starting with fresh legs, so we were starting out
running.
Early in the first lap,
several of us passed Ann Trason, who is doing the 6-day race. As we went by, she said, “You’re all so fast!” It was weird to hear a comment like that from
someone who has set numerous course records.
Yesterday, I was running
most of the route. On most laps, I only
walked on the two short ramps going through the stadium. Today, I added a longer walking break on each
lap. The course has a lot of concrete,
so rather than run all of it, I took a walking break each time I reached this
sidewalk.
On my first lap, my hands
were still cold. I walked up the two
short ramps, but I ran the section of sidewalk above, so I could get warmed
up. Starting with my second lap, I walked
this section of sidewalk.
Whenever I finished a
lap, I looked at the timing display to make sure my lap was counted and the lap
count was correct. After two laps, I
noticed I was in first place overall.
After my third lap, I saw
that I was still leading all the men, but I was now in second place
overall. I had taken a bathroom break in
that lap, so I assume that’s when I got passed.
Yesterday, it took until
the second half of the race before I noticed that my Achilles tendons no long
felt tight. Today, they felt OK after
only a few laps.
When it was time to eat
some solid food, they had breakfast burritos.
I ate about half of a burrito while I was still in the food tent. I carried the other half with me and walked
while I ate it. I had to wait until the
next lap to follow it with some ginger ale.
Because I had a walking
break while eating my breakfast burrito, I didn’t take one where I usually
walked.
After that lap, I noticed
that I had regained the overall lead.
For the next few laps, I was leapfrogging with the lead woman, but I
didn’t know who it was. Presumably, we
were always close to each other, but I somehow never noticed when we passed
each other.
I looked forward to lap
10, because it was time to eat some real food again, and it was also the lap
where I hit the halfway point. When I
got to the food tent, they were just putting up this sign.
I was going to have a hot
dog, but I didn’t read the sign closely enough.
They would have hot dogs at 1 PM.
It wasn’t even noon yet. Instead,
I had a bean roll-up.
My time at the halfway
point was about seven minutes slower than yesterday, but I was feeling really
good. I wondered if I could run even
splits, or possibly even run negative splits.
I had been expecting it
to be sunny in the morning and cloudy in the afternoon. Instead, it was the opposite. It had been cloudy all morning, but now the
sun was coming out. That made the second
half more difficult, as I started feeling the heat from the sun.
While I was on my walking
break, I saw a woman go by who looked familiar, but I didn’t recognize her as
she went by. As it turns out, it was a
runner from Australia who I met during yesterday’s race. She’s also running marathons every day.
The timing display at the
finish line updated each time a runner finished a lap. They used different background colors for
runners doing different races. Runners
doing the marathon were shown with a black background.
As I was finishing that
lap, I looked to see my name show up at the top of the display. I saw two rows with black backgrounds. My name was at the top. I was second overall. Two lines down, I saw the runner who was
first overall. Her name was Annabel.
I looked ahead. There were several runners just a short
distance ahead of me. One was the woman
who had passed me during my walking break.
I assumed she must be Annabel.
I made a point of
catching up to her. We both got to the
food tent around the name, which gave me a chance to look at her race bib.
The race bibs had a
wealth of information. Each one showed a
bib number, a state flag, age/gender, runner’s name, and which race they were
doing. They were also color-coded. Runners doing different races had different
colors.
I assumed this was
Annabel, but I didn’t see a name on her bib.
What I did see was that it was a different color than mine. That confused me. Now I didn’t know for sure who I was competing
with. When I took my walking break, I
watched to see if anyone passed me.
Nobody did on that lap.
At the end of that lap, I
was in first place overall, but I had passed a few other women during that
lap. I didn’t know for sure which one
was Annabel.
I continued to take
walking breaks each lap, but I paid attention to who passed me. I was passed by some speedy young guys who
were doing different races, but not Annabel.
After every lap, I check
to see if I was still first overall. I
was.
In lap 15, it was time
for another food stop. It still wasn’t
1:00, but they had the hot dogs now. I
started eating a hot dog and washing it down with sports drink. I realized right away that I wouldn’t be able
to finish eating it without a beverage, so I had to stay at the food tent until
I finished it. I’ll never win a hot dog
eating contest.
As I was eating, I was
watching the runners who were approaching.
Most were men or were doing other races.
Then I saw a woman with a yellow cap who was approaching quickly. As she reached the food tent, I looked at her
race bib. I didn’t see a name. She was wearing the type of race bib that
they assign to someone who signed up at the last minute. It didn’t have any information other than her
bib number.
Could she possibly be
Annabel? She was going awfully fast. In all likelihood she was doing a different
race, but I didn’t know.
By the time I finished my
hot dog, the woman with the yellow cap was a good distance away, but I could
still see her. I gave chase.
I was running faster now
that at any other point in the race, but I wasn’t gaining on her. She was getting farther ahead of me. I gave up on catching her and settled back to
a more reasonable pace. When I reached
the sidewalk with all the flags, I still took my walking break.
After that lap, I saw
that I was still first overall in the marathon.
The woman in the yellow cap wasn’t Annabel.
I kept grinding out laps,
but it was getting more difficult now.
Ever since the sun came out, it was getting hotter and more tiring.
As I neared the end of my
16th lap, I needed to make a bathroom stop.
I was experiencing some chaffing, so I also took the time to apply some
Aquaphor. After that lap, I was still in
the lead.
With two laps to go, I
looked at the clock and realized that I might be able to run negative splits,
but I would need a strong finish. I
still walked on the two short ramps, but I skipped the longer walking break on
the sidewalk.
With one lap to go, I knew
I could run negative splits, but only if I didn’t take any walking breaks. I did my best to speed up, just to make sure.
I finished in 5:12:37. I ran negative splits by almost two
minutes. I also won the race.
After finishing, I waited
for Annabel. It was, in fact, the woman
from Australia. I just didn’t know her
name before. After Annabel finished, I
found out why her bib was a different color than mine. She also had one of those bibs given to
people who signed up at the last minute.
I’ve never won a race in
Arizona before. It’s the 13th state
where I’ve won a marathon or an ultra.
That includes 10 states where I’ve been an overall winner and three
others where I was first place male, but not first overall.
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