Today was the third day
of the Jackal Marathons. Today’s race
was the Asphalt Jackal Marathon. Our
course was nine laps of a paved loop through Pinson Mounds State Park.
Pinson Mounds was a
30-minute drive from my hotel in Jackson, but the race started 30 minutes later
than the previous two, so I didn’t have to get up any earlier.
Breakfast at my hotel was
set up early, so I had time to eat a real breakfast before leaving. The lady who sets up the breakfast asked me
where I was running today. When I said, “Pinson
Mounds,” she got excited. It’s one of
her favorite places. Then she told me
that there’s a row of pine trees there that were planted by her great great
grandmother.
As I was getting ready
for the race, I discovered I forgot to pack sunblock. I didn’t need any the previous two days, because
we rarely saw the sun. Today I needed some. I was able to buy a small tube at the hotel.
I also needed bug
spray. The last three races in this
series are all in parks with biting flies.
I got an early enough start that I was able to buy some at Walgreens on
my way to the race.
When I got to Pinson
Mounds, I saw the pine trees as I was driving in. I saw more of them during the race.
After two days on trails,
I was happy to get onto a paved surface.
My left Achilles tendon was still tight, but it was less of an issue on
pavement.
Yesterday, I didn’t have
any sore muscles during the race. I had
to use a lot of different muscles trying to stay upright on the muddy trails
during yesterday’s race. As a result, I
had a few sore muscles later in the day.
This morning, the soreness was gone.
The temperature at the
start was in the upper 60s. I expected
it to get into the upper 70s by the time I finished. By Jackal standards, that’s downright
comfortable.
There were two buildings
with bathrooms. One was the pavilion that
was near our start/finish area. The
other was right along the course.
Outside of that building there was a self-service aid station where we
could top off our bottles, if necessary.
We started each lap in a
parking lot that was on lower ground than the rest of the course. We had to go up a small hill at the start of
each lap. Other than that, the course wasn’t
too hilly.
When I started running, I
had no energy. Leaving the parking lot,
I had to walk up that hill. I did that
in almost every lap. There was another
small hill late in the loop that I was also walking on every lap. Other than that, I was running. Despite running the vast majority of the
loop, my pace was a little slower than 12 minutes per mile. I just didn’t have a faster gear.
Early in each lap, there
was a long downhill section. I knew
there had to be a comparable uphill section somewhere, but I didn’t notice
where it was until much later in the race.
My only goal was to keep
my time under six hours. When I finished
my first lap, I saw I was on pace to finish in about 5:24. I expected to slow down eventually, but I
kept up that same pace for at least five laps.
Early in the loop, there’s
lots of shade. Later in the loop, there
are long sections where we’re out in the open.
By the end of my second lap, I was already noticing the warmth of the
sun.
As it warmed up, I
expected to need to take walking breaks.
At first, I was thinking I would start taking walking breaks in my
fourth lap. After completing three laps,
I talked myself into waiting until after my fourth lap. Then I talked myself into waiting until I was
at least halfway through the race.
My plan was to take a one-minute
walking break after each mile, but I kept putting it off, one mile at a
time. The reason was always
different. If I was on the shady
downhill section, I didn’t feel any need to walk. If I was near the end of the lap, I waited
until the next lap. If I was going to
take a bathroom stop in another mile, I figured I should wait until after that.
Even though I was still
running most of the time, my pace started to deteriorate. It was getting warmer, and I was getting hotter
on the sunny sections. By the time I
started my sixth lap, my pace was slower than 13 minutes per mile.
Early in my sixth lap, a
runner behind me told me I had a horse fly on my leg. I felt it bite about the same time he said
something. I reached down and squashed
it, but it had already bitten me. I felt
that for the next mile. Shortly after that, I noticed two other flies buzzing around
my head.
Last year, it was much
hotter, and I was putting ice in my hat to cool me off. The flies were all over me last year, and I
wondered if the ice water dripping down from my hat was attracting the
flies. As I got hotter, I was conflicted
about how to cool myself. Should I put
ice in my hat or start doing more walking?
I held off on the ice.
I was already through six
laps before taking any walking breaks, other than on the two short hills that I
always walked. The 18-mile mark was on
the downhill section, so I waited. I
didn’t make it to 19.
I was at about 18.5
miles, when I had to take a walking break.
I kept it short, but after a minute or two of running, I needed to take
another short walking break. After that,
I managed to run the rest of that lap.
It was in my seventh lap
that I finally noticed where the uphill section was. It was a long section in the middle of the
lap that was just barely uphill. It was
in the middle of this section that I took two walking breaks in my previous
lap. This time, I needed to take a
walking break right at the beginning of this section.
Instead of taking planned
uniform walking breaks, I was basically walking whenever I was too tired to
keep running. My walking breaks were
frequent on this part of the loop, but I kept them short. Sometimes 15 seconds of walking was enough.
Last year, I found out how
much the pavement can heat up on a sunny day.
I felt the triple whammy of hotter temperatures, direct sunshine, and
heat rising from the pavement. This
year, the pavement was cooler to begin with, so it didn’t get that hot. The air temperature also wasn’t as hot. It was mostly the direct sun exposure that
had me feeling hot in the late laps.
With two laps left to go,
I finally started putting ice in my hat.
I’m happy to say that it didn’t seem to attract more flies. I got through the race with only the one bite.
As I was finishing my
eighth lap, I saw Rob leaving the parking lot just as I was arriving. I met Rob last year, and I thought it would
be nice if I could catch up to him and finish the last lap together.
As I started my last lap,
I saw Rob walking up a small hill. When
I got to the same hill, I walked it too.
Then Rob disappeared around a corner.
I didn’t see him again until I was done with the downhill section. The next section of the course goes around
three sides of a clearing. As I reached
the clearing, I could see Rob, but he was just leaving that section.
The uphill section starts
right after that clearing. I forced
myself to keep running until I turned onto a long straight section, where I
could see Rob ahead of me. The gap was
smaller now.
I wanted to run until I
caught up to Rob, but I needed to take two fairly brief walking breaks. When I finally caught up to him, we walked
the rest of the loop together. We didn’t
run again until we got back to the parking lot and were within sight of the
finish line.
I finished in
5:32:07. I was almost two hours faster
than yesterday. That says something
about how much tougher yesterday’s conditions were.
I lingered in the finish
area to talk to other runners, but I still had a 30-minute drive to get back to
my hotel. Before leaving, I made a point
of rinsing out my bottle and making a bathroom stop.
Tomorrow’s race will be on the same loop at Pinson Mounds. I expect the temperature to be about five degrees warmer, and it’ll be a sunny day. I’m hoping I can keep my time under six hours again, but tomorrow will be tougher.
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