Race Report: A Race For The Ages - 2026

Over Labor Day weekend, I ran a race in Manchester, TN called A Race for the Ages.  This is a fixed-time race, but there’s a twist.  Older runners get more time.  Everyone has at least 40 hours, but runners who are older than 40 get one hour for every year of their age.

The race director is Gary Cantrell (a.k.a. Lazarus Lake).  “Laz” is best known as the race director of the Barkley Marathons and Big’s Backyard Ultra.  He comes up with some innovative race concepts.  He also designs races that give you a chance to find your limits.

The race finishes at noon on Labor Day.  Your start time depends on your age, with older runners starting earlier.  I first heard of this race several years ago.  When I looked into the details, I saw that my start time would be in the middle of the night.  I decided to wait until I was old enough that I could start in daylight.  This year, for the first time, I could start before sunset.

John Greene travelled to Tennessee with me to crew for me.  John and I have crewed for each other at FANS, and John has also crewed for me at other ultras.  My best performances in ultras gave been at races where John was with me.

Thursday, September 3

John and I flew to Nashville Thursday afternoon.  From there, we drove to Manchester.  The drive time was about an hour.  We arrived in Manchester around 5:00 PM.

We had reservations at Hampton Inn.  When we got there, there were several people already there who were waiting to check in.  Some had already been waiting for more than an hour.  The wifi went out earlier in the afternoon, and the hotel couldn’t process any credit cards without a wifi connection.  The guy at the front desk said he couldn’t check anyone in without running their credit card.  That was corporate policy.

John and I waited there until 8:00 before finally going to dinner.  When we got back from dinner, the wifi was still out.  We cancelled our reservations there and drove to another hotel that had been recommended by a friend who was also doing the race.

This hotel also had no internet.  It was a city-wide outage, and every hotel in Manchester was affected, since they all use the same internet provider.  The owner of this hotel, however, was willing to check us into our rooms and wait until the next day to process our credit cards.

John and I were going to have different sleep schedules, so we each had our own room.  By the time we got into our rooms, it was after 9:30.  The temperature in my room was 80 degrees.  I can’t sleep in a warm room.  I turned down the AC and went to the lobby to hang out with other runners until the room cooled down.

I finally went to bed around 10:30.  The room was a little cooler, but it was still too warm for me to get to sleep.  I tried to sleep for several hours, but didn’t fall asleep until about 4 AM.  I got about an hour of light sleep.  I don’t think I got any deep sleep.

Friday, September

By Friday morning, the hotel had their wifi working.   John and I finished the check-in process and had breakfast at the hotel.

We stopped by Hampton Inn to confirm that our reservations there were cancelled and there wouldn’t be any charges.  Then we stopped by the race venue to see how things were set up.  While we were there, I spotted a couple runners I know.  Next, we stopped at Food Lion to get beverages for the race.

We had lunch at a local diner.  Then I went back to the hotel to try to take a nap.  My hotel room was now at a comfortable temperature, but I wasn’t able to fall asleep.  After resting in bed for a few hours, I got up and started getting organized for the race.

We had an early dinner, so I wouldn’t be starting the race on a full stomach.  About an hour before I was due to start, we went to the race venue, so I could check in.  That gave us an opportunity to watch the 66-year-old runners start.  The announcer listed all of their names and their previous mileage at this race.  The most accomplished runner in the group was Ann Trason.

After they started, I was able to pick up my race packet.  It included a sweatshirt, a warm hat, an umbrella, and a participation award.

After that, we had an hour to wait before I could start.  During that hour, I drank an entire bottle of sweet tea.

The course was a paved one-mile loop through Fred Deadman Park.  The whole course was paved.  It was relatively flat, but there were several turns.

I’m 65 years old, so I had 65 hours to run or walk as many laps as I could.  I could take breaks at any time, but the clock was always running.

Well over half of the other runners were older than me, so they were already on the course when I started.  The oldest runner had already been on the course for 24 hours.  The youngest runners wouldn’t start until 8 PM on Saturday.

I’ve never done anything this long before, so I didn’t know what I could realistically expect to do.  The farthest I had ever run before was 124.81 miles.  That was in a 24-hour race.  I’ve attempted three 48-hour races, but none of them went well.  I always got to 100 miles, but I never exceeded my best 24-hour total.

The weather was about as hot as you can imagine.  Afternoon highs were in the upper 90s, with enough humidity to feel 10 degrees hotter.  In the early morning hours, it dropped into the low 70s.

Friday was the hottest day, but my start time wasn’t until 7 PM.  That was late enough in the day that the heat was beginning to wane.  Also, the sun was about to set.  The first night was my best chance to get some miles in before the heat forced me to mostly walk.

My first goal for this race was 125 miles.  Beyond that, I had to see how the race progressed.  I knew the heat would be a challenge.  Getting so little sleep the night before also didn’t help.

The first lap was the only one that I ran without any walking breaks.  I went at a pace that should have been leisurely, but it quickly started to feel tiring.  I noticed the humidity while I was waiting for my turn to start, but I felt it even more now.  It made that first lap feel much longer than a mile.

One part of the loop had speed bumps.  They weren’t a big deal now, but I wondered if those would seem larger as the race progressed.

After that, every lap included some walking.  Early in the race, I was doing much more running than walking, but I walked enough to ensure my overall pace wouldn’t be tiring.  I established a rule that every lap had to include some walking.

I was able to complete three laps before it got dark.  After that, I relied on light from the various lights in the park.  That included stadium lights from the baseball diamonds.  There was no need for a flashlight or headlamp.

I quickly got into a nice rhythm.  I felt much better now than I did in my first lap.

I had a cooler with several bottles of Gatorade, packed in ice.  There was an aid station with large dispensers of water, Sword, sweet tea, and lemonade.  I started out drinking Gatorade, but as I finished the bottles I brought, John was refilling them with Sword or sweet tea.  I needed the caffeine from the tea to stay alert during the night.

After a few hours, John went back to the hotel to get some sleep.  I didn’t need as much support the first night, and it was important for John to get sleep so he would be coherent when I was too tired to think straight.

By midnight, I had logged 23 miles.  Then I stopped to eat my first meal.

The aid stations at most ultras have a variety of snack foods.  This race is different.  Every six hours, we had a meal, catered by Cracker Barrel.  At 6 AM, noon, and 6 PM, we got full meals.  At midnight, we had a snack that included fruit and a choice of soup.  The choices of soup were chicken noodle or potato.  I opted for the potato soup.

Saturday, September 5

Despite not getting much sleep before the race, I had no trouble getting through the first night.  I was sometimes drinking sweet tea instead of Gatorade or Sword, and the caffeine helped me stay awake and alert.

At 6 AM, I had my first Cracker Barrel breakfast.  It includes bacon, a hash brown casserole, a biscuit with gravy on the side, and baked apples.

I sat down in a chair that I had brought from home, and I ate everything except the gravy.  I ate as quickly as I could, washing it down with Gatorade.  I’ve never eaten a full meal during a race before, but I wanted to experience this race exactly the way Laz organized it.  I wasn’t eating any solid food between meals, so I needed to get all the food I could whenever it was available.  It took me about 10 minutes to finish eating.  That was pretty consistent with all of the meals.

After eating, it was tough to force myself to run.  As I ran my next lap, I saw the sun rising.  I knew the humidity was also rising.  That was confirmed when I saw a layer of fog over all the baseball diamonds.

I got back into the same rhythm and ran three more laps by 7:00.  In the first 12 hours of the race, I ran 48 miles.  I was averaging four laps per hour.

Now that the sun was up, I needed to stop to apply sunblock.  I also reapplied Aquaphor in areas where I might chafe.

I needed to do more walking now.  I was walking the longest uphill section, but there were other areas that were also slightly uphill.  I started walking those sections as well.  I was now doing twice as much walking as before, but I was still doing more running than walking.

When John got back, he added more ice to our cooler, so I could start putting ice in my hat.  I did that a couple times, but there were also a couple laps where I forgot to do that.  I really noticed the difference in those laps.

I was originally planning to run through the first night and the subsequent day before taking a sleep break.  John persuaded me to try sleeping during the day instead.  That way, I could avoid running during the hottest hours of the day and get back in time to run through the night, when it’s not as hot.

At first, it was cloudy, so the temperature wasn’t rising as fast as it did Friday morning.  Around 9:00, the sun came out.  Suddenly it felt much hotter.

I wanted to get to 60 miles before taking a break, but I was worried.  I couldn’t tell if I was properly hydrated.  I also couldn’t tell if I was getting the right amount of electrolytes.  Rather than risk blowing up in the heat, I went back to the hotel after only 58 miles.  It was a little after 10:00 when John dropped me off.

When we got back to the hotel, I didn’t take the time to shower.  I wiped down briefly with a wash cloth, but I was still somewhat sweaty.  That made it difficult to climb into bed.  My skin was sticking to the sheets.

At first, I didn’t know if I would be able to fall asleep.  I was in an awkward position, but it was hard to move.  I was tangled up in the sheets.

The next thing I knew, I was walking up.  I looked at the clock.  I slept for less than three hours, but it was my first deep sleep since arriving in Manchester.

I tried to walk to the bathroom, but my left Achilles tendon was so tight that I was walking with a limp.  I was up now, but getting myself ready to run again would be a long process.  I started with a warm bath.  Then I was able to do some stretches.  Finally, I got dressed in a clean set of running clothes and a dry pair of shoes.

Besides having timing chips on our race bibs, we also had chips on our shoes.  When I left the course, I had to turn in my shoe chip.  The first order of business when we got back was to get my shoe chip and attach it to my new shoes.

We got back to the course around 3:00.  I had missed the noon meal, so I asked if they still had any.  They did, and they were still hot.  It’s easy to keep meals hot when it’s 94 degrees with sunny skies.

The noon meal consisted of a chicken breast, corn, fried okra, cornbread, and a biscuit.  I ate the chicken, okra, and cornbread.  I gave the biscuit and corn to John.

Earlier, I established the rule that every lap had to include some walking.  Now, I had a second rule.  Every lap also had to include some running.  That was hardest in the first lap after returning.  There was a downhill section at the beginning of each lap.  If nothing else, I forced myself to run that.

On my first lap, I noticed two things.  First, the port-o-potties on the course felt like ovens.  Second, there was heat rising from the pavement, which had been heating up under the afternoon sun.

To cope with the heat, I was putting ice cubes in my hat before every lap, and I was going at a slower pace than I did earlier.

My only goal for my afternoon laps was to finish them in 20 minutes or less.  After a couple of laps, I found that I was walking so briskly that I was finishing laps in 16 or 17 minutes.  I was power walking.  I kept up that pace for several hours.

By the time they served the 6 PM meal, I had already completed 11 additional laps.  Then I sat down to eat again.

The evening meal consisted of a huge piece of fried chicken, cheesy hashbrowns, cornbread, a biscuit, and coleslaw.  I couldn’t eat it all.  I managed to eat a little more than half of it, then I resumed the same mix of running and power walking.

It was John’s birthday, so he had gone to have a nice dinner.  He got back just before 7:00.

At 7 PM, it had been 24 hours since my race started.  So far, I had finished 71 miles.

After a couple more hours, I decided to stop power walking and just walk at a more casual pace.  I haven’t trained to do this much power walking, and I was worried I would wear myself out.  Even with less effort, I was still finishing my laps in about 18 minutes.

John went back to the hotel around 10:30, so he could get some sleep.  Shortly after that, I started to hear thunder.

There wasn’t any sign of rain at the park, but I sometimes saw flashes in the distance.  I was seeing distant lighting in two different directions.  We seemed to be in between two storm cells.

By midnight, I had logged 88 total miles.  Then I had my midnight snack.  It was the same snack we had the previous night.  I had the potato soup again.

Sunday, September 6

I was just about to start running again when another runner said she was going to do one more lap before the storm hit.  I asked her what she was seeing on her weather app.  She said the storm would arrive at 12:30 and last about an hour.

I should have checked my own app.  Instead, I followed her lead and tried to squeeze in one more lap.

I picked up the pace on that lap, but I was still mostly walking.  When I felt drops, I started running.  I somehow found the energy to run the rest of that lap.  I still had a quarter mile to go when it turned into a downpour.

When I finished that lap, I quickly loaded the chair and cooler into the car.  By the time I got into the car myself, my clothes and shoes were soaked.

I drove back to the hotel to wait out the storm.  While I was there, I decided to try to take a nap.

Getting to sleep wasn’t easy.  For starters, it had only been about 11 hours since I woke up from my afternoon nap, so I wasn’t getting sleepy yet.  Secondly, I suddenly noticed painful spots on my feet.  I had been tuning them out before, but now the discomfort was impossible to ignore.  Finally, I felt wired from all the caffeine I had been consuming.

I wasn’t expecting to go back to the hotel for at least 10 more hours.  All evening, I had been drinking either sweet tea or a blend of sweet tea and lemonade.  It wasn’t until now that I realized I was drinking way too much caffeine.

I eventually nodded off, but not for very long.  When I woke up, it was 3:00.  Just like in the afternoon, my Achilles tendon was so tight that I could barely walk.  I had to take a bath and gradually work on stretching everything before I could go back to the course.  I finally got back around 4:40.

When I finished my next lap, I drank the last few ounces of sweet tea from a bottle that was already open.  After that, I didn’t have any caffeine for the rest of the morning.

I ran a few more laps before breakfast.  Breakfast was pancakes with maple syrup, scrambled eggs, and sausage patties.  It was so filling, that I felt full for the rest of the morning.

John got there around 7:30.  By then, I just needed two more laps to get to 100 miles.  I finished my 100th lap at 8:20 AM.  At this point, I was assured of a 100-mile buckle, but that was only an intermediate goal.

I was completing about three laps per hour.  In the next two hours, I ran six more laps.  By then it was getting hot, so John and I went back to the hotel.

I managed to take a nap, but I only slept for about an hour and a half.  When I woke up, it was about 12:30 PM.  Then I once again began the long process of bathing, stretching, and working on muscles with the massage stick.

Before going back to the course, I checked the live results.  Despite taking four sleep breaks, I was in fifth place overall.

We got back to the park around 2:00 PM.  The good news is that I still had 22 hours to add to my total.  The bad news is that I had to endure the heat for five hours before the sun went down.

I had missed the noon meal, but they still had biscuits and cornbread.  I ate a biscuit right away and saved the cornbread for later.

As I resumed running, I quickly got into a rhythm of running the downhill segment at the beginning of each lap and walking everywhere else.  To cope with the heat, I put ice in my hat before each lap.

Most of the other runners were coping with the heat by carrying umbrella to shield themselves from the sun.  That’s why we all got umbrellas in our race packets.

Despite the afternoon heat, I had the energy to power walk.  For the next three hours, I was averaging about 17 minutes per lap.  I would’ve been happy with 20-minute laps.

By 4:00, I had moved into fourth place.  At 5:00, John left temporarily to get some dinner.

The heat was waning, but I no longer had the energy to walk at a brisk pace.  I had to slow down.

After a few slower laps, I realized that I hadn’t put any ice in my hat since John left.  That’s why I had less energy, even though it wasn’t as hot now.  I was getting hotter without the ice in my hat.

At 6:00, I had my last dinner of the race.  It was another huge meal.  It included chicken & dumplings, macaroni & cheese, steamed carrots, a biscuit, and cornbread.  I ate most of it, but I had to save the biscuit & cornbread for later.

When John got back, I resumed putting ice in my hat.  I was able to pick up the pace again.

In the first 48 hours of my race, I ran 123 miles.  Two laps later, I reached 125 miles.  This was now the farthest I had ever run.  With each additional lap, I would add to that.

My goal at the beginning of the race was 125 miles, but I had known for some time that this was just another intermediate milestone.  I had more than enough time to run 150 miles, and I wouldn’t settle for anything less.

After it got dark, I traded my hat for a headband.  I continued at the same pace until 11:00.

After 11:00, I started to do more running, so I could squeeze in another lap before the midnight snack.  In retrospect, that was a mistake.

I sat for several minutes while I ate my midnight snack and did a few things on my phone.  Sitting after running a few faster laps was a bad combination.

Monday, September 7

When I resumed running after a meal, I typically felt stiff.  After other meals, I quickly loosened up.  This time I didn’t.  I also had extreme soreness in my quads and glutes, which wouldn’t go away.  Now, I was not only running at a slower pace, but each lap was agonizing.

Before midnight, I had run 139 miles.  After grinding out three painful laps, I was at 142.  The next big milestone was 150.

John and I discussed my options.  One option was to endure eight more painful laps and then stop at 150 miles.  Eight more laps at my current slow pace would take about three hours.  I didn’t think I could endure the pain that long.  I also didn’t like the idea of stopping at 150.  I really wanted to keep going until the race was over and run as many miles as I could.

I had some Tylenol and ibuprofen back at my hotel room.  My second option was to send John back to get them.

A third option was to take a break and go back to the room, to see if I could alleviate my soreness by taking a bath, stretching, and working on my legs with a massage stick.  That had worked well after sleep breaks.

I ran one more lap while considering my options.  I chose the last one, but with a small modification.  After taking something for the soreness, I climbed into bed for an hour.  That gave me a chance to rest and cool down before starting my recovery regimen.

As soon as I climbed into bed, I noticed soreness in my feet that I had tuned out while I was running.  I also noticed blisters on my left foot.  One was a large blister around my heel.

Before getting dressed I tried to drain my blisters.  That was a mistake.  Heel blisters are notoriously difficult to drain.  All I managed to do was inflame it.  Now blister pain was also going to be a bigger problem.

We got back to the race venue at 4 AM.  When we got back, I smeared from Aquaphor over the blisters to reduce friction.

We had been gone for about two and a half hours.  That was time well spent.  When I resumed running, I felt good as new.  I had no soreness or stiffness as I ran the downhill section of the course.  When it was time to switch to walking, I suddenly found myself race-walking.  Where did that come from?  I had to force myself to slow down, so I wouldn’t wear myself out.

In the next two hours, I made short work of the seven additional laps I needed to get to 150 miles.  Then I stopped to eat breakfast.

The breakfast included bacon, two biscuits, an egg casserole, and baked apples.  John helped me by eating one of the biscuits and a strip of bacon.

The runner who had previously been in third place stopped to take a break after running 150 miles.  When I ran my 151st lap, I moved temporarily into third place.

Since different runners take breaks at different times, the standings change frequently.  
Earlier, I had been in second place, but only because other runners took breaks.

I kept up a good pace for two more laps.  Then it got difficult.  With more than four hours to go, it was getting warmer, and I was running out of energy.

150 miles had been a significant milestone, but I wanted to keep going.  I had time to get into the 160s if I could keep moving until the end of the race.

The runner who had been in third place previously was back on the course now.  He could run faster than me, so it seemed doubtful that I could hang onto third place.

I was nearing the end of my 157th lap when I suddenly felt a painful blister under one of my toes.  The larger blister on my heel was tolerable, but this one was much more painful.

I finished that lap, but I didn’t think I could continue.  John knew there were trophies to the top three men and women, so he was encouraging me to keep running.

I took off my shoe and sock to see if I could drain the blister.  That’s when I saw a much larger blister on the side of my heel, right where I had tried to drain my heel blister.

I drained both blisters as much as I could.  Then I covered the larger blister with Aquaphor and put on my sock and shoe.

At John’s urging, I tried to run another lap.  I made it about 50 feet before stopping.  It was much too slow and much too painful.  My lead over fourth place was only about a lap and a half at this point.  We still had still three hours to go.  There was no way I could continue running at a pace that would keep me in third place.

I walked away from the course with three hours left on the clock.  I ran a total of 157 miles.  That’s more than 22 miles farther than my previous best.

Everyone who ran at least 100 miles got a belt buckle.  I didn’t take home a trophy, but I did take home a belt buckle.

Race statistics:

Distance:  157 miles

Time:  65 hours

Average Pace:  24:50 per mile

Marathons/Ultras in 2026:  30

Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:  602

Lifetime 100s:  17

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