Race Report: 2019 Marabana Marathon

On November 10th, I ran the Marabana Marathon in Havana, Cuba.  Since 1960, the United States has had an economic embargo of Cuba.  This embargo has changed over the years, but United States citizens are generally prohibited from traveling to Cuba unless they obtain a permit from the Treasure Department.  In the last decade, it’s become easier to obtain a permit to travel to Cuba.  Now, there are enough people traveling there from the U.S. that commercial airlines have daily flights to Havana.

I traveled with an organization called Project Hemisphere, which has a group permit for travel to Cuba.  I booked the trip through Marathon Tours & Travel (MT&T).  MT&T booked our hotel accommodations and helped us get our Cuban visas.

Traveling to Cuba takes some advance planning.  U.S. banks aren’t allowed to do business there, so you can’t use credit cards or get cash from ATMs.  All transactions are cash, and once you arrive there’s no way to get more money.  You have to bring enough for the whole trip.  Most of my expenses were pre-paid, but I still had to have money for incidentals and a few of my meals.

I’m used to being connected wherever I go, but on this trip, I felt like I was as far off the grid as I’ve ever been.  I usually buy an international phone plan that gives me virtually unlimited talk, text and data for $10 a day.  That wasn’t available for Cuba.  I could use my phone there, but I had to pay roaming charges.  The least expensive way to stay in touch with Deb was via text messages.

Thursday, November 7

Delta Airlines has one daily flight to Havana, which departs from Atlanta.  I wanted to give myself as safe a connection as possible, so I took the first flight of the morning out of Minneapolis.  That gave me a scheduled connection time of two hours and 17 minutes.

My first flight departed at 5:20 AM.  For international flights, they recommend arriving three hours early.  That wasn’t going to happen.  The security checkpoints don’t open until 3:30, so there wasn’t any point arriving any earlier than that.  Even still, I had to get up pretty early.  I seriously had a “what was I thinking?” moment when I set my alarm clock.

I arrived in Havana just after 1:00 PM.  That was about 30 minutes ahead of schedule.  The international arrival process didn’t take long, and soon I met one of the MT&T greeters inside the airport terminal.  There were 67 people in our group, and most of the flights were arriving at about the same time.  MT&T brought us to our hotel in two motor coaches.

One of the first things you notice driving through Havana is all the old cars.  Cuba doesn’t have its own auto industry.  Prior to 1960, they imported cars from the U.S.  Since the embargo started, they haven’t been able to do that.  Most of the cars you see around the city were built in the 40s or 50s and have been maintained ever since.  If you see a newer car, it was imported from Russia or China.  In Havana, every day is like a classic car show.

We stayed at Parque Central Hotel.  That hotel was conveniently located for the marathon.  The race started and finished about a block from the hotel.

We arrived at the hotel at 3:00.  Check-in time isn’t until 4:00, but most of the rooms were ready.  Mine was one of the few rooms that weren’t.  In fact, mine was the only room not ready by 4:00.  While I was waiting, I exchanged some of my money for Cuban Convertible Pesos.  That’s the currency that foreign visitors can use.  Residents use a different currency.

When I finally got into my room, I turned on the AC, so the room could start cooling down.  Then I went out for a short run.  The old capitol building was just a block away from our hotel.  I didn’t want to venture too far away on my own, so I ran past the capitol building and did laps around two small parks that were next to it.  I only ran about three miles, but that was enough to give me an appreciation for the heat and humidity.

The capitol was originally used as Cuba’s parliament building.  After the communist revolution, it fell into disuse.  Recently, they’ve been restoring it.  When the restoration is complete, it’ll be used as the seat of government again.

Our hotel was also the packet pickup location for international runners.  After showering and changing clothes, I had just enough time to pick up my race packet before meeting the group for dinner.

Our only group activity on Thursday was dinner.  For dinner, we went to La Guarida, an old Creole restaurant which was featured in the movie, “Strawberry and Chocolate.”

The hotel had air conditioning, but it wasn’t very robust enough.  When I went to bed, it was 77 degrees in the room.  I could feel cool air coming out of the vents.  It just wasn’t enough.  That first night, it took me several hours to get to sleep.

Friday, November 8

I joined some of the other runners for a short group run before breakfast.  We ran the beginning of the marathon route.  It was nice to get in another run, but it didn’t leave me much time to shower, change clothes, and eat breakfast before we had to be ready to leave.

Our group was so large that we divided in two, each with its own English-speaking guide.  Our first stop for the day was Havana’s largest cigar factory.  Here, we learned about Cuban cigars and saw the workers hand-rolling them.

Next, we went to a day care center run by Sister Theresa Vaz for children aged two to four.  They depend a lot on donations, so some of us made cash donations and others brought clothing or supplies.

In between our stops, our guide told us about Cuban life and Cuban history.  We had lunch at a private paladar on the edge of town that has botanical gardens with dozens (perhaps hundreds) of varieties of fruit trees.

After lunch, we went to Finca Vigia, which was Ernest Hemingway’s home from 1939 to 1960.  It’s a four story home with a pool and tennis courts.  It’s ten miles outside Havana, but you can see the capitol from there.

Wifi isn’t widely available in Cuba.  There’s only one ISP, and that’s operated by the Cuban government.  Most homes aren’t connected, and most businesses are on a nationwide intranet, instead of the internet.  Most people can only go online by buying a card that gives them one hour of access time and then using it at an internet café.  Our hotel was connected, and they gave each of us an access code good for 20 hours.  Unfortunately, you could only get a connection on the ground floor.  Friday afternoon was the first time I had enough free time to sit in the lobby and check my emails.

We were on our own for dinner that night.  Our guide recommended some local restaurants, but the hotel had a dining area on the roof, where they also had a pool.  I joined a few runners for dinner on the roof, where I was able to have pizza.  As it got dark, we had a nice view of the capitol building with the lights on.

All day, I had my room shut with the drapes closed and the AC on.  The room wasn’t any cooler than it was on Thursday.  It was only because of sheer exhaustion that I was able to sleep that night.

Saturday, November 9

On Saturday, I had more time to enjoy breakfast before meeting the rest of the group to start our itinerary for the day.  Our first stop was a craft market.  We got there just as they were starting to set up for the day.  The first level had vendors selling souvenirs.  The second level had artwork.  I spent too much time browsing through the first level and didn’t make it to the second level before it was time to leave.

Out next stop was a boxing academy.  We saw young men getting instruction on boxing.  Boxing and baseball are two of Cuba’s biggest sports.

Next, we went to Castillo De Los Tres Reyes Del Morro.  This is a fortification originally built by Spain to defend the harbor.

From Castillo De Los Tres Reyes Del Morro, you get good views of the city from across the harbor.

Then we began a walking tour of Old Havana.  One of the sights we saw was La Catedral de la Virgen María de la Concepción Inmaculada de La Habana.

This is the Museum of the Revolution.  In front of it is a tree of lights.

Halfway through our walking tour, we stopped to have lunch at Al Carbon.  Then we continued walking through Old Havana.  This is Castillo de la Real Fuerza, a 16th century fort built by Spain.

This street is paved with bricks, but the bricks are made of wood.  This was done to reduce the noise from carriages.

After our walking tour, we were on our own for the rest of the afternoon.  I spent part of that time online, organized my clothes for the race, and then went up to the rooftop pool.

Later, we had a pre-race dinner with chicken, fish, and two kinds of pasta.  Nobody walked away hungry after any of our meals.

I went to bed as quickly as I could, but it took a couple hours to fall asleep.  Then I got about four hours of good sleep.

Sunday, November 10

Sunday was race day.  Our hotel started their breakfast service early that day.  I went downstairs at 4:30 to eat a light breakfast before returning to my room to get ready for the race.

The race started at 6:30.  The starting line was about a block from our hotel, so I didn’t have to worry about waiting in line to use a port-o-potty.  We met in the lobby for a group photo at 6:00.  Then I made one last bathroom stop before going outside to line up for the race.

It rained hard for most of the night, but the rain stopped about 30 minutes before the race.  It was about 73 degrees at the start of the race.  I expected it to get up to 80 by the time I finished.  It was cloudy, which was good, but we still had to deal with the humidity.  In Cuba, the humidity is always about 110 percent.

                   

The course was a 21.1 kilometer loop that we had to run twice.  Only 16 people in our group were doing the marathon.  Most were doing the half marathon, which was only one loop.  There were also a few doing the 10K race.

I lined up in what I thought was an appropriate place.  At 6:15, the wheelchairs started and the rest of us moved forward.  Now, I was much closer to the starting line than I expected.  Most of the runners around me were doing the 10K.

Even though I was surrounded by 10K runners, the start was congested.  For the first few blocks, I had to work hard to get around slower runners.  By the end of the first kilometer, however, there was plenty of room to run at my own pace.  I was pacing by feel.  I wanted to start at a pace that felt about the same as my effort in races with cooler temperatures.

At two kilometers, I checked my pace.  I was averaging 5:05 per kilometer.  At that pace, I would finish in less than 3:35.  That was a Boston qualifying pace, which is much faster than I expected to start.  My goal was to break four hours.

I was already feeling the humidity.  Sweat was running into my eyes.  I had to remove my sunglasses to wipe the sweat away.  I wondered if I would be doing that constantly throughout the race.  I decided to back off a little and let other runners go by.

We were now running along the Malecón, where big waves were crashing against the sea wall.  Sometimes the waves would splash over the wall, drenching the sidewalk and part of the street.  Our guide had advised us to run in the middle of the street, so we didn’t get splashed with seawater.  I usually run the tangents, but here I stayed in the middle of the street, even if it meant running farther going around a bend.

Most of the runners around me were either running the 10K race or the half marathon.  I wanted to be able to follow another runner whom I knew was running the marathon.  I saw a woman from Spain go by.  Her race bib was on her side, so I could tell it was a marathon bib.  I could also tell that her pace was too fast for me.  I didn’t try to follow her.

At three kilometers, my time was 13:49.  Either I ran the third kilometer in 3:40 or the kilometer markers couldn’t be trusted.  After that, I assumed their locations were only approximate.

At four kilometers, my time was 19:54.  Previously, I thought it was just the 3K marker that was off.  Now, I had to consider the possibility that the first two were off, and I was actually running faster than five minutes per kilometer.  In cool conditions, that pace would be comfortable.  In Cuba’s heat and humidity, it was crazy fast.

By now, I was seeing runners coming back on the other side of the street.  They were doing the 10K, which was out-and-back.  I wondered how much the field would thin out as I passed the 5K mark.  It thinned a little, but there were still quite a few runners.  The half marathon had a large field.

I was wearing a Marathon Globetrotters singlet with a “10 countries” badge on the back.  Another runner commented on that, and I explained that the badge was out of date, and this was actually my 39th country.  His name was Charlie.  He lives on London, but used to live in New York.  As we continued talking, I learned that he and I had done several of the same races, including London, New York City, Twin Cities, Comrades, and Midnight Sun.

Charlie’s pace felt a little bit fast for me, but I continued running with him because I was enjoying the conversation.  I was no longer checking my pace at every kilometer marker, but my pace was just a little slower than five minutes per kilometer.

Just before 7K, we left the Malecón to run back into the city.  Up until now, the course was flat, but the rest of the loop would have rolling hills.

The aid stations had bottled water, but no sports drink of any kind.  To ensure I wouldn’t “hit the wall” in the late miles, I brought half a dozen gel packets to eat throughout the race.  I ate the first one as I reached an aid station at 7K.  On average, I wanted to eat one every 6K, but I always waited until I was approaching an aid station.

The water bottles were half a liter, which was more than I could drink at once.  Not wanting to waste water, I carried the bottle with me and drank as much as I could.  When I couldn’t imagine drinking any more, I poured the rest over my head.  That was effective in cooling me off.

At about 8K, it started to rain.  At first, it was just a gentle sprinkling.  That felt perfect.  It was just enough to keep me cool.

Now that it was raining, I no longer needed to pour water over my head.  At the next aid station, Charlie and I split a bottle of water, so we didn’t have to waste too much.

At about 10K, Charlie noticed another runner had a shirt from Russia.  Charlie asked him if he spoke English.  As it turns out, he attended college in Boston and spoke perfect English.  Charlie asked him if he would recommend the Moscow Marathon.  I asked him about the White Nights Marathon in St. Petersburg.  The three of us ran together for another kilometer or two.  Then the runner from Russia said he couldn’t maintain that pace and had to back off.  I decided this was also a good time for me to back off too.  At times, I felt like I was struggling to keep up with Charlie, particularly on the hills.  We both let Charlie go, but the two of us continued to run together and talk.

Somewhere around 11 or 12 kilometers, the rain suddenly got much heavier.  Now it was a downpour, and there was water running across the street.  It got increasing difficult to avoid running through deep puddles.  I’m not a big fan of rain, but I no longer had to worry at all about overheating.  As long as it was raining hard, I could maintain a fast pace without it taking a toll on me.

At 15K, the runner from Russia said he had to let me go too.  I felt like we had been slowing down in the previous kilometer or do.  He was doing the half marathon and was getting into the tough miles.  Now that I was on my own, I sped up again.  With the heavy rain keeping me cool, I could run fearlessly.

At18K, I reached an intersection where we had to cross halfway before turning right.  Here, the water running across the street was an inch or two deep.  My shoes filled with water.  For runners who came through here later, the water was above their ankles.

In the last kilometer of the first loop, I had to make a few turns in rapid succession.  After the last one, I saw the capitol on my left.  Farther ahead, I could see the start/finish area. Runners nearing the finish of the 10K made a U-turn and joined us just before the finish.  The 10K and half marathon runners stayed to the left to finish.  Those of us doing the marathon stayed to the right to begin another loop.

I finished the first loop in 1:47:02.  I was still on pace for a Boston qualifying time.  I knew the pace I was running was only made possible by the rain.  If the rain stopped, the second half would be much hotter.  Right on cue, the rain stopped.

The first turn of the second loop came after just two blocks.  There were enough half marathon finishers wandering through the street that it would have been easy to miss this turn.  I remembered it.  There was also a course marshal who was watching to make sure nobody missed the turn.

Just after that turn, there were volunteers handing out plastic pouches filled with an orange flavored drink.  I had enough gel packets to take care of my caloric needs, but these pouches didn’t hold as much fluid as a water bottle.  I could drink the whole thing, so I didn’t have to waste any water.  They were only available at certain aid stations, but I drank them instead of water whenever I could.

Now that we were past the half marathon finish, the field really thinned out.  I could see a runner about a block ahead of me.  I didn’t want to be on my own, so I worked to keep him in sight.

One of our guides had told other runners doing the marathon that they would need to move to the sidewalks in the second loop.  She might have just meant runners who were going to be close to the time limit, but I assumed the worst.  It wouldn’t be the first time I ran a two-loop course where there was traffic in the streets after the first loop.  That’s what the Bermuda Marathon is like.

I was most worried about the long section along the Malecón.  I didn’t want to have to move to the sidewalk, knowing we would get splashed by the big waves.  As it turned out, we didn’t have to.  The course was still blocked off to traffic, so we could run in the street.

I saw 10K runners still coming back on the other side of the street.  I wondered if the street was still closed to traffic because of them.  What would happen when we passed the 5K mark?  As it turns out, we always had at least one side of the street to ourselves.

Now that we were next to the sea, I felt a strong wind.  It felt like it was a tailwind, yet it was strong enough that it still cooled me off.  Now instead of the rain keeping me cool, the wind kept me cool.  It also helped me pick up my pace.

I looked up and saw a flag blowing in the wind.  It was definitely a tailwind.  Then I noticed it was an American flag.  I didn’t expect to see many of those in Cuba.  I was running past the United States Embassy.

In the center of the street, there were storm drains.  The covers were removed to relieve the pressure from the waves.  When a big wave came crashing in, it not only splashed over the sidewalk, but it sometimes caused water to shoot into the air through the storm drains.  I made a point of avoiding both the sidewalk and the storm drains.

The waves were getting bigger.  In one place, they splashed all the way to the middle of the street.  Sand was washing over the street.

At 28K, I left the Malecón for the second time.  Soon, I once again turned to head away from the coast and into the city.  I was two thirds done with the race, and I was still on pace to qualify for Boston.  I started up a long gradual hill.  Without either rain or wind to cool me off, I had to respect the heat.  I eased up a bit going up the hill.

For the rest of the race, there would be turns almost every kilometer.  I had been passing other runners since the halfway mark.  Each time I passed one, I looked ahead to see if there was another runner to follow.  I was worried about missing a turn.  They didn’t have a lot of markings at the turns, but they always had course marshals looking out for us.

After making one turn, I couldn’t see anyone ahead of me.  I briefly hesitated, wondering if I turned in the wrong place.  Two spectators recognized my confusion and enthusiastically confirmed I was going the right way.  When I was all the way around the next bend, I once again saw a runner ahead of me.

The weather kept changing.  It briefly started sprinkling again.  That helped.  At other times, the sun came out.  That didn’t help, but I was far enough into the race that I knew I could tough it out if I got hot.

I checked my pace at every kilometer.  The placement of the markers wasn’t always accurate, but my pace always seemed on target to finish in 3:31 or 3:32.  I realized at halfway that breaking four hours was in the bag.  With 9K to go, I started to gain in confidence that I would break 3:35.

I got the impression that I had paced myself better than most of the other runners.  I passed the runner from Spain who was too fast for me near the beginning of the race.  Later, I passed Charlie.

At about 36K, I noticed one corner of my race bib was drooping.  The race bibs were similar in style to the race bibs usually used in European races.  They don’t hold up well in rain.  The paper gets soft, and they tear easily. One of the safety pins holding my bib in place had torn through the paper.  I had to come to a stop briefly, to re-pin it.

As I resumed running, I immediately felt one of my insoles slipping forward in my shoe.  That can happen when water gets between the insole and my orthotic.  I think stopping and starting was the catalyst to make it slip when it did.  With 6K to go, I could live with the discomfort.  It’s worst on hills, and the rest of the loop was fairly flat.

After another two kilometers, a different corner of my bib was drooping.  I stopped again to re-pin it.  I was trying hard to pick up the pace.  Stopping twice didn’t help.  Fortunately, I only had a few kilometers left.

At 39K, I had a scare.  Suddenly, I was barely on pace for 3:34.  Did I lose that much time stopping to re-pin my race bib?  Was I slowing down?  I suspected that kilometer marker was off, but I took no chances.  I poured it on.  I really wanted to get a Boston qualifier in this race.

I had gradually passed other runners since the halfway point.  Now I started to pass several people who were walking.  I had caught up with the back of the pack of the half marathon.

At 40K, I was back on pace, but I still took no chances.  I continued to accelerate.  Just past 41K, I recognized exactly where I was.  I knew the last three turns.  Then I would see the capitol again.

As I ran past the capitol, I could see the finish line.  Now I ran with urgency.  In prior years, this race sometimes ran out of finisher medals.  They use the same medals for the 10K, the half marathon, and the marathon.  Since all three races start at the same time, the marathoners are most at risk of not getting a medal.  I started passing people as if my medal depended on it.

As I was approaching the finish line, I was once again directed to the right.  I finished in 3:29:42.  That shocked me.  I qualified for Boston with more than five minutes to spare.  I never thought it would be possible to do that in this climate.  The rain was a game-changer.

Now I looked for volunteers handing out medals.  They were all on the left side of the street.  I went over to them, but I was on the the other side of a barrier.  One of the volunteers pointed ahead.  I saw some tents in the next block and assumed I was supposed to get my medal there.  When I got there, I asked, and they pointed back to where I came from.  It wasn't until later that I realized I was probably misdirected to the wrong side of the street.  The volunteers handing out medals probably assumed I was only finishing my first loop, so they were telling me to keep running.   I went back and found a place where I could get over to the left side of the street.  Then I walked through the tent on that side and got my finisher medal.

Out hotel was so close to the finish line that I accidentally walked right past it as I continued through the finish chute.  It was only after walking back to the hotel that I realized how fast I ran the second loop.  I ran negative splits by more than four minutes.  That was certainly unexpected in a race where the second half was the hot half.

After stopping at my room to get out of the wet running clothes and change into my swimsuit, I went up to the roof to take a dip in the pool.  Then I changed clothes and had lunch at the poolside dining area.  I usually eat pizza after a race, but the pizza at the hotel wasn’t that good.  Instead, I followed a different tradition.  I celebrated a BQ with BBQ.

I spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing at the hotel and talking to other runners.  Later, we went as a group to a post-race celebration dinner.   I really enjoyed the group dinners.  There were 69 people in our group, so we were always seated at several large tables.  I sat with different people on different days, so I got to know several of the other runners.

While I don’t generally sleep well on trips, I sleep best the night after a race.  This was no exception.  I got to bed late, but slept solidly for at least seven hours.

Monday, November 11

Before breakfast, I went out for a short recovery run.  Now that I was more familiar with the city, I didn’t need to stay as close to the hotel.  I wore my race T-shirt, which is thin and vented.  It’s perfect for running in Cuba.  I ran mostly along the Malecón.  The waves weren’t as big, so I was able to run on the sidewalk.  This is a great place to run in Havana.  You can go for miles without having to cross any traffic.

Some runners stayed in Cuba for three more days.  Those of us flying home on Monday were mostly on flights that left in the early afternoon.  MT&T arranged to have a motor coach take us to the airport together.

The first airport I went through in the United States was Atlanta, so that’s where I went through passport control and customs.  I thought they would ask to see my permit or ask me the purpose of my trip, but it was just like any other international arrival.

I didn’t arrive at the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport until 9:00 PM, and didn't get home until closer to 10:00.  It was nice to sleep in my own bed, with a much cooler temperature, but I still didn't get a full night's sleep.  My next trip begins early Wednesday morning, so it’s going to be a quick turnaround without enough time to catch up on sleep.

Long after I got home, I eventually discovered I won my age group.  I don't know what my award was, but it was too late to pick it up. 

Race Statistics

Distance:  42.2 kilometers

Time:  3:29:42

Average Pace:  4:58 per kilometer (8:00 per mile) 

Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:  391

Countries:  39

Race Report: 2019 Snowdonia Marathon

On October 26, I ran the Snowdonia Marathon in Llanberis, Wales.  This race goes through Snowdonia National Park.  The course goes around Mt. Snowdon, which is the highest peak in Wales.

Photo credit:  David Bayley

Here’s a map of the marathon route.

 

This is a popular race.  It fills up about an hour after registration opens.  Registration for this year’s race opened up on the morning of December 1st.  In my time zone, it would have been 2 AM.  My friend David, who lives in England, offered to sign me up at the same time he was signing up.  The race filled in 45 minutes.  Next year, they’re going to have a lottery.

The closest international airports were all in England.  I got the best airfare by flying into Manchester, which is about 100 miles from Llanberis.  From there, it’s possible to get to Wales by public transport, but it takes a combination of trains and buses, and the journey takes between four and five hours.  If I rented a car, I could drive there in about two hours.

I don’t usually rent cars in other countries, although I’ve done it on a few occasions.  In England and Wales, they drive on the left side of the road.  I’ve done that before, in The Bahamas, but it still makes me nervous.  Reluctantly, I decided to rent a car for this trip.

Thursday, October 24

I arrived at the Manchester airport in the early afternoon after an overnight flight and a layover in Amsterdam.  I never sleep on overnight flights.  Knowing I would need to be alert enough to drive, I drank several cups of tea on my flights.

Having a car gave me the opportunity to do some additional sightseeing.  I’ve never been to Liverpool before, and it was kind of on the way, so I spent my first night there.

The drive to Liverpool went OK until I was about half a mile from my hotel.  Then I missed my exit from a roundabout.  Of all placed to make a wrong turn, I found myself entering the Queensway Tunnel, with no chance to exit until two miles later, when I was on the other side of the river.  Then I had to get turned around and take the tunnel back, paying the toll both ways.

In Liverpool, I stayed at the Doubletree, which is in the heart of downtown.  From there, I could walk to everything.  After parking the car in a nearby ramp, I was happy to be done driving for the day.

Liverpool was the birthplace of The Beatles.  Before they were famous, they performed frequently at the Cavern Club.  The Cavern Club was torn down in 1973, but it was rebuilt in its original location 11 years later.  Today, it looks much as it did when the Beatles played there.

Many of the regular performers at the Cavern Club are Beatles tribune bands.  While I was there, Richard Batty was performing.  About half the songs he sang were Beatles songs.  The rest were other well-known songs from the 60s and early 70s. 

After hanging out at the Cavern Club for a while, I had dinner at a pizzeria called Crust.  Then I went to the Philharmonic Dining Rooms to meet my guide for a tour of Liverpool.  By now, it was already getting dark.  I don’t usually do walking tours after dark, but this was a walking and drinking tour.  It including stopping for beers at three different pubs.

When I arrived, I saw two guys talking outside.  One asked me if I was David.  Then he told me he was my guide and I was the only one who signed up for the tour that night.  That made it possible for him to customize the tour.  I’m a Beatles fan, so he made it a private guided tour of the history of the Beatles.  We visited various sights with connections to the Beatles.  Each of the pubs we stopped at was a place where the Beatles used to go drinking.  During our drinking stops, my guide filled me in on some of the other details of the Beatles early years, including their gigs in Hamburg.

I got back to the hotel after 9:00 and got to bed around 10:00.  By now, I had been awake for almost 36 hours.  I had no trouble getting to sleep that night.

Friday, October 25

During the night, I got up to go to the bathroom, and I stubbed my little toe on a chair that was near the bed.  It hurt quite a bit at first, but the pain gradually subsided enough that I could get back to sleep.  When I eventually got up, I could still feel it.  I don’t think I broke anything, but there was some bleeding.  That’s just what you want the day before a race.

After breakfast, I left Liverpool to drive to Llanberis.  I thought I could get there by noon, but the drive turned out to be an adventure.  I was counting on my phone to give me turn by turn directions.  I set it up before starting the car.  It seemed to be working, but as I started the car, it said, “GPS signal lost.”  I was in a parking ramp, so I assumed it would pick up the signal as soon as I got outside.

I knew how my route started.  I took the Queensway Tunnel to Birkenhead and got onto A41 going south toward Ellesmere Port.  I assumed my phone would pick up the GPS signal once I was outside the tunnel.

I was expecting my phone to tell me where to exit from A41, but it never did.  I realized I had gone too far south, when I started to get into Chester.  I found a gas station where I could pull over, and I checked my phone.

It was raining, and I had a spotty data connection.  I couldn’t get navigation to work.  I eventually got back onto A41 going north and started watching for signs for North Wales.  I kept following them until I got unto A55 toward Conwy.  I knew my route would take me through Conwy and Bangor, so I followed A55 until I reached Bangor.  Then I started seeing signs for Llanberis and was able to follow those for the rest of the way.

It would have been a scenic drive if not for the weather.  I drove past rustic hillsides and within sight of the Irish Sea.  Rain and low clouds, however, obstructed most of the views.

The last five miles were on narrow two lane roads.  All the rain was causing large puddles to encroach on the road, making that part of the drive unpleasant.  When I finally got into Llanberis, I pulled over to see if I could get my phone working for the last part of the drive.  Now that I was in town, it worked.

In Llanberis, I stayed at Y Gwynedd Inn.  They have their own parking area, but it’s small, and I wasn’t scheduled to check in until 5:00.  I found street parking about half a block away, but I could only park there for 45 minutes.  I parked the car and walked over to see if there was room in their lot.  There was.  I went in to ask if it was OK to park there even though I hadn’t checked in yet.  Not only was it OK to park there, but I was able to check in early.

My room was small, but the location couldn’t have been better.  The finish line was right in front.  By the time I moved the car and unpacked my things, it was already 1:00.  Street parking in Llanberis is hard to find.  Everything in town was within a mile, so now that the car was parked, I left it there and just walked to everything.

My first order of business was lunch.  There was a pizzeria I wanted to try, but it was on the other end of town.  I got my umbrella and started walking.  Even with the umbrella, I got wet, particularly my shoes and pant legs.  I was looking forward to getting indoors and warming up.  Then I discovered they aren’t open for lunch.  I had to walk back into the center of town.  I ended up having fish & chips at Pete’s Eats, which is the most popular restaurant in town.

After lunch, I walked over to the event village, which was in the parking lot of Electric Mountain Visitor Center.  I picked up my race packet and walked back to the hotel.  I changed into dry clothes, but my only dry pair of shoes was the pair I was saving for the race.

I had planned to spend the afternoon sightseeing, but it wasn’t a good day for it.  It rained all afternoon, and you couldn’t see the mountains.  Now that my shoes were wet, I didn’t feel like going back out until they dried.  In the meantime, I changed into my race shoes and hung out at the bar, and eventually had dinner there

Later, David and some of his friends from England arrived.  I met them at Pete’s Eats, where they were having dinner, and I joined them for beers after dinner.

Saturday, October 26

Saturday was race day.  The race didn’t start until 10:30 AM, so I didn’t need to get up early.  I set my alarm for 7:30, but I woke up at 4:30 and couldn’t get back to sleep.  I made myself some tea and had a pastry that I bought at a convenience store across the street.

I usually organize my race clothes the day before a race, but this time I waited until morning, so I could see what the weather was like.  It looked a lot like Friday.  It was raining when I got up, and it looked like the rain wouldn’t stop until mid-afternoon.

I didn’t know what the wind would be like, so I erred on the side of being warm enough.  Temperatures were in the low 40s, but I dressed like I normally would for 30s.  In addition, I wore a plastic rain poncho.  If the rain stopped, I would be too hot, but I was willing to risk that.

The starting line was about a 15 minute walk from the inn where I was staying.  Because of the rain, I waited until 10:00 before leaving the inn.

This is a hilly course.  It’s mostly on roads, but there are three tough climbs.  There are also two steep descents.  Here’s the elevation profile (in meters).

After David signed me up for this race, he challenged me to try to break four hours.  At the time, I could barely do that on a flat course, but I’m in much better shape now.  At first I didn’t know how much a hilly course would slow me down.  Then I noticed something on the elevation profile above.  In the upper right corner, it says this course is equivalent to a flat course that’s 29.32 miles.  I’m not sure how they arrived at that, but if you take my time from the Chicago Marathon and scale it to 29.32 miles, it works out to 3:45:40.

I took that with a grain of salt.  First of all, the Chicago Marathon was my best effort on a course that suits me well.  It’s the type of course I’ve trained for.  I haven’t trained much for hills, so I expected to be slow on the long climbs.  Also, this course has two sections on trails, and they’re both downhill.  I descend well on roads, but I don’t descend well on trails.  Finally, I didn’t dress optimally for running fast.  I knew I was probably overdressed.  If the rain stopped, I’d probably overheat, and that would slow me down.

Breaking four hours was in the back of my mind as a goal, but I was so sure I couldn’t do it that I brought a camera with me to take pictures along the route.

For a race in a remote area that’s partially on trails, this race is surprisingly large.  I got some sense of that at packet pickup, but I didn’t fully appreciate it until I got to the start area.  There were a lot of runners.

I lined up a fair distance back from the starting line.  The first two miles are relatively flat, so I thought it would be reasonable to start at the same pace I would in a flat race.  With so many runners lined up in front of me, I was surprised that they all went out as fast or faster.

We started out running through a valley.  The first mile had a slight downhill trend, but felt flat enough that I had a chance to find my rhythm.  I ran that mile in 7:57.  The second mile had a slight uphill trend to it.  I slowed to 8:25.  On average, I was going a little bit slower than I would on a flat course, but I knew what was coming.

In the third mile, we began the first of three long climbs.  This was the climb to Pen-y-Pass.  The climb started out gradual.  I was pleasantly surprised to run that mile in roughly nine minutes.  That’s the pace I needed to average for a four hour finish.  If I could do that in an uphill mile, I was in good shape.

In the first two miles, I didn’t feel at all overdressed with the rain poncho.  That began to change on the climb.  In the first mile of the climb, my hands were still cold, but under the poncho, I was warming up.

The fourth mile had a more noticeable grade.  I wouldn’t call it steep, but it was gradually wearing me down.  Now I started to feel hot under the poncho.  In that mile, I slowed to about 10 minutes.  That wasn’t too surprising.  I expected the climbs to be slow.

In the fifth mile, the climb got steep.  I had to slow down, but I was determined to run the whole way.  Now I was getting uncomfortably hot.  My poncho had a hood, and I had to take it off my head so heat could escape.  My hands were feeling warm now, but I kept my gloves on.  I was working up a sweat on the climb, but soon I would begin descending.

The summit of the first big climb was at Pen-y-Pass, which came just before the five mile mark.  At the top, there was an aid station and some spectators.  Up until now, I had resisted the urge to stop and take pictures, but I had to get a photo of this couple.  That's the Welsh flag.

The fifth mile took almost 11 minutes, but now I was done climbing.  As I began descending, I got my first view of a different valley.

At first, the descent let me recover from the climb.  Then I started to pick up speed.  It was steep enough that I didn’t have to work to run faster.  I was actually putting in so little effort that I wasn’t generating much heat.  I cooled off nicely here.

At six miles, we left the road for a trail.  We were still in the middle of a long descent.  Thankfully it wasn’t as steep here.  There were enough rocks in the trail that I had to slow myself down and watch my footing carefully.  Other runners started passing me.  I made no effort to keep up.  I just wanted to feel like I was under control.  I don’t descend well over uneven footing, so I just let everybody go by.  Over the next two miles, I must have been passed by 100 runners.  Even though I was going downhill, my pace slowed to nine minutes per mile.

At eight miles, we went up a short hill to get back to the road.  On the trail, I was always watching my footing, so I couldn’t take in the views.  Now that I had sure footing again, I was able to take in the views of my surroundings.

Over the next five miles, there was a gentle downhill trend.  My mile times varied, but they ranged between eight and nine minutes.

It was somewhere around 10 miles that I realized it wasn’t raining any more.  I’m not exactly sure when the rain stopped.  I was too focused on other things to notice.  I regretted my choice of rain ponchos.  The one I was wearing covered me from my head to my ankles.  I had another one that doesn’t cover as much of my arms and legs.  I wished that I had chosen that one instead, but I couldn’t do anything about it.  I was getting hot again, and I just had to hope it wouldn’t slow me down too much.  I’m sure that was the only reason I couldn’t run eight minute miles on this section.

With a low cloud ceiling, we couldn’t see the mountain tops, but there was plenty of scenery closer to the road.  At different times, we ran by lakes on either side of the road.

At 13 miles, we passed through the town of Beddgelert.  This was the largest town we would see before returning to Llanberis.  The crowd support here was great.

There wasn’t a marker for halfway, but based on my 13 mile split, I ran the first half in less than 1:54.  Now I was cautiously optimistic.  I was easily on pace to break four hours, but it’s worth noting that the second half has a tougher elevation profile.  Beddgelert was at the bottom of a valley.  We weren’t even out of town yet before we began climbing.  This was the second of the three tough climbs.

At first, the slope was gradual.  Early in the climb, I paused to take a picture of the fall colors.  That brief rest break energized me enough that I was ready to tackle the rest of the hill, even as the grade got more challenging.

This hill wasn’t as long as the first one.  I slowed down, but not as much.  At 15 miles, the climb was over.  I didn’t lose too much time there, so I thought more about what it would take to break four hours.

In contrast to the first climb, this one wasn’t followed by a steep descent.  Instead, we had a gentle downhill trend over the next six miles.  I realized this was my best chance to pick up my pace.  I still had one tough climb remaining.  I knew I would lose time there.  I also knew the final descent would be mostly on trails, so I couldn’t count on making up time there.  My goal over the next six miles was to put enough time in the bank that I could afford to be slow on the last big climb.

I wanted to run the next six miles with times between eight and nine minutes.  I succeeded at that and even ran one of them in less than eight minutes.  That boosted my confidence.

I was passing other runners somewhat regularly now.  I wondered how many of them were the same runners that passed me between six and eight miles, when we were descending on trails.

On this part of the course we had a headwind.  At times, it felt tiring, but it kept me from overheating.  My hands started to get really cold here.  I reminded myself that I would warm up on the last climb.

As I passed the 21 mile mark, I was surprised that I wasn’t to the big climb yet.  With 5.2 miles to go, I could afford an average pace of 11 minutes per mile.  I was focused on breaking four hours, and I liked my chances.

We were almost to 22 miles when the climb finally started.  The change in grade was unmistakable.  This one was steep from the very start.  I couldn’t run very fast, but I was determined to run the whole thing.

As the grade got steeper, I started seeing more and more people walking.  I was one of the few people still running.  I got lots of cheers of “good job, mate” from everyone I passed.

After 23 miles, the grade got even steeper.  I looked ahead and saw what I thought might be the top.  As I got there, I realized it was a false summit.  The climb continued.  This happened a few times.  Looking at the hills around us, it seemed like we were about to go over the top.  Then I’d get closer, and I could see more hills that went higher.

I finally had to take a walking break.  I knew I could afford it if I didn’t walk for too long.  I walked for about a minute.  Then I forced myself to run the rest of the way.  Finally, at 24 miles, I was at the top of the steep part of the climb.  I checked my watch.  Did I succeed in limiting the damage?  That mile took only 10 minutes, in spite of the walking break.  Now I had it in the bag.

Right at 24 miles, we left the road for a trail.  We were descending now, but only slightly.  There were puddles all over the trail.  Some I could avoid; some I couldn’t.  My shoes were filling with water.  That’s just what I wanted before a long steep descent.  Insole problems were almost inevitable.

The trail turned slightly uphill again.  We had crossed one summit, but there was still a second summit before the final steep descent.  Now there was water all the way across the trail.  It was like running upstream through a river.

Finally, at about 24.5 miles, I reached the highest elevation on the course.  It was less than two miles to the finish, but it was treacherous.  What’s worse than a steep descent over uneven footing?  How about adding mud to the mix?  It was steep, and it was slick.  I had to slow my pace and choose my footing carefully.  This is why I wasn’t going to gain any time on this section.  Fortunately, I didn’t have to.

On one section of the trail, there was a long puddle running down one side.  Everyone else avoided that side.  One runner raced right through it, splashing mud waist high on everyone she passed.  I didn’t appreciate that.

The sky was clearing up, and I came to a spot with a nice view overlooking the valley below.  I stopped to take a picture, but my camera’s viewfinder was completely white.  I didn’t know if it was moisture on the lens of something else.  My camera was wet.  I took a few pictures without knowing if I was aiming it right.  I had no idea if they would even turn out.  I don’t think I got the angle I was trying for, but this is the one that was closest.

Some sections were steeper than others.  On one particularly steep section, I felt my insoles slipping forward in both of my shoes.  That’s a common problem for me when I’m running down a steep hill with water in my shoes.  Usually, it’s just uncomfortable.  This time, it affected my running.  I could feel my feet slipping back and forth inside my shoes with each step.  Not only was the trail surface slick and unstable, but the insides of my shoes were as well.

I was right about not making up time on the downhill.  Mile 25 actually took longer than mile 24, which had been all uphill.  Still, I had more than 16 minutes for the last 1.2 miles to finish within four hours.

Next, I got onto a section of the trail that was paved.  It was still uncomfortably steep, but at least I had solid footing.  I was coping with the discomfort of having insoles that were bunched up under my toes.  Then I reached a section that was even steeper, and I felt something else going on in my shoe.  This was something I had never felt before.  It was extremely uncomfortable.  I actually wondered if the back of my foot had come out of my shoe.  Nope.  As I tried to keep running, I realized what it was.  One of my orthotics had slipped forward in my shoe.  That’s never happened before.

I couldn’t run that way.  The back edge of my orthotic, which normally stays behind my heel, was cutting into the bottom of my foot.  It was painful, but more significantly, I was afraid it would cause an injury.  I had to stop and fix it.  I took off the shoe, moved the orthotic back to where it belonged, removed the insole, unfolded it and put it back in the proper place, replaced the shoe, and tied it.  That took time.

I resumed running, and as soon as I hit another steep section, the orthotic moved again.  I didn’t have time to keep doing this, but I also couldn’t run like that.  My solution was to run on my toes, so the back of my foot wouldn’t strike my orthotic.  Going downhill, that was uncomfortable, but I was in Llanberis now.  I only had about half a mile to go.

After another minute or two, I finally got onto streets I recognized.  I knew the grade was going to level out soon.  When I made the last turn onto High Street, it leveled out completely.  Now I could run on my toes more comfortably as I sprinted to the finish. Despite all the mishaps that cost me time, I finished in 3:54:48.  To say I’m pleased with that time would be an understatement.

Instead of a finisher medal, the tradition at this race is for each finisher to get one of these slate coasters.  In case you're wondering, "Eryri" is the Welsh name for Snowdonia.  We also each got a water bottle, which conveniently was already filled with water.

After finishing, I had to go around the finish line fences, but then I was only about 100 feet from the door to Y Gwynedd Inn.  Getting to my room, however, was like an obstacle course.  First, I had to get through the crowd of spectators.  Then I had to go through about five doors, and the sleeve of my rain poncho got caught on every door handle.  It also got caught on a knob as I rounded the top of the staircase. Needless to say, that was the first thing I removed when I got to my room.

I was wearing multiple layers of clothes, and they were all soaking wet.  Some were wet from the rain; others were wet from sweat.  It took time to peel them off and find places to hang them up to dry.  I also had to clean the mud from my shoes.

After showering and changing clothes, I walked over to the event village to attend the awards ceremony.  I was impressed with how fast some of the other runners ran this course.  The winner of my age group finished in 3:07!

David invited me to join his running club for a post-race dinner at the Royal Victoria Hotel.  I joined a few of them for beers in town, and then we walked to the hotel.  Better late than never, I finally had pizza in Wales.  For those keeping score at home, that makes 38 countries.

After dinner, I was tired enough that I could’ve fallen asleep immediately.  There was a band performing at the inn, and my room was directly above their stage.  The bass was so loud that it was making things in my room vibrate.  There wasn’t any point going to sleep until they were done.  That was 11:00.

Remember that toe I stubbed?   It never bothered me during the race, but when I climbed into bed, it was the only thing that hurt.  Nevertheless, I had no trouble getting to sleep.

Sunday, October 27

I joined my friends for breakfast at Pete’s Eats.  Then we watched a rugby match at a nearby inn that had several large TVs.  Wales was playing in the semifinals of the World Cup, so it was a big deal for local rugby fans.  It was an exciting game, but ultimately Wales lost to South Africa.

I had plans to visit Conwy Castle in the afternoon, but I had another driving adventure.  A few minutes after I left Llanberis, I got a “check tire pressure” indicator.  I stopped at a gas station and walked around the car.  One tire was dangerously low.  The car had been parked for two days, so I didn’t know how quickly it was losing air.  I added air, but I didn’t know how well the tire would hold air.  I decided the safest course of action was to drive straight to Manchester, without making any sightseeing stops.  It was a nice sunny day, so at least I got to enjoy a scenic drive through north Wales.  Before returning the car, I stopped to fill the tank.  The tire was still holding air, but better safe than sorry.

I don’t fly home until tomorrow morning.  For tonight, I’m staying at an airport hotel.

Race Statistics

Distance:  26.2 miles

Time:  3:54:48

Average Pace:  8:57

Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:  390

Countries:  38