One Down

I was informed today that I've been remiss about posting any sort of race report following the Twin Cities Marathon last week, so here goes.  I'm not going to give a mile by mile breakdown (or even post my splits) because that's not as important as some of the overall themes of the day and the lessons I learned.

First of all I'd like to thank Craney and the Original Sherpa for free accommodations and transportation for the weekend.  A big shout out goes to Goon and Moonie for the company during the race itself, but more on that in a minute.

Race day started out totally uneventful.  The weather forecast was pretty much ideal - cold in the hours prior to the race and warming up into the 60s by the early afternoon.  Okay, so not "ideal" but a high in the 60s is so much better than a high in the 70s or god forbid the 80s.  The prerace staging took place at the Mall of America Dome (the dome formerly known as the Metrodome) and you'd be shocked at how small and narrow the concourses in that place are!

The weather, it was in the mid-30s when we got to the dome, set the stage for the first two lessons that I learned that day:

1. I was dressed perfectly if the forecast called for it to stay in the 30s or even the 40s.  Long sleeve cold weather Nike mock with a short sleeve shirt over top.  Remember though that the forecast called for it to warm up, plus it was a bright sunny day which made it feel even warmer.  Dressed to warm.
2. We stayed in the dome too long before we made our way out to the start corral.  By the time some of the group dropped off their bag at bag drop and we entered the corral we were behind the 5:30 pace group.  We were able to worm our way up to just behind the 5:00 pace group but we were surrounded by people who would be running much slower than us which made it hard to get into a smooth rhythm in the first mile or two.  Too far back in the corral.

The race started fairly uneventful.  I was running with two fellow members of the 30s on KickRunners, Goon and Moonie.  Goon and I were hoping to finish between 4:16 and 4:30.  Moonie was running with us to try and help us to that pace.  The miles actually were clicking off fairly easy.  We were a bit off our pace goal but feeling strong.  I actually caught myself mentally saying "these miles are clicking off almost too easy."  The next lesson came just after mile 11.  I had to stop to retie a shoe - it felt like it was loosening up and my foot was starting to slide around a bit and I wanted to fix it - and told Goon and Moonie not to wait for me I'd try to catch up.  I'd been running just about a 10:30 pace up to that point.  I then proceeded to run mile 12 and 13 in 9:26 and 9:27 respectively.  That is not a pace I could maintain for the rest of the race.  I caught 'em just before the 13.1 mark and settled back into a more reasonable pace.  But the damage was done.  Wasted too much energy catching up to them at that point.

The next 3-4 miles were uneventful but I could start to feel my energy wane a bit and needed to stop just before mile 18 to use the port-o-potty.  How the hell I managed to find the one port-o-potty with no line I have no idea.  In/out as quick as humanly possible.  Again told 'em not to wait for me, but as I exited the port-o-potty I knew there was no freakin' way I was catching them.  So I was on my own from there out.  Just over 8 miles to go.

Crossed over the Mississippi River and headed for home.  My stomach was not feeling great due to the next lesson:  Powerade sucks.  ***Science Note***  Gatorade is a 6% sugar solution.  Powerade is an 8%.  Ever wonder why most people who drink Powerade water it down?  I can tell you - it's too fucking sweet.  But that's what they had on the course.  Combine that with the 4 GUs I had on the course and while I wasn't nauseous I wasn't feeling great.  Which slowed me down as I headed into the toughest part of the course - the last 6.2 miles.

Everyone who has run this race, or who lives in the Twin Cities will tell you about the Summit Ave hill.  It's long, but it's not that steep...more like a really long 2-2.5% incline.  But the real reason it sucks?  Immediately preceding it is the St. Thomas hill where you gain about 100 feet in about a half mile or so.  That sucked.  Even after the Summit Ave hill there were still rolling hills from about mile 23 past mile 25.  Rolling hills that rolled steadily higher.  At least the finish was downhill.  This was one tough course.



So there you have it.  What I learned during 4 hours, 42 minutes, and 16 seconds as I ran from Minneapolis to St. Paul.