Wisconsin: An Unlikely Marathon

Quick summary: 
Chip Time: 4:27:02
Overall Place: 13/100  Category Place: 3/14  Gender Place: 10/62
Total Registered: 531

Sometime back I decided to run Wisconsin as a training run for Chicago. After injuries and several hurdles in my marathon training I had self doubts about doing that distance again soon and Wisconsin was supposed to put that to test. But recently, after a personal academic tragedy, I decided to not run Wisconsin. I booked a last minute SouthWest flight (cancelable) just in case. Yesterday evening, I finished attending Fred's funeral service and rushed to the airport to just make it to my hotel in Delafield, WI by midnight. My carbo-load dinner was an oatmeal from the airport Starbucks and a banana that I ate on the shuttle to the hotel. So, this marathon went from impossible to unlikely -- the Unlikely Marathon.

This is my third trail race and I knew what to expect but I was doing the whole show up and run thing without doing packet pickup for the first time. I think now I will never spend time at an expo if that option exists. I'm still running trails in my road running shoes. The Asics took a beating with all the slush, rain, and mud. There were places where I had no choice but to sink in a puddle to keep going. I guess that's a part of the fun in trail running. But a decent pair of Gore-Tex shoes is in order.

The race itself was pretty. The trails are the most beautiful I've seen. Since this was a training run, I kept it easy and did not exert when I didn't need to but did a progression run as I planned. The first 15 miles @ 11 min/mile, 5 miles @ 8 min/mile, and the rest at 7+ min/mile. My goal was to walk away from the race feeling worked out and not tired. Which I did. Despite of this, the heavy downpour, and the slippery conditions I did not do badly when graded on the curve.

Milwaukee is an interesting place. The houses are big, sparse, with large yards but you cannot survive here without a car. I mean even to get basic things done. Oh and this is Bible country -- on the plane I heard someone citing Proverbs excitedly. After landing, I went to the information desk and there was a cheerful blonde lady with an open Bible -- Deuteronomy as I recall. I still have a day to explore more but dinner tonight at "The Emperor's Kitchen" was awesome. The curry almond shrimp tasted as good as it looked.

On the trail I met many interesting people as usual and made instant friends with cheering and camaraderie that goes with trail running. I also met some old friends from my previous Ultra. Talking of Ultras, the highlight of today's race was meeting Diane Van Deren. Ultramarathon celebrities like Dean Karnazes seem to be popular in mass media but Diane is my Ultra hero. She's a survivor. She grew up to be a world-class athlete and a Wimbledon player but for a decade in her life, she suffered from seizures which was cured only with right temporal lobectomy. If you think that stopped her, she went on to become the top woman ultrarunner and better than many of her male counterparts, if I may add. Oh, she also did the Yukon Arctic Ultra, a 430 mile race at -30 degrees, becoming the first woman to ever do it. She did it despite of not having anything to drink for the first 100 miles and falling once through cracked ice and getting soaked in freezing water shoulder down. And she climbed out and kept going!

Sharing a moment with Diane Van Deren

Savage Love: Mountain Maryland marathon

Picture this:

Summary:

• Official Time: 3:44  Garmin Time: 3:52**
• First trail race
• Stunningly beautiful course on Mt. Savage
• First high altitude race
• Reasonable race organization 

** Forgot to turn off my Garmin at the finish line.

Details:

Marathon #3 for 2010 is in the books. I ran this race with Jay and unlike any other race I've run we decided to drive to the race venue on the day of the race. I left Baltimore around 3:40 AM in the morning without having slept much at all. This was a race against odds - crazy terrain, Piriformis injury, and no sleep. I survived.

Cumberland is a beautiful little town in MD and we knew we were up for some great sights when we spotted the big hills on our way there in the darkness. We reached there perfectly on time for the packet pickup, thanks to Jay's driving and everything sailed perfectly to the start of the race. I only wished I had a jacket with me in the beginning and the end of the race.

This was my first trail race and I had no idea what to expect. I did not get any trail shoes since most of the surface was crushed limestone gravel. Trail running is a different beast. For almost the entire run you are alone, except the stunning views Mother Nature provides. "This is where wallpapers come from", was my thought as I ran through the course.

Your only human contact is other racers and the good folks at the aid stations which are much fewer than most road races. So, there is no opportunity to feed into the positive energy created by the cheering spectators. There were lot of times during the race where I could not see any other runner before or after me. Which also means you have to be very careful and watch out for those trail markers to avoid getting lost.

This was also my first high altitude race. The race itself involved a climb of 1000ft on Mt. Savage. Nothing in my training had prepared me for this and the first half of the race felt like riding an untamed horse.

This the second time this marathon is being held. Credits to the organizers for pulling off a nice race but hope that next time the volunteers will be more prepared -- a lot of times it appeared they had no idea. Also if you are running this race (highly recommended), it's a good idea to carry your own supplies. The only thing you can rely on is water and watered down Gatorade. Oh, they also had bananas and whole apples at the aid stations if you had time to stop and munch!

I finished the race in 3:44.  The Priformis injury seemed under control except for a dull pain throughout the race which kept me from pedaling harder. The medal is made of porcelain and makes a fine coaster/paper weight. It's also fragile so another thing to take care of after your run.

Saturday: Trail run

Jay and I hit the BWI-B&A trail again this morning. After a hectic work week and another late nighter yesterday, I snoozed all three alarms I set for our 6am run and woke up 10 mins before we were supposed to start. After frantic layering up (24 degrees today morning), chewing the leftover shot-blocks I rushed outside 10 mins late with a morning face to find Jay waiting for me. Isn't he awesome? The trail is a bit of a drive from where we live but we finally made it at 6:47 -- not bad considering how close I was to missing this run.

Distance: 16.1 miles  Time: 02:17:00

The BWI-B&A trail is actually two trail paths (BWI trail and the B&A trail) with some interspersed suburban roads. This running route is quickly becoming my favorite place to run in Baltimore. I was happy to miss the traffic that I usually deal with on my weekday runs and run like a pair of rabbits on the snow covered trail (2 inches). Apart from the usual jumpy squirrels, we also spotted a furry red fox today! The trail today was much better with almost no ice than what we found on new year's day.

Another perfect run except the morning rush left me with no time to eat and I ran out of gas around 1/2 mile towards the end of the run. Another small technical glitch was the bezel was unlocked on my Garmin and part of the running route, highlighted by the blue straight line, was not recorded.  Obviously we did not run as the crow flies on the trail, so I'm noting today's distance from our average pace (8:30 min/mi) and the run time on Jay's watch (2:17). Post run food was a bottle of vitamin water, an egg & cheese sandwich, and a coffee at Panera.

Postlude: I discovered this amazing song that Jay played on our way to the trail. Enjoy!