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

Not running Wisconsin

I am scheduled to run the Wisconsin North Face marathon as my training run this Saturday. That's not going to happen due to a personal tragedy. The director of our research group and my academic father-figure passed away on 14th evening. He was a holocaust survivor, a giant in my field, and a personal hero. With the funeral service on Friday afternoon, there is no way I can make it on time. This would be my first DNS. Here's to you, Fred.

Fun Run

Just a quick update to spread the word (hat tip TTWSS):

A fun race in Delaware - run 2 miles and eat a whole pizza half way through -- pizza size depends on the category you enroll in. [Registration and other details]

I'm not running it (I wish) but anyone in the neighborhood shouldn't miss this! This reminds me of another race Duran told me where you chomp donuts on your way.

I've never done a fun run, not intentionally just never happened. One run I will be doing sometime is the Santa Speedo Run.

A marathon to train for a marathon?

Yes, that's what I will be doing on the 18th. I signed up for a trail marathon in Wisconsin as my last long run before the Chicago marathon.

Yesterday, I discovered Hull St. Blues Cafe on my run. I had run 16 miles and was getting low on juices. So I thought let me go in and get some Gatorade or something and I was wrong. It's not your ordinary cafe with a pastry cabinet, coffee tables and a cooler with drinks. Every Sunday morning, the place is decked with a long buffet table with all sorts of goodies for brunch. As soon as I entered the cafe, I knew I had to stay and that would be the end of today's run. The remaining 5 miles can wait. As far as I can tell, it's the best brunch I've had for 20 bucks (tips extra) -- Fresh warm biscuits, eggs, hash browns, veggies, best Cajun beans and rice, pasta, and fruits. If you wanted to go meat heavy there were sausage links and roast ham. Hot buttermilk pancakes and French toasts were served individually at the tables. With the food tasting heavenly, the staff so friendly and a homey ambiance this place gets a 5 thumbs up from me.

16.6 miles ending at Hull St Blues Cafe

I stuffed myself and took a nice 2 mile walk from the cafe to the harbor before running another 2 miles back home. That was Sunday, today I'm taking off to get some work done for school.

Double whammy and bouncing back

I think everything that can go wrong went wrong during this Chicago training period, hopefully. First there was a ligament injury that took several weeks from my training. Then there was a travel to China -- although this was expected, I managed to get some runs in during the crazy travel week. But most recently, I picked up mumps virus on my trip and all of last week I spent in isolation. Luckily, running isn't a contact sport but you don't want to overwhelm the immune system by throwing in a lot of miles and raise the cortisol levels. So I had a subdued first half of the week. I've been symptom free for the last 24 hours and the doc said I'm fine. Take that virus! So, today I did sort of a celebratory 11 mile run before my long run tomorrow.

11.6 miles @ 7:42 min/mile

Running in China

Last week I was at a conference in Beijing and I chose to stay at a hotel close to the Bird's Nest and the Olympic Village. I've never been to China earlier and was unsure what to expect. I was worried how this trip will interrupt my running (again) and diet. But all my worries were short lived. I ran every morning during my visit as usual and loaded up on the complimentary breakfast at the hotel. Perhaps the hotel staff were surprised at the quantity I consumed! So I would wake up each morning before sunrise and head outdoors for a run that almost always included passing the National Stadium (aka Bird's Nest) and the National Aquatics Center.

The stadium is unlike any structure I've ever seen. During my first run, an American tourist couple spotted me in my running attire staring at the Birds's Nest in awe and said, "Aren't you too late for the Olympics?".

A run at the Bird's Nest. Check out the Satellite View.

Near the Bird's Nest is the National Aquatics Center which looks like a giant blue aquarium with bubbles on the surface. Apparently the bubbles are in the shape of H2O's molecular structure. Geeks unite!

Pollution in the city is very noticeable despite of the government's efforts to relocate the factories away from Beijing for the Olympics. Every morning I could see the sun making its way through the thick Beijing smog. Also beware of drivers in Beijing. Red light does not necessarily mean stop!

For a big city like Beijing, I did not see any runners on my route other than a lone runner. The first day we exchanged glances, the next day I did a "ni hao" with a grin and another day we both ran together with him not knowing English and me not speaking Mandarin. I did see a lot of old people walking. Many of them were conservative looking and were either shocked or offended to see my skimpy running shorts.

Diet was my biggest worry. When I'm at home, I'm really careful about what I eat and plan my meals around my runs. I decided to fall off the wagon for a week and surprisingly I didn't do bad. My instincts served me right and I managed to eat the right kind of food most times.

I'm glad to be back home, although jet lagged, where I can browse the internet uncensored. Throughout my trip, I could not access Twitter, Facebook or Blogger. I imagine grad students in China must be very productive!

Count your blessings

This is a long due update. Sometime earlier I set my eyes on a BQ at Chicago and started training for it. The intensity of the training could not have been better and I noticed marked improvements in my pace. Training this summer went in full swing and did not stop even during the 100+ degree days but during first week of this month I suffered a major injury in my knee. All it took was simple trip-and-fall on the pavement, resulting in a sheared ligament. Needless to say, the last couple weeks were pretty low in running and also a low point in my life. I never realized how much I depended on running until this setback happened. So, my BQ training has been interrupted. I will still be running Chicago but not sure if it will be for the same goals.

It sucks to see all that effort not pay off but after a week of moping about it I realized how grateful I should be that I can still run. I took that moment to count my blessings and examine everything I've done this year -- 4 marathons and 1 50-mile ultra with more than 1600 miles of training (I need to update my training database for the counters to be accurate). If everything goes as planned, I will be doing Chicago in Oct  followed by Tucson in Dec making it 6 marathons for 2010. My t-shirt expresses my current sentiment pretty accurately.

This week, I slowly resumed running but it will be longer before I'm my usual self again. Tomorrow, I'm off to China for a conference and hope to get some miles in Beijing.