• greg
  • cooks
  • drinks
  • ferments
  • grows
  • runs
    • run blog
  • aws

greg runs

running for my life

  • fitness
  • health
  • races

2010 Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon Race Report

October 11, 2010 by greg Leave a Comment
I did it. I finally broke the four hour barrier and smashed my pr to smithereens. I am so happy. I trained hard this summer for this race. I lost lots of weight. I stressed in the last month about my injuries that I thought would take me out of the race. But all the stars aligned just right for an awesome Twin Cities Marathon!
The weekend was amazing from the start. We arrived at the Holiday Inn around 10:00 in evening on Friday and unwound in the room with a glass of wine. On Saturday morning I lounged in bed while Lisa went down to the capitol to watch our friends Rebecca and her son finish the 10K. Afterwards we met up in the hotel restaurant for a late breakfast. The restaurant service left a lot to be desired. It was more than an hour before we were served. I don’t know why they don’t plan for having cooks there on the weekend. Anyway, we finally ate. I had some oatmeal and a poached egg.
After breakfast Lisa, Spencer and I headed across the street to the Xcel center to pick up my race packet. The TCM has a pretty darn good expo and we did spend an hour or so passing by all the booths. We didn’t want to stay too long because Saturday was the day we planned to go to the Mall of America. Lisa and Spencer picked up some free ride tickets for the amusement park there during the 10k race and Spencer was anxious to get going. After relaxing for a little be we headed on over to MOA. Spencer lucked out and one of his ticket coupons was good for 100 tickets which set him up for free rides the entire day. While Spencer and Lisa were having fun in the amusement park I had to spend some time doing some reading for work so I parked myself on a comfy chair across from the Apple Store. We also had a genius bar appointment to look at Spencer’s ipod touch. Turns out it was broken and they replaced it on the spot.
We met up with our friends and looked for some dinner. We ended up at Bubba Gumps in the MOA. Since we waited so long for a table they actually ordered appetizers for us for free and they were delivered to the table as soon as we sat down. The service was night and day compared to breakfast at the hotel. I tried to eat light and had salmon with some pasta and vegetables. I did drink a bit of wine. Ok, a bottle of wine. But that is not unusual for me. We got back to the hotel around 9:00 and I went straight to bed.

Sunday morning at 4:45 am my ipod alarm went off. I slept really well – better than I had in a while. I felt rested and ready for the race. My back felt great and my foot had no pain at all. I had a banana and a south beach protein bar for breakfast and started to wake my body up. I checked the weather – 36 degrees with sunshine and a high in the low 60’s expected. What a perfect day for a race! At about 5:45 I laced up my shoes and headed on over to the Crown Plaza to catch the bus to Minneapolis. I arrived at the Metrodome at about 6:15. Plenty of time to hit the bathrooms about 6 times before the race. I don’t know what it is but my bladder tends to be overactive before every race. Since I usually end up having to use the facilities in the beginning after a race starts I tried to line up at the portapotties just prior to the start.
At 7:45 I was still looking ahead at a long line waiting. People were getting antsy and it was getting close to start time. People were cheering on the pee-ers. I finally made it into the john and out with just a few minutes to spare. I sprinted on over to the starting corral (number 2 for me). It was so crowded with thousands of people. As I was pushing my way forward I bumped into a friend from Washington, DC. Funny that I bumped into him in almost exactly the same spot at last year’s race. Completely unexpected. Anyway, I was way in the back and I wanted to start closer to the beginning of the corral so I jumped over the fence onto the sidewalk and made my way forward. I jumped back into the crowded chute near the 4:30 pacer thinking I was further ahead but the gun was going off and I had no more time to find my place. And then I was off.
The start was great! I was feeling really strong and it was nice and cool out. My plan was to start out at about an 8:45 pace and see how I felt midway through the race. But with my hectic start I wanted to get up near the 4:00 pacer so I could gauge my run a little better. So I started out fast the first mile passing everyone I could. I edged my way forward and at about the 1 mile mark I saw the balloons for my target. I quickly caught up to the pacer and told him the rules – he was not allowed to pass me during the race. The adrenalin was pumping and the first mile was faster than I planned (7:50 pace). My Garmin was about 0.1 miles short of the 1 mile marker and about .25 miles short by the end of the race. Anyway, after that first mile I eased my pace down to a more comfortable one and continued ahead of the pacer. As it turns out I never saw him again.
Running through Minneapolis was gorgeous. I was feeling really good int hose first few miles through the city. There was good crowd support and I was going at a good pace (mile 2 – 8:47, mile 3 – 9:03). Once south of the city and getting into the residential and lakes areas I started to focus more on keeping a consistent pace. I did REALLY well on this race with miles betweein 8:30-8:45 all the way up through mile 18. I was feeling good on the gentle hills and enjoyed Lake Calhoun and Lake Harriet. And the people racing were as awesome as the crowds cheering us on. Around mile 5 I talked to a gentleman who was running his 73rd marathon. His 13 year old daughter is going to run with on when she turns 18 and he plans that to be his 100th race. How inspiring is that? And then there was the Cherry and Spoon lady. Yes, someone was running in a Cherry and Spoon costume. You know the famous cherry and spoon sculpture in Minneapolis. It turns out she wasn’t even from here. She works and is going to school in Fayetteville, Arkansas. I thought it was great she was celebrating Minneapolis art this way. I ran near her for most of the race until the last 6 miles or so when she pulled ahead of me.
I have to say I felt pretty darn good during this race. I did start to feel some aches in my left hip around mile 12 but it was minor. I was going strong and did not slow down until mile 18 or so. As a matter of fact I never slowed down to a walk until somewhere in mile 18 – the longest I have ever run non-stop. When I did I thought my legs would fail. I didn’t realize what different muscles you use when walking and it was clear they were going to sleep on me. I was starting to feel the fatigue but I kept going. Mile 19 my pace slowed a little bit to 8:54 and after that I could no longer maintain a pace less than 9 minutes. I was starting to feel my quads pretty bad when I passed the wall at mile 20 (9:20 pace). At this time I knew I would probably make my 4 hour goal but I didn’t want to let up. But I was beginning to really tire and had to walk a bit through the water stops. I focussed on trying to maintain a 9:30 pace and used the inspiration from the Wall at 20 miles to speed up a little bit.
Mile 21 – 9:17, Mile 22 – 9:35, Mile 23 – 9:45. I was trying to tell myself that it was only a few more miles but my energy was draining fast and my muscles were screaming at me – “What more do you want from us?” I pushed onward and pulled out a 9:31 pace for mile 24 and it was then that I really hit the wall. My right quad started cramping. I slowed to a walk for a brief moment to try to stretch it out and then I sped back up. I gritted my teeth and ran through the pain and managed to push through mile 25 at a 9:55 pace. I kept telling myself – don’t slip past a 10 minute mile! Keep going. You’re almost done!. I should say there are a lot of hills from mile 20 to 26 and I was proud of myself for keeping it going through the pain. I was starting to feel something in my left foot around mile 21 and that was getting worse too. I was afraid to look.
The last mile was awesome. I dug down really deep and pushed all the pain out of my mind. I managed to push through mile 26 at a faster 9:27 pace and when I came up the hill and rounded the corner by the cathedral I knew I had this one in the bag. I looked downhill to the finish and started sprinting. As I was coming down to the finish chute I saw my wife and son there cheering me on. I looked up and saw the clock above the finish line – 3:59:53 . . .3:59:54 . . . 3:59:55 . . . I pushed harder and crossed the line just as it showed 4:00:00. What a finish! I did it. I made my goal. My official chip time was 3:55:35 – a new PR for me. I don’t think it gets better than this.
Later in the hotel when I took my shoes off I found out why my foot was starting to hurt. I had one big blister. Fortunately it was just a sack of fluid and it really wasn’t too torn up. As a matter of fact there was no pain after a couple hours. It was worth it!



Filed Under: races Tagged With: marathon, pr, race, Twin Cities Marathon

Never too Late – My Twin Cities Marathon Report

November 25, 2008 by greg Leave a Comment

Such as it is, here is my report from the Oct 5 Twin Cities Marathon.

I was rock steady all the way through with my goal and ended with a 4:31:23. Not bad considering I was under trained, overweight and coming off of a PF injury.

It was very crowded in the beginning and my starting 5K was a little slower than expected.

The weather was cloudy at the start but was pouring buckets by mile 2. This lasted until about mile 10 or so. At some points the water was coming down so fast the streets were filling up like rivers and we had to do some diversions around flooded areas.

The last half it dried up and was perfectly cool and cloud covered.

Much different from the 85+ from last year where I saw tons of people on the sidelines getting IV’s.

I was really happy that I didn’t have to walk the 2 mile hill from mile 21 to 23. I was feeling sore but strong at that point and managed to keep on pace pretty well.

If you’ve never run the TC before, you should. The course is absolutely gorgeous and there were people cheering every inch of the way. Even in the pouring rain. The best part is the finish in St. Paul. You come around a corner by the famous cathedral there and it’s a straight downhill 0.4 miles to the finish at the capitol. That section was my fastest pace of the race.

One cool thing – as I was running along around mile 23 I heard someone call out my name. Turns out someone had seen one of my posts on Runnersworld where he saw a picture of my race shirt and read my blog. Small world.

Statistics:

BIB: 5134
Overall Place: 5217 out of 7979
Division Place: 615 our of 784
Gender Place: 3468 out of 4806
Time: 4:38:48
Chip Time: 4:31:23
5K: 33:11
10K: 1:04:39
half: 2:15:20
30K: 3:12:32
20 mile: 3:26:00

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: marathon, race, Twin Cities Marathon

Marathon Time

October 4, 2008 by greg Leave a Comment

Hello long forgotten blog. I know I’ve been away for a while but I’m back and the Twin Cities Marathon is tomorrow morning. Looks like rain for the race which is just fine with me. No sun please.

Training update: My PF has been resolved now for a couple of weeks. I did get in a very nice 21 mile run two weeks ago and the taper has been solid. I should have no problems finishing the race tomorrow. I have a very conservative goal of 4:30. I am still more overweight than I would like which will slow me down.

You all can track me live tomorrow at the MTRACK website.

I’ll be back with my race report later.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: marathon, Twin Cities

Manitoba Magic

June 17, 2008 by greg 1 Comment
WOOHOO!

I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect race. Everything about it was fantastic. I felt great, the weather was ideal and I ran the best I ever have. It must be that Manitoba Magic. Last year on father’s day I ran the half marathon in Winnipeg and got my half PR of 1:47:31. The magic was back with me in 2008 for the full. I smashed, and I mean really smashed, my PR from Fargo last month by more than 20 minutes! I have been flying above cloud nine ever since.

Friday we spent a leisurely day driving up to Winnipeg. I actually drove slowly keeping my speed under 60 mph. As a result I got about 25% better gas mileage than if I was driving my normal 80 all the way. Over the course of the trip this would work out to an extra 100 miles worth of gas I saved. Anyway, more about my hypermiling exploits later. Let’s talk about the weekend. We arrived a little after 5:00 pm and decided to just relax in the hotel. We got some take out and hung out in the room. Got to bed by 10:00 pm.

Saturday morning we got up and had breakfast in the hotel. About 10:30 we drove out to the University of Manitoba to pick up my bib. Much nicer pick up location than where it was last year out by the airport. The only lame thing about this marathon is the expo. There just wasn’t much there. Very small. But it was ok. We got through every booth in about 10 minutes. The other thing on our agenda for Saturday was to tour the Royal Canadian Mint. We spent a few hours wandering around and enjoying a coin show that was going on at the mint. Lunch was a grilled smokie from the lunch cart. Pretty tasty, actually. Later in the afternoon we spent a couple hours in the hotel pool. Around 5:30 we headed over to Mona Lisa for dinner. This is an Italian restaurant in Winnipeg with a great reputation and it lived up to it. I had a pasta dish with chicken and a cream sauce that was out of this world. Early dinner and in bed by 9:00 was my plan and I stuck to it.

Sunday – Race day – 4:15 am I get out of bed. I ate my usual leftover pasta for breakfast along with some coffee and water. I checked the weather forecast and it was ideal – forecast for clouds and cool temperatures. It started at about 45 degrees at 5:00 am and rose to about 55 by the end of the race. The rain that had been looming on the horizon was going to hold off it looked like. At 5:30 we headed out the door to the University for the race start. On the way we were greeted with a double rainbow over the finish line full of promises of a great day.

Before the race started I was antsy, as usual. Lots of people were milling around and I had to go to the bathroom three times before the race started. Lines were not too long. I always get pre-race bladder shrinkage for some reason. Other than that I was feeling really good and was getting pretty excited to start the race. The sun was making a bit of an appearance through the clouds off and on. It was about 47 degrees with a very refreshing breeze.


One last drink of water before the race started and I was ready to go. At 6:45 the national anthem was sung. I kind of like Oh Canada. It sounds pretty good in French too. The wheelchair racers got off at 6:55 and then we were next. The start was on a divided street so they were able to load up two roads full of people. This actually was pretty nice as it wasn’t quite as crowded as some other races I’ve been in.

7:00 am and the gun goes off. Remembering my dismal failure in Fargo after starting out too fast I took it conservatively at the beginning. My goal was for a 4:15 race but I still have that ultimate sub-4 bouncing around in the back of my head. So I started out with a plan to go out at about a 9:30 pace for a few miles then speed it up to around 9:00 or better, depending on how I was feeling. We started north on University Crescent Drive for one mile out to Pembina Highway. Right at the intersection there was a group of Japanese drummers that were just terrific. I hit the one mile mark at 9:23 – right on plan. Just before mile 2 we turned off of Pembina highway into a park along the river. Another 9:34 mile right on target. By this time I was looking for a porta potty for that darn small bladder. They were all taken so at about 2.5 I jumped into the woods. I still managed to eek out a 9:29 mile for mile 3 even with the pit stop. The next several miles were through some wonderful neighborhoods along the Red River. I was feeling terrific and ramped it up averaging about a 9:00 pace plus or minus 10 seconds. Back out onto Pembina Highway for a short stretch between miles 6 and 7. Just before the 7 mile mark we split off from the half marathoners and headed northwest along Harrow Street. I took my first Gu at the 7 mile aid station. Another very pretty section of the race was miles 8-12 on Wellington Crescent road along the Assiniboine river. We were going west to Assiniboine park to cross the river on the foot bridge. The street was lined with wonderful stately homes. There were some mats placed around 11.75 miles that I thought were in a strange location. The official results show the “first half” time but the mats were no where near the half way point. In any case my official “first half” was 1:48:32.

The highlight of my race (besides the finish) was meeting my son on the foot bridge. He ran across part of it with me which was absolutely fantastic. I was still feeling great and I told my wife as I passed that I was going fast and would be quicker than I anticipated. I guess she didn’t hear me but more about that later.


After the foot bridge we turned east on Portage Avenue on the north side of Assiniboine river. At the half way point in the race I was thinking about how horrible I was feeling by this time in the Fargo race. I was completely out of energy and trying to figure out how I would finish the race. Night and day compared to here and now even though my half way time was just about spot on the same as it was in Fargo, about 2:01. I downed another Gu at the half although I was feeling no pain and felt stronger than ever. I didn’t mention it before but I was also taking in lots of fluids and gatorade at all the aid stations. A mile or so after the half way point we turned off of Portage Toward the river. Between Miles 16 and 17 we passed in front of the government buildings downtown which was quite nice. The weather was still a mix of some sun and mostly clouds. We turned back south after crossing over to the east side of the Red river. I was managing to maintain a 9:00 pace more or less all the way through mile 18. I hadn’t felt any fatigue or pain until now, but it was a good pain. I could tell my hips were taking a pounding but I was doing ok. Certainly fatigue was happening and it showed up in my time a bit but for the rest of the race I held a good 9:30 pace throughout. Somewhere around mile 20 or so a race official on a bike asked me how I was doing. I wonder if I was getting too focussed and looked out of it? I don’t think so. Anyway, I told him I was doing terrific. He asked me what my goal was and I said it was 4:15 but that I was going to do better than that. He said I was way ahead of that and was on pace for a 4:08. That really pumped me up!

By mile 23 I was feeling the effects of the distance but there still was no wall for me to hit. I only briefly walked at two previous aid stations but I did take a few extra seconds at mile 23 which showed up in a 9:52 mile. Never the less, I was still fighting on. I approached Bishop Grandin Blvd and mile 24 thinking how wonderful it was to be running this race. I noticed that I was beginning to pass a lot of people. Even on the uphill side of the ramp I was going strong. Back onto University Crescent toward the stadium for the finish. That mile is called Irv’s mile in memory of a long time Winnipeg running supporter. It was so sweet to be running Irv’s mile still full of energy. I felt invincible. I was able to push out a 9:15 mile for Irv. Mile 26 and only 2 tenths to go. I was flying in at a faster pace than I had run the whole race. Just after I crossed the identifier mats at the entrance to the stadium I heard them announce my name. I swear I heard people cheering my name in the stands, but that was probably in my head. I was completely ecstatic when I crossed the finish line at 4:06:10. What a race! I couldn’t believe how much I have improved in just one month.

I grabbed some water and a banana and headed out to find my family. They were no where to be found. I walked through the stands and around the stadium to see if they were still watching for me to come in. But I didn’t find them. So, I hung out near the runners exit. About a half hour later they showed up. They were expecting me at 11:15 but I had come in early. To top it off they had gotten lost on the drive down, so were late. They missed the finish, but that’s ok. As long as they were there to drive me back to the hotel.


I definitely learned lessons from the Fargo marathon and it paid off big time here in Winnipeg. I ran a smart race and didn’t get carried away at the beginning. The other thing I did was make sure to drink plenty of water and gatorade along the way.

Here are the splits recorded by my garmin. I noticed an ever increasing difference in my mile laps and the course miles. By the end my garmin was about a half mile ahead. Never the less it shows how consistent I was running this race. I am more motivated than ever now to finish losing the excess pounds. I can only imagine how much better I’ll run the Twin Cities in October with 30 pounds gone.

1 9:23 1.00
2 9:32 1.00
3 9:29 1.00
4 9:25 1.00
5 9:09 1.00
6 8:58 1.00
7 8:50 1.00
8 9:13 1.00
9 9:17 1.00
10 9:02 1.00
11 8:53 1.00
12 8:37 1.00
13 8:59 1.00
14 8:59 1.00
15 9:07 1.00
16 8:48 1.00
17 9:18 1.00
18 9:08 1.00
19 9:29 1.00
20 9:18 1.00
21 9:23 1.00
22 9:24 1.00
23 9:52 1.00
24 9:26 1.00
25 9:36 1.00
26 9:15 1.00
27 6:08 0.69

Overall 353/773 Males 299/554 Division (40-44) 51/88
Final Time 4:06:10 Pace (km) 5:52
First Half 1:48:32 Second Half 2:17:39

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Manitoba Marathon, marathon

Marathon Preparation

June 15, 2008 by greg Leave a Comment

It’s 5 am and I’ve been up for about 45 minutes. It looks like the weather will be perfect for a race today. Overcast skies, cool temperatures and the rain will hold off making for a nice day. I’ve already eaten leftover pasta for breakfast. I’ll start getting dressed here in a few minutes and head on over to the University of Manitoba around 5:30. I’ll see you on the other side.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Manitoba Marathon, marathon
Next Page »

Archives

  • July 2011 (5)
  • October 2010 (1)
  • September 2010 (5)
  • August 2010 (1)
  • July 2010 (2)
  • June 2010 (2)
  • May 2010 (4)
  • April 2010 (1)
  • January 2010 (2)
  • March 2009 (2)
  • February 2009 (1)
  • December 2008 (1)
  • November 2008 (2)
  • October 2008 (1)
  • September 2008 (5)
  • August 2008 (2)
  • July 2008 (1)
  • June 2008 (4)
  • May 2008 (4)
  • April 2008 (3)
  • February 2008 (1)
  • January 2008 (1)

Return to top of page

Copyright © 2025 on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in