Northumberland Coast Marathon, UK

Northumberland Coast Marathon

      The minute we found out we were moving to England, I started looking for marathons. In my search, I managed to stumble across the Northumberland Coast Marathon, which was a small club race put on by The Northeast Marathon Club. The race was billed as the most scenic in England and was capped at 100 runners. I signed up immediately since the fee was small and I was afraid it would fill up. It was a smart move since it definitely filled up quickly.

     This was my first trail marathon and since my mileage had been paltry at best during the move from South Korea to England I didn't have high hopes, but I figured I could finish inside the 6 hour cut off.

     I won’t type much about the race, I’ll just let the pictures speak for themselves:

The start and finish area

3 - 2 - 1 GO!
All 72 of us :-)

It was a muddy start

Down the first of many beaches

Dunstan Castle 

The ridges in the sand were deep and brutal, I turned my ankle on every step

     I don't have any finish line photos since my husband was in the pub enjoying a pint (phone reception was terrible so he missed my 1 mile out text.) It was a fabulous race though, and it truly was one of the most beautiful races I have ever run. I’m so glad I didn't blow it off when my training had shriveled so badly. Despite the terrain and poor preparation, I managed a 5:15 finish so I had maintained at least a little of my conditioning.

  Also in the area is the Alnwick Castle where several movies have been filmed, including the scenes where Harry Potter learns to ride his broom. We decided to have a go at it ourselves.

Pick up your broom...

  It was a wonderful introduction to England and running through the English country side. I can't wait for my next trail marathon, Anglesey at Holyhead in January! In the mean time, I have several road races planned and next up is my Tough Mudder race report!

75 Miles for Cancer

In Memory of Bruce Robinson
Feb. 7 1952 - Jan. 29 2012

                After two previous Relay 4 Life events, my third effort came on May 5^th, 2013. Since the last Relay 4 Life, my good friend and running mentor, Bruce Robinson had passed away from cancer. It gave a new level of purpose to my run to have him and his family in my thoughts and prayers.

                The track it was to be held on was not really a track, but cones laid out on a football field so I knew it would be small. What I did not know was the field would be lined with tents, and more tents down the middle so that we were running on a track that was about 7 laps to the mile, YIKES! I was immediately concerned knowing the problems I have had before with track running and constant, tight turns in the same direction. Oh well, nothing to it but to do it! I was also a bit worried about the mental aspect of running the same little circle hundreds of times, it would be a challenging race indeed.

0900 0 laps

                Unlike the Relay in Virginia where the ceremony/explanation of the rules started at 0700 and the running started at 0730, this event is not run by Ultra-Marathon runners so things went off a bit differently. The opening ceremony was lovely, but did not start until 0900 and the running could not begin until the ceremony ended so the run did not really get started until almost 0930.  Despite the late beginning, it was off to a fun start. We had a stage set up with lots going on, live music, games, announcements, and constant barrage of sound and activity. The track was packed and the walkers, who vastly outnumbered the runners, at times were hard to get past as they kept drifting into the inside “lane.” I don’t really blame them since it was not really marked. They were pretty good about gracefully getting out of the way when asked, but at one point I was walking myself and yelled at a whole group because I guy running and wearing a 70 lb. Explosive Ordinance suit was having to go out and around the walkers in a turn! The other road hazards included small children darting through the runners and walkers, and flying footballs and Frisbees. It was total mayhem, but very entertaining.

1224  100 Laps

       By noon it was starting to heat up, but the enthusiasm had not slowed down one bit. My daughter had been dropped off after an overnight camp and hung out to support me (by cheering, not running.) I sent her to make a Luminary for Bruce and then she hung out and ate my snacks until her dad came to pick her up. I got a pat on the back and a peck on the cheek from Hubby as they went home to relax.

1715 200 laps

                As the crowd thinned out it got easier to run, but after about 200 laps, my knee was beginning to balk at the tight turns.  I changed gears and began running the straights and walking the curves, which meant a lot of stopping and starting, but helped. Then I figured out that my knee did not hurt if I ran at least a 9:15 pace. I certainly could not maintain that pace for dozens of miles, but I could between walks! So my running got faster and my sit down to eat or drink breaks drug out a bit, but I kept at it. When I could not run, I walked fast, probably a little too fast since I am not trained at all for walking long distances. About this time I turned to my med kit for some Tums to counter act the Coke and coffee. I was horrified to realize I had forgotten it! I was able to acquire some, plus some Tylenol and Aleve for later (just in case) and was back in business. I was feeling pretty good about my pace. At 100 laps every 3 or so hours, I had a shot at my 75 mile goal, if I could just keep going. Even if I slowed down I still had a chance…

1929  250 laps  

     By 7:30 pm, I had slowed down a lot. Two hours to do just 50 laps meant I was going to be out there a very long time if I wanted to finish. As a general rule, I never take anti-inflammatories during a race, but 24 hour runs are different and I figured I could risk a little boost. My right knee had calmed down but my left knee was now complaining from compensating and my arch was acting up. I KT taped both and popped some Aleve. The KT tape was great for my foot, it never bothered me again, but it did not do anything for my knee and peeled off pretty quickly. (KT tape does not work over sunscreen and sweat :-P )  By this time the sun had gone down, the lights had come up, and the volunteers were busy lining the track with the Luminary bags in preparation for the ceremony to honor the current fighters, survivors, and those was had lost. For the first 200 laps, I had zeroed my Garmin each hundred, at 250 I switched to zeroing every 50. I was counting laps with a series of 25 rubber bands, moving one from my right wrist to my left every lap. Sometimes I got off, but my Garmin reconciled it. A couple of times I stopped my Garmin to go to the bathroom or eat and forgot for a lap or two to restart, but having so much data made it easy to extrapolate accurately. When in doubt, I went short so likely I traveled farther in the end than I had recorded.

    Around 9:30 pm they held the Luminary Ceremony and all movement on the track stopped as the lights were lowered. It was the only time I stretched out, but I did not sleep. I lay there, under the tent, watching the video on the big screen that was playing survivor stories. Then I listened to the roll call for the people the lights were dedicated too. When they called out Bruce’s name, my exhaustion overwhelmed me and I wept. All thoughts of giving up and going home left me. I was going to see it through and do the best that I could.

2152 300 Laps

   After over 12 hours of running and walking I was numb. I was only 50 laps away from matching my previous record, but so very very far away from my goal. I just could not think about it. Every 25 laps I recorded my distance, elapsed time, and cumulative laps on paper, and by now people were noticing me. My friends knew my goal and word was spreading. People that had gone home for naps or dinner returned to find me still on the track, still walking and running. I had lots of people to talk to and when I did not have someone to talk to I listened to the conversations around me. My favorite was the guy that said to his buddy, “Did you hear about the guy that has been out here the whole time? I wanted to beat him, but it is too late now.” I wanted so badly to turn around and say, “By the way, that GUY is a 44 year old CHICK!” LOL. At another point I was walking with a gentleman from Puerto Rico, we must have talked about food for a good 10 laps, another young man talked at length about growing up with a cleft pallet. They were all great and kept me very entertained and motivated, but as the hours crept by I found myself turning inward more and just not thinking at all.

2359 350 Laps

     Nothing special happened to mark the passing of midnight, but I watched the clock roll over as I choked down a bit of food and recorded my 50^th mile. Every step was now a new record. Every mile was closer to my goal. I was two thirds of the way there, but I absolutely could not let myself think about the 25 miles or 175 laps left to go, it was just too much to think about. Things were still going on around me. There were Zumba classes, CrossFit challenges and something where a person on their knees had their face covered whip cream while their partner competed by throwing cheese puffs and getting them to stick to the fluff covered face (I may have been hallucinating this one, but my daughter assures me it is a common party game.) Now the real challenge began. Staying awake and continuing to move. There was no way I was lying down, I knew once I did that my journey would be over, so on I went.

0215 400 laps

                I don’t remember much at this point but I think this is around when the director decided I was the clear winner for the night and started talking to me about what they could do better for next year, asking if I needed anything and generally questions about me, my purpose, and my life. It is all a pretty big blur from here on out. People would ask me how far I had gone and I could not even come up with an answer because I could not remember which 25 laps I was working on or what milestone I had passed last.  Thank goodness I was writing it all down and my Garmin was recording it! By now I was getting to the end of my Garmin’s battery so I started zeroing it out every 25 laps and writing down the distance and elapsed time on every lap. My hand were so swollen and my head was so fogged that it took me almost the whole lap to get the info read, recorded and the rubber band moved!

        Somewhere around this time I passed a tall runner who said, “You are STILL OUT HERE? Go home and take a nap so I can catch you!” LOL He had been right on my heels for hours, but had caved in and slept for a while in his tent. Ya’ snooze ya’ lose!

0338 434 laps

       My Garmin finally went to sleep. At this point on it was all about the rubber bands. I knew from all my tracking that I had to move a rubber band at precisely the same point on the track every time or I would get mixed up. In my fatigue, I had on more than one occasion moved a rubber band and then checked my Garmin and confirmed that I had already moved it for that lap and just forgotten. From here on out, if I was even 10 steps past my check point and thought I had not moved the band, then it was not moving until the next lap. It was the only way I could be sure my count was honest. Failing to count a lap I could live with, adding in an unearned lap was unacceptable.

  By now my knees were a real problem, my other arch was hurting, and my heels had started to balk. This is the sticking point when you are reaching for a goal. I was indeed listening to my body, I knew exactly what it was saying and it was definitely asking me to stop. Every lap was a decision. Do I go on or do I stop? Is the pain in my knee something that will be sore for a few days or something with the potential to be much more complicated? The pain in my left knee was from walking and that concerned me more, but it was a manageable pain so far. I would listen and barter for a few more miles.

0430 450 Laps

   Right, Left, Right, Left, Right, Left…….

0537 475 Laps

    The sun coming up made a huge difference. I noticed when the stadium lights went out, but I would not say it was exactly light out. The fog was thick with a pale glow and people were offering me food. NOTHING sounded even remotely palatable. My stomach was empty and growling, but threatening to toss back anything I presented it with. The last thing I wanted anyone to see was weakness on my part. I did not want anyone to point and me and say, “See? That is why you should not try a stunt like that.” I wanted them to see me strong and capable, not sick or limping.

0745 500 Laps

  Hallelujah! Only 25 laps to go and I had over 2 hours to do them in! Then the announcement came over the loud speaker, all laps had to be turned over and we would be done at 0800. WHAT!?! It turned out that their idea of a 24 hour run was start at 9 and end at 9, including awards, closing ceremony, and clean up. I panicked! I knew though that I could walk 25 laps in an hour and 15 minutes, I would just squeak it in. I set off at a blistering walk passing people as fast as I could, but making way for the speedy runners that had been home sleeping in their warm, comfortable beds all night and were back out on the track racking up miles for their teams. Left-right-left-right-left-right

    When I got down to 10 laps, the director was counting. He caught up with me and said he wanted to announce my final lap and have everyone run it with me. Did you catch that? He wanted me to RUN the last lap. I looked at him like he had three heads and said I would do what I could. As I rounded the turn for my last lap, I heard the announcement and broke into a run. Shockingly, either because I was totally numb, or full of adrenaline, it did not hurt and I coasted around the track at a great pace. It felt AMAZING after the hours of walking and I was in no pain!

0748 525 Laps, 75 Miles

                I won the award for most miles run and was over 30 miles ahead of my next closest competitor. After the awards were given, we were all sent out for one more lap together. I ran around the track and then did it again, running the last part holding hands high with the 8 year old boy that had run 40 miles (he drives his parents nuts running all the time so they told him he had 24 hours to run all he wanted!) We were champions!

                What I did was hard, but it was nothing compared to what someone fighting cancer faces. I could quit any time I wanted, Bruce had to keep up the fight for 2 years. My run was dedicated to Bruce and his memory. He was with me every step of the way with all his good advice and his mantra of, “Baby steps, baby steps.”  When I wanted to stop, I thought of him and took another step. When the miles and laps ahead of me seemed too overwhelming I thought about Bruce and how he must have felt when he was told the cancer was back and he would have to start fighting all over again. He never quit, he never gave up, he never showed us the despair in his heart, and he just kept moving forward one baby step at a time.

Post Script: The 8 year old boy that I finished with was chastised by his teacher the next day for being a “liar” when he told his friends how far he and I ran. The teacher even went so far as to get the other kids to tease him for his lies telling them no one could have gone that far. He was devastated at the time, but fully redeemed when his trophy was presented to him in front of his class. I expect to see his name in the ultra records some day!

Bundang Half Marathon

       On some race days everything comes together. On some race days everything falls apart. Sometimes things start falling apart long before race day! All runners know the agony of an injury a week or two before a major race, or some annoying person scheduling a wedding last minute the same weekend as that marathon you had to register for 10 months in advance and had to book non-refundable rooms and flights around. Sometimes it just seems like the cards are really stacked against a race. The Gungpo Bundang race was one of those for me.

       Part of the problem was me. I went on vacation for a couple of weeks and didn’t run a step. I did power walk a couple of times, went kayaking, and swam, but I totally failed at getting a run in. Okay, no big deal, it is just a half marathon, and didn’t I just PR a marathon a few weeks ago? That should count for something. The trip was great, the flight home was rough; it was one of those cheap all-nighters where we left the hotel at noon (10 am home time), had a 6 hour layover in the Bangkok airport, and didn’t get home until 10 am the next day. So needless to say, by Tuesday, April 16th, I was pretty beat.

       Then things started going downhill. The day I got home I heard about Boston and like all runners, it really hit me, I spent the day poring over news reports on the edge of my seat waiting to hear if my friends were okay. Then, although totally trivial by comparison, but no less stressful for me, I found out one of my email accounts had been hacked by someone in Bulgaria who had the correct password. I then set out to change pretty much every password in my life, while keeping one window on the news.

       On Wednesday, we finally got our long awaited orders. For you non-military types, this is the little piece of paper our whole life was on hold for. With this paper magical things happen, you get to arrange dates to have movers come take all your stuff away, for other movers to bring borrowed stuff, what day you will fly, and it all takes a lot of running from office to office and making stressful decisions. The biggest twist with this was that we would be packing up in 9 days, UGH! Not a good weekend to be headed out for a race!

      Next, on Friday, I found out my credit card number had been stolen while on vacation. Thankfully, the bank figured I probably didn’t apparate to New York and charge $5,000 at a chocolate factory so it didn’t go through, but it did mean I had to wait for a new credit card to be sent to Korea. I know exactly where the card was stolen, it was the restaurant I ate in in the Bangkok airport. I guess that is what I get for pointing out that my food wasn’t cooked. I use my credit card like a debit card so I was really hamstrung and worst of all, missed entering the lottery for the London Marathon, ARG! I was only going to have 3 chances to begin with so now my chances of getting in are significantly lower. Anyway…

       Did you catch that part about the food? The veggies in the curry were raw. Okay, no big deal, I don’t mind raw veggies. However, food that has not been cooked, in a third world country, tends to have things living in it that one is better off not ingesting. So yes, the symptoms to Giardia surfaced within a couple of days. I am now up to a 50/50 average on Giardia and third world countries in Asia so I should know better, but the symptoms weren’t all that bad and I hoped maybe it wasn’t really a parasite and I would feel better in a few days. Yea, I know, bad gamble. Besides, I couldn’t get in to see the doc on a Friday afternoon so it would wait until Monday…. I staged all my gear for the next morning and, big surprise, failed to get to bed at a decent hour.

       Saturday morning I awoke to pouring rain and thunder at about 3am. I still got up at 4:30 and my husband who was taking me to meet my ride got up at 5. At 5:30 I decided I felt like crud and it wasn’t worth running in a cold rain storm when I was already exhausted and not feeling well so I called the head of my car pool to let him know not to wait for me. He didn’t answer so I texted another person who promptly texted me back to say the race was the next day! GROAN! My husband shot me one of those looks and went back to bed. I was already pumped on caffeine so I went about my day and again, staged my gear for the next morning since the weather was supposed to be great, and the cherry blossoms were in bloom, and the clouds were farting unicorns and rainbows.

       Race day take two. I decided to take my own car and follow the caravan of cars to the race. This was a very good idea since I was able to follow them right to a place to park that I would never have found otherwise. I was a little queasy from the stomach thing, but otherwise things were looking up. I showed up at the table to pick up my packed and, surprise/surprise, they have no record of me registering. Seriously, SERIOUSLY! I said, “fine, I give up, I’m going home.” The race director went into a panic (this race had really been campaigning to get as many foreigners as possible to run), “Don’t give up!” he says, “write down all your information again and we will reregister you, you just won’t get your back pack (race swag) until you mail us the receipt from the bank wire you sent in to register.” Okay, well, at least I had a bib. I headed off to warm up, check my bag, etc.

       The race itself was lovely. There were cherry blossoms everywhere, the weather was great, and although the course was crowded, the support was good and it was well managed and marked. Bizarrely, I still thought I could run a PR for the day and that is what I fixated on. I supposed with everything that had gone wrong all week, I just really needed a good race. It wasn’t in the cards though. I was stressed, tired, and my stomach was not happy sharing space with breakfast and a host of unwanted visitors. I made it through the race, finishing with a 2:01:53. A good time, but nowhere near a PR. I know, I should be thrilled with that, but I just wasn’t in the mood for it.

       My caravan all decided to go out for lunch and since they are all young, single, military kids and I was exhausted, I begged off and headed home. Or at least I tried to head home. I never did find the freeway entrance and ended up take surface streets, turning a 45 minute drive into a 2 hour fun fest, blarg!

       When I got home, I found that in an effort to begin readying the house for the movers, I had thrown out my receipt for the race. Oh well, I didn’t really need another back pack anyway :-P

      I hung up my medal, logged the race on my Half Fanatics page and then put it behind me. Next up? American Cancer Society 24-Hour Relay for life and a very ambitious goal.

Seoul International Marathon

       What a fantastic and crazy race the Seoul International Marathon was!

Marathon Maniacs group photo, I know we missed at least 2

       The day started early, as usual, and my friends Diane and Rhonda drove up to the finish area, parked the van, and then hopped a cab to the start. The timing went perfectly and we weren’t rushed to get drop bags in, group pictures taken, or hit the porta-potties.

       I wish I had gone with throw away clothes instead of the plastic bag I was wearing over my running clothes because I was shivering violently by the time our wave started. It was about 20 minutes after the initial start so we had been standing around for an hour in too little clothes at that point. I kept thinking about how much glycogen I was burning with all the shivering!

       Once we were on our way I started immediately into the Jeff Galloway run/walk with a 4:1 ratio. It was slow at the start with all the people so tightly packed and dodging runners and walkers was a constant battle that got a little better, but not much. It didn’t take long to be warmed up and in the end I was dressed perfectly for the weather. A few times I started feeling a bit warm, but then we would pass into the shadow of another sky scraper and I was glad for all I had on.

She had too be on the warm side!
This is really typical here, it is all about protection from the sun to stay young looking

       I was so focused on running and following my intervals that I didn’t even see a distance marker until the 14 km sign! I was surprised and happy to be well on the way. The next one I saw was 24! I had my Garmin set so I could glance at it and see how much time I had on my interval, but I purposely didn’t want to look at my pace, time, or distance covered. Once I happened to look down as it flashed 8:23 for my run interval and thought I’d better take it down a notch, but that was the only split I saw. It really helped with the mental struggle I usually fight during the teen miles.

This guy was close to me the whole race, no idea how he ran in that costume!

       Somewhere around 25 km I had to make a restroom stop. I had been looking for porta potties, but quickly realized there were not going to be any on the route. Instead, people were ducking into coffee shops and gas stations. I followed suit into a gas station and stretched while I waited for my turn. I lost over 2 minutes at that stop that I would regret later, but I really had no choice. I’m not sure where I went wrong since I don’t usually have to stop, but I was definitely over hydrated. I was also queasy and my tummy was threatening to revolt one way or another. I really worried that my great start would be ruined by G.I. distress, but I kept plugging on.

I love seeing older runners, it gives me hope that my days as a runner
are not as limited and people would have me think

       Around the 32km point I spotted another Maniac singlet. The poor kid, who I later learned is from Singapore, had totally hit the wall and really fought for the last 10K. I saw a ton of other people I knew on the course from our base, the Seoul Flyers club, Marathon Maniacs, and other runners that have been in many of the same races. It was so much fun to see so many familiar faces! They are all credited with spotting me though. I could run past my own mother and not recognize her because of how focused I am when I run.

       I thought that we would cross the Han River at about 32km, but I was wrong, it wasn’t until 35km, but that 3 km wait messed with my head. Every turn I kept thinking I should see the bridge. I did know once we crossed the river I was in the home stretch, but it seemed like I was never going to get there. Crossing the bridge I spotted a clock. I had seen a couple of other clocks at that point, but since I never knew where I was distance wise, they didn’t mean a thing to me. Not to mention I couldn’t remember how long it took us to get to the start mats.

The octopus hat guy has been in almost every race I have run in Korea!

In classic Korean "not quite right" fashion,
this young woman doesn't quite get that fake boobs and butts are funnier on men

       FINALLY I was crossing the river! As I crested the bridge, I glanced down at my Garmin to see where I was in my run interval and was horrified to see a blank screen! I have never been let down by my Garmin so I was really shocked. I turned it on again and it seemed to work fine and had plenty of battery. Unfortunately, it has lost all the data on my run to that point so I have no clue what any of my splits where as far as my intervals go. I was really peeved about that since that was my first race using Galloway where I really pushed for a time. If I had bumped the off button, it would at least have saved all my data.

Usually when people bandit a race, it isn't so obvious, LOL

       At least past the bridge I knew I was down to my last couple of miles. At 40Km I spotted another clock that said 4:41:xx. I knew I only had less than a mile and a half (brains are not good at math at this point in a marathon,) and that I had a shot at a PR, but probably not a sub-4:30. More importantly, I didn’t want to finish feeling like I could have done better, I wanted to leave it all on the course! At that point I let go of the run/walk plan and just ran. It hurt more to walk by then anyway since I haven’t trained properly for walking (note to self: start power walking a couple of times a week!)

Not sure what the point to this group was,
but they stuck together and had a nice finish time

       As I reached the finish arch, the clock said 4:55:xx. I kept wracking my brain for some shred of memory about what time we crossed the start mats but I just couldn’t remember, was it 18 minutes or 22 or something else. With my Garmin record lost I would have to wait for my text. (One of the coolest things about races in Korea is that every race, no matter how big or small, texts your official finish time to your phone, usually within an hour.) I went through the motions of turning in my chip, getting my snacks and medal and then stretched out on the ground with my feet propped up on a wall to let the blood return to my brain.

Attitude at the finish line :-)

       Eventually I dragged myself up and found Rhonda. She had passed Diane a mile or two back where she found her down to a walk with bad cramps in her quads. I headed on to pick up my drop bag with another Maniac who was in from Hong Kong, he had graciously brought me two Runner’s World magazines from the UK with info on the best races of the year so I can plan my first year in England! Thanks Mike Cartwright!!

       In review, it was over all a very good race. I liked the mental aspect of taking it one interval at a time and not worrying about where I was in the race. I would really have liked to see the breakdown of my splits, but I guess I can get that next time. I confirmed that chattering teeth at the beginning means a comfortable race temp wise and also confirmed that I need less and less GU as I get farther off carbs, but I still need caffeine.

   My official splits weren’t too shabby:

5K 33:19

10K 30:44

20K 30:55

Half 2:12:13

25K 31:42

30K 34:55 (potty break)

35K 33:45

40K 33:12

Finish: 4:32:37

       All and all I was over the moon happy with how the race went. Yes, skipping the potty stop would have but me at or under 4:30, but it was still a PR and leaves the elusive 4:30 for another day. Usually everything falls apart for me if it is a major race so I couldn't have asked for more!



       This finished blog has been sitting in my files for weeks and now, we are several days past the bombings at The Boston Marathon. I can’t imagine the horror of such an event. I know that if my family were hurt because they were waiting at the finish line for me, I would be beyond devastated and wracked with guilt. My heart and prayers go out to everyone touched by this event.

 

New Year's Day: The Marathon that Wasn't

In the blogging world, everyone is quick to post about their successes, struggles, triumphs and utter disasters so we rarely hear about those moments when things just didn’t work out. I had one of those lately and it has taken me almost 6 weeks to finally blog about it, but I still think the tale is worth telling.

Ready to start. The man on the left was headed back to sit in his car, LOL

For 2012, I was riding a real crest, marathoning at the drop of a hat and having a blast. Unfortunately, I got a little burned out when it started getting cold and the only races were on the same old bike path along the Han River is Seoul, South Korea. When I cut back on my mileage, my sinuses acted up, which turned into my lungs crudding up, and then I got the stomach flu that was wiping out the military community where I live (seriously, one afternoon at the child care center 17 kids started puking at the same time, ACK!)

Needless to say, when the New Year’s Day marathon rolled around I was not in peak condition. It was bitter cold, the sky was slate grey, and my head was barely in the game. Then, they changed the course. Instead of 13.1 out and 13.1 back, the marathoners would turn around with the half marathoners and do it twice. Granted, it is the same distance either way, but somehow that was the final blow that took the wind out of my sails. Then it started snowing, UGH! From the start, each step we slipped back half a step so it was battle royal just to keep moving forward. I was toast 8 miles in and decided there was no way my body was going to take this one gracefully, even if I slowed down. I sent my buddies ahead secretly hoping they would decide to quit at the half way point when they had to go back out into the wind. Of course, they didn’t and they handed me the key to the van so I could wait for them to finish.

I kept myself busy. A friend was running the half so I got to see her finish, hobbling because the Yack Trax she was wearing messed with her gait. Then I got the frozen wiper fluid going again so our drive home wouldn’t be as scary as the one there with all the muck splashing up from the road and obscuring the driver’s vision (we also saw a van spin out on the ice and slam into a guard rail, facing traffic by the time it was done.)

One good thing was the fantastic, traditional New Year's Soup being served

All in all, it was a miserable race. Diane, who has run marathons in thick mud and on the beach, said the slushy snow was the worst. So, I walked away without a finisher’s medal for the first time. Fortunately, I didn’t have much invested in the race so I didn’t really care all that much, other than it threw off my marathon-a-month plan. February was a bust too, both available races fall on days that I am already committed to something else, but I have my sights set on the Seoul International in March. I got in a good 20 miler a couple of weeks ago and plan another this week so I’ll keep moving forward!

My buddies enjoying hot soup after their successful finish

Everyone has a bad day once in a while and knowing that something is not the best thing for your body and listening to that inner voice is an achievement of its own. I don’t regret my decision, and I still got in a nice 13 miler.

2 Marathons in 2 Days

The Maniacs of South Korea
(one more was added shortly after this pic was taken, Congrats Cate!)

       Insanity is definitely contagious and the arrival of two more Marathon Maniacs at my base made the contagions overwhelming. Somehow I found myself toeing the marathon start line two days in a row, EEK! I would never have considered this if I had been on my own, but having a veteran of the challenge with me and a buddy to run with the whole way both days, made all the difference in the world.

       The races themselves were not particularly interesting, but doubling is a special event. Both races were along the Han River in Seoul, South Korea, in very brisk conditions. Our first started with the thermometer dipping to 23F. I think it may have made it slightly above freezing in the afternoon since the puddles started to thaw, which slowed my, “Slip and nearly bust my behind” ratio. The second day was warmer, but the wind was a bit sharper so it was pretty much a wash. Both days were very cold, but manageable with the right layers and the cheerful sunshine made it seem a bit better.

       Rhonda and I decided that even though we hadn’t trained with a run/walk plan, we would take it easy on Saturday and take a one minute walking break after each 5 minutes of running. The plan was a Godsend because not only did we manage to keep it up the whole way, we finished way faster than expected (4:48), feeling very good, with minimal soreness and energy for day two. We were served Tofu Gruel with a spicy salty sauce, which I gobble up with alacrity before digging into the food stashed in the car. I ate my 2 boiled and salted eggs with my Salt & Vinegar Pringles, washing them down with coconut water and then green tea with tart cherry juice. Dinner was steak and salad with lots more salt even though I had gone through 10 Salt Stix caps and 4 or 5 gels during the race. I really thought I would need less electrolytes in the colder weather, but I took as many as ever. Perhaps I just finished less depleted than I do during the summer.

       That evening we kept each other laughing with our Facebook messages about ice baths, dinner, and planning for the next day. Having the first race behind us really lifted our confidence. We just had to get to the start on Sunday and let inertia take over.

       Thankfully, Sunday’s race started an hour later than Saturday’s had so we didn’t have to be on the road until just before 8am for our 10am start. Using the same 5/1 run/walk ratio, we managed to keep moving forward, albeit at a significantly slower pace than the day before. There was no published cut off time for the race, but Korean marathons tend to roll up the sidewalks around 5 ½ hours after the start so we didn’t want to be too terribly slow. Our finish time for day two was a pleasant 5:02:58, YAY!! Diane beat Rhonda and me to the finish line by about 15-20 minutes both days. We are very proud of her!

       I did a few things different over the weekend. The run/walk combo felt so good and was so successful that I doubt I’ll run another marathon without walking every 4 or 5 minutes! I’ve heard for years from people that swore Jeff Galloway’s methods made them faster, but I just couldn’t wrap my head around it. Rhonda and I never intended to finish either race faster than 5 hours so our finish was a real surprise. For Rhonda, it was 12 seconds faster than her previous race, which had been a PR if you didn’t count the one marathon she ran in her early 20’s. I never felt the “I can’t do this” feelings that I usually have during the “teen” miles, and I felt better at 20 than I usually do. I admit, the last two miles on Saturday were pretty stinky, we both were ready for it to be over, but that feeling never hit on Sunday.

       Another difference was my shoes. Obviously, it was too cold to go barefoot, and my last race was a half marathon where I tested my Newtons for distance. I’ve decided I do not like them at all. My foot rolls off the lugs at the front funny and it caused knee pain in a part of my knee that has never hurt before. They also make my arches sore, which is odd since I am so accustomed to running without any arch support. I suspect the make the arch overwork to get up and over the “lugs” on the front. They may have helped keep my ankles from being too sore, but the tradeoff was not positively balanced. For the second day I went back to my old style leather Vibram Treks. My feet were warmer and my whole body was more comfortable.

       My food intake was different pre and post-race. I have cut way back on carbohydrates lately, not necessarily going fully Paleo, but not eating bread or cereal and cutting out carb heavy snacks. I do still eat carbs with dinner most nights and love my spaghetti, but I did not carb load in the days before the race. My breakfast both mornings consisted of sautéed spinach scrambled with eggs and a little blue cheese and a. Despite this lack of classic carbohydrates, I did not hit a glycogen wall of any sort on either race day. I ate most of my breakfast 3 hours before the race start and the banana 30 minutes before, so it all head plenty of time to digest. More importantly, I never felt hungry during the race and usually by about half way through my stomach is growling and my blood sugar is crashing. I also usually go through more gels during the race, but found myself needing less than one per hour.


Notice the nearly deserted finish area and stacked equipment on the right.
 This is what a 5 hour finish looks like in South Korea! 


       For recovery I went with anything I even suspected would help and repeated the ritual after Sunday’s race too. Ice bath, thigh high compression stockings (available at your local drug store under the name of diabetic or anti-embolism stockings) foam rolling and marathon stick usage, antioxidants and natural anti-inflammatories in the form of green and rooibos tea, with tart cherry juice concentrate. I did also take Naproxen right after the race. As wonderful as a glass of wine sounded on Saturday night, I passed on the alcohol and went with water and tea. I may have had a glass of wine Sunday night, but honestly I don’t really remember Sunday night much, LOL.

       Looking back it was a rousing success and I will be willing to do it again if the opportunity to run awesome races back to back presents itself, although warmer conditions would be a big improvement. At least now I know the ropes for a double and will not hesitate to sign up for the Disney World Goofy! I think next I’ll look for back to back half marathons so I can level up in the Half Fanatics

2012 Son Kee-Chung Peace Marathon

My Insane Asylum roomies

       Time for another race report! This one will be short though as it was a pretty typical half marathon.

       The race itself, The 2012 Son Kee Chung Peace Marathon is a memorial race to honor the first Korean to win an Olympic Medal. At the time, Korea was part of the Japanese Empire so he was forced to use a Japanese adaptation of his name, Son Kitei, and be listed for their country at the Berlin 1936 Olympics, but Korea knows who he belongs to!

      When I registered for this race, I was hoping it would be a PR effort, but as is often the case, the stars didn’t line up and I was fighting a head cold, had only run one 5K since the marathon 2 weeks before, and hadn’t slept worth a darn so I was just hoping to finish without embarrassing myself. It was cold and crisp, but really nice after about the second mile when I found myself with my vest around my waist and my hat and gloves held in my hands.

      The course was nice. Instead of our usual route along the Han River, we turned south along a small creek with a nice bike path. Unfortunately, the path was quite narrow and once the bulk of the runners started hitting the turn around, it got very congested.

      It took me forever to warm up, but by the turn around I finally felt comfortable running and my second half was much better than my first. I finished feeling good and happy, which is always my top goal. It is so awesome to finish inside Korea’s Olympic stadium! I collected my snacks and medal, changed into dry clothes, and then waited for two friends to finish the full marathon. They did great, both getting close to their PR times.

The Marathon Maniacs of South Korea post 5K

      Next Marathon, Dec. 1st !