Erie - The Wife's Perspective

Soooo you’re telling me that I haven’t made an appearance on this blog in over two years? TWO YEARS? Well, I guess I have been pretty busy, mostly in the way that carrying, birthing and taking care of two babies (15 months apart), a cross-city move, and also continuing to work full-time and enthusiastically supporting my husband’s running habits (club, miles, and, for a while there, part-time employment, which ended when he realized his job really wasn’t so much “fun”) will keep a person busy. Don’t get me wrong – I don’t take any credit for keeping the little people alive day-to-day. That’s all Mike. But I still spend most of my non-working time with one or both of them and just that is enough to fully deplete my tank.

Anyway, at the present moment both of those crazy kids are dead asleep and I can get back to the matter at hand. The Erie Marathon.

As Mike mentioned, we fully intended to make this one a motorcycle trip, given that we almost never get to ride anymore. And I was totally on board, even when Mike said a rainy cool front was on its way in. Until the day before we left when I walked outside in the full sunshine in the middle of the day and was still chilly. Weather like that, on a bike going 75 mph, is just not pleasant and requires so many layers that I’m getting exhausted thinking about putting them on (which we can’t have or else this entry will end right here!). Add to that the fact that there’s really no scenic way to get to Erie from here that doesn’t require going super far out of the way and it wasn’t too long before I threw in the towel.

Usually car rides are great for me because Mike insists on driving (he gets so antsy in the passenger seat that he once complained after I had been driving for all of 40 minutes that we needed to stop so he could stretch his legs) and so I get to read to my heart’s content (another thing I don’t do enough of these days). But this time he insisted that I drive. The entire way there. And that’s when I knew that he was indeed nervous.

As Mike mentioned, we stopped the first night outside of Cleveland to stay with my cousin’s family and to have dinner at The Brew Kettle with them and my aunt and uncle. These guys are always a good time and I regret only that the timing was not good for an all-night bluegrass jam session (complete with moonshine, of course). Breaking the drive into two allowed us to leave the next day bright and early in the late afternoon and still get to Erie with plenty of time to hit packet pick-up and get the lay of the land.

Well, I could have gotten the lay of the land, anyway. Instead, after checking out the expo (which was really pretty decently sized for such a small race), we headed out to get settled in and figure out the dinner plan. Now, in our first few races we always had dinner reservations in place at least a month in advance. In this case neither of us had even pulled up Trip Advisor, which we did immediately after we found out that the race-sponsored pasta dinner was sold out. Lo and behold! Erie’s 2^nd highest rated restaurant is an Italian place, Mi Scuzi. But of course they couldn’t seat us until 9 (at which point not only would we hopefully be asleep, but I’m pretty sure they would have also been out of food). However, they did takeout and so that’s what we did. Along with at least a couple dozen other people from the looks of the bags lined up and waiting to be picked up when we showed up there at 5:20. I’m not sure there was even any food left for the 6 pm diners! The food was really great and we both stuffed ourselves silly (hey, spectating burns like dozens of extra calories!!).

So, the race. After an early morning wake-up (for real, waking up at 4 am for a 7 am race is always the hardest part about the whole thing for me) I finally decided to take a look at the course map. I used to plan my spectating before we even left home! Lucky for me it really couldn’t be any easier to spectate a race. The race is two full loops, so that the Start/Finish is also the halfway point. That’s three times to see your runner right there. Add to that the fact that the “far side” of the loop is about a 5 minute leisurely stroll away and you get to also catch your runner at miles 6 and 19. For Mike that’s a chance to see him about every 40 minutes, which including point-to-point time still gives me plenty of reading time while I’m waiting (this time around my book of choice was a guide on how to make the terrible twos “terrific.” I already have it all figured out, though – just leave them at home with Grandma while you take long weekend trips!). Since everyone’s traveling to and from the same rough spots, I also got to make a couple of cheer friends, which was nice because it gave Mike extra people screaming his name and also gave me more of an excuse to watch the race. Sometimes I forget what a special thing it is to see that many people so deeply involved in such a crazy endeavor.

Everything really was perfect for the race. I was bundled up because I was more or less stationary and also in the shade, but I could tell the runners were all doing really well. So when Mike shouted “I’m going to break 2:53” when he passed me at Mile 19, I certainly got excited. He’s been hoping to PR for years. And when I spotted him in the distance coming down the final stretch at just after 2:50, I absolutely lost my mind. To those of us who don’t run it would seem like shaving off almost 2 minutes over a 3 hour period wouldn’t be a big deal. But it is. It’s a huge deal. I was so proud.

And I have to say, as much as I have tried pleading, betting, bribing and just plain old begging to get him to shave that ridiculous beard, it sure does make him easy to spot on the field of runners.

After the snafu with dinner I decided it was best to go ahead and make a post-marathon brunch reservation at Erie’s top-rated restaurant, a French place called Bertrand’s Bistro. This turned out to be a fantastic place to celebrate Mike’s PR. Not because of the mimosas or other drinks – of which there were plenty – but because the brunch included all-you-can-eat made-to-order crepes. We took so many of them down that at the end the chef started to send out half-portions. We were so stuffed we were actually glad.

And even gladder later when we realized that nothing is open in Erie on a Sunday night. I mean, nothing. We ended up with a pretty decent pizza from a local hole-in-the wall recommendation, but there was absolutely nowhere interesting for us to go had we insisted on a sit-down meal. Good thing all we wanted to do was sit around in our motel room and eat pizza and watch cable anyway. Ahhh the joys of being kid-free.

Mike went through the trip home (I made him drive all the way back!) so I won’t go through that again, but I will say that our visit to Ann Arbor was also a highlight. We got to have dinner and stay with friends who we just don’t see often enough. 

Two back-to-back marathons coming up in a few weeks... you just might hear from me again soon!

18/50 - Mercedes-Benz Marathon

Inspired by a friend's accomplishment of running 2,013 miles in 2013, I decided I would start 2014 off with a similar goal. Given that I usually fall within the 1,600 mile range, this seems attainable. Of course, this hasn't been the best winter in Chicagoland to start with - brutal cold, record snowfall and black ice for as far as the eye can (not) see. Also, this was my first winter without the luxury of a gym membership - my favored retreat for winter speed work.

I usually don't run much in November and December and 2013 was no exception. An ill-prepared attempt to run the Memphis Marathon on December 7, 2013 was thwarted by bad weather. We recently moved from the south suburbs to the north suburbs of Chicago. I found motivation to train by starting another running club (https://www.facebook.com/groups/LibertyvilleRunningClub/) that coincided with a seven-week training plan for the Mercedes-Benz Marathon in Birmingham, AL. If I learned anything from founding a club in the past, it's that beginnings are humble, the groundwork is considerable and few run in the winter. Luckily, I found a great group of runners undeterred by the elements of a polar vortex.

Running in these conditions was more about survival than adhering to any specific training program. The pace per mile was slow, the long runs felt like really long runs and the beardcicles were prodigious. I averaged 41 miles per week for those seven weeks running three to four days per week. I gave up beer, wine and refined sugar for one month leading up to this race just because I like a challenge. A bet with my wife fueled this test for which she will suffer its outcome for the remainder of 2014 - a ginger beard of imposing magnitude.

We left Mars with his grandparents and arrived in Birmingham Friday morning, thinking this would be a nice getaway before child #2 arrives. Birmingham, Alabama's largest city, has a storied history engulfed by the civil rights movement and as such, offers a glimpse into the most significant domestic drama of the 20th century. What it does not offer, is much else! Though we struggled to find food within a 2-mile radius of our hotel in downtown Birmingham, we eventually stumbled upon Full Moon BBQ (www.fullmoonbbq.com) and Hop City (www.hopcitybeer.com), a bar and bottle shop that rivals anything I've seen. Its selection of great local, national and international beers is a testament to how far Alabama has come in the craft beer scene. Outside of those establishments, the Todd English P.U.B. (www.toddenglishpub.com) in the Westin we stayed at was a frequented spot.

The race had a field of 1,000 marathon finishers and 3,300 half marathon finishers. The two-loop course makes for a lonely second loop for marathon runners. In all, it is a very well organized race on a fast course with enough rolling hills to keep it interesting. The post race party was catered by Jim 'N Nick's BBQ (www.jimnnicks.com), another fantastic BBQ joint. As I usually do in this type of race, I got caught up with the half marathon runners and started faster than I should have. At the half marathon split, I averaged 6:38 per mile. I tempered my pace and teamed with the only runner around for the second loop. At mile 18, I left my partner to finish the race in solitude. My average pace for the second half of the race was 6:52 per mile. I finished in 2:56:56 (my 6th best marathon time) in 22nd place overall, 17th male. Below, I present to you my reward. It was heavenly.

Birmingham - The Wife's Perspective

This post is definitely waaaaaay after-the-fact, but I’ll keep it brief. I feel like I’m on a role after the last post. Not enough of a role to go back very far in time, but I can go back this far.

Alabama. Birmingham. We got grandma and grandpa to watch the little person for a long weekend and flew in. The trip was also a “babymoon” given that our second little person was due to join us not two months later. We stayed at the Westin, and the staff there might have been the friendliest we have ever encountered. Which is a good thing, because we spent a lot of time with them. A lot.

The Mercedes Benz Marathon is one of the more condensed, easy viewing, and smoother running events of a large size that we’ve participated in, and for that alone I want to recommend making the trip, but Birmingham. Oh Birmingham, how you disappointed me.

The problem? There was absolutely nowhere to go, at least without a car (which we didn’t have, thinking that by staying in the downtown of a big city we’d be within walking distance to most everything anyway. Wrong). We even went to the expo TWICE just to kill more time. We ended up venturing out a couple of times, but both times involved walks of approximately 2 miles through desolate neighborhoods. And keep in mind that I was also quite hugely pregnant.  It wasn’t too bad when we went out the first time during the day, but when we headed back out for dinner one night I let Mike know in no uncertain terms that we’d have to take a cab back. Which might have been fine, except a storm hit and the cab that we were told would take 10 minutes took over an hour and five phone calls to get to us. So after that we mostly ate at the hotel. Luckily for us Todd English’s PUB is a great restaurant. They were also in the process of building all kinds of new restaurants and other venues right in the Westin corridor so maybe for future races it will be much more of a destination, but if you go I’d definitely recommend you make sure to have a car.

17/50 Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon

This is what redemption feels like. In my quest for 50 state marathons before I turn 50, I had planned to use my Green Bay Marathon from 2012 for Wisconsin. That is, until they closed the course on me (literally shut a gate two blocks from the finish) at mile 26! If you haven't already, go back and read that blog entry; you'll see what a fiasco the race was. So that brings me to the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon.

I didn't do much since the Quad Cities Marathon two weeks ago. In fact, I did so little that I brought my summer weekly average miles down from 25 miles per week to 23 miles per week! I had planned to reclaim a marathon PR when I registered for this race back in March. Obviously, you don't do it with that kind of training regimen! I was now just hoping to achieve another sub 3-hour marathon in another state.

This marathon is a well-known PR course. The weather is usually perfect, it's dotted with gently rolling hills providing for a net downhill race. The field of runners is also impressive. I've found that with most of the marathons I run, I place in the top 1% of the field. Looking at the 2012 results from this race, a sub 3-hour marathon would have me within the top 3%. To put that into perspective, not even the Boston Marathon yields that high of a percentage!

Given the above, I started this race with a group of about 20 or so runners with a time goal of 2:55:00. The group stayed together through the half marathon mark, close to pace at 1:27:50. Unfortunately, as the experienced marathoner knows, most runners go out too fast, myself included. By the 20-mile mark, our group had whittled down to about 5 of us. This is where my poor training came into the picture. Knowing that I just needed a 2:59, I slowed my pace considerably. Until this point, the weather was an overcast 55 degrees. The last 6.2 miles were full of sun, resulting in a good 10-15 degree increase in temperature.

All things considered, this race was a success. I finished 44th out of 2,158 finishers (that's better than I had anticipated - the top 2%) with a time of 2:58:39 (6:49 per mile average pace). I now have a sub 3-hour marathon in 13 of my 17 states.

Living within an hour of Milwaukee had its advantages this weekend. We met friends that were also running the race and spent the weekend hanging out. It's a great city with a lot to discover. Their riverwalk has a lot of great places to eat and drink. This is Wisconsin; they know beer and represent accordingly. Every time we're in town we visit the coolest hotel I've ever checked into, The Iron Horse Hotel (http://www.theironhorsehotel.com). Call it "biker chic" though you'll find that it's not just for bikers (of course, The Wife and I love the biker amenities). We went to Smyth, their fine dining restaurant, for brunch. Incredible.

And let's not forget about the "Great T-Shirt Debacle" of 2013; the colors, the off-centered logo...people will complain about EVERYTHING!

28th Overall Marathon - The Quad Cities Marathon

My annual charity to the sport of marathoning comes in the form of volunteering to be a pace leader for one marathon a year.  Lately, I've been volunteering at the Quad Cities Marathon in Moline, IL or Davenport, IA or Bettendorf, IA or Rock Island, IL. You know what? Let's go with Rock Island. That's by far the cooler city, in my opinion.

I usually pace the 3 hour and 10 minute group for the marathon. It's a comfortable pace for me to run and still cheer like a mascot and keep these runners and spectators entertained! It really is the one marathon I run where my throat is more sore than my legs afterwards. I paced the Quad Cities Marathon last year so I was familiar with the route and what to expect in the way of crowds. This is a great race! It's well organized, small and a fast course. I get a lot of Boston Marathon hopefulls in the 3:10 group and that makes the task that much more rewarding.

The weather forecast was for upper 60s and sunny. I rode the motorcycle into town the day before, celebrated Oktoberfest at the Bier Stubbe and crashed on a friend of a friend's floor for the night. Since my WA marathon in July, I haven't run with much consistency. Yep, I was back to my usual marathon training! This time, I was nursing a torn calf muscle and Morton's neuroma coupled with all the headaches of selling and buying a home, which both closed about two weeks before this race. I was averaging about 25 miles per week and slightly worried that a 3:10 pace might be a challenge. Of course, a few beers always helps to wash that concern away!

The start line was packed with runners in high spirits; this was ideal PR weather. I started with a group of about 10 people. I had runners come and go throughout the race but only one made it to the end with me. There's a point around 17 - 20 miles that gets the best of most runners. Today was no exception. I managed to bring this one runner in just under my 3:10 pacing goal time. Though he was the only one to make it, I would continue to see runners eventually cross the finish line and thank me for the motivation. It's inspiring to know that being positive can do so much for someone out on the course.

The highlight for me, however, was hearing someone at mile 23 yell, "hey, I know you. I know you!!!" as she proceeded to run after me with her 9-month old baby in her arms! I recognized her immediately as a woman I met in college as an orientation leader. This was 13 years ago and I haven't heard from her since (not even Facebook, gasp!).

Shortly after the race, I got on the bike for the 200-mile trek home on a crisp, sunny afternoon. The advantage of running enough of these is that my body recovers really well so sitting on a bike for three hours isn't bothersome. I suppose now I'll taper for the Milwaukee Marathon in two weeks. Can I call it a taper if I've hardly run?!

16/50 - Light at the End of the Tunnel Marathon

It's been a long time...

After pacing the Quad Cities Marathon last fall, I cancelled my plans to run the Marine Corp Marathon in DC in October due to Hurricane Sandy. Then, nesting set in. With my first child due in December, I let running take a back seat for a while. I was logging about 10 miles per week until March when I began to train for this marathon.

As you know by my previous posts, I'm not one to stick to a training plan much less come to the table with one! This time was different. Over the course of the 18 weeks leading up to the race, I averaged 45 miles per week. I peaked at about 70 miles per week. I ran a 27-mile solo long run (the first time I ran this distance outside of a marathon) just because I felt good that day (and also because I almost got hit by a car and the adrenaline was flowing!). By starting a running club (www.facebook.com/HFCRC), I found that we all became accountable for each other's training; weekly speed workouts, long runs, strength training, some good 5K races, drinking lots of beer with new running friends - all the pieces were there!

I finally got to a point where I felt like I was back in PR shape. That was, until I strained my calf muscle 8 days prior to the race! The calf was so bad that I could hardly walk and running was out of the question. Massage, compression and ice had little effect. I was hoping that with a week of rest, I could stumble through this one and knock Washington off my state list.

We arrived in Seattle on Wednesday and the race was on Sunday. My wife had a work conference so the kid and I relished the beautiful summer-in-Seattle weather and walked to the Pike Place Market (www.pikeplacemarket.org) for the freshest Rainier cherries, Copper River salmon, on-site roasted coffees and delectable macaroons (www.lepanier.com), visited the Museum of Flight (www.museumofflight.org) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Museum (www.gatesfoundation.org/Who-We-Are/General-Information/Visitor-Center) and scoured the city for the best donut shops (www.toppotdoughnuts.com and www.mightyo.com). The conference offered daycare so the Wife and I made a dinner reservation at Tom Douglas' Lola (www.tomdouglas.com/index.php?page=lola) that we didn't regret! This rustic Mediterranean-style restaurant is a must if you're in the Seattle area.

I should note that we were also out here for a family wedding the night before the marathon.  The reception was in a skybox at the Mariner's Safeco Field. What's baseball without a ton of food, great beer and good people? This stadium is so nice compared to many ballparks; the amenities (food, drink, child perks), the employees and the stadium design is well thought out. Getting our photo with the mascot was just icing on the cake!

It was a 50-mile drive east to the Summit at Snoqualmie Pass, our hotel for the night near the start of the marathon. The race was point-to-point through the foothills of the Cascade Mountain Range and finished in the town that the television series Twin Peaks was set in. A gradual downhill course run on an old train path, racing flats were not the best shoe choice for 26.2 miles of gravel road! That oversight aside, this was one of the most beautiful courses I have run. You start by running through a 2-mile tunnel (a flashlight was highly recommended since it is pitch black in the tunnel and of course, I forgot mine) that opens up to a scenic route, replete with old train trestles, wildlife and many outdoor sport enthusiasts (the route is open to the public during the race).

Not knowing what my calf was going to do, I started out slower than usual. For the first 5 miles, I averaged about 7:15 per mile. Building confidence with a slightly altered gait, I decided to go for a sub 3-hour marathon. As if 50 marathons in 50 states by the time I am 50 isn't enough, I would like to do them all in under 3 hours (11 of my 15 state marathons before WA are sub-3 hours). This feat has only been accomplished by a small group of people to date.

Choosing to run a trail marathon that caps entries to 400 is not something I would recommend to the first time marathon runner; there were no spectators cheering us on and I ran 24 of those miles alone. However, this is the marathon I now prefer. You discover how strong you are when you have to run alone. You see the beauty of landscapes like few others do.  You're left alone with your thoughts and plenty of time to solve your life's quandaries. I managed to achieve my goal of a sub-3 hour marathon by completing this race in 7th place overall, 1st place in my age group (30-34) and with an official time of 2:57:58. Not bad for worrying that my calf would give out with each step I took!

16(?)/50 Green Bay Marathon

The Green Bay Marathon was to be my 16^th state marathon and 25^th overall marathon.  Seeing as it was cancelled, I’m not sure I can technically count it but I did finish the race so I am entitled to at least write about it!  It did not come as a surprise as to how hot this race was going to be.  In the days leading up to the race, multiple warnings were issued about the heat and all the necessary precautions that were being taken by the race staff.  In the end, the heat wrecked all kinds of havoc as it reached 90 degrees without a cloud in the sky. 

I was tasked with the job of being the 3:10 pace leader, a job and pace I had previously done at the 2009 Chicago Marathon and loved.  It’s a lot like being an orientation leader in college except you have to carry a flag with the pace time posted on it.  You keep a steady pace, offer advice, give heads up on the course amenities, get the spectators riled up and crack a few jokes…people tend not to want to think about each excruciating mile.  The role makes running 26.2 miles a bit more of a challenge, in case you needed one! 

At 7am we started the race just outside of Lambeau Field.  Due to construction, this would be the first year that the race would not finish inside the stadium, a bummer for some.  In fact, it was enough of a deterrent that only about 2,500 people of the 4,000 capacity registered for the marathon.  Within my group were about two dozen men and women looking to qualify for the Boston Marathon, achieve a personal best or complete their first marathon in a very respectable time.  Myself and Mike (the other leader) were in charge of keeping the pack of runners on a 7:15 minute-per-mile pace.  What’s funny about this is that neither of us wears a GPS watch; we just base it by feel with a stopwatch!

Green Bay has a great small town feel.  The community really stepped up in support of the runners.  I don’t recall a block where a resident didn’t set up a sprinkler for us in the first half of the race.  The half marathoners turned off as the temperature was rapidly approaching the 80’s.  It was after this that things fell apart.

The full marathoners were left to run a course that appeared to have been abandoned.  The crowd support was thin, the sprinklers few and the shade minimal.  At mile 17, Mike (our other pace leader) dropped out due to the heat.  Our group was down to about eight and I was determined to get us to the finish in time with this flag still in my hand!  At this point, we were almost a minute ahead of schedule. 

At mile 20 (about 2:35 into the race), an officer was informing us that the race had been cancelled.  It was then that I lost my last runner.  In the lonely miles to come, I slowed a bit and reunited with two women from the group as we charged forward, determined to finish close to the 3:10 goal.  Medical staff continued to inform us that the course was closed due to heat but no one had instructed us to stop running.  It wasn’t until mile 26 that we were physically made aware of the closure – as we turned into the parking lot of Lambeau Field and caught a glimpse of the finish line, we ran into a closed gate that prevented us from continuing to the finish line!  With no way through, I ran around the backside through the crowds to symbolically cross the finish line in 3:13.  Not too far off what I was supposed to do; it could have been the heat or the Homewood-Flossmoor 5K I raced the day before!  Not advisable. 

Frustrated, I walked straight to the beer line.  After a few beers and 30 minutes, I saw that the organizers realized their mistake and reopened the gate.  Through it I went so that I could officially cross the finish mat.  In all, it was a great weekend and I’m not going to let this race experience sour my opinion of the city.  I did enjoy some great beers and meal the night before at www.hinterlandbeer.com and a post-race lunch at www.titletownbrewing.com  with the largest beer sample I've ever seen!  Oh, and let's not forget the Mars Cheese Castle and the abundance of New Glarus beer. 

Before (Titletown Brewing)

After (Titletown Brewing)