37th Sub-3-hour Marathon State: The Florida Redo

The town of Celebration, built in the '90s to look like the '20s and '30s

New year, new me! Same ol' Florida. Don't get me wrong, that's a good thing in the midst of a miserable IL winter, but I've been here before. My Melbourne Music Marathon in 2012 (blog post HERE) was a great motorcycle trip; however, I just missed my sub-3-hour goal. Now I'm back in Florida for the Celebration Marathon to close a couple chapters: my motorcycle arrived in Tampa to a new owner just days before I myself arrived to pay Tampa a visit - seeing its new home feels complete somehow. Sad face.

Dad status complete: I've sold the motorcycle

Back to this "new me" thing. It's 2018. I have 14 marathons left and 1.5 years to finish. That's an ambitious goal for me so I decided to try something new: focus on nutrition. Thanks new Fitbit watch! After years of reckless yet gloriously indulgent eating and drinking, I entered 2018 with a plan to track what I was eating. I have NEVER tracked calories and after two days of doing so, I was both impressed and appalled so I made myself a 4-week training plan. Let's not overdo it here!

For those looking to nerd out about the details, here's what I did: the first two weeks saw weekly mileage in the mid 70s (it's been a while since I've been injury-free enough to go that high), down to 40 miles for week 3, then my usual 22 miles in the week leading up to the race. I did not do cross-training or strength exercises - I'll incorporate that in the next 6 weeks leading up to the Lower Potomac River Marathon in Maryland.

During this 4-week phase, I focused on keeping my macronutrients (carbohydrates, fat, protein) in healthy balance all the while operating at a 500-1,000 caloric deficit to lose 10 lbs I gained this summer after injury had me eating and drinking more while running less; carrying that extra weight through my last couple of marathons was noticeably harder. Did I cheat? Hell yeah I did, about once a week! But the weight came off.

Also new to my routine were these Nike Vaporfly 4% shoes that I finally got my hands on (feet in?). I drank the marketing Kool-Aid and was impressed with a pretty astounding lab test (READ THIS). Given the crap IL weather, I only ran in them for 3 miles indoors before leaving town. They felt a lot like my go-to marathon shoe, the Hoka One One Tracer. Are they worth the $250 price tag? Let's find out.

Kick(s)boxing Title Match: Vaporfly 4% vs. Tracer

I spent Friday exploring the Tampa area. I discovered Ybor City while looking for a brewery to visit before the brewery I had planned to visit. Some things never change, nutrition plan be damned! Ybor City is this great little town steeped in Cuban history and more cigar shops per capita than I would imagine anywhere. Tampa Bay Brewing Co. was the perfect place to enjoy good beers and a Cuban sandwich in the warm sun before my visit to Cigar City Brewing Co., which, sadly, wasn't as great as I remembered. C'est la vie.

Hey look, beer and Sasquatch!

I woke up at 9:30 am on Saturday after tracking 11.5 hours of sleep (thanks again, Fitbit)! One of the perks of being away from the kids. I ran 2 miles in the shoes outside for the first time. Ate oatmeal, like I have nearly everyday this month, at Hollar & Dash Biscuit House - we need more biscuit places in IL! Soaked in the hot tub at the Airbnb. Got takeout at Little Italy for lunch. Went to the movies to see Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (great flick!). Met up with Cheryl and her husband John (Cheryl from back home and travel partner for the St. George Marathon was also running the marathon) for dinner at Thai Thani. Fell asleep to my guilty pleasure - murder mystery shows. I was ready for the race.

I woke up feeling good, which is not what I would be saying had I stayed in Tampa for Gasparilla Pirate Fest on Saturday. You see, 100 years ago, Tampa made up this tall tale about pirates taking the keys to the city as an excuse to throw a massive, Mardi Gras-like parade & street fest. 2017 me would have totally stayed in Tampa and celebrated like a pirate. 2018 me had coffee, a bagel with peanut butter, a banana, and a ponytail (yeah, it's that long now). I made it to the start line with a few minutes to spare.

The first mile started out conservatively then I just went for it. I need a 2:50 in my 1-minute incremental series of marathon finish times. I still walked every water stop but the nutrition plan had me back to taking energy gels (at mile 10 & mile 20). Crossing the half in 1:24 was encouraging, missing a turn at mile 18 was not. This was my biggest fear about this race. Look at that map!

Go ahead and count the turns, I'll wait...

It's surprising that I didn't make several wrong turns. It's a flat course but those turns and tight spaces on the boardwalks weren't ideal. Throw in the FL warmth and shoes that were tied too tight (chaffing the top of my navicular bones) and I backed off the 2:50 goal after the wrong turn. I ended up with a 2:52:46 - good for 3rd place overall (out of 458) and a time I'm pretty happy with. I felt good and I credit that largely to the nutrition plan though I don't recommend it: life is too short not to live on donuts and beer!

Downtown Celebration from across the pond - mile 25.5 on the course

Celebration is the town that Disney built and the race execution is on par with what you would expect if Disney had organized it: scenic and well-marked course through a contrived neighborhood, great volunteers (except the one that let me stray at mile 18 - really my fault for doing mental math at that moment), nice shirt, medal, and blanket swag, and a great post-race food spread. There are enough good restaurants here to entertain me for a weekend: Columbia Restaurant and Celebration Town Tavern were delicious post race lunch #1 & lunch #2 stops. Though I spent my 60th marathon here, I can't imagine I'll be back until maybe my 60th birthday, hopefully to buy that motorcycle back!

Mila loves the blanket

Oh right, the shoes... Save your money. They just didn't provide those extra minutes the study and marketing suggest. Not as compared to my Hoka Tracers, anyway.

Another race, another Stehling race photo

42/50 Rehoboth Beach Marathon

Here we are, briefly submerged in the frigid waters of the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Delaware in December. This is what happens when a race offers 3 free beer tickets. We were in the water less than a minute, approximately equal to the time I had remaining on the race clock - I barely completed my 36th sub-3-hour state marathon. You could call it a post-race ice bath, but mostly, we were in the ocean because I told a friend it was a tradition he must oblige for having just run his fastest marathon. A fitting celebration for both of us!

2017 was my rebuild and regrowth year: I was coming off a hamstring injury when I pulled a calf muscle skateboarding this summer AND I haven't cut my hair since last year. I planned to run 10 marathons (though I canceled the Missoula Marathon after the calf incident). Of the 9 completed (GA, KS, OH, ND, WY, SD, CT, VA, DE), 2 of them missed the sub-3-hour goal: WY (the stupid yet glorious reason why was documented HERE) and the SD redo (I got sick race weekend) that I never did write about but remains a highlight of the year; just a great road trip with Libertyville Running Club friends - sorry for getting y'all sick! Third time in SD will have to be a charm.

I was planning a solo trip to Delaware when I mentioned to friends that this race is located near Dogfish Head Brewery... and then there were 3 of us. Nate, Ted, and I flew to Baltimore on Friday and found ourselves, surprise, surprise, in Chesapeake Brewing Co. by noon. After years of tasting flights at breweries, this one, owned by a former pilot, delivered on the wordplay.

Could have named the beers after the Top Gun cast for a 5-star review

The drive from the Baltimore airport to Rehoboth Beach, DE is about 2.5 hours. Did you know Delaware was our first state? Now you do. Rehoboth is a large beach town in the otherwise sparsely populated SE region of the state notable as the original location of Dogfish Head Brewery, which happened to be demolished last week. However, it has been replaced by a new building, where we found ourselves having dinner and beers after picking up our packets. We were back at the condo and in bed around 8:30pm.

A pink bib without my trusty pink shorts?! Amateur mistake.

The race is Saturday morning, 7:00am, with nearly ideal weather: sunny and 40 degrees at the start with no wind. I didn't pack my sunglasses so I borrowed Nate's. Nothing new on race day, right? I stepped out of the bathroom at 7:00am; this is about as close as I've cut it! The race started 2.5 minutes late, luckily, giving me enough time to queue up in the corral.

I tried starting this one conservatively, but soon enough a group of us formed, including someone I had met a few years ago that's also attempting this 50-state-sub-3-hour feat, chatting while peeling off the miles at around a 6:30 pace. That was unnecessary so around mile 14, I dialed it back a bit, knowing I'd miss the company but not wanting to screw this up.

The course is a mix of roads, paved bike trail, a long-ass frosted-over metal bridge(!), and dirt and crushed limestone trail in and out of the Cape Henlopen State Park and the surrounding residential area. Yes, it's pretty flat but most of the second half of this course was on the dirt and crushed limestone which seemed to prevent me from finding that top gear. Mile 20 to the finish slowed considerably. I knew I would do this in under 3 hours but maybe I cut it a bit close this time with 2:59:03. Never a dull moment!

Probably somewhere after mile 20

It was great seeing Ted - who ran the half marathon - out there at miles 18 and 26. He and I walked back to cheer Nate in for a 3:09:34 - his 10th marathon and best to date! Which brings us back to the Atlantic Ocean story...

This race has rave reviews, largely stemming from its afterparty located at the finish. It's a pricey marathon ($160 at its peak) but the food is stocked and Dogfish Head Brewery is on hand pouring your free beers. Throw in a DJ and this party started looking like a wedding reception. After those beers, we walked to the beach for our baptism, armed with a blanket I just found and a couple foil wraps.

Fashion statement with Ted, Me, and Nate

We returned to the afterparty for a few celebratory beers then retreated to the condo for a nap. It was 2:30pm and there was a brewery behind our place that we planned to reside in all evening.

Revelation Craft Brewing Co. was probably the highlight of the weekend, beer wise. One of the owners was a former Dogfish Head brewer and it showed in the quality and variety of beer. They offered 15 beers that we sampled our way through. I can't say that I've done that before; drank every beer a brewery offered on tap in one sitting. Throw in a wood-fired pizza truck and sparse but chatty patrons and this made for a relaxing night. Cheers!

I had 3,000 calories to replenish, DON'T JUDGE ME!

On our way back to the airport Sunday, we set course for the main Dogfish Head location in Milton, DE. Unfortunately, they were closed so the staff could toy shop for Toys for Tots - bummer, but we're cool with that reason. Instead, we took our adventure back to Baltimore for a kick-ass funnel-cake-battered crab cake from L.P. Steamers with our beers at Diamond Back Brewing Co.

Ted can't even fake disappointment

East Coast carnival food? Delicious!

Oh look, Du Claw Brewing is located in the airport and we're 3 hours early. What to do, what to do?

With all this crab and beer, I'm excited to get back to Baltimore in March for my MD marathon. But next up, I'll redo FL in January at the Celebration Marathon.

41/50 - Richmond Marathon

Virginia is for Lovers... of GWAR and beautiful marathons!

It's true. The Richmond Marathon, celebrating its 40th year, is in the top 10 prettiest courses I've run. Of course, I wasn't supposed to know that until next year when I actually had this race scheduled. However, a failed alternator left me stranded in rural Jackson, OH - 70 miles from the start of the Marshall University Marathon in WV I had intended to run last weekend.

Tow Truck Driver: "I don't know if we can work on them foreign Volvos."

Realizing it was impossible for me to make it to that race, I settled into Jackson for 2 nights and made the best of it. What seemingly could have been a miserable experience, turned out to be a great little escape. I made friends with the bartender at Rowdy's Smokehouse (damn good brisket) the first night: Mike sent me away with recommendations for places to eat (this town of 6,500 people had a great coffee shop AND brewery), a beautiful state park to run in, and a feeling that this old fashioned town wasn't going to be such a bad place to be stranded after all. He even suggested driving me to the race when he got off work! Of course, registration was now closed and I was drunk but I was touched by his willingness to help.

I spent Sunday afternoon getting lost on the trails in Lake Katharine State Nature Preserve

The car was almost fixed Monday morning when I discovered a friend (one of the first runners to run with the Libertyville Running Club I founded) works just outside of Jackson - small world! Daun and I had lunch before I made the drive home (stopping at Toxic Brew Co. in Dayton, OH and 18th Street Brewery in Hammond, IN, to break up the drive, of course). Tuesday morning, my wife asked if there was a race this weekend I could do, so I looked: Richmond Marathon was in 4 days but the flight was $700. That evening, I mentioned this to my friend Ted on a run when he offered to book me a flight with his frequent flyer miles. I am surrounded by great people! Online race registration was closed but they confirmed I could register at the expo. 

Late Friday afternoon, I arrived at the expo, registered, then went to the brewery you're supposed to visit when in Richmond, Hardywood Park Craft Brewery. I hung around there long enough for Enoteca Sogna to open at 5pm for pasta, because suddenly I'm doing all (ok, most of) the things marathoners are supposed to do; I'm beginning to worry about getting these final states done in under 3 hours. From my understanding, there are still only 6 people that have accomplished this. 

Murals, murals everywhere!

This year has been trying: running through injuries and illness, mostly hot races, and a bold schedule. There's not much room for error if I want to finish this goal in Anchorage, AK in 2019 - 10 years from when it all started at my first sub-3-hour marathon at the 2009 Boston Marathon. The forecast for this race was unseasonably cold; I do not like racing in the cold. At the airport Friday morning, I was researching how to eat and what to do to make up for the effect the cold weather will have on my body during a marathon. More glycogen. More clothing. 

I re-read my Mississippi River Marathon blog post when the start was 20 degrees and sunny, mimicking what the Richmond race would be. I bought 2 GUs at the expo (I stopped using GUs in marathons years ago). I ate pasta. I bought fruit and grains for breakfast. I went to bed at 7pm. For the first marathon out of 58, I planned to run with music. I had become the cliche marathoner this weekend. I felt determined to not let down the people that made this race possible for me. 

I found a hotel lobby to stay warm in right up until the start of the race. I knew the course had rolling hills and that there was a decent climb from mile 15 - 18 as you cross a bridge over the James River and approached the downtown area again; this is why I brought the music. In fact, I didn't turn on my music until I crossed the half in about 1:24. 

I was cruising despite all the extra layers of clothing and accessories. I took one GU just before mile 15 to prepare me for the climb. Doug (a runner I shared a few miles with) and I teamed up to tackle the climb and headwind, sharing the task of blocking that wind for each other. It worked, our pace didn't slow too much.

It's been a while since I ran a marathon that I was so confident so early in the race that I was going to finish under 3 hours - my 35th sub-3-hour state. At mile 10, I felt good about this one. At mile 20, I focused on keeping the miles under 7 minutes because I had a new goal: to log a 2:52 marathon. It's a bit obsessive, but I've run 2:47, 2:48, 2:49, 2:51, 2:53, 2:54, 2:55, 2:56, 2:57, 2:58, and 2:59 marathon times. I'm missing a 2:50 & 2:52 from that sequence. With a DE marathon in 3 weeks, I didn't want to push for the 2:50. 

This race has it all: great spectators, friendly people, junk food stations, a pickle station, a beer station, and a beautiful course meandering the city, charming New England landscapes, and a scenic riverfront. After 40 years, they clearly know how to give runners what they want at an event. I finished in 2:52:09 with a brutally fast downhill finish. Because it was so steep, I had to just let the 1/2 mile downhill take me or I would have fallen. I was thrilled to have what felt like a great race again. I changed in my car and set out to explore Richmond by foot. 

First stop: GWARbar! Yes, this GWAR-themed pub is owned by Balsac - a member of GWAR and executive chef who states on their menu, "my mother taught me the secrets of intergalactic cooking... then I ate her." Aside from serving as a museum to GWAR with costumes, concert posters, and blood-spattered walls, this dive serves up some damn good eats. 

Yep, this guy, Balsac the Jaws of Death

Coincidently, my post-race walk resembled Balsac's face

From there, I walked to Triple Crossing Brewing Co. for a tasting of most of their beers. Everyone in this town has run the Richmond race I discovered while chatting up the bartender who, of course, has run this race. I rounded out the day with a visit to Champion Brewing Co. (my second encounter with the Metallica pinball machine in a week!), then dinner at Perly's - a hip little jewish diner with the slogan, "It's Yiddish for Delicious!" I'm clearly a sucker for great wordplay. 

Cheers!

Do Richmond. Do this race. I wish I had more time to explore. I only scratched the surface of what is undoubtedly a great city. 

I came home to this cake creation from my wife and kids, love it!

Next up: Rehoboth Beach Marathon.

40/50 - Hartford Marathon

OMG is right!

It's been a rough year as I struggle to get through my 30s - not my age, this decade is rad - my states. After years of feeling like I had the marathon on autopilot, this recent struggle with injuries and motivation is proving challenging, particularly with a schedule of 8-10 marathons per year in order to complete this goal by June 2019 in Alaska. I canceled the MT marathon and had a few misses this summer with WY & SD (again!) so this Hartford success was much needed but hard-fought. While the Hartford Marathon is my 34th sub-3-hour state marathon, it's my 40th state marathon - that leaves 6 to redo and 10 states yet to visit.

One of the more impressive state capitol buildings I've seen

I've been pondering the grandness of this 50-state goal, not only the physicality but also the expense. With hesitation, I booked the Hartford Marathon about 10 days out, and well, that's an expensive flight! To counter that, I did not rent a car and gave Airbnb a try. In addition to running sub-3-hours, I could do a sub-$1,000 weekend and STILL make it to all the breweries!

And make it to all the breweries I did.

I took the bus from the airport into downtown Hartford, arriving late Friday afternoon, and I found myself in City Steam Brewery Cafe 5 minutes later. They brew a beer called Ales for ALS - proceeds benefitting the ALS Institute. I love a good cause and good beer! I'll take it and dinner. Bonus: it's happy hour.

There was a lot of walking this weekend (because I still haven't succumbed to Uber), starting with my walk to the expo then my Airbnb place on the north side of Hartford. If you've been to Hartford and I tell you my room was $30/night, I think you'll know where I'm going with this. There is a fair amount of urban blight in Hartford and the good intentions of this building's owner to rehab the place are noble and, well, currently intentions. Each floor of this 3-flat was set up like a dorm room - one bathroom and 5 bedrooms. I had a room facing the busy street, the one with a twin bed so bouncy that I nearly fell out of it several times. I was in bed at 7pm for tomorrow's 8am race start, so, not very different than my typical Friday night.

The place

That stupid bed

The race start line is a mile walk from my place. That's also about how far coffee is! Other than coffee, I don't have race day rituals and coffee is really more of a daily ritual. There I stood, Dunkin Donuts in hand, amongst a few thousand runners stretching and going through their routines in the race corral 30 minutes before race time.

I picked this race for Connecticut because it has a high percentage of sub-3-hour finishers. You know what I've learned from running all over the country? The east coast has A LOT of post-collegiate runners and Utahans are insanely fit. Also, you know what you call someone from Connecticut? A Nutmegger. True story.

This is a great course and a well-organized event. Though the temps would reach 80F later in the day, the morning was cloudy. I fell into stride with a couple of guys, post-collegiate runners of course, from the east coast. We kept a decent clip until the half when I started fading a bit. My head just wasn't in this one; I was expecting to miss my goal from mile 10 on and that kind of thinking is self-defeating. There's an out-and-back portion of the course from mile 10 - 24 where I was getting passed frequently; I would struggle to hang on for a bit, then fall off until the next person. It wasn't until the last person at mile 25 that I felt like this 2:58:49 finish was secure. That person, Michael, did more for me than I think he realized.

My struggle face

I was elated this one was over. And then I wanted to collapse; that's not typical for me. I spent a few minutes regaining my composure before hitching a ride on a golf cart to get my checked bag then my free beer.

While at the afterparty, I struck up a conversation with Dan, a local runner and race volunteer. He charted out my afternoon of places to eat and drink. After a quick shower, I set out for a 9-mile walking tour of Hartford and my first stop was Bear's BBQ. From there, it's a few miles to Hanging Hills Brewing Company, then a few miles to Hog River Brewing Company, then a few more miles back to my place for the night. This was a slightly uncomfortable walking experience as the outskirts of this city are really not all that welcoming to a fluorescent-yellow-shirted tourist roaming around aimlessly.

A throwback carousel in a downtown park

Sunday morning was devoted to exploring the inner city by foot. My 5-mile walk yielded a few coffee shops (Sarah's Coffee House & Blue State Coffee - where I got to witness a high-speed police chase), the state capital, the Bushnell Park arch depicted on our race medal, and a great pizza place before my bus to the airport. In the end, I saw and visited almost all I needed (I realized after my visit that I could have toured Mark Twain's house) and am pretty thankful I don't need to return to Hartford.

Found it!

39/50 - Casper Marathon

Giddy up, legs!

This race was a last minute addition after the Fargo Marathon 2 weeks ago: I felt great, it fit the schedule, and I could book it on the cheap. I knew that I would have to acclimate to the 1-mile high elevation so I arrived in Fort Collins, CO on Thursday night, giving me 2.5 days to get my body to adjust. In contrast to my modus operandi, I actually reviewed the course elevation chart and compared it to recent failures to run sub-3-hours at elevation out west (Oregon and South Dakota). I could do this course in under 3 hours.

I flew into Denver and drove to a hippie hostel commune that we discovered last year when we stayed in Fort Collins on the Mickelson Trail Marathon / Revel Rockies Marathon trip. My wife did yoga at Solarium International Hostel and raved about the hostel so I booked a bunk bed in a room with 3 other strangers. This place is amazing! It's like staying in a greenhouse, on a river, on a bike path. The following pictures are of the interior courtyard:

I walked down the street to Colorado State University campus in search of a brewery... which took half a mile - this IS Colorado. Great eats were had at Music City Chicken for their Nashville Fried Chicken before I ventured next door to Black Bottle Brewery.

When I returned to Solarium, I saw a suggestion for great hiking at Horsetooth Mountain, about 20 minutes away. What better place to do a 5-mile easy run 2 days before the marathon, I thought? I made plans to drive there Friday morning.

An early view about 3 miles into this run

Now, I'm not completely naive. I love mountain running. I do this every time I head west. I've run the Pikes Peak Marathon. There is nothing more exhilarating to me than a run along a mountain trail where I tune out the Garmin and run by feel, jumping in creeks or waterfalls at will. However, after this run, my quads were starting to feel the wrath of some elevation drops that I hadn't anticipated. 5 miles turned into 7. While I felt the effort was not hard, my legs would tell me otherwise the next morning.

As you can see, this is probably not the best run to do when you have a marathon in 2 days

After the run, I drove straight to the breakfast suggestion I also picked up at Solarium: Lucile's Creole Cafe. This breakfast cafe knows New Orleans about as good as New Orleans knows itself. It was packed but I found a seat at the bar next to a gentleman (a retiring Union Pacific train engineer) that was quick to chat. This is my favorite part of traveling. If it weren't for my discussions with him, I would have never driven the route to Casper, WY that I'll talk about shortly.

After a quick nap, I walked to Rally King Brewing, my favorite brewery of the trip. Many of their beers, from IPAs to sours are memorable, even if their location is not. Sitting on their balcony in a faceless plaza, I struck up a conversation with Jim, a writer for an athletic publication. We waxed poetic about running, cycling, Leadville, Russia, beer. He left and I sought dinner.

Spicier than last night's fried chicken

Fort Collins has a great downtown promenade. It's Friday night and people are congregating around a live band under the band shelter, drinking beers, watching their kids dance their asses off. I found pie at The Chocolate Cafe, beer at Equinox Brewing, and donuts (on National Donut Day) at Peace, Love, and Little Donuts. You can take your pro-athlete nutritional regimen and shove it.

Hippie donuts at my hippie commune

Saturday morning is when it hit me: my quads are shredded. A 2-mile shakeout run confirmed it. I took a yoga class at my hostel hoping for some relief. It's a 5-hour drive to Casper. It could be 3 hours, but my engineer friend suggested taking the scenic route: Snowy Range Scenic Byway through Medicine Bow National Forest. Any time you have a chance to veer off the Interstate, do it! This route took me to the Saratoga Hot Springs; this gem of a public hot spring is located on the outskirts of an unassuming small town. It's free. It's got a couple of pools and a river with natural hot springs. Maybe this will help my aching legs?

The road just opened last week and the snow was 12 feet deep at points

Medicine Bow Peak

The main hot spring pool and bathhouse, all free

Alright, alright, let's get to the race.

If it weren't for us 50-state-marathon runners, the Casper Marathon might not exist. Fortunately, it does and it's celebrating 15 years. The race hotel, the Ramada Inn, is the finish line. That's convenient. It's a short bus ride to the convention center, the highest point of the course at 5,300ft, where the start is located. Bathrooms and shelter are available inside - another convenience. If the forecast weren't 90 and sunny, it would be a great place to stay warm before the start.

This might not be a familiar sensation to many of you, but at the start line, I felt like I did on day 2 of back-to-back marathons. My head was ready but my legs couldn't find that next gear. There's 120 of us running the marathon so it got lonely quick. Luckily, there has never been a course more well-marked than this one. I hung onto a sub-3-hour pace until about mile 14. Knowing it wasn't going to happen, I tried to hang onto 2nd place, hoping for a payout that would subsidize my plane ticket back to Wyoming. I finished in 3:10:48 in 2nd place... with no payout. Coincidently, the last time I missed my sub-3-hour goal was 1 year ago on this day in South Dakota, with a similar time of 3:10:24. I should just not run on this weekend!

The course is beautiful - much of it is rolling hills on the Platte River Trails that follow the North Platte River. The finish party was quite stocked with food and beer for such a small race. It was hot and sunny and the elevation was a mile high; I was comfortable with those factors. In the end, I made a mistake that cost me the sub-3-hour goal yet I don't regret it. 55 marathons later and I'm still learning. I had a drive to the airport to reflect on this with time for one more brewery along the way: Freedom's Edge Brewing Co. in Cheyenne, WY.

Oh, FHS!

While I won't pay for the race pic, the look on my face says I paid dearly

 I'll be back Wyoming!

38/50 - Fargo Marathon

It's me, "kinda funny looking, in a general sorta way."

Fargo was the perfect marathon trip to celebrate my 38th state marathon for my 38th birthday. On occasion, I turn one of these state marathon experiences into a group trip for the Libertyville Running Club - the club I founded. It's trips like this where others get to see firsthand how a seemingly uninteresting city can actually be a lot of fun and that the goal isn't so much getting to and running the race as it is about the discoveries along the way. Perspective can produce completely different experiences; my hope is that this blog entry, and the others before it, inspire you to embrace a new experience.

The Fargo Marathon is a week-long event and something the city clearly takes pride in. There's 9 hours of driving between Libertyville, IL and Fargo, ND and by leaving early enough, we got there in 31 hours - you've got to plan for the unplanned stops. We left Thursday morning and Ale Asylum made for a worthy lunch stop. From there, Surly Brewing Co. coincided with dinner. This place recently constructed a massive brewpub and production facility making beer that is still consistently good.

The Ale Asylum Crüe

It was here that I made a decision I regretted for days... I did not treat myself to the gift shop flannel shirt. While it enveloped my body in its slim-fitted, Brawny-like woodsy warmth, I asked myself: Can a ginger pull off a red flannel? Is it worth $60? Are these sleeves a bit short? The answer to all three questions undoubtedly, was yes. However, we departed for Luke's lakeside cabin 1.5 hours away without the flannel - a location that would prove fitting for such a majestic piece of lumberjack-inspired apparel.

Luke's cabin in Watab, MN has been in his family since World War II. It's a beautiful wooded lot on Little Rock Lake with a cabin, a log guest house, a sauna building, and a tree house, much of which his dad built. Upon arrival, seven of us piled into the sauna to sweat out the day's beer, followed with a fireside chat before bed. In the morning, our lakefront theater hosted a beautiful sunrise - which I saw a lovely photo of after I awoke at 7am.

I'm sure this was great to see in person. Thanks for the pic, Ryan!

After a group run, breakfast made by a couple of the guys, and a showing of the movie Fargo, we had quotes that would sustain us for the rest of the trip and food that would sustain us until the next brewery... in 2 hours for lunch. Big Axe Brewing was not necessarily on the way but we were inspired to head north to Brainerd, MN to find the Paul Bunyan statue and the Blue Ox truck stop motel featured in the movie - we found neither. However, Big Axe proved to be one of the more entertaining and enjoyable unplanned stops in our travels. Take for example this interaction between a sarcastic Grumpy Old Man-type patron and the bartender:

     Patron: What d'ya got that tastes like PBR?

     Bartender: Here's something you might like. (hands Patron a beer)

     Patron: (takes a sip) TASTES LIKE HAMM'S!

The beer was damn good. Their flannel however, was not quite right.

"He steps lightly with his right foot and heavy with his left. This cursed devil scours the woods felling any tree giving him a crooked look." - The Axe Kicker beer label description OR a description of Syed

We finally made it to Fargo at 5pm for packet pickup and dinner (at a brewery, of course) with the others that took more direct routes. The next morning was race day.

The pre-race dinner Crüe minus Lauren, Ann, Erin, and Vaughn

Staying at the Scandia Hotel was a wise choice and, well, every other downtown hotel was sold out. It's walking distance to downtown and about 2 miles to the Fargodome. You could not have asked for better running weather with clouds and temps hovering around the low 40s all morning. The race starts inside the Fargodome providing pre-race warmth, bathrooms aplenty, and post-race showers.

The course is well-routed through various neighborhoods, parks, college campuses, riverwalks, and city streets giving us a pretty good tour of the area. Hell, we would have completely missed out on Drekker Brewing Co., our post-race favorite, had we not run past it around mile 24. The residents of Fargo really contribute to the atmosphere of the race by hosting their own cheer stations and front yard parties to welcome us to their city.

I started with Tom and Ryan who were first-time marathoners with the impressive goal of running a sub-3-hour marathon. Our plan was to start with a few 7-minute miles then fall into 6:40s. Well, we mostly did that. Around mile 13, Tom and I pulled slightly ahead and by mile 18, I no longer heard his breathing. Hoping to be a carrot and stay in Tom's sights, I lingered to chat with Kurt who was running the half marathon when we met up around mile 21. I finished with a close-to-even split in 20th/1,302 (2nd in my age group behind the overall winner) with a finish time of 2:55:46. Check North Dakota off the list for my 33rd sub-3-hour state marathon.

Somewhere near the finish with no one shouting out my custom bib name "Happy BDay!"

I went through the chute then joined Jeremy at the finish line to cheer on the rest of our club - there were 16 of us. The jumbotron was showing video of the runners at mile 26 so we could be ready for them. Most of us wear the Nefarious shirt for easy spotting and cult-like intimidation. It garnered a few comments from the religious participants; the race did begin with the Our Father prayer.

They even made a wine for us.

One by one, we came through the finish and joined the group to cheer on the next runner until we walked and ran in our last two, Michael and Syed, from mile 26. No runner left behind; that's how we roll! All of our group had a PR and/or successful race. Everything came together at this one.

Bringing in Syed

Afterward, the race hosts a bar crawl, complete with a medal, but we opted for our own. Starting at Würst Bier Hall, we walked next door to Drekker Brewing Co. where we engaged in conversation with a few women that also ran and were enjoying a post-race "recovery" drink. With two more in tow, we ventured over to Fargo Brewing Company for a Fargo-themed beer called The Woodchipper and a round of Cards Against Humanity. No good decisions were made after this stop, nevertheless, we persisted.

Fargo Brewing Company - probably when we should have called it a night.

We departed for home after a run and Babb's Coffee House the next morning. Well, home eventually. This was my birthday and I'll be damned if we weren't going back to Surly for that flannel! From there, we made a short detour to Toppling Goliath in Decorah, IA for great beer and pizza delivery. Our car still managed to keep this a 4-day trip by pulling into my driveway at 11:59pm fueled by Dot's Pretzels (a North Dakota staple) which of course I'm eating while typing this and Scotcharoos (a Wisconsin favorite) which I'm also eating while typing this.

The moment you've all been waiting for: the Surly flannel.

Next up: Missoula Marathon on July 9th.