Race Report - 2013 Icebreaker Indoor Marathon

The 2013 Icebreaker Indoor Marathon (5th annual) was yet again, a big success.  This was my 5th time running the marathon making this marathon the one I have done the most.  I have run one different marathon 4 times and a couple different ones 3 times, but not 5, until now.  Please see my previous post for my thoughts on the entire weekend including the 2 half marathons, marathon relay and the 5K.  I will try to concentrate on my experiences in the full marathon in this post.  

Even though I had been at Pettit all weekend already, I did not pick up my packet and goodie bag until Sunday morning right before the race.  This race does not require you to pick up your packet the day before like most races.  This is a great feature, especially if you are driving in just for the race from 45 minutes or further away.  I had friends that came for the half marathon from the Madison area and it was good that they were not required to show up the day before.

So I picked up my goodie bag, shirt and timing chip and went to the track to set up my own personal TV Tray table of race supplies I like to have handy.  On my table was water bottles, Gu, Salt, Speed Glide and I put a few bananas on there in case I got hungry.  It was a little over 1 hour to the race when I saw that there was a major clean up happening at the Water Tables.  Seems a large container of Gatorade spilled all over the floor and some on the track.  Maybe like 3 gallons of it!!!.  I helped clean up the mess with about 4 others making sure the floor and track was not sticky for the runners.  They did a good job with the clean up and I bet most people had no clue what had happened.

The Icebreaker Indoor Full Marathon Shirt. 

Here are all the Icebreaker shirts, Marathon, Half Marathon, Marathon Relay, and 5K.

10 Minutes before the race, the National Anthem along with the Canadian Nation Anthem were played/sung before not only the start of the running Marathon, but also the start of the US/North American Long Track Speedskating 50K marathon.  It wasn't long before the gun went off and we all started on our 26.2 mile/ 95.3 lap journey.  Just for fun, like last year, I decided to start at the very back of the runners and crossed the start line in dead last place.

Amy (from Running is Cheaper than Therapy) was going to run with me as long as she felt she could.  She had run the half marathon the day before and was competing int eh Gold Medal Challenge.  It was her first ever "Double" so she was unsure how she would do.  Little did she know that she was a machine and would kick some serious butt out there.  We took it pretty easy to start keeping the pace right at 4:00 finish time.  It wasn't long before we caught Mike and ran with him for quite a few laps.  I was surprised Mike was running with us as he is a much faster marathoner than I am.  My plan was to take a 30 second break every 7 laps (about 1.95 miles) for as long as I could. After about 1 hour, we were still right there on pace for a 4 hour time.  I had to take a short port-o-let break and Amy kept going ahead of me.  I started again and could not see Amy or Mike anymore but picked up the pace slightly in hopes to catch up to them in 5 to 10 laps.

Amy and I pretty early in the race running together and talking.  (Photo courtesy of Bill Flaws from RunningInTheUSA.)

5 laps, still can't see them, 10 laps, nope, 15,  where are they?  I knew we were all still on the same lap as they did not pass me and I never caught them.  I did see all 3 of our names on the main screen all in consecutive places but I just kept the pace that felt good.  The leader crossed the half way point (48 laps) when I was still in the lower 30 laps completed.  I joked with a few of the runners I knew that it felt great that we were all half way done, the announcer said so.  Ha Ha, no such lunk :(.  I did get to the half marathon point in 1:59:30 and still could not see Mike and Amy.  Apparently we were all running about the same pace but on opposite sides of the track.

Mike keeping pace and trying to relax.  (Photo courtesy of Bill Flaws from RunningInTheUSA.)

By about 60 to 65 laps, my legs began to hurt some.  The toll of 14 hours at Pettit on Saturday were starting to wear on me.  My pace was slipping a little but I tried to keep faith.  There were some really cool songs I liked that were scheduled to play right after 3 hours and I had hoped they would pump up up back to pace.  By lap 70, I changed my break schedule to every 5 laps.  I knew I would have to so this sooner or later in the race so it was planned.  If I take an unplanned break, my race usually goes to hell so I tried my best to keep on schedule even if my body was begging for a break.

Here I am feeling prety good.  Must be somewhat early in the race.  (Photo courtesy of Bill Flaws from RunningInTheUSA.)

At about lap 70, I finally caught a glimpse of Mike ahead of me.  My incentive now was to try to catch him and run with him.  Little did I know that while I was beginning to slow, so was Mike.  He was having a terrible day himself (his words) and was not surprised when I finally caught up to him as my pace was slowing dramatically.  I could tell I was dehydrated and I tried to drink a lot more water but it was just too late.  Close to that time, Amy finally caught me and passed me (for the first time).  We had maybe 15 to 20 laps to go and Mike pulled ahead of me again.  I concentrated on my form and pace but it had slowed for a pace of 2:28 per lap and was creeping into the 2:50's now.  4:00 hours was gone and now I had to try to beat my best Icebreaker time of 4:07.

My legs were now toast and it was all I could do to maintain no extra unplanned breaks.  I am happy to say I did not take an unplanned one.  With about 6 laps to go, I caught Mike again and passed him as he was feeling really bad.  Amy had caught me a couple times and in my mind, I was just hoping she could maintain and break 4:00.  She did pass me when she had exactly 2 laps to go and a little over 4 minutes to do it in.  It was going to be close.  She ended up running 4:00:17, a hell of a race considering she ran the half marathon the day before in just under 1:44.

I was able to run my fasted lap on my last lap but the legs were burning and as I crossed the finish line, I was so glad to finally be done.  Mike ended up finishing in the very next place about 4 minutes after me.  My time ended up being 4:13:06, right in the middle of my 5 Icebreaker finishing times.  Am I disappointed in that time, yes I am.  But it is not like I rested too well for the 3 days leading up to the race.  It is all good though.  It was a finish and I am glad for that.

A close up of the marathon shirt as well as the Icebreaker Marathon finishers medal.

After a walk around the track and some water, I was dizzy and feeling crappy for about 10 minutes or so before heading upstairs to the Hall of Fame room for post race chocolate milk, and lots of other foods to eat including the awesome cookies from Mary at RunningInTheUSA.  I did manage to get the very last leg and upper back massage from a very nice lady at Elements Therapeutic Massage.  That helped a lot.

I was able to talk with a few of my friends after the race at a nice table int he warmth of the upper room.  What a great room to have after a marathon with comfortable chairs, a nice table to put down a plate and cups and still be able to hear the race music and the announcer.

Mike had to leave so I finally went back to work. Brian, the marathon announcer, had to leave a little earlier and we had a back up announcer going so I was summoned to the announcer table to take over.  I was there for the last hour or so calling in the final 20 or so runners.

Finally it came down tot he last 2 runners on the track.  Chungyul and Carol, both from Houston, TX but they did not know each other.  The race music list was finally done but I wasn't about to the the music die on them.  I made sure tunes were playing the entire time.  I gathered some information on these last 2 runners as I wanted to make a really cool announcement for them.  With 1 lap to go, they were within 30 yards of eachother and I played the Olympic Theme song followed bu inspirational Olympic music by John Williams.  By this time, the Ice Oval was open to public skating and there were about 150 to 200 skaters on the ice.  I made my announcement on their final lap that Chungyul was the oldest runner in the race at 75 years old and that Carol started running marathons at age 55 and not at age 66, this was her 51st marathon and in her 39th state.  (Wow, how cool is that).  We had volunteers at the race making the last couple laps with them on the track, it was so cool.

I watched for them and as the were half way around the last turn, I loudly announced "26.2 miles, 95.3 laps, Let's hear it for Chungyul and Carol".  And to my amazement, almost every skater on the ice stopped skating and started applauding them.  It was so awesome and I was kind of choked up by it.  Carol ended up finishing a little ahead of Chungyul, I was kind of hoping they would finish together but her, even at that pace, runners can be competitive.

We made sure Carol and Chungyul had some post race refreshments before officially pulling the plug on the 5th annual Icebreaker Indoor Marathon Weekend.  It was another very successful weekend of races and I couldn't be happier than to have helped so great friends.  I stayed and cleaned up some and took down my posters I put up.  I kept the music playing to keep me and the skaters on the track going.

Funny thing happened then.  I decided that I wanted to finish something I had tried a few weeks earlier.  I put my race shoes back on and ran an additional 4.7 laps.  I felt great again and could maintain a pretty good pace and I even broke a sweat again.  Why would I do such a crazy thing?  I wanted to run 100 laps and the 4.7 laps let me do that.  I bet you all have done crazier things.

2013 Icebreaker Indoor Marathon, marathon #45 for me, in the books.  Next marathon?  I am not sure but most likely will be a training run marathon as I call it, the Trailbreaker Marathon in Waukesha, WI.  I only run this one as a long training run.

And don't forget the Heatbreaker Indoor Half Marathon this summer right here at the Pettit Center on traditionally the hottest day of the year in the great cool confines of the Pettit Center.  The Hottest Race in the Coolest Place.

Here are a couple links to others race reports on the 2013 Icebreaker Weekend:

Amy's Race Report

Jamie's Race Report

Keep on Running!!!