Race Report - Eisenbahn Marathon

Saturday was the Eisenbahn Marathon that took place from Eden, WI to West Bend, WI along the Eisnebahn State Trail. I had a few friends that were running the race so I decided to join them and treat it as a faster training run.

I woke up early in the morning, 2:30AM as Chris and Paul were meeting me at my house at 3:15AM and then I was driving to the race. Along the way, we picked up Dana before driving the rest of the way to West Bend and the finish line. Since this was a point to point course, they supplied school buses for us to ride to the start line.

Paul was only running the half marathon, so his bus wasn't leaving for an hour but Dana, Chris, and I took the 30 minute ride to the start area. 2 of the buses took a wrong turn and headed toward the Half Marathon start line but luckily our bus driver was smart enough to go the correct way. We arrived and scooted out the back door and were first in line for the 5 port-o-lets. Good thing as the line got long very fast.

Paul running toward the end of the Half Marathon. Thanks to Bill Flaws from RunningInTheUSA.com for the pictures.

It was cool, mid 60's and the sun wasn't out yet and we were in a park surrounded by either fields and a few houses. The lines of the port-o-let never seemed to be getting shorter and it was apparent that everyone would not be done before the 6:00AM start. They then announced that they would be delaying the start until everyone was able to use the port-o-lets. This delayed the start about 20 minutes. This upset us, especially Dana who was planning on running a 2:42 time and was ready to go at 6.

Dana in the lead of the Marathon in the first 25 yards.

I tried turned on my Garmin, but nothing happened. I knew I charged it up but something just wasn't letting it start. ugh! I left my other watch in the car so now I was going to have to run the race without a watch for the first time ever, run on feel alone. Oh well, go with the flow.

I started slow and easy. It was a long training run after all. The race is mostly on a crushed limestone bike trail and was flat, at least until it left the trail 2 times for smaller 3 mile jaunts. At mile 5, we left the trail for the first time and hit some hills. Not too bad, the worst part, in my opinion, we the downhills which were too steep to really run down. You really had to hold back and work the quads.

Here I am at about Mile 9. As you can see, it was sunny and pretty warm already.

At mile 11, we left the trail again for some hills and the start of the half marathon. As I passed the half mark, I asked another runner what tour time was (there were NO CLOCKS on the entire course). She said 2:01 so I guess I was running well. I felt like I was running really easy so I decided to pick it up a little to maybe try to break 4 hours. I began passing runners every once in awhile and I knew I was cruising pretty good.

It was a sunny day out and the temps were rising. By mile 20, it was kind of hot out, at least it was hot for running 20 miles already. I was getting blinded by my sweat as I stopped at aid stations with sweat going in my eyes. At mile 20, there was a good 4 mile stretch of trail that had no relief from the sun. By mile 22, my legs were getting heavy and I knew I was slowing. At the aid station at mile 24, I asked what the race time was and one guy was able to tell me about 3:42. I did some quick math and determined I needed to run 8:00 miles to to break 4 and I knew that was not going to happen. I decided to just run as easy as I could and try to enjoy what I could.

Near the finish line, I was ready to stop and drink some Chocolate Milk.

With 1 mile to go, I saw someone closing in on me. I didn't want them to pass me as no one had passed me since the half mark. I was able to keep my place and cross in 4:05:40, not bad for a 26.2 mile training run. I ended up in 64th place out of 172 runners, passing 25 since the half marathon point.

Dana didn't have a great race as he wished. He was disappointed with a time of 2:56:40 (it is all relative, isn't it) but he did take 2nd place overall. Chris ran pretty good and finished in 3:21:34 and in 20th place but he did win his age group. Paul ran the half marathon in 1:55:00 and in 49th place. He took it easy as he was also doing a triathlon the next day.

With 100 meters to go, Dana shows how he really feels about his performance.

Chris ran OK for the day. I would take his time any day.

Here are my thoughts on the race:

They didn't have nearly enough port-o-lets at the start line. There is no reason they should have started the race late. Paul told me that this happened in the half marathon as well.

The volunteers were excellent and very friendly. The aid stations were easy to navigate and we were taken care of great.

I can't say anything about the packet pick up or expo because Dana picked up our stuff the day earlier.

The course was OK. Many times I had small gravel in my shoes from the trail but never stopped to clear them out. It never became and major issue. The hills helped mix up the course from all flat and were not too bad.

No clocks on the course. Why??? At a minimum, they should have had them at the half and at mile 20.


The shirt design kinda sucked. While it is a short sleeve which I like, it has a big iron on like patch on the front that will not breath.

The medal baffles me. At first glance, it looks kind of cool until you realize the name of the race is not on the front. You have to turn it over to see the race name on a plate. The front looks like an advertisement to me.

Aid stations were very well placed. Maybe they needed them a little closer toward the end, but the rest of the course, they were a really good distance apart.

Kudos to the race for having tons of Chocolate Milk at the finish line.

All in all it was a good long run. Will I run this one again, not as a race, but maybe as a training run.

The day wasn't over. I had the Final Mile of the Kids Marathon that evening. I will write about that in its own post.

34 Marathons complete.

Keep on Running!!!

Race Report - Trailbreaker Marathon

Yesterday was the Trailbreaker Marathon in Waukesha, WI, about 12 miles from my house. This isn't one of your huge or glamorous marathons, it is a low key, no frills marathon. It is also a tough marathon as far as a course. It is for this reason that I like to run it as a trailing run, and not as a race.

Here are some of the Pros from this years race: The registration fee is quite small. I signed up the morning of the race and it was only $55. By signing up the day of, I also saved on the Active fees. The race is quite small with only 120 finishers this year. The staff is very friendly and helpful. Again this year, they had the "Bag Drop" option which allowed you to fill a bag with whatever you wanted to have and they would bring to the 11 & 16 mile mark of the race. This came in handy this year for me. Also, they again had a medal for marathon finishers, something they just started last year. The return of the bell as well.

The Cons were that while the mile markers were accurate for the first 11 miles, after that, they were off about 1/4 mile each. They used a come to mark the miles on the way out and on the opposite side of the cone was suppose to be the mile marker for the way back, but it was off 1/4 mile. Another con is that they have too few mater stops. In the entire race, there are only 7 and some about 3 1/2 miles apart. Quite a few years ago, this race was ranked in the top 25 of the toughest marathons in North America. While it is a tough race, I am not sure it is a top 25. The course is actually not hard at all for 21 of the miles, it is the middle 5 that are quite tough, especially if you are not a trail runner as it is off road, on grass and wet slippery rocks, and this year, a ton of mud. Also unique to this marathon, at 13.5 miles, you climb a 40 foot observation tower at the top of a hill that is the highest elevation in the entire county. That is where you ring a bell and head back the way you came, more mud!

This year, I had a few friends joining me in running. Mike, Paul, and Chris came out for good training runs. The weather turned out to be really good as it was in the mid 30's for the start, overcast, and a touch of wind, but not too bad. I knew Mike and Chris would be running faster so Paul and I stayed together for the first 2 miles until he took off. I would be able to see these guys again on the off road trail since the course is almost a complete out and back.

Paul running along the bike trail. As you can see some snow is still around.

A mile in the race, suddenly I realized I forgot to put on my band aids to protect my nips. I was suddenly worried and hoping there would not be a problem. Luckily I did not have any issues.

Chris is in his final few miles of the race.

Paul took off at mile 2 just when I was joined by a guy named Jay who just wanted someone to run with. He was on a training run as well and we paced good together. I found out he was a principal of a local school and even invited his school to join the WELS Kids Marathon. He said to email him after the race and he would see what he could do but was interested. We clipped mile after mile off at an easy pace. Experience of running this race told me to take it easy until after the off road trail as that can really zap all your energy if you run it wrong or too fast.

Jay and I ran about 15 miles of the race together talking and helping each other out.

Before the off road trail, the course climbs a little more than 200 feet in a 2 1/2 mile stretch on the bike trail that used to be a rail bed so it was gradual but your legs start to notice. By the time Jay and I got the the start of the off road portion, we were averaging just over 9:15 per mile. We hit the grass and the first part feels OK. There is a notorious spot early on the trail that is always muddy and you can't go around it was it is surrounded by thorny bushes. This year, it wasn't too bad here so the shoes were not too heavy yet. Once in the woods, the trail gets very hard to run. Not only do you have to watch for rocks that are wet, but this year, the course was super muddy with a couple spots where snow/ice were still on the trail. Also, the trail is very narrow so single file is the only way to run and now other runners were on their way back from the tower going the other way.

This is where I saw that Mike was in 3rd place over all. After a high five, he was on his way back. The trail slows us down A LOT as not only our shoes are full of heavy mud now, but we begin to climb in elevation toward the tower. I get to see Chris and Paul and high fives again and I finally see the tower. But before we get the privilege of running up the tower, the trail climbs about 75 feet of steps first. Once up those, you have to climb the 40 foot tower to ring the bell before heading back to Waukesha.

Mike was running extremely well the entire race.

Jay and I are still running together pointing out muddy areas and trying to avoid the pitfalls of the dangerous course. The tower is at about 13 1/2 miles into the race and since I had my new garmin on, I was able to see my 13 to 14 mile split. This mile 14 split was a whopping 15:25! That as the mud, hills, and tons of steps and that back down all that. By this time, it was extremely difficult to run the steps so in order to conserve energy, most walk them. And then it is wet and slippery, so most end up walking down them too. The trail is just as hard on the way back to the bike trail.

Jay and I get back to the bike trail and 1/4 mile later, we were at the bag drop. I planned ahead and had a fresh pair of shoes in my bag so I stopped and changed into clean, light, non muddy shoes. Jay's parents were there cheering him on so he talked to them some as I said he could catch up to me. By this time, I looked at the garmin and the average pace went from 9:15 going into the mud, to 10:20 when back on dry pavement.

With new shoes on foot and a portion of a PB & J sandwich in me, I am able to really pick up my pace. It helps that now I get to run the 2 1/2 miles of railroad grade downhill to get me moving. It feels fast as I clip off an 8:37 & 8:48. I finish the gradual downhill with an 8:15 and know that my legs are tired but not enough for me to slow down. I look back and see Jay behind me by not too much and gradually catching up. He has changed to a 5 minute run/1 minute walk but he is running 7:30 pace when running. I am also passing a few runners who are now struggling from the muddy trail & hills. This is where I like to see a few runners ahead of me that I can use as goals to try to pass. I am also passing a few half marathon walkers who are still on the course as their race started a hour later.

A Gu or 2 keeps me going as I continue with an 8:46 & 8:17. I am trying to calculate what I would need to run to beat my time from last year which was a 4:16. I think I need to run 9:00's the rest of the way so I try to keep the pace. Jay now has caught up to me for a bit but takes his break and I don't see him again.

With only 2 miles to go, I was still feeling strong.

I keep the pressure on my pace and while tired, feel like this can only help me in later races giving me confidence later in future races. Mile 25 was a 8:19 and mile 26 was 8:08. the final 0.2 at a 7:30 pace and I finish the fasted I have ever run the last 9 miles of a marathon averaging an 8:30. My finishing time was 4:13:37 good for 57th out of 120. Considering this was only a training run and the course was extremely muddy in spots, I am very happy with that time. It was a great training run!

I feel like I could have kept going another few miles, but I didn't.

Shortly after I finish and see Jay finish, I find Paul and Mike. Turns out Mike ended up in 4th overall and was the first Master Finisher. He somehow ran 3:24:45 even after running 20 miles with me last weekend and doing a good hill workout on Tuesday. He was extremely please with his race. Paul ran pretty good finishing is 3:55:13. We found Chris who also ran this as a training run in 3:35:46. In a month, he will be running his first trail 50K.

Paul ran pretty well as well.

After the race, Mike, Paul, and I partake in another big Pro for this race. The free beer for runner! We watch the awards for the half marathon and hope that the full marathon awards are right after so Mike can pick up his Masters Winner award. Now a Con, we waited and waited and waited and finally, 6 hours after the start, the give out the awards. Why did they have to wait so long???? In fact, they gave out awards for the top 3 in all age groups and the only female still there, was the overall winner. Now they will have to mail out all the certificates, they could have saved close to $20 in postage if they just had done the awards earlier plus made the winners more appreciative.

All in all, this race has improved over the years (I have run the full 4 times, and the half and 5K once each) but there are still some simple improvements that can be done. But for only $55, I can't complain too much and do like the race. I'll probably run this again, but only as a training run.

Keep on Running!!!

Lake Country Half Marathon

I woke up very early on Saturday morning. Chris picked me up at 4:45AM to drive out to the Lake Country Half Marathon. We drove through the dark and fog and started out 5 mile warm up, yes 5 mile warm up, at 5:47AM. It was still dark so we took a less traveled road to avoid all the cars coming to the race. Nothing destroys a race like getting hit by a car before it.

We ran the 5 miles really slow. I met up with Greg before the race began at 7:00AM. He was psyched for his first half marathon. The temps were cool at the start and the sun was coming up, no clouds and maybe upper 50's. The horn goes off and so do the rest of the 800+ half marathoners.

I was there to pace Greg but also get a good workout in with tired legs as I ran lots of miles this week including 14 the day before. The first mile was right on track at 9:02 and mile 2 was good as well at 9:06. Greg wanted to start this pace and then pick it up. There was no problem with Greg but there certainly was with me. 2 miles into the race and my legs were D E A D. I just couldn't keep up any good pace and I knew this wasn't going to be a help to Greg so i told him to go ahead and have a great race and I would try to catch up with him later. This was going to be a real problem since I could hardly keep any pace. I took a nice walk break and then another friend of mine, Wendy, passed me. We spoke for a bit and then she left ahead of me. I continued to walk a bit and then jog slowly as I was passed by lots of people. At this point in time, I was really contemplating jogging back to the start line and calling it a day. I convinced myself to keep going as this was a training run, not a race and my goal all week was to tire the legs out beforehand. I just didn't realize they would be THIS tired and dead.

Mile 3 was a whopping 10:15 but felt much slower. After mile 3, my legs suddenly felt a little better and I could get back to running. I wasn't going to let mile 3 keep me from finishing. I was amazed and completely surprised and how I was able to turn it around. I think it must have been the extra walk during mile 3 but as the miles went on, the legs felt better, yet still tired. Miles 4-12 were all sub 9:00 and I was passing people left and right. I kept looking ahead for Greg but didn't see him. This was good news as it means he was having a good race.

I got the mile 12 and took my last walk break and water and wondered if I could maybe break 8:00 for the final mile. I kept pushing it and faster I got. Mile 13 was was 7:58! I kept flying toward the finish and finished in 1:55:54. I still didn't see Greg but found him at the finish. He had run a 1:52 for his first half marathon. He was happy. Chris finished good as well. He took 16th overall in 1:23, a major PR for him. I am quite happy with how I ran considering the week. If I can react this way when I have tired legs in a race, all will be great. We will see in the coming months.

The race course here ranks #2 on my list for most beautiful courses I have run. We ran through nice neighborhoods and past many views of Lac La Belle. Crowds were sparse along the way but those who were out were cheering. In case you want to know what #1 is, it is the Twin Cities Marathon. This is a nice course with a few hills but nothing big. A nice mix of flat with hills mixed. I would definitely recommend this race to others.