Grand Rapids Marathon Pictures

Well, it is now only 3 days until my next marathon, The Haunted Hustle in Middleton, WI. Am I recovered and ready? Probably not, bu that is not going to stop me. I have one more run planned tonight after work, a short 3 miler with about a 1/4 mile pick up at the end. My left quad is still tight and is of some concern, but not nearly enough to stop my plans.

The weather is looking good so far. The forecast is calling for lows of 35F the night before and highs of 56 in the afternoon. The race starts at 7:30AM so it should be cool most of the time. Winds should be low at about 6mph, a far cry from what we are getting yesterday and today. It is windy right now!!!

Greg has pulled out of the half marathon which is a bummer but he has his reasons. So now Chaz is going to take his place. Chaz is coming off injuries to his Achilles (torn) and can run up to 13 miles now. He will run slow, well, slow for him that is. He thinks he will go about 1:40. Yeah! That is REALLY slow there Chaz. He will meet me up there before the race so I can give him his stuff.

I thought I would share a few running pictures from the Grand Rapids Marathon.

Here I am apparently rounding a turn. What a look on my face, so determined!

Still feeling a little strong crossing the finish line. Who am I kidding, I was spent!

Mike with that same determined face I had. I see a theme here.

Mike finishes strong but his hamstring is thinking other, nasty things.

Paul finishes in a crowd only 2minutes behind me. That lady on the left is a walker who did the half marathon.

Glad to be finished? You Bet!!!

Race Report - Grand Rapids Marathon

I had a really good marathon this weekend in Grand Rapids, Michigan with almost perfect marathon weather. This was my 25th marathon and I was able to run my 3rd fastest time with a time of 3:45:03. This was my second Grand Rapids Marathon, the last one being in 2007, and I have to say it was just as much fun as the first time.

Paul, Mike, and I left Milwaukee on Saturday just before Noon and headed down around Chicago and back up the other side of Lake Michigan to Grand Rapids. While it is only 117 miles from Milwaukee to Grand Rapids across the lake, it is 262 miles by roads. ugh! We arrived at the Expo just after 5:00 eastern time and went through the quite small expo very quickly. It is a smaller race so I didn't expect much for an Expo. I did find Don Kern, the race director, and gave him a 6 pack of a local micro brew as he likes to drink micro brews and lots of runner give this to him. After a brief chat, Paul, Mike and I headed to the hotel that was maybe 1/4 mile from the Expo/Start/Finish area. Good pick on the hotel, Paul!

Here is a view of the Start/Finish area from our hotel room.

We relaxed a bit before heading to a local restaurant for a little carbo loading with a big bowl of Fettuccine Alfredo and some good bread sticks. We headed back to the hotel and were able to watch the Wisconsin Badgers beat #1 Ohio State in TV before crashing for the night.

I woke up early on race day to let my body do what it needs to do before long runs and races and we ended up heading to the start line about 20 minutes before the start. Paul had to go back and get his watch so I didn't see him again until during the race. Start conditions were great. Mid 40's, clear skies, little wind.

Mike and I started together for about 10 feet before he was gone. He had a bad hamstring but thought he could maybe pull out a fast race. He did. My goal was to join the 3:44 pace group and hang on. The first 3 miles I felt quite sluggish for some reason, the pace group seemed like they were going really fast. I kept them in eye shot and then started feeling better by mile 4. The garmin said I was right on pace so I wasn't too concerned they were ahead of me. I kept a lot to myself and just tried to relax.


My garmin was off some (actually I was borrowing Mike's) and by the half, it said 13.25 miles so I was actually a little off pace and I went though the half marker in 1:53. We headed over the Grand River and went down a very large bike path for 2 out and backs. It warmed enough for me to take off my long sleeve shirt and just wear the singlet. The cool air felt like a relief for awhile. The path was very wide and it was fun (and depressing) to see the leaders pass going the other way many miles ahead. On the other hand, it was fun to see others behind me after I passes the turn around. Mike flew by me about 2 miles ahead of me still looking strong. I also saw Paul finally and he was about 4 minutes ahead of me.


At mile 14 or so, I took some salt and decided to make a slow push to catch the 3:44 pace group. My goal was to catch them by mile 20 as they were maybe 1:30 ahead of me. My legs were sore a bit already but I didn't come here to feel good the whole race. By mile 18, I was at the back of the pace group. By mile 20, I decided to go ahead of the group a little and see what I had. Earlier in the race I saw a sign that said "Trust your Training". It stuck with me so I did trust it. This part of the course was completely flat so fast running was easy. Just before the 2nd turn around, I saw Paul, he was only 1:50 ahead of me.


I had something weird happen at the turn around. I got just past it and wanted to get up to speed right away and was passing some lady who must not have liked that. She had plenty of room but yet elbowed me intentionally. Not sure why, I just ignored it and kept pushing. I knew I was getting closer to Paul so I kept looking for him ahead. Behind me, I kept hearing the pace group leaders encouraging the other runners as I could not drop them. At mile 23, I heard we were right on pace for a 3:44. I saw Paul and caught him at about mile 23 1/2 at a water stop. We stopped for a short walk break and he told me his hamstring had enough and he was going as fast as it would allow him without breaking. I said good luck and tried to take off and catch the pace group who kept going at the water stop. My legs now were having trouble and I just couldn't catch the group. I though I would get them in a final push when I saw the finish line in the distance but no such luck.


I did get to do one thing special in the final blocks. I found Waldo! Waldo was running the marathon and was in the pace group so I saw him frequently during the race. He passed me with about 2 blocks to go and I couldn't get him. Oh well! So I crossed the line in 3:34:03, gave Don Kern, Race Director, a bro-hug, and then tried to get my balance. Took me a bit but then I saw Paul finish 2 minutes behind me and found Mike who ran a 3:22.


The post race area was well stocked with water, Gatorade, string cheese, honey milk, Culver's Custard as well as lots of fruit. Paul and Mike found the beer but were denied as the keg ran out as they were in line. We decided to walk to the hotel and shower up before returning for beer and chili. Ends up we didn't go back and decided to head home instead. We did stop in Benton Harbor on the way home for a big lunch. Chicago traffic sucked, as usual, but home at least.


All in all, I really like this race. It is one of my favorite marathons out there and maybe my #1. The course is mostly flat and very fast. Lots of the course was shade covered so the sunny day was not a problem until the last 2 1/2 miles. The bike path portion of the course as well as the run through millenium park was beautiful. The expo isn't big but has what you need. The parts run though the city have lots of crowd support and the parts in the parks had good and loud cheering sections. The pace groups ran really well and were very supportive. The race director knows what he is doing and has all the right people helping out. While there is not control on the weather, I have run twice here in almost perfect conditions so climatically it is good! The medal is a really heavy and thick with special lanyard. Post race food was good and plentiful, except for the keg running out when we wanted a brew. I totally recommend this race and will most likely do it again someday. It doesn't hurt that my #2 and #3 all time fastest times were here.


I took a look at my garmin splits. It said I ran 26.5 miles and I ran the tangents as much as possible. But overall, I ran an 8:35 pace and actually negative split the race by about a minute. I was very consistent with only 2 miles at 9:00 and 9:02 with all others in the 8's. I guess I did trust my training and it turned out it was good. I think I could have run a little faster if the legs were not so sluggish at the start, but if I did start out faster, I may have crashed at the end.


My quads are sore today so I am resting them a few days. I do only have 12 days until the next marathon, I know, I am crazy, so I will work on my goals for that one next week. It is a tougher course so I may go out a little slower.


Thanks for all the well wishes on the race!

Grand Rapids Marathon Finish

I do not have time right now for a full race report on the Grand Rapids Marathon but I thought I would give a quick update on my finishing time. I ended running a 3:45:03, my 3rd fastest marathon to date. I am very happy with the time but knowing how I felt most of the race, I think I could go faster.

I will work on a race report maybe tonight, right now I am working on the sore quads and knee.

Optimistic Confindence

I did my last fast workout before the Grand Rapids Marathon today. I went out 1 1/2 miles easy and the tempo ran it back. My pace back was about 7:10 so not an all out tempo, but steady. I like to do these short tempos before a race because usually after I run a tempo, my next few runs feel quite easy yet I am running faster. That is how I want to feel Sunday morning, easy and faster.

I will do one more run before Sunday, another 3 mile easy run most likely on Thursday, and then the race. I have an optimistic confidence going on in my head and I hope it doesn't burn me. I have goals for the race that sound very reasonable, something I have done before. But I also feel nervous as I have tried this before and crashed and burned badly. I feel I trained very well this summer and I had a good half marathon to build the confidence more. Now I just need to do the rest right before the race and then just execute.

The goal for Sunday will be to run with the 3:44 pace group and see what happens after 20. I did this last time I ran Grand Rapids 3 years ago and finished in 3:43:21. It was a good pace group and I even tried to go for it after 21 but the group reeled me in and I hung on until the last mile where I faded just a touch but still got the desired time (the pace group was 1 minute ahead of pace).

So what is with the 3:44 pace group and not 3:45? Well, Grand Rapids has a little fun with their pace groups. They created pace groups that run the pace of a celebrity that actually ran that time. So I will be in the "George W's Running Mates" group named after President George W. Bush who did run a 3:44 marathon once. Other pace groups they have are:
The Sub-3 Lancers - 2:59:36
Pi Pacers - 3:14:15926 (get it?)
The Billy Baldwin Racer - 3:29:24
Will Ferrell's Sub 4 - 3:56:12 (is it just me surprised that Will Ferrell actually ran a Sub 4?)
P.Diddy Pacers - 4:14:54
Team Oprah - 4:29:20 (must be nice to have so many trainers helping)
The Penguin Brigade - 4:44:44
Al Gore's: An Inconvenient Pace - 4:58:25

Notice all the teams are pretty close to a time milestone so it is fun to see them do this.

Mike has decided to join Paul & I in the road trip to Grand Rapids. He will run but as he says, only for fun and to "get the state". I already have Michigan but Paul & Mike do not. I am at an even 10 states but they are a few ahead of me. I think this will be 17 for Mike and 15 for Paul. Mike and I will each add another state in November when we run the hills of Tennessee, Monkey Style.

It is a big marathon weekend all over. I counted 27 marathon this coming weekend. If you are running one of those, good luck! If you are running Grand Rapids, I hope to see you and extra good luck!

Am I Crazy?!?!?!

I already know the answer to this but you can come up with your own opinion.


OK, here is why I know I am crazy. Tonight I signed up for not 1, not 2, but 3 marathons in a matter of 10 minutes. WHAT??? Not only that, but I am now signed up for 4 1/2 marathons that I have not yet competed in. That is a new record for me. At one time in the past, I was signed up for 3 marathons at one time. So why the 1/2? Does that mean I am signed up for a half marathon? Let me go over the list.


First will be the Grand Rapids Marathon taking place on October 17th in, you guessed it, Grand Rapids, MI. Paul will be signing up as well and maybe Mike. This will be the race I will try to run a fast time in. Hopefully the weather will cooperate like it did the last time I ran this race 3 years ago. It was cold and sunny, I loved it.


The second marathon is the Haunted Hustle Marathon taking place on October 30th in Middleton, WI, just outside of Madison. Paul may run this one as well and Greg may come and run the half marathon. This one will depend on how I recover from Grand Rapids. I will try for a faster time if I have recovered well. Otherwise I will just have fun.


The third marathon in the nutty and crazy Harpeth Hill Flying Monkey Marathon taking place on November 21st in Nashville, TN. This race has only 200 runners and sold out in 32 minutes! I have no aspirations of a fast time here as there are many, many hills. 3500 foot elevation gain and loss so I am told. But I hear it is a very beautiful marathon so I will be soaking up the scenery and enjoying the pain. Is that possible? Mike is joining me on this road trip to the south and we will both be able to add Tennessee to our list of completed marathon states. Should be my 11th state. Plus I get to meet a pretty cool friend, Bonus!


The fourth marathon is the 1/2 I was talking about and it is the Zoom! Yah! Yah! Indoor Marathon taking place on January 9th in Northfield, MN. I am not officially signed up . . .yet. This race allows only 40 runners and are selected by a lottery. I didn't make the cut. But they also continue the lottery to pick 11 for the wait list in case some drop out. I am told that 6 to 12 drop out each year for whatever reason so 6 to 12 more runners get the chance. While I did make the waiting list, the problem is that I am number 11 on that list. Chances are slim but they still are there.


Finally, my fifth marathon I am signed up for is the InStep Icebreaker Indoor Marathon taking place on January 23rd in Milwaukee, WI. This is one of my favorite marathons so I am excited to be running my 3rd in a row. The price was right as well. Since I am on the committee helping out, I was given a complimentary entry in return for all my work.


Am I crazy? Nutty? Loony? Insane? Etc? Post me a comment and give me your opinion.