Fargo Marathon (Armed Forces Day)

               Here we are in Fargo for my 5^th time participating in the Fargo Marathon Events (1 half marathon '05 and 4th Full Marathon 09' 11' 12' 13').  Last year I ran the marathon 2 weeks after Ironman St George with goal just to finish under 3:45. This year was a different story as I entered into the race to qualify for the North Dakota State National Guard Marathon team and break my marathon PR as I started my train up for Ironman Wisconsin.  Fargo is a flat and fast course if you need a course to get a PR or Boston Qualifying time on; this is the one to do.  

Jess and I before the race

         
         Able to share race morning with my wife, Jess, this year as she was running the half marathon added something special this this race.  We were up early and to the dome at 6:30 an hour before her race started at 7:30. She didn’t quite share the excitement of race morning with me but she was there and ready.  It was cloudy and raining with temps in the upper 50’s that morning.  Jess was going to run with her brother and sister in law for the half so we linked up with them so they could head to the start line together. Once they took off for the start line I began my own preparation. The marathon started at 8:10 so I had a good 40 minutes before I needed to be at the start line myself.  I was able to take advantage of Jess that morning to apply some sunscreen.  I took in my 2 scoops of UCAN Cran-Raz and had a scoop of UCAN Lemonade mixed in a flask bottle to carry with me during the race.  I turned in my drop bag, headed outside for my warm up and then headed over to the start line.  I got to the start line around 8:00 with the rain still coming down I think some were waiting till the last minute to leave the comfort of the dome as the announcer was desperately calling runners to the start line.

                Had a plan to run with the 3:15 pace group but that morning I thought why not try to stay in front of them?  So I positioned myself behind the elite runners and in front of the 3:15 pace group.  After the prayer and national anthem I was pumped and ready to go. The gun went off and I crossed the mat only 5 seconds afterward.  I stayed comfortable, relaxed and kept around 7:20 min/mile pace.  Not trying to sprint the first mile with the lead group.  Settling in to my pace, I just took in the race.  With the overcast and light rain for a majority of the morning it made for perfect running weather.  I was able to bump up the pace after linking up with another runner from the Mankato Multisport Club who I ended up running the rest of the race with.  He had run Boston the month before and was looking to make another Boston Qualifying time (3:10). I figured that was an obtainable goal with the training I had done prior.

                Fargo has always been a great race with the volunteers and community support so it was good to be running the streets again.  This year the race was on Armed Forces Day and American flags lined the race course which was a great feeling.  With my National Guard singlet on for this race, I was getting a number of “Thank you” and “Go Guard” comments throughout the day that helped push me along as seeing a number of familiar faces along the route as in previous years. We continued to clip away the miles with a number of out and back sections; we were able to see those in front and behind a couple of times.  Ended up keeping close to a 7:12 pace through the 20k and half marathon point, not sure at what point the rain stopped. But by that time I was already soaked so it didn’t make a difference. Coming up on mile 17 I started to take pulls of my UCAN that I carried with though the next few water stations.  (Side note on nutrition: complete marathon was done on UCAN and water.)  I was feeling good and was ready to pick up the pace to the finish. The sun had decided to come out which compounded with the humidity making the running conditions tougher then the first 20 miles.  It was some tough going but I realized it was affecting the other runners too because I was passing a number of marathon runners during the last 10k of the race. We were finally about 2-3 miles from the end I could tell the pace started to fade, my running partner had started to pull away but I just kept the pace I was at. I took a look over my shoulder, there wasn’t anyone behind me.  Now it was just down to the heat, humidity and last 2 miles of the race. It was all familiar area, once I hit mile 25 I knew I was going to be close to 4 minutes under my goal time.  Now just to run this last mile, with the dome in sight it was all coming together.  I had made my way to the dome parking lot and coming around the north side to run down the ramp in the dome. I think just the downhill and feeling the cool air in the dome pushed me just pass the runner in front of me. Which he of course began to race me, I wasn’t going to let that happen so the last bit was a deadsprint(click for proof). I came crossed the finish line 3:10:58 (Results)!! 50^th place overall and 11/137 in my Age Group can’t complain about that.  Last year (previous fastest marathon in Fargo), I was 383 overall and 57/166 so have come a long ways.

                After crossing the finish line I turned around and shook the guy’s hand and head toward the water, met up with my running partner for most of the race with another hand shake. Then finally met up with the family, wow what a great race and then to have the support of all of them at the finish (Jess and my boys who brought both sets of their grandparents).  It was a Marathon PR, qualified to represent the North Dakota National Guard at the Lincoln Marathon in May ’14 and got to talk races stories from both the full and half with Jess, couldn’t have asked for a better race. 

Next year the Fargo Marathon will start on the Main Ave Bridge between F-M just like it did its first year in 2005 when I ran my first half marathon. This won't be one to miss lets just hope no white stuff like there was in '05.  

7@7 Trail Race and MSU Spring Triathlon Race Reports

                Little did I think that either race was going to happen with the cold and snow sticking around, but we finally got somewhat of a break in the weather and both races went on as scheduled.  A few miles from Mankato there were places that got up to 11 inches of snow a few days before which can seriously hamper a spring trail race and triathlon. This weekend I had a race on Saturday and Sunday (4-5 May). 

                The 7&7 Trail race is the only fund raising event that the Mankato MultisportClub puts on to fund events for the club but not all the money is used for the club. It is also labeled “A Race for Your Cause” where 1st place male and female winners of the 7 mile race win $500 each to the local charity of THEIR choosing.  An additional $1000 was given to a local charity voted on by the Club.  Otherwise, the great sponsors that support the club keep us going. So I wanted to help out by taking part in this event. I hear it was a bit of a challenging course out at 7 Mile Creek Park which is about 15 minutes from my house, so why not?

One of the "Walking hills"

                Initially I am thinking 7 mile race should be around 45 minutes right? Well I will get to that, for now I was trying to figure out what to wear on a cool, cloudy, rainy morning.  I ended up with pants, long sleeve, hat and gloves to start.  I fueled with a scoop of UCAN Cran-Raz which kept me fueled through the race. The start of the race started in the park (on asphalt) for about a half mile before we jumped on the trails. I decided to keep a moderate pace through this section since I heard of the hills that lay ahead and I hate getting passed on hills. I started out with a local ultra runner to get some words of wisdom who was well experience running at this park.  After we got on the trails and up the first hill (1 mile in), I figured it was time to step on the gas. So I picked up the pace started catching a few of the groups in front of me.  The hills were the bottle necks, as you looked ahead people were walking.  I also walked them but leaned forward into the hill and swung my arms once I got to the top I immediately started to run again.   I was able to make up some more ground this way.

                The course was difficult but it was really enjoyable. It was the first time running out there so I had no expectations.  I made my final move in the last mile to go on the last group of guys in front of me.  Which got me a finish time of 54:13 (8:12/mile) my watch had the course a bit short, but I am not complaining.  Overall 14^th place out of 122 that ran the 7 mile course and 4^th in my AG so missed a medal there but Eli (my oldest son, 3 1/2) took care of that. They also had a Kid’s 1 kilometer race which we decided to sign Eli up after his debut with the Ironkids race (200 meter race) in St George last summer.  He did the run/walk with Jess but once they started to get cheered on he ran his legs off. He got his participant medal and then proceeded to ask me where my medal was. I told him I didn’t run fast enough to win a medal. He replied “well Daddy you should have run fast like me”.  Yep he is my kid for sure.  The temperature wasn’t getting any warmer so we decided to head for the house.

Eli and his "Winner's Medal"

                Since I am training for a marathon I wasn’t off the hook only running this race today. I had a warm up (6 mile run) before the race and cool down (5 mile run) after the race.

                The MSU Spring Sprint Triathlon is put on by Campus Recreation takes place in the school’s indoor pool then the bike and run on a course south of campus. The distances for this race are 300 yard pool swim (50 yards in each of the 6 lanes), 14 mile bike and a 5 k run.  Your predicted swim time determined your start position in this race.  I was starting 5^th (predicted 4-4:30 swim time) so 2 minutes behind the leader, Paul (President of the MSU Tri Club).  We had some good trash talking going prior to the race.  I kept reminding him with 1^st start position he might as well draw a bulls eye on his back.

                The lap clock started and number 1 swimmer was off the wall. There was one athlete that didn’t start so we had a minute wait between numbers 2 and 4 starting.  Finally it was my turn to start going on 2:00. I knew I wasn't going to gain anytime on the former collegiate swimmer in the #1 position so I swam fast but conservatively to save it for the bike and run. I came out of the pool with a 4:12 swim. The timing in the race didn’t capture transition times so all times after the swim transition is included with each.  It was cloudy and in the low 40’s, so I opted to towel off and put on a dry top and arm warmer for the bike.  T1 was a crossed the street and wow putting on arm warmers was a challenge with somewhat wet skin. I jumped on the bike and knew I had some time to make up on Paul.

                The course was an out and back south of campus with one big hill to climb each way so of course had a good downhill each way, total climb on the course was around 1200 ft. There was a good 10-15 mph wind out of the north so the first leg was pretty fast. I was able to catch 2 other members of the MSU Tri club (starts 2 and 4) with in the first few miles.  I knew now the only person in front of me was Paul.  I tried to keep my power down knowing if I had the legs I had a better chance of running him down.  Keeping track of where he was when I saw him heading back in but lost track as we yelled at each other something like “I am coming to get you” “Come catch me”.  I made the turn around and then the wind I had been riding became a head wind. It was tough going but I just kept aero and pushed what I could. I was able to see how the rest of the field was looking seeing another member of the MSU Tri club (started 6^th move up on the bike in to 3^rd place behind me).  As I came in to T2 I saw Paul running already a good bit out of transition. I came off the bike in 43:27 with my transition coming out of the water.

Last part of the run at MSU Triathlon

                My strongest event, the run, is where I hope to catch him. I took off on the out and back 5k course.  I just ran as hard as I could to see how close I was to Paul by the turn around.  I was surprised with very little triathlon specific training this year being focused on marathon training I haven’t run off the bike this year. So this was a first and it was like I didn’t miss a beat since last season. I was running under 6 minute miles and legs were feeling great.  A few minutes from turn around (little over 3 minutes) I high five Paul on his way back, he was running well.  I just kept the pedal to the metal.  Finally coming in to the finish running a 19:08 with transition so I am pretty sure that was close to an 18:50 5K. Wow that is faster than any open 5k I have ran in the past.

                In the end Paul beat me by 52 seconds but boy was that a fun race. I enjoy having someone to race hard against; I was able to do that last year at Lake to Lake in Loveland with my buddy Louis.  With the Age Group start we were 15 minutes apart so you aren’t racing side by side but you know you need to push when racing that far apart not knowing how fast they are going. I know Paul (21 year old) raced hard knowing a 32 year old was trying to run him down.  I congratulated him and the rest of the competitors. Again the cool weather kept me from sticking around too long. It was a great race only about 20 athletes took part maybe due to the weather but those that showed up had a great time.  It was a great “early” season tri for me to knock the cobwebs off.

Next Race on the docket is the Fargo Marathon 18th of May.