The Time I Ran The Marathon I Helped Make Happen

I decided not to renew my personal trainer certification in January of this year. After a lot of thought I came to the conclusion that it wasn't the right fit for me. At the time I had no idea what I was going to do next and was kind of floundering around trying to figure things out when my friend Chris contacted me about an interesting opportunity. We met for lunch to discuss a little event he was working on called the Milwaukee Running Festival.  And thus, a partnership was born.

Sitting here now I'm still kind of amazed we pulled it off. Honestly most of the time I felt like I was just making things up as we went along. I had been a part of the crew that organized the Great Milwaukee Race for five years- an event for about 300 hundred participants. I'm not really sure what made Chris think I could do that for a race over ten times that size? I felt a little like a fraud at times with my made up title we created. Social and Marketing Director it reads on my business card. What does that even mean? I have no business giving myself any kind of title. The funny thing is, that title didn't cover half the stuff I ended up doing for the event so I guess I shouldn't sell myself short.

I'm so glad he had confidence in me from the start. Although it made me feel better that I knew he was making things up as he went along too. I mean, if we messed up we would mess up together? But... if we were successful it would be even more fantastic! It would make for a damn good story.

I was surprised at first to hear that many big city marathons actually employ a full time staff. I am not shocked by this anymore. Holy shit there's a lot of work that goes into planning an event that goes through an entire city! The fact that we pulled this off without our teeny tiny little staff is just bonkers looking back on it now. Luckily we had completely awesome people step up to give a hand on many levels of the operation. We also hired an experienced and phenomenal crew that has a number of big city events under their belts and made us look really good. Still, inaugural events are tough any way you cut it. EVERYONE is skeptical of you. Frankly, even some of your supporters probably are. A lot of runners just want to watch to see if the first year is a shitshow first before deciding whether or not they will participate in the future.

People expect you to fail.

I won't get into the nitty gritty politics and other silly little dramas that plagued this event from it's very conception. There's no point to it. Our event was not without it's missteps- nothing ever is- but honestly, we outperformed my wildest expectations.

I AM SO PROUD OF US.

Oh, and my reward on race day? I actually got to run the marathon course! 3:48:58

I felt a little guilty about being able to run in the race. On one hand I felt like a chump for not having a race day job. On the other hand? I was so completely fried from stress and not sleeping for the last 2 weeks that all I wanted to do was let go and RUN. I wanted to experience every step of what we had been working so hard to put together for the past year.

Viewing it though my eyes is of course going to be different. Everything was super charged and super emotional because of my own connection to the event.  I have literally never felt better in a marathon though. Ever. And the course was not easy! I started out like a crazed banshee at first because I had so much adrenaline, but as I began approaching all the aid stations I helped organize I started slowing to thank everyone who had come out to volunteer. I was just so happy to see everyone out there supporting our event. As I ran the course I kept thinking about every stupid obstacle that came up in our path on the way to this day and the fact that we kicked every obstacle in it's stupid face. My own face hurt from smiling so much.

As always, with great highs come great lows.  After a week of riding the post-event high (and work that came with it) I've been kind of a sloth. We have a few weeks before we have to start kicking things into gear for 2016 so I'm kind of floundering around again with no direction. I need it though. I'm going to hunker down with family for the holidays and come back refreshed and ready to tackle next year's event with renewed excitement. With the first year out of the way it's all easy peasy from here on out, right?

Ha.

Lakefront Marathon 2015- BQ #2

Yay?

It's a been over a month since Lakefront Marathon and I'm finally getting around to absorbing it. I had the best intentions of writing a recap the week after the race when I was recovering but I ended up pretty much diving headfirst into preparations for the inaugural Milwaukee Running Festival (which is another story I need to write***.) That whole business was an absolute whirlwind that didn't really settle down until about a week ago- after which I then retreated into a cocoon of crime television, fantasy football strategizing, beer drinking and naps. It's been kind of glorious, actually.

I need to process things in chronological order though. Thus, the Lakefront Marathon recap comes first.

So back to how this entry started:

Yay?

That's exactly how I felt when I finished Lakefront this year. 3:39:24. Another PR(!), my second Boston qualifier this year(!) yet... still not good enough to make the new Boston cutoff of at least 2 minutes and 30 seconds faster than a qualifying time.  WOMP. I know I run the risk of sounding ungrateful for what I'm able to do, but honestly knowing that another damn 3:39 time will not get me into the actual race really takes the shine off of what was a pretty good race for me.

What went wrong is kind of unimportant at this point. For some reason (I suspect improper fueling/hydration) I started getting really dizzy around mile 18. I felt a little disoriented like I might pass out so I stopped to drink some Gatorade. After stopping a couple more times to get more electrolytes in me I started to feel better but I had already fallen off pace at this point. That's the story. I didn't check all the boxes I needed to check and it cost me in the end.

Yes, I still finished with a smile on my face. I pulled out a sub-3:40 when I thought even that was lost! I'm really proud of myself for not throwing in the towel. But I'm still chasing that feeling. The feeling of getting to that finish line and knowing that I have crushed my goal without a shred of a doubt.  The feeling of knowing I will be able to actually register for the race that I've been trying to qualify for over the past two years. That feeling is something I have yet to experience and it's what drives me still.


*** MRF recap to come and will have a lot more words and feelings to sort through.

The Calm Before the...?

I am strangely zen about my training right now. I mean don't get me wrong, I'm totally pumped to attempt another PR in two and half weeks, but recently something switched in my head and I went from "I have no idea if I'll be ready to race another marathon hard" to "Relax, everything's gonna be cool, man."

You know, kinda like this guy:





I was feeling a little out in No-Mans's Land because I hadn't run any races all summer where I could gauge my fitness.  But lo:

Oh hey, it looks like I finally beat my 5K PR from over FOUR YEARS AGO. It's cool. I've only barely come within maybe 30 seconds of it in the last half dozen 5Ks I've run. So I do this one in the middle of my peak week for Lakefront Marathon and BOOM. Won my age group too! So happy.

The best part is that Jason came down and did the race as well. His second 5K this summer:

We totally do races together now. It's a thing we do.

Then, two and a half days later I tackled my last 20 mile workout of training. Some long runs I do a "whatever feels good" pace and other long runs I consider "workouts," meaning that I have something specific I try to accomplish during the run (usually a fast finish or intervals.) This one was an interval workout:

5 mile warmup
3 miles at GMP (Goal Marathon Pace)
1 recovery mile
3 miles at GMP
1 recovery mile
3 miles at GMP
4 easy miles to get to 20.

My goal marathon pace this time around is 8:15 but I seemed to settle in at about 8:05-8:10 for my faster intervals. It just felt good. (Or, as good as running 20 miles fairly aggressively can be expected to feel.) The point is that I didn't feel terrible and I was able to hang on and hit that speed for all of the (9 total) goal pace miles. Woo! Plus I got to go to Soldier Field and eat nachos and drink beer afterward. The high of nailing this run almost took the sting out of the Bears loss that day. Almost.

To top everything off, yesterday I did a speed workout where I managed to run every one of my half mile repeats in the 6s, Sure they were all 6:5X but dammit if they weren't under 7!

Pretty graph.

Anyway, all bragging aside, I'm feeling pretty chilled out right now about my chances of lowering my BQ time on October 4th. I'm sure I'll go through few dozen more ups and downs before race day but right now I'm going to ride this feeling for as long as I can:

On the Playlist: Part 14

Tigernite on repeat.

Knock Knock

I'm still here!

Wow summer really has gotten away from me- mostly because of my gig working on the Milwaukee Running Festival. Obsessing over my own training has taken a back seat to obsessing over how to pull off putting on Milwaukee's first urban marathon (plus half marathon, plus 5K, plus Mile Race) on November 1st. Eeeeeeep.

Today I'm sitting here after yet another 20 miler- one that was rolled into the Lake Michigan Trail Half Marathon just a few miles from my house. It was was hot, humid, gross, icky, and pretty much a struggle bus- especially the last 3 miles that I ran home. Luckily, I had not specific time goal for today and was scheduled to run "easy," but even that was a tall order today.

So how has training been going? Honestly a couple of weeks ago it felt like this:

Why? I like I said before, I'm much busier this time around so I feel like I'm logging the miles I've mapped out for myself but I haven't taken a lot of time to process what I've been doing. (Which is new for me because historically I over-analyze everything.) Also, with summer being what it is- hot and humid- those days where running feels truly "easy" are few and far between.  Even though I've been completing all the workouts, hitting the paces, and checking all the little boxes, I was missing that feeling of everything is starting to come together.

Until last week!

Last week we had a glorious dip in temperature and I headed out for a run on Tuesday morning that  I was kind of dreading- 10 miles with 6 at marathon pace. Fortunately though, that sudden burst of fall weather lit a fire in me. I was cranking out 15 seconds faster than the pace I needed and it felt like I could have run like that all day.  THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I NEEDED. I went home and started combing through my Strava workouts and realized that I actually have been making some pretty good improvements this summer. My speed workouts have been tougher than last time around, and although my long run pace remains the same overall- I've been completing them with fast finishes (something I desperately need to learn to do in races.)

This worry that I haven't been progressing this summer is totally unfounded. My mileage has been a wee bit lower than for my spring marathon, but that's really just because this cycle is only 12 weeks this time instead of 18. Going into peak week next week I'm feeling energized right now instead of drained. Now I just need fall to happen and hopefully I can coast into October in top form.

Can I really be on track? I think I might be.

D-Dub-D #4

This race was a reward for me. (First let's just assume that normal people reward themselves with running 32 trail miles.) Although I love road racing and training for road events, I had to give up trail running for a bit in order to completely focus on training for my BQ. I told myself that I would get back to the trails once I qualified for Boston and Dances with Dirt just happened to be 6 weeks after Rockford Marathon so I signed up (despite the fact that I hadn't set foot on a trail of any kind since September of last year.)

I've reached this point with running where I don't really worry too much about not being able to do stuff anymore. Not because I think I'm super amazing, but because I know that somehow I'll be able to get through it. It may not be pretty but i'll get it done. That was my feeling with DWD this year. I figured it wouldn't be pretty, it may take me all day, but I would get that shit done and have a good time doing it. I admit my 20 miler with Sara at Lapham Peak two weeks before the race left me pretty wrecked for a few days, but I also knew this was my one chance to do an ultramarathon this year before I have to focus on road racing again in the fall. I wanted to do it.

Running can surprise you. I have had races where I thought I was totally prepared and ended up flopping. I've also had races where I've surprised myself with an unexpected PR. Luckily this time the DWD 50K surprised me in a good way. I approached this whole run like one big meditation. Again, I'm aware one can just meditate sitting on their duff and not running 32 miles but I was doing this race solo without any running buddies so I approached it as such. Trail running can get very peaceful and introspective anyway so running by myself I just got really wrapped up in the scenery and the air moving in an out of my lungs and the (massive) effort it took me to scale all those hills.

Top o the bluffs at Devil's Lake. Never gets old.

Dances with Dirt is an insanely hard course. It's by far the most difficult race I do and that's part of the reason I don't like to set myself a time goal. However once I got to the top of the bluffs about 13 miles in I realized I was going along at a much faster clip than I had in previous years so I decided to see if maybe I could finish in under 7 hours. (Two years ago we finished in 7:30.)
The course was a little different this year in that they removed the section with a gigantic ski hill right at the beginning. I hesitate to say it was "easier" because this course in general eats you up no matter what. I'm sure the lack of ski hill is mostly why I was able to cover ground so much faster this year although I would like to submit this picture:

Little Trail Runners on the Prairie

They substituted the ski hill section with 6 miles of prairie. Sun drenched, humid, god forsaken prairie. This was the only real low point of the day for me. I really struggle with prairie sections of trial courses and it was physically and mentally deflating for that stretch. I would argue that the ski hill would have been preferable but who knows. When we finally got back into the woods it felt like a reward to be able to power hike up a 2 mile hill. That's how bad it was.


*I would put my finisher photo here but apparently I only do races with no race photographers these days.


Prairie aside, I'm so glad I put this race on my schedule. Although I love doing trail races with friends, I really enjoyed being out there by myself this year. Also, I haven't run an ultra since the Door County 50 in the fall of 2013 so it feels good to know I can still kick some ultramarathon butt- and on such a hard course! Oh yeah, I finished in 6:54- and the course had almost a whole extra mile this year! Not bad for a road racer, eh? I placed 5th in my age group and got a nifty duffle bag. I'd be lying if I didn't say I've been eyeing more trail run 50Ks and 50 milers again. (Ice Age 50 I'm looking at you for 2016.)

But first, back to the road. I've got a little revenge in mind for Lakefront Marathon in October.

Ragnar V and Regrouping

I swore all year this was going to be my last Ragnar Relay. I figured 5 years in a row would be enough right? Jokes were made about my "retirement" and whether or not I would receive a gold watch for my years of service. Dammit, wouldn't it just make sense that I would have my most favorite Ragnar experience of the five? And in that post-race beer-filled glow on Montrose Beach in Chicago I found myself committing to Ragnar 2016.

RAGNAR, I CAN'T QUIT YOU.

What a bunch of weirdos.

Riding the deer at Deerfield Lutheran Church. It's a thing we do.

This past week I took it easy on running (due to the expected #ragnover) but I kicked my strength training back into gear. Man I've missed my kettlebells! I feel great- and oh so sore- and excited to build some strength again for a few weeks while I'm not running so many damn miles. Except for the part where I'm running the Dances with Dirt 50K in three weeks. GAH. I know I'll get through it but it really doesn't fit into my training at all right now. Still, I feel like I need to get out on the trails for a good, long, ridiculous run that doesn't have anything to do with pace or goals or Boston or stuff like that. I suppose I could do that with fewer than 31 miles? Whoops I'm already signed up! It will all work out. Shhhhhhh.

Oh hi. I've missed you.

After I build my strength training base again and get this 50K under my belt then it's time to buckle down and focus on bettering my BQ time at Lakefront Marathon in October. There's no way I'm not going to try to build on that 3:39 and get my ass to the actual race for 2017. 

Project BQ Harder bitches! Let's go!