There are days

There are days when it's more challenging than excepted. Today was one of those days.

Today I ran my third marathon ever at the Honey Stinger Trail Marathon in Steamboat Springs. It was a very well organized event with beautiful and amazing trails. It's no wonder Steamboat is so great for mountain biking. I finished a tough trail marathon course. I feel like I have joined a new club.

Still not my best day. I know they happen. They have happened in the past and they will happen again. It wasn't terrible, in fact in many ways inspiring with many strong, solid moments. I have had so many fantastic runs the benchmark seems pretty high now. 

Today was just simply challenging. Some was my fault like not drinking enough water. Some not, like three tough nights of sleep in a row. Some of it was doubt, like what was I doing out there running at all? Some of it was not being well recovered from the last marathon. Some was not being as prepared and as focused as I can be. Wanting to be fresher and run more - I ended up walking a bunch on sections that were easily runnable, but the body needed the walk. There was never a thought to quit, though perhaps wishing it was over sooner.

Most for this was written in my head during the run, but as I sit here actually writing it down, I feel so much differently. It is so true how memory and perception change so quickly, and reflection and choice are so significant.

I recall a challenging run. A beautiful run. Ferns and lush underbrush like you'd see in the Northwest. New things I tried that worked well, like Using Tailwind Nutrition products and carrying my prayer beads. Inspiration - seeing Lance Armstrong on the start line. A body that struggled and held up well. I'm proud of the run, even with the doubts that still linger in my head.

Often there is a point that stands out from a post or a run. Today it's nothing specific, just thoughts and feelings from another run, one I'm happy I did.

3%

That’s the difference between my marathon time of 3:06 and running a sub-3 hour marathon. Just 3%.

Being so close to the magical sub 3-hour mark, my mind has wondered there. In some ways the difference between a 3:06 and under 3 hours seems huge and in some ways it seems like very little. It pure terms of numbers it’s a 14 second per mile difference from 7:06/mile to 6:52/mile. Not much really for just 1 mile, but it seems like a lot over 26 miles.

In major competitions, the difference between first, second, and third place can sometimes be measured in seconds or even less. The difference being 0.1% - a tiny fraction of a difference. The Tour de France cyclists race for over 80 hours and the difference between first and second is often just a few minutes, even less than 0.1%. To that measure 3% seems huge.

I’ve trained well for the past 6 months. I pay attention to what I eat and nutrition. I do my best to get a good night’s sleep. I stretch (sometimes) and have done yoga for some core strength and flexibility. I get bodywork; I have a recovery drink after almost every run. I pay attention to form. I’ve done pacing work and endurance work. So it is no accident that I had such a good race. Much of this is just the way I live.

There’s also the rest of life to live from all the little things that are so enjoyable and refreshing like hearing birds upon waking to all the little nuisances – oil changes for the car and such.

I’ve lived well, and turned it into good training and a nearly perfectly executed race. The question becomes what’s the difference to gain 3%? It is more speedwork? Or strength work? Or better nutrition, more bodywork?

That 3% gives me perspective. The pros and serious competitors do all they can do for the extra 1%. There’s a lot of focus required for that additional 1%, to go from being extremely good to being the best, at least for one event. I’ve put in my share of that effort over the past 30 years of competing – and still I’m impressed with the focus the pros have.

There’s a question of is that 3% worth it?

I don’t know.

What’s this measured against anyway?

I don’t know that either.

Will I go for it? ;-)

I don’t know either – I’m still in recovery mode.

I do know if I do, the only reason will be to see if I can do it, nothing more.

For me it’s something to ponder with curiosity, perspective, amazement, and wonder.

3%

Tunnel Marathon

This past weekend I ran my main race for the year – the Tunnel Marathon in North Bend, WA. What an incredible experience! I don’t mean just the marathon itself, but everything around it – the training, the preparation, the rituals of getting ready, the beauty of the course. A lot of this I’ve written about previously - still the finish and experience spawned so many new reflections. You’ll read about all of it soon.

Officially this was my second marathon finish, the first was the Seattle Marathon in 1996 after just 6 weeks of training and a painful 4 ½ hours of alternating between running and walking resulting in incredibly sore ankles, knees, and hips. Clearly not a good way to prepare. This time around I have 14 months of running behind me, besides so many years of athletic endeavors. It some ways it felt like every bit of that experience came right into being all at once for 3 hours.

Early in the year I choose the Greenland 50K in early May as a key race. It became clear about a month before that I wasn’t ready yet for that distance. I wanted a race to focus on and thought a marathon would be a great choice to ramp up to. After some searching I found the perfect race – a downhill, trail marathon, at lower elevation, on the edge of the Cascade Mountains near Seattle where I’d lived for 15 years. What a great way to return and enjoy such beautiful country. So I signed up for the Tunnel Marathon with 400 other runners.

This year would be the 5^th year for the Tunnel Marathon. It’s named for the old two mile long railroad tunnel that the course goes through near the start. It’s almost perfectly straight and so once you enter you can see the ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ two miles away where the tunnel ends. The course begins at the Hyak trailhead of the John Wayne trailhead. For the next 21 miles the course follows the John Wayne Trail amidst the incredibly magnificent trees and lush beauty and greenness of the Cascades. The last 5 miles are on the Snoqualmie Valley Trail with an ending right at North Bend Way just east of North Bend, WA. Not a car on the entire course and only about 100 meters of actual pavement the entire way.

The race was perfect in so many ways. A beautiful trail. No cars. The weather was stunning at about 50-55 degrees, overcast and even some rain during the rain. It meant it was quite humid as well. I finished completely soaked. The tunnel itself was disorienting to begin with to run in so much darkness with just a headlamp, and then the body and senses settled and it was fabulous. I’ll say it again – the trees and forests and groundcover in Washington are magnificent, so much different from Colorado, so alive and lush. So joyful to run through so much of it. A few spots of great views. A number of high trestles to get the feeling of being in the tops of the trees for a few moments. A small, informal race which I like. So many great volunteers out on the course cheering and offering water; the race director was even able to run with so many great volunteers. When I saw the finish line before the beginning I thought it would be quite odd being just a small spot on the side of the road. It turns out that was perfect too. Small and cozy. Everything with a few steps of each other, which for me was good. Plenty of food including homemade chili, Coke which hit the spot perfectly, first-aid right there, the finish line and announcer. If you didn’t know what was happening, you’d have no idea why there were a couple hundred people on the side of the road.

Two days later I’m still hobbling around and completely sore. It means I ran completely, which was a goal. I didn’t care how long recovery would take, I just wanted to run hard and not end up injured. That’s what I did. More about that later too.

I finished in a time of 3:06:04! Holy cow! I was 21^st overall out of almost 400 runners, 19^th overall male. In the master category (40+), I was 11^th, so if you’re doing some math that means there were more finishers over the age of 40 in the first 20 than under 40! I’m totally thrilled! I’m not much for medals, but I wore mine proudly and hung it on my lamp when I came home.

Enough for now, but more to come …