Year 2, Week 9 Wrapup

I started the week deliberately eating less than normal, because I knew I would be doing the opposite once I got to Vegas. Also, Becki and I had a bit of a contest going on the last couple of months. We challenged each other to see who could get the moving average of their body weight to drop by 5% first. We traded off the lead for a while, but I had a healthy lead at the end and wanted to finish the contest before going to Vegas. I knew that if I didn't finish before Vegas, there was a chance my overeating could set me way back and let Becki sneak in for the win. But, my weigh-in on Tuesday clinched a victory for me. We could never settle on appropriate wagers or prizes, so this was just for pride. Still, though, I do like having me some pride.

On Thursday, we got up early and drove to Vegas. The whole famdamnily went, just about. We checked into 3 rooms at the Riviera, ate at Cafe Rio, ate again at Raising Cane's, then rendezvoused with Scott. The next morning, Scott and I ran about 2.5-3 miles. I don't know exactly how much, because neither of our watches were getting a good satellite lock since we were running under roofs and things. So, too bad for us. It was pretty cold, and I had the additional difficulty of having somehow failed to pack my underwear and socks. After running, we went to the running store where Scott got shorts, and I got socks. The lady promised me that the socks that I bought were the best that have ever been made and that I would get absolutely no trouble from them. She also told me that since they were new, I should use a little Body Glide on my toes before the race. In hindsight, I believe that might have been useful information to remember. After the running store, we went to Kmart to get gloves and underwear.

On the way to the running store, I noticed that the Vegas McDonalds were selling McRibs, which dashed my hopes of having a proper pre-race nutrition routine. There are a lot of schools of thought on what the proper nutrition regimen is on the day before a race, but none of them recommend a McRib. (Note: if proper pre-race nutrition is important to you, don't run a marathon in Vegas). Lunch was at Togoshi Ramen, which I guess does count as a traditional carbo-loading. After Togoshi, Scott went off on his own, and Becki and I and the kids drove down to Boulder City to do packet pickup and meet up with Cathi and Gordon and their kids.

I hadn't seen Cathi in somewhere between 10-15 years, but all those kids and marathons have evidently been good to her, because she looks great. You can tell from looking at him that Gordon is a great athlete, too. We talked briefly during the evening about how frustrating it is that we haven't seen each other in so long, and we all looked good before, so the best we can hope for now is just to look as good as the others remember us. People who've seen me in the past few years can look at me now and say "Wow, you lost so much weight! You look great!". But, if you haven't seen me in 15 years, about the best compliment I can hope for is, "You look just like you used to, except a little more wrinkled and hairier and grayer". I guess the lesson that I need to learn from this is that I really need to stay in touch with people better, mainly so that they can see me more when I get fat and be in a better position to be surprised when I get skinny again.

We went into the actual city of Boulder City for dinner. I've driven past Boulder City about 100 times, but never been into the quaint little city center. It's kind of nice. We had pizza while our combined 9 children did their best to get the other restaurant patrons to rethink their decision to come there.

Running From An Angel Marathon 2009

In the morning, we drove down in plenty of time for the start, but saw that it was very cold and very windy once we got there. So, we camped out in the car, getting out in just enough time to get to the start with about a minute to spare.

It was really cold and windy, and I kept wearing the throwaway jacket I brought for about the first four miles before ditching it. I kept my gloves on until about mile 15. The gloves I got are great. They're super cheap women's knit gloves that were on clearance for 2 pairs/dollar. I got them as throwaways, but they block the wind and cold way better than my other gloves, and I don't sweat in them at all. Now, I wish I had got a few more pairs, because I'm not going to want to throw these ones away.

Cathi and Scott and I ran for a while, talking and catching up, then met up with Arizona Kathy (from Goodyear) a few miles in. We all ran together the rest of the way to the turnaround. After the turnaround, I took off down a really long hill. I knew I would go slower on the following uphill, so I wanted to get as far ahead as I could. Sure enough, once I got to the top of the following hill, Scott and Arizona Kathy had caught up with me. Cathi had started struggling at that point, so the turnaround was the last I saw of her until the finish. Scott, AK, and I ran together a couple of more miles, then Arizona Kathy and I inched ahead. Arizona Kathy and I were together until about mile 25, when she started to kick, and I started to slow down a bit. Somewhere during the last mile, I was passed by someone else in my division, so that bugged me, but I couldn't really muster up any more energy to keep up with him.

I finished in 4:16:31, 34th out of 80 overall, and 5th out of 9 in my division (after taking out the overall winner). This was almost 40 minutes faster than Park City. Scott came in about a minute later. (It was important to me to beat Scott, because this was such a small marathon that I was worried we might be the only ones in our division. In that case, I would have a chance to win the division. Turns out we were both way behind the actual winner). This course was way harder than Park City, too. None of the hills by themselves was too steep, but they were relentless, with not a single flat spot on the course anywhere. It was absolutely beautiful out there, though, but it seems that natural beauty always comes hand in hand with extreme difficulty.

The wind was another major factor to contend with. It wasn't always a headwind, but seemed to be always against me on the uphills for some reason. The aid stations came frequently, but they had this nasty swill called "Heed" as the electrolyte drink. I took a sip at the first aid station by mistake and almost spat it out. It's seriously nasty stuff, like if gatorade and horchata had a baby. Because I hated it so much, I stayed away from it the whole rest of the race. To get my electrolytes replenished, I tried to get the salty pretzels whenever I they had them at the aid stations. At the turnaround, they also had electrolyte capsules that I took one of. I was also hoping that the couple of gels I took had some electrolytes in them. Either way, it was difficult to tell if I was getting enough electrolytes. At about the 20 mile mark, my left quadriceps started cramping up, and then both of them cramped up on every other hill thereafter. I can't say for sure that my aversion to Heed directly led to the cramping, but it's possible. I will say this: If there's any way the race director could find something else than Heed next year, it would make for a much better race.

Speaking of the race director... Joyce from Calico Racing puts together a mighty fine race. If I complain about this race and never run it again, it's because of the hills and the wind, not because of the way the race is run. The race was done fantastically. It's a small race, but it was chip timed, everything was well marked, and the aid stations were fabulous. The food afterwards was just stellar. I can't imagine ever seeing a race with better food than this. There was a big pot of soup simmering, hot chocolate, a toaster for bagels and toast and english muffins, pop tarts, yogurt, fruits, really good fruit preserves, etc.. It all really hit the spot after such a long run. So, major kudos to Joyce.

Also, I want to point out that I beat Bart Yasso, a veritable running legend who happened to be running this race. If you ask him, he'll probably come up with some lame excuse like that he wasn't really running for competition, or that he was planning all along to finish with his wife since it was her hundredth marathon. I'm not buying any of it. I beat him fair and square and don't let him tell you any different.

Three of my brothers, Tyler, Carson, and Steven, all did the 5k part of the same race. Steven won, as might have been expected, and then Carson and Tyler finished a minute or two apart behind him. Tyler, while finishing third, had a really good time of 31:15, which is way better than the first 5k I did.

After the race, we went to the Paris Buffet, because I felt the need to replace in one meal every single one of the 3700 calories that I burned during the race.

So, overall, I'm very pleased with the race. I was really happy to see Cathi again. It was fun to have half my family running and the other half there in Vegas. I'm pleased with my time. And, I'm feeling really good physically. I've got a couple of really nasty blisters on my right toes, and I'm just a little bit sore in my quads now, but not anywhere else, and nowhere near as sore as I've been after some previous training runs. I'm actually feeling really good overall, and will probably not take the next week off like I originally planned.