Marine Corps Marathon & 10K, DC Trip Oct/Nov 2022

 

Marine Corps Marathon

October 30, 2022

5:22:24  8,078/11,255  Overall 28/77 in 70-99

Jodi 10K: 1:01:23  2,321 overall 71/258 in 50-54 

            The longest part of this race was the “getting there”. Jodi and I got up at 3:15 Friday morning in Fresno and went to bed in DC at 3:15 Saturday morning. We were supposed to arrive at 4:45 Friday afternoon in DC, but we were delayed 2 hours leaving Fresno due to weather in Dallas and had to reschedule our connecting flight to DC. That flight was supposed to leave at 6PM, but ultimately left at 10PM and got us into DC at 1:30AM. We managed to sleep until 10 Saturday morning and get breakfast with our friends who were also running the race, but had arrived on Thursday.

            We ended up going to the expo to get our bibs and facing the longest expo line I’ve ever seen; it took about 50 minutes to get in. We all got together for our pasta dinner at Carmines and a fine time there.

Sunday morning Jodi and I got up at 5 and then joined the others for the subway trip to the Pentagon City stop. From there it was a nearly 2 mile walk to the staging area; longest warm-up ever! But all went smoothly and we enjoyed the flyover and National Anthem to get us started.

            My legs felt sluggish early on and we had mile long hill around mile 2 to get our heart rates up. Another 50 stater who was pacing the 5:15 group started talking to me. It was Tom Perry whom Jodi and I had met at Hatfield-McCoy’s back in June. He’s run over 600 marathons and all the states 6 times. More amazingly he has run over 200 marathons since being diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer in 2019. A few miles later, I caught up with Melissa and enjoyed running together for a few miles. I was doing 4/:30 run/walk and keeping my miles around 12. Jodi had told me to pay close attention to the “Blue Mile” where fallen marines were honored; it was very moving.

            Just after the halfway point I had to make a pit stop was lasted 4 ½ minutes. After that I felt much “lighter” on my feet and ran faster the 2d half than the first. The second half is where we saw most of the monuments including Washington and the Capitol. The finish was up a steep hill to the Iwo Jima monument and the receiving of my medal from a Marine.

            Jodi did the 10K and then went to mile 22 of the marathon to encourage me and then meet me at the finish so we could take the subway back to our hotel together. With the walking before and after the race, I had 31.1 miles, a 50K. Jodi was also on her feet after her race waiting to cheer all of us and the other runners so long day for both of us.

            The medal displays the Marine emblem and actually opens up. We finished the day with gelato, meeting Clare Hernandez who lives in DC and gave us some great food tips for next few days.

            Our touring of DC started with an interactive International Spy Museum tour. We also had tours of the Capitol and the White House and enjoyed seeing Mt. Vernon and the changing of the guard at Arlington National Cemetary. We got to see the Library of Congress, the National Portrait Gallery, the Museum of the Bible, the National Zoo (with the Pandas) and even take a night cruise on the Potomac. I also took a walking tour on our last day (Jodi needed to rest) of WWI and WWII memorials as well as Korean War, Vietnam War and Lincoln and Washington memorials. Even with extensive use of the metro (right next to our hotel), we ended up walking 6-8 miles a day so no need to run that week.

This was Marathon #178; 37 states+DC on 2nd go-round; All 10 Canadian provinces.

Next marathon: Las Cruces, NM Jan. 7, 2023

Marathon photos: https://photos.shutterfly.com/album/1749132124062671

DC Touring photos: https://photos.shutterfly.com/album/1749136513106573

Marquette, MI Marathon and Milwaukee area trip Sep 2022

 

Marquette, MI Marathon

September 3, 2022

4:55:49 233/358 Overall 3/4 in 70-79

 

            I flew into Milwaukee on Thursday, and then drove a couple hours north to Green Bay to spend the night. The next day I drove to far northern Michigan to Marquette, MI, the home of N. Michigan University. The packet pick-up was in their football dome.

            What a welcome relief to run in 57 degree, overcast weather. (It was 114 that day in Fresno so literally twice as warm!) I ran 4:55:49 and got 3d in 70-79. The first 2/3 of the race was on rails-to-trails paths with lots of shade. I had segments where I'd look at my watch and see sub 10, 9:20 and even a couple 8:50s. The cool was invigorating and there was a slight downhill and tailwind to help, too. In the last section we had some headwinds that slowed my overall time, but I stuck to 4min run/:30-40 walk most of the time. It was really pretty running along Lake Superior in the last 8 miles.

            The next day I drove to Green Bay and toured Lambeau Stadium and saw the Packer Museum and gift store. I then drove to West Bend, WI to visit my old Westmont buddy, Ken Anderson and his wife Pam. They also have a new addition: a cat named Woody. Monday Ken showed me Holy Hill basilica. It is not suggested to do so right after a marathon, but I walked up many flights of stairs to get some great views. Also, Ken showed me Erin Hills GC, site of 2017 US Open; the new Bucks' arena; the town of Pewaukee (home of J. J. Watt and his 2 NFL brother); and I took the Pabst Beer history tour.

            Tuesday afternoon Pam and I got the guided tour of the Captain Pabst mansion. Interesting how he was a ship captain who married into the family and really spread the Pabst beer fame. Wednesday I did a 4.5 mile hike on the Ice Age Trail going to Pike Lake and back. Then I drove over to Camp Awana and got a tour from Mark Van Natta who showed me some great new additions. They included a couple of lodgings that are like motel rooms; all of the cabins are now air-conditioned! I then drove over to Port Washington for a walk along the harbor and a seafood dinner.

            Thursday Ken picked me up and took me downtown to see the “Bronze Fonze”, a staute of Fonzie, Henry Winkler, from “Happy Days”. After eating a late lunch, we headed to American Family Field, aka Miller Park for a double-header between the Giants and Brewers. The Giants scored 1 run in the first game and 2 in the second and had 27 strike-outs (out of 54 outs) in the two games. Needless to say there was not a lot to cheer about for me. The most interesting thing was seeing a Giant rookie pitcher pitch 6 strong innings in relief while having his whole family right below us. They are from Minnesota so made the drive over to see him pitch; they all Hjelle (their last name) Giant jersys.  I also went to the upper deck to take my picture with Bob Uecker, the Brewer announcer famous for “I must be in the front row”!

            During the trip, I was on a quest to enjoy frozen custard at multiple spots since we don’t have this fabulous dessert (so much better than plain ice cream) in California. Also, Ken took me to some great places to eat. Here are the highlights:

Restaurants: Culver’s, West Bend Pizza, Portillo’s, Cousin’s, Wayne’s, Lou Malnoti’s Deep Dish Pizza, Jumbo’s, place I got Corn Beef on Rye before the game.

Frozen Custard: Culver’s (twice), Kopp’s (3 times), Leon’s, Robert’s, Jumbo’s

 

This was Marathon #177; 36 states on 2nd go-round; All 10 Canadian provinces.

Next marathon: Marine Corps in Washington, DC Oct 30, 2022

Marathon and trip photos: https://link.shutterfly.com/Mx02GLOsftb

Salisbury, MD 4 2 22

 

Salisbury Marathon

April 2, 2022

5:04:52 312/375 Overall   2/2 in 70-74

            With a starting temp of 37 and ending temp of 50, it was a good-weather day for running a marathon. I kept a consistent run/walk of 4/1 and felt strong all the way despite having limited training for the last month due to back issues. I was happy to have negative splits with 2:35:30 for the first half and under 2:30 for the second half. It was a half-mile walk from the parking lot to the start area, so it was a perfect warm-up for my legs and back. I had a long-sleeve shirt over my short-sleeve shirt and arm warmers; I tossed it about mile 10. About half-way, I tucked my arm warmers and gloves into my shorts although it got windy some of the time and I had to put the gloves back on. Most of the course was out in the open countryside so there were many fields, but few people, other than aide-stations helpers along the way. I did pass a cemetery, but it was pretty dead, too. I was just happy not to end up there.

After I finished, I got to chat with Bart Yasso of Runners’ World fame. I originally met him at Vermont City Marathon in 2008. I also talked to him at Saskatoon in 2012 and again at Boston with Jodi in 2017 when Bart marveled at all my Boston patches.

            I flew into DC on Thursday and drove 3 hours to Salisbury. On Friday I enjoyed looking around their free zoo and their wonderful library. At the library I found a book recounting the history of Maryland Eastern Shore minor league baseball; the league sent a lot of players to the majors. It’s no longer a leauge but Salisbury does have a minor league team and I visited its ballpark. I also saw the campus of Salisbury University when we ran through it and again when I walked around it.

            The morning after the marathon I found some great walking trails around the Pemberton Plantation Park. I saw a lot of wildlife including ducks and turtles as I walked along the river and across the grounds of the old Plantation. I found a hidden gem in the Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art. The Ward Brothers carved decoys as well as creating other forms of sculpture and art. They were like Michelangelo's of wood carving. For Sunday dinner I ate at an Italian restaurant called Fratelli’s. It was too full to get into Saturday so went back Sunday because I’d heard it was great and because John Pius and I often ate at the similarly named Fratelli’s in Fresno.

            On my drive to the Baltimore airport for my mid-afternoon flight, I was able to take a short detour to visit the the maritime town of St. Michael’s. I wish I’d had more time, but it was fun to briefly see the museum, harbor and historic ships and shops.

This was Marathon #176; 35 states on 2nd go-round; All 10 Canadian provinces.

Marathon and trip photos; hold ctrl and click to go to Shutterfly: VIEW ALBUM

Mesa Marathon 2 12 22

 

Mesa Marathon

February 12, 2022

5:03:19 1559/1830 Overall   8/11 in 70-74

            Back in December at the Jingle Bell 5K, Stephanie Ormond told me about this marathon, and since I couldn’t find a winter marathon in a state that I had only run once, I decided to run Mesa for fun. So, it was great to run into Stephanie at the start and chat for a while and get some pictures. Jodi had dropped me off at my bus pickup at 4:45 since she was running the 10K. They had different parking lots for the busses loading to take runners to the 3 different start locations. Fantastic organization to get everyone where they needed to go and then plenty of porta-potties at the start areas. There were heaters and lights all around the starting area and fireworks were set off both during the Anthem and at the race start. The race began in the dark (6:30 for all the races) with about 50 degree temp, but once the sun came up, it soon warmed into the mid-70s.

            The first 3 miles were the steepest downhill and I was about 30 seconds/mile faster than usual for my first 3 miles of a run. Unfortunately, it takes me 3 miles to warm-up this 71-year-old body so those miles are always my slowest of any run and I really couldn’t take full advantage of them. There is a 1.5-mile hill with a steady climb between miles 4-6 and then a gradual downhill until about 18 when it’s all flat with a bit of a decline in the last mile which was actually my fastest mile and only one under 11 minutes. For most of the race I ran a 5 min run/30 sec walk pattern with the running pace in the 10:30 range.

            The aid stations were well-stocked with enthusiastic volunteers and numerous signs. There weren’t a lot of spectators, but the miles were well-marked and there were some good views early in the race. Jodi ran the 10K and got to see and take a picture of Molly Seidel as she ran by. Molly ran the half-marathon as part of her training for the Boston Marathon and set a new course record. After Jodi finished, she drove out to miles 20 and 24 to cheer for me. It was great to see her and to have her tell me that Stephanie had improved her BQ time by running 3:19! I was very pleased that I hung tough and didn’t drop off much in the last miles when it was getting very warm. I was 2:30 at the half and ran just 3 minutes slower in the second half when it was mostly flat.

            Jodi and I also saw some fun things. The race expo was right by the ballpark that the Chicago Cubs use for Spring Training. After the race we did some hiking in Papago Park and saw the Hole in the Rock formation. Sunday we drove to Tucson and Tombstone. I had spent a year and a half at Ft. Huachuca which is next to the town of Sierra Vista and near Tucson and Tombstone. We saw the beautiful San Xavier del bac Mission and then went to Tombstone. We enjoyed seeing a reenactment of the “Gunfight at the OK Corral” and seeing other old west things like saloons, brothels, and stagecoaches. Boot Hill Graveyard was interesting with fascinating tales of how the “residents” ended up there. My favorite grave marker: “Here lies Lester Moore, four slugs from a 44; no les, no more.”

            Phoenix has a lot of parks with hundreds of miles of trails. On Monday we did about a 2.5-mile hike out in the desert on the Pima Canyon Trail in their South Park region. It was a fun Valentine’s Day hike followed by an excellent dinner of steak and salmon at “Culinary Dropouts” restaurant.

           

This was Marathon #175; 34 states on 2nd go-round; All 10 Canadian provinces.

Marathon and trip photos; hold ctrl and click to go to Shutterfly: VIEW PHOTOS