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October 21, 2012
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Marathon 44, State #38 (Age 44)
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Des Moines, Iowa
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3:57:45
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I first reached out to my good friend John who I haven’t run
a marathon with since January 2008 in Mississippi. Has it really been over 4 years? I was thinking hard about Albuquerque where
my friend Josh had just moved, but John didn’t seem like he would be able to
commit time to train and wanted to try New Mexico in 2013 together so my fallback
plan was to be Iowa. It just happened
that a new runner acquaintance named Rob was also going from Los Angeles to Des
Moines, his trip was two fold, to go to a family wedding nearby Saturday night
and also run the marathon on Sunday.
Perfect, now at least I’ll have someone in town I can hang out with,
right?
Now that I’m in my 40’s speed isn’t one of my goals,
however, something to me is magical about breaking 4 hours, so I seem to train
just enough to get me under the 4 hour mark.
My training has changed over the
years, I’ve always been a fan of undertraining, but this year was probably the
most undertrained in that I ran my 3 longest training runs of not more than 10
miles, each of those “long” runs less than half the distance that I would need
to run on race day. I’m a believer that
my cycling training carries over to my running, so I’m usually able to ride 2-4
hours every weekend. Cardiovascularly in
my mind I’m getting the same work out without all the leg pounding of the long
miles hitting the streets.
Another reason for a little lack of training about the
middle of August I had one of my few lifetime running injuries. Parisa took very good care of me brining me
ice packs and making me home made get well cards. I’m not sure, but must have just been a
strain to the knee. The only thing I can
remember is one night at the dinner table Parisa was too far away from her
plate so I tried to pull her chair closer to the table with my leg. I felt a pop and sharp pain when I think my
knee was extended the wrong direction.
After a week of hardly being able to walk, at the time I thought my
running career was over, I actually went to a doctor, but he didn’t seen any
signs of a serious concern, but and for
about a week I was in misery.
I have a newer friend Jeff who is a co-worker that had
planned on his first marathon 2 weeks before mine. We shared our training stories all summer and
fall and he was doing by my standards ridiculous milage with several 20 milers,
but he was all set for a sub four hour first marathon. He went out a little fast and bonked due to
warmer than expected weather and barely broke 5 hours. I joked with him over and over because I
planned to run an hour faster with half the training! Ends up I met another co-worker Norma who
was also running her first marathon, ironically the same event as Jeff. She crushed it and qualified for Boston with
nearly a 3:30 marathon. I’m not worthy!
So race week I’m healthy and ready for a great weekend. A little scary two weeks before the October
marathon I see it’s pretty darn cold in Des Moines, high twenties, however as
race day approaches it looks like it’s going to be near Los Angeles
temperatures that I’ve been training.
After living in a warm climate there is a bit of fear for me for the
extreme cold, however, my Ohio roots have made me a little more hard core, I
know if I dress appropriately it’s really never too cold to run!
Friday morning I get up and as I’ve done for every marathon
from California pack a light backpack with only the necessities and hop on my
Honda VFR motorcycle and head to the airport.
Only way to beat traffic with the added benefit of free parking for
bikes at LAX! I get to the airport very
early, fly through security, and head to a restaurant/bar at the terminal. I was thinking just of having a soda and using
the airport wi-fi and found a seat at the bar.
Hard to believe all the people getting sloshed before their morning flights. I was a bit jealous, but didn’t want to par
take alcohol so early in the day, especially race weekend.
Lax Terminal
I only had a 40 minute layover in Denver, so before boarding
I eventually order a sandwich early in the morning to hold me over in case I
can’t get anything between my next flight.
Good choice, because all kinds of delays with my first flight leaving
the terminal on time and I knew I would have to do a OJ Simpson in the Denver terminal
to catch my next flight…also another good reason to travel light and not check
bags.
First flight was perfectly clear and views were spectacular
the whole flight, so I mostly enjoyed the scenery across the west. Highlight was flying over the Hoover Dam,
Utah from the air was magnificent, and finally Colorado has just got a dust of
snow on all the highest peaks so was also simply beautiful! As soon as the plane made it to the gate I
ran nearly as fast as I could to (barely) make my connection! Had I missed it, who knows when or how late
I would have been able to fly into Des Moines.
Second flight was a little less exciting, dark outside so
nothing to see. On the ground, pick up
rent a car, and head towards hotel and to find some dinner. Ends up the town is not that big and
downtown is only a few minutes from the airport. I think two turns and I’m in front of my
hotel, check in is simple, hotel is a little old and kind of a “classic” building. It appears restaurants are close by, so walk
downstairs and then next door for some grub.
Table for 1, some kind of south western dish, spicy, chicken and a
homemade amber brew. (I couldn’t resist
this time, just looked too good!)
Saturday morning I awoke, game plan, grab some breakfast and head to the expo. Bummer, no continental breakfast, so grab and orange juice, throw down a Power Bar and program the GPS to the site of the Expo. Downtown I see the start/finish line is already being prepared and a few more blocks away is the expo building. I arrive early, before doors are officially open and find a well participated event with tables set up throughout. No lines, just pick up my packet, walk around and check out all the vendors. On vendor commented on my Ironman tattoo and I learned that he is doing his first in Florida in a few weeks.
Besides a few text messages to/from Rob, I actually hadn’t
talked to him. I phone and learn a
little more of his plans, he had already visited the expo Friday. Rob would not be back in Des Moines until
late Saturday night, so I would see him first time perhaps at the start of the
marathon. He was shooting for a 3:30 so
not sure if we would even get to run together or if I would see him along the
course. I let Rob know I wouldn’t be
taking my cell to the start line, so if I didn’t see him wished him good luck
on his race.
So from the Expo I had the rest of my Saturday to
myself. What to do next? There were some cool buildings downtown I
thought I would check out, so drove around, jumped out of the car for a few
snapshots.
While downtown I stumbled upon the Iowa Historical
Museum. There is a rich Iowa heritage
that is show cased at the museum. It’s
free and a very good way to pass the time and learn a little more about the
area. http://www.iowahistory.org/museum/
From the museum I drove back over the river to the downtown
area in search of a sculpture garden I remember seeing as I drove from the
airport the night before. On the way I
paused to check out the many bridges that spanned the river.
Then a short walk around the sculpture garden with a short
break to check out a car dealership that featured old restored American muscle
and classic cars. As you see the the
pictures from morning till afternoon the clouds are retreating and the sun is
starting to break through. Ends one of
the nicest weekends in Iowa was in store for the marathon! =)
So with the light breakfast the stomach is starting to
rumble so I go in search of some grub in the direction of Scheels. Scheels is the local giant sporting goods
store and one of the marathon’s sponsors.
Ends up Scheels is a two story sporting goods store and fun to walk
around the mall it was attached to which also featured what I think was the
only Apple Store in the state, at least in the city. I tried to find an adaptor for Homeyra which
was sold out in LA for the new iPhone 5, but no luck, sold out here too.
Above 2 photos were an interesting concept which I
discovered a couple stations which you can rent bikes by the hour. There appear to be multiple stations across
town so you can rent one place and return to another! http://desmoines.bcycle.com/About/HowItWorks.aspx
On the way back to the hotel to relax and I made my grocery stop for Sunday’s breakfast, the usual, 1 bagel, orange juice, yogurt, Gatorade, and a Red Bull (for after the race!). Before heading back to the hotel, I found a little bagel shop to hang out for a couple hours and take advantage of their wi-fi for the afternoon. Back at the hotel I got ready for my wild night on the town. Ok, not so wild night, but at least a chance to check out another area called the “Court District”. A few taverns and restaurants in a consolidated area. Of course the Spaghetti Factory had a line out the door a night before a marathon, so found my way to a place across the street called the Court Avenue & Brewing Co. Sat at the bar and had a wonderful dinner. Also while at the bar I learned about a new shot that was popular with the locals called a “rootdown”. Apparently they have homemade root beer on tap and they mix with Jagermiester. Interesting combination, perhaps after the race Sunday I’ll come back and try one, but in the meantime I had to have a mug of the fresh brewed root beer. I later find the root beer is bottled and called “Zimmermans”, a must have if you can find it!
So here’s the first
of two funny traveling stories. There
is this guy on both my flights that sat right behind me on each flight, then we
went to same car rental, and finally same hotel. Well Des Moines isn’t that big of a town so
who do I run into, but the guy from the plane, also in from LA just for the
race by himself. I talked to him briefly
and we joked about seeing each other and I wished him good luck on Sunday.
So 7 pages into my story can you believe we’re almost to the
part of the marathon? I had a great nights rest and of course had
multiple alarms set so I didn’t oversleep.
A wake up call from the hotel, the hotel alarm clock, and even my Timex
running watch! Everything laid out
the night before so in the morning all I have to do is eat and poop when I
awake before the race. I didn’t want to
drive the nearly 1 mile nor did I really want to walk, so I found out the hotel
had a shuttle service, nice, called and reserved my shuttle 45 minutes before
the start. I was ahead of schedule and
made it to the lobby for the 1 shuttle before my actual reserved shuttle. All the runners staying at the hotel piled
in and exceeded the capacity, but we were all friends of such so no one no one
seemed to mind.
With 15 minutes to the start I figured I would brave the
cold, actually it wasn’t that cold, I think I was just being a wimp from living
in So. California for five years. I had
multiple layers and a drop bag that I would peel my clothes before the start
and tuck into the bag, only I was already lined up pretty close to the front
and didn’t want to lose my position, so my outer layer I’ve been trying to lose
now for a couple of marathons so just left my bag along the coral and if it
somehow made it to the official bagging area then I would retrieve after the
marathon.
I was motivated just before the gun going off by a
introduction on stage of a runner doing his 50th state
marathon. Wow, would I be able to do
that in my 50th state some day?
Ends up he didn’t start running marathons until age 50, so he had
finished over 50 marathons in less than 15 years, that’s impressive! Next was an incredible national anthem and
then we were off. The start line was
supposed to be organized by expected finish times, so you could see the signs
and pace groups neatly organized. I was
not anywhere close to my group, shooting for 4 hours my pace would have to be
about 9 minutes/mile, but I was in the 6:30 area. I didn’t mind, it beats having to pass all
the slow runners in front of me!
Driving around town Saturday I felt I had the basic idea of
all the burgs the course would wind.
When I trained and thought of Iowa I didn’t expect for it to be anything
but flat. The maximum difference in any
part of the course was only about 200 feet, so I interpreted this to being very
flat. Ends up the first 16 miles were
actually quite rolling. I train on much
steeper hills, so the course wasn’t a problem tho there were 2-3 hills that I
remember being quite glad when they were over.
As the course continued and I fell onto my pace, slowly I was passed by
the 3:15, 3:30, 3:35, 3:45, 3:50, 3:55 pace groups. Rob was in the 3:35 group and passed me on
the 7th mile hill like I was standing still. I’m a smart runner and not to go out too
hard, so knowing he wanted a finish time 30 minutes faster than me, I just let
him go by after we shared a few pleasantries.
The course had a lot of out and backs so in multiple areas
you could see the lead runners ahead coming towards me on the other side of the
street. I got to see the lead men and
women who were just flying! There was
great crowd support throughout the course and lots of signs. A few I remember, “Toe nails are for
sissys”, “26.2 because 26.3 would be
just crazy”, “your first marathon,
welcome to the crazies”, “Don’t stop, someone may be watching”, “Today everyone
are Kenyons”, “Pain is temporary, bragging rights are forever”, “Having a bad
day, Don’t worry, there are others behind you”, “run quick, I just farted”,
“run like her husband is chasing you”, “run like you stole something”. One of the fun parts of the course was we
got to run around Drake University Stadium, a blue track and they had a video
of you on the big screen as you ran through!
Eventually you leave the city streets go down this wooded
trail that leads to two big lakes we have to run around. Still feeling great, trying to run/jog and
walk the water stops. Tons of food,
drink, snacks all along the course. I
had completely forgot to stow any power
jels but they were handing out GU’s so they were even more tasty, I think I had
3 of them. Also, since 2006 in Cour
d’Alene I bonked I contribute to low salt, so I’ve been taking Hammer
Endurolytes ever since on long rides and runs and haven’t bonked since! Finally leaving the lakes we followed the
river back toward downtown, this is where I passed the guy that had followed me
from Los Angeles, he was running the 13.1 mile race and I finally made up 12
miles on him and passed him at mile 26!
That was a good feeling and re-energized me to go strong to the end.
One thing I’ll say about this marathon is there were more
photographers than any other event I’ve participated. I pulled out my race belt and proudly showed
my race number each time I passed a camera and have some great shots.
I don’t know how long this link will be
active, but you can see all pics here: http://www.marathonfoto.com/index.cfm?action=site.login&RaceOID=18922012F1&LastName=SCHWEINHAGEN&BibNumber=1258&utm_source=SilverpopMailing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=0%20G%20Proofs%20Online%20ENG%20MULTI%2010AM%20%289%29&utm_content=&spMAILINGID=40340488&spUserID=Mzc5NTk0MTM3MTES1&spJOBID=164505606&spREPORTID=MTY0NTA1NjA2S0
Crossing the finish line in
Iowa, my time was 3:57:45 and breaking 4 hours once again. Those last 4 miles I’m watching my watch and
know if I can hold my pace I’ll make the four hour mark, but if I slow down I
will not, so helps to push those last few miles. When you’re done everything hurts, feet
hurt, legs hurt, but the finish medal always puts a smile on my face! Next have the timing chip cut off my shoe and
on thru the finisher’s gate to see what kind of food they have for us. There is a great spread, fruit, pizza,
chocolate milk, the best sandwiches, and drink. I find a bench and sit down for about 10
minutes trying to stretch out a bit and get some food in my belly. For some reason at the time taking my shoes
off on the bench seemed like a good idea until I had to bend down and try to
put them back on. There is the feeling
like you’re going to cramp really bad if you bend that way and then knowing the
hotel is a long enough walk I don’t want to do it barefoot.
Somewhere along the first 5
miles close to the bagel shop I visited Saturday along the course I tossed
another layer of clothing, my prized marathon geeks long sleeve running shirt
that I would have to go pick up, which later I realize when I’m in Los Angeles
that I left it behind, however, my tote bag with my race number I threw to the
side at the start of the race made it to the bagging area and I got my old
shirt that I had hoped was the one that was left behind. It was a quiet and peaceful walk back to
the hotel where that Red Bull I got the day before was on ice and calling my
name. I love the late check out and
took my time getting cleaned up, laying around, and sending out a few emails
including snaping a shot of my finisher’s medal.
Still hungry after all the free food, going out for a bite
seemed to be on my mind and what better place to go but back to the Court
Street Brewrey for anther Zimmerman’s root beer on tap! It was only a block away from the finish
line, so went to see the last few runners cross the finish line and the band
that played all day was absolutely blitzed, so was quite entertaining,
especially appreciated of the free cold beers they were still handing out at
the finish area. From the finish line
had lunch outside and from the patio could see the very last runner heading
down the street. I ended up talking to
a couple that rode up to the tavern on a tandom bike and we chatted for a while
about the town and the marathon.
Back to the airport the terminal was filled with
runners. What’s very interesting and my
second story about a stranger from the plane is that on my first two flights
Friday I sat next the window and there was this lady that sat on both flights
in my row, but one person between us.
She slept so I never talked to her, but ends up I sat next to the window
on the next two flights and believe it or not she was in the isle in the same
row as me again. Finally on the 4th
flight we both laughed and started to talk.
Honestly, she was in high heels and I wouldn’t have picked her out of
the crowd as a runner, but ends up she was the female winner with at time of
2:35. We had an interesting
conversation all the way home about her marathon lifestyle as a professional!
Finally back on the ground late in Los Angeles, back on the
bike, and home to my own bed and lovely girls!
Only 12 state to go!
| 1 | 8:09 |
| 2 | 8:04 |
| 3 | 8:08 |
| 4 | 8:12 |
| 5 | 8:32 |
| 6 | 8:08 |
| 7 | 8:24 |
| 8 | 8:41 |
| 9 | 8:19 |
| 10 | 8:26 |
| 11 | 8:54 |
| 12 | 8:45 |
| 13 | 8:25 |
| 13.1 | |
| 14 | 8:52 |
| 15 | 8:23 |
| 16 | 8:42 |
| 17 | 8:45 |
| 18 | |
| 19 | 17:26 |
| 20 | 8:46 |
| 21 | 8:53 |
| 22 | 8:46 |
| 23 | 8:52 |
| 24 | 8:53 |
| 25 | 9:10 |
| 26 | 8:34 |
| 0.2 | 2:02 |
| 26.2 | 3:45:12 |
| Avg/mile | 8:35 |
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