PaceSetters Weblog

Who would of thunk that despite flying to Denver that I would put an additional 1621 miles on a rental car?

The weekend started by flying to Denver International Airport, standing in line to get a rental car (a Ford Fusion - a nice ride btw), and heading northwest to Pocatello Idaho. The Pacatello Marathon was Saturday, September 5th, 2009. There were 291 marathon entrants for this downhill event which started at a height of 6000 feet and quickly descended to a finishing altitude of 4500 feet in the first half. I had an opportunity to drive the course and was amazed by the steepness of some of the downhills and the constant turns especially in the first half. The second half, where the half marathoners started, was relatively flat or even uphill at certain points.

I soon discovered that running a downhill course can cause all kinds of physical ailments. First, I developed a blood blister on my right forefoot and blacktoe on the same foot. This shoe must have been loose but too late to notice until the damage had already occurred. Downhills also totally fatigued my quads. Beautiful rural course mostly on blacktop roads through the mountains around Pocatello.

This event did have perks. At the packet pickup I received a nice long sleeve tech shirt, a duffle bag and a bag of Idaho potatoes. At the finish they provided us with baked potatoes and pulled pork sandwiches. D-lish! and made for fast recovery when washed down with cold chocolate milk.

After returning to the hotel, showering and repacking, I headed back east for a night’s stay in Rawlins WY a mining town about midway between Pocatello and Cheyenne WY. I watched the Jerry Lewis telethon and fell fast asleep.

Sunday morning I continued east to Cheyenne and then turned south towards Denver and on to Colorado Springs.

At the host hotel I met up with Doug & Laurie Osterberg who came out to get another marathon in as a warm up for the Fox Cities Marathon. We decided to drive to the summit (14110 ft) of Pikes Peak to kill time. That is an adventurous trip. The road is half paved and half packed gravel for 19 miles to the summit. It began snowing on the top shortly after arriving. We dealt with snow, ice and finally rain on the trip back down. They even check your brakes for over-heating about half way down.

At 5 am on Labor Day, we were bussed about 25 miles north of Colorado Springs to Palmer Lake (~7300 ft altitude). We ran along a 6 foot wide path of crushed stone which slowly descended southward through the US Air Force Academy into American the Beautiful park near downtown Colorado Springs (6000 ft). This descent was much more gradual than Pocatello though a much higher altitude. I wish I could have done these 2 events in reverse. I was hurting so much from the effects of Pocatello’s steep downhill grades. Both Doug & Laurie felt the altitude and finished well ahead of me… and Laurie won her age group. I was so sore and annoyed with bicyclists who we were sharing the course with. My only complaint with the course was the amount of bike riders we had to dodge most of the second half of the course and finish area. Although nice for spectators, I really hate having to wait in lines behind them to get a slice of cold pizza and a drink. Nice finishing medal.

Aprroximately 53 miles on the courses and it felt good to be flying back to Appleton that evening with 2 more states under my belt towards my goal.

Idaho was state number 46 and Colorado state number 47. That means only Hawaii (9/20), Maryland (10/10) and Rhode Island (10/18/09) left to complete a marathon in all 50 states and DC. WOOHOO!!!

This was an amazing marathon simply from the pure beauty of the mountain landscape. I made a stressless 3046 mile round trip drive through Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming (hitting all the capitols) and finally arriving in the heat of 111 degrees in Salt Lake City. Park City is best known for the 2002 Winter Olympics and is 4000 feet above Salt Lake at about 7000 feet in altitude. I had a chance to walk in the bathtub warmth of the Salt Lake and watch Olympic ski hopefuls train (year round) on the same day.

Despite being in the mountains, the marathon was relatively flat by gradually increasing to about 8500 feet at the 16 mile marker and mostly downhill from there. One steep hill at mile 18 took a lot of courage… but knowing that was it made it easier to conquer. The finishing medal was handmade stain glass which looks nice hanging from my Jeep mirror. The temps were cooler than Salt Lake City… started at 6:30am in the 50s and it was 83 when I finished. No real problems with the altitude other than the first mile which was faster than I anticipated. After slowing down, enjoying the scenery, the marathon ranks right up there for organization and beauty.

Next up: Pocatello ID on Saturday Sept 5 followed by a trail marathon in Colorado Springs CO on Labor Day.

Attention runners, cyclists, triathletes, and outdoor enthusiasts that are ready to take on a new challenge.  The Neenah-Menasha YMCA will be offering a new class called Intro to Adventure Racing beginning Sept. 9.  The map-based wilderness sport is defined by deep woods, on-the-run problem solving and aerobic output via foot, bike and paddling. A total of 12 sessions to 12 participants will be offered to help beginners gain enough skills and confidence to register for an adventure race.

Check out these two Adventure Race Opportunities in November:

http://www.yamule.com/events/2009/races/maff/maff_info.html

http://www.fatotter.com/index.php?option=com_oevents&instance_id=20&view=instance&event_id=3

 For more class information, email me:

mail4leiton@yahoo.com

My quest to complete a marathon in every state and Washington DC is close, so close that I have scheduled the final 6 states and paid all the registration fees. Here is my schedule:

It’s a challenging schedule and I look forward to the accomplishment.

Oh yeah, in my spare time I am co-event director of the Cheesehead Half Marathon & 5K on August 29th. I hope everyone will be there!

I have a pair of Adidas flats for sale. Men’s size 12; however, I normally wear a size 12 with with a couple of other companies shoes and these are too small… perhaps for someone with a size 11 or 11.5. Only worn twice. $25.

Contact: Steve Engel at Steve@PaceSettersRun.org

Wow… what a long trip, over 2,300 miles roundtrip drive on Memorial Day weekend and perhaps that took more out me than the actual marathon.

Burlington VT was very pleasant after driving through the Adirondack Mountains. It lies along the Lake Champlain and the New York state border. I arrived at the medium sized expo Saturday about 5 PM, picked up my bib and chip and headed downtown for a walk to stretch my legs. Did you know that Burlington was the home of the first Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream Parlor? And the headquarters of Vermont Teddybears?? It has a real college town feel and the main street was vehicle free and setup similar to State St in Madison. There were street performers and outside dining. I like to try local pizza joints when traveling and after a quick ice cream stop (you just have to go to Ben & Jerry’s) I decided on The Pub Ken’s Pizza. After dining, I headed to and checked into the hotel.

It had rained over night and when I got up at 5 am everything was still wet. I dressed for warm marathon since they were predicting temps in the mid 70s. I parked about 2 blocks from the start in a parking ramp as it started to mist and drizzle.

The event got off on time, 8 am, in a light rain which continued for about 2.5 hours… then a cloudless sunny day. So, I got soaked in the first half and sunburn in the second. I was surprised that the hills on the course weren’t as bad as I expected. And, the course kept looping back to the start/finish area. The start was next to a park overlooking Lake Champlain. Because there are no half marathon events, it was strictly marathon or relay, you have a lot of runners through the entire course. The finish ended in a park down along the lake.

I received a nice (heavy) finishing medal as well as a tech t-shirt for my efforts. But the real surprise came after I finished… we had to climb a steep 2 block hill to get out of the park and back to street level and parking. That climb was almost as bad as the run itself.

I stopped in Buffalo NY that night remembering about my trip last year to the Buffalo Marathon and Niagara Falls. On Memorial Day, the traffic increased as expected so I took a few hours in Cleveland at the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. Great place and it deserves a FULL day to experience it all.

This was my 52nd marathon, 44th state + DC. Only 6 remaining in my quest. Not sure what and when will be next… probably Colorado or Utah. I am also second guessing finishing in Hawaii and may move that up to September and finish in Rhode Island. Decisions… Decisions.

Anybody going to Plum Hill 5k this weekend?  It will be my first running race in a while.  I’ve been running for quite a while, but haven’t raced for some time.  I’m really looking forward to it.

Wow… What a difference a week makes! Last Sunday (4/26/09) it was clear, sunny and temps in the mid to upper 80s. On Sunday May 3rd, New Jersey Marathon brought wind, rain and temps in the lower 50s. Just for the record, it was a 2,042 round trip drive.

After one of my favorite events, NJ only brought headaches. Traffic! It took almost an hour after arriving in Long Branch NJ to get to the registration site and find parking. It was recommended that everyone arrive early Sunday morning since traffic is suppose to be an issue. After picking up my bib, chip (which you get to keep) and a long sleeve tech shirt, I got a chance to stroll the ocean beach. It was windy and there were a half dozen surfers and a wedding on the beach.

The hotel was a nightmare. Because Long Branch is a resort on the Atlantic ocean, rates were high. Attendance for the event was over 9,000 (a record for them) between the marathon, half and marathon relay. My motel was just under 10 miles away located next to a strip club and reeked of stale smoke, even in the non-smoking rooms. It was hard to sleep with people coming and going until around 2am. I had to get up at 4am to get ready, pack up the car and drive over to the event. It was raining. I first went to a parking area which was suppose to have 700 parking spaces in a state park about 1/4 mile north of the start. When I got there, the park was still closed. I finally found another parking area about 1/4 mile south from the start/finish.

I am not a big fan of running marathons in the rain. I have had this opportunity several times already. It takes a more out of you just trying to stay warm, especially in the latter stages of the event. The temp was in the lower 50s, windy and a light rain when they announced that the start scheduled for 7:30am would be pushed back to 8am due to TRAFFIC issues. Really? I don’t think its right to push back starting times, especially with chip timing. If you get there late, you start and your time is recorded. What if you had to catch a plane?

Anyway, the rain subsided for the start and the first half mile is run along the ocean. The course is a loop to the north followed by a longer loop to the south with most of mile 12 & 25 along the ocean. Yes, it was a 13.1 mile loop so the marathoners get to go around again. They had a lot of volunteers and plenty of gatorade & water. I was tired from the start and my quads and hamstrings still felt like rocks from the previous weekend. Most of the 26.5 miles was in light rain to heavy rain. It was hard to determine which way the wind was coming from because this course had a lot of turns.

I was so happy to finish. I was drenched, freezing cold and looking forward to dry clothes. That was a another story. They had a nice medal and a tech finisher’s hat. The record number of half marathoners cleaned up the food well in advance of my finish. Errrrr. They did have some warm broth which hit the spot.

Traffic had the last bad joke for the day. It took over an hour to travel about 8 miles to get the Garden State Parkway. Aggghhh!!!

New Jersey was my 43 state + DC and my 51st marathon. 7 more states to go. After a weekend off for Mother’s Day (and recovery), I will head to Burlington VT for a Memorial Weekend marathon.

I made it back. 2,123 mile round trip drive to New Preston CT to participate in my first 50K Ultra marathon at Lake Waramaug State Park. When I arrived Saturday afternoon, I was a bit concerned since the temperatures were in the low 90s and cloudless. The lake was beautiful and extremely cold. It reminded me a lot like traveling through the Door County area. I stopped for my usual ‘local’ pizza (there were a lot of italian/pizza restaurants to choose from on the way back to my hotel Danbury CT about 40 minutes from the state park).

Sunday morning I woke up about 4:30am to get ready. Turning on the weather channel showed it was already 74 degrees and perfectly clear. I arrived back at the state park about 6am, checked in, and put on sunscreen for the 6:30am start. Lots of little gnats were out and they annoyingly liked to fly around our head & eyes.

Among those participating in the 50K (31 miles) was fellow Wisconsinite Henry Rueden who was there to complete his 500+ marathon (I’ve lost count). There were also 50 milers and 100K participants. The 50K course consisted of a 2.2 mile out and back, 3 laps of Lake Waramaug (7.6 miles each) followed by a 1.9 mile out and back to the finish.

Temps quickly rose along the rolling hills surrounding the lake. Fortunately, there was a light breeze. They had 4 aid stations equally spaced around the lake which had a variety of food, ice, soda and the usual water & gatorade. I really liked the iced coke/pepsi which you don’t usually find at marathons.

The first 4.4 mile out & back was boring. There were few good views of the lake and I seemed to notice how hilly and curvy the road was, my heavy breathing and how out of shape and unprepared I was for this event. The first lap of the lake was great. The road goes close to the lake most of the way with houses built into the hills on the opposite side of the road. There were even some farms with rocky fields. The views were spectacular. The thoughts of jumping into the lake came with increased intensity as the day progressed. By the second lap, I had serious blisters between my toes and walking more was the only relief. One aid station had a sign showing that on the first lap it was 8.6 miles, 2nd 16.2, 3rd 23.8 (and continued on for the 50 milers & 100kers). Before finishing the 3rd lap, I stopped to take a couple pictures at the 26.2 mark (the 50th time I’ve done that length in an event). I actually passed it and had to turn around and go back for the photo op.

Finished the 3rd lap (27.2+ miles) feeling remarkably strong. I got a cold can of soda & 2 cups of ice for the final 3.8 miles only to drop the can a few hundred feet down the road. I could not bend over to pick it up. This was irritating! My mood instantly changed from feeling good to being grouchy and now dreading the extra mileage having to go a couple of miles down the road before returning to the finish. Its amazing how your mood can change in an instant.

I crossed the finish line extremely happy to complete my 1st 50K, my 50th marathon & my 42nd State + DC. Smiles all around. After sitting a bit, I removed my shoes and socks to stand in the lake. Ouch! It was freezing and painful. I only got to mid-calf before retreating back to shore. Because of the gorgeous day, activity around and on the lake was extremely busy. At one end they were setting up buoys and lanes for a rowing event the following 2 weekends. It was fun to watch their progress.

I highly recommend this event to anyone thinking of doing an event in Connecticut. Carl Hunt, his staff and all the volunteers were absolutely great. Despite the heat, sunburn & blisters… I will remember this event as one of my favorites for the friendliness of participants, the volunteers and the scenery.

Friday I am off to New Jersey for Sunday’s New Jersey Marathon.