Race Recap: The Super Hyak Marathon

I came to this race with high hopes. After my Boston-qualifying race in Philadelphia last fall, I wanted to see what I could do on a net-downhill course known for fast finishes. The Jack and Jill series of races (including the Super Hyak) all run on the same gradual downhill course, starting at Snoqualmie Pass 50 miles outside of Seattle. Unfortunately, after historic flooding in the area last fall, part of the route was washed out, and so the course was modified. Instead of a 2-mile flat tunnel followed by 24 miles of downhill, it would be a flat 10 miles of out-and back, then the 2-mile tunnel, then 14 miles of gradual downhill. Still, with a net descent of 1,273 feet, it looked to be a very fast course. 

The only concern I had about the course was that it was on a gravel path. I knew it would a wide path since it was an old railroad grade, but I didn’t know how rough the gravel would be. A couple of friends who had raced there told me not to worry; as long as I had shoes that wouldn’t get chunks of gravel stuck in the treads, I should be fine. 

The other concern that some reviewers mentioned was the 2.3-mile Snoqualmie Tunnel. It is dark and the footing can be treacherous. But I was used to running on dark mornings, and I don’t have any fears of enclosed spaces, so I figured it would be fine. I bought a cheap headlamp at Target for the tunnel, planning to drop it at the end of the tunnel like most participants do in this race. 

On race morning, I drove from our hotel in Seattle to the pass, then parked just 50 meters from the start. It was a chilly morning, so I sat in the car until a few minutes before the start time, then lined up to get ready to go. It’s a small race, limited to 500 runners by the state park service which maintains the trail. Soon we were off, heading east towards Lake Keechelus at the top of Snoqualmie Pass. The trail follows the edge of the lake, so it’s flat as a tabletop. The gravel near the start line was quite rough, but it evened out after a half mile or so, and I was able to get a nice running rhythm going. There was a 3:35 pacer, which was convenient since my main goal for the race was to beat my Philly time of 3:37:25. 

Unfortunately the pacer was running a little faster than I was planning on pacing my race. I wanted to run about 8:15 per mile, which works out to a 3:36 marathon, and I could pick up the pace when I got to the downhill part if I felt good. The pacer was running closer to an 8:00 pace, which is really a 3:30 marathon pace. He wasn’t far behind the official 3:30 pacer. So I backed off a bit but still ended up running a little faster than planned. When I reached the turnaround at Mile 5, I was actually at an 8:00 pace for the race myself—and still behind the 3:35 pacer!

Heading back towards the start, I consciously slowed my pace, trying to get closer to that 8:15 I had planned on. I ran through the 10-mile marker at the start line in an 8:18 for that mile. Tunnel ahead!

Within a half mile, I was at the tunnel entrance. I turned on the headlamp I had been wearing since the start of the race and ran inside. It was dark. Really dark. Was my light even on? I waved my hand in front of the headlamp and saw that it was on, but it was barely illuminating the path, which was quite uneven. I took off the headlamp and held it like a flashlight to get it closer to the path, which I could now just barely see. I guess that’s the difference between an $8.99-for-two Target special and the $50 running headlamp I normally use! As I shuffled carefully along in the damp tunnel, my pace slowed. A runner passed me and I tried staying close behind him, but I was struggling to find smooth ground, and I had to slow down to avoid a tumble. My first mile in the tunnel was an 8:48. As I got used to the surface, which was kind of a hard, gritty, dense, wet, rutty gravel, I was able to pick up the pace a bit, and ran an 8:24 for Mile 12.

Finally I emerged from the tunnel! I could see the trail now, and soon the downhill section would start. Unfortunately, the gravel also got rougher in this section. The tunnel had taken a lot out of me, and now my feet were aching as the gravel pounded me with every step. I couldn’t get into any kind of a rhythm. Mile 13 was 8:39. Though the downhill section had started, this wasn’t feeling easier. I have a Morton’s neuroma on my left foot, which causes pain on my footpad, but which I can usually manage with the right combination of footwear and a bit of a modification to my stride. In this gravel, I couldn’t run a consistent stride pattern, and every few steps I would land awkwardly and deliver a piercing pain up my left leg. Mile 14 was 9:11. To beat my time from Philly, I needed to be running 8:15s. I had hoped to be going even faster than that on this section, but I could see that would be impossible. Was it worth it to continue?

I walked for 30 seconds as I consumed a gel, then started back running, hoping that brief break would allow me to get back to pace. It didn’t work, and I was running slower than ever. I could probably limp to the finish, but it would be a very painful slog. 

After a few minutes, I did the math in my head. I could stop now and walk 4 miles back to the start, or I could keep going for 12 miles to the finish line, with a lot of pain and a disappointing finish time. I decided to stop. This would be my first-ever marathon DNF. 

I stopped my Garmin, turned around, and headed back towards the start. As I passed all the runners who were still heading for the finish, I wondered if I had made the right decision. I knew they all had different goals from me. Some were older than me, still on track for a BQ. For some, it might have been their first marathon, or their fastest. For me, it was none of those things. I had tried to reach my own goal, but that was clearly not going to happen today. Stopping was the right decision, at least for me. 

After a chilly passage back through the tunnel, I finally made it back to my car. Soon I would be headed back down the mountain with a hot cup of coffee. Definitely the right decision! 

Click here for the Strava record of my race

Race Recap: the Philadelphia Marathon

Standing in the corral at the start of the Philadelphia Marathon, I went over my race plan in my head: take it easy the first two miles, then pick it up to my planned race pace of 8:20 per mile. If I could hold that pace, I should finish in around 3 hours and 40 minutes, comfortably qualifying for Boston by 10 minutes.

I signed up for this race because a bunch of friends were doing it, but also because of where it lands on the calendar. I’m 58 years old, but this race counts as a qualifier for the 2027 Boston Marathon, when I’ll be 60, and 60-year-olds get an extra 20 minutes of qualifying time compared to the 55-59 age group. 

It was a crisp fall morning, about 35 degrees. I was wearing an old sweatshirt over my running gear, planning to discard it before the race started (the race will donate these discards to Salvation Army). 

Just me and 12,000+ friends, getting ready to run...

The time passed quickly, and soon we were on our way! There was plenty of room to run on the wide Benjamin Franklin Parkway, and everyone around me was running a similar, comfortable pace. 

The first couple miles took us through downtown Philadelphia, which made me worry about whether the pace my Garmin displayed was accurate. GPS watches are notoriously inaccurate among tall buildings, and we were running through a sea of them. I would only know my true pace when I passed a mile marker. My watch was showing a pace of 8:00 per mile, too fast for my plan. But I felt very comfortable and was breathing easily, so I just decided to maintain this pace. My watch recorded 8:02 for Mile 1 and, surprisingly, I passed the mile marker just a few seconds later. If this was too fast, it sure felt good! I decided to continue running by feel and ran the next mile at 7:56 by my watch. This time the mile marker came 12 seconds later. It seemed that I was losing about 6 seconds per mile compared to what my watch was telling me, and this pattern continued for the next several miles. But I also continued to feel like this was an easy pace, so I clicked off mile after mile right around 8:00 by my watch (more like 8:06 by the course markers). 

I knew my wife Greta and running buddies Natalie, Lori, and Elizabeth were planning to cheer the runners around Mile 6, so I started looking for them at Mile 5. The spectators were lined up 2-deep along both sides of the road, so it was tough to try to pick them out of the crowd. Mile 6 went by, and Mile 7, with no sign of them. As it turned out they saw me near the Mile 7 marker and were screaming my name, I just somehow missed them! Here’s a video Natalie took as I passed by, seemingly oblivious!

Mile 8 included the first hill of the race, a gradual incline of maybe 70 feet. I gave myself permission to slow down but I didn’t slow by much, running an 8:08. Mile 10 had a bigger hill, and this was our first chance to see the runners ahead of us because the course looped back on itself. The runners we were seeing running the opposite direction were about 2 miles ahead of us. I thought I might see one of the two Lindsays, who were trying to run in the 3:05-3:15 range, but they weren’t quite that far ahead of me. 

For Mile 10 I ran my slowest mile yet, an 8:15—still faster than my planned pace, even adjusting for the course, which was stubbornly 6 seconds longer on every mile compared to my watch. I didn’t know exactly much faster I was running than my plan, but I knew I would have an easy way to tell when I got to the halfway point of the race. My goal pace would put me there in 1:50, so I made a mental note to check it when I arrived. 

The course looped around the Centennial Arboretum, then went back down the big hill at Mile 12, and I continued to run 10-20 seconds faster than goal pace. 

My fueling strategy for this race was aggressive—consume a total of 13 gels, about one every two miles. I had downloaded the course map to my watch and that map indicated there were 13 aid stations, so I decided to consume a gel right before each aid station, then grab a cup of water to wash it down. This was working well, but it seemed that the aid stations were coming faster than once every two miles. I was worried I would run out of gels. I decided to skip a gel at the next aid station.

Now on Mile 13, we were running up what I believed to be the last big hill of the race. As with the previous two, it wasn’t too steep, and again I didn’t slow down much. Once again here I ran right past Natalie, Lori, and Elizabeth as they screamed my name and I didn’t notice! Once again Natalie recorded my oblivious, steady run directly in front of them!

 

At the top of the hill I passed the Mile 13 marker, and then an unmarked timing mat which had to have been the halfway point. This is the first marathon I’ve ever done without at least a sign at the halfway point. Often there’s a big banner or something to run through, but it was clear enough I’d made it halfway. Time: 1:46:44—more than 3 minutes faster than my goal pace! I did some quick math in my head and determined that I could run an 8:45 pace from here on out and still meet my goal.

I was starting to feel the effect of so many miles under my feet but decided to press on at the pace I’d been running. If I crashed later on I’d have an even bigger cushion. Once again at the top of this hill we ran around a loop and then doubled back past the rest of the field before heading down a hill to the Schuylkill River at about Mile 16. From here it was basically one long out-and-back along the river to the finish. I held on to my 8:00-8:10 pace through Mile 17, eating a gel before every aid station but still worried that I was going to run out before the end of the race. I decided to keep consuming gels every time, then just deal with it after that. Worst-case scenario I could use the Nuun provided on the race course or grab a "fruit bar," offered at a few of the aid stations. I passed the overall race leader and then the women's leader heading back towards the finish, their day nearly done. They were absolutely flying!

At the aid station around Mile 17.7, some guy cut me off and I had to move quickly around him. Then a woman crossed behind me and passed me on the left, tripping me as she went by. Fortunately I was able to stay on my feet, but I felt a cramp in my left hamstring as I regained my balance. I told the woman to be more careful next time, and she said it was my fault for cutting her off. Whatever. I tried to shake off the cramp and kept running, distracting myself from my discomfort by looking for the Lindsays among the runners headed back towards the finish line.

I knew my watch wasn't accurate, but I'd have another chance to check my progress when I reached the 20-mile marker, now less than 2 miles away. After a few quiet miles along the river, the crowds along the course began to grow again, providing a much-needed boost! I ran through Mile 19 in 8:21 by my watch—my slowest mile yet, and slower than my goal pace. But I knew I had a lot of time in the bank; I just didn't know exactly how much. 

I slowed even more as I approached Mile 20, finally clicking through that barrier (on my watch) at an 8:23 pace. Still a little slower but probably not a problem. When would I see the official marker? The flags were barely higher than the heads of the runners ahead of me on the course; often I would see the clock below the flag before I spotted the mile marker. Finally it came into view, and I looked at the total time on my watch: 2:44:00. I had 56 minutes to run 6.2 miles. I could run a 9-minute pace and still beat my goal time. Shortly after this, I reached the turnaround. I was headed back toward the finish line, with less than 6 miles to go!

At the aid station at Mile 21.5, I consumed my last gel. With less than 5 miles to go, I hoped this wouldn't be a problem. I had consumed, I believed, 13 gels over the course of the race, plus one right before the start, more than I'd ever taken during a marathon. Surely this would be enough. (As it turned out, when I got back to my room I saw there was one more gel in my running vest, so I'd actually only consumed 12 during the race!) I ran Mile 22 in 8:39 by my watch, my slowest mile yet, but still faster than what I needed. I decided to let myself walk just a bit at each aid station, to make sure I got plenty of water (and a little break). 

Now I was getting text notifications on my watch. My training group was congratulating Lindsay on her finish. Text after text proclaimed that she had run a 3:08, a huge PR! This was great but I needed to see my stats! Despite this, I maintained my pace: 8:28 for Mile 23. Just over 2 miles left! Now the other Lindsay finished, with another PR: 3:14! More texts followed, filling up my watch with notifications and blocking the all-important pace field. I did manage to see my 8:38 time for Mile 24. I was going to make it. Just keep running, Munger!

When I reached the Mile 25 marker, people in the crowd started yelling "one mile to go!" In my head I corrected them: 1.2 miles. Do not neglect that last 0.2 miles! I also told myself I could run faster. I passed the official "1 mile to go" sign. Keep pushing! Would there be a 1K to go sign? 800 meters? No. The mile seemed to take an eternity, but I did manage to keep my pace up. My watch clicked Mile 26 in 8:34. Maybe a half-mile left? Finally I passed the Mile 26 marker. Where was the finish line?

At last I did see the finish arch, with its big clock, away in the distance. How could that tiny arch be less than two tenths of a mile away? Greta was here in the bleachers, cheering me on, but once again, I failed to see her. I was focused on the finish. I crossed the line. I could stop running. I stopped my watch. The time was 3:37:28 (officially 3:37:25). I had beaten my goal by 2:35. I had qualified for Boston by more than 12 minutes! My 18th marathon, at age 58, was my second fastest. 

I stumbled through the finisher area, collected my medal and Mylar blanket, and made my way to the family meetup area, where for the first time all day, I found my wife Greta waiting for me. It was a great day.

Glad to be done!

As I mentioned before, my running buddies also did well: The Lindsays, and Lon and Chris ahead of me, and Jenny behind me, with a Boston qualifier! Michele had a good race too, and Marc struggled but still managed to finish. It was a great day for all of us.

If you haven't have enough stats, head on over to Strava for the details on my race.

Race Recap: Around the Crown 10k

The Around the Crown 10k has become the premier running event in Charlotte. Yet despite the fact that it takes place just 20 miles down the road from where I live, somehow I managed to miss the first 6 runnings of the event. This year I decided I'd just sign up months in advance, so I'd have to run it!

Fast-forward to 6 days ago, when I was just getting back from a massive 6-week road trip. I wasn't feeling great, and I feared I may be picking up some sort of illness. Sure enough, the next morning, I barely managed to get out of bed, let alone join my running buddies for my first group run in nearly two months. I ended up missing three days of running, finally getting going on an easy 5-miler on Thursday. My race was on Sunday. Each day I felt just a little better, and by Saturday I felt like I could at least give the race a go. My watch tells the story with this graph of my HRV over the past week. 

This graph roughly correlates to how I felt this week

Even though I felt a lot better as I got up this morning, today's HRV of 44ms was still considerably lower than my healthy average of ~55ms. I had a bite to eat, collected my gear, and headed out the door at 6:15, in plenty of time to make the 30-minute drive to Charlotte and warm up for the 7:30 start. I was driving down I-77, jamming to some Talking Heads, when suddenly I noticed that a critical bit of my race kit was missing: My bib number! I knew there was probably some way to retrieve the number at the race start, but it would involve waiting in a bunch of lines and also some embarrassment. I did a quick calculation and figured I could turn around, get the number, and still make it to the race on time. I made a quick exit and headed home. By the time I was back on the road my ETA at the race start was 7:20. I'd have to park and make it to my corral in less than 10 minutes. Fortunately this was downtown Charlotte and there were parking lots everywhere, so I was pretty sure I could make it. And I did make it, but not in time for any sort of warm-up. Instead I just stood nervously in the start corral with 7,600 of my best friends.

The vibe was definitely a little tense at this point

I wasn't positioned quite at the front of my corral, but I figured that since I hadn't had a chance to warm up, this would probably end up being a good thing. I could run my way into race pace. It's a hilly race, and between that and coming off an illness, I doubted I'd be anywhere close to a PR anyways, so no worries about any of that. On the other hand, I hate doing races when I'm not going all-out, so once I got through the first mile, I planned to go as hard as I could to the finish.

The first mile of the race was basically flat as we made our way through city streets towards I-277, a short section of interstate that circles downtown Charlotte. I tried to keep my pace relatively easy while staying with the runners around me. If I was perfectly healthy I think I could run this race in under 7-minute mile pace, but today I'd be happy if I ended up with something around 7:30/mile. Mile 1: 7:28.

Next we headed down an onramp and then made a 180-degree turn to head east on I-277. Here I could see hundreds of runners stretched out ahead, as well as the runners "behind" me who were now above me on the overpass:

It was pretty cool to run on an Interstate that I've driven a lot!

The next two miles would trend downhill on I-277 as we ran along the south side of downtown Charlotte, then turned north and ran along the east side of the city center. I picked up the pace and began passing folks right and left. Every time we went under an overpass, there would be dozens of fans cheering us on with the usual "Worst Parade Ever" and "Hey Random Stranger -- You Got This" signs. I still chuckle when I see the same signs I've seen dozens of times before, so they do work! Mile 2: 7:09. Mile 3: 7:13.

I was prepared for Mile 4, which featured the biggest climb of the race, about 100 vertical feet in a half-mile. It was just after we started to head back west on the north side of the city. The mile marker to start the mile, everyone around me agreed, was out of place, around 3.2 miles in to the race. The hill didn't care. I told myself it was okay to go as slow as 8:00 per mile on the hill as long as I picked the pace back up at the top. The hill would end about 0.7 miles into Mile 4, and we'd have a third of a mile to recover. I passed quite a few people on the hill, thanks to a lot of hill training this summer in Santa Fe at 7,300 feet elevation. I did pick up the pace as I crested the hill, and had a 7:46 split for Mile 4.

Mile 5 gave us another chance to recover from the big hill, as it was mostly downhill. Here we exited the freeway and headed back onto city streets. 7:11. I knew there was one more hill, but I couldn't remember exactly where it was. That said, we were running out of real estate. It came at Mile 5.2. It wasn't as steep as the hill in Mile 4, but it was just as long, and I was more tired for this one. I reminded myself there was less than a mile to go, and willed myself on. I did manage to run Mile 6 a little faster than Mile 4, at 7:39. Now there was just one last corner, and one last straightaway to the finish. I put everything I had into it, then crossed the line.

My watch had the course a little short, at 6.12 miles. By my watch, my average pace was 7:28 / mile, which was under my revised post-illness goal. I'll take it. Officially my pace was 7:18 and my time was 45:20, 13th out of 130 in my age group. I'll use this as my baseline as I start to train for the Philadelphia Marathon, November 23. 

Afterward I met up with several of my running buddies. Everyone had a great time and everyone agreed that that Mile 3 marker was WAY long!

Planning to do a lot more running with these great folks in the coming months!

If you'd like more data, check out my Strava record of the race.

Duathlon Nationals, Omaha 2025

I’ve run the Sprint Duathlon National Championships a few times, and qualified for the world championships by finishing near the top of my age group. But due to COVID and other factors, I’ve never managed to get to the actual world championship event. So this year I decided to try to make a world team and then actually go to the championship! The race this year is in Omaha, and for some reason I wasn’t able to convince my wife or anyone else to join me here, so there are not really any photos of the event. But being here by myself does mean I have time to write a post about the race, so if you like to read, you’re in luck!

I grew up watching Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom on TV, so I was actually kind of excited to go to Omaha to race, which was actually sponsored by…you guessed it, Mutual of Omaha! They have a building in Omaha and everything!

[I was going to add a photo of the building but it turns out Blogger won’t let me do that on my phone. Just imagine a medium-sized building with a Mutual of Omaha sign on the top]

Anyways, I got to the race start this morning and set up my bike in the transition area. After a quick warm-up run we were soon lining up in the start area. The race has 3 legs: a 5k run, a 20k ride, and a 2.5k run. My plan was to run about a 6:45 pace on the first run. I wasn’t feeling great this morning but I hoped race-day adrenaline would carry me through. After I settled in to what felt like a good pace, I looked at my watch and saw I was running about 6:35 pace. Not bad. I wasn’t feeling great also passing quite a few runners who clearly had started off too fast, which is always a good feeling. Then my watch beeped and I glanced down at it: “Performance Condition: 11”. Eleven? I thought. Usually it doesn’t go any higher than three or four! Clearly something is wrong! I think the high performance condition was supposed to give me confidence but since I had never seen it this high, it was doing the opposite. I ended up running a 6:46 for the mile, but then things started to get tough. The same effort was showing up on my watch as a 7:00 pace. I did everything I could to bring the pace back down, but I didn’t want to blow up. I was still passing runners so I wasn’t exactly choking. Mile 2: 6:55. Now I just needed to hang on until I got to the bike. I was settled in behind a couple guys and I figured if I stayed with them we could team up on the ride, which was draft-legal. We cruised through Mile 3 in 6:59. Finally we were on the grass running towards transition. I stumbled and nearly fell on the uneven grass. My Hoka “supershoes” were not made for this! 

My plan for the bike was to not change shoes. I had put flat pedals on the bike so I could save time in transition—critical in this short race. I quickly snapped on my helmet and ran with my bike to the start of the course. Then I heard a spectator yelling “number 639, your helmet’s on backwards!” Really? Me? It was a new helmet and I hadn’t used it much, so I guess it was a possibility. I stopped and took it off, and sure enough, I had put the *@$& thing on backwards. I probably lost 30 seconds fixing it, losing any advantage I had gained by riding in my running shoes. Finally I got on the bike and got to riding. There were a couple guys near me so I decided to try to stick with them and see if we could work together. Unfortunately when we got to the first climb, both of them slowed way down, so I had to pass them, and they couldn’t keep up. I decided to ride on my own. At least there wasn’t any wind so it wasn’t terrible keeping up a decent pace. I was hoping for at least 20 mph on the ride and I was pretty close to that. The course features three U-turns, and you have to do three loops, which means you navigate these turns nine times. When I reached the second U-turn, a group of riders caught me so I decided to try to run with them. I could stay with them fairly easily until we reached any corner. Then the group would break apart and I would really have to work hard to get back with them. But I decided the trade-off in easier riding when we were together was worth it. 

Eventually the group broke up again and we lost two riders off the back, but there was still a solid trio that I was able to stay with for the entire ride. I finished the ride with a 20.7 mph average on a fairly hilly course, with 430 feet of climbing over the 20k. I definitely don’t think I could have done that riding solo, so I was glad for the assist. 

The nice thing about cyclists who catch you from behind is that you can probably beat them on the run—after all, you were ahead of them on Run 1! Also, my strategy of no shoe changes meant that I was first in our trio through transition. Run 2 was another out-and-back, and I went out at about a 7:00 pace. Once again, 6:45 pace wasn’t in the cards, but at least no one passed me on the run. I saw my two riding buddies at the turnaround and determined not to let them catch me in the final half of the run. I was able to pick up the pace slightly and pushed as hard as I could through the finish. I ended up averaging a 7:12 pace for the run, which was better than my last duathlon, so I was fairly satisfied with that. 

Overall, I ended up in fifth place out of 17 in my age group. I was over a minute behind the guy ahead of me, so I don’t think my helmet gaffe cost me a place, but it was still pretty ridiculous! 

This placement is good enough to qualify for worlds next year, is in Abu Dhabi, so that’s pretty cool! I’m definitely planning on going, so I’d better start practicing that all-important helmet mount! 

Here are links to my Strava records of the event

Run 1

Ride

Run 2

Race recap: Little Sugar Creek Parkrun #7

For the last several years, I've been making an effort (between my various other running endeavors) to run a sub-20-minute 5k. I've run sub-20 many times before, but the last time I did was in 2016 at the Runway 5K in Charlotte, at the age of 49. I haven't done it once since I turned 50.

For the last several months, in support of that effort, I've been making an effort to shed some weight. I gained quite a bit of weight last summer as we traveled in the Northwest for 6 weeks with relatively little opportunity for me to exercise. I've managed to shed 15 pounds since then and am currently the lightest I have been since 2016 (I don't really keep records of my weight so that's a bit of a guess). But I did use an app to help with the weight loss effort this time so I have tracked my weight pretty consistently for the last six months. Here's a graph of my progress:

I ran a 5k on February 1 and got a 20:39. Having lost 5 pounds since then and feeling pretty good about my training, I figured today would be a good day to try another one: my favorite road race for fast 5ks in the area, the Little Sugar Creek Parkrun. It's free, nearly pancake-flat and is an honest 5k distance. 

My friend Chas also wanted to do the race today, so we met at the course this morning 40 minutes before the event. After a 2-mile warmup together, it was time to change into my race shoes, do a few strides, and get ready to race.

After a quick intro from the race director, we were started with a "3-2-1-Go!" and off we went.

I had chatted with some online friends before the race to decide whether to run conservatively or start right out at sub-20 pace. The consensus: GO FOR IT!

As I started out I began to regret this decision. I was thinking "this is insane. There is no way I'm going to come anywhere close to my sub-20." Then around 800 meters in I looked at my watch. I was running 6:07 pace -- I only need a 6:26 for sub-20. There were three runners ahead of me: Chas, the legendary local runner Chuck Engle (who has run over 500 marathons, typically sub-3 hours), and another guy who I'm calling "Da-Da" because he ran past his son at the start, who cheerfully yelled "GO DA-DA." Chas and Chuck were quickly vanishing into the distance but I was maintaining a bit of contact with Da-Da. 

I decided to back off a little bit and let Da-Da increase his lead on me. Da-Da must have also felt he went out too fast because he wasn't gaining much ground. I got through Mile 1 in 6:21.

I managed to keep the pace right around 6:26 per mile until we reached the bridge halfway through the race. The course turns sharply right, crosses the bridge, then does a 180 turn and crosses back and does a sharp left to head back to the start. This slowed me down; I was now running about a 6:30 pace. Da-Da was stubbornly about 30 meters ahead of me. I finished Mile 2 in 6:30. So if I was going to get my sub-20 I was going to need to pick the pace back up to 6:26 for the remainder of the race.

Unfortunately my body didn't seem to want to go that fast. I was gasping for every breath, and Da-Da gradually increased his gap on me. I negotiated with myself and settled on a 6:40 pace. Somehow I held this through the end of Mile 3. Just 0.1 to go! I turned the final corner toward the finish and gave it everything I had. I think that was roughly the 6:26 I should have been running for the last mile. I held on through the finish line and stopped my watch at 20:14. 

While this wasn't sub-20, as it turns out this was my best 5k since I turned 50. I think I just might be able to crack that sub-20 this season. The only challenge is that my next big event is an epic trail run in the Grand Canyon. On March 21 I'm planning to do a 30+ mile run from the South Rim, across the river, up to Ribbon Falls halfway up the North side of the canyon, and back. So my next 5k likely won't be until April, and who knows what the Grand Canyon run will take out of me! I will do what I can to recover as quickly as possible from the Grand Canyon, and I should have time to do a couple more 5ks in late spring. So it won't be easy, but it will definitely be a good experience no matter what. What's the point of running if you don't try epic things?

Race Recap: The Richmond Half Marathon

I spent 6 weeks vacationing in the Pacific Northwest this summer, enjoying the amazing food, spending a lot of time riding on boats and driving cars, and so training much less than usual.

We're on a glacier!

It was a fantastic trip and I saw some incredible sights, but I also gained about 8 pounds. When I returned home in September, I saw that a bunch of friends had signed up for the Richmond Marathon / Half, so I decided to sign up for the half, as motivation to shed some weight and get back into shape. I set a goal of losing 13 pounds, and decided to shoot for a time of 1:40 in the half marathon.

Two months later, I had managed to lose 12 pounds, and my training was going well enough that I bumped my race goal to 1:38:20 (which not coincidentally is a 7:30/mile pace). I headed up to Richmond with buddies Carl, Joey, Lindsay, Lindsay, Tim, and Barrie. On race morning we all met up for a pre-race photo:

Ready to go!

Then it was off to the starting line. For some reason I was placed in Wave B, corresponding to race times of 1:40 to 1:50. I figured that was close enough; we would start 2 minutes after Wave A, and if everything went to plan I'd be chasing some of those runners down before we finished. I could see the 1:40 pace group lined up just ahead of me in Wave A. Maybe I'd catch them at some point during the race. 

Soon, the race started and Wave A was off. Our group moved up to the starting arch and waited impatiently for our turn. We were actually started just one minute after Wave A, so I'd surely catch some of those runners by the end of the race. I was about 10 rows back in Wave B, so most of the folks around me were running close to my planned pace. I told myself I would stick as close as possible to a 7:30 without going faster for at least the first half of the race. Then if I felt good at that point, I could pick up the pace.

I was breathing easy, and the course was quite flat, so a 7:30 pace didn't feel bad at all. Mile 1 went by in 7:26. I tried to back off the pace just a touch. Mile 2: 7:24. Again, this pace was feeling very comfortable. On Mile 3 we had our first hill -- an overpass over a railroad. I told myself it would be fine to run the hill by feel, even slowing below the 7:30 target pace. I ended up running the mile in 7:22. 

Normally I'd be concerned about running every mile a little faster than my goal pace, but in this case I was feeling good and not even really breathing heavily, so I wasn't too worried. Occasionally I'd have to slow down to pass a group of runners, but then I'd easily pick up the pace again afterwards. The next three miles went by quickly: 7:22, 7:23, 7:13. That third mile (Mile 6) included a healthy downhill as we ran into a park. The course looped around the park and then exited via the same entrance, so we could see the race leaders exiting as we entered the park.

As we wound through the park I could see the 1:40 pace team ahead of me. This made sense: They would be running about a 7:37 pace, so since they had started 1 minute ahead of me, this is about where I'd expect to see them. Mile 7 took us back out of the park, which I knew was going to be the biggest climb of the race. As it turned out, it wasn't a single climb, but a series of short hills with little breaks between them. It was easy to stay motivated as I went because I could reel in the 1:40 pace team. I passed them about halfway through the mile. Then I was motivated to stay ahead of them, so I kept my pace up, finishing Mile 7 in 7:23.

Next we did a little out-and-back, and I figured I might see Carl, Joey, or Lindsay H, who were all shooting for a 1:30 half-marathon. I saw Carl looking strong, exiting just as I entered this section. I yelled his name but I think he was in such a groove that he didn't hear me. Joey told me he saw me but I didn't see him, so I guess we were all pretty focused on the race!

The next three miles were nice and steady, 7:17, 7:20, 7:20. 10 miles done, and all of them faster than my target pace. I could probably even slow down to my old 7:37 pace goal and still finish ahead of my race goal. But I didn't want to slow down. If I kept this pace, I could certainly break 1:38. Could I go even faster? Sub-1:37? Sub-1:36? I did notice that my watch wasn't quite in alignment with the mile markers on the course. My Mile 10 clicked about 25 seconds before I actually passed the Mile 10 marker. This was too much math for me, so I just tried to maintain my pace. I knew there was one more hill before the downhill finish, but I didn't remember exactly where it was.

It wasn't in Mile 11, which I finished in 7:15. Keep it going, Munger! I could feel myself begin to labor in Mile 12. Breathing was harder, and every step came with a little pain. This was also where that last hill was. Keep it going! Mile 12 clicked through in 7:17. Now where did the downhill start? The race finishes on a 100-foot descent, and I knew it was less than a mile long, but how much less? I tried to look ahead and see where the course turned. I stifled the urge to slow down. This pace was definitely not sustainable for much longer, but if I could just get to the final downhill, I could coast in.

Finally we made a sharp right turn and almost immediately headed down. My Mile 13 clicked in at 7:14, just as I passed the Mile 26 marker from the marathon. So I actually had 2 tenths of a mile to go. I was striding out as fast as I could. A couple other runners strode past me. Where's that finish line? Finally I passed the 13-mile marker. We were going around a gradual corner so I couldn't see the finish yet. The finish arch seemed to appear in slow motion. I cruised through and stopped my watch. My time was 1:36:38 -- nearly two minutes faster than my goal! Can't complain about that! Joey and Lindsay H. spotted me from the crowd and told me they had both beat their 1:30 goals as well. A great day for everyone. I later learned that Carl also broke 1:30 (PRs for all three of them) and Barrie finished just behind me in 1:39. Lindsay M ran a 3:17 for the full marathon, and Tim ran a 3:11, all exceeding their pre-race goals!

Now it was time to party! After a big post-race lunch, we went bar-hopping and drank the night away! (Who are we kidding, we are runners. The partying was over by about 8 pm)

This was about 6:30 p.m., so most of us were already thinking about calling it quits

All in all a great race day at Richmond. I'm really glad I signed up and got myself back into shape. For more details, check out the Strava record of the race.

Review: The Maurten Bicarb System

It has been known for years that consuming sodium bicarbonate (aka baking soda) can enhance performance during endurance activities. It works by removing and neutralizing hydrogen ions produced by the muscles during intense exercise, forestalling acidosis. However, there's a catch: Consuming straight baking soda followed by intense exercise causes stomach upset and vomiting in most people who try it. Now Maurten claims to have a product that solves that problem, by encapsulating the bicarb and releasing it slowly in the intestines, allowing you to get the benefits of bicarb without the gastric distress. I've seen a couple of pro athletes trying it out on their YouTube channels, so I thought I'd give it a try myself.

It's not cheap -- they only sell it in four-packs for $70. That's nearly $20 per use! But hey, if it gets you that PR you've been seeking then maybe it's worth it, right? So I ordered some via their website (you must customize your dose based on your weight and experience with the product). Then I tried it out on two separate runs -- a 5k time trial on local roads, and a 5k race in Spokane, WA. Here's what happened.

The Time Trial
Maurten says you should eat a meal 30 minutes to an hour before consuming the Bicarb System, which should in turn be consumed 90 minutes to 2 hours before the race / workout. Since it's starting to get warm here in Davidson, I wanted to do my run in the cool morning hours, starting my warm up at 5:45 am. That meant setting an alarm for 3:45 to consume some food, then 4:15 to consume the Bicarb System. I didn't eat a whole meal, just a 90-calorie granola bar. Then at 4:15 I got up and mixed up the Bicarb System. They give you a plastic bowl to mix up a hydrogel suspension. This seemed to me to be similar to Maurten's energy gels (but without the carbs), but Maurten says it is a different product. Then after a few minutes you mix in the bicarb capsules, which are hundreds of tiny pills. You have to eat them (and the hydrogel suspension) without chewing. If you're traveling, make sure to pack a spoon for this! Here's a photo of me eating them during my second test in Spokane: 

They taste about as good as they look

You don't exactly have to choke them down but it is definitely is a bit of a test of your desire to get a PR! I had a hard time getting back to sleep after consuming the bicarb capsules, so I wasn't sure how well my time trial would go. 

I would find out soon enough -- my final alarm awoke me at my usual 5:15 wakeup time and I hopped out of bed and rode my bike in to town for the workout. At 5:45 I was ready to start my 2-mile warmup. My stomach was definitely a little unsettled, even after sipping some water as I jogged along. I had to burp a couple times to relieve the gas pressure building up in my stomach, and I could definitely taste the bicarbonate making its way partly up my throat.

After my warm up, I lined up and started the time trial. I could tell almost instantly that it wasn't going to be a great run. I'm not sure if it just wasn't my day, if the sleep disruptions had negatively affected me, or if the bicarb simply wasn't agreeing with me. After 2 minutes I backed off the pace and decided to treat this run like a workout rather than a time trial. I ran 2 minutes hard / 1 minute jog until I finished the 3.1-mile course. I have to say that I did start to feel a little bit better toward the end of the workout, but it still wasn't a great workout. So maybe bicarb doesn't work well for me, or maybe it just wasn't a good day for me. On to test 2.

Test 2: The Windermere 5k in Spokane, WA
Two weeks later, I was in Spokane visiting family and decided to sign up for a race and give the Maurten Bicarb System another try. The race started at 8:15 am, so I was able to get up at 6:00 am, eat some food, and try the system again without disrupting my usual morning routine. I prepared the system just as I had before, then just stayed awake reading the day's news and doing the crossword puzzle before it was time to start my warm-up. I headed out at 7:45, jogging 2 miles to the race start for my warm up, with a couple bicarb burps along the way. 

I lined up for the race and zipped out at my planned 6:30 pace, which if I was able to sustain that, would give me an age-group PR. Fortunately there was another guy running that pace, so I could just stay on his heels for the first mile. At about that point I was really starting to suffer. The race was an out and back, so I told myself to just hang on until the turnaround, and then I could maybe rally as I was heading home. Unfortunately shortly after the turnaround, I lost contact with the runner ahead of me. My pace was slowing. My Mile 2 was a 6:46, and it was looking like Mile 3 was going to be worse. I struggled to maintain even a 7:00 pace for this mile, then limped in to the finish, a full minute slower than my goal time.

The Verdict
I don't think the Maurten Bicarb System helped me at all. Perhaps I just was having off days, but I also think the "ickiness" of the product just doesn't put me in a good mindset for racing. It also definitely put my stomach in an uncomfortable, gassy state before each hard effort. Compared to another recent innovation, the carbon-plated super shoe, I'd say it is a real dud. When I put on a shoe like the Hoka Rocket X (my current choice) or a Nike VaporFly, I immediately feel a significant boost compared to a daily trainer. The Maurten Bicarb System never gave me a sensation that even approximated that feeling. But products like these affect each of us in different ways -- the pro runners I saw using them on YouTube both had good performances after using the system. So if you are serious about getting a PR and seem to be stuck just below your goal, it might be worth it to you to spend $70 to test it out for yourself. Good luck!