There are not many marathons or ultras that I have repeated, but this is one of them out of convenience (close to home) and being in the middle of winter when there is not a whole lot going on with marathons. The only other repeat that I recall has been the Holiday Lake 50 in Virginia.
I went into this race having a monthly running average around 10-15 miles. So pretty much not trained at all for this. There is a reason for this, and the answer is not injury. HH and I have been working 60-70 hour weeks for the last few months to save up to hike the
entire Pacific Crest Trail this year.
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Marathon Maniacs photo just before the start |
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Lined up at the startline on the backside of the track |
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Me. |
This marathon is 96 laps around the outside running lanes at the Pettit National Ice Center (
Apolo Anton Ohno trained here for a bit back in the day).
They also had a 50k (31 miles) speed skating race that went on during part of the marathon and the winner finished in about 90 minutes. I finished the marathon (26.2 miles) running in 4:44-ish.
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50k racers |
I got lazy about fueling and felt very sluggish for the middle 1/3 of the race, although I recall doing the same thing last year.
I was glad to finish and enjoyed the running shoe shaped sugar cookies that were repeats from last year. I proceeded to spend the evening at home with gastroenteritis (what many people mistakenly call the stomach flu, which is a virus but
not inFLUenza). I thought I was initially feeling bad due to electrolyte imbalance and due to being so out of marathoning shape. Turns out I was wrong, and I likely got it at work due to sloppy hand washing.
LESSONS LEARNED
-Wash your hands well
-Do not get lazy with fueling during long runs.
Next up: Myrtle Beach/Lost Dutchman Double Marathon Weekend.