After qualifying for the Hy-Vee race in New Orleans in June, I arranged to be off, registered for the race, hired a coach, and began training in earnest so as not to completely suck at the US Championships. I hit it pretty hard for the 8 weeks before Labor day weekend. I decided to rent a bicycle for 40.00 instead of pay close to 400.00 to ship mine to Iowa and back. Even though I had gotten approval to be off, at the last minute I was told I would have to work and there was quite a controversy over that. I did go to Iowa, had a great experience, took a little over 40 minutes off the final time I had in New Orleans, and still was last in my age group. I expected that so it wasn't a big deal. I did however NOT come in the very last, and I was happy about that.
Two weeks after Hy-Vee I continued my September trip. I went to PK lake where my Mom lives and did the Trifecta triathlon. Knowing I was going to be running 3 half marathons in the following 2 weekends I decided to only do the sprint instead of the Olympic distance. Then I found out the sprint was 500 meter swim/17 miles bike/5 mile run. That is a Long Sprint, I might as well have did the Oly, which I probably will do next year. The Trifecta race was a Great event. It was the first time they put it on, but they did real well with it. There were only about 200 total racers in both the sprint and Olympic, but that will change. It is a beautiful course. It is kind of out in the middle of nowhere, but once word gets around, I'm sure they will get a lot more participants in the coming years.
After Trifecta, I began the three halves in two weekends. I flew into Detroit Mi, and drove to Illinois.
State 24 Illinois (or maybe Iowa)
The first race was in Moline Illinois, Quad Cities. Even though it starts in Illinois, we crossed the bridge over the Mississippi River and ran through Bettendorf and Davenport Iowa, before returning to Moline. So this race could actually be counted as Illinois or Iowa. I will have to see which one I will use it as. It was a great race and I highly recommend it. It was a fairly large race, was well managed, great crowd support, and great after party. Couldn't ask for more.The SWAG was Top Notch with a long sleeve tech shirt, nice finisher medal and a great pair of running gloves in the goodie bag. The race day weather was optimal. The forecast said 37-63 degrees, but I think it was a little warmer than that. No wind and a perfectly cloudless blue sky, made for an awesome run. About half the run was along the Mississippi Rivers. and another section was through the Rock Island Arsenal, which was a Govt facility normally closed to the public.I had not been able to break 3 hours since before I had the stress fracture. With the ideal conditions, I felt I had a good chance to do so at Quad Cities. I discussed it with my coach, and she advised me to take it a little easy, and save something for the back-to-back weekend that coming up next. Her strategy was to go easy the first 19 miles and then turn it on for the last 5k. I had a Good run and ended up finishing at 2:46, which was considerably better than I hoped. I didn''t even feel as though I went that hard.
After Quad Cities, I went and visited the Mississippi River Aquarium and Museum in Dubuque Ia and the Field of Dreams baseball field in Dyersville Ia. Kind of cool. I have been staying with a friend who lives in Janesville Wisconsin, and am heading to Ft Wayne Indiana on Friday for the race there on Saturday. After the race I have to immediately head to Michigan to run Sunday and then head back to Houston Sunday evening.
State 25 Indiana
Indiana was the half way point of this whole thing. I had email the race director, and asked if I could have bib number 25. I have been saving all the bib numbers, but I especially wanted to save numbers 25 and 50 (which ever state that may be). In the email to the RD i expressed my desire to to possibly frame the 25 and 50 bibs along with the medals I have been collecting.. A few weeks before the race, I received a reply saying that they could indeed give me the #25 bib, which was Great news. When I got to packet pickup, it turns out they made a special gesture for me. The bibs started at 1000 and went up from there, so 25 was the only bib less then 4 numbers long. They also made an extra bib and personalized it with "1/2WAY2GOAL". A Very Cool thing, not only was it a Nice Touch with the special acknowledgement. but I didn't have to worry about wrecking the bib as I usually do with every other bib during a run.
The run itself was another Great race. The mostly Flat course was nice, but a little plain. We started outside the minor league baseball field, ran through Ft Wayne, around a pretty Golf Course and back to the Stadium where we entered it and ran along the outfield warning track and then turned down the First base line toward Home Plate. Running through the Stadium was fun. The race was very well supported, the weather was perfect and I had a Great time at Fort4Fitness. There were plenty of spectators out supporting and there was a festival atmosphere. The last aid station had a beer shot table...Naturally, I couldn't resist.
I didn't run as well in this race, but I did come in under 3 hours, at 2:56:04. There was several reasons for this. I was on vacation, and as such was more in Vacation mode than I was training mode. I went and spent a few days with my friend Mike who lives in Wisconsin, and that state is not not known for its healthy eating. I didn't go overboard, but I did partake. I also went and took a tour of a local brewery that had been in operation since 1845 (before Wisconsin was a State) I sampled several of their quality beers. My goal was to try and run all 3 races under 3 hours and toward the end of Fort4Fitness I saw that I was ahead of pace, so I eased off a little to save a little for Michigan, and the big hills that were due the next day.
After the race was over, I was a little over whelmed by the fact that I was half way through 13.1 in 50. When I first started, I would not have believed I would be so far along this fast. In just over 3 years, I have ran 327.5 miles in 25 states.
State 26 Michigan
I didn't have long to luxuriate in the glow of finishing state 25. State 26, Michigan, was the next day. I drove from Ft Wayne to Rochester Michigan right after finishing Fort4Fotness. It was about a 3 1/2 hour drive, that turned into about 5 because I had to keep stopping to stretch my legs. Driving through Indiana and Michigan, the fall colors were just starting to emerge. There were isolated pockets of vibrant color but not a lot of good Kodak moments. I was again a few weeks early for the color change.
There was race morning pickup but I wanted to get it the evening before. I got to the packet pickup and was able to get everything, and while I was there I talked to a man who had been on the TV show, the "Biggest Loser". He was promoting a book he wrote on weight loss and his new career of Motivational Speaker, Mentor and Life Coach. He asked me if I was running the Brooksie Way race and I told him about my trip and about 13.1 in 50. He wanted to know if he could interview me following the race, and get my story. I was more than happy to.
Race morning came along and when I woke up, running 13 miles was not high on the list of things I wanted to do. My legs were a little stiff, but not to bad. The issues I was having was that I just didn't feel good. I had partook in my usual pre race meal of sushi the night before and my stomach was doing barrel rolls and I was slightly light headed. (Note to self....Refrain from ordering the Spicy Sushi in a Thai restaurant the night before a race) Those Thai places can really bring the HEAT. I had somewhat of a metal taste in my mouth but ate my race breakfast of a banana, granola bar and half a quart of Gatorade. (Pretty much standard stuff). I also take another granola bar and the remainder of the quart of Gatorade for 30 minutes before the start of the race. However at the race I just couldn't bring myself to eat or drink either of them. I was sitting in one of the big tents waiting for the start of the race and feeling like there were about a million things I would rather be doing. It was time to go warm up and I was trying to convince myself not to. I commenced to give myself one of my pep talks. I have to do that on occasion. In this case it went something like this....GET UP, SHUT UP, SUCK IT UP, and "Let's Gitter Done", it's GO Time.
Once I got out and began warming up, I started to feel a little better. The race started and there was am immediate aid station, which I was able to drink some water and get going. I knew the course was slightly down dill the first 5 miles , and then would begin climbing after that. Still with the idea that I would like to get in under 3 hours I started running at what I thought was an easy pace, preparing myself for the hills late in the course. To my surprise however, I was running really well. I made it to mile 9 well ahead of the pace from Quad Cities where I ran 2:46.At this point I was not only looking to break 3 hours but beat the previous days time as well. The big hills came around Miles 10, and that slowed me down some, but I finished strong with a time of 2:51:04. 5 minutes off the the time at Fort4Fitness. This race was one of those moments that define why athletes do what they do. At the start of the race, I was wondering if I was even going to finish. I ended up turning in a strong performance and will be able in the future to look back on this as a time when I overcame a tough situation and Excelled.
Pete Thomas, the "Biggest Loser" guy was at the finish line and him and his film crew interviewed me for about 10-15 minutes after the race.
Brooksie Way was a Nice Race, the course was a quite and peaceful run through the neighborhoods and along a hike/bike trail. There were isolated spectators, and the support was fantastic. There were more aid stations than I could count, less than a mile between them. I cant say how the after party was, because I had to get going so as to get checked out of my room and head for the airport to catch my flight back home.
All three of these races were Great events. I have NOTHING Bad to say about any of them. If you need any of these states, you cant go wrong with these races.
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