Porkies Marathon and the Rest of October

The last blog entry I had written was just about a week from my Porcupine Mountain Marathon. My little injury I had in September had settled enough and I managed to race without too many problems. The rest of October was getting my legs back, even though it was a trail marathon it took a week or two to get back into the swing of things.

As for the race, it was about as tough as I imagined and the weather was worse than I was hoping for. In my build up to the race I had plenty of longer trail runs to make me confident in racing the marathon distance. What I didn't have confidence in was my fueling and pacing as I have not done one of these races before (since 2004, and that was a bomb of a race) and I just didn't feel like the pace was going to carry so fast. I had done a couple training runs on the trails during the summer months and I felt like breaking 4 hours was going to be a challenge.

The night before the race (and most of the preceding week) it rained hard. It was raining at 0300 the morning of the race and it stopped an hour or so before the gun went off. With all the moisture on the trails, out of "safety" concerns the race course for the marathon was altered to having us loop the half-marathon course twice. I wasn't too upset with the decision but we did unfortunately miss some of the most beautiful trails of the park with this adjustment. Once the race got underway I made my way towards the front runners and let a few take us up the first climb. The pace was a bit more brisk than I would have gone out and I was thinking that the front runners were "rookies" to the area and the hills would come back to haunt them later so I let two go in hopes to catch them on the second lap. (that never happened as they were legit trail runners) The one thing I was most happy with my race was how I managed to keep hydrated and fueled. I felt awesome the entire race and actually pushed the downhill miles at the end much faster than the first lap and made up some ground on second place. I ended up 3rd place and 1st Master runner in 3:28:20. Much faster than I would have thought I could run on those trails and a true testament how much faster the course could be if dry. I really enjoyed myself but in the same time I will probably not do this race again, especially if it remains to be on the same weekend as Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon. I love the trails, but love to race the roads and I missed not being at TCM.

The rest of October was getting my quads back as they took a hit on those downhills, then focusing on Club Cross Country Championships in Bend, OR December 14th.

Here is how the month of October went:

Sept.30-Oct 6th
*race week 46 miles
ran 20 + miles then the marathon on Saturday
3:28:20, 3rd overall, 1st Master

October 7-13
recovery week
did 5K with Lucas and Kari *he had huge PR
18+ miles

October 14-20
working on foot *old Sept injury still
28 miles

October 21-27
starting to get the groove back
ran all 7 days
60 miles

October28-Nov3rd
legs are better but left lateral ankle is still bothersome
ran CC race in cities. MN Masters CC Champs
2nd place, just under 22 min. for 6K
56 miles

November 4-10th
Feeling ok to push a bit
doing hills and LT work each week
Woodland Hill X 4 at LT with fast downhills
4 miles LT at 5:40 pace Sat
68 miles

*I am feeling better and picking up momentum. I feel like I can push some workouts a bit but still feel like I need to be careful not to over do it. I want to be healthy and strong at the starting line in Bend on December 14th. There are 4 weeks left to train and I hope to make the best of them.

YEARS TOTAL: 2273 miles