Death Valley Trail Marathon

I initially signed up for this race with the soul intension of having fun and seeing one of the most unique areas on the planet. I had no time goals, no goals of placing first in my AG - just to try something totally different and have fun. The race is normally run through Titus canyon on the north side of the valley - at an elevation of about 5000 feet above sea level. It is small boutique type marathon that is extremely unique and that draws athletes from all corners of the planet. Unfortunately the weather gods didnt cooperate as the temperature in the park over the past week plumeted well below seasonal and the area recieved 2 times its anual rain/snow fall in the 72 hours prior to the race. As a result, most of the park was closed because of flooding - most notably Titus canyon. So the race orgainizers were forced to resort to plan B - running the race at the lowest point in the park through the salt flats and sand dunes that are the reminants of an ancient sea bed. Also a very unique area and cool to view from the mountains that surround it - but a area which loses its appeal rather quickly when running a marathon through it.

In addition i had to drive to the race by myself and sleep in my car the night before the race as the area as virtually no places to stay short of a few cabins which were booked up long before i ever thought of registering for the race. Fortunately things worked out better than i expected. I had purchased a inflatable mattress just before leaving, but never measured the exact dimensions of the truck so had to just wing it and hope for the best. My initial idea was to just put blankets down as I thought the truck was too short for a regular sized mattress, but thought i could cram it in if it was at least close. When i arrived at the camp site it was pouring rain, and getting dark fast. I quickly found my water logged site and ripped open the box for the mattress and started to blow it up as fast as possible - which unfortunately wasnt too fast as the valved was huge and didnt fit my bike pump. At first i thought it was hopeless, but quickly it began to take shape. After about 15 minutes of hyperventilating it was done. I quickly shoved all my bags and crap into the front seats and moved them as far forward as possible and to my delight and surprise the mattress fit PERFECT. I through on the sheets and blankets i brought - SOO classy. Shortly there after the skys opened up and it began to rain even harder. And as i sat in my comfy little RV i couldnt help but thank god i didnt plan on sleeping in a tent.

And despite the freezing tempuratures outside I slept very well, and really never felt cold at all while under the covers. The next morning I woke up early as usual, and tried to figure out what the hell to wear. It was overcast and freezing out, and the forcast was for rain and t storms all day. I opted to put on everything i brought and figure it out later. Needless to say I wasnt cold waiting around for the start this time like i was in tucson.

The race itself was rather uneventful. After registering and being bused to the start line, the race was started with the blink of the tail lights from the official race SUV.

The Tucson Marathon

Ok I am a little tardy with my update, but I was hoping to have pics to post with my update. Unfortunately I was unable to steal them like I have always done in the past with ASI - damm marathonfoto.com and thier security encription.

As with all races, in hindsight there are many things you might have or could have done differently that would have made a big difference at the finsih line (hydrated better, tappered, trained smarter, wore tighter socks, ....). All those excuses aside the race went very well - infact better than expected. I did managed to qualify for Boston (although it is sold out for this year dammit!!) and beat my goal time of 3:14:59.99 by 7 whole minutes !! Finishing in a time of 3:08:22 !! My PB - not that amazing since I have never run an open marathon before so any time would have been a PB.

Anyway, the day started early after a night of very little sleep - not a very good sleeper at the best of times, but this was a particularly bad night. I ended up getting up before my alarm. As per my usual OCD self I have everything orgainized at the foot of my bed so that I could be up and out the door in seconds flat (always worried I will be late and ALWAYS end up getting to the race and set to go with tons of time to spare - you think I would learn by now but I guess I am a slow learner). I was worried about finding the pickup spot for the bus to the start line so gave myself even more time for error. So between getting up earlier than expected and the additional margin of error factored in for finding the pickup spot I ended up being the first person there - snagging the prime parking spot !!

The benefits of getting there early ended there however as I got the distict pleasure of sitting for 30 min on the first bus waiting for it to fill up so it could go. And once arriving at the start line (after what definately seemed longer than 26 miles - more like 36 or 5o or something!! as i sat in my seat looking out at the course I was more than a little unnerved at how long it actually took the bus to get to the start doing 45 mph on the highway!! YIKES!!) I also got the pleasure of standing around in the FREEZING cold and darkness for an hour and a half. The only good thing was I managed to beat the lineups for the portapotties. Always a stress before a race and definately worth getting up a little early for, as the lineups 2 minutes before the race were still 20 people long.

I lined up about 4 feet from the front of the pack, and just ahead of the 315 pace bunny. My goal was just to finish in 315 to qualify for Boston (im an old man now so 315 is good enough to get me in - one of the few benefits of getting older). After a friend of mine missed out qualifying last year in Ottawa bc the pace bunny was off by 2 minutes at the end of the race, I decided I would err on the side of caution and try and stay a little ahead of him, but to not go out too hard and the start. The profile of the race is primarily all down hill, but the first few miles were by far the steepest, as you had to physically slow yourself down to avoid tripping or having to run a 4 min mile to keep upright.

I ran very conservatively for the first 4 or 5 miles until i got into a rhythm and in a group of runners i felt comfortable with. i was holding about 7 min miles - a little faster than i had planned - but i was feeling good. Things went very smooth for the first 11 miles. Then for some strange reason my right knee began to really hurt just below the jointline on the lateral side. I began to get worried I was getting ITB problems, but it just seems soo unlikely and certainly wasnt in the classic spot for ITB pain. As it gradually got worse I began to fear the worst - a stress fracture ?!?! seriously ? I was almost at the point of limping. I tried to change my stride a little, lifting my knees more, and kicking out my quads to get them to relax. To my surprise and delight, the pain eased almost as quickly as it came on.

For the next 6 or 7 miles I ran stride for stride with these two girls that caught me was I tried to work out the pain in my knee. The one girl was obviously a very experienced marathoner who was pacing her friend to what was initially to be a sub 3 hr marathon. They were running perfect splits, as the pacer kept things smooth and even - something my pacing is not. As an added benefit I managed to get at least some benefit of their draft (they were both 5 foot nothing and 89 lbs soaking wet - so really didnt get too much of a draft, but if i managed to angle myself just right behind both of them they almost added up to one person!!LOL).

This went on till about mile 22 when the girl being paced had to slow down. I was getting excited at this point as I tried to do the math - if I kept this pace I could go sub 305!! This combined with the fact I was now finally catching some of the faster runners that were cramping or had blown up, as well as some of the slower runners in the half marathon I managed to keep the pace up for about another 2 miles when my quads began to ache horribly. All that downhill running was finally catching up with me. My legs felt like wood. It was all i could do just to hold on to the finish. With one mile to go there was a nasty little hill just before the finish. Its not very often i look forward to running up hill - but the change in muscle use from running the previous 25 miles all downhill was a very welcome surprise.

The last half mile felt like it took forever. I was still holding a pretty decent pace - but video of me crossing the line shows that my technique was anything but. I definately had the IM shuffle going, as I barely bent my knees, taking short choppy strides with my weight barely ahead of my toes - if at all.

As I crossed the line, happy it was over, I couldnt believe how sore my legs were. They felt like they did after my first IM 4 years ago. Dont get my wrong, my legs were sore after all my other races, but nothing like these 2. I was having trouble walking, and getting up and down from sitting was rediculous. I looked like one of my 89 yr old patients with a broken hip !!! Which to my delight gave me very little trouble at all in the race aside from a few jabs of pain in the last few miles!!

Although this was not on my top ten races to do i am glad i did it. It helped boost my confidence for next seasons IM and put behind me the many doubts i have had about being able to run that far on my hip without damaging it further - and at a reasonable pace. It also taught me how to pace myself a little better and to get back to the point where I can push myself through the pain while racing at competitive level. Something I havent been unable to do up to this point since breaking my hip 13 months ago.

All in all it was a good finish to an otherwise very stressful year both personally and athletically as I struggled to get back to racing. I am now looking forward to next season with a much brighter outlook.