Cape Wind - A cold and blustery day!

Back in February, while training for
Burlington (Memorial Day race), I developed a very bad case of PF,
which caused me to cancel Burlington. I took 6 weeks off, and started
running again in mid-June, hoping to get in good enough shape somehow
to run a decent marathon this Fall, using cross-training (cycling)
aggressively. I started off biking twice a week and running three
times, including a long run. In August, I got that up to biking once
a week and running four days, and by September was just running five
times a week. While I had hoped to run Hartford, a work conflict
developed, and I ended up signing up for Cape Cod.


The Cape Cod course is challenging.
It’s relatively flat for the first 15 or so (though not really flat
– see the elevation chart below), and then there is a series of
rolling hills that lasts from about 15 until 24. I knew from reading
about the race (and from Alex – thanks Alex!) that these would be
tougher than they look and that I’d better run a very conservative
first half, or I’d be toast.

I wasn’t sure how fast to go out
based on my unusual training, the course, and the fact that my two
recent “test” races were run in sweltering conditions, and not
really raced. I settled on something around or just under a 4 hour
pace, figuring if I felt oddly good in the last half, maybe I could
beat that by a fair amount (though at that pace for the first half,
there was no way to PR – but that seemed out of the question on
this course on this training), or I could just hang on and try to
break 4 hours.


The weather was challenging, though not
nearly as bad as it was forecast to be just 10 hours before the race
started. A Nor’easter moved up the coast on Saturday over New
England. I left the Hartford area at noon and it was snowing like
crazy, but not sticking as I drove east. I was driving away from the
worst of it, and only had to deal with rain/snow, and it wasn’t
affecting my traction. By the time I got half way, it was all rain.
It rained the rest of the way and all night, and was quite windy.
They were forecasting at one point Saturday night that the race would
have a mix of rain/snow and winds up to 45 mph,with even higher
gusts. But when I woke up Sunday, the precipitation had moved out,
and it was just damp, upper 30s and winds at about 30 mph. Real cold
and windy, but not wet.

I knew from driving the rolling hills
part of the course on Saturday night that there were also parts of
the course where there was water flooded over the road. Fortunately,
those areas were much smaller during the race, but still a nuisance
to be tiptoed around on bumpy ground and tired legs late in the race.

I had struggled with my wardrobe
choices, and fortunately packed a wide range of things. On Sunday
morning I got up and put on tights, shorts, two layers of
long-sleeved tech shirt, my really thin running gloves and a
stocking-style Nike running hat. I thought I might be warm late in
the race, and might have to throw away equipment, but I was willing
to do that.

When I got to the start area (I waited
until about 45 minutes before start time to arrive, to utilize my
hotel room bathroom and to stay warm), it was pretty sparse. Only
1200 marathoners and 200 relay teams can sign up, and though they’d
reached capacity, I see that only 900 marathoners finished, and I bet
not many more than that started. People were freezing, and I was glad
to see that about 90 percent were dressed like me! 68-year-old Johnny
Perham, photo below, was the only one who was shirtless. I spoke to
Johnny briefly during the race, and he is a good egg. He does this
every year (unless it’s raining) – he finished in 5:10.

I wandered around a bit while waiting
for the start, used the porta potty just to be sure, ate a Gu, and we
were off, with the temp right at about 40. Windy. Cold.

I was planning on just taking it easy
for the first mile, and sorting out the start and the crowd. That
worked – I ran it at about 9:44. Near the end of the first mile, I
thought I recognized Alex from his avatar, so a little after the
first mile marker, I was in good shape to swing over to him, and I
introduced myself. He looked a bit tired already, from the half he
ran on Saturday!

I missed two mile markers early on (I
suck at seeing the mile markers!), so did not keep track of my splits
too well in miles 2, 3, 4 & 5, but was averaging around 8:45 –
8:50,which felt fine. I jammed down a Gu at mile 5. I tried to take
one of the salt tablets I brought with me (in marathons, I’ve taken
to downing one of these whenever I eat a Gu), but they had turned to
powder in the little container I put them in a few hours before, I
guess from all the running motion, so it just looked like I was
throwing pixie dust on myself. So much for that, and it turns out it
didn’t matter. The pace felt good, but I figured I’d slow down to
more of a 9:00 pace, and eventually fell in behind a couple of women
who were running together, and their pace was perfect. I hope they
didn’t think I was stalking them! I was behind them for quite a
ways, until one of them had to go use the porta potty, and the other
slowed down so they could catch up. They passed me very late in the
race, so they did a good job of pacing, and had been a good choice to
fall in behind.

I just kept floating along, and it felt
easy. About mile 8 or 9, one of the volunteers who was encouraging
runners noted that I didn’t even look like I was trying, and that
was just what I wanted to hear. I ran 11 and 12 just a bit faster,
then slowed back down, and hit the half split in about 1:58:30
something, and felt great. Mostly, my pace was varying just a bit,
and was impacted from mile to mile a bit by the grade, or a bit of
wind.

Then the rollers started at about mile
15. I run a lot of hills like these, and made sure I did so
especially in the last couple of months of training, but they still
kicked my butt. I gradually started bleeding time in the teens, and
by about 19 I knew I was toast and the 4 hours was out the window.

The wind never really went away, but
was never actually that bad (until the end). It was cold the whole
way. On occasion the sun would come out, and that was pretty, and I
would think about taking my hat off, but would just role it up a bit
so my ears were exposed, and I’d end up rolling it back down within
10 or 15 minutes because I was too cold. Took off the gloves for a
while, but put them right back on. Basically, I had nailed it when I
got dressed – glad I had those tights!

There are some pretty parts of the
course, and as I was nearing the lighthouse (around mile 21 or 22) is
one of them. And the sun was out. Post-card pretty. I was drained,
and just kicking into survival gear – that slow pace I fall into
after I bonk that happens to me every time. I thought to myself that
I should just be in the moment, enjoy the view and adventure and the
chance to run another marathon. If you told me in 2006 when I started
running again that before I turned 55 (later this week), I would have
finished 5 marathons, I would have told you you were nuts, but here I
was getting ready to finish the fifth.

I slogged it out around the flooded
areas, and just waited out the end of the hills (seemed like they
would never end), and just wanted to get to the flat finish. I walked
through whatever water stops were in these miles (water stops only
come in about 2 to 2. 5 mile increments in this race). Only problem
was, when I got to the flats and turned, we were going mostly into a
strong headwind. Ugh! I walked briefly several times in the last two
miles, more in the 26^th mile than the 25th. I needed to.
My hips were hurting. Every time I stopped I knew it was going to
hurt to start, but that would pass, and that worked out fine.

As I approached the finish area, there
was a good crowd (unlike most of the course, due, I think to the
weather), and they were calling out my number and urging me on. That
was good. And I looked at my watch and thought maybe I can crack
4:10. Just an arbitrary number, but heck, might as well, so I picked
it up. I could see the clock, knew I had about 30 seconds of chip
time to work with and just kept going a little faster, thinking I
would just make it. When I crossed the line, my watch said 4:09:59
and change. Did not know if that would hold up. My unofficial results
were 4:09:56, so I guess it did – small victories!!

I waited around for a few minutes, for
Alex to finish. He did great, but he sure looked tired! Then I walked
back to the car. It seemed like it was a half block from the car to
the start area pre-race, and about a mile back post-race! And then
drove three hours home, to the crazy fallen-tree, power-outage zone
around Hartford with all the early snowfall on leaves still carrying
a full load of leaves. Unbelievable.

I did pretty much everything right for
this race. Although the training was very unusual for me, it ended
strong. I ran fewer miles this year than my prior years due to the
injury – my 1000^th mile for the year was during this
race. My pre-race nutrition and hydration were spot on. I could have
used better sleep the couple of nights before the race, but it wasn’t
that bad and I’ve had worse. I just can’t sleep sometimes
pre-race. My logistics were all good, and I wasn’t especially
stressed out by anything.


And it was my slowest first half of any
marathon, and I think based on what I knew, that pace made sense, and
I stuck to it pretty well. I just didn’t have any more than that on
Sunday. And that’s fine – I was real happy to finish off another
one in a crazy setting and enjoy doing it. That last hour was tough,
but, hey, it’s a marathon! So now I’ve started six marathons, and
finished five. Of the five finishes, three are under four hours. This
was my second slowest finish (the slowest being Chicago in ’08,
when I walked it in the last few miles in the cramp-inducing heat!).

Now a couple of months off, and then I
train up for Burlington again, hopefully without my traditional bout
of mid-winter bronchitis or some injury!

Thanks for reading! Oh, and sorry
whatever team I’m on – this just wasn’t my year for speed…

Having run the last 2 miles of that course recently, I can only imagine how tough it was into a headwind. Congrats on a gutsy run, Michael.

Very nice job in some tough conditions.

Great job Michael. Wasn't the easiest day to run a marathon. When the weather is nice it's a great area to run. Once again it was nice meeting you. I was pretty much in a daze when I saw you after the race.

Alex Kubacki wrote:Great job Michael. Wasn't the easiest day to run a marathon. When the weather is nice it's a great area to run. Once again it was nice meeting you. I was pretty much in a daze when I saw you after the race.

Regarding the daze, I could tell!

Michele "1L" Keane wrote:Having run the last 2 miles of that course recently, I can only imagine how tough it was into a headwind. Congrats on a gutsy run, Michael.

Thanks Michele - it was a good day to just finish!

Jim Lentz wrote:Very nice job in some tough conditions.

Thanks Jim!

Great finish on a tough day, Michael, way to go!

Michael, I got cold just reading the report. I totally respect the fact that you got out there in those conditions and got it done. That's what a winner does!

Thanks guys - they've posted the pictures - you can see that I was well-dressed for the occasion (despite the layers, I never got hot!)

Nice picture Michael - looks COLD... Another cruel placement for some hills in a marathon. Can't even imagine running a marathon with 30 mph winds - brutal... Can't believe your buddy Johnny with no shirt even . Five marathons? Impressive! You certainly earned #5! You also made another strong case for cross training - I haven't done many more miles than yourself this year, but did a fair bit of cycling over the summer. I definitely think it kept my legs a little fresher. Looking at your splits, you didn't really bleed off that much time, especially considering the conditions.

Good job and thanks for the report!

Congrats Michael! I was wondering how that race went right after the big storm.

BTW, it was going around that light house that I had no choice but to run through a huge puddle & ran the rest of the race in wet feet.

John Kilpatrick wrote:Nice picture Michael - looks COLD... Another cruel placement for some hills in a marathon. Can't even imagine running a marathon with 30 mph winds - brutal... Can't believe your buddy Johnny with no shirt even . Five marathons? Impressive! You certainly earned #5! You also made another strong case for cross training - I haven't done many more miles than yourself this year, but did a fair bit of cycling over the summer. I definitely think it kept my legs a little fresher. Looking at your splits, you didn't really bleed off that much time, especially considering the conditions.

Good job and thanks for the report!

Thanks John! I never could have run a marathon this year without the x-training approach - the PF wouldn't let me.

Dave P wrote:Congrats Michael! I was wondering how that race went right after the big storm.

BTW, it was going around that light house that I had no choice but to run through a huge puddle & ran the rest of the race in wet feet.

Thanks Dave - interesting that the puddles over the road in this race aren't limited to the Nor'easter situation - I was happy to slow down to go around them! I thought of you and your PR as I was running through the hills, and was that much more impressed that you PR'd on this course.

Gratz and thanks for the good report. Seeing your picture makes me wonder if your face got too cold or not. Would you have liked some sort of face cover?

ounce wrote:Gratz and thanks for the good report. Seeing your picture makes me wonder if your face got too cold or not. Would you have liked some sort of face cover?

Thanks. No, my face was ok - it never seemed to get quite that cold. But I was surprised that I didn't end up wanting to take off layers - it never warmed up!

As you were getting ready for this race, the weather sounded like Cape Cod was going to be Hypothermia Central that morning. Thank goodness it was "only" cold and windy. Putting in some cold rain and sleet would have made very challenging conditions pretty hellish.

Nice work, also, getting ready despite the PF and working through the course. Hitting that spur-of-the-moment time goal makes it even more fun.

Congrats!

Mark B wrote:As you were getting ready for this race, the weather sounded like Cape Cod was going to be Hypothermia Central that morning. Thank goodness it was "only" cold and windy. Putting in some cold rain and sleet would have made very challenging conditions pretty hellish.

Nice work, also, getting ready despite the PF and working through the course. Hitting that spur-of-the-moment time goal makes it even more fun.

Congrats!

Thanks Mark. I woke up a few times the night before the race, to the howling winds outside, and really wondered what I was in for, so was elated when there was no precip!

For you to be dressed like that and not get warm is a pretty good indication of how yucky the weather was Michael. Good job getting through a pretty unpleasant day (except for those few glimpses of sunshine). Happy 55th!

Seth Harrison wrote:For you to be dressed like that and not get warm is a pretty good indication of how yucky the weather was Michael. Good job getting through a pretty unpleasant day (except for those few glimpses of sunshine). Happy 55th!

Thanks Seth! But I'd already put the birthday out of my mind, and you had to go and remind me! : )

Michael Enright wrote:

Dave P wrote:Congrats Michael! I was wondering how that race went right after the big storm.

BTW, it was going around that light house that I had no choice but to run through a huge puddle & ran the rest of the race in wet feet.

Thanks Dave - interesting that the puddles over the road in this race aren't limited to the Nor'easter situation - I was happy to slow down to go around them! I thought of you and your PR as I was running through the hills, and was that much more impressed that you PR'd on this course.

That's one of the things that keeps me pushing for another PR on a course not so hilly.