I was not liking the idea of spending Valentine's Day weekend at home alone, so I said "what the heck, I might as well be doing what I love... running another marathon." So I signed up for the Lost Dutchman Marathon. I had been wanting to run this race for some time based on some of my friends' reviews. Since I registered so late, there were no affordable flights available. I would have to drive and it would be about a five and a half hour drive each way.
02/14/15 Saturday
I left the house just a little before 8am. I stopped by the local Albertson's to buy some drinks and bananas. I had planned to drive straight to the race expo at the Apache Junction Multi-Generational Center. I only got off of the freeway once at Avondale to eat lunch at an In-n-Out. It was about 1:30 pm and the place was packed. I also realized that Arizona was in the Mountain Time Zone so I lost an hour as they're 1 hr ahead of California. I scarfed down my Double Double and continued on my way to the expo.
While going through the small expo, I bumped into a fellow Marathon Maniac/50 State Marathoner/Team RWB runner. These days it's not uncommon for me to see somebody that I know even if I'm running an obscure little marathon. Since I was a late registrant, they assigned me a bib number at the expo.
After picking up my race packet, I headed over to my hotel to check in. I was able to book a room at the very modern, Aloft Phoenix-Airport hotel for a very reasonable price. The check-in counter reminded me a lot of the Virgin America airline. The room was pretty nice. I laid out my running clothes before getting ready to go back out to eat dinner.
For dinner, I met up with my friends that I have not seen in years. We ate at Rudy’s Country Store And Bar-B-Q over in Chandler. We got there at a little after 6 pm. As to be expected, the line was long. After waiting in line, we ordered a bunch of meats along with some sides which included pork ribs, brisket, sausage, creamed corn, potato salad, and a gallon of tea. I stuck with their sissy sauce as I didn't want to risk any GI issues during the race. I sample a bit of everything and ate the brisket with some slices of white bread. My friends told me that their brisket was good and I can confirm that that was their best item. It was so good that we got back in line to order some more. The rest of the food was pretty good as well. The seating there was picnic style. After ordering your food, you'll need to find a place to sit down. Then grab some paper and napkins before you start eating. Afterwards you bus your own table. My friends invited me over to their place, but I had to decline and get back to my hotel to catch a few z's.
Interesting hallway lighting... redrum! :)
02/15/15 Sunday
I got ready, checked out of the hotel, and drove over to the parking lot at the Rodeo Grounds. I got there at around 5 am. I used the restrooms there before boarding the bus for the starting line. It was somewhat of a bumpy ride in the yellow school bus. We were dropped off at the camp site where there were many lit fire logs. Ok, in my opinion, those campfires were a bad idea. I really didn't need to inhale all of that smoke right before I run a marathon. Instead I went and sat in one of the warming buses right next to the gear bag check with a few people. If you run this race, I would suggest that you do this instead of sitting next to one of those fires. The majority of the runners however elected to be outside and inhale smoke. :)
As the start of the race drew near, they directed us to head for the starting line. Once I got to the starting line, I lined myself up by the 8 minute pace banner. The lower right leg had been feeling better and I wanted to check to see if it could handle that pace for the first 10k.
The race started at 7 am with the course beginning on a rolling dirt road called the Peralta Trail. Before I even reached mile 6, I was already feeling something in the same spot on my right leg. I began to pull back on the pace and just concentrate on moving at a pace that felt comfortable. At about mile 7, I reached highway 60. There was one lane open for cars and some of the passengers did not looked too pleased. After a little over a mile on the highway we made a right turn where we ran through residential roads. It was a steady climb and by mile 10, I was pooped. I just couldn't push with the ailing right leg. I pulled over to take a picture of the scenery.
I got through the first half in about 2 hrs. By mile 15 I was back on highway 60 for about a mile. Then I would turn right back into the residential roads. There was a turnaround a little after reaching mile 19. It was good to be able to see some of the runners that were behind me. By the time I got to mile 22, the sun was out in full force and it got toasty in a hurry! Once I turned left on Lost Dutchman Blvd, I knew that the end was near, but there were steady climbs here and there that caused my legs to start cramping up a bit. Finally I made it up to Idaho Rd where I turned right to head for the finish. There was one final turn towards the finish line at Prospector Park. All I could muster up was a brisk jog.
1: 7:47
2: 7:51
3: 8:14
4: 8:49
5: 8:37
6: 8:34
7: 8:46
8: 9:10
9: 9:41
10: 10:28
11: 10:38
12: 10:22
13: 9:40
14: 9:54
15: 10:33
16: 10:41
17: 11:57
18: 12:01
19: 12:33
20: 11:04
21: 11:19
22: 12:18
23: 12:22
24: 12:53
25: 12:08
26: 12:35
26.2: 2:00
Finish: 4:32:55
I was actually surprised that I was able to put out enough effort to come in around 4:30. Goes to show that it doesn't get any easier, you just get faster. Nowadays, a bad race day is around 4:30. It used to be around 5, 6 or even 7 hrs when I was having a bad day. After getting my medal and a bottle of water, I stumbled over to the post race food area, but didn't see anything that I would want to eat. As you may already know, I just can't stomach much of anything right after a race. After chatting with a few Marathon Maniacs and taking some random pictures, I got on the bus that took us back to the Rodeo Grounds parking lot.
Post race
I thought the medal was pretty nice. The sun on the medal spun. After changing into some clean clothes, I got ready to make the long drive back home. I stopped by a nearby gas station to fuel up before I hopped on the freeway. I had some Sobe green tea with me to keep me awake for the drive. I try to stay away from coffee even though current research and most doctors are saying that it's good for you. I just like to limit my caffeine intake unless I really need it.
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