Marathon #6

I can't seem to get back into the swing of blogging... but I am pleased to say my 6th marathon is now complete! On Sunday, September 24, Jane and I both ran in the TBK Quad Cities Marathon (her the half and me the full). I think you can see my results here: my Quad Cities Marathon 2023 - TBK Bank Marathon results.

If not, I finished in 4:45:30, with a per-mile pace of 10:54. That put me at 306th place out of 555 marathoners, and 6th of 14 in my age group (60-64). I did the first half in 2:09 (9:53 pace), which is what I was maybe hoping I could maintain. Not so much though.

Jane ran a 2:14 half (10:19 pace) for 622nd out of 1203, and 15th of 46 in her age group. I'm pretty sure she could have done faster, but I'm super proud of her nonetheless.

They advertise this as: 6 races, 4 cities, 3 bridges, 2 states, and 1 island. It is that. The marathon, half-marathon, and marathon relay begin in Moline, IL, cross the Mississippi River to Bettendorf, IA, chug along the river to Davenport, IA, cross back over to Rock Island, IL, make a jaunt onto Sylvan Island in the middle of the Mississippi, then back to Moline. It seemed exactly that long if not longer...

They also advertise this as a "fairly flat" course. Uh, THAT it is not! At least not in my book. I was expecting the this bridge to be a bit of a climb, but I didn't expect it to be quite that much of a chore, and THEN to be followed up by a pretty serious hill in Bettendorf (among a few more minor hills and the other bridges). Ugh, they about did me in.

Top that off with the fact the weather forecast had been for rain and mid-60s for all day... and it ended up being sunny and 80 degrees!!! Things did not exactly go as planned, which, of course, is just how a marathon should go! :)

Anyway, I finished on two feet and with a smile on my face. That was the main thing.

This was a little different marathon than the others in that my mom and my daughter came along with us. We all stayed near the starting line Saturday so they could experience the expo and the start/finish of the race. Carrie has been to events like this before, but not my mom. I think she gained a bit of appreciation for the sport. She had no idea. She also wasn't aware there would be people near her age participating. So that was nice.

As for me...

I thought this would be a good marathon to do because we lived most of our lives a mere 40 minutes from the Quad Cities. This is probably the closest one I could ever do to "home." I've also decided I like ones about this size. In a city, but not huge. Similar to Fort Wayne, Grand Rapids, and even Indy - though that was pushing it. I really don't have a desire to do a major marathon at this point (Chicago, New York, etc.). I prefer supporting these efforts, and they simply feel more "me."

As mentioned before, I'd expected it to rain all week, and even the forecast that day was still for rain. The heat and sun was totally unexpected, and honestly I think I'd rather have had rain. There isn't much shade (or any) on this course, and it did a number on me.

I also made the mistake of starting out with the 4:20 pace group. I planned to run with the 4:25s, but there ended up not being one. It really didn't feel all that bad though... until mile 9 and I was on the second of what I would consider a sizeable hill. I couldn't believe I was walking already! Although, our pace was also faster than the 9:55 it should have been to start. It was more like 9:30-9:45. I don't know if the pacer was aware of the hills, or just figured people would slow down later, or what. I didn't think that's how pace groups worked. But what do I know. I should have just done what I KNOW you're supposed to do, and ran my own race. Oh well.

I walked more in this race than any of the previous ones I've done. I knew I'd done the first half too fast and once I was walking I figured it would be a chore. I don't even know where I was at when I decided to walk a quarter of each mile. Then for awhile I walked a quarter and jogged a quarter. At about the 3-hour mark I came to the realization it might take me 6 hours to finish... then I began to hope I could do it in 5... and pretty soon I leveled off and knew I'd be okay. "Slow and steady and find your form," was one of many mantras I resorted to.

I wore my white Brooks Ghost 14 (size 9), with my old Injinji toe socks. Also my oldest pair of shorts (from Old Navy, no less) and an old Walmart tank top. I got a new hat at the expo the night before and wore that. I wasn't going to take my water bottle, but decided to at the last minute. I'm glad I did, because I think there were two water stations missing on the last half of the course. It was like 5 or 6 miles between some of them. I also did all 5 GU gels I brought along in my belt pack.

It was quite the relief to get to mile 25, and I remember smiling and feeling pretty good as I was leaving the island and heading in to the finish. I ran by myself most of the time and only chatted with a couple folks, and even though I walked A LOT, I actually felt better than most overall at the end (maybe because I walked a lot). No blisters, chafing, or pain of any kind. However, after crossing the finish line, grabbing a beer, and finding Jane, my mom and Carrie, I started feeling pretty week. We'd found a spot in the shade and everything started going black. I'm almost sure if I hadn't sat down I would have passed out. I've never had that happen post-race before. But Jane got me a breakfast burrito and a water and after downing that I felt alright. It was a little scary for a moment.

Afterward we headed back to our room. We stayed at the Stoney Creek Hotel (Quad Cities), and it was EXCELLENT! It was just a block from the start/finish line, and they'd upgraded us to an extended stay cottage (for free!). Everyone was very nice, the continental breakfast was great, and the little bar had a really good pizza (along with wings and a few other things to eat). 

All in all, it was a nice marathon. I wish it hadn't been so hot, or that there was more shade, but the views were incredible, and even though the bridges were A BEAR, it was pretty neat going over them. It is not a flat course though... but one I'm glad I did at least once. I may consider doing this event again someday, but we'll see.

We are back to training now (as of Tuesday), as the big Fort4Fitness event is this weekend. Jane and I just signed up for the 4-mile because we weren't sure how we would feel. I still have to say this is the best I have ever felt following a marathon. So I'm pretty happy about all that, and, honestly, feel very fortunate to be able to do any of it at all! :)