Last weekend I ran my sixteenth marathon (and sixth Grandma’s). This one was technically against doctor’s orders (who said I should wait 4-6 weeks after breaking my toe), so I guess I shouldn’t be too upset with my regression in times.

After setting my new PR earlier this year in Eau Claire, I was hoping for another sub-4 race (even with the toe). The weather turned out to be decent and the first half of the race went well. I started out with the 3:40 pace group for the first two miles, then tried to catch the 3:30 group. I got within shouting distance, but then started to slow down.

I hit the halfway point in 1:52, but really wanted to quit around mile 17. Turns out not running for four weeks was a bigger problem than the toe – my knees and thighs were killing me. The splits for the final Duluth miles were terrible, but I still managed to finish in under four and a half hours (4:28:56 – 10:16 pace). Looks like my watch erased the last few miles, but here are the first 22 miles:

• 8:08, 8:08, 7:39, 7:42, 7:54, 8:15, 8:30, 8:53, 8:55, 8:28, 9:12, 9:19, 9:51, 9:51, 10:39, 11:14, 11:19, 11:25, 12:03, 12:34, 12:45, 12:54

As always, this race was incredibly well organized. I know there is more competition for spring marathons, but Grandma’s is special. I’ll keep coming back as long as I can – it’s a true Minnesota running tradition. Special thanks to all of the on-course volunteers at the water stops and at the finish who made me feel like the most important runner they had seen all day.

My legs and feet are feeling OK now and the swelling on the broken toe is mostly gone. I had a nasty sore on my waist from where my iPod was clipped to my shorts, but that’s healing now too. I may take another week off from running, but then need to start preparing for Twin Cities in October.

Today I ran the second annual Eau Claire Marathon in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. This was marathon number 15 for me and I set a new PR by 25 minutes. I averaged an 8:42 pace and finished with an official chip time of 3:47:49. Here were the splits:

7:58, 7:42, 7:53, 7:51, 7:56, 7:48, 8:01, 8:09, 8:13, 7:42, 8:09, 8:31, 8:30
8:35, 8:34, 9:01, 8:59, 9:08, 9:24, 8:50, 9:21, 9:22, 9:59, 9:54, 10:18, 10:09

That time was good enough to place 60th out of 230 marathon finishers. The half marathon had 1234 finishers, while the two mile run had 207. Full marathon results can be found here.

The course was interesting. There were some very beautiful sections, including a four mile stretch on a dirt trail through a forest and multiple river crossings. Some other stretches were just there to get you from point A to point B (which is fine and couldn’t really be avoided). The only thing I disliked was the nasty hill that ended right at mile 26 – pure evil.

The weather was a mixed bag. The temperature was good, but the sun was out the entire time. Winds picked up over the course of the morning and provided a challenge in many spots (although it was a cool breeze and helped offset the hot sunshine).

One last note – the course volunteers and Eau Claire police officers were all wonderful. Even though the field wasn’t very big, they really treated all the runners like royalty.

This morning was wet and windy, but the 33rd Annual Get in Gear 10K still drew a big crowd. I lowered my 10K PR by 4 minutes, so I didn’t mind getting wet (although the walk back to the car was a bit cold).

My splits were 7:05, 7:08, 7:19, 7:21, 7:17 and 7:14, with a final time of 44:47 (7:13 pace). I finished 315th out of 3667 total runners (252nd out of 1626 men), which I’m pretty sure is my best finish in a major race.

With the 2010 Heart of the City race cancelled, I need to find another spring race. I’m currently only registered for Twin Cities in October, so I may sign up for Grandma’s or one of the other regional races (Minneapolis, Stillwater, Rochester or Madison).

I’d like to get a measure for how close I am to a Boston qualifying time for 2011, so maybe two spring marathons would be good (or crazy)…

It seems crazy to me that I ran 1,000 miles this year – that’s like running from Minneapolis to Bozeman, Montana. I’ve never tracked mileage for a whole year before now, though, so we’ll see what happens in 2010…

A friend of mine recently asked for a comprehensive listing of Minnesota races this summer and none of the sites I usually look at had everything in one spot. So here is a list of races I’m thinking about for next year, along with links:

Get in Gear 10K (or half) – April 24, 2010
http://www.getingear10k.com/

Stillwater Marathon/Half – May 30, 2010
http://www.stillwatermarathon.com/

Rochester Med-City Marathon/Half – May 30, 2010
http://www.medcitymarathon.com/

Heart of the City Half – June 5, 2010
http://www.safehavenmn.org/marathon.html

Minneapolis Marathon/Half – June 6, 2010
http://www.teamortho.us/Minneapolis_Marathon

Grandma’s Marathon/Half – June 19, 2010
http://www.grandmasmarathon.com/

Red, White and Boom TC Half – July 4, 2010
http://www.mtcmarathon.org/HalfMarathon/

Twin Cities Marathon/10 Mile – October 3, 2010
http://www.mtcmarathon.org/Marathon/

Monster Half – October 30, 2010
http://www.teamortho.us/Monster_Dash

I always do Get in Gear and the Heart of the City and will likely sign up for the new Fourth of July half (which opens for registration in a few days). I’ll probably pick one spring marathon (either Grandma’s or Minneapolis) and then run TCM with my brother. I was hoping to do one more winter marathon this year, but it doesn’t look like that will work out.

I was a little worried about the weather for this year’s Monster Dash half marathon in Minneapolis – it was near blizzard conditions the night before – but it turned out to be a decent day for a race. Temperatures were in the upper 30s at the start, with winds in the 14-17 mph range. The sun made an appearance and a lot of the course was sheltered from the wind.

The half marathon course was changed for 2009, starting on the north side of Lake Harriet and running the Lake Calhoun loop first, before following the west side of Harriet and the six or so miles out and back along Minnehaha Creek. The last mile was on the east side of Harriet, finishing right where we started.

Team Ortho provided pacers that were spread out at many intervals and I decided to sit between the 1:40 (7:38 pace) and 1:45 (8:01) runners, hoping to keep up with the 1:40 group. I ended up passing the 1:40 pacer after a few miles and stayed in front of him the whole race. He caught up to me at mile 12, but I had a little energy left and finished with a new PR time of 1:39:15 (7:35 pace).

Here are my splits:

• 7:45
• 7:33
• 7:29
• 7:29
• 7:24
• 7:41
• 7:42
• 7:13
• 7:31
• 8:08
• 7:23
• 7:38
• 7:27

There were 2,644 finishers (1,536 women, 1,108 men) and the average time was 2:06:29. The race won by Joseph Radosevich in 1:14:15 (5:41). The women’s champion was Nancy Buselmeier, who finished in 1:27:28 (6:41).

I actually placed 178th overall (17th in my division) and qualified for corral 1 at next year’s TCM. This was also my first half marathon run at a Boston Qualifying pace, so I’m trying to decide what to do next to meet that goal.

The confirmation cards arrived in the mail today for the 2009 Monster Dash events in Minneapolis. This year the races will actually be on Halloween morning – the half marathon I’m running starts at 8:30AM, followed by the 5K that Colleen and the kids are doing at 10:30AM. The plan is for me to finish in under two hours and join them for the 5K.

The field for the half and the 10 mile race is full, so parking will be interesting. The forecast looks good, though. More later…