Last weekend, 75% of the Kingsbury clan headed down I-35 to the Iowa state capital for the 14th running of the IMT Des Moines Marathon. I picked this race as part of the Fifty States quest, with Iowa and South Dakota being the closest ones to Minnesota that I hadn’t knocked off yet. Combine that with a very reasonable rate at the Downtown Marriott ($130 + tax) and what I thought was a rather flat state overall, it was a no-brainer pick for marathon number 25.

The hotel turned out to be great – within walking distance of the start and finish area, no forced two night minimum and a 2pm late check-out for runners to return and shower after the race. The room was your typical downtown business hotel as far as furnishings go and the staff was very friendly. Just like most business-class hotel chains, though, they still charge extra for wireless internet and a 30-second phone call I made from the room to Colleen’s mobile phone was billed at $5.75. Ouch.

As for the race, I was disappointed with my performance (4:37:23 – 10:36 pace, 895th overall, 77 out of 106 in my age division). I could blame lots of things, but it was mainly just a lack of faster training miles during this cycle that blew it for me at the end. Turns out this part of Iowa is far from flat – the course map shows a rise of “just” 150 feet, but the hills between miles three and eight were substantial. Not Superior Hiking Trail bad, but still very trying. Ironically enough, that part of the race was also my fastest (first 10K in 55:00 for an 8:52 pace).

The weather was really cold at the start – about 35F with clear, sunny skies and a light wind that picked up substantially as the morning went on. I had packed a “cold” outfit and a “warm” outfit and completely picked the wrong items to start with. It was great before the race, but once things started, I was too hot. Colleen and MK drove to around mile 16 and I was extremely thankful they had brought part of the other outfit with them.

One of my favorite parts of this course was the loop around the famous blue oval that is home to the Drake Relays. First held in 1910, this track has hosted a who’s who of the running world: Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner, Michael Johnson, Carl Lewis, Jesse Owens, Wilma Rudolph, Frank Shorter, Gwen Torrence and several hundred other Olympic athletes. My lap was probably one of the slowest ever recorded there, but it’s fun to think of Randy Wilson setting the 800m record (my high school event) on April 28, 1978 – a blazing 1:45.86!

I hit the halfway mark right at two hours and was hoping to stay in the 4:00 – 4:20 range, but I started to cramp up and had to take longer and longer walk breaks during the water stations. The sections around Waterworks Park and Grays Lake Park were not my favorite – you could see the huge loops around those areas and both felt like forever to complete (even though they were only about two miles long each). I saw Colleen and MK again around mile 25, then headed to the finish line, which was in the same spot where we started (Locust Street bridge). Running the second half 37 minutes slower than the first was just sad, but it’s over, it wasn’t my slowest marathon and it still counts as a finish.

My Garmin said I ran 26.4 miles, so I guess I took the tangents poorly. Here are the watch splits: 8:45, 8:53, 8:49, 9:01, 8:33, 9:03, 8:52, 9:05, 9:01, 9:04, 9:26, 9:34, 10:05, 10:14, 10:37, 11:56, 10:46, 11:35, 12:28, 12:01, 12:25, 12:25, 14:00, 12:08, 12:28 and 11:47. The official reported splits were: 10K – 55:00 (8:52), Half – 2:00:15 (9:11), 20 miles – 3:19:05 (9:58) and last 10K – 1:18:19. Nice food options at the end, which I also thought was organized very nicely. Still couldn’t find the family, but that my fault for not telling them where to meet ahead of time.

The expo was small, but nice. We saw our friend Kris Jessee, who ran the half in an impressive 1:43:58. You could tell this is really more of a half marathon event – there were just a couple of spots for marathon bib pick-up and a whole wall full of spots for the half. With just 1,392 people in the full, there was plenty of elbow room once we split from the half runners around mile three. The full marathon course was well supported throughout, but there weren’t a whole lot of spectators. They gave out the shirts at the expo and not at the finish (one of my minor pet peeves), but they are very nice. Cool medal design too.

The rest of trip was short, but fun. MK had a school project based on planning trips, so she practiced on this one. Based on her research, we stopped at the very cool Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden and drove by the pretty state capital building. We also hit up locally-owned Zombie Burger + Drink Lab for lunch, where I ordered the huge double “Dead Moines” burger (smoked gouda, prosciutto, ham and truffle mayo). It was great, but trust me when I say a single is more than enough. RAYGUN, the Greatest Store in the Universe, was just down the street, so we of course had to stop in and do a little shopping there.

We didn’t stick around too long after the race on Sunday, breaking our locals-only food rule with a quick stop at Noodles and Company before hitting the road back north. The road construction on I-35 once we passed back into Minnesota was completely ridiculous. MNDOT really needs to study ways to improve that whole situation. The Iowa DOT runs some pretty awesome “modern” rest stops – perhaps they can give MNDOT a call and lend a helping hand…

Wasn’t expecting much from my ninth straight running of the Minnesota State Fair Milk Run 5K – back issues prompted a three-week break from running in August, so the run log looks pretty thin. I even asked Kid Two if I could just run with her at whatever pace she wanted (Kid One has completely dropped the Milk Run Tradition™). But alas, I ended up trying to complete my quest for an age group ribbon anyways and came up short again. My official chip time was 24:48 (8:00 pace), with watch splits of 7:27, 8:31 and 7:50. This was 38 seconds slower than last year, but still good enough for 8th in my age group (out of 53) and 100th overall.

The top three ribbon winners still are flying, with the first place guy smoking almost everyone. Thomas Tisell, 48, of Saint Paul, ran an amazing 5:46 average pace to finish with a 17:55 (third overall). The important time to beat was the third place finisher (Piet Hansel, 46, also of Saint Paul), who had a chip time of 22:02. If I could just set a new PR for this distance, I would’ve had it this year. Oh well, still in the realm of possibility is enough to get me to keep coming back (and maybe even train a little).

One family member did set a PR this year – MK broke her old best time by nearly a minute (43:07 chip time). She too has declared that she’s done with this whole Milk Run business, however. There is one other runner that deserves some major props this year: Gloria Jansen of White Bear Lake set a new age group record that had held for 16 years. Her chip time of 25:00 gives her the fastest 5K time in Minnesota history for a 68-year-old woman. Way to go Gloria!

The course was changed again this year, with the start and finish line moved way over to Machinery Hill. The fair also decided to eliminate the option of paying for parking with an advanced purchase entry ticket, so managing traffic, finding a parking spot and getting to the starting line on time were extra stressful this year. The race organizers suggested entering at Snelling and Hoyt (which we did), but I think I’ll find an alternate way next year. We ended up with a spot near the West End entrance, but had to walk back to the starting line.

The new route basically added two new hills, one of which was right at the end (no fair, fair). I started out OK, but as usual, had trouble with that middle mile. Stopped at the midway water station (just like last year), which caused that ugly 8:31 middle split. Felt OK for the last mile, but it too was slower than I need for a ribbon. Kicked it in at the end to stay in front of this really short kid, but payed for it by nearly puking just beyond the finish line. Serves me right for sticking it to the kid, I guess.

We both picked up our shirts, got a chocolate milk from the Princess Kay crew, then headed back to the car to change. It was really weird starting the rest of our fair day on that end of the fairgrounds – all our past traditions involved starting by the old Heritage Square (RIP). Oh yeah, no door prizes yet again for either of us. WTH?

But enough with the complaining. This was my 46th straight year at the Great Minnesota Get-Together and I will always love it no matter what. In fact, we ended up staying for twelve hours Sunday and plan to go back Saturday for the Avett Brothers in the Grandstand and maybe again on Labor Day to see Merle Haggard, Kris Kristofferson and Sturgill Simpson.

Kid one is returning to work at the fair, but she is switching from the Corn Roast to the Taste of Midtown Global Market spot in the International Bazaar that is being split between Hot Indian Foods and The Rabbit Hole. Hot Indian had it the first half and their Tikka On-a-Stikka was the only new fair food I tried. Two pieces for $6, they described it as “chicken marinated in spices and yogurt, chargrilled and smothered in tikka sauce.” Colleen didn’t care for it, but I’d order it again for sure.

Our friends Thomas and Kat own The Rabbit Hole and we ran into them on Sunday (with their adorable daughter). They will be serving from the new spot September 2 through Labor Day with a mini menu of Kimchi ‘n’ Curry Poutine, Hot Tail and a Salad Named Soo (along with iced green tea). Can’t wait to stop back there and try it out.

As for other food, it was back to basics most of the day. Started with a Pronto Pup (of course, plus another one later), then 1919 root beer, cheese curds, corn roast, Danielson onion rings, Sweet Martha’s cookies and a frozen cider pop from Minnesota Apples. The free malt coupon from the Milk Run was again valid at the Dairy Building and I actually tried something other than plain vanilla – the new salted caramel puff flavor. The corn puffs were a little stale, but the flavor combination was genius.

We really seemed to walk all over during the course of the day. There were no birds in the poultry building this year due to the avian flu, but we did get to see some rather large horses. Our efforts to see the sheep, cows and pigs, however, were thwarted by an early 3pm barn closing time. We also missed all the shows in the Coliseum, but sat in there anyway, just to get away from the crowds and sit in front of the large fans. Speaking of crowds, it seemed jammed everywhere, but the official count for the day was “only” 179,724 – more than the last two years, but far from the all-time record set in 1994 of 209,969.

Let’s see, what else? Ye Old Mill is celebrating their 100th year of operation, so we of course had to go on that. We visited the Minnesota State Lottery booth again and purchased the $10 worth of tickets needed to get a “free” T-shirt. Colleen did the same and we won a grand total of $5 from our four tickets, so it was basically $15 for two shirts. Our friend’s band The Shiny Lights played a set on the new tpt stage outside the 4-H building at 6pm, which was the last thing we did before heading for the gates. Excellent job, Chris!

It’s been a few weeks since I signed up to run the 2015 IMT Des Moines Marathon and I really should come up with a formal training plan and get serious about running again. As my running log chart can attest, this has been a down year so far – less than 350 total miles in 2015 (and we’re already half done). Plus I now have the added pressure of a work colleague threatening to start a BQ challenge. Actually, that’s probably just what I need to get motivated again. Watch out, 3:25, I’m gunning for you again…

OK, maybe not. It would, however, be nice to PR on Sunday, October 18th. The race starts at 8am on the Locust Street Bridge in downtown Des Moines and has a course map that reminds me a little of Fargo (see above). There is roughly 150 feet of elevation change, though, so it’s not a completely flat course like one would expect to find in the great state of Iowa. Packet pickup is only open on Friday and Saturday, so I booked a room at the downtown Marriott on Saturday night. It’s close to the start/finish area and will have showers available afterwards, which sounded like a good plan.

Des Moines is a smaller race than I expected. Marathon weekend last year had about 9,000 total runners, which includes the marathon relay, half marathon and 5K events. Looks like they had just under 1600 marathon finishers, so it might seem a little more like Eau Claire than Fargo. I generally prefer larger races, but it will be interesting to see what I can do these days with fewer people on course.

Not sure what kind of training plan I’ll follow for this race – definitely need to pick up the mileage and continue cross-training. I still haven’t started my Wolverine workout plan due to travel/commute limitations, but I’d like to start adding in at least some of those new exercises. My weight is hovering a good 20 pounds higher than I want, but I’ve decided that I just don’t want to give up the things I like on the eating and drinking side of the equation. For now I’ll try the “increase workouts and practice restraint” method of weight control and see how that goes.

Step 1: 10K @ 5am – go!