Garmin Marathon in the Land of Oz Race Report

Since I've decided to almost stop completely all of my promotional activites for our local sports (running and triathlons), I'll go back a little bit and blog for me. Just because it is relaxing, and there's a couple of you that enjoy reading. Those of you who do? Thanks.

I signed up for the Oz Marathon in Olathe, Kansas in late February. The idea was to start a little earlier in my prep for next year's Rocky Raccoon 100. (Yes, another attempt. It is completely a challenging, yet doable task.) And, of course, chase states again.

Today was a marathon finish in my 26th state. I got in under the six-hour barrier at 5:54:52, according to my watch.

If I was forced to not count states that had six hour finishes or greater, I'd have to toss out Hawaii, Idaho and Utah. Two of those three, I was nowhere near ready for. (Utah was at altitude without being able to acclimate.)

And today was about the same; however, that wasn't the original plan. I had signed up for the Memorial Hermann Sugar Land Half Marathon, which was held on Sunday, March 25, but just a couple of days before (Tuesday, to be exact), I had a bout with a 162/92 high blood pressure reading. Therefore, I decided not to push the envelope.

Plus, I had just ended a four-week stint of handling media for The Woodlands Marathon, finish line announcing for both the Gusher Marathon and the Seabrook Lucky Trail Marathon and race directing the sixth annual BMI 5K in Conroe. Additionally, I was trying to keep my weekly workouts up, but the flying back and forth to California and the long hours while I was at the client site didn't give me enough time to cut a little weight, which helps.

The weather for today's race was almost perfect. The sun was out pretty strong at the end, even though the temperature was 64 degrees.

The first 11.5 miles were on city streets while the remaining almost 14.5 were on a nice paved trail. This course reminded me a lot of Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

The race started and finished at the world headquarters of Garmin International.

I could tell from the get go, even with the cooler temperatures, that it was going to be a challenging day. But the one thing that I learned in getting ready for Rocky Raccoon was not to let things frustrate me. Do as much as possible as often as possible and then figure out what it takes to make sure that I get in under six hours.

Mile 1 -- 10:23.96
Mile 2 -- 11:40.79
Mile 3 -- 11:03.47
Mile 4 -- 11:40.31
Mile 5 -- 11:42.40
Mile 6 -- 11:02.29
Mile 7 -- 11:46.50
Mile 8 -- 13:11.81
Mile 9 -- 11:42.88
Mile 10 -- 12:06.59
Mile 11 -- 12:25.31
Mile 12 -- 12:00.31

You can see that this is where I did the math of 2:20 plus 14 times 16, which is 3:44, and would be a 6:04 marathon at that point.

However, my plan is - when I enter a marathon that I'm not really ready for - to power walk the first 10 minutes and then beginning running as much as I can to the mile marker and repeat. The sooner I get there, the more I put "time in the bank" against that original number.

Mile 13 -- 14:26.81
Mile 14 -- 13:53.25
Mile 15 -- 15:06.73
Mile 16 -- 14:21.19
Mile 17 -- 14:59.54
Mile 18 -- 14:26.10
Mile 19 -- 15:04.71
Mile 20 -- 14:46.05
Mile 21 -- 13:38.22
Mile 22 -- 16:44.31

These two mile markers above were clearly not set right.

Mile 23 -- 14:44.07
Mile 24 -- 15:59.90
Mile 25 -- 16:23.20
Mile 26 -- 16:15.94
Last .2 -- 3:15.89

Overall -- 5:54:52

Not my worst day. Not my finest either.

Runner's World Bart Yasso was in Olathe today, but he was also at the Little Rock Marathon in 2006. I was running the fourth marathon in five weeks (Mardi Gras, Austin, Surfside and then Little Rock). And he said in a presentation that he did there with his wife Laura in attendance with him that "you can train for a marathon the right way or you can go about like some of the 50 States marathoners do and also have a really good time".

I've trained right for a few marathons and did well. Today was the first time that I think that I had run outside since ... February at Rocky Raccoon. No, I wouldn't recommend it, but it is something that I figured - push come to shove - I could do.

Some notes: I saw and chatted quite a bit on the course with San Antonio's Larry Macon, 14-time 50-state finisher. Nice guy. I told him that I had never asked anybody nor him, but I found out that he doesn't have his own plane. He makes his weekly back-to-back marathons around the USA on commercial flights. Wow! ..... Somewhere on the trail, I saw a guy with a Penn State shirt. I met him with a loud "We Are" and he responded with a "Penn State" ..... Dallas' Libby Jones had a great race with an 11-minute PR, according to her Facebook status. She caught me somewhere around mile 12 or so and then I saw her close to the turnaround, which was just beyond mile 18.  She led an entourage of approximately 20 women from the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex to Kansas.