Another weekend, another marathon.  I took a small road trip to Omaha for the Omaha Marathon this past Sunday. After running MT last weekend, I knew this wasn’t going to be an easy one. I arrived early at the start line because the hotel I was staying at didn’t allow late check out, so I wanted a parking spot close to the start/finish line. I started out slow as usual just focused on maintaining and finishing. It actually helped a lot because the majority of the first half of the course was very hilly. Hard to believe that Nebraska would have hills like that, but they were tough. The course was fairly enjoyable and the race wasn’t too bad after the 10K’ers and half-marathoner’s vacated the course. All 2500 people started at the same time and same place which was a little crowded for someone like me who is used to start lines with 200ppl or less.
I was hoping for a sub four-hour finish but I finished in 4:03:25. I am pleased considering last week’s venture and next week’s plan. This makes it 2 marathons in as many weeks. 6 states and 10 total marathons in my fourth year of running marathons. It’s addictive. It all starts with an obsession of checklists. In college, I was aiming for the 48 4000ft peaks of NH and I completed them in just over 3yrs while I was in college. In Anchorage, AK, I hiked the 10 5,000ft peaks west of Ship Creek. This summer I spent a few weeks in CO and started climbing the 14ers (14,000ft peaks). I hiked 6 of them in two weeks. There are 54 total 14ers of CO and maybe next summer, I’ll take another vacation to knock off some more. I decided to try for marathons in all the 50 states as a long-term goal when I lived in AK and that is one list I am working on now.
Its more than simply hiking a mountain or running a race, it’s about the experience. 

Joe Rozak

 I started running marathons in 2005 when I lived in Anchorage, AK. My first was Humpy’s Marathon which was a fairly flat course along the coastal trail in the city. Humpy’s is a local bar in Anchorage as well as another name for the pink salmon and not a strip joint. Anyway, why I started running marathons is another longer story, but when I discovered I was moving to SD, I looked into marathons in SD and all the states bordering SD with the intent of running a marathon in SD, NE, MT, WY, IA, ND and MN before I had to move again. Last year I ran 3 in SD and 1 in ND, so this year I set my eyes on the rest of them. Unfortunately my plans to run the WY marathon over Memorial Day weekend fell through because of work, but I managed to run the Leadville Trail marathon in CO which doesn’t exactly border SD, but it was another state.

The fall marathon season revealed numerous marathons including the Montana Marathon is Billings, MT. The only drawback was I had run the Leanhorse 50-miler a month prior, so I probably wasn’t going to be at 100%. On Saturday, I drove out to Billings and counted dead dear to pass the time, but quickly lost count somewhere before Gillette, WY. Anyway, this was the first trip I made use of a GPS unit for the car my parents bought me for my birthday. Thank goodness for it too, because Billings is an oddly arranged city. I was bounced around till I got my race packet later Saturday afternoon.

I didn’t sleep much overnight which I have come to expect as normal the night before a race. I took a shuttle from the hotel to the finish line where they bused us out to the start in the town of Molt which was at best a few farm houses. The race started at 7am when the sun was struggling to make it above the horizon, but it was blocked by some clouds to the east. Temps at the start were in the mid to upper 50’s with a light breeze. Conditions were nearly perfect. I started slow like usual particularly because I had heard how deceptive the course was. There was indeed a net elevation loss of about 1000ft, but the steep descents were punctuated by long arduous uphills. Everything was going well and I picked up the pace after mile 5 like normal. The long downhill came between mile 10 and 14 which I couldn’t resist. I tried to let gravity do most of the work and take some of the pressure of my legs to save them for later. I was still cruizin’ around mile 20 and feeling fine. I knew the “wall” was coming, but I wanted to keep the pace going for as long as possible till that point. Well it finally came at mile 23. The last three miles were a struggle and hauntingly familiar to the 50-miler. I finished in 3:47 which is on the slow side for me, but I was expecting that. I forgot to mention that the sun broke out later on in the race adding to my discomfort. I didn’t realize how much till I finished and noticed a fine white coating on my skin of salt.

I was happy to finish marathon #9 in my 5th state. This was the first marathon of the fall season and I have 3 more to go before taking some time off. Later that evening I enjoyed some microbrews at the Montana Brewing Company. There is no better way to wrap up a marathon trip, than indulging in microbrews. On the way home, I had to pick up some Fat Tire in WY to keep the fridge stocked. 

Joe Rozak

Why I started running? Well, in HS I was trying to be a basketball player since I was one of the tallest in my class. I made the freshmen team and went on through the winter season with no major issues, but something about HS basketball was just taking the fun out of the game. Earlier that summer before the school year started, I was in a basketball camp for a week. The HS coaches ran it, so I got good face time. The JV coach (who was also the varsity football coach) was trying to talk me into joining the football team. Football just wasn’t for me. He really seemed to push the fall sport thing for staying in shape for the basketball season, so I joined the XC team. The first few days were tough. The team (MA state champs the year prior) would go for a warmup and I thought that was the entire run. Needless to say I was in shock when they started talking about the days run after stretching. “There is no way I can do this” I thought after the first week. Luckily my dad talked me into giving it another week and if I was still feeling the same way, I could quit.

I’m not sure what happened, but the next week I felt fine. I could run the entire practice and have enough energy not to drop dead when I got home later that evening. After the fall season and winter bball season, I ran spring track and dabled in the sprints (100 & 200). I soon realized that I wasn’t quick, I could run longer.

The next year, I ran XC again and because of a string of injuries that befalled the senoirs, I was blessed with the opprotunity to run in the Eastern MA championship meet in Jamaica Plain in Boston. What a miserable day. It must have rained 3-4 inches before the race started and another inch during the race. It was one of the more memorable races because it was my hardwork and dedication to the team which allowed me to run in this race and I finished dead last, but it was in a meet full of super fast runners (at least thats the story I’m sticking to). In the winter, I made the JV bball team, but I got so fed up with the sport and decided to quit before the season started and run indoor track instead.

That was about 12yrs ago and I haven’t second-guessed my decision one bit. Probably one of the best I’ve made. I have many other stories, as I’m sure many other runners do, of why they keep running and little segments in their lives that serve to revalidate running as a part of our lives. I think that is why I keep running because every run brings a new experience and another story to tell.

Joe R

I must say up front that I don’t really enjoy speed work. That being said, I do know that it is important if you want to take your running to the next level. If you are happy with where your running is now, don’t really care if you improve your race times or don’t have a competitive bone in your body, this isn’t for you. It hurts at a certain level.  As a runner, you must understand the difference between good pain and bad pain. Bad pain is what happens below the waist. Stress fractures, sprained ankles, shin splints, knee pain and hip pain all fall into this category. Time off or a change in routine is the best medicine.

Good pain is what happens above the waist. All distance runners are familiar with this. How you handle this type of pain is what makes you a distance runner. Being able to shut it out of your mind and push through is what delineates us from the sprinters. Much of this pain comes from lactic acid which builds up in the muscles when you burn oxygen faster than your body can replace it. Training your body to run when you have this build up of lactic acid is one of the reasons to do speed work. Running faster than your normal daily pace, for short periods of time, with a prescribed rest time in between runs is call interval training.

Your body will adjust to just about anything you throw at it. If you go out and run 5 miles every day at a certain pace, eventually, it will get easier. And this will get you fit. However, there is a point of diminishing returns. If you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you always got! Does that make sense? If you want to improve your fitness level, occasionally, you have to throw something different into your workout scheme. Sometimes, go farther, at a slower pace. Sometimes you need to go FAST! (a relative term, fast is different for everyone)

Several of us have been meeting at the track on Tuesday evenings to share the workout. It is always easier to do the hard workouts if you have someone else there to encourage you.  Trevor, Joe, Amy and Dennis all did the workout with me last week. (7 X 800) Trevor and I were the only ones last night. (12 X 400) We are going to go one more night, so if you think you might want to try this, show up at the Sioux Park Track about 6:00 next Tuesday. All workouts can be modified to fit the individual, come out and give it a try.

Gary

Joe R came up with a great idea for a blog. How and why we started running. I’m going to tell you my sad story, and if anyone wants to add theirs, send it to me and I’ll post it.

I was a freshman in high school, and desperately wanted to be an athlete. At 5-3 and 120 lbs, my options were limited. To short for basketball, and to small for football, I decided to go out for track. The very first day, the coach had us split up, sprinters over here, distance runners over there. I had no idea where to go, but one of the older guys (Bob) went over there with the distance runners. Now I had this major crush on his sister Janice, and figured one way to get in good with her would be to hang with Bob, so I meandered over to the distance group. Little did I know, how that decision would change the rest of my life.

My first race was in the mile at the Pierre Legion Relays. Of course I toed the line fully intending to win the race. When the gun went off, I ran off with the lead pack. That lasted about 300 meters, then reality set in. Loren Kambestad (Central HS Cross Country Coach) was the state record holder at the time. He was also in that race. I always tell people that when he finished that day, I was about 3 steps ahead of him. Of course I had another lap to go, but that is just a minor detail that I sometimes forget to add. My time that day was 6:30. By the end of the year, I was down to 6:00, but wasn’t sure I liked being a distance runner. The 100 yard dash looked good, and I wouldn’t have to worry about getting lapped.

The next year, something happened to change things. We had a new coach, Lyle Claussen, fresh from college. He saw something in me, and encouraged me to keep running long. When I ran my first 2 mile that year, he stood alongside the track and cheered for me each lap. He took the time to help me get better, even though I still wasn’t very good. He instilled in me a love for running, pride in accomplishment and a will to get better that I still carry with me today. He only coached me that one year (he was drafted into the Army) but in many ways he had as big an impact on my life as my parents. Because of him, I became a coach, and a teacher. I still enjoy passing my love of our great sport on to others. (give me a chance, show up at the Sioux Park Track on Tuesday evenings, 6:15 for speed work)

Oh, and about Janice . . . well that didn’t last, but I often wonder if she has any idea how big an effect she had on my life. Hadn’t seen her in 30 years, till last year when I was helping Jerry Dunn with the DMT Marathon. She came through the line to pick up a packet and shirt?!?

Gary

I woke up yesterday (on my 54th birthday) and came to a realization. At the moment, I was older than I have ever been in my entire life. While that seems like a problem to some, runners usually look at birthdays from a different perspective. Most runners, of any age can do something that very few people are able to do. Run! And what a great sport we have. I played basketball, softball, football and several other sports when I was younger. I still ski, bike, swim, golf and run. Running is something I can do every day of the year, with minimal preparation and expense. I hope to still be running well into my 80’s and 90’s, long as the knees hold up. 

There are many runners in South Dakota who have more “experience” than the average runner. I’ve been running since I was in school, 40+years. However, I’m looked upon as “one of the young guys” in the Black Hills Runners Club. Our club president, Tim Raben is a young looking 60+, John Haeder, Ron Bunnell and Dennis Meier are all in his age group, and still running strong. Then we have club founders Don and Cindy Walker, who have been running longer than many of us have been alive. They both continue to plug along, despite bouts of health problems. Their indomitable spirit, determination and dedication are a model for us all. 

There are, however, a couple of South Dakota runners that I think deserve mention, and possible induction into the SD Runners Hall of Fame. I first met Bob Bartling when I traveled to Brookings in 1971 to run the Jackrabbit 15 Road Race from White to Brookings. Bob was an old guy then, at about 45. At one time, he was one of the best masters runners in the upper midwest. Last year, at age 81, Bob ran the Jack 15 in 3:48:23. While far from his prime, Bob still hits the roads daily, holding on to a healthy addiction that he started many years ago.

Edith Weber, of Piedmont, is another amazing runner. I ran a race with her in Huron over the Labor Day weekend. She was complaining that her time wasn’t as good as she wanted, because she hadn’t fully recovered from the Leading Ladies Marathon. At 77, she won her age group, and at 5:48:49, she finished 85th in the 97 woman field. 

I guess the moral to all this is that no matter how old I look or feel, there is always a reason to get out of bed, tie on my shoes and go for a run. Hopefully, I’ll still be doing it when I hit 100.

See ya on the roads!

Gary

This just in from Mark Warren. Just a note, anyone else want to put something on the blog, send it to me and I’ll post it.

Gary

The same weekend some crazy people were doing the Lean Horse, and some other crazy people were practicing running up a mountain,  Patrick and I went to the Bighorns to check out a new marathon/half marathon that the Bighorn Mountain Trail Run people put on.

Lesley planned on going but was called away to help manage a fire in Miles City, and Gary talked about going but wimped out and went hashing instead, so I just jumped in with Patrick and we flew to Sheridan, rented a car, drove to The Passage Resort, which is about an hour west of Dayton, and got a room. After a quick nap we tested out the rental car on some gravel roads and found part of the course. (unbeknown to us the race director was out marking trail just a few miles away when her car broke down and she spent a cold night sleeping in her Subaru) After a nice high-protein supper we had a few beers at the bar while listening to some local dude sing and play his guitar. (my favorite was when he blended the Beverley Hillbilly’s theme song with Stairway to Heaven)

Since the race didn’t start until noon we slept in, enjoyed a a big breakfast, then took a jeep ride to the start. It was a very small, low key affair, and they were still working out a few details. (a trial run trail run)  44 people signed up but mostly for the various relays. Only 12 did the half, and just one guy ran the marathon, and he was the course designer. Oh, and one guy did pace an entire relay team by himself but apparently that didn’t count. The race began on FS 220, also know as the Hunt Mt. Road. It’s a 22 mile gravel road that contacts Hwy 14 and Hwy 14A. The first 17 miles of the marathon are on this but we only did 4. something, before turning off on a primitive two track through a sheep pasture that had cute little gates you could step right over. This is high country, over 9500 feet in places, and mostly open, with big sweeping views of the mountains, and cool rock formations. We went several miles, the last couple downhill, to the aid station, then kind of bushwhacked over to the base of a big hill, climbing it pretty much turned my legs to jelly, then we had to run across an open meadow for a quarter mile, or so, which would’ve been nice except it was covered with 6-8″ rock, so you had to almost tip toe across the whole thing, it went down a short, steep downhill to the woods, where the trail just looped around though a narrow cut in the forest until breaking into the open again and dropping down to the highway. The last .7 miles was on the shoulder of Hwy 14 before finishing back at The Passage.

I was just slightly ahead of Patrick for the last 7 or 8 miles, probably because he kept stopping to take pictures. (Or that’s what he said, I think he was just gasping for air)  When I hit the pavement I cranked up my ipod, but that meant I couldn’t hear him coming, and right at the finish he slapped me on the back, and blew by. I was so startled I shouted out loud, “You..(expletive deleted)…er!!!” Fortunately there were no children present, and someone said we should have won a prize for best finish, which would’ve been good, as I think we were the only ones that didn’t win anything. Even though we both finished in the top ten and probably set course records for our age group.

The resort let us check out after the race, so after the picnic, and a shower, we drove back to Sheridan. Being the typical, cheap South Dakotan, Patrick had to stop at the self-service pump in Gillette, where AV gas is only $5.15/gl. But then we had to wait until 7PM for the weather to clear over Rapid. So we came in over the hills in the dark, with lightning flashing all around us, and the plane shaking and twisting in the wind. By that time I was wishing we’d drove. Flying seems less stressful and less busy back in coach. Patrick was getting weather info, talking to the Ellsworth tower, the airport tower, adjusting his altimeter, changing radio frequencies, moving flaps, adjusting the fuel mixture, the propeller pitch, working against the wind gusts to keep the wings level, at the same time lining up with the runway, and slowing down for the landing. It seemed like a lot of stuff to do at once, especially when you need to do all of it right the first time, but it didn’t bother him any. He was calm and nonchalant, just another day at the office.  I, on the other hand, thought about kissing the ground when we landed but that seemed a little melodramatic, so I just thanked him for not killing me and patted the plane on the way out.

It was good run, and lot’s of fun. I’d do it again. But next time I’m driving, and taking my wife.