Spectating TC Marathon 2017

TC Marathon is the big deal local Marathon event of the year. Frankly its the only local Marathon for the Twin Cities, something which does not involve driving for more than an hour or looking at hotel logistics.

This year 2017, I arrived at the cross of Summit Avenue & Oxford Street, to cheer for my Lifetime Run Club buddies. This is the 24th mile. I monitored my run-buddies run on the TCM app and timed to arrive here as per their times. By then rain had picked up and their times for this milestone were delayed. But this was the loudest cheer zone for sure, with music blaring from Mill City Running truck parked here.

Lifetime Run Club cheering zone was here since 8 am and inspite of sitting through the rain for 5+ hours, was just as high-spirited in their cheering. My kids cheered on, rang cow-bells and held umbrella with one hand and held out the other for high-fives. Rain did not bother them as much as I was worried.

All the 5+hour finishers were rushing past. You could see last 24 miles on their face, yet the prospect of finishing it in another 2 miles. Rain kept its relentless pitter-patter on them. So many memorable faces - a father-son pair, Ann-Blake's husband, a 74 years old Senior who was disappointed at having missed sub-4 hour finish.

This pair had the words SHAME & DISGRACE printed on their t-shirt. I had read about it on Twitter in the morning and so was excited to actually see them.

Finally my Run clubbers arrived. Everyone was out to scream and make the lodest noises. #LadyCrew who had finished 10 mile earlier in the morning, had joined the Marathoner at 20 mile.

Then the Mother-Daughter team joined them from here. The best supporting Run Club team #LadyCrew.

For spectating in 2014, I went to Lake Calhoun with my daughter. It was 35 F that morning. This was around Mile 6 of the marathon. I got to see all the runners - Elite, mid-packers till the very last one. Everyone still fresh from the start.

In 2015, I went to spectate at Summit Avenue. That is the 24 mile and I was there at around 10:30 am, a very bright sunny morning. With the race start at 8 am, I was there at the exact moment all the leaders passed by. What a view.

And last year, in 2016, I got the privilege of running the TC Marathon.

TCM Marathon 2016 - Race Recap - Part 2

Continued from TCM Marathon 2016 - Race Recap - Part 1

Race kicked off at 8 am, but it was about 20 minutes till my Corral 3 could actually move out. The crowd was spread out while in downtown and winding down Hennpin Avenue. Then at the construction outside Walker Art, roads got narrower and crowds cozier. It stayed that way for a long time. This stretch was very Minnetonka Half kind of route in Orono. And this is where I met my Run club #LadyCrew Mother-Daughter team. It also meant, I was at faster than my usual pace. In the first half. Not a good sign. So now I lagged behind.




The next 5-6 miles milestone around Lake Calhoun & Harriet went by smoothly.
Next stretch were again narrow roads, lined with houses and crowds enjoying a lawn party and cheering loudly for us. Someone even teased me, "Hey look she is carrying a snack bag" - about my ziplock bag of sport beans & Blok. But the crowds also made me anxious for some reason. I never thought I would feel that way about cheering crowds.

Around Mile 14, after covering Lake Nokomis - I was getting anxious, that I am incredibly slow - though I had huge company around me. I was regretting, that "I signed up such an expensive race and I will loose out on shirt and medal ! Forget about any time PR." I was anticipating humiliation. This was too early in race. There was no indication from the race officials about anything like this. Just the strict official text about course time-limit was hovering in my mind.

At Mile 15 medical-stop, I saw a yellow school bus parked behind tree in a back street. I started running faster again.

This went on for next many minutes and I struggled through the Minnehaha Parkway. I think I was wailing tear-less till Mile 16 at West River Parkway. A nice lady in black runner outfit & pink tutu, even asked if I was alright ? I feel bad about startling anyone, but that was the only way to let out my anxiety. So I quit the wailing.

Around Mile 16.5 on West River Parkway and which is uphill, a black car pulled and a kind lady inside politely said the bus is coming, I could get in or run in the sidewalk, cause they are going to start opening the streets again. I just grunted and moved away from the car, closer to the sidewalk.
Mindbubble- "No way I will get in the bus - this is my last marathon ever. Even if I crawl through it. God don't let me crawl."

Soon the bus made it's way ahead. That sight was enough to crush anything I ever had. Now I gave up running and started walking. Who cares if I run ?

I refused to look at my clock, to check my mile or time. In my mind, I had the illusion, that I will reach the end at 1 pm even at this pace - stupid I know, but I did not want to know the reality, at that point of time. From last year's experience, I knew stopping was not an option. If my watch makes me stop my feet ,even for few minutes, I don't know if I would restart. I just needed to finish, anyhow. I started thinking of my kids and how they find it important that I finish a race. Their thought kept me going.

Around Mile 18, I could hear the loudspeaker at Mile 20, which was on the other side of the river. Step-by-Step - that was my mantra for now.

When I did reach Mail 20, they were deflating the huge  air-balloon "Wall" and dismantling everything. No water here. No water, meant, not wanting GUs or Beans or Blok, coz Gwad I was sick of them by now.

Continued to trudge along and there were few more walkers, refusing to give up. Now there was no way to change my mind - no bus to pick up, no phone to call anyone and too much ego to ask any volunteer for that.

The East River Parkway stretch then seamlessly merged into Summit Avenue. Not really seamlessly on road, but I had zoned off by now. There were 10 others walking with me. Summit Avenue meant 3 more miles to go. Here my despair turned to hope.
"Maybe I can still make it and just slide in, on time to pick up the shirt & medal.
Maybe they would not have opened up John Ireland Blvd and I can still cross the finish line arches.
Maybe I could still enjoy some of the festivities.
At the very least, someone will be kind and give my bag to my family and not just throw it away as abandoned."

My legs though refused to run. They were in the walk motion and refused to pick up even to Jog.
And in this stretch, a lot of other runners were walking back in opposite direction.
"Back. Like 26.2 miles of running was not enough and they were adding 2 more miles to their daily quota."
But more interestingly, they were wearing a neon-green full-sleeve shirt, I had not seen before.
"So THIS is the mystery TCM Race shirt ".
And they had a chunky medal on.
"So yeah, I might still get it if I hurry up again."

And I plodded on ignoring the last of few spectators, still lingering in their yards, enjoying a brunch.
Towards the Flag, which is so close to end, but you cannot see the end as there is a curve. After the curve, there it was - Finish line in all its glory, down the road on John Ireland Ave bridge.

I could see it, but it was still half a mile. I stepped up and barreled down the road, avoiding the returning crowds on sidewalks, to go heroically cross the Finish line. I was totally in a brake-fail mode in those last 100 yards, when a lady stepped in my way to stop me. We collided and her puny self did indeed stop my the giant built in running momentum. It's amazing we did not fall on the road. She gave a yellow slip and said, "Fill the survey to get your shirt & medal" and left me in my daze.

I continued wandering on the sidewalk, towards the tent ,for my bag and it took me a while to figure what happened. They were dismantling the Finish frame and no one was allowed there. Tents were all being emptied.

My legs kept walking even while I was disappointed about not getting my shirt & medal today. I was worried about my bag now. Then I spotted my family wandering in the Lower lawns, looking for me same as I was looking for them. And they had my bag, thank Gwad ! Reunion was full of hugging, wobbling, rushing out all details. They were promptly waiting for me since 1 PM. I had repeated a thousand times, that I will finish by 1:30 PM. That's how (over)confident my estimate about my time was. But I made it by 2:45 PM.

If this post sounds hazy and directionless, then it is true reflection of how I felt during the race. 
This post was in draft for long. I was still drudging up details and trying to figure exactly what went wrong.

Last Thoughts:

1. So I pretty much survived the last 10 miles without water and I was just fine later.
2. Carb loading is a sure thing. I did indulge in it and did not tire myself for last 2-3 days.
3. I did get carried away in my first half and that did not help me mentally later.

Frankly I feel better now. Sequels are never as successful as Beginners luck. Everything I learnt in proper training, improved me in some ways, though also slowed me in other areas. A soft-skill trainer  once told me that is natural, because it means you are aware and thinking of every nuance now. Once I get used to my new knowledge, I will improve again. Part of figuring out the right way to reach the goals I want, will be to continue this journey, this running.

TCM Marathon 2016 - Race Recap - Part 1

My bucket list Marathon is complete now ! And I have been humbled by it !

I have spectated TCM Marathon for the last 2 years. It's actually all the marketing pitch and social media updates of past TCM that piped my interest in races, which in turn excited Running as a form of sport. I pushed it away as a race I would run, because Fall Marathon would mean training in Summer. Ah a big no, I told myself, because running in summer heat (or anything above 70F) is torture and summer is full of distracting vacations. But peer pressure is a strong thing. The Run club I ran with, convinced me I could do it. Finally after training for 16 weeks, here I was.

Smooth packet pickup on Fri evening at River Center, St Paul, after hassle free parking in Science Museum parking. The expo was filled with many small business stalls. I managed to buy the sport beans & Clif Block I had forgotten to buy (in-spite of so much advance notice).

The sky-walk between the parking ramp and River Center, gives a great view of St Paul.

 

Pre-race days invovled a guessing game on what the temps are going to be and what is the right outfit ? With 38F predicted, I was wondering if I need gloves, which is pretty drastic. But every online advice was to dress in warm throwaways, because it will warm up after the start time and definitely be hot in a few hours. As usual I over-dressed for the race. I thought it was manageable, because I ran the WRTC 10 miler in a rain jacket without getting warm.

And finally on the race morning, Hubby dropped me at Minneapolis downtown, outside the brand new US Bank Stadium. Stadium photo is from Facebook, because I did not carry my phone with me.


I found my way to Corral 3 and checked-in my packet in my corresponding truck, along with the warm sweater I had. I did not carry my phone, so I don't have any photos till the very end. The Start line was out of stadium - this being the day of Football match too, in the stadium. Port-potties were many and spread out. I managed to use it twice without a long wait. And patiently wait for 8 AM for the race to start. It was pretty packed in Corral 3 and I did not meet any of my training group friends. Absolute electric atmosphere everywhere and jazzy music at the start line. The wait seemed never ending.

Continued in TCM Marathon 2016 - Race Recap - Part 2.

Minnesota Capitol Run - Recap

20 miler is the last formidable milestone of a Marathon training. I can never imagine doing it all by myself. Doing it well, I mean. So it helps that my training group arranged it be an entire big event in itself. Lifetime Run organised the Minnesota Capitol Run .

Start point was at the MN State Capitol Hill. I managed to reach there early at 6:30 am. There were a few tents and like 700 people ! Turns out, there were 755 runners ! There was no bag-check like in races, because this was a group training run. So I had to leave my phone in the car and don't have any good pictures.
But the arrangements were fantastic. A wristband in the beginning, to identify us as part of the group. Since all would run along the common sidewalks, the start was in waves and on both sides of the streets. We started with Summit Avenue, turned towards East River Parkway, then across the brand new Franklin Avenue bridge to West River Parkway and turn around the 10 mile mark and back the same way. There were water stops manned by volunteers and coaches, every 3-ish miles with water, UCAN sports drink and porta-porties. I was surely the last finisher and the very last water stop volunteers stayed back even when it was so late.

I can say enough about the joy of waking up in the dark and driving through a sleeping city to a run start point. Nothing is more reassuring than a car with the 13.1/26.1 or any other running sticker and people dressed in running clothes rumbling around. That's a confirmation that I have arrived at the right destination. Just a matter of finding the closet parking. The biggest benefit of a group run is that I can switch off my mind and brain, and just run even with sleepy eyes, cause everything else is taken care of :) With run-buddies and coaches by my side, I need not worry about anything. And by my side, I don't mean literally, because everyone else run at much faster pace than me and disappear within minutes, but just them being in view, means I won't get lost and run some other route.

It was a perfect weather day. Run was a delight along Summit Avenue, which was lined up by some historical buildings. Their architecture reminded me of the ones near Vidhan Soudha in Bangalore. They are much different than the new ones in suburbs. East River Parkway beautiful, and hilly and it vanished quick. West River Parkway is my usual favorite, the one leading to Minnehaha Falls. Along the way, we run-buddies did weigh-in on whether to run the complete 20 miles or keep it shorter for a time limit of say 4 hours. Since I felt this was my first & last chance to do a 20, I went ahead till the 10 mile mark. I did have lot of company till then. Us anchors did cheer each other to keep moving. The return on Summit Avenue felt more lonelier. I noticed the weather and cloudy sky were identical to how it was at 7 am ! It was hard to believe that 4-5 hours had passed. That's a blessing really. It was 4:30 hours by the time clocked showed 18 miles. And since it was only me around, I shrugged and started walking full time now. The water stop at 3 miles was still active, bless them. And I trudged the last few miles to the car park. By then it showed 21 miles. Thankfully I was not cold or shivering.

Spectating TCM Marathon 2015

Every year when this comes up I so wish I would run this one. Indeed this is the one from which I learnt about races. Studying the TCMarathon route, I feel like now I have covered most of those places via all the other races I have run so far. And they are all beautiful spots. I think my primary motivator for all the races is to see the corners of Twin Cities which I wouldn't explore otherwise. And it turned out to be true.

TCMarathon is a highly publicized one. In 2012, it started showing up in my FB newsfeed, and once I checked out their site and studied all pages, that was my first time knowing, whatever is a Running Race ? Till then all I knew was at the school levels. I never knew that grownup adults too indulged in it. Till then, running was just a boring torture tool, I knew people used to loose weight. TCM started that train of thought, which pushed me on the way to learn way more now then I ever did. I keep jotting them in my blog-post How to get started with Running - 101. Its a lot of info, that I learnt in bits and pieces, from different articles I read. It's not complete info, because there is always something new going on. But its enough to get started.

So in a way TCMarathon is the one, which got me dreaming about Marathons, while I was still in "couch" stage. In the past 2 years, I keep looking at their registration page, but lack all courage to sign up. Doesn't help that they close in July and I need to be confident by then. Also this Fall Marathon needs training in Summer, which is the time I can do it least. I just can't run in summer heat and have most of the vacation distractions at this time.

Hence TCMarathon remains in back burner for now. And I do the next best thing. Which is to check it out :) Their Specatator guide is pretty informative.

For the 2014, I went to Lake Calhoun with my daughter. It was 35F that morning and we were bundled up in coats & gloves. We rang the cow-bells and shared one with a toddler whose Dad was running. Saw the leaders who eventually won the race in Mens & Womens. We high-fived the middle pack. Saw the guy who juggled 3 footballs throughout the course. This sport is called Joggling, I learnt. We stayed on, till the escort car passed with the last runner. So I got to see the leaders, the middle packers and the ones in last batch. This was Mile 6 and it was amazing to see the varying degree of energy each batch had.

This year, I saw the TCMarathon 2015 at 25th Mile. I wanted to see the state of runners at this close to finish. Temps were a pleasent 50F+. I reached at 10:10 at Summit Avenue, after parking in Grand Avenue. Spectator guide was helpful to figure this out. One of the leaders just passed at that time. He turned out to be 2nd place. This was my first time witnessing a leader actually so close to finish, so early ! Long back, when I would reel off the times of the winners from the result pages, we would kid, "Did he ride a motor-bike ?" Haha.

Wheelers went by and I was quite out of respect & disbelief.

Watching women runners was exciting. I was stunned to see these 3 Women leaders. One in the middle came first place later. But here all 3 stuck together all the while.

And then came the 2:30 to 3 hour finishers. They too ran at consistent pace. Back straight, hands paddling their body, feet just going one step in front of the other. I hardly heard them breathe or know about their breathing at all. If anyone could be in monk-like steady state, that would be these runners. Except they were running. Moving forward. And they had been doing this for the past 2+ hours, across 25 miles. This was across different age groups - younger ones, 45 year old women, men in 60-65 range. Even the ones coming around at 11 AM were running. I saw maybe 1 or 2 stop for a walk break of 5 seconds. That's all. #Goals.

I stayed till 11:15 but could not stay longer to see the middle pack and the last runners. I did want to see, in what state they would be. Surely they could use more cheer from spectators.

I was the last few finishers in my first Marathon run in May-end this year. This Nike: Last ad is so me. I hope to be better next time.