Wisconsin Dells Marathon

While I'm now the definite frontrunner for the Rick H "cherrypicker of the year" award at the next CRUD party, that's not how the event was supposed to go down. Last year had a winning time of 2:43, and I knew I wouldn't be close to that. I had a feeling I might be able to sneak under three hours, but also knew that going for that time could result in walking the last few miles and barely hitting sub four.

The Dells is a pretty hard marathon course with lots and lots of rolling hills. Definitely not a PR type course. So I'm pretty psyched that I went in there and grabbed my third best time ever. The icing on the cake was claiming another victory over a hated rival, Josh J., who would PR and go sub three for his first time ever, and will hear about finishing second place for the rest of his life.

Easy start, hit the first mile in eight flat after stopping to take a leak. Josh was about 30 seconds ahead at this early point, and I spent the next few miles slowly catching back up. Josh and I would stay close for the first half, never running more than a few seconds ahead or behind one another. Really gambling for me to stay with him, as he just threw down a PR of 1:23 at the Denver half, a good four minutes faster than I thought I could run given my current fitness. Had some tightness in my right hamstring early on, something I hoped wouldn't ruin my day later.

About nine miles into the race Josh and I moved into second and third place. Talked with the guy we passed, he was pretty gassed and said he was already five minutes ahead of his planned pace. So I knew he was done. It was now a battle for second, and bragging rights for a LONG time, between Josh and I.

Saw the lead runner pass us at mile 12.7ish. Timed him to the turnaround, he had about a five minute lead. And he looked strong, I thought he might beat us by a full ten minutes at the end of the day.

But I still had a race with Josh, as he was only four seconds back at the turnaround, which I hit in 1:28. Not blazing for me, but I was definitely working hard. I immediately picked up the pace, hoping Josh would fall back. Nope. He stayed on my ass for the next five or so miles.

By mile 19 I had finally opened a gap of 30 seconds or so on Josh, but I really worked to get it. Was already pretty spent and wondering if I could hold this pace. But then about two miles later I got a nice jolt of energy when I spotted the leader about 300 meters ahead, just before he disappeared around a turn. Thought that maybe if I pushed I could catch him by mile 25 and we could have a helluva race. But when I got up to that turn, I had already cut his lead in half, and it was obvious he was cooked.

I took the lead just before 22 miles. I wanted to run with the guy for a mile or two before taking the lead, but he was probably running 8:30 miles and I knew if I stayed that Josh would catch up. Really pushed hard from mile 22 to 24, 6:30 miles there, and that ended the race. Which was good, because at mile 24 the quad cramps started coming and I was done. Must have finished up with two miles well over 7:30. Wanted to run faster but I had the win and a sub three in the bag and I was afraid if I pushed any harder I would end up having to walk.

The finish was pretty funny. Had visions of the crowd going wild while I broke the tape, given my huge trophy by some supermodels. Nope. Crossed the finish line and nobody said anything. Finally, someone got up off a chair and handed me a half-marathon finisher medal. It was a good 45 seconds before anybody realized a marathon runner had finished.

Great seeing Josh cross the tape in 2:59:40. Big monkey off his back with finally getting that sub three.

Another awesome trip to Wisconsin. Lots and lots of beer drinking all week, highlighted with a solid marathon time. Gives me hope that if I can work my ass off for the next six weeks I'll at least have a chance at a 2:49 in Vegas...