DUKE CITY MARATHON
Albuquerque, New Mexico
October 24, 2004

Wow, went out of state to run a marathon and no hurricanes hit Florida. I guess those hurricanes this summer were not my fault. My goals for this marathon were to complete the marathon in under 4-hours without injury and beat Dave Farrall. All three goals were accomplished. I have only run over 4-hours four times, all with good excuses (heat, altitude, and/or HILLS). If I were to get injured at Duke City I would have to miss my marathon in Kansas and that would mean Mardi Gras (Louisiana) would not be my 50th (51st counting WDC). I almost never go into a marathon to race or beat anyone. I need to run my own pace. But at Deadwoods, Dave Farrall stated in his article that he beat me by 20 minutes. So, for the record, I beat him by 20 minutes in the Duke City Marathon.

Bob Panzak, Dave Farrall and I arrive in Albuquerque Friday morning around 11:00. We start our tour of Albuquerque with a quest to see a Roadrunner (the bird) by visiting Petroglyph National Monument and trails. Petroglyph features more then 25,000 highly fragile petroglyph cultural images pecked/carved into dark boulders along the volcanic cliffs of the West Mesa escarpments that can still be viewed in their original context. Some scientists estimate the peckings are up to 3,000 years old. From there we drove the Santa Fe and had a New Mexican meal for lunch (different from Mexican or South Western food). We toured a little of the downtown area, then a self guided tour of the State Capital building. Since I hadn¹t run yet I tried to talk Bob and Dave to run with me around State Capital building and grounds. They preferred to just laugh and watch me run one and half times around the perimeter on the roads and take my picture. Not sure why they thought this run was so funny. I saw a very interesting old church and buildings on the run. Saturday morning we drove to the base of a mountain and ran a dessert trail at the base of the mountain. No Roadrunner sightings but there were a few State Park Rangers and civilians organizing a volunteer work crew. We found out that on the other side of Albuquerque, the west side, there is a park where a couple of Roadrunners are known to hang around the parking lot. After stopping for a Mexican style breakfast we drive the 30 minutes to the Rio Grande Nature Center. The Center is open but the Visitor Center is not open yet so we just walk the grounds for about a half hour and eventually realize that the marathon course runs right behind the park. Naturally, we have to run a few feet of the course. The Visitor Center finally opens and we learn from the Ranger where to look for the Roadrunners. After about 15 minutes into the ³hunt² Bob finds a Roadrunner under a bush. We follow the Roadrunner for about 30 minutes trying to get a good picture. I wind up taking about 30 pictures (sure glad I was using a digital camera). The Roadrunner can run about 15 miles an hour and is so well camouflaged it was very difficult getting a good picture. At least we saw him (or her) and even saw him fly for about 30 or 40 feet.

We then went to the expo, which was small but anything you needed marathon morning could be purchased there. We couldn¹t drive the course with the exception of the first and last mile and a half since the rest of the course is out and back on a bike path. The outdoor pasta dinner cost $7.00 and would have been very nice except all they had was salad and some pasta mixed with vegetables in a white cream sauce. I don¹t like cream sauces. Fortunately we found s pasta buffet a couple of blocks away. By the way, we stayed at the Double Tree which was across the street from the finish line, 2-tenths a mile from the start and about 2-tenths from race headquarters and expo. Very convenient and only $79 per night.

The race starts at 7:00 AM on Central Avenue (Route 66). There are almost 400 marathoners and 800 half marathoners. Not sure how many 5K runners there were. The 5K starts after the marathon and the marathoners and half marathons go in different directions when they hit the bike trail. Due to our concern about the altitude, we plan to walk about 30-seconds at each mile mark going out and 1-minute walks on the return. The weather is excellent (it¹s been a long time since I made that statement). It was 48 degrees, low humidity and just a slight breeze. I think the high for the day was 63 degrees so I am estimating we had a high in the high 50¹s by the time we finished. The course starts at 5,060 feet and climbs 70 feet through the half marathon point. Bob, Dave and I start together but Dave backs off at about the half-mile point and runs his own pace. Bob and I hit splits of 8:17, 8:34, 8:49, 8:34, 8:45, 17:54 (missed the 6 mile mark and mile mark 7 was off), 8:41, 8:58, 9:07, 19:13 (12 mile mark was off), 7:52. Half marathon split was 1:55:30. On pace for a 3:51:00 marathon. Problem is the 70-foot increase in elevation occurred between miles 12 and 13. Normally you wouldn¹t think 70 feet was a big problem, but I struggled and was thinking the altitude was getting to me. I told Bob that I don¹t think I can hold this pace and run under 4-hours. Hopefully I can recover on the downhill. I did recover on the downhill but the last 10K was a struggle. Splits were 9:19, 19:35 (miles splits still off), 9:00, 9:00, 8:53, 10:23, 7:53 (markers off), 9:07, 9:13, 9:30, 9:25, 11:39 (1.2 miles), Finishing time for Bob and I was 3:57:48, just barely getting under 4-hours. As we turned off of Central Ave (Route 66) and onto Third Street, we were met by a four-motorcycle police escort. They stayed with us over he last 2-tenths with sirens blowing. Not sure why we were being honored but we eventually realized they were doing this for quite a few of the marathoners.

I was happy with a 3:57:48, especially considering the altitude and my 5th marathon in 5 months. I was happier when I learned I took 2nd in my age group. Dave Farrall finished 4:08:37, 20-minutes behind Bob and I. The Marathon shirt and Finisher medals were very nice. Finishers also received a Marathon Pin, which is a mini version of the finishers medal. The marathon was very nice and I would recommend it. The only problem is the few mile marks that were off and they had the water stations right on the mile marks. This made it difficult to see the mile markers at times and it was difficult trying to hit the split timer on your watch and grab a cup of water (or Powerade).

After resting, cleaning up and lunch, we drove to Jemez Springs and soaked in a natural hot springs (103 degrees). This was about 4-hours after finishing the marathon. Not sure it was due to the 45 minute soaking in the hot spring, but I immediately felt better and had the best recovery in several years. Ran 12 miles at an 8:15 pace the next weekend. I have soaked in whirlpools after running a marathon but never had the positive results I did after the hot spring soak.

Another occurrence of not running for a good time, but to run to have a good time. 59 marathons completed in 48 states and Washington DC. Getting close! Next marathon is the Gobbler Grind Marathon in Overton, Kansas (just south of Kansas City) on November 21 with Sarah Guttery.

Rest if you must, just don¹t quit,
Marty