Atlantic City Marathon

Sunday, October 20 I ran the Atlantic City Marathon. 
This is a small race, almost 900 in the half and just under 650 in the marathon.  Since they had the stats, I'll pass on that they had a few more women in the half and almost twice as many men in the marathon.  Being a small race, it also had a small expo.  The expo, start line and post game "festivities" are at Bally's Hotel and Casino.  This made everything convenient and you could park at the hotel so I didn't have far to go once I finished.
It was cool and partly cloudy at the start, but the forecast was 100% chance of rain in an hour or two.  They got that right.  The start was on time and it wasn't so crowed that you had to walk much after the gun, this even though both races start together.  Much of the race is on the boardwalk, and while it's not bad, it's not my favorite surface.  We started on the boardwalk, but run on the city streets quite a bit also.  Crowd support was so so, but enthusiastic.  The race has a few hills, but I wouldn't call it hilly.  The race finishes on the boardwalk also, and it was raining pretty good by then.  However, it was not slippery and I didn't have any issues.  I finished the race, but didn't hang around since I was heading home right after.  Lucky me got to spend the night at Love Field in Dallas last night since my flight was cancelled because of the severe weather they had.
This is not a bad race, but I am not impressed with Atlantic City.  I'd been there over 20 year ago, and remember not thinking much of it then either.

Bay of Fundy Marathon

The Bay of Fundy International Marathon is a marathon between Lubec, Maine, United States and Campobello Island, New Brunswick, Canada.
I traveled with a group of 4 other running friends.
This is a beautiful part of the country and Lubec is just across a bridge from New Brunswick Canada.
At least 24 hours before the race we had to clear both sides of the border otherwise we wouldn't be allowed into Canada without stopping. They check your bib off a list and put a sticker on it.
This is a very small race, less than 160 people participating in the marathon. Despite that it is well supported.
The race is also very hilly. We drove the course the day before and after seeing it, I decided I was going to be doing a lot of walking on the uphills.
We were bused out to the start which is at Quoddy Lighthouse and is the Eastern most part of the continental United States.
The day was partly cloudy but it heated up quickly. We ran 6 miles in Maine before entering Canada, then it's 10 miles out and back into the US for the finish which is another .2 miles in the city of Lubec. My strategy paid off and I finished in what I considered a decent time.
The finisher medals are hand made by a local artist.

The World Majors Completed

Tokyo Marathon

After achieving my goal of running on all continents, I searched for a new goal. I came upon the Abbott World Majors. This consists of running six specific marathons - Boston, Chicago, New York, Berlin, London, and Tokyo. I had already run the U S marathons, so that left the international ones.

In 2017 I ran the Berlin Marathon and in 2018 I ran London, which only left Tokyo. With all of the international marathons, I first entered through the Lottery, then signed up with Marathon Tours. Marathon Tours had a guaranteed entry should I not be able to get in through the lottery. It turned out that I needed the guaranteed entry for all three races.

My travels to Tokyo took me from Oklahoma City to Dallas, and then direct to Tokyo. I left on February 28, and arrived in Tokyo Friday evening, March 1. I didn't have any travel problems.

Saturday morning I had to make my way to the expo. To do so meant that I would have to navigate the Tokyo subway. It was fairly easy to use, with color coded maps and instructions in both Japanese and English.

Because Tokyo is hosting the 2020 Summer Olympics, the exposition center the marathon normally uses was under renovations. Therefore the expo was held in a series of tents. Once again things went smoothly and I returned to my hotel to prepare for the marathon on Sunday morning.

I got up Sunday morning, went outside to check the weather, and it was overcast and looking like rain. I went back inside for breakfast in the hotel. While talking to a man at breakfast, he asked if I had a poncho. I said no, and he offered an extra I could use if I wanted. I gladly accepted.

After breakfast, I left to find my starting corral, which was within walking distance from the hotel. I was in position with about 45 minutes before the start. It was already raining and I was thankful for the poncho.

The gun went off at 9:30 and it took about 10 minutes for me to cross the starting line, as there were approximately 38,000 runners. There were a lot of out and back portions to the race, but there was always a timing mat at the turn around to catch people who might cut the course short. I ran at what I considered a moderate pace, and the constant rain did not affect my running. The course was well managed, and there was little possibility of missing a turn.

The race takes place completely within the city. Some of the sights we passed were The Sensoji Temple where they were playing traditional Japanese court music. We also ran past the Tokyo Skytree, and the Tokyo Tower, which looks a lot like the Eiffel Tower.

As with any international race, my primary goal was to finish in a reasonable time, but not push it and risk injury. While I was trying to keep a steady pace,around mile 18 I started to feel fatigued and began to slow down. I was still able to keep running, and managed to finish in four hours and forty-three minutes.

After finishing I was directed to pick up both my Tokyo Marathon and World Majors Finisher’s Medals. I made my way back to my hotel, attended a ceremony for the finishers and had dinner.

During my stay in Japan, I toured the city, took an all day excursion to Mt. Fuji, sampled many different foods, and took in as much of the culture as I could.

Once one decides to do the World Majors, you have to go to their web site and create a profile. You then fill in the race or races you’ve already completed. After that, you update it as you finish others. When you’re ready to run your sixth World Major, you email them and let them know. In my case when I picked up my bib in Tokyo, it had a QR Code on it, and when I finished, I was directed to a tent where they were passing out the six star medal. They scanned my code, give me the medal, and took my picture.

All the World Majors are excellent races, well run and supported. Some people complained about the tight cutoffs in Tokyo, but I felt like they were fair. If I had to pick a favorite overall, it would be Boston, because of the tradition and support. My favorite outside the USA was Tokyo, because of the city, the sights, and the support.

Now that I have finished an ultramarathon on all seven continents and the six World Majors, I’m asked what’s next? I’m not sure yet. It seems as though finishing a marathon in all fifty states might be a candidate. If I make that my next goal, perhaps 100 marathons might happen along the way.

Boley Rodeo 2018

Yes, nothing to do with running.
The Boley Rodeo is the biggest event of the year in this tiny town of less than 1,000 permanent residents.  Why do I distinguish permanent?  Because a prison is located within the city limits, and they are included in the population.
When I was in High School, we couldn't wait for rodeo weekend, always Memorial Day Weekend.  To us it was a time to look cool, drink, or whatever your drug of choice was, and chase the pretty women.
Now, in the last two years, as a member of the Chamber of Commerce, I've been involved in the actual production of the rodeo.  And this year I was the chair of the committee in charge of choosing a contractor and making sure everything at the rodeo grounds was ready for the event. 
All of this was taken care of through our committee and on the day of, it was quite hectic.  But the main reason for my post is while I've attended and even worked at several rodeos before, this was the first time I was actually behind the scenes.  After we stopped charging people to enter, I moved to the announcers stand.  This is where the cowboys and cowgirls either waited for their event, or came to get paid if they placed.  While observing all of this, I came to the conclusion that they are just like runners.  Enthusiastic about what they do, speaking their own language that most outsiders wouldn't understand.  And psyching themselves up before the event.
I would never want to try any of these events, but I get it now.

So Much Things To Say

This post has nothing to do with Bob Marley, other than the title is from one of his songs.
I know it's been forever since I've blogged, and there are many reasons, but the biggest is I just haven't felt inspired.  And one reason for that is both injury and I've slowed down.  I haven't run sub 4 for the marathon in two years and that bothers me.  I assume one reason is that I'm older, I turned 64 in 2017, but the other is I'm less willing to suffer.  And I'm going to work on that this year.
After running on 7 continents I needed another goal.  And I chose to run the world majors.  This consists of 6 marathons, Chicago, New York, Boston, Berlin, London, and Tokyo.  I had already run the 3 in the USA, so I had the 3 outside to do.  I completed Berlin in 2017, I am scheduled for London in April, and have to try to get in Tokyo in 2019.  Along the way I hope to qualify for Boston this year for entry 2019.  Since I will be 65 this year, my qualifiying time is now 4:10.  Still, I haven't run 4:10 in a while either, but did run 4:17 at Grandma's, so I think it's possible.
Well, at least I've written something, so hopefully this won't be the last post of 2018.

7 Continents 7 Ultra Marathons

January 2016 marked the end of a journey for me.  My quest to run 7 ultra marathons on each of the 7 continents.
In 2010 I ran the Comrades Marathon (ultra marathon) in South Africa.  After running, the question came to me, could I run an ultra on all seven continents.  I mulled this around in my head for a while.  I wanted to pursue this goal, but I also wanted to run Comrades again, to try to complete both the up and the down courses.  I did decide to run Comrades again, and also decided to pursue the 7 and 7.
I won't go into each subsequent continent here, but will link to all the blogs about them below.
I completed 5 continents leaving only South America and Antarctica to finish.  I purposely left these two for last because I knew there was a tour package that would allow you to do both races in one trip.  I had done all the planning and execution for the previous races on my own, registering for the races, booking travel and hotel, but knew I couldn't do that for Antarctica.
There are at least two companies that put on ultras in Antarctica, but only one that I was able to find offered ultras on both continents in the same trip.  So I went with Marathon Adventures.  Note that Kathy Loper Events also offered this package, but it was the same trip.
I started working on booking the trip in early 2015.  In past years these trips have sold out early.  Mainly because most of the participants are people doing marathons on the continents.  I paid my deposit to secure my space and then started looking for air fare.  I eventually used their recommended travel agency to book my flights.  Trip booked, airfare and insurance taken care of, nothing left to do but train, and worry.  Worry because it was going to require that I race two 50k's (31 miles) within 5 days.  Also, I didn't know what conditions to expect in Antarctica.
I left Oklahoma City on the evening of January 21.  I connected in Houston to Santiago Chile, and then to Punta Arenas Chile, my final destination.  I arrived with no problems and checked into my hotel.  On Sunday we had a dinner and briefing in the hotel.  Our original plan was to leave for Antarctica the next morning and run there.  The tour operator, Steve, stated they we did not have a weather window to fly out Monday morning, and to meet in the hotel lobby Monday at 9 for an update.  Monday morning we were told that we still didn't have clearance to go, so we were going to run the race in Chile in one hour.  A lady asks if there is any chance we'll leave for Antarctica today.  Steve answers "we're not going to Antarctica today."  So, I get dressed to run my first race and report to the start line across the street from the hotel.  We start the race which is a 4 times out and back for the marathon and a 5th shorter out and back for the 50k.  I'm running the race at a moderate pace and come in for the finish of my second loop which is the half marathon mark.  The timer at the start finish line tells us we now have a weather window, and we might be going to Antarctica today.  But he says keep running because it's not his decision.  As we're going back out, Steve, who was running the race, is coming in telling us to turn around.  Needless to say we weren't happy campers.
He has to hire a cab to go out and get people who are farther out into the course.  We have one hour to get ready to go to Antarctica.
We took a bus to the airport and boarded our plane.  This was a small jet but was staffed with flight attendants and we were served a meal.  The flight was about 3 hours.  As we neared Antarctica we started to see small icebergs.  It was overcast when we landed.  We put our coats and gloves on and stepped out into a howling wind and very cold conditions.  The plane does not stay because it could get stranded due to weather conditions.  I honestly under dressed for the conditions, and we had about a mile walk to our campsite.  The campsite consisted of a large tent.  We had to wait in this tent while they put up our individual tents.  We were sleeping 3 to a tent and since we arrived in the afternoon, we were going to spend the night and run our race in the morning.
It is only dark about 4 hours there and even then it never got pitch dark.  I didn't sleep well, but while I was awake I listened to the wind gradually subside.  We assembled to start our race at 5 the next morning and we're off.  It was cloudy, a light wind, and a lot of snow on the ground.  Our race consisted of an out and back in one direction, and another in the opposite direction.  For the marathon it was 6 complete loops, and a short out and back.  For the ultra it was 7 1/2 loops.  I started at a very easy pace just wanting to see what this course was like.  The course was snowy, icy, and muddy in spots.  There were small stream crossings, and one large snow bank that was taller than me that had a single trail through it.  So if people were coming from opposite directions, one had to wait for the other to come through.  And there were rocks, lots of rocks.
The course wound past the Chilean, and the Chinese research bases.  we saw lots of penguins and a couple of sea lions.While the conditions were tough, I didn't ever have a really hard time.  It took me 8:45 minutes to run the 31 miles.  After everyone finished, we boarded the plane to return to Chile.
Back at our hotel, we still had another race to run.  Steve said that he'd look at the weather forecasts for Thursday and Friday, and if they were similar, we'd run our race on Friday.  And that's what we ended up doing.  Friday, I again started out easily, but started feeling pretty good, so I picked up the pace and finished this race in 5:23.
On Saturday, we went on an all day excursion to Torres del Paine National Park, in Chile’s Patagonia region.  I won't go into details about this trip, but it is a beautiful park.
I made my way back home with no problems.

The List 

1. North America - Mother Road 100 (miles) - Catoosa Oklahoma USA - 2010
2. Africa - Comrades (56 Miles) - Durban South Africa - 2012
3. Europe - G2E (55 miles) Glasgow Scotland UK - 2013
4. Asia - Mt. Banahaw 100k (62 miles) - San Pablo City, Philippines - 2014
5. Australia - Gold Coast 100 (50 miles) Burleigh Heads, Gold Coast - 2015
6. Antarctica - White Continent 50k (31 miles) - King George - 2016
7. South America - Punta Arenas 50k (31 miles) - Punta Arenas Chile - 2016

Dallas Marathon & RRCA Coaching

I was fortunate enough to win a free registration for a RRCA coaching certification in Dallas.  This opportunity was provided by the NBMA, National Black Marathoners Association.  The only requirement upon certification is to give back to the organization. 
This was also the annual awards banquet of the NBMA.  So I decided to run the marathon also.
The classes were before the marathon, and the banquet was the Saturday before.
The course was interesting and informative.  I learned a lot more about training and look forward to implementing that information.
I had one month to take the online test and get certified in First Aid and CPR.  I completed both tasks within the time required and am now certified.
Back to the marathon itself, I had my usual goals.  Boston qualify, run sub 4, finish healthy. 
I felt sick the night before, but not too bad.  Rain was predicted early morning, but to leave the area before the start.  Woke up to rain, but since I was only a few blocks away from the start, I figured it would stop before I had to go out.  I left the hotel to a gentle rain.  Started and it did rain off and on during the entire race.  I never felt really well so just decided to try for sub-4.  Final time 3:58. 
Next up, 7 continents journey.