Sunday, May 18, 2008

Fargo Marathon, 2008

OK, I owe Katie Holmes an apology. 

I was one of those people who assumed/concluded that she did not complete the NYC marathon. 

I realize nobody was ever able to explain why her trainer was seen and photographed many times on the course from start to finish, wearing a several-year-old race bib and a timing chip, yet she was only spotted very late in the course, lacking any semblance of sweat or physical exhaustion, and no visible timing chip. She/they finished in 5:29; him sweaty/ her looking fresh as a daisy. I agreed with the other conspiracy theorists who believed she must have cheated.

That said, here is my race report from yesterday:

I started out with Sarah, (IrongirlNyhus' sister, with whom I have run a few other marathons) and Mark (remember him from Phoenix?) Since it was a lovely day, the course was flat, and nobody was injured, we decided to run with-or-ahead-of, the 4:00 hour (9:06 pace) group. Here are our splits:

1- 9:09, 139 heart rate
2- 9:03; 151 hr
3- 9:04; 153 hr
4- 9:10; 164 hr
5- 9:01; 153 hr
6- 9:13; 152 hr
7- 9:02; 150 hr

By mile 8 Sarah and I determined we were getting tired, breathless, and just not having fun; this feeling we were feeling isn't at all why we run, and we would likely never be able to keep up this pace, considering we hadn't completed even one training run at anything faster than 10:00 miles. 

So we said good bye to Mark and he kept on trucking and Sarah and I got swallowed up into the 4:10 (9:33) pace group and started running comfortably. We were just making new friends with our new group.....

8- 9:37; 149 hr
9- 9:51; 149 hr

...when Sarah let out a gasp and said "something just happened to my knee". So we stopped to stretch a bit. She was hardly able to get started again, but limped along being a good sport until we got to a medical tent.

10- 9:57; 141 hr
11- 11:36; 140 hr

As the 4:20 and 4:30 pace groups swallowed too, us we re-set our goal for the day to "just beat Katie Holmes." 

12- 11:25; 139 hr
13- 11:26; 139 hr

We got to the next medical tent who gave Sarah an ace bandage and we wrapped up her screaming knee.
"Do you need help pushing over that sign?"

14- 13:51; 137 hr
15- 11:33; 132 hr
16- 12:51; 128 hr
17- 12:42; 126 hr
18- 12:45; 124 hr

We continued run/walking, and stopped a couple times to put ice into the bandage. By now we've been on the course a long long while and started searching out barbecues for food and beer. Then we get a txt from Mark who says he's walking. We txt back - "So are we! Where are you?" We caught up to him shortly and the three of us limped in. But we had fun! We met lots of neat people, sampled Norwegian fare like "lefse" - a potatoe-y flatbread thing, cookies, and I had a hot dog.

Mark and me trying to push over a tree.  Grrrrr.

19- 13:30; 124 hr
20- 13:30; 126 hr
21- 13:30; 121 hr

We saw Betty (Sarah and Laura's mom), IronGreg and Zurich a couple times who offered encouragement and a couple of great hugs and endearing face licks. (well, Zurich did anyway.)

We were sort of feeling like we'd never get to the finish line at this rate, but we rationalized our going so slow because "remember, we did have a really good workout this morning already..." 

Well... True.... ;-)



22- 14:22; 124 hr
23- 14:21; 118 hr
24- 14: 23; 118 hr

By now the barbecues are smokin' and Margheritaville was serving beer and a full service of other  beverages, so Sarah had a beer and I had a margherita.  

We came upon Sarah and Laura's dad and he ran a little with us, but by now we were so close we just wanted to get to the FargoDome.

25- 13:01; 109 hr
26.2- 12:21; 110 hr

All said, it was a lovely morning. Aside from Mark feeling sick, and Sarah's aching knee, it was a fun way to spend the morning. Really, when can you run a marathon, attend barbecues, and post heart-rates at 109?! We still got a medal, took some great pictures, and we still beat Katie Holmes.

So now I can declare that, yes, you can finish a marathon looking fresh as a daisy. Katie did it in 5:29, and Sarah, Mark and I did it in 5:05.  Fresh as a Daisy.



P.S. Laura did her personal best of 4:06 and Erin did her PR, too of 3:50. Congrats to everyone!

25 comments:

21stCenturyMom said...

Thereby proving that slow and steady (with a Margarita tossed in) really does win the race!

Fe-lady said...

Congrats on a fun time and a great race....fresh as a daisy! :-)

Iron Girl Nyhus said...

I am so glad I finally know that giraffes can lick their own eyes!

Taconite Boy said...

Way to keep the party going!

Nice time Laura!

Kevin said...

Sounds like a great time was had. Congratulations on beating Katie and still looking fresh

IronTriTim said...

Way to go Jenny, still not convinced about Katie though, the lack of photos is a tough one.

PoorAxl said...

Have you really been fresh as a daisy? I think even if I would walk a marathon, I would not be so fresh.

RunBubbaRun said...

Not sure if I would let Katie Holmes off the hook entierly..

Good job out there.. As always, you look like your having so much fun out there during the race.

jbmmommy said...

If I ever run a marathon, your "fresh as a daisy" time would be a goal for me. Good job enjoying the race. Hope everyone recovers well.

Steve Stenzel said...

Nice race! Looks like a BLAST!!! (so it IS possible to have fun in Fargo...)

Anonymous said...

Giraffes can lick there own eyes..huh. And the hokey pokey thing...thought provoking!

Way to have a fun, fresh as a daisy marathon!!

Jumper 2.0 said...

What an awesome time!

I wish I could have my HR @ 132 when running a 10 pace.

See ya Saturday?

momo said...

woot, jenny, you're racing is my kind of racing. when are we going to do one together??

hugs!

Sarah said...

What a fun time! Other than the knife-like pain in the knee, it was the most fun marathon ever! Hopefully next time they will have some beer for us a little earlier than mile 25!

Great job Laura and Erin!

Sarah

MissAllycat said...

I ran the Fargo half and all my teammates were laughing about the giraffe sign and I MISSED IT! Glad you caught it on camera. :)

Great recap - it made me laugh out loud. Love the Katie Holmes bits.

Unknown said...

Sounds like a successful marathon. :)

trinick67 said...

As usual, great pictures and commentary. Good job on completing another marathon...

juliemac said...

Way to go!! Looks like such a FUN race!!
So glad you are feeling good and healthy!!
I can't believe how low your HR was!!

Iron Krista, "The Dog Mom" said...

What a GREAT day! I'm so with you.. the fast stuff hurts!!! I did my long run today and I was so tired and I'd look down & my HR was 140 (supposed to be a z2 run which STARTS at 140-160)... I just couldn't make myself go any faster ;-)

Pharmie said...

BUT... Could you wear heels that night? Congrats on a super fun time!

Afternoon Tea With Oranges said...

LOL - Way to negative split that last mile, there!! LOL - you guys are just too.freaking.hilarious....congrats on beating Katie and feeling fresh as a daisy!

brendaj said...

One of the funniest posts I've ever read! You kept me in suspense until the end...will she or will she not beat her??

Hopefully we'll get to meet in CDA!

Comm's said...

holmes still bandit the race. You on the other hand look fresh after every race you do.

faithrunner said...

Sounds like it was a lot of fun, that's what it's all about. :) Way to go!

Sandra said...

You guys have a great attitude - have FUN! I love it when there's encouraging (or funny or weird) signs like that. It makes the race interesting.