Garry Bjorkland Half-Marathon

The Grandmas Marathon/Garry Bjorklund Half-Marathon has always been one of my favorite races to travel to  I love the semi-quaintness of Duluth.  It has a little bit of an old fashioned feel to it, the weather in summer is nearly perfect (even though winters are long and miserable), it's a really scenic and pretty area and they even have wolves.  And best of all, it's a competitive race on a mostly flat course.

You don't want to go there in winter

This would be my third time racing in Duluth.  My first time was a decent race, my second time was the best race of my life and I was hoping I would perform well my third time.  Well, in my definition, meant 64:30-65:00 with pretty decent weather.

Before heading to Duluth, the weather wasn't looking ideal for fast racing.  It would be borderline warm and humid, with potential rain showers and a headwind for the entire route.  Taking that into consideration, I felt like I would run closer to 65:00.  Since the field was deep and competitive, I felt like there would be a big group of guys chasing the sub 65:00 Olympic Trials standard. So my plan was to hang with those guys and see what I could do at the end. 

But my main goal was to finish in the top 10, since that's how many people got prize money and I like money.  I felt like I was probably 10th-15th on paper, so with a patient and solid race, I felt like it would be a possibility.

Whatever happened to this guy?

I left for Duluth on Thursday and had a short 1:45 flight to MSP, where I was going to meet Steve Chu, Nik Schweikert and Brandon York, so we could ride up to Duluth together.  On the way up there, I had the two loudest women I've ever heard in my life yapping the entire time.  I even had my headphones on full blast and could still hear them.  I'm surprised they never shut up because people kept on turning around and looking at them, the lady sitting beside me had her fingers in her ears, the guy across from me complained to his wife about he now had a big headache and some lady even asked the stewardess for some headphones.  On the bright side, I finally got to watch John Wick, which was a really good movie and the stewardess even had some Biscotti cookies.

Don't mess with this guy's dog

When we finally all met up in the airport, we headed to Duluth, which was about a three hour drive after traffic and a pit stop to McDonalds, which was Brandon's first time eating there in several years. Since we all like to eat and it was past 8:00pm, we decided to drive straight to Vitta Pizza, instead of checking into the hotel first.  The pizza there is decent and they have a good selection of drinks.  Nik made fun of my grapefruit beer selection (as well as my raspberry wheat pick in Boulder a few weeks prior) but the kid ordered a beermosa the next day, so he has no room to talk. 

90 seconds? More like 15 minutes.

After dinner, we checked into the Radisson, I made Nik watched 21 Jump Street, since he's never seen it before.  And the next day, I made him watch 22 Jump Street.

On Friday, we just lounged around and after a shakeout run and a couple of meals, we went to the movies (I watched a lot of movies this weekend).  We were hoping to see Mad Max but it wasn't there anymore, so Jurassic World it was.  We saw it on a three-story tall screen and it was pretty decent and I ate way too much popcorn.

After finally seeing Mad Max, this guy was cooler than any of the dinosaurs in Jurassic World.

The conditions on race morning appeared to be better than expected.  The temperature was in the mid 50s and it actually felt a little chilly.  Accuweather said there would be a 9mph headwind but I didn’t feel like that would be much of an issue with all of the runners in the field.

Nik and I boarded the bus on we were on our way.  When we got there, we killed some time in the tent, I peed a million times and then we went to warm-up and were joined by Scott Mindel, who slightly resembles Kristoff from the movie Frozen.  We warmed up the direction of the course and I didn’t notice a headwind at all which was a good sign.  I got in about three miles before heading to the line for a few strides.

Stolen from competitor.com

When we started, a ton of dudes shot off.  I tried to make sure I wasn’t going too quickly and was passed by a lot of people.  It felt like I was flying, so I checked my GPS and saw I was running about 5:00 pace.  I stopped being lazy and after a few minutes, I started slowly working my way up the field.  I settled in the back of a very large pack, of what I assumed was the 65:00 crew.  I didn’t feel very smooth at all and went through the first mile in 4:54 with an eight-man pack about 100 meters ahead.  I hung in the back of the pack for a little while until people slowly fell off pace.  Some dude wearing Vibrams was even hung on for a bit, so I was happy when I passed him.

I went through the second mile in 4:57 and was starting to loosen up some as I made my way closer to the front. Anytime there was a water stop, a few guys would go to the side to get some, so I'd use it as an opportunity to gain a few spots since I didn't take any water during the race.  But someone must have freaked out about the slowdown in pace because we dropped a 4:51 next mile,before getting back to the just under 5:00 range.

After 4-5 miles, I found myself behind the leaders of the pack and was feeling nice and smooth.  We went through  10k in about 30:40 and the pack down to about ten guys.

Shortly afterwards, we reeled in Craig Curley, who fell off the lead pack that was quickly dwindling.  In a weird race moment, Benson Cheruiyot went to the side of the road, walked down an embankment and peed in the woods.  The guy lost about 30 seconds, which was a move that potentially cost him several hundred dollars.  I definitely would have peed my pants for that much money.  After doing his business, he joined our pack.

I was feeling a little giddy and debated taking over the pacing duties.  But I decided to wait until at least 10 miles because I had guys to run behind, we were still running 65:00 pace and I felt like I could make a big move if I waited.  Besides, my goal was to take a top 10 spot, so I decided to wait and not take any unnecessary chances.

Shortly after eight miles, there is a long, gradual hill.  A little over halfway up, Alan Peterson and some other dude shot off.  They were moving way too quickly for me to join up with them, so I was going to hang out at my current pace and hoped they would fall apart and that I could chase them down later on.

But I started to get passed and my legs wouldn’t let me open up at all.  I figured I was still running quickly and when I split my watch and saw a 5:17, It made sense why so many people were passing me.  To be honest, it was a little weird.  When I’m in really good half-marathon shape, I start to get tired around 5-6 miles, am really hurting around 9-10 miles, but I can hammer hard and hold my hand close to the fire and place a lot of punishment on myself.

This time, my legs weren’t hurting or in oxygen-debt. It was like I was stuck in a gear and couldn’t go any faster. It was very frustrating because I was losing ground with every mile and knew top 10 was out of the question.  After getting passed again a little before 12 miles, I went up an overpass hill, down the following hill and when I made a turn, I looked over my shoulder and saw one guy about 10 seconds behind, and Steve close to him.

I at least wanted to be the fastest half-marathoner in the Chevy Cruze (the car rental for the weekend), so I tried to pick it up and hoped I could turn on the rocket jets later, if needed. I ended up making it to the line without getting passed again to run a 65:52.  I was really frustrated with my time because I felt like I was much more fit than that, and lost a ton of time those last few miles. 

I was really scratching my head over this performance and being that I’m both runner and coach, I had to try and figure out what my issue was.  I felt better at 7-8 miles than I typically do in a half-marathon race, but I suddenly lost 15-20 seconds a mile. 

The best explanation that I can think of is that I haven’t done a lot of the long, extensive work that a half-marathon requires.  I had a good session the week before but that’s too close to be of benefit. Other than BolderBoulder and a 10k tempo before that, I really haven’t done much work at half-marathon effort.  And being that it’s so insanely humid and hot in Tennessee, I haven’t been able to get in a lot of longer running at 5:00ish pace. 

So hopefully it’s just an issue of not having much specific fitness, which isn’t a bad thing nearly four months out from your goal marathon.  As always, the work must continue without being a dramatic diva about it and making small adjustments and tweaks to the training to be better prepared next time.

But after a crappy race, Nik and I did our long, walks of shame back to the hotel (he didn't run very well either) and I killed some time lounging around and watching Silicon Valley in hopes to win Nik over to that show.

Probably my favorite comedy currently on TV

But on the way over to the hotel, I saw an Ethiopian guy finishing with the 1:30ish half-marathon crew.  He was seeded 4th and looked fast, so I checked out the results and he must have missed the start by 10-15 minutes and he ended up passing almost 6,000 runners in the first six miles (according to the tracking).  Man, I feel sorry for that guy.

Being that we just burned over 1500 calories and both like food, we decided to meet up with Steve, watch the marathoners close out the last mile and find some food.  The weather really wasn't that bad for the marathon crew (other than it pouring rain for a couple of minutes at the start) and they even had the wind change direction and give them a bit of a tailwind towards the end.  There were a ton of guys in the 2:15-2:20 range and it was a good race to do if you wanted to nail the sub 2:18 OTQ. Brandon ran a big PR of 2:18, my friend Tyler Andrews had a solid race in 2:17 and Ryan Cosens, who I raced at the Temecula Half-Marathon last November, nailed his OTQ performance with a 2:17. Michael Eaton nailed another clutch performance after his 65:00 earlier in the year, with a 2:18:00. What a difference a second makes.

Everywhere we tried to eat was completely swamped with runners, so we setttled on 7 West Taphouse.  Even though the waiter guy was your typical mopey hipster, they had decent burgers. But the best meal of the weekened was my  BBQ pizza at Pizze Luce, with my honey malt at Duluth Malt Shop being pretty impressive as well.

So race #2 of the season is down.  After an "A" performance at BolderBoulder, I'd have to give this puppy at D.  Next attempt at a half comes up in a few weeks.  Hopefully, I'll be back on the honor roll. 

USA Half-Marathon Championships

The USA Half-Marathon Championships took place in Duluth, MN and was part of the Grandma's Marathon weekend.  It was my fifth race in six weeks and would serve as my final race of the spring season.  I wanted to set a new personal best but most importantly of all, to have fun and mix it up to the best of my ability.

I flew out of Nashville bright and early in the morning, with a connecting flight in Chicago, before reaching the Minneapolis Airport.  Because it would save a few bucks, I decided to rent a car and make the 2.5 hour drive to Duluth.  When I picked up my car, the guy from Budget tried the classic up-sale and told me my car probably wouldn't have cruise control (which I don't use) or power windows (I can crank a window) but since I drive a 2001 Ford Escort and a now comatose 2003 Honda Civic, anything would be an upgrade. I ended up getting a 2012 Ford Focus, with both cruise control and power windows. It only had about a thousand miles on it, had too many gadgets for my old-self to figure out and when I turned on the ignition, it was so quiet that I couldn't even tell if it was on or not.  I think this sub-compact was fine.

While the drive-up was pretty, I realized that Minnesota drivers think driving 65 in the fast lane is acceptable and about half of the drive contained some kind of construction, which resulted in a lot of one-lane interstate driving.  I stopped by McDonalds for a McDouble, medium fry and a Smores Pie before completing the rest of the journey.  After 11 hours of traveling, I finally made it to the Hampton Inn in Duluth.  I had a goody bag clad with some muffins, candy, some fruit and a small bottle of wine, which all served as my dinner that night.  While I was sleepy and not feeling like running, I went out for a six mile run along the lake, with a few built-in pick-ups.  I then unpacked my bags, watched some TV and was out for the night.

On Friday morning, Kameron Ulmer, whom I met at the Rocket City Marathon in 2010, met me at my hotel and we went for an easy five mile run.  We ended up crossing paths with four-time Olympian Abdi Abdirahman, which was pretty cool.  We then went to get our packets and my travel stipend.  Instead of race numbers, our bibs had our last names on them, which was pretty cool. They had a room set-up stocked with tons of food and drinks, that was pretty much open all-day.  I made some lunch and talked with some guys from Wisconsin, who were also running.  I then hung out in my hotel for a bit before heading to the athletes meeting.

After the meeting was over, I was able to meet with one of my favorite coaches, Mark Hadley. He gave me some advice and pointers about my training plan for my fall marathon. He found a few holes in my training that I feel will really help me pop out a fast time.  While this spring I've been having fun with things, I go into hardcore training when I focus on the marathon, so meeting with Mark will really help me out.

I then killed some more time in my hotel before heading over to the spaghetti dinner.  There were hundreds of people inside and I ended up sitting across from Josh Eberly, who ran for Western State in college.  I never met him before but he and his wife seemed like really cool people.  After he left, I noticed that Ben and Candice Schneider were sitting at the table behind me.  I talked to them for a while before heading back to my room.  Since the race bus was leaving at 4:45am, I planned on waking up at 3:45am, so I wanted to get a decent amount of sleep.

After waking up, I jumped in the shower and then ate a couple bowls of cereal and my token cup of coffee.  I had a small freak out when I couldn't find my watch and spent about 10 minutes frantically searching the room.  I really didn't want to run with my Garmin but I threw it in my bag and headed out to catch the bus. I had a hunch to check my car before jumping on the bus and luckily my watch was sitting in the front seat.

We left promptly at 4:45.  Since the course was point-to-point, we pretty much drove 13.1 miles down the road.  While the bus was packed full of runners, no one really said a word, and I ended up sitting behind Jason Hartmann, who is one of the top marathoners in the country.  Besides his insanely long legs, he doesn't look like your typical elite distance runners, but he's a killer.

The bus dropped us off a few blocks down from the start.  I waited around the tent for about 20 minutes before seeing Ben and we went out for an easy 15 minute warm-up.  I was feeling really good and while the temperature was a nearly perfect 60 degrees, the humidity was near 100%.  While this wasn't perfect weather, I felt like the humidity gave me an advantage over the others, which I welcomed.  However, I regretted not turning in any water bottles because I knew I would probably need them later.

With about 15 minutes until the gun, I turned in my bag, did a few strides and took a spot on the line before most of the field did.  While there were over 100 solid guys in the race, I felt like I had a shot at the top 20, so I didn't want to get a poor starting position.  Within a few minutes, everyone was on the line and we were off.

I wanted to run the first mile around 4:50 and I felt really, really good from the get-go.  Within a half mile, two distinct packs formed.  I positioned myself at the very back of the first pack and was probably around 30th or so.  I could see the upcoming mile marker and was really surprised when I crossed in 4:41.  Just a week prior, I felt very sluggish going through the mile marker in 4:46 during a 5k, so I didn't understand how this felt so easy.  I debated slamming on the brakes but I was already last in the pack and the other pack was nearly 100 meters behind and came through in 4:54.  I decided to back off a hair and not make any intentional passes for a while until I found my groove. However, I caught up with Stephen Shay and Jason Ordway, who I both felt were way out of my league, so it was intimidating running with them.  I came back with two 4:50s and went through the 5k in 24th place, with 14:51. After the next couple of miles, I ended up forming a four-man pack with Michael Reneau, Joe Moore and Hanson's runner, Jeremy Criscione.  We ran together for the next several miles and went through 10k in 30:13.  Running with these three other guys was a really cool experience.  One guy would force the pace and take the lead, while the rest of us tucked in.  After a few minutes, another one of us would take the lead and start to surge again.  While it was a painful experience, I really enjoyed the battle of wills and unspoken camaraderie we were building throughout the race.

We made up a lot of ground on the runners in front of us and it looks like we were rapidly running down Jason Hartman.  We dropped Jeremy shortly before 10 miles, crossed that marker in 49:18 and I did my best to focus on finishing the last 5k.  Within a mile, Michael and Jeremy dropped me and I did my very best to not lot Jeremy catch me.  At this point, something was really bugging my allergies and my eyes were burning and it felt like my head was being squeezed together.  With two miles to go, I really wanted to be done but I didn't want to lose another spot.  It's always been one of my goals to beat a Hanson's runner and I knew I was close to achieving it.  At one point, I was letting the pain get the best of me and waited and expected to get passed.  I then snapped out of it and told myself that if I got beat by him it was because I allowed it, so I tried to press on again.

Finally I could see the finish line in site and I saw that Zach Hine was in striking distance.  I tried to press my foot on the gas but immediately, I hunched over and started to dry heave.  I tried to press again and immediately dry heaved.  I expected to puke in front of everyone but nothing would come up and I ended up finishing a second behind Zach in 65:02, to finish 15th.  That time was frustrating because if I would have broken 65, I would have received an extra $750 instead of the $500 I received. However, I will gladly take the $500! 

Abdi ended up with an easy win in 62:46 over Brett Gotcher.  Ian Burrell, Michael Eaton and Tim Ritchie also had some awesome races and stamped their tickets as one of the nation's elite and future top marathoners.  I feel like one of those three guys will make a run at sub 2:10 in the marathon by the time 2016 rolls around.

I hung around the finish for a bit and met Jake Krong.  He is probably the second best looking bald Saucony Hurricane runner and it was kind of funny because we have never met before but both read each other's blogs.  I then talked to Ben for a while and since I was feeling really sick, I gimped back to the hotel.

My plan was to take a long nap and then hang out for a while before heading to the athlete's party.  However, the rest of the day did not go as planned.  I woke up with a killer headache and spent the rest of the day throwing up and in bed.  I had to miss the party and to add more salt to the wound, I also missed "Piranaconda" on the SyFy Channel.  It was definitely a bad way to end my time in Duluth but I will be back next year. After checking out of the hotel, I drove to Minneapolis and met Candice and Trent Rosenbloom to eat at the Black Sheep before catching my flight back home.

After reflecting on the race, I felt like I was in much better than 65:02 shape.  I was a little bit stale from all of the training and races and probably adjusted my training a little bit too much for that 5k at the Distance Carnival.  What really slowed down my time was that 4:41 opening mile.  I felt like I could have went out in a lower 4:50 and came through 10k just as fast as I did during the race, but feeling much better.  However, if everyone ran a smart or ideal race I probably wouldn't have finished 15th overall, so I have to view it as a solid performance.  I was the only guy in the top 20 who didn't run in the Olympic Marathon Trials.  I also beat a handful of sub 2:15 marathoners and even a couple of 2:12 guys.  And nearly all of the guys who beat me don't have two jobs jobs or a family to take care off.  However, I've made some adjustments in my schedule and will be able to train at a higher level and work on closing that gap. A year ago, I could have MAYBE run 68:00, so I feel like I still have a lot of room to improve.

Overall, it was an amazing experience.  They took really good care of myself and all of the other runners in the field.  I never had to buy any food, was able to get into any of the events I wanted and people would even bring Red Bulls and water to my hotel room.



With the spring racing season complete, it's now time to kick back and relax for a bit before starting my build-up for the fall. And if you are looking for an awesome marathon or half-marathon experience, I strongly suggest coming to this race! The weather is usually really decent, the course is flat and scenic and Duluth is a really cool town.