Guest Race Report: Groundhog Marathon and Half Marathon

You all know how I love a good guest race report. This is especially true at times like this, when I am not racing. It is great to get to live vicariously through my friends who are braver, more adventurous, more talented, or just plain crazier than I am. This is especially great when my friends are doing things I would never want to do in a million years, like running a half marathon in 6 inches of fresh snow and subzero temperatures. Here, let me let Leslie tell you about it.

I’m back, with yet another crazy race report.  Believe me, if there is a race with nearly impossible conditions, I can find it!  I love to mix things up, and I love challenges.   Last year was my year of the half marathon, with a few bike tours, open water swims and triathlons thrown in for good measure.  Mission accomplished, with a race to spare!    Now I find myself in 2014 looking forward to turning 60 and some new challenges.  Back to the trail I go!

My spring goal race is Outrun 24 (http://outrun24.blogspot.com).    Outrun 24 is a timed ultra, perfect for someone as velocity challenged as me.  The goal is to see how many miles you can finish is 24 hours, or before you collapse!   It  also means miles and miles and miles of training.     Miles and miles trudging through snow, slipping on ice and dealing with negative windchills.    Michigan has really outdone herself this winter!    I don’t own a treadmill and I don’t belong to a gym.   I train solely outside.   Fortunately, I’m blessed to live near a multi-use trail that is somewhat plowed during the winter.  By somewhat, I mean plowed, but not down to bare pavement.    

Seriously cool bling!

That brings me to the Groundhog Marathon (groundhogmarathon.com).    What better way to get in a long one.   We’re talking aid stations,  camaraderie of like-minded winter warriors, some pretty cool bling,  as well as cookies, chili and beer!    How could I resist?   It sure had to beat looping around my neighborhood for 26 miles......or so I thought!    

I’ve been training in the snow for months now, a lot of time on one of those nice mostly plowed trails.  I can handle a snow drift or two.  The race course for Groundhog is on a paved trail.   Perfect!   Just like home, or so I thought.   What I didn’t realize is that Grand Rapids is not Lansing.   Lansing frequently plows their trails.    Grand Rapids does not, ever.    Uh oh!   82” of snow on the ground and more coming down.   Thoughts of a dog sled entered my mind.  

The Groundhog Marathon also offers a  half marathon, and a 1/6 marathon the evening before main the races.    Not wanting to miss out on a moment of fun (and additional swag), I signed up for the whole hog!    The course is a 4.4 mile loop.    Once around for the 1/6th, 3 times for the half, and 6 times for the full.  

With 6” of new heavy snow, headlamps aglow, and over 100 crazy people at the start, we were told to follow the snowmobile tracks (clever winter idea of course marking).  Off we went,  only to wonder about our sanity within 50 feet of the start.   The conditions were horrible.     

 

The “race” ended up with  pretty much everyone walking single file, and trying to stay upright. Imagine a long line of “racers” with their arms out, looking like they were trying to balance on a tightrope!   82” of somewhat packed and uneven snow, topped with the new snow that was not only slippery but icy as well,  made for some crazy footing. The race was not without some turned ankles, falls and broken bones. (Poor Ckat!!)   Not for the faint at heart!   Consensus from the majority of the 1/6er’s was to forget the race the next day.   It just wasn’t worth an injury.   I’m not so smart!

I woke up on marathon morning fully intending to skip the race (and be one of the smart ones).  As disappointing as a DNS is, I didn’t want to risk injury with some important races coming up in the next few weeks.  Lori and I have Green Swamp in March, after all!    After texting some friends, and plenty of second guessing (after all, I’d paid for the race and hotel), I decided to drive to the start, but go home if the good parking spots were taken (I didn’t want to park off site and take the shuttle, or that was my logic).   Not off the hook yet, I ended up with a great parking spot!   Now, what to do?    Cheer for the runners, perhaps?   Anyone that knows me, knows that was not going to happen.    

The gun went off and so did I, telling myself I’d do one slow loop, because  a DNF was better than a DNS.   I ended up dropping to the half marathon.    The conditions were that slow.   

 

Does that look like fun or what?

To put things in perspective, the overall  winner for the men (marathon) finished in 4:09:59, and the women’s winner was 5:45:45.The half marathon overall finish times were 1:49:05 (smart guy on snowshoes) and 2:33:54. Of the 200 runners registered for the marathon, 39 finished.    Of the 300 registered for the half, 223 finished (many were marathoners that dropped down).   I guess I got my challenge and more!   

Seriously awesome awards!!

If you are game for a little fun next winter, and don’t mind a PW (personal worst), are able to laugh at yourself and what Michigan weather can throw at you, pack up those YakTrax and consider Groundhog next year.   The race is well run with some very cool perks.   Who knows, it could be dry and sunny next year.   This is Michigan, after all.  

If you like this guest race report, here are some links to other popular guest race reports. Maybe you will get inspired. If you run a race that you would like to report on, please contact me. I love a good story!:

Guest Race Report: Michigan Runners at Columbia River Power Marathon (and "marathon" wine tasting in Walla Walla, Washington)   

http://througharunninglens.blogspot.com/2013/10/guest-race-report-michigan-runners-at.html

Guest Race Report: Tough Mudder Michigan 2013

http://througharunninglens.blogspot.com/2013/07/guest-race-report-tough-mudder-michigan.html

Guest Race Report: Detroit Marathon

http://througharunninglens.blogspot.com/2012/10/guest-race-report-detroit-marathon.html

Guest Race Report: Warrior Dash 2012

http://througharunninglens.blogspot.com/2012/08/guest-race-report-warrior-dash-2012.html

Guest Race Report: Mango Madness

 http://througharunninglens.blogspot.com/2012/06/special-race-report-mango-madness.html

 

Guest Race Report: Michigan Runners at Columbia River Power Marathon (and "marathon" wine tasting in Walla Walla, Washington)

I know I have been very inactive here on the blog lately, but there is a very good (and exciting) reason for this that I will be revealing in an upcoming post. Thank goodness I have friends who are doing fun things and having running adventures who are willing to write guest posts.

The race report here is for one of my friends and Playmakers Racing Team teammates, Donna Swanson. Donna is amazing!! She is a marathoner who is a member of the Fifty States Marathon Club and who is closing in on completing the amazing accomplishment of running a marathon in each of the fifty states!!  (She is also my hero and role model for another reason, which you will be hearing about in that upcoming post I promised above.)

 Recently she and a group of other Michigan runners traveled to Umatilla, Oregon to run the Columbia River Power Marathon. Being a very civilized group and well-rounded group (one cannot live by running alone), they extended their trip to include some wine-tasting in Walla Walla, Washington.  An alert reader, Ruth Thelen, heard of their adventures and thought others might like to hear the story. Donna agreed, and here it is. So slip off your running shoes, grab a glass of wine, and enjoy!

The trip to Walla Walla, Washington (one hour away from Umatilla) was GREAT!   We flew to Pasco, WA Thursday before the marathon and easily met up with Karen and Jon Lewis at the tiny Tri-Cities Airport (they flew in on an earlier flight) and shared a rental car.  It was about an hour drive to Walla Walla from the airport, so, of course, we stopped at two wineries on route.  John and I had been to Walla Walla a couple times when we lived in Montana and discovered that we loved their wines!  

After our winetasting stops, we checked into the Hampton Inn and Suites.  The CharlesSmith Winery had live music that night, so we sat outside enjoying the music and the food truck there that served bbq food.  As we were leaving to head back to the Hampton, we ran into an optometrist friend from Billings who was in Walla Walla with his wife and friends to do some tasting!  Small world!

Friday we did a 5 mile walk to check out downtown Walla Walla.  We visited wineries on “Southside” Walla Walla that day and John and I shared a tasting at each, as did Karen and Jon.  All the wineries we visited were beautiful and all very different from each other.  Grace and Tony Gilmore met up with us at Sleightof Hand Winery (they flew in Friday).  The six of us then visited a few more wineries.  Basel Cellars was the most beautiful one…all log and stone structure, pretty grounds.  We bought some cheeses, olives, hummus there and enjoyed snacks out on their patio.  That night we ate in downtown Walla Walla at T. Maccarone’s which was excellent!

Saturday we were up early for the hour drive to Umatilla.  We picked up our race packets (no expo) at the Desert River Inn motel and met up with Gary Haf and Brad Behrman, who along with Grace were running the half marathon.  Karen, Jon, John and I all ran the full marathon.  There were also relay teams, an 8K race and a 50K race.  All races began at the same time, and it was a very small field even with all of us starting together.  The race director announced that they had runners from all over and specifically mentioned “Michigan” which brought cheers from our Northville Road Runners group!  

Fairly early in the race, we crossed the Columbia River via the McNary Dam (normally not open to the public) into Washington and ran about 4 miles in Washington.  Race shirts have “I ran the dam race” on the back!  The Washington section was mostly along fairly busy roads.  We saw (and smelled!) a truck filled with onions…Walla Walla is known for its Walla Walla onions!   

We crossed back into Oregon around mile 6 on a bridge over a busy interstate with cars and truck roaring alongside us.  The first 10 miles of the course were on pavement and quite hilly.  Grace and I ran together for those 10 miles; Brad was with us for a short time and Jon Lewis just slightly ahead of us.  We spotted a mule deer trotting alongside the river.   Grace peeled off around the 10 mile mark to head for the finish of the half and totally missed the section of the marathon course that Karen, John and I didn’t care for at all! 

We got on the Lewis and Clark trail along the Columbia River which is billed as “very scenic”.  It is neat seeing the river and there were rocky bluffs to the other side of us.  The trail was covered with fairly large and loose gravel as well as some sandy parts, which made it difficult to find decent footing.  In a couple sections, they had recently dumped fresh gravel over old, so those sections were particularly difficult to traverse.  I enjoy hard packed dirt trails, but that’s not what this was!   I had held a decent pace for the first 12 miles, then watched my pace get slower and slower as I weaved back and forth trying to find the best footing.  

Runners got very spread out on the trail, as there were only 31 total finishers in the marathon!  “Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner” came to mind!  There were hardly any spectators.  The aid stations were enthusiastic, but we could have used a couple more as it got warm during the second half.  The worst part about the gravel trail section was its length!  We entered the gravel just beyond the 10 mile mark and the turnaround for the marathon was just beyond the 17 mile mark, then we went back on this same trail for about 13 miles total.  Before the turnaround I had already started alternating walking and jogging.  The walking spans started to last longer than the running spans after the 17 mile mark.   Avid trail runners or ultra-marathoners may have enjoyed this part of the course, but not me!  

Shortly after I made the turnaround, I saw Karen and we stopped to give each other a hug.  She said “I hate this gravel!” and I echoed her sentiments!  A few minutes later I saw John and he said the same thing.  Other marathoners I talked to also complained about the footing and gravel.  

Just before the 23 mile mark, Karen caught up to me.  I handed off the rental car key to her as I know she is a much faster walker than I am and that’s all I was doing by that point…walking.  I was thrilled to finally get off the gravel, only to encounter the longest, steepest hill on the course…about a mile of continuous uphill.  The last two miles of the course were pretty flat, but I still walked most of it.  I did pass two women walking together at about mile 25 complaining that the gravel had totally done them in!  I asked if they were as ready for this to be done as I was and they said “YES!”  As I passed them, one said “Please don’t tell me that this is your first marathon!”  I told her that it wasn’t, but left it at that!

There were a handful of people at the finish line and I was given my medal which has a beer bottle opener attached to it!  They did no age group awards (which I guess is understandable given the tiny number of finishers) – awards went to places first through third overall only.  They had touted a “baked potato bar” as post-race refreshments, but there was nothing left by the time I finished!  

Jon Lewis, however, was my hero of the day!  Not only did he run pretty darn well (4:37), he negotiated with the motel to pay for a room for two hours so that the four of us could take much needed showers after the race!  Karen had finished in 5:11, me in 5:19 and John in 5:57.  My slowest in MANY years!  Despite our pitiful finishing times, John and I both finished first in our age groups (out of two finishers in each!).  Karen and Jon both took 2^nd in their age groups, so we viewed ourselves as age group winners even though there were no age group awards!  We enjoyed hitting 3 more wineries after the race on the way back to our hotel in Walla Walla!  The Gilmores provided an appetizer spread in their suite, and we ordered pizzas from Sweet Basil’s for dinner!  Took group photos in our race t-shirts!

Sunday brought a walk on nice trails at Lake Bennington, then MORE wineries!  Canoe Ridge was probably my favorite that day.  Gary and Brad joined us for winetasting, then later in the day Bill Moran and Rhonda Emery met up with us (they had run a race in Washington the day we ran Oregon).  We finished off Sunday with a stop at ThreeRivers Winery (beautiful!) and sat on their patio.  They had a FREE 3-hole golf course that John, Jon, Brad and Gary enjoyed!  The group of 10 of us had dinner Sunday night at Whitehouse Crawford – excellent restaurant!

Monday Grace, Karen and I did some yoga while the guys went for a walk.  Hit a couple wineries in Oregon that day as Walla Walla is very close to the WA/OR border.  I loved Zerba – in a charming LOG tasting room!  (Wonder why I liked that one…because we live in a log home??)  We ended up doing a “marathon” of wineries over the 5 days…26 different wineries to match the 26 miles we ran!  We ordered Asian carry outs for dinner and shared them in the Hampton dining room.  Celebrated Karen’s birthday that day too!

We flew home on Tuesday with Karen and Jon.  Marathon #86 and state #47 finished!  John is now at 64 total marathons and 40 states.  It was a really fun trip with great friends! 

Donna Swanson

Quincy, Michigan