Argus Leader (SF Newspaper) Story about Karl and Myself HERE
A 4:30 AM alarm does not rank among my favorite things. It was necessary this past Sunday though so I had enough time to eat and digest a couple of bananas to feel comfortable for the 6:30 AM race start of the Sioux Falls Marathon. I usually try to eat some toast with peanut butter before a long run or race but my appetite was virtually non-existent. Hopefully the bananas and some GU Gels and Powerade taken at aid stations throughout the morning would be enough.
Last year Karl and I completed the Sioux Falls Half Marathon with me pushing him along the way. The goal was simple: Survive - and keep Karl comfortable. We were able to accomplish both goals in a little over two hours with a wheelchair that was definitely not made for competitive running!
This year, we upped the ante to the full marathon while the goal was the same: Survive - and keep Karl comfortable, through 26.2 miles this time. We also went into this year's race with the benefit of a special lightweight wheelchair made especially for running that the 605 Running Co. in Sioux Falls was kind enough to let us borrow and even bring to the race start for us.
In the past, the Sioux Falls Marathon and Half have started on the track and Howard Wood and finish at Sertoma Park. This year, the revamped courses both started just outside the gates of Howard Wood Field in the parking lot and wind their way through both city streets and the bike trail before each finishing with a 3/4 lap on the track at Howard Wood.
This was a welcomed change and an exciting time to run my first Sioux Falls Marathon (I have done five fulls in other places as well as two previous Sioux Falls halves). The updated route passed within blocks of the house where I grew up and took us over the same bike path and city streets where I ran countless miles as a high school runner in Sioux Falls.
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| Pre-Race. Everything is all smiles when it's too early to lucidly think about running 26 miles in the coming hours |
Arriving at Howard Wood Field at 6 AM on Sunday, the sun had still not crept onto the horizon and it was immediately clear that this would be a great day for running. The air was cool and crisp with very little wind and the forecast called for temperatures that would not exceed 70 degrees throughout the majority of the race. I found Karl and his posse and we located the chair and got him buckled in and ready for the long haul.
We took our spot towards the back of the starting line - not very crowded at all with just over 300 runners running the full (the half had over 1,000 but they started 30 minutes after us). I got some positive words of encouragement from my college coach Randy Fischer who came out to watch the races start and we took off across the starting mat and onto our journey.
Having never used this chair before I was not sure what my exact goal would be but I thought that maybe finishing around 4:00 would be possible. I figured we'd start near the back at a very conservative pace and slowly work our way forward as long as things felt good. We passed the ballfields near Covell Lake and ran our first mile in about 10 minutes. Mile two took us towards the Cathedral with some uphills mixed in and I realized that the uphills would be the deciding factor in this race. I really had to dig in and push hard to get the chair up the hill without losing too much time. It hurt and burned my calves, hamstrings, and quads, but as soon as we crested a hill my legs felt immediately relief and we were able to surge ahead.
Winding through downtown and Falls Park form miles 3-6 was enjoyable with some nice crowd support and Karl and I continued to pass other runners a few at a time. We were not doing anything crazy, just slowly increasing our pace as we went along and surviving the small occasional uphill.
The hills I was most concerned about were at miles 9 and 11 but we made it through those areas unscathed and actually passed quite a few other runners during those portions. Karl was doing awesome, staying engaged in the race and encouraging me verbally and also by lifting his right arm in the air (his signal to go faster - I had to tell him a few times that I was trying!). I took a GU Gel at the Mile 7 Aid Station and was alternating water and Powerade every couple miles and felt plenty energized as we neared the halfway mark.
A big highlight of the day was to get waves and encouragement from a few longtime family friends that were driving by on Sycamore Ave. and 57th St. on their way to church. It's hard to overstate how important crowd support can be during a marathon - but it is even more important when it is someone that you have known for almost your entire life and have a longtime personal connection with.
Karl's entourage was also cheering for us at various points throughout the race as well as plenty of people that had heard our story or knew Karl and his family so that was a big encouragement as we went along.
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| Can't overstate how awesome that chair was! |
As we hit mile 14 we caught the 3:55 pacing group.... at that point I knew we were moving at a pretty good clip. We stayed and chatted with the group for a bit - and had a nice talk with the group leader about some of the races he had done in the past. Had a nice laugh about the fact that we were about to run up a hill on 57th St. (railroad viaduct) that did not used to exist. As we went by Lewis Park and headed downhill towards rejoining the bike trail at Tuthill Park we made some good time as I was running pretty close to an all out sprint for a few hundred meters to keep up with the chair since it rolled down the hills so well.
Miles 17-19 and 20-25 were back on the bike trail and flew by. I took another GU around Mile 17 and that along with the water and Powerade kept me feeling great. Those final five or six miles really did fly by - it's a great feeling when you pass another mile marker and think that there is no way it had been a mile since the last one!
For the final mile we turned off the bike trial and onto Russell St. to head back towards Howard Wood. The crowds picked back up the final quarter mile before the track so that was exciting to have more support as the excitement of the finish line also drew near. The last 300 meters were run on the track at Howard Wood (a place I had logged many laps throughout high school and college) and the announcer read off our names as we were cheered into the finish. We passed a half-marathon finisher as we rounded the track and it was pretty obvious it was his first race of that distance. We offered him some encouragement which he seemed to genuinely appreciate.
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| Crossing the finish line. Coach Fischer is in the foreground |
We officially stopped the clock at 3:48:36 for an overall pace of 8:43/mile. Quite a bit faster than last year in the half. That chair made a big difference and I was also probably in a little better shape.
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| The team post-race with Karl holding the bib number and wearing the race medal |
Overall we placed 89th out of 306 runners in the full. Starting near the back of the pack we did not get passed by everyone for the entire distance, so that is always a nice feeling :)
I was pretty sore on Monday for my morning 2-mile run with the middle school cross country team but felt much better by Tuesday.
Not sure what the future will have in store for Karl and myself. Just found out that he will be moving to Omaha with his family next June... so might need to put the Omaha Marathon on our calendar. Time will tell.
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| Soaking up the post-race scene |
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