Marathons/Ultras

White River Marathon

Published November 18, 2017

food, FAMILY & fun – but first…another marathon 🙂

Early 5am flight to Dallas, morning arrival in Arkansas. First stop: Family. Kid brother owns a trucking company AND just opened a gym. We all work somewhere – but the gym…that was mighty impressive. Pre-kid days, Bro was a power lifter (obviously not my twin). Daughter now off to college, LOVE LOVE he’s following his passion.

Next up: lunch at Williamsburg Kitchen. That’s where one finds Mom weekdays (owner/creator/innovator of this lunch-only spot 30 years+). LOVE this place, LOVE her Reuben, LOVE the family ‘eats for FREE’ discount. FAAAANNNNTASTIC!

3 ½ hour drive on rural Arkansas roads, day’s destination: Cotter AR.

Population: 948. Five miles past Flippin, 20.2 miles from the Missouri border. Middle of nowhere. People in Arkansas haven’t heard of this town.

Fun story. Sun goes down maybe 10 miles from Cotter. I’m not a great driver – even worse when it’s dark. 900ft from Cotter High School (bib pick-up), Google Maps says to turn left. Dirt road…no judgments, we have those in Colorado. Rental car lists dramatically to the left, something is wrong – I now see the sign: Railroad Crossing. Yep, been driving on the tracks themselves. Pitch black, no stars here. Yikes! Good laugh AFTER I eased off the tracks & wasn’t killed. LOL>

Pasta charity dinner. Sleeps 10 miles away in Mountain Home. Daybreak marathon start.

AWESOME turn-out. Field was limited to 750 participants AND it sold out, 4^th year in a row. Today’s experience would be all about weather. Warm start. Never peeled my first layer so humidity-dripped in Razorback winter. Sweated it out with a trio of runners kicking the Half. Chatty upbeat folks. Group slowed at mile 12. Goodbyes, maintained pace, exited to the left – second lap.

Cloud-cover cooled conditions. Wind gusted, no bugs 2^nd Half. No elevation gain either – ‘bout as flat a course you’ll find. Hit the wall early, more mental than anything. Notta lotta runners & I had no tunes. [note: iPods don’t last forever.] Light rain, extra out-n-back at mile 18-ish (special from the first lap). 30mph headwind at the turn, 7 miles to go. Walked much of mile 20.

Run-Walk-Ran last 5 miles with Sarasota runner, Buzz Scott. Half-mile to Finish, pep talk from Buzz. Marathon finish #103.

Heat/humidity, gusty wind, light rain & some folks say sleet. Another sub-par effort. 17 pounds UP since June’s REVEL run – lotta gain for a guy my size. Not a dieter. Who gains weight over the summer?! …but first (28 miles away), 2 slices of the best gas-station pizza ever. Four other runners also crowded in – no mistaking us: race shirt & shoes, we all look alike. HA!

Family nite in Fort Smith. Dinner out, cards at Mom’s, Sunday morning church. Good to be HOME ❤

Agee Race Timing, LLC

K R HAGA
2017 White River Marathon

Overall: 102 out of 188
Time: 05:13:55.56

: C Ray Baker R.I.P.

: Good to be HOME ❤

: 2 laps out-n-back

: FAMILY nite

: no place I’d rather be

Posted in Family, Marathons/Ultras, South | Tagged kyrkan | Leave a comment

Rim Rock Marathon

Published November 4, 2017

5 days ago I was in Ireland. This Friday, travelling I-70 West ‘cross the Americas Continental Divide.

Half-day work day, destination: Fruita. 5-hour drive from Boulder, 17 miles from the Utah border. Arrived 20 minutes before bib pick-up/Expo shut down. I’ve cut it closer. My PW (personal worst)? Illinois Marathon, April 2016: 2 minutes. Yikes!

Tomorrow’s run, Colorado’s only November marathon. Chose Rim Rock to keep the streak alive (cost choice, Dublin was weighty on the pocketbook). Ironically, now visiting my Mom in 2 weeks (& of course marathon-registered nearby, addictive habit ❤). Sleeps at the Balanced Rock Inn, half-mile from Fruita’s Community Center – shuttle meet-up location AND (26 miles later) tomorrow’s marathon finish.

Pitch dark early a.m. start. Double-shirted but stuck with shorts. Hard to ‘best guess’ race attire in Fall. Inside the Park, sheltered 45 minutes behind a porta-potty [windbreak] ‘til the day’s 7am Start. 2^nd marathon experience inside a National Park 🙂

Colorado National Monument. Landscape more Utah than Colorado. Warned/awaited a gun start, small athletic field (mostly college runners: Colorado Mesa University & CU-Boulder). Gun jamm’d, CMU coach casually said ‘ok go’ – & we were on our way.

8 miles UP. First 4 miles: 2500ft UP. More hike than run. Even the parts that LOOKED flat, a steady clip UP.

Stopped, snapped pics, took in the panorama/Park’s amazing beauty.

Cold Shivers Point – cold winds blew. 3 miles of down, mile-half of rolling, series of incredible Park overlooks. Red Canyon, Ute Canyon, Fallen Rock, Artists Point, Monument Canyon & Grand View. National Park eye-candy, a scenic wonder.

Unfortunately, just not feelin’ it today. Those first 4 miles of UP sucked the life outta my legs. Dublin Sunday, Fruita 6 days later – head demons rattled loud/mentally spent. DNF, DNF. I’ve got nothing to prove, I’ve finished 100. Lick my wounds, run another day.

Except…

No vehicle available at the Half Marathon mark (Aid Station 6). Volunteers asked I go on to mile 17 (next Aid Station). Seriously? Begrudgingly, restarted my jog/slog pace. Sooner I get to [mile] 17, sooner I could warm up & go home.

Except…

Assigned Volunteer asked a bystander to watch Aid Station 7. Guy had a truck but no idea how to get to the Finish (Rim Rock Road was closed to the Public today). He tried to explain. Seriously? Wasn’t listening, wouldn’t even refill my hydration bottles. Head demons too strong this day – next 3 miles without water, not gonna help matters. Ugly unfriendly headspace.

Refueled at 20. No one quits a race at mile 20. Runner in orange, young gal in sweats. Back-n-forth, we 3 swapped places. Mile 23, I reached the Aid Station last. Worst-to-first by mile 25. Fruita City Limits. Colorado River.

Mile to go. UP the overpass, jogged its downside into town. Quarter-mile to FINISH & I did, I finished.

Today my 4-year RUNniversary, 48 consecutive months marathoning. Most unlikely of marathon finishes, angry HOURS spent planning my running retirement – literally tried to quit TWICE. Never ever again. Well….never ever for 2 weeks. LOL>

Rim Rock Run 2017
Fruita, Colorado

Marathon Results
125 K R Haga Louisville CO 5:43:12

: National Park marathoning

: landscape more Utah than Colorado

: 2500ft UP first 4 miles

: Monument Canyon

: Balanced Rock

: Welcome to Fruita

: my 4-year RUNniversary

Posted in Marathons/Ultras, Western Slope | Leave a comment

Dublin Marathon

Published October 29, 2017

No more planning. Tick, tick, tick. Time is here.

Late 9am Start. Extra hour of sleep (clock fell back last night). Long corral walk, 30 minutes+ after the Elites. Same elite Africans I rode the elevator with this morning (GREAT hotel choice, Sis! – my 2^nd floor accommodations like the Olympics).

No Half, no 5K – thousands lined up ALL running 26.2 miles. Always a bundle of nerves. Not so much today. 3 of us marathoning, walked to the Start with Sis & husband Paul.

4^th largest race in Europe, 2^nd biggest field of participants EVER – for me, only 2015’s New York City Marathon larger. Much more a fan of smaller races (crowds make me claustrophobic) – but this, magic #100. Go BIG or Go Home, no regrets 🙂

Irish weather? Not this day. Cool sunshiny start. Winds gusted time to time, skies waffled between overcast & sunshine – pretty much PERFECT.

Today, would run with Sis. She’d keep me motivated/stay upbeat. Sis’ GAME plan: Galloway’s Run Walk Run method, attempting a 2^nd Half negative split.

Wall of people. Gun start, moseyed slow thru downtown Dublin. Crowds thinned after Phoenix Park, Europe’s largest public grounds. Sunshine, manicured lawns. BEAUTIFUL. So much GREEN. Exited before mile 10, climbed the largest of the day’s hills.

100 MARATHONS

Run Walk Run. Timer rang, we’d walk. Ding again, back to running. Just dumb luck…but felt a bit jinxed with today’s hills. UPHILL we’d charge, then her watch would alarm. Downhill’d all the walks. Coincidence? Hmm…thinking: childhood payback.

Castles & commuter trains, AWESOME crowd support. 2^nd Half & next slog of miles: 15-seconds faster. Sis like the Energizer Bunny. AND that attitude. 2018 goal: I will someday/somehow/somewhere be this upbeat 17 miles into a run.

[Sis’ suggestion] iPhon’d today’s marathon experience. More payback? Smiles, chitter-chatter, laughs then the 2^nd Half. Like watching a train wreck – you just can’t turn away. Laboured breathing, lack of coherent conversation, nonstop mileage updates. Repeated words like a trained parrot. Telling ya, I’m a hot mess. HA!

THEN somewhere in the 20s (mile marker), Sis kicked it up another 15-seconds. Ok fine, I’ll admit it. My YOUNGER sister beef’d up our pace another 15-seconds, somewhere in the 20s & I faded. Like the end of Titanic, I begged her to let me go – sure I was dying. ‘No, no I’ll wait’: she said. Then just like the film, they tear your fingers off the door & let you sink to the bottom of the Atlantic. Yep, just like that. LOL>

3 STRONG! Think Sis took a coffee while waiting, but was there when I FINISHED #100. Blanket-wrapped, awaited our family’s 3^rd finisher, my brother-in-law Paul. That’s how we roll. THREE MARATHON FINISHERS in this clan.

100 marathons. Who would’ve guessed THIS 4 years ago, after running my first 26.2 in Anchorage, Alaska? Lucky in life.

Colorado-bound in the early a.m. – outta vacation days. Good problem to have, 2017: WOW whatta year!