Marathoning

Charleston Marathon🌴

Published January 11, 2020

Tick, tick, tick. Less than a week out, life-everything now consumed by Triple 8. Work, home life, marathon training. 3 in 8 days. This weekend, year’s first double. Not sure if anything can truly emulate what I’ll experience travelling ALL the world’s continents – but putting it out there, 100% all in. Nashville connection, touchdown South Carolina.

Friday travel day. Lyft ride to Downtown bib pick-up, app-ride return to hotel check-in. Sleeps location chose near tomorrow’s North Charleston finish.

Seaside humidity or seasonal flu but felt a change a-coming. Which flight, which hacking traveler? Lotta recent workplace suspects. ‘Tis the season, hard to avoid LIFE.

Early to bed, early to rise. Tomorrow’s another day, marathon day. First of TWO 😉

Saturday morn. Light drizzle, HIGH humidity. Body achy. Cough, head cold. One step in front of the other. HUMAN day. No assurance I’ll go 8 Continents cough-free (trapped inside a host of Airbus coffins). 5-hour finish goal today/tomorrow – same as Triple 8.

Early-going SWEAT fest. Drowning. Slow down, walk. Take it in. Antebellum homes, Carolina palms. Shot of ocean. Not my day physically but… today, mentally blessed.

More walk than slog. Check, done. BIG BEAUTIFUL medal 🏅 3rd FINISH in South Carolina.

Lyft pick-up. Hotel transfer, airport sink bath. Hour flight. Touchdown, Charlotte. Lotta auto texts. Storms moving thru the South. Flight to Mobile cancelled? Re-booked on an 11am flight. Sunday? That’s not gonna work. Think. Think.

Long line of folks telling me what I can’t do. American Airlines, not helpful. Think. Think.

New ticket, new direction. Delta to Atlanta. Connection after storm-line passes thru the City. Midnite arrival.

I’m here. I’m sticky. AND running marathon #2 in SIX hours. Mobile, Alabama.

NO is a response, NOT a solution ✅

CHARLESTON MARATHON 2020

Marathon 5374 K R HAGA 5:27:18.21 LOUISVILLE CO Marathon Maniacs

: Friday bib pick-up

: Gaillard Center

: drizzle, HIGH humidity

: flu season FINISH

: S Carolina #3

: more slog than jog

: MIDNITE medal 🏅

: line of STORMS

Charleston Marathon

Posted in Marathons/Ultras, South | Leave a comment

Zoom! Yah! Yah!

Published January 5, 2020

Q #29 – Do you have an elevation chart?

A – Absolutely! As you will see below, there are no elevation changes: 1012 feet above sea level the entire race!

Start–1-2–3–4–5–6–7–8–9–10–11–12–13–14 –15–16–17–18-19–20–21–22–23–24–25–26–Finish

*1012 feet —–.–.–.-.–.–.–.–.–.-.—.—.—.—.—-.—.—.—-.—.—.—.—.—.—-.—.—.—-.–.—– 1012 feet*

Marathoning in January – in Minnesota – my first INDOOR marathon.

Easy inexpensive flight to Minneapolis; 45 minutes south to St. Olaf’s College in Northfield. Zoom! Yah! Yah! Folks: this one’s been on my calendar for almost a year. Limited to 58 participants. Race site promises a constant 62 degrees & completely flat. Hard to beat those kinda stats in January. LOL>

4am alarm. Shower, hotel check-out. Tostrud Center in-the-dark scavenger hunt (why are all college campus maps so confusing). Bib pick-up, registration… meet-n-greet? Yep. EVERY runner’s assigned a lap counter. Come on, I can certainly count my own laps – you do it in tens; not crazy difficult [‘til lap 93 & marathon-brain sets in]. Zoë from Lakewood CO, my counter. Like a younger version of Ash 😊

Pre-race announcements. Quick check that everyone has a travel buddy. Zoom! Yah! Yah! away we go.

Short indoor lap – hard to break the pack mentality. Went out way too fast… like I always do.

One. Five. Ten laps. Sub-9 minute mile. 7:20/mile. Sprint, sprint. Stayed close to a runner, who’d ultimately finish second female. Crazy fast for this back-of-the-pack runner. LOL>

Bell. Every 30 minutes. Finish the lap you’re running, then change direction. Aside from breaking up the monotony, suppose to help with balance. Lap, lap, lap. I arrived thinking how would I mentally manage 100 loops… only to find I had glossed that section. One hundred FIFTY laps today. Yikes!

2:05 Half. 15 miles, walking. So are the 2 college elites. One would drop, the other finish 5^th.

Bell. Switch directions. Zoë! What lap? 93. I ask again. Lap 105. Lap 110. Nerves settle. Panic subsides. Consistent walk/jog pace. It’s a lotta laps – and I went out crazy fast. 40 to go. Upbeat again. Runners cheering other runners. Bell ring. Switch direction.

BIG CHEERS echo Tostrud Field House as marathoners start finishing. AWESOME to hear our lap counters chant folks’ names.

4 hours & 100+ laps together, you build a kinship/familiarity. Gal with pigtails, ripped Ironman, Minnesota Gopher tee. Lady in pink, Reggae-hair white guy. And then, FINALLY… it’s your turn. LOVE LOVED the college atmosphere. HIGHLY recommended!

[Mark your calendar though, sells out quick 😊]

Zoom Yah Yah Results

1/5/2020

Keenan Haga 4:50:51 Louisville, CO

: Welcome St Olaf!

: bib pick-up & registration

: Tostrud Field House

: crazy fast Start

: Lap 5

: one & done ✔️

: 150 laps INDOOR

: thanks Zoë 🙂

: Minnesota #3

Zoom! Yah! Yah! Indoor Marathon

Posted in Heartland, Marathons/Ultras | Leave a comment

Texas Marathon

Published January 1, 2020

Happy 2K20! 🥳

Touchdown half-past 11. Rental car, hotel check-in. Quick 9 minutes ‘til showtime. Stetsons & hey y’alls on TV; fireworks exploding outside my hotel window. Happy New Year, Houston! 🎉

Alarm set, marathon in the morning. Hosted by Steve & Paula Boone – 50 State Marathon Club founders – the Texas Marathon, in nearby Kingwood. No better way to celebrate a new DECADE.

‘Just a little neighborhood run’, she said as we jogged the late miles of Juneau last year.

Y’all know – everything is BIGGER in Texas.

Over 600 in this ‘neighborhood’ run. Local police directing traffic. NFL’s Houston Texans hosted a tent. Fleet of volunteers distributing race bibs – and today’s medal? Glitter & longhorns.

National Anthem in Texas twang followed by, the decade’s first marathon Start. 4 laps of city greenway. Tree cover, overcast skies. Smiles & high 5’s. No place I’d rather be.

Like a HUGE FAMILY REUNION of all my 50 State friends. Blast from the past? Maniac bestie, Stacy. Woo-hoo! 2015, we both went Titanium. Lotta races & states that year. Good memory.

Mile 21. New Year, same ole slog fest. But plenty o’ company last lap. Happy Day 😄

Texas-sized medal, sink bath at the airport. LOL> It’s only Wednesday y’all, I’ve gotta work in the morning. Thanks Paula & Steve. AMAZING ambassadors for our sport! Absolute FIRST CLASS!