Sweet Baboo: I don't quite follow how your math works with regard to your training this week.
Me: It works. Trust me.
Baboo: How many miles have you gotten this week?
Me: 4.2 on Tuesday, 11.8 on Wednesday, 6 on Thursday. That's 21. Then 13.1 this morning. That's 24.1
Baboo: Which leaves....
Me: Which leaves 25.9 I need for the rest of the week.
Baboo: When will you get that?
Me: At the marathon.
Baboo: But the marathon is Monday. That's technically next week.
Me: For our purposes, Monday is this week.
Baboo: (Eyes me skeptically) It is?
Me: Yes, it is.
Baboo Well, okay...as long as you get 120 miles between these two weeks. These are build weeks.
Me: I will. Trust me. I will. 30 during this next week, and then 31 on Saturday.
Baboo. Well, okay then.
Okay then.
So. The Turtle marathon. Here is the data from my Garmin.
The turtle marathon is between El Paso and home. This was handy because it meant I could travel to El Paso with Baboo, who was officiating a sprint down there (that was closed, so I couldn't get into it) and then do this on the way home. It was on Labor Day.
The entry fee is $15. The support is minimal, but it's enough: two aid stations, at mile 6.5 (the turnaround for the half marathon) and then at 13.1, the turn around for the full, each of these having gatorade.. In between there, at intervals, were flats of water that you helped yourself to. On the way back, the aid station was unmanned at mile 6.5, but it still had plenty of gatorade. One of the flats of water had ice that was replenished frequently, that is to say there was ice each time I went through.
You'd think that the whole highway thing would be a turnoff, but it wasn't: I carried a hydration pack for a gatorade, and a hand-held bottle for squirting myself. Each time a car or truck went by, I got a nice breeze over my wet skin. I wore this hat --> It's by Outdoor Research. The sides unsnap, I left it with the sides until after mile 13.
Dinner the night before was a Dominos Pasta in a Bread Bowl. Don't you be saying ANYTHING about that. It's god's perfect food.
Breakfast was a powerbar and a poptart. I consumed about a gallon of gatorade, and 4 gels, during the race.
The profile looks scary, but it's not. It was mostly long rollers.
I carried my "Wink" pack, full of gatorade, and a "Cool-off bandana, which I loaded with ice at mile 13.1.
The race started at 5:40ish, a bit later than it was supposed to. It was nice and cool for about the first 13 miles, but then it really started heating up. We're talking about southern New Mexico, after all.
All in all, very nicely run. Intersections were manned by local deputies. It was a very small race, I estimate far less than a hundred were there for the full and half marathons combined. I estimate the air temperature where I was running to be in the 90s when I finished. It got up to 100 the day before, and the afternoon after the marathon.
<-- For my $15, I got this T-shirt:
(Baboo not included).
Finishers for the full and half got ceramic turtles. (mine is the purple one).
Note that they are sitting on a state outline of NM.
Baboo, of course, did the marathon a full hour and a half faster than I did. Because he's a
My time: 5:33. I still haven't met my fantasy of the sub 5:30 marathon. Perhaps if I did a normal one, in normal temperatures, I could.
Anyway. Did I mention that no less than 5 people complimented me on my ensemble? They did. If you can't be fast, be cute. That's my motto. In any case, after the turnaround, I passed several people who had been waaaayyyyy ahead of me. So there. Slow and steady. I went out at about a 12:00 pace, when it was nice and cool (but gradually uphill) and then came back a bit slower, when it was downhill but getting crazy hot.
Every once in a while I would start breathing in a panting, shallow way, and that was my cue to drink, drink, drink.
This next Saturday: The Rio Del Largo 50K. In between, somehow I have to squeeze in 30 miles.
...
