My creative name for this race is the South Sioux City Cement Marathon (S2C2). I finished it on Monday, May 15, 2023.
The race was managed by Mainly Marathons, which hosts 13 week-long series across the country comprised of 70 days of racing.
The Prairie Series consists of 8 days, one each in Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Minnesota. `I need Kansas, Nebraska, and North Dakota as three of four states to complete all 50. North Dakota’s race was not until Thursday, May 18, which conflicts with the Historic Half. So, I planned to run the Kansas and Nebraska races.
After running the Hiawatha Marathon in Kansas and traveling to Nebraska, yesterday, my readiness level was 1%. My FitBit app recommended, “Your body might need rest. For active recovery, try light walks, stretches, or restorative yoga.” If I tried the stretches or restorative yoga, I would never get through 26 miles. So, I went the light walk route.
With a 6 am start time, I only had 5 miles to drive across the Missouri River to the race site. The course was 12 out-and-back loops on a concrete path around a small lake. Except for one small hill, the route was flat and the surface unforgiving.
Overnight rain left the grass wet and cloudy skies. The temperature at the start was in the high 40s and was expected to climb to 53 degrees.
I tried on my Saucony Triumph 20 shoes, which gave me pain in the latter miles of yesterday’s marathon. There was no give, as the side of my foot was swollen and rubbing. I didn’t want to use these shoes for 7 hours, so I switched to my older Saucony Triumph 19 shoes. The compression in their soles moved the rub and caused less pain.
In addition to my shoe choice, I wore shorts over compression shorts, a singlet over a long-sleeved shirt, gloves, a neck gaiter, and a ball cap.
Being a multiple-lap course, I was allowed a tub on the drink table with replacement drink bottles. I wore my single-bottle belt. So I could move while drinking. Before the race, I mixed four bottles of UCAN energy and two bottles of UCAN hydrate. I would finish a bottle every three laps.
Taking my FitBit’s recommendation, I started out walking. I set my countdown timer to 12 minutes and wanted to run 100 paces every 12 minutes. Hopefully, running would use some other muscles. I’ve never planned a walking in pain race. Though I’ve done races that took more than 6 hours, walking from the start took a mental toll.
The running portions were painful. My quads and feet constantly complained. My walk speed stayed consistent between 34 and 35 minutes per lap. That is a 15:30 per mile pace.
In the middle of the third lap, the water I retained in yesterday’s race started filling my bladder. I took a trip to the woods. Then from the start of laps 5 to 11, I hit the porta pot near the timing table.
I went through the half-marathon and six laps in 3:33:54. I started to slow with laps between 38 and 39 minutes. After lap 8, I stopped the run potions, and my lap times did not decline. At that point, my time was 4:50, with an expected finish time of 7:15.
With three laps left, it was hard to envision two more hours on the pavement.
At the start of lap 11, I was worried about a PW. I ran 7:23 on a trail marathon in Tennessee in 2018. So, I picked up my walking form and pace to 13:30 per mile. My last three segments were my fastest at 15:53, 15:34, and 15:01.
If you start a race walking, does that mean you can finish the race walking? I ran the last 200 meters. It could only hurt for a minute.
My second half was 3:38:14 for a finish time of 7:12:08. Back home; I found my Tennessee time as a 7:04, so a new PW. But misremembering did make me push the last two laps.
This marathon was my 83rd in my 48th state. As for my favorite race list, it falls near the bottom.
Looking at my FitBit heart recordings, I never reached 60% of my max, and for 5 hours and 47 minutes, my heart rate was under 114 bpm.
As I headed out, there were still 21 competitors still on the course. These races have a “no time limit” policy. And some people use all of the time limit. One of the participants was still on the course finishing her 500th Mainly Marathon. I’ll be happy to finish two more and see what’s next.