2022 Riverboat Series (Day 7) Marathon

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This race was on the Tunnel Hill Trail, starting in Vienna, Illinois. So, I’ll give it the name Vienna Marathon.

Mainly Marathons managed the race. I ran the day 2 and 5 marathons in Arkansas and Kentucky. I only had a day’s rest before running this one. I spent that day traveling from Missouri to Illinois. I stopped at the race site during the trip and walked a portion of the trail.

The trail surface was crushed stone, and there were no noticeable hills.

On Saturday, my digestive issues came back and were in full bloom on race morning.

I decided to use the 5:30 am start. So, I was up at 3 am on Sunday and left the hotel by 4 am for the half-hour drive. I got to the park around 4:35 am and found a parking spot close to the start/finish pavilion and restrooms.

The park was the site of an encampment of Cherokee Indians in December 1838 and their forced migration from the Carolinas to Oklahoma. 4000 of the 14,000 migrants died in the area on their trip.

The weather was in the 70s during the entire race with a 62-degree dew point, southwest winds to 22 mph, and cloudy skies. Rain was forecast to start later in the afternoon.

The course was 60% in the shade. With the cloudy skies, I did not need to spray any sunblock until the start of my seventh lap. The course was ten out and back laps.

The organizers used a walking wheel to measure. Being USATF sanctioned, they needed to measure 26.46 miles. Each lap was 2.64 miles, 1.32 miles each way.

There was an associated 5km race with one lap plus an additional .5 miles. A yellow cone marked that extra turnaround, a quarter-mile from the start/finish.

I wore shorts over compression shorts, a singlet, a ball cap, and my Nike Pegasus Trail shoes. At the start, I wore a long-sleeved overshirt for the first 5 minutes.

I needed to use a headlamp for 30 minutes starting in the dark.

The start/finish line and race buffet table were under a park pavilion. I dropped my tub with five bottles of UCAN ready on the buffet drink table.

I used my single bottle belt. I drank 20% of a bottle every 16 minutes.

I started the race walking to make sure my watch was running accurately. I planned to walk for 6 minutes and then run for 2 minutes.

With the expected wind conditions, I was worried about breaking 8 hours.

I ran a couple of minutes in the first 6-minute segment to loosen up.

I made the first turnaround in 20:14 and finished the first lap in 39:22 for an expected 6:40 finish time. To help count laps, we picked up a brown rubber band on the table at the start/finish. After five laps, we traded the brown bands we collected for an orange rubber band.

There were only bathrooms near the start/finish. However, there were a few convenient male bathroom spots along the trail. I needed to hit the on trail spot in laps 2 and 5. I didn’t think I was overhydrated.

I started getting digestive issues in the third lap and hit the main facilities before starting my fourth lap.

Starting in the second lap, I decided to keep a good walking form with my hands raised rather than swinging.

I got through the half-marathon in 3:16:53, and I was not feeling stressed. If I could do 38 minutes laps, I could have a 6:26 finish.

In the final three laps, there were periods of sprinkles and sunshine. The rain did not form any puddles on the trail.

I wanted to run (or walk) negative splits. My lap times started to improve. In my final lap, I added a minute to each running segment. When I got to the yellow 400 meters to go cone, I ran to the finish.

My final lap was 17:33 out and 16:08 back.

My approach has been, “if I start a race running, I need to finish the race running.” I started walking. I didn’t need to finish running. But I did.

My second half was a 3:03:46 for a 13 minutes negative split and 4 minutes faster than Friday’s second half. My finish time was 6:20:39.

My motivation to run these three marathons in a week was to evaluate my ability to run JFK this fall. If my combined times for Tuesday and Friday or Friday and Sunday were over 13 hours, I would not be confident in a 13-hour JFK finish. By pushing today, my later combined time was 12:54. So, JFK number 27 is still a possibility.

I received my Illinois medal to add to the series medals.

I had a hot dog from the race buffet and a 6-inch Subway BLT post-race. The bacon and mayo were yummy. But, I had post-race digestive issues. I indulged in medium pizza later in the day. Even with extra light, a quarter of standard cheese, I still felt the impact after my drive home on Monday.

This race was my 75th marathon in my 40th state. As for my Favorite Races list, it falls in the bottom 20% of my marathons.