Mega Tough Margot + Karl = TLA
I’m sure there will be more posts about this past weekend’s events, but here’s a nice article from the Daily Mining Gazette about Margot and Karl and their awesome performances at the Canal Run. Karl came in first and Margot was the third woman across the line!
Several other TMT gals ran the race too. The results are posted here.
TMT July 2010 Meet-Up: Pre-Wedding Edition
A few TMT members met up in mid-July prior to Margot’s wedding (WOOHOO!) to spend a few days running, eating, and catching up. Here are some photos of a trip to Grand Island National Recreation Area!
Run the Keweenaw!
Sadly, the Keweenaw Trail Running Festival is no more. But the Keweenaw Trails Alliance and Copper Harbor Trails Club (with help from our very own, Megan Killian) designed a new and improved trail festival for 2010 and beyond: Run the Keweenaw. The weekend consisted of a Saturday morning 6K hill climb, Saturday evening 12K run, and a Sunday morning 25K… all trails.
Leslie,the TMT Trail Master, ran all three events. For the 6K, she was 19th overall, 5th woman, and 3rd in her AG. In the 12K she came in 11th overall, 2nd for women, and 1st in her AG. In the 25K (where average humans crash and burn), Leslie finished a stellar 13th overall, 4th for women, and 3rd in her AG.
Margot had plenty on her plate planning her wedding an all, but managed to come out for the Hill Climb. She finished 15th overall, 2nd for women, and 2nd in her AG.
Way to be Mega Tough ladies!!! Full results are here.
TMT in Thunder Bay
Monday May 24 was the Firefighter’s 10 Mile Road Race in Thunder Bay (http://www.10mileroadrace.org/) and Team MegaTough represented well. This was the 100th anniversary of the race, though only the 77th the running of it, as the race was canceled several years around both World War I and II. The race was offering prize money for the first time ever – $1000 for first place, $500 for second and $250 for third for both male and female.
Leslie won the whole she-bang in a fantastic 1:02:28! She was super inspiring to me for the rest of my race, let me tell you – it’s mostly an out and back course so we could see most everyone on the way back and it’s great to see your teammates doing well.
Leslie at Mile 5
Sam (that’s me!) came in 4th in my age group in 1:12:17 – faster then I thought I could do! I didn’t see any of the mile markers for the first half so I paced on feeling and then just decided to ignore my watch for most of the second half and just go with what was working.
Sam at Mile 5
Lisa, after spending the previous week hiking around Isle Royale, also had a great race with a 1:19:49. Just over a year ago, she was saying how she didn’t think she could hold that pace for a 5K! I’m so impressed with how speedy she’s been going.
Lisa at Mile 5, happy to see her husband who's taking pictures
So overall a fantastic race for Team MegaTough!
Warm temperatures and rugged trails in Northern Minnesota were no match for members of the Mega Tough squad. Margot won the Spring Superior Trail 50K in a time of 4:48, making her the Women’s Upper Midwest Trail Runners Ultra Champion for 2010. This was Margot’s first ultra. Lisa finished an astounding third for Master’s Women in the 50K.
Leslie brought home a win in the 25K, besting her competitors and crushing her previous record from 2009.
Complete results can be found soon at the Superior Trail Race website.
More details to come from the athletes- stay tuned!
Mel wins Monona 20K
Last Saturday Jess and Mel ran the Lake Monona 20K. It’s a single loop around Lake Monona in Madison, WI. The weather was gorgeous. Sunny with a slight breeze. The race was packed with a record-setting 812 runners (even more registered).
Before the start, Mel and I discussed what time we should shoot for. 20K is an uncommon distance. I figured she’d be able to do at least a 1:24 considering she can do a sub 0:20 5K. I was hoping for a 1:30. The route is great. It’s one of our regular long-runs, except that we normally run in the opposite direction. It has a good number of hills (nothing extreme) and a lot of great views over the lake.
Mel said she stuck with a pack of gals most of the race, but ended up breaking away the last couple miles. She finished with a SUPER STELLAR time of 1:20:31 (sub-6:30 pace!!!) taking first place among 384 females, and 28th overall. I finished quite a bit slower than I wanted with a 1:33:53, but it was good for 13th female. Next race I won’t let four gals by me in the last mile.
Full results are here.
Country Music (Marathon and) Half
Tien-Tien and Jess traveled to Nashville, TN this weekend for the Country Music Marathon. Tien-Tien’s parents live in Murfreesburo, TN and the gals got to crash and eat (and eat some more) there. There will be more on that portion of the trip in a separate post.
Weather for Saturday looked bleak. The forecast called for severe thunderstorms, which included a risk of hail and tornadoes. The race officials decided on Friday to limit the time everyone would be on the course. Marathoners (Tien-Tien included) who reached the half marathon split point at a pace slower than 10:20/mile were going to be directed to run the half.
Murfreesburo is about a half-hour from Nashville. Tien-Tien contacted the local Fleet Feet and got us a ride to the start. It was an early morning. We woke up at 3:00 am and left the store at about 4:30 am. Ouch. We got to the finish area around 5:00 and, like sheep, were corralled onto buses to shuttle us to the race start.
My quads were still a little sore (shouldn’t have done sprints on Wed) and Tien-Tien’s knee (IT band) started bothering her earlier in the week. But it looked like the weather was going to hold up and we were starting to get pumped.
Ok, pumped isn’t the right word. Goofy, maybe. We got to the start with plenty of time. We used the bathroom a couple times, drank some water and coffee and chilled. It was 65F at the start. We really had no idea what to expect from the weather. We also had no idea about the course. We managed to keep smiles until we turned in our gear.
Then it was time for the race. I was in Corral #1. Right up there with all the elites. Tien-Tien was in Corral #2. Danny, the winner of last season’s Biggest Loser, was running the half (a celebrity!!) and he sang the National Anthem. Then, the gun.
First mile: 6:50. Oops. Second mile: 6:40. Double-oops. Next miles: HILLS. Triple-oops. There weren’t any steep ones, but the entire course seemed to be either gradually up or gradually down. The thunderstorm held off, which was good, but I certainly could have used a few sprinkles. It was HOT. Well, warmer and much more humid than I’m used to. I was sweating like you wouldn’t believe! I got aid at every station after mile four. My legs felt like lead nearly the entire race. At first I wanted to keep the 1:30 pace group in sight. By mile six I decided I just wanted to maintain anything close to a 7:30 pace. Despite feeling poop-erific, I managed to get a couple decent race photos. Yes!
Tien-Tien did sub-7:30’s for most her first 10 or so miles. Her knee started bothering her soon after though. She decided to cut the race short and took the half-marathon cutoff. At one point she stopped to walk and stretch a little and that actually made it worse when she started up again. When she started running again, she knew she only had a couple miles to go, so she went fast. She said she had WAY too much energy toward the end and probably ticked off a few people who passed her while she was walking. When she finished, she hardly felt like she ran. Probably because her body — minus the knee — was expecting to do twice as much! Tien-Tien also took some stellar photos.
I took my time at the finish, thinking I had another hour to kill. I got lots of food. They were pretty much throwing it at us at the finish. I had an armload of stuff by the end. After I got my race bag, I started walking back to the finish and there was Tien-Tien, done too soon with an icepack on her knee. Bummer. Neither of our races went according to plan.
In the end, it was a blessing that Tien-Tien didn’t do the full. We took off shortly after the first two guys finished and within a half-hour, it started to rain. Tennessee-style rain, which means huge drops, non-stop for a half-hour straight. Nothing severe, but enough rain that I’m glad we were out of it.
Overall, the race was nice. The community was great. Several HS cheerleaders were dressed up to cheer us on and lots of families were handing out fruit. The music was cool too. I was a little worried it would be lots of twanging. But most of the stages had local bands and they tended to do covers of old rock songs — with just enough twang to remind you you’re in Nashville:) There were plenty of aid stations (though I never got anything solid at them, so can’t comment about that) and all the volunteers were extra friendly and encouraging. I would definitely recommend the race. Just make sure you prepare for heat (treadmill runs? gack) and hills.
Salt Lake City Marathon- Megan’s Race Report
From EnduranceMeg:
Temperature: 49F at the start, 63F at the finish
Weather: Sunny, 0-6mph winds (calm)
Participants: 5733 half marathoners and marathoners (71 of which were early starters, taking off at 6:15am)
Saturday – Expo: The expo was big and easy to find, although finding parking was a little tricky. Erik did hot laps around the block until we were done getting our race packets. The race shirts are nice, technical short sleeves that are fitted. I got a kid’s sized shirt which I appreciated. The rest of our race packet was lacking in the free-goodies-area, which some people count as a big factor for race quality. I didn’t care too much, but I could have done without all the flyers (I didn’t really look at them; I just threw them away).
Night-before meal: Gluten free Annie’s Mac and Cheese!
Sunday- Start time: 7am.
Pre-race fuel: Couple handfuls of Peanut Butter Panda Puffs, and then one scoop First Endurance PreRace and 1scoop EFS (Grape) in 20 ounces of water ~45min before start.
Baberaham and I drove Marc’s truck to the U and parked in an engineering lot, about 200yds from the start line. We were right next to a porta potty, which was awesome because there were no long lines (it was like our ‘secret’ spot). I threw my Icebreaker layers in the truck, since it was already getting somewhat warm, and headed over to the start area around 6:30 to drop off our gear bags and make one last porta-potty-stop, but the lines were tremendously long for the loo. I waited in line while Baberaham dropped off both our bags, and when he returned I hadn’t made any progress on the loo-line-advancement. So, without further hesitation, we headed for a tree on the far side of the field.
We made our way with 12minutes to the start The race start was crowded, but it was our own fault for not starting a bit closer to the starting line. We walked to get across the mats and our first mile was a lot of weaving in and out of people run/walking. I expected this, because the race was a half marathon/full marathon start, but I didn’t want to lose Adam along the way. Luckily, he tucked in well behind me as we made our way through the crowds.
The course was beautiful. The Wasatch mountains were seemingly always on the horizon, and the sun was only directly ahead of us for a few miles. We ran through a few parks, including the Sugarhouse Park (from the photo below) and Liberty Park.
Unfortunately, the race route layout was not the best. At mile 5, the marathon and half split, and I felt relieved because we were no longer involved in the R.R.C.F. that was nearly 6,000 runners. I followed the other marathoners through beautiful Sugarhouse Park for a mile or two, but then I saw the stream of half marathoners ahead. We reconnected with the rest of the runners, except instead of being up to pace with the runners we left at the split, we were running with those who were two miles behind us before the split. That brought on a bit of anxiety for me, and I tried to contain it because I didn’t want to be a Negative Nancy with Adam by my side running his first marathon. We weaved our way once again through the runners, and then split off again for good. Once we were alone on the course, it was smooth sailing… until the last 3 or 4 miles…
I was glad I brought along a bottle of EFS Liquid Shot (found it at the Canyon Bicycles) on the race, as this served as my only nutrition aside from an orange slice around mile 19. It fit great in one of my Lucy Propel Run Skort pockets (and my inhaler fit in the other pocket). I finished my entire flask of Liquid Shot before mile 18, and was a little worried that the lack of food along the course would cause me energy-issues. I had Powerade at one of the aid stations around mile 18, but this made my stomach want to turn a little, so I continued drinking water. Luckily, I didn’t feel any bonk, and actually picked up the pace quite a bit toward the end, even with the uphill near the finish. This was probably the first marathon I have ever done where I felt great at the end, energy-wise and biomechanically. I think part of my good-feeling groove came from my caffeination boost with Pre-Race and my sustained energy with Liquid Shot. Running a 30-miler a few weeks before the marathon helped, too. I think I have my nutrition dialed now, at least it seemed like it on race day.
The solid-food nutrition provided by the race was pretty bleak. There were no gels, oranges, or any food available for the half or full marathoners. Some spectators had set up their own tables with oranges and other nutrition (including TEQUILA! at mile 20!), but the solid-food nutrition provided by the race was nil. Marc wanted orange slices. I have to admit, I wanted orange slices, too.
The race finish was crowded. I was disappointed that the half marathon walkers were finishing when the marathon runners were, especially when I reached the cobblestone street that was 6-8ft wide. There was a lot of leaping and maneuvering that was not necessary if the finish chute were only a few yards wider.
It would have helped if the half and the full had pacers, or at least corrals where folks could start with others who are running the same pace. Also, the first half marathon/marathon split should be removed. That was a pain because it was too crowded when we reconnected, and we were running with people much slower pace than we wanted to be running with. So we had to re-weave our way through the slower crowds; very much a pain.
Gear bag retrieval was quite a pain in the neck for a lot of people. Half marathoners were in a really long line, but Baberaham and I cut in without anyone noticing and grabbed our bags from along the railing within fifteen minutes. The bags were apparently all dumped together, half and full racers, so the organization was a little difficult. Plus they organized bags based on last name, and we didn’t put our last name on our bags (only race numbers), so the volunteers couldn’t organize them. Fortunately, not many people put just their numbers on their bags, so riffling through other bags to find ours was not difficult.
Trax was closed, so Marc and Sarah had a difficult time getting back to their car to come back to get us. We didn’t plan that out very well. We should have parked one car at the finish, and one car at the start, that way it wouldn’t have been such a shit-show to get home afterward.
All in all, it was a good race with a beautiful course and lots of racers. I didn’t really like how the start was organized (or lacked organization, I guess). Salt Lake City was not my favorite marathon I’ve done, but it has a lot of potential to improve. This was its 7th year. It is tricky, because I thought- organization-wise- the race was fairly great. There were plenty of aid stations, volunteers, and helpers at the finish line. It was the course layout and quality of aid stations that was poor. I saw so many people wearing hydration packs and I know why now (not that I thought I needed to carry 50ounces of fluid). In hindsight, carrying my Nathan Handheld might have been a good idea, if only to have my own sports drink in the bottle, but there were plenty of water stations along the way (every 1-2 miles).
Lisa update
Check out Lisa’s blog! In this entry, she talks about her recent and upcoming races and reviews another great Nathan product: the Blizzard Hydration Pack.
Nathan Quick Change
This post is a little delayed. Back in February I packed up for a weekend snowboarding trip in the Keweenaw. It was my first opportunity to use the Quick Change pack I got from Nathan.
Now, it’s supposed to be for triathlons, but it works great for all kinds of sports trips. It fit everything I needed: clothes, toiletries, running gear, and snow gear — including my helmet! Another cool feature was the backpack straps, which make it easy to lug no matter how packed it gets.
Plus, it has a zillion (ok, more like 8 ) pockets for other goodies.
My favoritest feature? Definitely the shoe pocket!! It separates my wet/muddy/smelly shoes from the rest of the bag and has a vented zipper. It’s great to be able to pack my shoes instead of having them dangle on the side of my bag to air out!
Next trip: Country Music (half) Marathon!! As an added bonus, I think this will fit as a carry-on. Woot woot!
Team Mega Tough 
