Duke City Marathon 2022

Overview

I ran 4:59:51, much (i.e., nine seconds) too quickly. My miles weren't particularly consistent, either, with my fastest complete mile being 10:58 and my final .43 mile being 10:21. My slowest mile was 12:01.

Practice

I take my pacing seriously. In the week before DCM, I did four 4.0 mile test runs, where my goal was to run an 11:27 pace for exactly 4 miles. I hit my goal each day:

• 45:56
• 45:56
• 45:54
• 45:54

I used two GPS watches, one showing my my overall average pace and the other showing me my instantaneous pace. The problem is that neither watch gives me a particularly accurate instantaneous pace, but with both watches and practice I can do fairly well.

Sign-Up

I got to run this for free, so I don't want to sound like I'm whining, but there always seems to be additional complication doing this as a pacer, because instead of using an online form to register, I got a PDF which I then filled out and submitted to Glenda which she then submitted to the Duke City Marathon people.

Just as I was approaching the Spotted Dog Brewery I got a text message:

Hey Clifford, this is [redacted] with the Duke City Marathon. We received your form, but there is no race checked off. Can you please let me know which race you would like to run

At a light I responded with

"Marathon. I'm the 5 hour pace group leader"

I didn't attempt to look up my details while I was away from home (doing the Tortugas 24 Hour Challenge). Race morning I wanted to see how people could track me and I found I was listed as "Cliff", not "Clifford" as I had written on the form and as I was messaged. Even worse, my age was listed as 42. These differences don't matter to me personally, but streamlining and bug-fixing the pacer process might allow DCM to get more pacers in the future.

Weather

On Friday morning, before I left for Las Cruces (returning Saturday evening), I had already checked the DCM race-day weather and saw that it was going to be low fifties, winds around twenty five miles per hour and rain. Wind (except when it's a tailwind) is always annoying, especially when carrying a sign, but my big worry was that I am used to dressing lightly and speeding up to keep my body warm. As a pacer, it's my duty to keep a steady pace. So I set aside a long sleeve shirt, a fleece hat, light rain jacket, gloves and hand warmers for race day morning.

Pre-Race

My alarm went off at 4:30 and I downed a double espresso that I had made previously. Almost every other day I have my double espresso at 5:15, but I wanted to make sure I had plenty of time to poop before driving to the convention center.

I ate a 533 calorie serving of my fortified oatmeal at 4:45. If it hadn't been for the weather, I'd have probably just started the race in a fasted state, since I can run or bike slowly for several hours in that state. However, I didn't want to risk it, since it was my duty to keep a steady pace.

I got to the convention center parking lot with plenty of time to spare. I made my way to the Albuquerque Road Runners bag drop to pick up my bib and sign. I chatted a bit with Dennis and Glenda and as time passed, I decided to ditch more and more of my rain gear. Eventually I decided to use the hand warmers (because they're trivial to throw away if they get annoying) and to tie my rain jacket around my waist.

As usual, the Road Runners had a huge bowl of tiny Tootsie Rolls an as usual, I ate a whole bunch of them.

At some point, I Judy (see below) introduced herself to me and let me know she was going to run around my pace because she was training for an upcoming fifty miler. Yay! Go Judy!

I met Andrew, the 3:45 pace group leader and Nick, the 4:00 pace group leader. We chatted a bit about running, then headed out to hold up our signs so people could find us.

Days after finishing DCM, I looked up Nick on UltraSignup and saw that he had come in 3rd! (just after Luke Nelson!) in the Plain 100 in 2021. I am not worthy; I suck at navigating (although I'm OK with a pack).

The Race

First Half

As usual, I was a chatterbox in the first half. I volunteered a lot of advice to anyone willing to listen or who was stuck nearby. I tried to emphasize that people are different and that I don't necessarily know what I'm doing, and I tried to add some self-deprecating remarks, but who knows?

I tried to get names and stories from people running with me, but I didn't take notes after the race and so I've already forgotten many details. Four people I do remember are:

• Judy, an ultra runner with an upcoming 50 miler
• Chris, an Economics Ph.D. student, former programmer and poker enthusiast
• Michael, a jiu-jitsu fighter from Arizona
• Gus, who was sufficiently silent in the first half to escape my attempted friendliness

In the first mile I mentioned that I think the shorter the distance a race is, the harder it is. I elaborated to Chris, by mentioning that typically goals change due to the distance. i.e., when you're sprinting, your only goal is to finish as quickly as possible; when you're running a marathon your goal tends to be to PR and/or correct previous mistakes, but when running an ultra often your only goal is to finish.

Judy and I talked a little bit about ultra-running before she got ahead of me.

Before too long, Michael and I traded story after story. That may have been boring (or worse!) for the others, but we didn't care; we were clicking off miles and having a great day. As the turn-around approached, Michael bid me goodbye, knowing that he was going to run the second half a little slower.

I noticed Gus, but at this point he wasn't part of the conversation and I didn't know whether he was deliberately running our pace or if he just happened to be there. In retrospect, heh!

Second Half

After the turnaround, I saw the 13 mile sign, checked my GPS watch and saw that it said 13.18 miles. Uh oh. That's a big enough discrepancy that a 11:27 pace is not going to get me to the finish line in five hours. Although I'd like to hit five hours exactly, I'd rather finish slightly early than slightly late, because if anyone is following me and wants to get sub five, they may not think about the fact that it's chip timed and they may have started in front of me, in which case they need to finish in front of me too. Being early just exacerbates that problem.

Since there was a little bit of a tailwind, I chose to speed up a little bit and bring my average pace to around 11:24. I also decided that I should probably ingest some calories, since I hadn't eaten or drank anything since the race started. I had five gels with me and planned on eating three, but I accidentally got four out, so that's what I ate. Tearing open the packets and making sure not to accidentally drop anything while holding the "5:00" sign was an exercise in clumsiness, but I got it done.

Before too long I started having a cup of water at some of the aid stations. I'm a firm believer in drinking only when I'm thirsty and I hadn't been thirsty up until then. Between it getting warmer, me having more miles on my legs and the gels (at least two of the four were caffeinated), I got slightly thirsty, so I drank a little here and there.

As I ran westward on Paseo del Norte I ran into Judy. Looking at my splits, I now know I was running about a 10:57 minute/mile pace. At the time I knew I was running faster than 11:27 because I was trying go get down to 11:24 overall. If I had confidence in the mile marking and my math, I might have tried to run a little slower, but I figured if I was going to make a mistake and run a little too quickly, doing so here, with the tailwind and before everyone was hitting the wall would be best.

Not too long after turning south on the Bosque Bike Path, I had a chance to chat with Julie, a 50 states member who plans to finish in Hawaii. She told me how many states she had left and I think it was eight. I believe she's hoping to finish three or four a year.

If I remember correctly, it wasn't too long after chatting with Julie that I started talking with Chris again. Eventually I confessed to be working on poker software and we chatted a bit about that. Unfortunately, I got wrapped up in the conversation and let my pace gradually speed up. I don't know if it was due to my increased pace, but Chris developed a cramp at some point and I didn't see him again, although looking at the results I see he (5:20:58) and Julie (5:20:53) finished within five seconds of each other. Neat!

I sort of thought I was all alone, except the quiet guy was still there. I think it was around twenty miles in when I started chatting him up. He seemed to be breathing a bit hard, so initially I expected him to drop off, but it turns out he had been deliberately following me because he had indeed wanted to finish sub five.

Eventually I learned this formerly silent guy was Gus. What I didn't know until after the race was over is that my ultra running friend John Hancock had pointed Gus at me. Gus had found John through Strava and when John heard that Gus wanted to run sub five he pointed me out. I had seen John before the race start and he even mentioned that he had sent someone my way, but at the time Gus wasn't around, so I didn't know whom he had sent.

One of the markers—23, I think—toward the end of the course agreed with my watch. This was a little disconcerting, because most of the previous ones had all been around .2 miles further than my watch was claiming I had run. If this new one was correct, then I've been running much too fast, so once again I slowed down a bit, only to get to find the next sign about .2 miles further than my GPS watch said. D'oh!

I don't know for sure what was happening with the signs. I believe courses are supposed to be measured by running a wheel along the shortest distance within the cones and I most definitely wasn't running the tangents. However, at one point—25, I think—the marathon and half marathon distance signs were fairly close to each other and since the rest of the course was shared, that couldn't be right, because they should be a tenth of a mile apart.

With less than a mile to go I encouraged Gus to run ahead so that he would lock down his sub-five (which he did with a 4:59:38 finish). I was alone and trying to adjust my speed to take into consideration how much further I thought might be left in both distance and time. Someone saw me approaching him and shouted

"Oh no you don't!"

and sped up. He was going for sub-five. I occasionally shouted "Run!" at him because I didn't want him to be caught short by the chip timing.

Post Race

As I approached the finish line it was clear I was going to finish too quickly. I slowed down to add a few seconds, but I didn't want to slow too much (much less come to a complete stop) in order to finish closer to 5:00:00. This was not the year to beat my record of being only three seconds off.

Glenda found me after crossing the finish line as did John Hancock. That's when I learned that Gus had been sent by John. I returned to the ARR bag drop area and fetched some recovery food (another serving of fortified oatmeal) and beverages (rice milk and a Best Energy Electrolyte Replacement).

I hung around the bag drop area until they were ready to tear down most of it. I then helped schlep some of the gear to Dennis's car before driving over to Marcia's and Jeff's where the fed and beveraged me.

Historical

This was my fourth time leading the five hour pace group. I started doing it in 2017 and decided to do it every year, but there was no DCM in 2020 due to covid and the Albuquerque Road Runners didn't supply pace group leaders in 2021, so my streak is sort of unbroken.

• 2017 4:59:54
• 2018 5:00:03
• 2019 5:00:19

My goal was to run a steady 4:27 minute / mile and then to adjust my speed in the last quarter to half mile to cross the timing mat at exactly 5:00:00. This was a little tricky because my GPS watch wasn't necessarily going to agree on the distance in the best of circumstances, but especially with this year's mile marker placements.

I was a little nervous running a 24 hour race the day before (i.e. the end of the 24-hour event was thirteen hours before the start of DCM), although I did have precedent for running a big event the day before. Although in 2017, I hadn't run anything since the Mt. Taylor 50k three weeks and a day prior, in 2018 I ran the White Mesa 50k the day before and in 2019 I ran the Sandia Crossing Marathon 7:24:30 the day before. It's not that I deliberately look for events to do the day before the Duke City Marathon, it's just that running at an 11:27 min/mile pace is not that challenging.

So, this year, when I found that the Tortugas Mountain 24 Hour Challenge was being held in Las Cruces the day before, I chose to do the challenge, but enter the non-drinking division and cap my miles at 60 (or 64). Initially I had also planned on not drinking during Tortugas Mountain, but I changed my mind and simply drank considerably less and delayed my celebratory drinking until post DCM.

It all worked out fine, but the drive back from Las Cruces was a bit nerve-racking, because I didn't know when I'd get to sleep, how well I'd sleep or how fit I would feel in the morning. Turns out, I got to bed late, slept poorly, felt great and had no trouble performing my pacing duties.

Pix

I participate in so many events that it's exceedingly rare that I buy photos (especially since some events provide photos for free), but Foggy Bay Photos was out taking pictures and here are the ones they took of me.

More to Add, Later

All told, I took 800mg of ibuprofen: 400mg around 4:45am, with my fortified oatmeal and another 400mg soon after having my gels, just past the turnaround.

The first amount of ibuprofen was to counter any minor discomfort that might show up due to my participation in the Tortugas Mountain 24-Hour Challenge. The latter was due to minor discomfort that I was feeling in my knees, that I think was due to the way carrying a sign altered my gait.

Ibuprofen is a tricky subject, so my plan is to eventually create a section of this book that explains when I use it and why and also mentions some of the risks. I've had at least two good friends of mine go to the hospital for kidney failure due, in part, to overuse of ibuprofen. So, rather than mentioning that in this race report, I'll eventually take the time to mention it in the upcoming Ibuprofen section of my upcoming Drugs section of my upcoming Practices section.

I don't know when I'll get to the above. I do have a Day Job¹.