Tucson Marathon 2022

Overview

I ran the Tucson Marathon 2022 in 3:27:22, twenty-two minutes and thirty-eight seconds faster than I needed to qualify for the Boston Marathon in 2024. I was second in my age group (male 60-64), having been beaten by a very fast 61 year old. He and a 65 year old man were the only two people my age or older who finished before I did.

I did not fall, but I started with a slightly injured left knee and finished with a slightly more injured left knee.

Background

I ran the Tucson Marathon in 2017 as my first Boston qualifier. I was quick enough that I got to run the Boston Marathon in 2019. I've qualified for Boston since then, but at the Big Cottonwood Marathon, which is a faster course and is also in my "fun around" training block.

I chose to run Tucson instead of Big Cottonwood for a few reasons:

• My advisor from grad school had moved to Tucson and I was looking forward to seeing him
• Tucson is also close to Gold Canyon, which meant I could visit Jeanne, my late dad's wife
• Aravaipa took over the race, and I like Aravaipa
• Attempting a BQ early in the year leaves room for a do-over
• A chance to do well in my new age group
• I'm not very smart (Tucson is during my Bataan Memorial Death March training block)

Jeanne wound up having "minor" heart surgery done on the Wednesday before the race. So, I drove out to her house in Gold Canyon on Tuesday, stayed with her during her operation, then hung out with her Thursday and Friday. So, although I didn't get a chance to visit my advisor, I did get the honor of being able to help Jeanne at a difficult time.

Race Day

Pre-Race

I got up at 3:10am, drank a strong coffee, got out the door at 3:30 and drove to Tucson, arriving just before 5. I ate two bagels and took two 200mg ibuprofen tablets. I was using the ibuprofen because I had a little trouble with my left knee and a hot-spot on my right foot.

I got out my turquoise waistband and put my iPod touch in one of its two compartments and a quad espresso in the other. Then I added six gels on the side with the iPod touch and four on the side with the double espresso and zipped it up. The zipper separated on both sides! Uh oh. I took five of the gels out, crossed my fingers and tried again. The zippers remained intact, so I put the five gels in my bag and planned on starting the race with three in one hand and two in the other.

Before too long I got on the bus to the start. Tucson is a point-to-point marathon that requires participants to be bused to the start. I chatted a little with some of the other runners, got off, found another runner to chat with, had a productive porta-potty stop, found the 3:20 pace group leader and hung out. I remembered to open my hand warmers, but completely forgot about the extra gels. In fact, I hadn't even brought them with me; they were back in my truck.

Race

The race itself was uneventful. I listened to my Bataan Memorial Death March playlist. It's all quick tunes, four Me First and the Gimme Gimmes albums¹ (with the "slow" songs expurgated) with my "Speed 3" playlist² in between each album.

As I ran, I had to figure out when to take my consumables: two 200mg ibuprofen tablets, the five Chocolate Outrage Gu gels and my quad espresso. I had half my quad espresso (i.e. a double espresso) at mile 9. I think I had two gels at about mile 10. I took all 400mg of ibuprofen at mile 11. At mile 18 I had another gel and the final half of my quad espresso. I had my final gel at mile 23.

Although the Tucson Marathon has been held since 1969, this was the first year Aravaipa was running it. It was a kick to see Jamil Coury, this year's race director, announcing the start. Furthermore, Jubilee Paige was at the half way point taking pictures. In the best of circumstances I'm a horrible conversationalist, but sleep deprived and focused on not tripping, I blurted out:

"Wow! You're a photographer too, and you sing so pretty."

Mentally, I'm mostly used to seeing Jubilee at the Javelina Jundred where she's the race director and greets the finishers. Since that's the most recent time I saw her, I associated seeing her with being done, yet I still had the harder half of the Tucson Marathon to finish. Eventually though, I remembered seeing her at the top of Mingus Mountain during the Cocodona 250. She was not only crewing the aid station, she had made a scrumptious vegan pasta meal. So, yeah, stupid brain of mine should realize she's everywhere, not just at the finish.

As I approached each aid station, I shouted:

"I'd like two waters, please!"

I'd then try to grab both cups as I ran, drinking as much as I wanted and pouring the rest over my head.

I believe I would have run a bit faster toward the end if I had consumed more calories during the race. There were aid stations with marathon-type food (but no gels), but the volunteers weren't holding the food out in front, so I forgot which stations would have food, so I had none, I chose not to drink Gatorade because I was more nervous of it perhaps upsetting my stomach than running low on calories.

Post-Race

When I picked up my bib, I was told that the race shirts would be at the finish line, but I forgot to ask about them at the finish line, so I have no shirt from the race, which is OK for me, because I have too many shirts, but it is disappointing that shirts were handled that way. By the time I finished, there were many other things I was thinking about than to remember to ask for a shirt³.

I hung out long enough to pick up the slate coaster I won for being second in my age group, then hopped a bus back to the parking lot at the start. Or at least that's what I thought I did. I didn't think about the fact that many people had come from a hotel, until the bus was clearly heading there. Uh oh! Was I on the wrong bus? I was certainly tired enough to have gotten on a wrong bus, but the driver was happy to take me and a few others back to the start. I don't know if we were on the wrong bus or if that's just the way it was supposed to work.

My drive back to Gold Canyon was uneventful, but it was a bit slow, because some of the route back was on the marathon course itself, so cars had one fewer lane than normal since one lane was blocked off for the runners, who were still making their way down the course.

Although I didn't get to see my advisor, I did get back to Jeanne in time for both of us to watch the Army Navy football game. My daughter Margaret earned an Army ROTC scholarship and is a freshman at the University of New Mexico (where I went to grad school). My other daughter is a senior in high school with an application pending to attend West Point⁴. So, all three of us were rooting for Army and I was texting my daughters during the exciting game. I may not have beaten the old people, but Army beat Navy. It was a very good day.