Photos from the Northshore

My super photographer wife got some great pics from the marathon. Enjoy!

Posted by: tkurtz on 9/18/2008 at 12:04 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Northshore Marathon Recap (Long)

Finally getting around to writing up a full recap of my experiences at the Northshore Inline Marathon. If you read my previous post you know what a great day it was for me personally. The feeling of crossing the finish line was one I will never forget. Here's a, let's be honest, long recap of the weekend.

Registration & Expo
We got a later start out of Fargo than we anticipated, so as usual, I was a little worked up. I'm a schedule guy. I like to get out of town at a certain time, and anything later than that time just drives me nuts. The actual drive was fairly uneventful. But wow is that one long drive. Going to Grand Forks to drop off Eli didn't help with the length, but I was wondering if Highway 2 was ever going to end.

We finally arrived around 7:30, much later than I wanted. We went right to the registration and expo area. I got my race packet without trouble and took a stroll through the expo. It wasn't as big as I thought it would be, but there sure was a lot of stuff to look through. My main goal was to pick up a few new bearings so I could replace some that weren't spinning as well. I'm not sure what makes a bearing go bad, I just know the damn things are 8 bucks a crack and I don't want to be replacing too many.

Hell's Kitchen
After getting my bearings we met up with a few other racers from the Tuesday night skate group. We headed off to eat, much later than I wanted, but we made do. After a couple of stops that had long waits we landed at Hell's Kitchen. I highly recommend this restaurant if you're ever in Duluth.

Significant Equipment Trouble
After a great pasta meal we headed back to the hotel. I needed organize all my gear for early morning departure, swap out my new wheels and change out a few bearings. It's 10:00 at this point and I wasn't happy about that. Everything was going just fine when all of sudden one of the bearings I removed would not come apart from the tool I was using. This was a major problem, as I still had 6 more bearings to take from my old wheels.

After a lot of straining, and a lot more swearing, I headed down to the front desk and asked for a hammer. I proceeded to pound the bearing off of the tool. The bearing was mangled and bent so that made my decision easy as to which bearing would be replaced. I managed to avoid anymore hammer sessions, but I was real nervous about ruining anymore bearings. I had identified the four bearings that needed replacing. Any more shenanigans with the bearing tool and I'd be in trouble.

I had a horrible night sleeping. I was just too amped up for the race. It was a barrage of thoughts, worries, and general concern about what the morning would bring. I tossed and turned for several hours. Oddly enough I was wide awake at 4:59 a.m., one minute before the alarm and the wake up call.

Race Prep
In spite of a poor night's sleep I was feeling really good in the morning. I got a great stretch in to start the day and got my blood going with some simple jumping jacks and push-ups. It's amazing what some of those good old traditional exercises can do for you.
In Winnipeg I felt like I ate too much prior to the race, so I dialed my breakfast back significantly. After a good breakfast at the hotel it was back upstairs for more stretching and a final check over on all the equipment. All wheels on tight, race chip ready to go, frames attached to the boot, good to go.

We hopped on the bus around 6:30. I rode up with my buddy Todd and a friend of the group that I just met, Torrie. We had a good chat on the way up, mainly talking about how bad it would suck to be running this course. My hat's off to you running marathoners!

The Move to Wave 1
Everything was well-organized at the start – plenty of bathrooms and very obvious direction on where you should be and when. One thing I was really surprised at was the minimal amount of time it seemed we had at the start. Maybe we were just taking it all in and losing track of time, but we ended up with about 5 minutes to warm-up and then get in the appropriate wave.

Todd and Torrie were in Wave 1 and I was entered in Wave 3. They asked me a few times to just move up and skate with them. I was really nervous about doing that. Not so much because I wasn't following the rules, but because I knew they were in the 1:30 range and my best was only 1:50. I was really concerned about trying to keep up to that pace and then just burning myself out. After 2nd and 3rd thoughts about it, I elected to move up and takeoff with them. It turned out to be the smartest move I made all day.

The Start
The Elite skaters were off, followed by Wave A and Wave B. It was our turn at the start line. I felt real nervous. Not like I was going to throw up, but my legs felt like rubber and my heart was going. The start gun went and we were rolling. We were rolling fast. All I could hear was the loud woooosh of all the wheels turning. The first mile or so was all down hill. Down hill + a healthy dose of adrenaline = really fast speeds. We approached 30 mph at the start, a solid 8 mph faster than I've ever gone.

Torrie, Todd and I stuck together for the first part of the race. Our biggest challenge was finding the right people to skate with. I kept pointing people and groups out to them, asking for instruction on who to chase down. We found a solo guy skating pretty hard. I'd say we drafted him, but that would be an understatement. We USED him. He pulled us a long way and didn't ever look back to see if any of us wanted to pull. That couldn't have turned out any better for us to start the race.

Waiting to Shut Down
Eventually we dropped the guy that was pulling us along the course. I kind of felt bad, but I got over it pretty quickly. It's up to the guy at the lead of the pack to drop off and let someone else pull.

I was in shock as to the effect drafting had on my speed and energy level. We were crushing the path at a clip anywhere from 17 mph to 22 mph, with a downhill 30 mph thrown in there. Considering my best average is around 13 to 14 mph I felt a little out of my comfort zone. Right around miles 7-10 I was really talking to myself. As we proceeded from pack to pack, successful with every pack we chased down, I kept asking myself, "When am I going to shut down? When is my body going to tell me to go to hell?" I really didn't believe I could maintain the pace we were at. I felt like I was out on the course just waiting for the wall to slam down in front of me.

Well it never did. Right at mile 13 I started doing the math, only because it was easy for me at the halfway point. I knew we were going fast, but I didn't realize 1:30 was in play until the halfway point in the marathon. From that point on all questioning of my ability, all the negative thoughts left my head. I think I even started smiling, and I know I got a good shot of adrenaline with the thought of crossing the finish line in 1:30, something I doubted I could even accomplish NEXT year. It was on, and it was time to crush the path. We continued to move from pack to pack. I even think I pushed Todd and Torrie more than they wanted. I couldn’t help it. I had energy, and I had packs in my sights.

Carnage Carnage Everywhere
I had heard stories of horrific wipeouts during races. Heck, I had experienced a couple throughout the summer. But I wasn't prepared for all the carnage I saw on the path. 3 miles in I see a guy bloodied up and sitting in the middle of the roadway. A half a mile later the ambulance was heading in our direction. We skated behind a guy from Team Rainbow for a while. He and one other teammate left the group but we decided to let them go because there were only two of them. Less than 3 miles later we caught them again and watched the guy take a bad wipeout.

The worst wipeout I witnessed came around mile 25. Early in the race we came up on a group of 3 that were racing as a team. They quickly noticed us and actually asked to back off and let them skate alone. Evidently they wanted to race and finish alone. We didn't think anything of it, but it rubbed us all the wrong way. We backed off and kept them in our sites.

Around mile 23 the core group that ran into these guys was still together. Someone got a little fired up and started the talk about chasing them down and passing them. We all bolted together and started to reel them in. At this point in the race we are whipping through the downtown area of Duluth. After Lemon Drop Hill (what a bitch that was) we veered left onto I35, which was pretty cool. We navigated through the interstate and went through some of the tunnels and under a few overpasses.

We managed to pass them just before mile 25. Sure there was a little celebrating going on in the pace line. Those guys were arrogant jerks and we just passed 'em late in the race. About a half mile later they start passing us. In the process of passing us, one of their guys starts jawing at us about staying in our lane and basically bitching at us for passing them. It wasn't 5 seconds later and the guy slammed the concrete. I certainly don't wish ill will on anyone, especially something as dangerous as falling on I35 at a high rate of speed, but part of me said, "Good for ya. Keep your mouth shut and just skate."

That little mishap set their little team back and they were a non-factor for us the rest of the way.

Sprint to the Finish
We were now in the final moments of the race. I was in complete shock at how good my body felt. I had zero foot pain, zero back pain, and I felt like I had plenty left in the tank. I fell behind my group on the last climb of the course, the off-ramp from I35. I saw the sign for 1,000 meters and decided I needed to catch my group. I shot off into a full sprint. I noticed none of the guys I was skating with had a hard finish in them. Around 400 meters I passed the last guy that was a part of our group and sprinted home to the finish line. 1:26 and change. What a race. What a finish.

The feeling was incredible. The crowd was amazing and provided a shot of adrenaline like nothing I had ever experienced. I crossed the finish line and gave a high five to one of the volunteers. Well, I was a bit over-zealous with my high five and came within inches of wiping out into one of the gates. What a sight that would've been.

I coasted to a stop and I quickly realized I was in trouble. My body was in pain, my breathing was labored and my heart rate was in overdrive. I looked at my Garmin and saw 207 on the heart rate monitor. I was a concerned for a few seconds, but I was able to quickly get my heart rate down to a palatable level.

I moved off the course and coasted around aimlessly for a few feet. I was still speechless with the time I had turned in. I started thinking about how far I had come since the beginning of this journey. I remember the pain I was in after just 12 miles of training. I remember laboring through a miserable marathon by myself in Winnipeg. It was all worth it. It was all worth it to come this far. The commitment, the pain, the mental battles - it all paid off in the end.

I finally found Nikki. For some reason seeing the look on her face with what I had just done made me stop and collect myself for a minute. She had no idea what my time was, but she knew I had a great day on the path and her expressions showed it. It was a great feeling to have her support along the way all summer long and with this culmination.

So that concludes this edition of my marathon training and puts a close to the first chapter of my journey to living healthy. I've lost some weight along this path. It's never enough, but it's enough to keep me motivated. The winter will be hard no doubt, but I'm convinced that if I surround myself with friends I'll be able to stay at it.

While I'm ready for a break from skating, I'm already planning my schedule for more races next year - Brainerd, St. Paul, Winnipeg and yes, The Northshore. So here's to accomplishing your goals. Here's to blowing your goals out of the water. And here's to living healthy and being well.

Posted by: tkurtz on 9/17/2008 at 10:25 PM | Comments (1) | Permalink

Without Road Rash and With a New Personal Best.

What a weekend in Duluth. September 13th was the 2008 edition of the Nortshore Inline Marathon, the largest inline marathon in North America. 2,472 racers participated in this years race.

I'll provide a full recap of the weekend in a later post - it was pretty eventful - but I don't want to bury the lead. If you've been reading my blog you know all about my struggles in Winnipeg and my training results throughout the summer.

I went into Duluth wanting to race a full race in a pace line and hopefully break 1:50. I guess you could say I had a good day. I smashed my personal best of 1:53:10 and was able to turn in a 1:26:25 - 27 minutes better than Winnipeg and 24 minutes better than any training run I ever did. I placed 325 out of 2281 in the Open Division and finished 20th out of 114 in my age group. Full results from the marathon can be found here. You'll see me in the Open Class.

Needless to say I was shocked and elated with the result. I even almost got a little emotional when I saw my wife at the finish line - ALMOST. I honestly didn't think I could break 1:30 for at least another year, if not longer. I owe a lot of it to my buddy Todd, and my new friend from Grand Forks Torrie. We pushed eachother the whole way. It made all the difference in the world skating with people I knew.

Stay tuned for a full recap of my weekend in Duluth - it involves a bit of an emergency with my equipment Friday night, Wonderwoman and Supergirl, and carnage carnage everywhere!

Posted by: tkurtz on 9/14/2008 at 10:00 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink

The Final Push

Well it's a big week, possibly the most important week of my training. Saturday is the big day in Duluth and it'll be important to have a good week. I've eased off the training this past week and plan to skate twice this week just stay on the skates.

I had an intense interval workout on the elliptical machine tonight (too wet to skate). I felt great after a solid half hour of :30 sprints with 1:00 rests. My recovery time was good and I feel like I really worked hard. I haven't been on the skates since Tuesday. I'm a little concerned about that but hopefully the weather will be dry this week.

Diet and sleep will be the main focus this week. I need to eat good and get as much sleep as possible. If that comes together I'm confident I'll be ready to roll come Saturday.

Posted by: tkurtz on 9/7/2008 at 9:22 PM | Comments (1) | Permalink

Winnipeg Results and Photos

I told you it was lonely at the bottom. Results are posted from the Winnipeg Marathon. I thought I took 2nd to last, but it was really 3rd to last. Yippee! You'll have to scroll a ways to find yours truly.

Congratulations to Chad W. and Dave G, both from Fargo. Chad finished 4th overall with a 1:20 and Dave finished 22nd with a 1:32. Nice work boys.

I've also posted a few photos, evidently people in the bottom three don't get their pictures posted. :) The first one is of Dave pulling two girls along. He pulled them all day. Poor Dave.

The start of the race. I'm near the back, didn't want to screw anything up for these serious dudes at the front of the pack.

The Winner - he blew everyone out of the water.

Posted by: tkurtz on 8/30/2008 at 11:32 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink