Med-City 20 miler

This past weekend was the Med-City Marathon... Half Marathon, 4-person relay, and 20 mile run. The weather was great as well as everything else that I saw and experienced. Thank you to the YMCA, Final Stretch, and everyone else involved in putting on a great event, again!

The last couple years I've done the half marathon and then played spectator for the rest of the morning. This year I didn't get around to signing up early, and by the time I did I decided $55 for the half marathon was too much. That decision was made easier by the fact that they have a 20 mile run and it was only $15... so that's what I did.

I decided I should make this practice for my FANS 12 plan. Overall the run went well and I learned a few lessons: run off the asphalt as much as possible, run slower, take the walk breaks - all of them and for the fully allotted time. So what is the FANS plan? Run 25 minutes (max), walk 4-5 minutes (including all of the concrete bridge, even though part of it is downhill), repeat.

I feel pretty good about getting 20 miles in and not doing any damage to myself. I'm not sure I could've done another 20 miles, which is why I need to be better about following the plan.

I still played spectator a bit, and as you'll see a couple trail runners came down to join the fun. This was Karen's first Med-City, but Allan is one of the handful of people that has run every one... along with my friend Andy - congrats, guys!

Allan and Karen before the race

Karen, Andy, and I before the race

Karen about mile 3, right before she dropped me (it was time to start working the FANS plan which meant I was due my first walk). In orange is Rochester runner Kit H. who was working the RTC aid station later. And in the back left in black are Joe and Sara Lovett - thanks for cheering us on.

Karen around mile 15 - I was around mile 14.

The Rochester Track Club (RTC) aid station was in this area, and they were full of enthusiasm and making lots of noise. I recognized a number of familiar faces which is always nice. The 2nd time through they were asking what they could get me and listed off water, gatorade, energy bar pieces, orange slices, etc. I said "Well, what I was really hoping for was a cookie!" Well sometimes you just need to know who and when to ask... hehe. Thank you Jean for digging one out from your aid station volunteer stash! I enjoyed nibbling on that for the next half mile or so. I figured it was the RTC's aid station so it seemed reasonable that there were cookies somewhere in the vicinity! That was a nice little bonus.

Andy around mile 23

Allan around mile 22.

Karen around mile 21.5 - I was almost done with my 20.

Andy and Tom, friends and competitors from way back. Both went under 4 hours.

Allan finishing (grrr, smudged lense... sorry for the crappy picture). Chip time: 4:01:44

Karen finishing (sorry for the crappy picture). Chip time: 4:18:38. Turns out this was a PR -- Congrats!!