3/26/11 Dizzy Daze Marathon

"Easy" week in my quest for a 4th Maniac Star. Pac Rim, Dizzy Daze, Yakima and Mt. Si will give me 4 marathons or ultras in 4 weeks. Also it will be 19 marathons or ultras within 365 days another way to earn 4 stars. I ran 50 miles at Pac Rim last week. My cough/cold gradually got better but is still bugging me. Some chest congestion, but not enough to stop me from running. Dizzy Daze is a real low key event. Small enough that the RDs allow folks to start pretty much whenever they want. Most marathoners will start at 7AM. There is a half marathon, full marathon, 50K and 100K. The Rogue Wave is attempting her first 100K. I beat her to the 50 mile mark by running Pac Rim, but it looks like that bragging will be short lived. She will start at 6AM. I will sleep in a bit, make the easy drive to Green Lake in Seattle and start running when she gets to the start/finish of the lake loop. Its a 3.2 mile loop that I will run 8 times, plus two little loops around a parking lot to get the exact 26.2 miles. Rogue Wave has to do 19 loops plus a two mile out and back. Showers are forecast but it is dry when I arrive a little after 7AM. I had expected to start after 8AM, but I got up here so fast. Only a few minutes after pinning my number on, RW comes through finishing her second loop. Many ultra runners use pacers to help them get through the second half of a race, to offer support and encouragement and a brain that is at least halfway working. Because RW was only six miles into her race, she did not need my support at all. But we like running together and ran seven loops together. My first time at Green Lake. Small race with mostly Maniacs. With the long loops there was little passing of others, but I will hang around after and enjoy the food and company. Not much to say about the run. The course has more to see than Capitol Lake or Lake Sacajawea, every loop I would notice something new. A mini golf course, a famous running store, two ducks trying to cross the road and almost getting hit by a car before flying away, Jennifer Seward, at least a dozen guys with metal detectors. Bill Herzog joined us for one loop. Our pace slowed from 9:40/mile to 10:25/mile as RW would take walk breaks and stop for adjustments at the aid station. I would walk on ahead after the aid station and let her catch up before trotting along. Ending the 7th loop (22.4 miles) I saw that my time was almost 4 hours. I decided to strike out alone and to see how fast I could run the last loop. Starting to drizzle. My marathon PR pace is 8:40/mile. I wanted to run the last loop in 8:30 and get in under 4 hours 30 minutes. Can I run that fast after already covering so many miles? Yes! The first two miles were fast and relatively easy. I held 8:22 pace, then it slipped to 8:28 in the last mile but I felt like I had really good energy the whole way. The loop seemed to go by so fast. Next thing I new I was circling the parking lot two times and running back to the finish. Well that took it out of me. Terrific bout of coughing, but it only lasted a few minutes. Raining harder now. Change clothes, eat pizza. Great support from Matt and Betsy. Nice event. Nice key chain medal. I hope that I did not blow my chance at a fast Yakima time, I'll try to really rest up this week and finally get over that cold. I stay long enough to see RW hit mile 40. She is in the capable hands of her brother and will go on to run the 100K (62 miles) in 11:25. After Pac Rim (9 hours 44 minutes) and the Mountain Marathon (6 hours 19 minutes) this race went by so quickly. Perhaps the easiest marathon that I have done. 4:28:50 15th place of 39 Race#232 Race#12 of 2011 Marathon or Ultra#62 *****