Ethan Cannon

Wowza. 23.24 miles @ 5:52 pace. 2 hours, 16 minutes running. This will be my longest run in preparation for the marathon. It was really nice weather, in the low 60s, so yes I was definitely rewarded for avoiding the heat by going today instead of tomorrow. I even got a splash of rain. Crosby farm park was quiet and beautiful. It's near pike island and the scenery is very similar. You wouldn't expect either locations at the heart of the metro to feel like such untouched forest. Next time I go I'll take a different path, as I went on a closed path where I ran on an overgrown/broken boardwalk. Took 2 GU and 2 (small) water breaks. Here are some thoughts from the run: 

-I will definitely say I felt daunted at the beginning when thinking of the distance I had to go and had a lot of negative self-talk. I hope to combat that with a couple thoughts: first, break the marathon down into smaller chunks. For example, "the race starts the last 13 miles" as my friend told me. This time, I realized that going halfway to the turnaround, about 35 minutes, wasn't too scary. I can also remind myself that everyone else is getting worn out by those early miles too.

-Even my non-caffeneited GU made me feel a little sick. The harder you're running, the less my stomach likes it. Hopefully I can work around that because not taking fuel is not an option. In fact, once concern about the marathon I have is that I always race faster than I train, but if your out of glycogen, you're out, and you're going to bonk no matter how tough you are. So I want to prevent that. Even if my stomach feels fine, today was my first time taking 2 GU and as yummy as they are, they begin to leave a salty, yucky taste in your mouth. It made me not want to have more, so I should probably take one as soon as I feel up to it during the race. 

-Hopefully my shoes/socks combo during the race will be less prone to blisters than these were. 

-Going on east river was a specific choice. I'm not sure if it is better or worse to run a course you are familiar with. I could see it going either way. In this case, it was nice to be able to just turn my brain off and run. Or for example when I got back to hidden falls, I could basically treat it like a normal long run home. 

Well, it was hard but I feel fine about it. The course wasn't easy. 240 feet gain going out, 420 feet coming back (for 11.5 miles that actually sounds pretty flat). 

7:25 pace on west river road. Felt sore, tight hip, etc. This is why I do long runs on saturday lol. I didn't have any intention of trying to run faster though, gotta let the body recover. 

7:07 pace coming back from east river flats. It was pretty hot outside but must have been less humid cuz I didn't get terribly sweaty which was nice. 

Felt a lot better today doing my construction-modified farmers fields loop on the last hot morning of the year I believe (>75 degrees at the start). Clouds were nice. 6:58 pace. This loop is exactly 9.50 miles if you go to the end of rosedale. 

6:57 pace on the way back from west river. Today was sooo nice. Fall came overnight. Overcast, cool, and clean air. Great day to run winchell trail. 

Apparently 5:13 pace on my 4.75 mile tempo from the CVD research building past the stone arch bridge. It has been too long since I did anything faster than race pace. Glad I got this in, even if it wasn't as fast as I would have hoped for the effort, and I was super bummed to see the CVD bldg is not card access only. Grateful to be healthy though. I took a GU to practice doing so while going fast. That was quite uneventful. I have to say that those things are a lot less enjoyable when you don't "need" them. 

6:45 pace on east river road. 

5:58 pace on gateway trail. It was the furthest I've ever been on Brown's Creek trail. I love that area. It's interesting how you can see something on a map but it turns out looking a lot different than you thought. I didn't bring GU on purpose which was probably a good idea. I felt the wheels come off a bit the last few miles or so, and just let it happen. I just worked out two days ago and did a mega LR last week so I was just trying to enjoy the run. It was so nice today, just like 70 degrees a partly cloudy. The air smelled so good I almost died and went to heaven. Splits: 6:39, 5:47, 5:54, 5:49, 7:37 (getting on to Brown's creek), 5:39, 5:43, 5:39, turn around stuff, 5:51, 5:56, 5:46, 7:51 (getting back), 6:00, 6:15, 5:40, 6:23. 3:16 and 2:45 for the start and end. It's kind of a steady uphill most of the way back, from 820 to 1050 feet. 

I decided to take my daughter for a run today, so we did west river road north. She's having a week full of toddler emotions so I thought it might be nice. She actually did great on the run. Maybe I'll take her again later this week/ 

6:53 pace coming back from east river flats. Nice cool day. 

Como classic. Somewhere under 6:50 pace. I wore gloves and a long sleeve today, it was like 45 out. Crazy that just over a week ago it was so hot. 

Felt tired but ran fast. 6:37 on east river road. 

6:53 pace in a light rain on west river road. Was nice weather but some bad smells. Marathon is really coming up. 

The best part of this morning's LR on west river road was going on the Winchell trail near Minnehaha park. The worst part was calculating that on my 3 miles tempo on the way back (from Lake street to the end of the Minnesota bridge) was at 5:25 pace. That's probably about what it was which is a little terrifying because that was not easy. I thought I was going way faster, even considering the hills. There was one other time when I ddi that route and was really surprised how slow I went. 6:07 pace for the whole thing, including 6:14 on the way out, which was all just running, whereas the way back included the tempo as well as the cool down, along with more trail running. 

6:49 pace farmers fields. 

6:44 pace. East river road. 

It was a very warm and humid day for a late september track workout. Predictably, this was harder that it should have been. 4x1600 w/ 45 seconds rest, and 3:30ish rest before the last one since I talked to my old coach. 5:21, 5:16, 5:01, 4:56. Had intended to do 5:30, 5:20, 5:10, 5:00. Well there is definitely a major difference between 5:00 and 5:30 pace. That means there is probably a major difference between the 5:45 pace I have run in long runs and the 5:30 pace I want to do the race in too. We'll see what happens. 

7:01 pace, east river flats. Another humid morning, it's like still summer on the first day of fall haha

6:53 pace on west river. Felt tired today. 

6:14 pace. I was getting worried because I was under the impression this run was more like 12.5-13 miles, not 13.67. Oh well. Felt tired again, hopefully I am ready for my race next week. This was running home from the temple-ish.

6:50 pace, east river road on a drizzly morning after a rainstorm. It was cool outside but the air was just saturated with water; it was really wet!

Trying to go nice and slow. Just under 7 minute pace on the way back, including three strides. Legs feeling pretty tired and my hip is tight. Hopefully those can feel better soon. Ran on east river flats on another nice, drizzly day. 

Easy 7:07 pace, west river. 

This is just a distance estimate as map my run is currently down. I went nice and slow as far as De La Salle HS. Strides on the way back. 

I'm grateful that my hotel is right on scene for the marathon. It was also located in a great place such that I got to do this short run partly on the towpath trail. I have great news, which is that for being a "soft surface" it is in fact very firm. I don't feel like I'll be running through sand when I get there at all. It was also beautiful! I'm glad I got to enjoy it more today than I will tomorrow when I'll be in a bit of a rush.

What a day. The marathon is mean and nasty and will knock you to your knees. I *never* have issues with going too fast early, but today I had a huge positive split- 71:23 through 1/2, so 76 mid the second half. I had talked with some of the elites beforehand and planned to go with them at 5:35ish pace. We did that but by about 4 miles I was pulling them behind me. Pretty soon they got further away. I would have been fine to have their company- they were dropping themselves, I thought. I took GU at miles 7 and 13, exactly as planned. At that pace and at that time, it was easy. I do feel bad because I also took water and later in the race, some Gatorade. As I’ve never run a marathon, I don’t remember the last time I took a cup. Each time I’d totally splash the volunteer. Sorry. I was excited to get on the towpath trail at mile 13. It was really nice and pretty. I was content that my splits were staying under 5:30 even on the soft, windy surface. Previously I had been having one of those times where you’re shocked at your pace each split as my times were quite fast. One thing that bothered me is that even though I was going fast, I would hear people cheer for me and then not long after cheer for someone else. So the uphill on sand run parkway was worse than I expected. There were some steep hills and a lot of minor ones. I was slogging along but I assumed it was just the hill. Then I got to the top and I started feeling tired. When I saw I had run 2 miles in 12 minutes I audibly reacted. First I got passed by a relay runner, then came one of the marathon guys. I started having a really hard time. I had flashes of cramps in my inner thighs, but mostly it was the calves. They were scorching me. It wasn’t a bad mentality, there was nothing I could do but hang on. I was a sinking ship heading to shore. The last 4-5 miles were the worst. My eyes opened and shut. I kept being surprised I didn’t get passed by more people and began to hope I might still win prize money. But I was going so slow. I crossed the finish line and immediately was taken in a wheelchair to the medical tent. I was semi-conscious. Just pretty dead. They said my blood pressure was 110/30. I’ve never heard of diastolic being that low.  I took two gatorades bottles in the next half hour despite them upsetting my stomach. When I tried to move my legs I got major Charlie horses in my thighs at first. Prior to awards I put down a bagel, sports drink, yogurt, some chocolate milk, and a little smoothie bowl too. I had been starting to crave food towards the end of the race and this stuff tasted good despite by stomach ache. The last few miles I told myself I’d never do a marathon again. One guy I befriended tried to convince me otherwise. There are definitely things I’m not willing to do to succeed at this distance but if I could keep some glucose in my body I think I’d actually have a good ceiling. Regardless I’ve been quite humbled. 

Splits. Some represent more than one mile: 

11:08, 5:36, 5:35, 16:36, 5:08, 5:14, 5:25, 5:21, 5:25, 5:13, 5:24, 5:22, 5:27, 5:39, 5:34, 12:02, 5:48, 5:56, 6:07, 19:54.