Marquette Half Marathon Recap

A Runner's Ramblings: Volume 17; 8th Edition
117.9 miles raced in 2023 races
Race: Marquette Half Marathon
Place: Marquette, MI
Miles from home: 395 miles
Weather: 70-75, humid

I don’t remember when or how I found this particular race but I know that it’s been on my schedule all year. I vaguely recall thinking that this weekend would be good to get away from some potential warmth in the Twin Cities and catch some nice cool breezes and maybe even some fall temps up in the upper peninsula of Michigan. Then it showed it was going to be warm everywhere in the world as race day approached and all of that went out of the window. 

For all intents and purposes, the race delivered on what they promised and was what I thought it would be regardless of the weather. There were a few things that are different than what might be expected and I will get into those in the recap, but, when it comes to being disappointed with how the race went personally, that’s just one of those things about racing. It is often disappointing.

I don’t read virtually anything with regards to recipes on the Internet but apparently I have seen from enough memes that instead of just giving the recipe, people will drone for multiple paragraphs before they get to three cloves of diced onions or whatever. I guess I’m kind of doing that right now before I get to the actual recap because when you’ve written about 400 of these and it seems you’re mostly doing it for yourself, it’s nice to put thoughts down other than "I ran this fast for this distance."

As Minneapolis and the surrounding states have suffered through a warmer than average summer, I still am so happy that I’m no longer living in Austin, Texas, where I likely would’ve burst into flames this past three months. And it was the surviving similar weather for five years previously which I think has broken my brain a little. When I saw that the forecast for this race called for it to be in the low 70s with 70% humidity I thought that was pretty darn good. It is decent compared to the two straight months of triple digits that Austin has been dealing with for example. But that still doesn’t mean that it is good for me for racing. 

 

However, the morning of the race broke quite windy and cloudy with some serious gusts along the shores of Lake Superior. I thought the hardest part of the day was going to be dealing with the wind, if it turned directions from heading east (the way we were running) to into our face. But I would deal with that if it happened.

 

As I rode the school bus to the start of the half marathon at the Michigan Iron Industry Museum I didn’t think that I would be setting the world ablaze with a super fast time. But I felt that my race would give me a good idea of where I stand for the half Iron Man distance race that I would be doing the next weekend. I didn’t have to spend much time at the start to wait around as I planned, taking the last bus to the start. I just wanted to get to running. There was a very relaxed vibe amongst everyone almost like a race wasn't just about to happen. With just a few minutes before the start, I meandered to the front of the line, positioned myself about 30 people back, which is where I thought I'd finish, and waited for the countdown.

Instead of doing this in my normal format, which is pretty tried and true, I’m going to break this race down into the three sections that I think people need to know about if they are going to race.

First Five 1/2 Miles

The countdown sent us on our way and we went down a quick first hill. After a first little bit of winding through the parking lot of the museum, and then around a cemetery, across a road, and onto a dirt path, we made a left turn onto the Iron Ore Heritage trail. I had spoken to some people who had run the race previously while waiting for the bus, and they told me that the trail was half paved and half gravel. It ends up they were just about exactly right. You’ll see from where are you join the trail at just about 1 mile in, until mile 5 1/2 , the Heritage trail is a mixture of small rocks, gravel, dirt, and in one place underneath a bridge, some iron ore pellets. That was pretty interesting. 

 

And while the race page will tell you the first 5 miles are all flat, that is definitely not the case. In fact, tween miles three and four, there are more than a few little risers. I’m not saying that this is the end of the world or that you’re climbing up Mount Everest but when you are told that it’s flat or downhill, and you have more than a few quick little risers in front of you, it can really play with your brain.It can play with your brain even more when what is supposed to feel easy right around seven minute miles continues to get slower and slower as sweat pours down from your head and soon soak your entire body. 

 

These first 5 1/2 miles are for the most part either shaded by trees or have enough forest foliage to block any winds of any nature. Although, given how much sweating I was doing in what was not all THAT bad of weather (roughly 70 degrees and 70 % humidity). What was bumming me out was efforts that felt like 6:45 minute mile were being closer to 7:05. As such, I decided that instead of fighting against what was obviously not going to happen, that I would just try to mitigate these first miles and when the downhills started, hopefully pick up the pace.

5.5 miles  to 10 miles

If you look at the elevation profile, it says from mile five to mile nine you lose nearly 100 feet per mile. That should normally be something that I take severe advantage of but today was not the case. While I definitely picked up the pace a good 15 seconds per mile for the first three miles of this portion, by the 8 mile I was right back into the slog that I had been feeling earlier. What should’ve been me being light on my feet but instead me listening to the sweat slog through my socks of my drenched shoes. I didn’t realize as the race slowly evens out between the ninth and 10th mile that this was the beginning of the end of the race for me. 

 

What is nice about this course that is being run on this trail is that on multiple occasions it crosses roads where your supporters can come out and easily see you multiple times. I actually became "race buddies" with more than a few different spectators. Even when I am struggling, I do my absolute best to try to be friendly to people who are out there cheering us all on. But by the time we hit the 10th mile and the race completely ended for me, I didn't even have the energy for that.

Mile 10 the to Finish

I’m not sure if it was because it was Labor Day weekend or what exactly but there was another festival going on which brought a lot of spectators down to this area of beautiful downtown Marquette. There were plenty of people out there and even if they weren’t cheering you on, just having some bodies around you is energy that you can feed off of. This energy is something I’ve missed in a lot of my races in the past 5 to 10 years where I’ve happened to get away from the big city races and spent more time on the trails or a small town marathons. It gets a little bit lonely out there and sometimes just feels like a long training run. So having bodies around you feels good especially when you are feeling bad .

 

As we passed the mile 10 marker and I grabbed two big glasses of water and came to a dead stop. I was definitely feeling bad. I won’t bore you with details about the last 5K, but suffice it to say, I stopped a minimum of four more times. Sometimes for a break of water and sometimes just try to gather the energy to push through. 

 

There was a bathroom permanently placed on the trail with a drinking fountain that signs along the race alerted you to. I wasn't exactly thirsty but I stopped anyway.  This water fountain was one of the coldest fountains I’ve ever had in my life. I wanted to just pulled up a chair and pour all the water on me. I’m not saying that I really needed the water as I was still sweating profusely, but it sure perked my spirits up. 

 

The final stretch was a little bit cruel as we ran up to where we were finishing and then back away from it just to come back up again. The course seemed more than a little bit long as well which added about a minute to my overall time, but considering I lost probably five minutes in the last 5K, it really didn’t matter.

 

I finished 58th overall in a time of 1:38:05 in what would be my 104th worst half marathon out of 120 in my lifetime. This is definitely not what I was hoping would build my confidence for the triathlon next weekend. The forecast predicts a better day and man do I need that.  This has been a tough year for me, in racing and life and my confidence is definitely shaken. I know am in the best cycling shape I’ve ever been no matter what the weather is that shouldn’t be a problem on the bike. Regardless, I made it through another race, collected a non-precious medal and am still standing. No race finish is guaranteed until you finish so that's my silver lining.