Riverboat Half-Marathon Series (3 Halfs in 6 Days in 3 States) Recap

A Runner's Ramblings: Volume 20; 4-6th Editions
92 miles run in 2025 races
Race: Riverboat Half-Marathon Series
Place: Winnsboro, LA; Eudora, AR; Cape Girardeau, MO
Miles from home: 662-1059 miles
Weather: 66-70 degrees, 100% humidity

I knew that this series was not going to be as fast as I was hoping it to be and it turns out I was more or less right.

When I scheduled these races, three half marathons in three different states in six days, it did so in a period of time where my training and recovery from knee replacement surgery was on a continual upswing. Then in January after a fairly decent half marathon in mobile AL, I have been beset with some lingering and unexplained issues with both my right calf muscle and my left quad muscle. I won't but moan much of that here but suffice it to say that I had a significant amount of trepidation about whether I would actually end up having to walk parts of these half marathons given how little training I had done in the past three months and how bad my leg would hurt on occasion.

As I tried to not live a boring life another thing that I have been attempting to do for the past four years is visit as many counties in the United States as possible. Four years ago my new running buddy John Weeks turned me onto a website where you could track which counties you had been to in the United States. With some days to kill until my moving company arrived with my stuff I sat one day and recreated every place I had ever been to in my life. I was shocked with all of my traveling that I had only been to 28.6% of the counties or their equivalent in the U.S. I saw with just some creative driving in between these races, I would be able to go over 50% of all the counties in this country.

Louisiana Half-Marathon: Winnsboro (Each clickable link takes you to my Strava account for each race so you can see what the course and elevation profile is.)

Quick description: A little different than most of the other races put on by this company that I have run with the aid station/lap counter being in the middle of each loop. It was about 75% shaded which was really helpful as it got quite sunny and muggy in the latter half of the race for me. We had to do 8 loops for the half-marathon.

As we started out, I saw a runner who had beaten me twice in the previous Mainly Marathons I had run back in November. We had been separated by just about two minutes back then but I was only four months int my recovery at that point. I know it would likely be just as tough for me to beat him (Jon) in these races simply because my running was not where I wanted it to be. 

My first mile wasn't too bad but then my 2nd and 3rd miles were slowing. "Already?", I thought. Also in contention in front of me was another runner who I did not recognize. Because of the nature of the course you could basically see anyone who wasn't a full half a lap in front of you at all times. I began to watch a race between these two guys take place. I was sitting in third, I thought.

Then my 4th, 5th, and 6th miles actually got faster.  At the same time, Jon disappeared. I would later learn he was running the 5k and the 10k and not the half-marathon. One of the problems with these races is that unless you ask, you don't know what someone is running. In this time another runner had passed me and was steadily speeding up. I wasn't fully aware of how each runner was allowed to do their races if they chose to do different distances, so I more or less stopped caring what place I was in and was trying desperately to pick up the pace. Unfortunately, it wasn't working.

As I neared the finish, my times getting slower, I suddenly realized that the runners in front of me were all doing different distances. I was actually going to win the half-marathon.  I chuckled inward derisively at myself. I ran 1:55:38, more or less my slowest half-marathon ever, and won.

Racing is funny like that sometimes. 

Arkansas Half-Marathon: Eudora

Quick description: A twisty turny course around couple of small ponds.  Virtually no shade once the sun came up. 

While I couldn't get my legs moving to save my life the previous day, I was happy that I had not been reduced to walking half of the race which I had fully been prepared to do. 

With 6:30 a.m. start times for all of these races, something that I normally don't particularly care for but was happy in order to avoid the heat of the day, I showed up about 5 minutes before the start time to basically use the restroom and start running. All the same players from the day before were in attendance but the only question was whether or not Jon was gonna be doing the 5K and 10Ks again. After a few laps it was clear that he was doing the half marathon and even though I was running a much more even keeled pace today it was clear that I wasn't going to catch him.

In spite of dripping with sweat before the entire 1st loop was completed, of which we had to do 8 this time, I somehow felt better than the day before. I would run hard through the northernmost part of the loop which was slightly shaded by nearby trees and then slow once again I got out into the sun. Somehow almost every mile is exactly the same regardless of what I tried.

I was more or less resigned to the fact that this is what I was going to be running all day long and just concentrated on getting it done.

I would finish in 1:50:44 which was good enough for second place.

Missouri Half-Marathon: Cape Girardeau
 

Quick description: A much more straightforward out and back with just five loops to complete the circuit.  Half of each lap was through a heavily forested area which provided solace from the weather.

 

 I had spent the previous three days knocking out counties and had gone over 50% for the country the day before. In fact before that I had actually was able to schedule a 90 minute massage and was feeling like I might be able to give John a run for his money regardless of what speed he ran. It was quite a turn around from a few days prior when I didn't even know how much I would be walking.

The course was more to my liking with it being less twists and turns and even though it was 100% humidity, the rain was a bit cooling period all of this seemed like it would bode well for me to do much better.

As I sprinted from the porta potty to the starting line right when the race started I found myself behind only John this time as many of the other people I noticed from the previous races weren't here. I felt like I was pushing harder than usual and my leg and calf muscle told me I was. John was so fastly disappearing in front of me that I assumed he had to be doing the shorter distant races. Two laps later I would learn that wasn't the case. Not only was I not running faster than I would hoped he was picking up the pace from his previous days as well. It was clear from the get go that I was running for 2nd place and nothing much more.

Frustration really set in during most of this race simply because of the past three months of uncertainty and general malaise. If it was actually my knee that was hurting me from the replacement surgery that would be acceptable. But even after a litany of examinations, an MRI, physical therapy and taking time off from running I still was no further to understanding why my leg wasn't working. These thoughts stayed with me with most of the race as I went through the motions.

I came in with the time midway between the two previous days of 1:54:04. Definitely not where I thought I was going to be at this point. I'm glad obviously to be simply out there doing it but that's not enough for me.

I now have three states left to cross off before I turn 50 on May 31st. One week from now I'll be in Hawaii probably in similar weather conditions as this past week in the South. I'm measuring expectations but being hopeful at the same time.

Just three states left to go.