Marathon # 7: 2011 Twin Cities Marathon

Alright people, I just added another notch to my marathon belt after completing my seventh this past Sunday morning running from downtown Minneapolis to our state's capitol building in St. Paul: The 2011 Twin Cities Marathon. And man, what an up and down race it was!


The pros to this year's 26.2-mile adventure:

• Running as a local elite athlete and receiving those perks.
• Starting temperature was a perfect 46 degrees. No need for a hat or gloves.
• Physically and mentally felt very relaxed, ready for a great run.
• My parents drove from home to cheer me on despite dad feeling miserable.
• My girlfriend joining them to help navigate the roads and cheer me on.
• Seeing and hearing cheers from so many familiar and unfamiliar faces along the way.
• Feeling GREAT running the first half, averaging 6:35/mi.
• Taking in the beautiful scenery that is fall in the Twin Cities.
• Being inspired by so many runners to push on no matter how difficult it was.
• Glad I was able to pick up the pace a few times after hitting a couple walls.
• Finishing the race by sprinting by several people the last 400 meters down Cathedral Hill like there was no tomorrow to try to break 3:10 for another Boston qualifier.
• Knowing several of my friends finished their first or second marathon.

The cons to this year's 26.2-mile adventure:

• Running as a local elite and, I'm pretty sure, being the last of those around my age to finish.
• Ending temperature feeling a bit on the warm side at 65 degrees. Not as bad as 87 like I experienced at Grandma's Marathon in 2007 though.
• Physically breaking down at mile 16 and then again at mile 22.
• Going from averaging 6:35/mi first half to 7:55/mi second half - DAMN!
• Mentally battling what felt like annoyance from people and music cheering me on when I felt horrible. (Turns out, as I already knew, it eventually helps.)
• Not recognizing some faces on the sidelines cheering me on who said they were there.
• Totally forgetting there are small ups and downs along Minnehaha Pkwy that can drain your legs quickly if you're moving too fast.
• Letting too much time slip while I ran-jogged-walked along Summit Ave trying to figure out if I was going to break 3:10 for another Boston Qualifier.
• ** Turns out I did qualify for Boston with the +59-sec rule, but the 2012 race is sold out and the rule does not apply in 2013, unfortunately. I can now say I've run five Boston-qualifying marathon times. **

For you major running nerds out there, I was sure to clock all of my mile splits along the way so we can see which I ran stronger as opposed to those that were abysmal: 

6:24, 6:36, 6:36 (20:02 5k) 6:31, 6:37, 6:34 (40:39 10k) 6:23, 6:33, 6:31, 6:34, 6:32, 6:52, 6:50 (1:26:19 Half) 7:15, 6:38, 7:19, 7:38, 8:12, (2:08:27 30k) 8:48, 7:58 (2:19:10 20mi) 7:33, 8:10, 8:11, 8:45 (2:52:11 24mi) 9:05, 8:52 (1.2mi) = 3:10:10 (26.2mi)

And here are my overall results:

3:10:10 -- 382/8535 Overall (Top 4%)

104/911 Age (Top 11%)

329/4857 Males (Top 7%)

Overall, I'm happy with the finish considering how my training went this summer after getting back from my year in Alaska in May. Next up, I'm going to focus on getting in some half marathons, 10k's and 5k's over the next several months to focus on improving my uptempo stamina/lactate-threshold while strengthening my muscles by doing hill repeats and hopefully a semi-religious core/plyometric routine a couple days a week. My next marathon could quite possibly be the 2012 San Francisco Marathon in July, Chicago Marathon in October, or NYC Marathon in November. We'll see how it all plays out.

I'd like to congratulate everyone who participated in this past weekend's Twin Cities Marathon Weekend Activities (TC10k, TC5k, Family Mile, Half Mile, Toddler Trot, and Diaper Dash). This includes you Mark Waller, Bri Rohne, Paul Sanft, Adam Hanson, Eileen O'Toole, Joe & Nikki Dockendorff, and my random #runnerd Tweet peeps who I just recently became acquainted with. 

I'd also like to thank my family, friends, and everyone who has helped support my running endeavors as well as Twin Cities In Motion for being such a great organization to be a part of. With each of you constantly asking, "When's your next race?" there really is no end in sight. The perfect example of this was when I passed Joe & Nikki cheering for me on Summit Ave and said, "Oh man! I'm pretty sure this is my last one." To which they replied, "HAHAHAHA!" - hinting at the fact that they know it's only a matter of time before I end up running my next marathon. See? Some people can really see through your colors when you're at your worst. :)

I'm already looking forward to being behind the scenes of next year's TCM production back on the Media Committee and volunteering at their other various events throughout the year. In the meantime, let's all stay healthy and race fast!

Equinox Marathon: 16 Days Away

Although I won’t be literally scaling a mountain by running on September 18th, the Equinox Marathon in Fairbanks will be my first version of long distance mountain running.  Below is the course for this year’s World Mountain Running Championships in Slovenia.  My friend Chris Lundstrom has been selected as one of several on the USA team.  Congrats and good luck to Chris!  Go Team USA!


I would also like to take the time to remind you that I'm running this marathon as a fundraiser and memorial to my cousin Joe Vogel, who passed away to cancer about a month ago.  He was a brilliant young man who's undying spirit will live in us forever.  His family would be eternally grateful if you could dedicate your thoughts, prayers, and any amount of financial means you feel comfortable offering.  His family and I have set up a web page for easier access to his story and my "paying it forward" in a way I know best.


My training for this race has been pretty shady at best this entire summer due to traveling as much of this amazing state as possible since getting here in April.  However, I got back on a more regular running schedule about two months ago and have ramped my mileage up to a certain extent, which has included some hefty, long hill runs.  My longest run to date is 18.5 miles.  We'll see if I can crack that 20-mile mark this week.  If not, I'll save it for race day.  I have a feeling I'll need the energy then, haha.  Thanks again for following my adventures, everyone!

Seattle & Vancouver Marathon Trip

On Wednesday, April 28th, I flew to Seattle to meet my mom who flew in from Minneapolis to do sightseeing throughout the city for a couple days and hit up the Mariner's baseball game on Friday with one of my Augsburg classmates Becky Welle and her fiancé and friends. Here's a common sight flying to/from Fairbanks. Lots of mountains, snow, and a few ocean shorelines.

Due to being in Seattle for five days just a couple weeks earlier for my AmeriCorps Pre-Service Orientation downtown, I was able to guide us pretty easily to many awesome sites within the city. (Captions below pictures)

[Seattle Public Library - amazing architecture]

[Seattle Art Museum - display featuring white, light-up Ford Tauruses]

[Pike Place Market - fish! crabs! clams! lobster! flowers! vegetables! pasta! handmade gifts! lots of people!]

[Ferry to Bainbridge Island - I highly recommend taking the 28-minute ride at sunset.]

[Columbia Center Observation Deck - Stunning views from 76 stories (937 feet) overlooking the Seattle skyline. You can see the Space Needle in the distance.]

[Seattle Mariners Game - Seattle was tied with Texas until a 12th-inning wild pitch helped the Rangers win 0-2.]

The following day we took Amtrack Cascades to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada so I could run the 2010 BMO Vancouver Marathon on Sunday, May 2nd. Despite the gloomy day, the scenery was great as we mostly rolled along the shores of the Puget Sound and farming fields of NW Washington state.

[Amtrack Cascades - The train ride is about four hours and rolls through many small towns along the Puget Sound.]

After arriving in Vancouver, we quickly checked into the hotel and took off to meet up with Becky and her friends at Milestones Restaurant in the city's arts district for some great carbo-loading for the following day's race. Speaking of, I felt as though I was extremely under-trained due to a very inconsistent running schedule throughout the winter/early spring as well as getting my move to Alaska all figured out. Nevertheless, I was able to secure a 2:50:27 finish for the 26.2 mile/42.2 km morning sprinkle adventure throughout downtown Vancouver and Stanley Park - good enough for 26th place overall, 5th in my age group and only 40 seconds from my personal best (Twin Cities Marathon 2006) - out of just over 3200 marathoners. I credit the success to maintaining a controlled pace and not running too fast in the first half of the race. I went through the first half in 1:26:00 and second half in 1:24:27 while averaging 6:30 per mile. Here are a few pics from the race, some from MarathonFoto.com.

[Miles 11 - 16 go through Stanley Park. It's definitely the most scenic part of the race course.]

[Miles 17 and 24 find you running up over and down the Burrard Street Bridge, another favorite part of mine.]

[Becky just finished her 8th? marathon with a solid time of 3:36:02, well within her goal of running sub-3:40:00.]

[I remember finishing and hearing my mom stumbling over her words saying, "DANIEL! DANIEL! Awesome!" Haha]

After cleaning up back at the hotel, we took off to meet up with Becky and her friends at The Fish House for some awesome seafood, checked out some hilarious statues, hit up the Mill Marine Bistro & Bar, and had a couple night caps back at their hotel before taxiing it back to my hotel. The following day, Ma and I decided to water-taxi it over to North Vancouver to check out Grouse Mountain and the Capilano River Suspension Bridge. Here's the Vancouver skyline as well as some Vancouver mountains and a favorite picture of the suspension bridge.

Then the time came to hop back on the train and head to Seattle, find a hotel room for the night, and fly back to our respective homes. Me, directly back to Fairbanks and mom back to La Crescent, MN by way of Denver and Minneapolis. It was great to basically celebrate an early Mother's Day - this was more like a Mother's Week - and see Becky again. I had a blast in Seattle and can easily compare it to Minneapolis. Vancouver was a decent city with great scenery. And the marathon finish was nothing like I would've ever imagined. Guess that goes to show I'm a low-mileage marathoner. Thanks to Dennis and the Augsburg CC and Track teams for keeping me in some short of shape over the past nine years or so; and Larry and Abe at LCHS for providing the foundation. Without the guidance, I wouldn't be looking to *race* one or two marathons per year for as long as my legs hold up. In addition, I have to thank my mom for all her support over the years in everything I've done. As everyone has in their lives, there have been ups and downs. My mom and family have been stellar in being by my side no matter what new adventures I may embark on.

Seattle and Vancouver, you've been visited.
On to the next adventure.