Deciding to take my fuel belt with me on this race was a no-brainer. Water stops were every 2.5-3.0 miles apart and had water and PowerAde. PowerAde is some bad stuff since it contains High Fructose Corn Syrup for a sweetener instead of fructose or sucrose. So, I had my fuel belt with the bottles mixed with 4 teaspooons of HEED in each and had 8 bottles total. Amy and my dad were to meet me at mi 10 and 20 to swap out some bottles.

The first mile started out pretty fast, but easy. It was on pavement and had some small rollers, which felt like it was mostly down hill. I forgot my hat, but was able to signal to Amy to get it out of the car for me and I got it at the turning point when we head onto the trail. It was pretty cold out and I need that on my head.

So, off to the trails. All of us (myself and other people from the Green Bay Running Club) were expecting hard, pea gravel types of trails. Wrong! It was soft packed dirt, loose gravel and there was also snow on the ground around miles 4-10 and some after that too. It still felt pretty good running on it although you could tell you were slipping sometimes and losing some energy transfer. I stopped around mi 5 to make some territory and then kept up the pace for the next 1/2 mile to catch up to some people I was running with. Everything felt pretty good and I was cruisin along. I crossed the 13.1 mi mark just under 1:31 so I was holding a pace just under 7:00/mi. Good deal. Around 14-15 my stomach started to cramp up a little and I got some side stiches. Its not uncommon for me to get side aches and I usually slow down a bit until they go away then get back to my normal pace. Problem was that these werent leaving. They stuck around for the rest of the race and prevented me from taking in an additional nutrition after that. Any HEED or gel that I ate would feel like it was sitting in my gut and cause the cramps to worsen. Around mi 16 I started to fade pretty quickly. It felt like I was maintaining the same pace, but when I would look down and check my watch I would be :15-:30 slower. I couldnt speed back up and get down to the target weight. I kept going at the pace I could run at and trying to not completely blow up.

I met Amy and my Dad at mi 20, swapped out 2 empty bottles for HEED and kept going. Around that time or a little afterward I started to hurt pretty badly. Legs were heavy, cramps getting worse, shoulder/trap starting to cramp up too. On the bright side, my right knee which I was worried about felt pretty darn good. No problems there. Anyways I kept pushing it switching from HEED to water to atleast get in some hydration. Mi 23-25 I gave evertying I had mentally and physically to keep going and not stop to walk. I only walked twice through two water stops and I pretty happy that it wasnt more.

At mi 25 we finally made it back to the paved road. People behind me started to pick it up a little and I tried too. Pace says I sped up a little, but I felt like I wasnt at all. I kept trying to run a little faster and little faster some more until I started to pass some people that just passed me. I was happy about that and it picked me up a little. The last couple of blocks to the finish I heard foot steps behind me. No way was I letting this guy pass after this. He got right up behind me and I held off for my final "sprint" until the last block or two of the race. I kicked it up, ran as hard as I could keeping him far enough back that he couldnt beat me to finish. Turns out at that last effort I was able to sprint jusst over 6:00 / mi. Nice. I crossed the finish line almost weezing, although my max HR at that final sprint was 160. The guy I held off was another guy from the GB Running Club. I didnt know it at the time until we finished and I looked back to see who it was. I crossed before him by :00.1 second.

Good mental effort as well as physical effort when in mid-bonk. Still happy with the results, although not so with how the race went - in other words bonking.

Maybe carry 2 bottles HEED and 2 bottles water in the fuel belt instead of 4 bottles HEED. All HEED and not extra water may have contributed to stomach cramping. Although, this is what I use in training.

Walked up and down the road a little to settle my legs down. They were burning pretty good. Laying on my back with my legs in the air helped some too. Took in my Recoverite and did some stretching to loosen things up. I was getting pretty cold and shivering so we headed in the Civic Center so I could get a shower in and get in some warm dry clothes. Went back to the finish line to watch my Mom FINISH HER 50TH MARATHON! Met up with some people in the Green Bay Running Club and talked with them until we headed out and got something to eat.


Stomach cramps and not being able to take in any nutrition after that. Also, the soft dirt, loose gravel and snow on the ground slowed everyone down.


Scenery was very good on the trails. We missed peak colors by a week or two, but it was still nice running on the trails rather that in the city on pavement. Tough conditions on the course (loose dirt and gravel, snow, freezing temperatures) kept everyone from getting in the time they wanted. The 5-6 guys I know from the GB Running Club were all shootin for pretty low (lower 3:00 hr) times too. They all had bad races and were hurtin at the end. One guy was shooting for around 3 and came in around 3:12, another guy was a tenth of a second behind me, another guy was shooting for 3:10 came in at 3:35 hurtin pretty bad. Everybody described the course as running on a beach and they all thought it was gonna be hard pack too. Lots of energy was lost from slipping when pushing off in the dirt.

More water stops could be put out there too. 2.5-3.0 miles between stops is a little far. A Fuel Belt is almost necessary for a race like this.

All in all it was a race that was put together pretty well. Even with the tough trail conditions I think I would come back to run it again.