Des Moines, Iowa

Iowa

State #29

I ran in Iowa on Sunday, Oct 21.  It was a chilly day.  My Garmin read 27º F at the start.  All of the weather reports showed 30º F.  It never really warmed up until after the race.  Of course, I was at the airport by the time that happened.

I was on my own this trip.  One of three things happened.  

1.  Nobody wanted to go to Iowa

2.  I snuck this one in on them because I have too many races scheduled

3.  Everyone is over my traveling and running the country

So, I left Saturday morning super early and arrived Iowa in the afternoon.  A quick Uber ride to the expo where I picked up my race packet.  There were plenty of vendors there, but I did not really see anything that I wanted or needed, so I just walked around in one pass and left.  It was about a mile to my AirBnB and it was pretty chilly and rather windy.  I was hoping that race day was going to be better weather.  The forecast suggested that it would be.  I did not do a whole lot that evening.  

I walked to dinner at a local Vietnamese restaurant called A-Dong.  This is a bit inappropriate, but true.  (Kids, turn your ears or plug your eyes or something.)  Valerie said, "Eeeewwwweee.  Don't eat there.  It sounds like you are eating A-Dog!"  I replied, I would rather eat A-Dog than A-Dong."  I think I am funny.

I had a clear noodle soup with lots of stuff in it.  It was pretty good.  I was not super hungry, so that is all I had, and it was plenty.  Not the traditional pre-race dinner, but tasted good... and plenty of carbs -- I guess clear noodles have carbs???

Race start was 8:00am.  I met up with some of the 50 states half marathon club members at 7:45am to take a picture.  We we all super cold.  I mean, seriously, it was 30º or less, and I was wearing shorts.  I did have a light jacket on, and I am happy that I did.  Now I had to go find the bag drop location, which was about 3 blocks away and against all of the race traffic.  I had to hop the fence to get away from the crowds just to get there in time to get back to the start in time.  After bag drop, I jogged back to the start and made it just in time for the lady to forget the words of The National Anthem, four times.  I had about 2 minutes to spare.  Why did they put the bag drop so far away from the start/finish??  I dunno.

I was wearing a long-sleeved shirt, but it was not quite enough.  I was super cold.  The shirt was from the NYC half, which you may recall -- I sure do -- that race was 20º F.  I should have worn a warmer race shirt.  Anyway, both of my hands were frozen.  I seriously could not feel my fingers on either hand until after I took a shower after the race was over.

At the start of the race, I was running well and feeling good.  The first four miles were sub 8 minutes.  Just after mile four, I started to notice my heart.  I was not having chest pain or anything.  I was not in distress or in pain.  I could simply feel my heart beating heavily and faster than I wanted.  So, I slowed a bit and tried to take some deep, slow breaths to slow my heart rate.  I had to stop for a couple seconds, then start again.  I did not stop anymore throughout the race, but I was never able to get my pace back.  I slowed at least a minute per mile slower than the first four miles.  Each time I started to speed up, I could feel my heart racing again.  I do not believe there is or was anything wrong, just unable to regulate my heart rate that day.  I appear to be so inconsistent with my race times.  Crazy.  Throughout the race, I continued to try to control my breathing to try and control my heart rate, and I know I was working hard at it, because my ribs are still sore.   Every time I breathe deeply, it hurts.... even three days later.

There was good race support on the course.  Lots of water stops with Gatorade and water and energy gels.  There were several bands and lots of fan support, that is, crazy nuts who came out in the freezing cold to clap and cheer for other crazy nuts who were out running around in this weather.

  

Around mile 9 or so, there was a bride, shown here that had some interesting lights in it that illuminated the trail.  Of course it was day time, and this pictures are at night, but it looked something like this in the day as the sun shown through the lights and projected the color on the bridge.  It was interesting.  It was not cool enough to energize me into running faster, but pretty cool none the less.  

  I finished!!  Yay!!  About 11 minutes slower than my last race, but I finished.  After the race there was FOOD!  Down the street toward the gear pick-up area there was chips and bananas, chocolate milk, pulled pork sandwiches, ice-cream, some fairly healthy stuff, Q-doba chips and queso, and COOKIES.  I grabbed what I could and ate what I could and ate most of it on the walk back to the room.  The chocolate milk was in the little containers that you got when you were in grade school.  The only problem for me was opening the dang container.  I was unable to feel my fingers, so I had to ask for assistance.  I ASKED FOR ASSISTANCE OPENING A CHOCOLATE MILK!   Ridiculous.  

The race medal was designed to pay tribute to the bridge over Gray Lake that I showed earlier.  It actually shimmers when you look at it from different angles.  Pretty neat.  

Next race is in two weeks in St. Louis, Missouri.  I will be in Seattle all next week and running St. Louis on the way home.  It is really just an attempt to decrease the number of trips out and back.  I think this next race is pretty hilly, and I bet it is gonna be cold again.  Sheesh.  Oh well.  At least I'll have something to whine about.

Oh, I forgot to mention one funny story that happened between mile 2 and 3 somewhere.  I felt a drop of sweat hit my lower lip and instinctively licked my lip to remove it.  Then I started thinking about it and realized that I was not sweating, so I thought the guy in front of me must have hyperhydrosis or something and was flinging sweat on me.  So I moved over, away from him.  Then another drop, but that guy was nowhere near me, and I still was not sweating.  So, I passed the girl who I thought MUST have been the culprit... and then another drop.  Now I was confused until I wiped my nose.  It was so cold that I could not feel my nose, but it was running faster than me.  I could not even feel that it was running, except when it dripped on my lip.  I tried to wipe it, but I could not feel my hands or my nose, so I gave up until one of the water stations.  There were people actively passing out tissues from a tissue box... grab and go.  Wipe and throw.  I would hate to be the guy that had to pick those up.  At least I was not being sweat or snotted upon, and at least I was not the only one with this problem.