The Adventures of Reddit's Traveling Singlet

I've been a member of the Reddit running community for almost as long as I've been a runner.  They're full of snark and don't tolerate assholes, but the folks of Runnit are good people.  I visit the running subreddit a few times a week.  

A few years ago, someone had the idea of a traveling singlet:  a singlet that would be shared by the runners of Reddit.  The idea is simple:  take the singlet on a run, sign your name to it, and pass it to the next runner.

I was excited for the Singlet to finally make its way to Wisconsin, but the timing wasn't exactly great: for the first time in years, the only race I have on the horizon is a local 5K in December. But the Singlet doesn't need to race. It just needs to experience something new.

When I tried to think of iconic running routes near me, the Ice Age Trail was the first that came to mind. Second was the 400ish meter indoor track at the Pettit Center. I know people from outside the area sometimes wonder about the attraction to running in circles at the Pettit, but Wisconsin runners training for a spring marathon know that circles can be preferable to our January temperatures. I did a 20 miler at the Pettit last year and lived to tell the tale.

But the Ice Age Trail...that's truly more Wisconsin. Spanning a thousand miles across the State, the trail is home to many diverse things but most runners know it as the site of the Ice Age 50: one of the oldest ultramarathons. I know the IA50 well - I've failed to finish it two years in a row now though I did get pretty close.

Anyone who loves the rocky singletrack, the rooty climbs, the open meadows, often muddy ascents and incredible views of this diverse trail has a favorite section. After all, it's over 1000 miles long - there's plenty to chose from. My favorite section runs through the Lapham Peak State Park. That's where I chose to run on Thanksgiving morning.

I woke before dawn and sneaked out of the house, timing my drive so I could see sunrise from the trail. As is always my luck when I run at Lapham, a group of deer were lingering by the entrance. That's always a good omen - it means few people were on this section of the trail right now. I parked the car and smiled at the familiar sign directing my way.

I run this section of the Ice Age Trail throughout all four seasons and I have to marvel at what a different experience it is during the different times of the year. Fall is the most challenging - the blanket of leaves hides the roots and rocks, so I did have a few close calls with some ruts this time. Winter is the most serene. The cold air feels somehow completely noiseless, and I love making the first set of prints in fresh snow. Spring is often muddy, but there's something about the feeling of renewal in the air that makes me happy slog through the mud and slide down the singletrack. Plus, spring means Ice Age 50 training, and for me that means hope and focus. Summer can be hot and relentless, but the lush greens of the trees are in full beauty by way of apology for the weather.

Have I mentioned that I fucking love the Ice Age trail? But you are here for some pictures and not my personal brochure.

The trail is built and maintained primarily by volunteers. It is amazing to me when I find structures like little footbridges have sprung up seemingly overnight. Lot of love goes into maintaining the trail.

I especially love this vista. The weird, gnarly trees, the view of the horizon. It comes at the top of a winding climb.

There are places like this where the trail is lovely and clear in fall and other places where that blanket of leaves all but obscures the path. The yellow blazes are so well-placed though - it would be hard to get too far afield.

As I mentioned, this section of the Ice Age Trail winds into Lapham Peak State Park. I love running at Lapham. Its trails are groomed for cross country skiing in winter, and its hills have been given neat names like Gut Buster and Stairway to Heaven. The Lapham Peak runners have given some of the segments of trail here equally worthy names.

One of the neatest features of Lapham Peak is the tower. It is the highest point in the county and from the top you can see everything. It is also the turnaround point for the weird Trailbreaker Marathon which takes runners from roads of my hometown onto a rails-to-trails path to the Ice Age Trail, up the tower and back. It's one of those races that has to be nearly impossible to run even splits on, and that sort of intrigues me. But I digress - let's look at the view because it is beautiful.

Actually, one more side note: I always enjoy the ever-changing graffiti on the tower. Sometimes it is really profound - this one tugged at my heart. Other times, well, good for you, Zach. Good for you.

I'm rarely alone on the observation tower so I took the opportunity to grab a selfie up here. Also, I took this picture because aren't my tights awesome? InkNBurn, of course.

My run was unremarkable - I didn't run fast. I stopped for lots of photos. I only got in three miles since I had a family at home waiting for me to start cooking the Thanksgiving turkey. But I won't forget this run anytime soon.

Time to sign and wash the Singlet and send it on its way. 

Thumbs up, friends. Keep on running.

The Notorious Milwaukee Marathon (Pacer Report)

For the second time this month, I paced the 5:30 marathon finishers, this time for the Milwaukee Marathon.

Pacing, Generally

The job of the official pace team is to keep an appropriate pace throughout the race to lead runners to the finish time for their desired goals. Most races I've paced have pacers at varying intervals from 3:00 finishes through 5:30 finishes (I'm always on the 5:30 end - my marathon PR is around 4:55). Pacers are expected to be familiar with the race course, the location of aid stations, and generally be encouraging to everyone around them when the going gets tough. We do this while holding up a little sign that says our pace time on it so runners can locate us and join up if they get off pace, have to stop for a restroom break, etc. Here's me and my sign:

A 5:30 finish is a 12:35/mile pace, so the strategy is to run just under 12:35/mile but walk through all aid stations and power-hike the hills. If the course is 26.2 miles long (ooh...foreshadowing) that will get the runners to the finish in exactly 5 1/2 hours.

I use the "lap pace" setting on my Garmin Vivoactive to maintain an appropriate overall mile pace, but I wear a pace band that tells me what my watch should read at every mile marker, because at the end of the day, the mile markers are what count. It is impossible to run perfect tangents, especially as a pacer who often darts between runners in the area to encourage, chat, etc., so as soon as I see a mile marker I check our overall time and adjust so that we are within 10 seconds of the target by the time we pass the mile marker.

Milwaukee Marathon

The Milwaukee Marathon is in its third year, and under new management this year. The race festivities include a mile race on Saturday, plus a 5K, 10K, Half and Full Marathon. The race is run through the city of Milwaukee and highlights some great neighborhoods. It makes for a really nice tour of the city - you get to see the lakefront, the stadium, great breweries, raucous Brady Street, beautiful houses in some of the older neighborhoods, the Hank Aaron trail, and so much more. In theory, this should be a great race.

But it has its struggles. It is actually amazing the race got off the ground at all - the race organizer faced very public opposition from a city alderman before ultimately receiving approval for the event. The race's inaugural year let down a lot of runners by failing to secure alcohol permits for the promised post-race beer. In its second year, the marathon course ran 3/4 of a mile long. Obviously, it could be worse, but little complaints stack up over time.

Under new management this year, the race showed a lot of promise. The branding on the website and the finishers shirt and medal were all great (although everyone got a shirt that said Milwaukee Marathon, even if they ran the 1/2 or 10K. I heard comments from people running the lower distances that they didn't feel right wearing a "marathon" shirt when they hadn't run a marathon. I can understand that). But there were bigger struggles to be had.

The weather.

Your training can be on point all season, but you can never account for what kind of weather race day will bring. All week the forecast predicted rain, but the majority of the rain fell overnight creating a huge mud pit at the start/finish line party area. The rain turned into a fine mist by the race's start, but strong gusting winds remained a challenge for the whole race (especially when you are holding up a sign that feels like a sail in the wind). I'll be honest - if this was a training run day for me, I'd have stayed in bed.

The Course

As noted, the course itself is actually pretty great but the bad weather led to very little crowd support. With under 600 people running the marathon, after Mile 9 (where the half marathoners broke off from the full marathon route) there were spots that felt pretty damned desolate in neighborhoods that I wouldn't walk alone in at night. Fortunately, as a pacer, I had a lovely group with me so we made the run fun, even when the route left a little to be desired.

The Big Error

My pace team was clicking the miles by just as anticipated. For example, I hit Mile 20 at 4:11:53, with a target of 4:11:44 (so about 9 seconds over). By Mile 21 we were approaching the Hank Aaron Trail, which included an out-and-back up the trail. After the turnaround point I could see the next mile marker in the distance. It seemed a little far to me, but perception can get a little weird after 4+ hours of running, so I picked up the pace slightly and proceeded. But as we approached, the marker that should have said Mile 22 instead said Mile 23.

Where did Mile 22 go? There was no way we could have missed a turn - it was a straight-shot out and back, with a string of cones marking the turnaround. But if that was really Mile 23, we were now a good 11 miles ahead of pace.

A a pacer, that gave me a lot to consider. Was that really "officially" Mile 23? Were we really just 3.2 miles from the finish, or would those markers be stretched out to make up for the lost mile? My copacer and I checked with our runners: what did they want to do? We are there for them, after all. We could slow way down, hope that we really were 3.2 miles from the finish, and bring everyone in at 5:30, but frankly that seemed dumb. And if we were 4.2 miles from the finish, like we should have been, we would have totally screwed our runners by doing that. After all the weather we had experienced, our runners just wanted to be finished. We had a bunch of first timers with us, and I don't blame them. We maintained a 12:35-ish pace and brought our runners in about 12 minutes early.

Sadly, the weather ruined what would have been a really epic after-party. The food trucks and beer were there, but after being blown around for 5 1/2 hours, I just wanted hot coffee and a shower. That's a damn shame for the race organization, but such are the perils of planning an October marathon in Wisconsin.

So where did Mile 22 go?

I wanted to make sure that I didn't hallucinate my way into a huge pacing error, so I've been reading the comments on the Marathon's website. I wasn't hallucinating. Some great internet sleuths seem to have found the error - the turnaround on the Hank Aaron Trail was set way too short. Someone commented that there was actually a Mile 22 marker - apparently the Marathon had posted a photo of it - but the turnaround spot was marked before runners would get to it.

In the big scheme of things, that's not a big deal for most 5:30 finishers. They get their finish, which is the goal for 80% of them. But what about the seasoned runners looking for a PR? What about the Boston qualifiers? This was a USATF certified course, but I think it really was marked wrong. The turnaround point was set too early.

Unfortunately, the race management seems to be standing by its course rather than admitting there may have been a mistake. Apparently enough people were talking about the problem that it got the attention of the Milwaukee Jounal Sentinal, but the race organizers are going with the "our course is right and everyone's GPS is wrong" defense:

**

Some runners wondered if the course was shy of the 26.2 miles.

A half-dozen runners confirmed with the Journal Sentinel that their fitness trackers with GPS had them coming in at about 25.5 to 25.8 miles. (Another runner said their GPS had them coming in short on the 10K race as well.) Three marathon runners said Miles 21-23 seemed short, and two said they never saw a Mile 22 marker.

Last year, this marathon exceeded 26.2 miles by as much as a mile or two for the fastest, front-of-the-pack runners.

Joe Zimmerman, president of ROC Productions, which now produces the PNC Milwaukee Marathon, said extra care was taken to get the course right this year with the assistance of Chad Antcliff, the technical expert who has overseen the race the last three years.

“We took as many precautions as we could to make sure the distance was absolutely accurate,” said Zimmerman. “We triple-checked and verified.”

Zimmerman said that when he heard the race might be coming in a bit short, he talked to pacers and runners and had his course marshals go out and check mile markers to make sure they matched up with the way the USA Track & Field course certifier marked it.

“And it was right on point,” said Zimmerman. “We can’t find anything that leads us to believe that the course is inaccurate.”

The course was measured and is USATF certified, he said, and it was measured to the inside corner of the course.

“As we all know, GPS is not 100% accurate,” said Zimmerman.

There might be areas where GPS may not have given the best readings, like the Hank Aaron Trail, or the spiral staircases that came down on 6th St.

**

That's a really disappointing response, and I really hope it doesn't mar what has the potential to be a really fantastic marathon. There was so much they did right: great route, free race photos, great shirt, great medal, potentially great finish line party (but for the weather). But I'm afraid that response from the race is, unfortunately, going to put off a lot of serious runners.

Distance issues and weather aside, I have to say I enjoyed this marathon more than I thought I would. The 5 1/2 hours passed quickly, which is really a hard thing to say about a marathon. If the race can overcome yet another year of mismarked mileage, I will run this one again, either as a pacer (hopefully I'm invited to pace again despite our early arrival at the finish line) or a runner.

2017 Ice Age 50 Race Report (Spoiler Alert: DNF)

For the second year in a row, I got a DNF instead of a buckle at the beautiful Ice Age 50 in La Grange, WI. I made it 47.5 miles this year before calling it quits.

Training

I was ready for this race. I was hitting 50+ mile weeks with some consistency. I was training on the stair climber machines. I was doing speedwork and running some of my fastest miles. I knew I'd be chasing cutoff times, but I had put in the work. Other than a chest cold/sore throat that sneaked up on me during race week, I was ready.

All week the weather was forecast to be around 50 on race day, with a possibility of rain. Things changed just before the race, and soon the weather was predicted to be a high of 70. Warm, but you'll have that sometimes, especially in Wisconsin. I'm an early morning runner so most of my training runs have been in the cool 30 degree weather we've had in the early day. I went for shorts and a tank top instead of capris and a tech shirt and arm sleeves.

Ice Age 50: Section 1

The first section of the Ice Age trail is definitely the easiest. The blue Nordic Loop features wide trails with lots of rolling hills and a few tough climbs. These miles come easy as there are tons of people to run with and the terrain is pleasant. I was doing very comfortable 11:00 miles in this section and feeling good.

Ice Age 50: Section 2

The real race begins when the runners veer off of Nordic and take a connector trail to the rugged Ice Age trail for an out and back to Rice Lake. Steep climbs and rocky singletrack lie ahead, as do beautiful expanses of pine needle-blanketed trail. If you don't like the scenery in this section, keep going because it changes every mile. There are very runnable sections here - there's a long, relatively flat section by a lake that comes to mind - but there are also plenty of climbs. The one thing runners can't do here is get complacent on the singletrack - I saw plenty of runners go down because of a misstep on a rock. I took my only fall of the race in this section, but it was one of those mystery trips - I fell on a flat pine section: no rocks, no roots, nothing. It was a soft fall, no problem.

The day was getting hotter but plenty of sections had tree cover so I wasn't really feeling it yet. I did experience one of those "magic moments" of racing in this section: the sun was shining brightly yet somehow a gentle rain had started to fall. There was barely a cloud in the sky at this point so I had no idea how it was happening but it felt fantastic.

I felt good in this section and followed my plan of drinking Tailwind regularly and eating PB&Js at the aid stations. The day was starting to take its toll early, though. Because this section is an out-and-back, us folks in the back get to watch the faster runners on their way back in which is always fantastic. Some looked strong, but so many - even some real superstars - looked like they were struggling. I started passing people on the way back, which is very unusual for me. I later learned that the temperature had soared to 80 and stayed there until evening. I passed through the aid station at Mile 33 feeling pretty good. My race ended at 33 miles last year so it felt good to head on through this time around.

Ice Age 50: Section 3

This section was full of the unknown for me. Section Three is an out and back to the Emma Carlin trailhead, and it again featured the rocky singletrack of the Ice Age Trail with more big climbs. The sections here were not as runnable, but I ran what I could and walked the climbs. I was sore but feeling okay, and still making okay time. By some miracle, my Garmin Vivoactive stayed with me until almost Mile 39, which is a new record for that old beast - usually the battery gives in around 31/32 miles. I made it into the Emma Carlin trailhead literally at the hard cutoff, and I knew I'd have to make really good time in the last 9.5 miles to make the cutoffs that followed.

In retrospect, losing the Garmin was harder than I thought it would be. It is challenging to not know my pace, not know how many miles to the next aid station, etc. Around Mile 42 I got a side-stitch that I just couldn't shake, and I knew I couldn't afford to walk at this point. I passed a few more people but by Mile 43 I knew my race was over. The side stitch did a number on me and I just didn't have anything left. I tried to run, knowing that there was the tiniest slip of a chance that I could make the cutoffs, but I was just spent. I walked it in to Mile 47.5 (which is the 33 mile aid station where I quit last year, funny enough) and gave up. I was 2.5 miles from the finish and 15 minutes from the 12 hour cutoff.

The Good

I PRd my 50K in the first 31 miles of the race. 47.5 miles is a 14-ish mile distance PR for me. I really, truly felt good for most of the race and I had fun. The miles went by without much drama, and I just enjoyed it up until the end. I wanted that buckle so badly, and I think on a cooler day it would have been mine. But, that's running for you: race day sometimes has other plans for you.

Will I do it again? I don't know if I'll do the 50 mile at Ice Age. I recognize that this was a tough year with the heat (65% finish rate for the 50 miler this year). I love the race with ever fiber of my being, and I know I can run 50 miles, but I don't know if I enjoy the hard cutoffs. I'm not fast, and the pressure of knowing I'd be chasing cutoffs all day really made the day less fun than I like.

(Ask me again in December, when signup opens).