Beaver Island, MI Marathon Race Report
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Chris M
Jerry
Alex Kubacki
Michele "1L" Keane
Julie
John Kilpatrick
Peg Coover
Jim Lentz
Nick Morris
mountandog
14 posters
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Beaver Island, MI Marathon Race Report
If you've got nothing else to do on a Labor Day weekend Saturday - this is a wonderful little marathon. First off it's thirty miles N of Charlevoix, MI in the middle of Lake Michigan. A small town, a couple of pubs and that's about it. You take a two hour ferry or a 30 minute puddle jumper. Since I had most of the family (7 out of eight) the ferry was the way to go. Everybody wins an AG more or less. Not enough runners to push you too far down in the standings.
The course itself is nice, a double looper. A mixture of dirt roads and pavement, gentle hills. Should be fast. You run along Lake Michigan several times and run through a lot of tree covered roads. Really pretty. Now to the race.
After arriving Fri morning and getting settled in with some friends who have a cottage on the North shore, we woke up Saturday to wind and rain. Hey, the forecast was for 64 degrees and no rain!! Huh? What happened? Anyway my daughter and I made the 120 second trip from the cottage to the starting line 10 minutes before to avoid getting soaked. The race went off on time and luckily most of the rain backed off. The temp was mid 60s most of the race, but the dirt roads were a mess. You couldn't easily run tangents because you were constantly adjusting. Such is life.
I earlier posted my concern about running a small race with no support, but I was lucky enough to run into another competitor running the same pace and we ran together through about mile 15. So that made the time go by a bit quicker. They also start the half two hours later so you get to see them head on when you are running your last 7 and they all offered support, nice. Was I avoided the iPOD, but I certainly considered it. My goal was 3:08, but anything under 3:12 would have been fine. I backed off my training by abut 25% since Boston, motivation reasons, needing a bit of a break. I obviously ran well enough to record a 4 min PR of 3:08:00. Right on the button. I hit the 1/2 in about 1:33 so I did have some degradation in my pace over the last 5 miles, so I still have some work to do. But it was muddy. But the coolness of the rain and overcast made the rest of it just fine.
My biggest concern was my daughter who had a 3:35 objective to improve her BQ. As it's a double loop I had a chance to see her a couple of times. She was leading the women's race until 19.5 --yup. Bingo - cramps in her thigh somewhere. First time for her hitting any type of wall. It was really hard to pass her as she had just hit the wall and was walking and kind of teary and all, but there wasn't much I could do at that point. It's tough to watch one of your offspring in such obvious pain. She walked/ran to a 3:44 and finished by running, so all in all a tough run. Hopefully her BQ -30 seconds holds up, but unlikely in the new format.
I finished 5th overall, 2nd master and 1st AG. Daughter finished 4th overall. As a bonus my eldest son finished 2nd in the 1/2 in 1:32:50, his first half ever. He got smoked by a 15 yr old though. That was kinda cool (he's 23).
So I added a few more points to the Steamrollers and am thinking about doing Detroit (my hometown) in Oct. I've always spaced my marathons by 5-6 months so I'm still not so sure.
[url=https://servimg.com/view/16818757/8]
[/url]
The course itself is nice, a double looper. A mixture of dirt roads and pavement, gentle hills. Should be fast. You run along Lake Michigan several times and run through a lot of tree covered roads. Really pretty. Now to the race.
After arriving Fri morning and getting settled in with some friends who have a cottage on the North shore, we woke up Saturday to wind and rain. Hey, the forecast was for 64 degrees and no rain!! Huh? What happened? Anyway my daughter and I made the 120 second trip from the cottage to the starting line 10 minutes before to avoid getting soaked. The race went off on time and luckily most of the rain backed off. The temp was mid 60s most of the race, but the dirt roads were a mess. You couldn't easily run tangents because you were constantly adjusting. Such is life.
I earlier posted my concern about running a small race with no support, but I was lucky enough to run into another competitor running the same pace and we ran together through about mile 15. So that made the time go by a bit quicker. They also start the half two hours later so you get to see them head on when you are running your last 7 and they all offered support, nice. Was I avoided the iPOD, but I certainly considered it. My goal was 3:08, but anything under 3:12 would have been fine. I backed off my training by abut 25% since Boston, motivation reasons, needing a bit of a break. I obviously ran well enough to record a 4 min PR of 3:08:00. Right on the button. I hit the 1/2 in about 1:33 so I did have some degradation in my pace over the last 5 miles, so I still have some work to do. But it was muddy. But the coolness of the rain and overcast made the rest of it just fine.
My biggest concern was my daughter who had a 3:35 objective to improve her BQ. As it's a double loop I had a chance to see her a couple of times. She was leading the women's race until 19.5 --yup. Bingo - cramps in her thigh somewhere. First time for her hitting any type of wall. It was really hard to pass her as she had just hit the wall and was walking and kind of teary and all, but there wasn't much I could do at that point. It's tough to watch one of your offspring in such obvious pain. She walked/ran to a 3:44 and finished by running, so all in all a tough run. Hopefully her BQ -30 seconds holds up, but unlikely in the new format.
I finished 5th overall, 2nd master and 1st AG. Daughter finished 4th overall. As a bonus my eldest son finished 2nd in the 1/2 in 1:32:50, his first half ever. He got smoked by a 15 yr old though. That was kinda cool (he's 23).
So I added a few more points to the Steamrollers and am thinking about doing Detroit (my hometown) in Oct. I've always spaced my marathons by 5-6 months so I'm still not so sure.
[url=https://servimg.com/view/16818757/8]
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Last edited by mountandog on Mon Sep 05, 2011 8:24 pm; edited 4 times in total (Reason for editing : rotate picture)
mountandog- Explaining To Spouse
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Re: Beaver Island, MI Marathon Race Report
Nice race!!! Even though you are on the other team...I am glad things worked out for you as I know that you were worried about the small field size. It sounds like the whole family did pretty well!!
Nick Morris- Talking To Myself
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Re: Beaver Island, MI Marathon Race Report
Very nice job on the race. It sounds like an interesting race in an interesting place.
Jim Lentz- Explaining To Spouse
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Re: Beaver Island, MI Marathon Race Report
Your kids are sooo good looking! The only thing wrong with that picture is no one is holding a beer!!!
Wow--Congrats to all. You are a fast and competitive family!!
Wow--Congrats to all. You are a fast and competitive family!!
Re: Beaver Island, MI Marathon Race Report
[quote="Peg Coover"]Your kids are sooo good looking! The only thing wrong with that picture is no one is holding a beer!!!
Wow--Congrats to all. You are a fast and competitive family!![/quote
I will fix the beer problem when i download all my pics. The AG awards were pint beer glasses and i took the opportunity. The island has an Irish heritage afterall.
Wow--Congrats to all. You are a fast and competitive family!![/quote
I will fix the beer problem when i download all my pics. The AG awards were pint beer glasses and i took the opportunity. The island has an Irish heritage afterall.
mountandog- Explaining To Spouse
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Re: Beaver Island, MI Marathon Race Report
Great run - bummer about the cramping thing, but nothing to be ashamed about in her time - stuff happens... You have some great running genes going there! Running on muddy trails, a PR and a 3:08 are amazing. My Mother moved a while ago from next to Little Traverse Lake (near Maple City) and that would of been a great excuse to visit and run what sounds like a neat race.
John Kilpatrick- Explaining To Spouse
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Re: Beaver Island, MI Marathon Race Report
Nice job and congrats to your kids, too. I bet that was really hard to pass your daughter like that, but hopefully she wasn't too disheartened by it. Does she have another race planned? I guess it doesn't matter too much since registration is in a few weeks?
Julie- Explaining To Spouse
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Re: Beaver Island, MI Marathon Race Report
Congrats on an excellent run for all of you. Sorry to hear about your daughter's cramping issue, but she will figure it out. I stated running marathons when I was her age and had similar issues back then. I never really nailed the solution back then, but we are here to help. Hope her time holds up for Boston so that I see you all there.
By the way, Detroit is a decent race - just big enough - and with the exception of possible wind on the island, it it flat and pretty fast as well.
By the way, Detroit is a decent race - just big enough - and with the exception of possible wind on the island, it it flat and pretty fast as well.
Re: Beaver Island, MI Marathon Race Report
Congrats on the race by the family. Too bad about the cramping. Hopefully she'll get it dialed in.
Alex Kubacki- Explaining To Spouse
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Re: Beaver Island, MI Marathon Race Report
This is a strong family relay team!
Jerry- Explaining To Spouse
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Re: Beaver Island, MI Marathon Race Report
3 minute PR, right? You sure made it sound easy. Great job. Congrats to both your kids....even the Bowdoin one.
Chris M- Explaining To Spouse
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Re: Beaver Island, MI Marathon Race Report
Congrats to your whole family. I think you even beat Chris M's PR and made it sound easy. Oh wait, he's on our team.
T Miller- Regular
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Re: Beaver Island, MI Marathon Race Report
T Miller wrote:Congrats to your whole family. I think you even beat Chris M's PR and made it sound easy. Oh wait, he's on our team.
I will have my vengeance in this life or the next. Plus, I can't have a father of a Polar Bear be faster than a Mule.
Chris M- Explaining To Spouse
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Re: Beaver Island, MI Marathon Race Report
Chris M wrote:T Miller wrote:Congrats to your whole family. I think you even beat Chris M's PR and made it sound easy. Oh wait, he's on our team.
I will have my vengeance in this life or the next. Plus, I can't have a father of a Polar Bear be faster than a Mule.
Considering you're going sub 3:00 in 4 and a half weeks, I think you're good!
mul21- Explaining To Spouse
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Re: Beaver Island, MI Marathon Race Report
Your son is hot
Great job to all of you!!
Great job to all of you!!
ChasMcG- Poster
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Re: Beaver Island, MI Marathon Race Report
great job for the whole family awesome!
amyjoann- Poster
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