20 Mile Time Trial

I’ve been running marathons for several years.  Most of the time I run alone.  Every year I run three or four 20 mile training runs leading up to Twin Cities Marathon.  I have a network of incredible trails in Minneapolis with water fountains every few miles.  I can set out with a couple of Gu packets in the pocket of my shorts and run 20 or 23 miles without any real advance planning or support.

But once or twice each summer, I have the chance to run long in Florence County, Wisconsin.  These are some of my favorite runs of the year.  Of course, there are not water fountains every few miles in Florence County, so I either need to run shorter loops, plant some water bottles and then go retrieve them later, or ask someone to support the run.  Short loops are OK, certainly better than a treadmill, but there is something much more fun about covering distance.  Point-to-point runs are my favorite, but you obviously need help to go point-to-point.  Fortunately for me, both of my parents are incredibly generous with their time and happy to help out when I’m running long from the farm.  Running from my house to the town where I went to high school – 15 miles away.  Dropping me off somewhere out near Goodman so I can run 20 miles home.  Absolutely fantastic.

However, the best Northwoods long runs the past few years have been the 20 mile time trials.  I think this started three or four years ago when I really started training seriously and shaving time off my marathon PR.  My first 20 mile time trial was actually in Minneapolis.  Breaking 2:40 for the first time on a cool evening run on Labor Day weekend.  Since then I’ve circled Labor Day weekend on my calendar for a 20 mile run at race pace.  This is not really a recommended strategy from an injury risk standpoint, but it is a confidence builder four or five weeks before TCM; and, well, it is just a lot of fun. 

Two years ago was the pinnacle of my running career.   I was in the best shape of my life and had logged 1000 miles by Labor Day weekend.  I weighed less than when I graduated high school.  We were up at the farm for the holiday weekend.  My Dad and I planned out the 20 mile time trial down to really fine details.  He would stop every three miles and walk back toward me with water and Gatorade, and I would keep running – simulating the race as closely as we could.  So much fun to plan and carry out these long runs with my Dad.  We had a lot of fun that day, even though he took me over a couple steep hills I wasn’t planning for out in Fence.  I finished that day in 2:34 – the fastest 20 miles I have ever covered and the best training run of my life.

This year I’m nowhere close to that sort of race condition.  I logged around 600 miles by Labor Day, gained a few pounds (or more than a few), and have done very little speed work and no hills.  Anyway, I’d be very happy with a 4:00 hour marathon next weekend.  So the 20 mile time trial was not so much about time this year as it was about enjoying the morning with my Dad.  I still ran hard, trying to gauge where I was at, but I stopped for water and enjoyed the company. 

It was a very foggy morning, perfect for a long run.  I set out at 6:30 heading west on County C to 101 then south toward Armstrong Creek.  The landscape slowly emerged from the mist over the course of the run.  Beautiful country, the place where I grew up, quiet and serene.  The purple asters were blooming in the ditches.  Ravens calling from the forest, sandhill cranes in an open pasture.  I overestimated my ability a bit and went out faster than I should have.  The long grinding hills made me pay for that.  Still the last two miles from West Bass Lake road to the farm I was able to focus and finish under 3:00. 

Probably the last Labor Day 20 miler I’ll be able to run with support from my Dad for the foreseeable future.  Next year I hope to be running Nairobi or Mexico City instead of Twin Cities.  I hope to fit in long runs from the farm when I’m home, but I will miss this mini-tradition on Labor Day weekend. 

Thanks, Dad.  I am very grateful for your love and friendship.

 

A sad and sobering week

This has been a sad week.  A sad and sobering week.

I arrived in Nairobi Sunday morning on the overnight flight from Amsterdam, eighteen hours into the protracted terrorist attack on the Westgate mall.  I am sharing here a few observations and reflections on the week.  It is difficult to write about anything else this morning;  this city and the Kenyan people have been so welcoming to me. 

I left Mexico a week ago Friday.  My flight from JFK to Amsterdam was delayed two hours and I missed the connecting flight to Nairobi.  Delta put me on the Kenya Airways overnight flight – a nine hour layover at Schipol.  I was still finalizing a large report and presentation that I needed to give at the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa conference.  My sister-in-law, Whitney, texted me about the mall shooting.  The Westgate mall, yes we had been there a month ago.  Watching the nightmare unfolding on CNN - a building I was familiar with, scenes from the parking lot and access streets – places we had recently been and a neighborhood I frequently stay in.  Wondering if my friends and colleagues were safe.  Death toll estimates climbing, multiple terrorists involved in a sophisticated attack. 

Sunday was spent at a hotel downtown, two or three miles away from a hostage crisis and deadly stand-off.  All of my CIMMYT colleagues were safe.  One of my colleagues had been in a cab on the way to Westgate when the attack began.  I spoke with my Mom Sunday night over Skype.  It was good to hear her voice.  A suicide bomber in Pakistan killed over 70 people outside a church in Pakistan.  I wondered if I would have known that if I hadn’t been watching the news so closely.

Our meeting took place Monday as scheduled.  We loaded buses and drove to the ICRAF campus.  About 100 people from more than 13 countries were in attendance.  We observed a moment of silence.  It was good to see my colleagues – some live very close to Westgate.  One of my colleagues looked sideways at me and asked why bad things kept happening while I was en route to Nairobi.  The thought had crossed my mind.  Last year it seemed that tragic events were happening in the States whenever I was in Africa – Hurricane Sandy, Sandy Hook Elementary, Boston Marathon bombing.

Mid-afternoon on Monday we were informed that the ICRAF campus was closing early.  We would need to finish our meeting early and vacate the campus.  It was precautionary, but activity had escalated at the mall.  We returned to the hotel downtown.  I turned on CNN to see what was happening.  A reporter was live in Minneapolis reporting on the recruitment of one or more of the Westgate terrorists from the Somali population in my home city. 

Tuesday the crisis came to an end.  Over 60 people had been killed and six security agents died retaking the mall.  The President declared three days of mourning.  Flags were flown at half-staff.

CIMMYT hosted two facility inauguration events on Wednesday and Thursday in Kiboko and Naivasha.  The Board of Trustees together with Kenya Agriculture department dignitaries were in attendance.  The events of each day began with a moment of silence.  A degree of solemnity pervaded the events each day.

Please remember Kenya in your prayers.