Charlie Brown On Skates

I’ve been told for months that the Duluth marathon is the “mother of all marathons” and the event to be at every year, so I was really looking forward to this race. I hoped having one marathon under my belt would help me be more prepared.

While the weather did not cooperate, it was literally freezing and windy as can be, I had a great time and an okay race. My bus got there leaving me a scant 10 minutes to get ready, which was fine with me seeing as how cold it was. I got into my wave, which with my progress was really too low of a wave for me, and met a nice girl Candy Wong from Canada. We both decided we wanted to get a fast start and get away from the wave pack.

We did just that, and we picked up another wave 2 skater girl as well. The three of spent most of the race in a paceline. To be honest, they two girls did more work than me. Not only were they probably in better shape and more experienced, I was having pretty bad back pains that got worse as the race went on. When I pulled, we slowed, and so one of them invariably stepped up to the front.

But in a race, sometimes that happens and you do what you can. I could hang with them no problem, and when it was time for me to pull I did what I could do, I make no apologies for doing my best.

The cheering people and the wonderful course were really great. As we got into town we got into some longer pacelines, some of which were too slow and we jumped out. Finally found a good one as we went through the tunnels. We stuck with that group until the final ramp, where it all kind of breaks up to the finish.

At the last downhill and turn into the finish, I picked it up and urged Candy on, but she seemed tired out at that point. I did my best to push to the finish, hoping to beat my St. Paul time and did so by a few scant minutes.

Coming to the finish line - still looking chubby

At first I was disappointed at the time, but from what I hear everyone’s times were off due to the extreme wind and cold. Next year I’ll be more prepared, and will certainly weigh less and be in better shape. I plan on doing much better.

My results:

Time: 1:48:28 (new personal best)
Pace: 4:09
Avg MPH: 14.49
Overall place: 465 out of 2559
Division place (M 40-44): 72 out of 213
Gender place: 398 out of 1500
Avg HR: 163

2007 Team Rainbo at Duluth