It Could Be A Cold One

What is my next adventure one might wonder? It is in the land of perseverance. It is in the land of awesome community support and energy. It is in the land of random pop up aid stations that offer everything from delicious soups, homemade cookies, and shots of whiskey! It is the great 26.2 miles of chilly fun in Millinocket, Maine.

From the hosts website: “This free event was started in 2015 to help a struggling Maine mill town that has been devastated by the closing of their major employer. The only requirement for runners is that they generously support local businesses and contribute to the Katahdin region in some way”.

I have participated in this event for a few years and December 7th will be my next running of the marathon. This is the only road marathon I will be doing in 2019 and will likely be the only one I will do in 2020. I greatly enjoy the atmosphere, the community feel, the shots of Fireball (of course), and the joy of giving back to a community in need. I spend the weekend enjoying the area and contribute by shopping at the local stores/events, donating to the charities, getting a hotel room, and eating at the restaurants.

I also enjoy the event because it was the first marathon I did where I really just let go of goal times. This race gave me the opportunity to live in the moment of the race and gain pleasure from the experience itself. It helped me start down the path of acceptance to the runner I am and the runner I am becoming.

Millinocket has also given my opportunities to help other runners. Last year I was able to assist a new found friend, Darren, in completing his first marathon. I convinced him continue at the 15 mile marker when he had already surrendered to quitting. We had started out the race together, but he broke from me after the turn off golden road and onto the paved roads. This is a dangerous spot on the first loop because it is easy to be feeling good, to finally be out of the head wind, out of the steady up hill climbs, and off the ice/snow packed gravel road. It can give you a false sense of security and you can take off at a pace beyond your training. That is just what happened to him. In general, we marathoners are terrible listeners. I did my best to warn him prior to the turn onto the road, but he did his own thing at the moment, and in his shoes, I would have done the same thing.

My own race that day was a personal struggle. It was 14 degrees out, and I was suffering from a pulled hamstring from a 1/2 marathon in September that I had already run a marathon on in October. Just after the half way point I had just about given up myself, I even passed by my car and sat in it for a few minutes, thinking I could just drive back to the start and claim a 1/2 finish. Something else drew me back out of the car that day. Was it the fact I didn’t want an DNF? Was it that I had never failed to finish a marathon? Or was it the universe telling me to keep going for a reason beyond my own? For whatever it was, I got out and resolved to continue and within a couple of miles, there was Darren walking back to the start, quitting. I took it as my sign to finish the day and convinced him to turn around. I stayed with him doing the old run/walk alternation and we had a great time.

This year we are planning on starting out together again, and I will do my best to stay with him. He has been training very hard with a goal time focus. If I can comfortably stay with him I will and offer or heed whatever advise we can provide each other as we progress; enjoying the moment of watching him succeed again. If I can’t stay with him then I will have a good time connecting with new people at whatever pace I am doing on that day.

Moments like that are what make this marathon special. It does come with its own challenges from the below freezing average temperatures to the aforementioned icy/snow packed Golden Road and the subsequent turn to pavement, or the unpredictable overall weather caused by Katahdin. It could sub zero, snow, sleet, rain, or be sunny and 50 degrees out; we will find out the morning when we open the curtains to the hotel room.

How will I be prepared for the curtain opening? Pack everything of course. I will have my cold running gear which consists of under armor base on both upper and lower, tech shirt, shorts, wind breaker jacket/pants, my darn tough socks, gloves,winter hat, and neck/face scarf. I have found that combination typically gets me through the worst winter weather. If it was extremely cold or windy, I would add on a sweatshirt over my base. Really once you get moving and as long as you stay moving it is surprising comfortable even in the coldest of temps. Also, with multiple layers I can dress down easily enough if it is warmer then average.

For this race I will also adjust my food and hydration routine, which I will talk about more in-depth in my next posting, but on this particular race I will just consume whatever food and hydration they have at the pop-up aid stations. I normally wouldn’t recommend this, but my stomach is iron-clad and I have rarely experienced any issues going “off script” during a race. The only time that I can think of that I regretted eating and running was greasy Chinese food and that was a really, really bad idea. Me and the bushes got up close and personal that day (Opinion, I personally think dried leaves are the best).

I will make this adjustment for this event, because I enjoy the randomness of their aid stations and I like to show my support to the folks coming out to make the effort to set them up, gather the products and up keep the stations all day long in the cold. This race doesn’t request, design, or set up the Aid-stations. They are locals who have decided to setup shop to show their support and love for the runners coming to their area to help the community. No better way to recognize their efforts then by using the stations.

Besides using the stations for the enjoyment and support, it also makes sense to not carry my typical pack and supplies because most of my stuff is water based. It is below freezing on average and it doesn’t take long for your pack supplies to harden up and become another thing to manage. You either have to to have everything insulated, or take lots of little sips to keep the water flowing and blow back into your tubs or I suppose I could also just add vodka into everything, that could be interesting. Also, my new soft flasks that I use for my main hydration source are untested in the cold and I don’t want to discover any issues while in the middle of a race.

For physical preparedness, I feel ready to run it now with all my training I did this summer getting ready for the BFC. My goal for the next couple months is just to maintain my current fitness by alternating a 50 mile week with the longest run being 20 miles, with an easier 30+ mile week with the longest run being 12 miles. I will also keep up my yoga and strength training routines and toss in a taper week or two just before the race. Physically, that should keep me well prepared.

My only other consideration is all hard pack gravel road and pavement terrain. I have done all my running in 2019 on off pavement trails. This was because of a lot of hip and foot issues I experienced the last few years that I associated with pavement. Neither has bothered me much this year, so it is either being off the hard surfaces or the naturally slower paces of technical (twists, turns, roots, rocks, slippery, etc) trail running. I have decided to not test my body on pavement until the day of the race and I will find out if my trail training translates to a more comfortable pavement run; Fingers crossed.

No matter how December 7th works out I am setting out to have a good time with old friends, new friends, a great community and some whiskey. Half the battle in any long distance event is the mental aspect, and it might even be more then half. You reap what you sow, right? Millinocket has more then enough positive energy and good vibes to going around to fully enjoy the moments and persevere through whatever the curtain opening decides to toss at us that day. I will sport my pink bunny suit at the fun run on Friday night, I will have smile on my face on Saturday, and I will raise a glass (or two) to all that faced the day either running, supporting, or spectating because we came together accomplished something wonderful.