Duluth…. Running and swimming down memory lane

5 days back in my hometown with 25 days left to go to race day. I was a little nervous to be traveling so close to the race given I have my peak workouts on the road. This is about the last of the time where my training actually can help me improve my race; I am doing my longest workouts and doing my final race simulation at the long distances. AND I AM TRAVELING WHILE DOING IT! Thankfully things have gone well and Duluth had some great moments.

I got in on Saturday night and on Sunday did my first real long run since my injury. I have come to realize that running the full marathon is not going to happen. It’s not that I am doubting my ability, but rather accepting the reality that very accomplished veterans Ironman triathletes walk portions of the marathon. So, why not plan for it?! I decided to do 10 and 1’s for the marathon (run 10 minutes, walk 1, repeat as long as necessary) and went out for my long run to test this out. 1:55:00 running and walking, eating gels, drinking Gatorade and really felt great! No knee or leg pain and felt steady the whole run. I did some math and realized if I can pull this off, I can still run a moderate pace, walk every 10 minutes and not spend 8 hours out on the run course. It’s all about the second half of the run. Those 21k are the ones that are going to test me. Those are the ones that are going to make me ask why the hell I am doing this race. My hope is the 10/1’s put me in a place that I am still feeling relatively good for that last push to Penticton.

Now the run itself was hilarious. I literally ran through my childhood and adolescence over the course of the 2 hours. For any of you not from Duluth, this might be boring, for me, it made me laugh out loud. First stop was my middle school, Woodland, and all the pubescent memories it brought back, silk shirts and rolled pants. Then cruised past Liz’s house and our many conversations came flooding back. Jodie’s house came next and with a nod I was cruising towards Woodland Ave again. A minute later it was the turn off I took regularly to either see Danielle or Sara depending on the era; lots of right turns there and two amazing people to see. Crystal and Jen’s house were up the block next just before I went past my little league baseball field; picture me about a foot shorter, 50 pounds lighter and unable to hit a ball if it was laying on the ground in front of me…that was my little league career. Yes, I laughed at that one. Rounding the corner I came across the spot where some of us had a run in with the cops after a night of TPing; it always looks so easy to get away in the movies! Oh the stupid stuff you do in grade 9, and no, no criminal record with that one. Up Woodland Ave. further and cruised past Joe’s place, the setting of many a good time from grade 8 and on…years of flashbacks came with that one. Then a weird memory of Matt’s house where I watched Thriller for the first time in grade 9, and then cruised past the place I learned to ice skate when I was 9. Up past Piggly Wiggly, the local super market, and was on my way towards my Aunt and Uncle’s old house. I am reaching the edges of town by now only to come across a string of houses that I truthfully had forgotten about. All these friends from back in the day that I hadn’t thought of in years but vivid memories, most cloaked in pubescent adolescence, came flying back. Shannon’s house, Carrie’s house, Julianne’s house, circling back into town was Paul and Liz’s house, even back to Sue’s house where I couldn’t help but see her big white Samoyed puppy from back in the day. Rounded the corner by my old high school, thought through four years of random thoughts, many strangely having to do with the crappy brown Toyota I used to drive and park on that street, and then it was back down 4th st. It is getting long in the run and time to start heading for home, but I had to do one last push up the hill past the corner store where Scott and I met almost daily to buy a bottle of mountain dew and a pack of baseball cards back in 1987. The Twins were hot back then and a Kirby Puckett card or a Mark McGwire rookie card were worth trading your Reese’s peanut butter cups and the free bottle of pop you just won from under your bottle cap. Oh the memories…. The mental flip book was a flying that day. An incredible run and if only Ironman could be as stimulating, I would be so distracted I wouldn’t even know I was working!

Another eventful workout and trip down memory lane came from a swim up at Pike Lake. I needed a long swim and found just what I was looking for. Some friends live about 2500 metres from the public landing. What does that mean? It means instead of dropping in via the driveway, I swam past my dad's old house on the lake, around the lake, up to the dock and knocked on their door dressed in a neoprene wetsuit. The look on their faces was priceless! I took a pit stop, sucked down a gel, some water, a few good stories and it was back to the lake to swim home. 56:00 there and 52:00 home again for a total of 1:48:00 swimming! Pretty damn impressive if I do say so myself!

Thanks Duluth for the trip down memory lane!