Number 38 was the University of Okoboji Marathon on 21 July 2018. I finished in 3:57:56, number 5 out of 9 in my age group, 11 out of 33 among men and 15 out of 55 finishers overall. Rachael ran the half in 2:33:46.

I had a theory after the disastorous finish in number 37 that fueling was a problem. Accordingly, this time I had pasta for lunch and a lot of bread and cheese for dinner race day eve. This left me feeling pretty bloated, but I felt fine at the start. I also ate a bag of energy beans in the first half of the race and had gel packs at mile 13, 15, 18, and 20. Overall I had a lot more energy that last time, but still slowed dramatically over the last 8 miles. I ran the first half in 1:54 and the second half in 2:03. My plan going into this run was to start slow and try to run a steady space. I was more successful than usual in this in that I didn't run any sub 8 miles in the early excitement, but I also didn't slow to the 9 minute pace I orginally planned on. With only 55 runners it's not easy to find a pace group. I ran 8:20 miles for the first 5 miles next to a couple of women wearing headphones, so no conversation. Miles 6-13 I could see an orange shirted man in the distance, very surprisingly he slowed hard at the half and I passed him by. I encountered very few marathoners in the rest of the race.

The race course loops Okoboji Lake. Comments on previous races complain that the course is hard to follow, but I found it well marked and had no trouble. It can be hard in that in the first half gaps between runners are large. The level of organization and volunteer support for such a small race is extra-ordinary. The race is part of the fictional "University of Okoboji" homecoming weekend, the community puts on an amazing array of events. Very surprising that the participants are so few. Other events include a half marathon, triatholon and 10K, as well as nonrunning events. The marathon goes off at 6 am, the half at 8 and the triatholon in between. The half starts at the middle of the marathon course. I was fortunate to pass the half before it went off, but was passed by the leaders around mile 16. The rest of the run is a bit disheartening since it consists of watching half marathoners and triathletes stream past.

This picture gives an idea of how sparse is the start. Orange shirt is on the left.

While a lot of the run is along highways and roadways, good sections of it are along the lakeshore and next to amazing prairie visitas. This is a picture Rachael took as I passed the half marathon start

I ran the entire route this time, which is a good improvement from the last run. I was worried that it would be to hot in the summer, but the starting temperature was in the mid-60's. It got to the upper 70's by the end, but just the last hour was uncomfortable. The end of the race is increcibly simple, only marathoners get a medal and one has to hunt for a drink of water, but the runners, volunteers and spectators are super friendly and supportive. Traffic was open on the residential streets through the course and some of the drivers were pretty agressive about pushing runners out of the road. Here is a photo at the finish

Okoboji is hyped as "Iowa's Great Lake Region." The runners came from Souix City, Demoines and the North Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa countryside. The lake is teeming with boats and jet skis at mid-summer, nothing like the abundant and peaceful Pamlico we are used to in North Carolina. The shops and restaurants are typical tourist fare. Like the University of Okoboji, the great lake concept is tongue in cheek. After 5 miles out and back to compensate for the fact that the circumference is less than 20 miles, the course loops the lake. When I ran in Michingan, the great lake was around the course, one cannot run around a great lake.

Rachael and I flew to Minneapolis for this run. We stopped at Minneopa Falls and had lunch at the Blue Brics restaurant in downtown Mankato. Here are the falls

We enjoyed Mankato so much that after cleaning up in Iowa we drove back to Mankato for lunch at the Blue Brics again. Here's what that looked like

In the end it does seem like the extra carbo loading was helpful, while going downstairs was hard for a few days, I seemed to recover from this run much faster than usual. Rachael and I ran the Fairview Utah Pioneer Days 5K just 3 days after the marathon. Rachael took 3rd in her age group. I took first in mine at 24:15. The run is at 6500 feet, so times were slow. I'm not sure that anyone ran second in my age group. I was number 25 out of 150, happy just to finish. Kate ran too, we had a great time celebrating Mom's 90th year, here we are together with our medals.

Goals for the next run are to try to bring my weight down a bit and to train at pace a bit more...