Number 45 was the Duke City Marathon in Albuquerque, New Mexico on October 18, 2021. I finished in 4:57:54, seventh of 14 in my age group. This was my slowest regular marathon, it was really really hard for some reason. I ran the first half in 2:10, not sure what happened to bring me down in the second half. Rachael ran the half marathon, finishing in 2:36:57. I had hoped that this run would be faster than Mesa Falls, which was 6 weeks earlier. Really don't know what went wrong. I felt great for the first 6 miles. Miles 6 to 13.1 I was really hoping to find a portapotty. There were two at the turn, but I turned out not to be the only person with this wish and so I had to wait a few minutes. The race is out and back along the Rio Grande river trail, very isolated most of the way, but fairly crowded at the start as runners sort themselves out.

Everything was fine, weather was great, but somehow the second half was agony. Too soon since the last run? To great an altitude? Do I have covid and not know it? I don't know. I had a couple of energy bars for breakfast, plenty of gel packs during the run. It sucks to get old. I ran 3:33 six years ago. Hmm...

We drove to Albuquerque on Friday. I had a business meeting there, but we found time to visit the botanical garden, here we are in the Japanese section

We took the ART bus downtown for dinner in Old Town. Saturday morning was cold, we waited for counter service at the Grove Market on Central but had our choice of outdoor seating once we made our order. The Grove seems to have an hour line for avocado toast on weekends. Bit crazy, but the food scene in Albuquerque seems amazing for such a small town. Saturday night we went to the Sawmill Market food court, which was both amazing and amazingly crowded.

The start on Sunday was hopeful. I walked the mile from the hotel to civic plaza, here I am arriving. I got there are at 6:40 am, an amazing singer hit the high notes in the National Anthem at 6:45, a very helpful volunteer took stowed the bag of pajamas I was wearing to keep warm, and it was time to rumble.

New Mexico takes covid seriously, indoor masks required everywhere and your phone asks if it can track you. But it wasn't taken seriously at the start of the marathon, where a bunch of wheezers and hackers packed in tight, here, just before the start, is likely where I met death:

And then we were off. Central avenue was closed for the run, the first mile and half are through the old city down to the river, then up the river for a long lonely time and a desperate struggle home. I wish I knew which of the many factors made me so slow, but I don't and I can't go back to Duke City 10 times to figure it out.

Coming home down the middle of Central through the business district was beautiful. Enchanting even. My worthless fit bit ran out of battery in the first half, so I didn't know how slow I was, but I knew that I hadn't hurt so bad in a long long time. Screw it, I thought, I am going to get out my phone and take pictures of the amazing last mile. But when I got out my phone to start, I found that the time was 11:55. 5 minutes to a 5 hour plus marathon. horror. so I just kicked it home hard. Maybe I could have kicked hard in the entire second half, maybe the bad times are just mental. I used to watch my calves heave and play on their own after a hard run. My calves don't do that anymore, but I hurt plenty bad after this one. Just don't understand why it should be slower than Mesa Falls. Here I am kicking to beat some poor lady stopping to walk home:

and here I'm bringing it over the line:

We washed up, got a subway sandwich for the car and listened to a weird murder mystery as we drove home. The sun was just setting as we came into to Tucson. I may be in the sunset of my running career, but sunset looks nice.