Garmin KC Marathon Races (October 21, 2023)
 

Anyone planning to run one of the four Garmin KC Marathon races (5k, 10k, half-marathon, full marathon) this upcoming Saturday? I'm going to be trying the full, which I also ran last year and enjoyed. There were several Bills fans running last year, in town for the Bills-Chiefs game the following day. Might see some Charger fans there this year.

https://www.sportkc.org/marathon

My goals for the race include my 220-pound body not causing any potholes. ;)
My C goal is to finish, B goal is to go sub-5, and A goal is to beat 4 hours and 50 minutes. I set my PR there last year (4:42:36), but I'm about 10 to 15 pounds heavier now.

You wouldn't see Charger fans if they held it in L.A.

Chargers fans?

😂
They have a couple out here in California, but maybe those two aren’t runners😂

LMAO

Bumping for the Sunday crew and visitors

Just had a female friend finish her first marathon in 3:38. I think that's pretty damn impressive. She ran steeplechase in college.

Too many people "run" marathons and think finishing them is some sort of super human feat. It's not. Most are overweight and shouldn't be running anyway. If that many overweight people can finish a marathon, why do people consider it impressive? I could literally finish faster than most of them at a walking pace. Not impressive.

Congratulations to your friend! That's a great accomplishment!

The KC Marathon has a 6-hour time limit and requires that participants maintain a 14-minute per mile pace. If someone is able to walk that long a distance at that fast a pace, that's pretty damn impressive, in my opinion.

Even walking 26 miles is really hard and impressive. It's, like, halfway to space, though admittedly not as vertical.

:LOL:

Heck, even walking 13.1 miles is impressive.
I ran for decades before I ran my first half-marathon, and for that one and almost every one since I took a few breaks to walk, get some refreshments, and pee.
As you know, the half-marathon is a challenging and fun distance.
For KC, the half and the full marathon runners run together from the start to about the end of the 13th mile.

So, together they get to see the Plaza, Westport, downtown, the 18th and Vine district (near my high school, Lincoln), a long climb up Paseo and then through Hyde Park and down Gilham. At 47th (Cleaver Blvd), the half-marathoners turn right for the last little bit to finish in front of the Nelson-Atkins Museum, while the full-marathoners turn left and then run up Troost for a little bit before turning and running toward the neighborhoods north of the Plaza, including Brookside, along Ward Parkway, and Waldo, before turning back and coming back to the finish line. I know all these neighborhoods well because I grew up by Paseo High (around 49th and Paseo) but was bussed to elementary school to the the Brookside area, and then was bussed to Lincoln for junior and senior high. Plus, our parents didn't drive, so we rode buses and walked all over the place. Running the course last year brought back a lot of fond memories, and I'm sure it will again this year.

lewdog, I didn’t ask you how fast you finished your last marathon and how much of it you walked, because the fraction of actual marathon finishers who would post such disrespectful horseshit as you posted is vanishingly small. It’s easy for ignorant people to talk shit, but let’s see you finish a marathon and see if you still believe the horseshit you muttered.

I'm not in good shape these days and need to lose 20-30 pounds. It's slowed me down immensely, so my "runs" are just slow jogs intermixed with walking. I can still do a pretty good distance, but I'm annoyed at how slow I am.

Since I'm mostly walking now, I've switched my long runs to "urban hikes" where I just pick a direction and walk. The furthest I've done is 20 miles and that's really hard on the feet. I keep wanting to do a 26 mile walk, but I don't have it in me right now.

Come down here to sea level where it’s flat and you might be able to gain a few miles, Kevin! I remember the week before my first marathon (in Cincinnati in 2022) I was up there in Denver for a conference and that was a harder place to run, with the altitude and hills!😀

But, yeah, feet get sore regardless!

I keep forgetting about this race for some reason and I've had it on my list for a while, I know a person involved in putting on the Garmin race. I'm doing the Salina Marathon on Nov 4th. Just randomly kind of came up and they were running a $7 sign up special.

That will be my 10th Marathon I think and I've done around 5 50Ks and 2 50 milers with a personal long distance of 55 miles.

Lewdog couldn't be more wrong, 26 miles is 26 miles whether you are hiking or running its always work. Frankly the people spending 5+ hours out there to finish have my respect. I've never run slower than 3:55:00 with a PR of 3:20:02. Is it super human? No but its more work than 99% of people are willing to put in.

Not sure how old your coworker is Lew but she likely ran fast enough to qualify for Boston unless she is really young so what she did is indeed impressive.

Pee?

Could we PG-13 the thread and let you "take a piss"?

Or science it up to "void your bladder"?

I like "Pee" because it's the middle letter in the BPH that messes up this old man's sleep and has me visiting race course porta-pottys for any distance longer than, say, 10 or 13 miles. ;)

Wow, that's awesome! You ultra-marathoners are some badasses. I like how y'all are much less picky about on-course nutrition than a lot of the rest of us are! :)

If somebody could come up with supplements to help restore racehorse-like form they could make a fortune.

Good luck this weekend! I've ran a dozen or so ultras now but only one marathon and all that time on the pavement was murder! Kudos to you pavement pounders, that shit isn't easy!
I'll stick to the woods with all the booze and junk food I can stuff in my face while runnning 30+ miles haha

:LOL:
Running the streets seems easier to me, but I love how you ultra trail runners handle things!

Registration ends at 8 pm today! Not too late!

Not sure if this is the correct thread for this, but:

Things that are 26 miles away are the reason I bought a car.

j/k good luck to all of you fit people.

:LOL:

Thanks, Zebedee

Ended up at 5:14:32 and 18th out of 31 in my age group. Not as fast as I had hoped, but I was pleased with how well I ran the back half, where I moved up over 150 places in the overall.

Congratulations! Nice work! I've got my last long training run tomorrow before Salina and I am ready to taper. My ass is kicked right now.

Great job!

Good luck!

Thanks, Kevin!

She’s 36 years old.

My apologies.

I just have met so many marathon “runners” with bodies like Rosie O’Donnell and John Daly.

I would have no problems walking a marathon and finishing. I just hiked 10 miles at the Grand Canyon with a 5 year old and his pace for half a day.

LMAO

LMAO
Thanks, lewdog!

Bumping this thread because there is a Garmin Marathon coming up again in October in KC. I just started running and apparently am really bad at it by what I read online yet Im not fat or big boned. Figured I would excel more in long distance running. Ive been running since late May and I cannot comprehend how anyone would ever run a marathon let alone a half marathon. I think my peak would be a 5k at running the whole thing.

There are people online who are like I ran for 4 months and ran a 5k in 19 min. I can run a 5k (and I have to quit and walk 0.1 miles after 2 miles before restarting) in around 28 minutes. My lower legs feel like they will explode at the end and Im so physically ****ed that I cant even run for 4 or 5 days after I push myself on a run of that distance.

Anyway not sure if any CPers are runners or have tips for 5k beginner.

I'm looking forward to the 2024 Garmin KC Marathon, which will be my 7th attempt at a marathon, and so far I've completed every one. I've been a runner ever since high school (class of '84), but I never attempted a marathon until 2022.

Running a 5k in around 28 minutes is good and you'll be surprised how much progress you can make with consistent training. An important bit of advice you'll hear other runners say is that comparison is the thief of joy.

Also, there's absolutely nothing wrong with walking during a run. Most runners do that during some or all of their runs. The only folks I've ever heard of who criticized taking walk breaks were either not runners or they were a subset of elite runners in high school or college who look down on other runners. In general, though, you'll see lots of folks taking walk breaks during races and in fact that is how humans tended to run throughout our history. And most runners, including elite runners, don't look down on other runners.

One of the most popular methods for long-distance running in Jeff Galloway's Run-Walk-Run method, https://www.jeffgalloway.com/training/run-walk/ , which is a well-developed method that an elite runner, Jeff Galloway, developed to popularize running. I have used Run-Walk-Run in two situations, either for the last several miles of a long run or race or when recovering from an injury. I use 2-minute runs with 30-second walk breaks. That works very well for me.

The running community tends to be very supportive. If I recall correctly, you're signed up to participate in an upcoming race. I bet you will enjoy it!

Good luck to you.

I think the only advice I can offer is that running is a whole lot mental. Take some music with a lively beat and try to keep your cadence (beats per minute) up on your steps. That's more important than stride length in my opinion.

I stopped the races in 2020 when they all shut down, and I've only run a handful since then. I ran a 5K a couple of weeks ago in about 34 minutes and I was in the top half of finishers. 5K runners are not competitive at all for the most part, so my best advice is to just go and enjoy it.

Plus, if you're like me, you'll get energized by being in a big group of runners, so the race will be easier than the training.

In addition to Jeff Galloway, other good coaches who have books and website content available for new runners include Hal Higdon and Greg McMillan. Basic advice is that at least 80% of your running every week should be at a nice and easy pace, where you can hold a conversation. That helps build up your aerobic capacity. One of the most common mistakes runners make is not going easy enough during their regular runs. In fact, an advantage of the the run-walk-run method is that it helps ensure you spend more time in heart rate zone 2, the one where most of your volume should be.

Hal Higdon has 5k training plans available on his site. His plans for beginners are nice and simple, as you just have to go out there and run at an easy pace. You can add the variety of intensities as you get more experience.
https://www.halhigdon.com/training-p...ing/novice-5k/

Thanks Ill look into that. I definitely pushed myself too hard at first and my legs kinda had shin splints? They still do but it is not as bad. I think I could run an entire 5k start to finish if my legs didnt get pressure and painful. Feet fine. Knees fine. Hips fine. Its like the front of my shin or front of my lowest part of my leg. Usually if I cant run anymore I just stop so perhaps this running walking thinh will help. I told myself I would not run a 5k until I could run the whole thing and at the rate I am progressing I still don't think Ill get there before October

My best times in my runs are always after I take a long break. Even two weeks. I used to like to run a mile as fast as I can but now that Ive decided to run a 5k it appears I need to focus on the longer runs. I can run a mile in 7min 15 seconds but Im dead after that to go more.

That's definitely true. Not only the energy from the other runners and the crowd, but even just having the water and aid stations helps a lot. Plus, you usually taper a week or two before a race, so your legs are fresh. For a 5k or 10k, you might not taper a full week, but taking it easy a few days before is a good idea.

One thing that would surprise people that have never trained for a half-marathon or marathon is that the longest run in typical training plans is not the actual race distance. For example, for a marathon, the training plan might max out with a 20-mile run a few weeks before the marathon. For a half-marathon, you might max out at 10 miles during training.

The idea is that if you can do 20-miles on tired legs, you'll be able to do 26.2 on race day. In fact, whether you even need to do a 20-miler during training is debated. I think it's probably good for most first-timers to have done a 20-miler, but primarily for psychological reasons. Once you realize you can do 26.2 on race day, you don't necessarily need to go that far during your longest runs in training.

Here's a useful guide on shin splints.
https://www.runnersworld.com/health-...gaAjg4EALw_wcB

The way to improve as a runner is with consistent training at paces that help build up your strength without wearing you out and without getting you injured. It's tempting to think that hard workouts are the only way to go, but that is not what actually works for most runners. You'll want to limit the hard sessions to less than 20% of your weekly volume and maybe even save them for race day when you are first getting into the sport. Those hard runs runs don't really build up your aerobic capacity that much and they also have much higher injury risks.

Just slow down and enjoy your runs, man.

In addition to "comparison is the thief of joy", another of my favorite fitness maxims is that "you only benefit from the training you recover from", which emphasizes why it's important to get sleep and take it easy for a day or so after a hard workout. That doesn't mean you can't run the day after a hard running workout, but if you do run, just make it an easy run.

When you run a marathon how fast is your avg mile? What percent of the time are you actually running or are you actually running the entire time? I cant even imagine what someones legs would feel like the next day or after the race if they ran the whole thing. Reminds me of the How I met Your Mother episode when Barney runs the NY Marathon and has no problems but later he cant even use his legs to get off the subway and gets robbed.

Too competitive. I can't imagine doing something and just zoning out and not trying to get better everyday.

My last marathon was the Flying Pig in Cincinnati last May and that was my slowest by quite a bit. It took me 5:42:02 to finish, with my average mile being 12:54 and my average moving pace being 12:26, as there was 9 minutes where I wasn't moving, taking a potty break. According to my Garmin, I ran about 4 hours and 52 minutes and walked about 41 minutes. That race was very hot and humid, and I ended up doing run-walk-run intervals for most of the last 7 miles or so.

I ended up getting pretty beat up by that race, as it aggravated an IT band injury and the heat took me several weeks to recover from, something I'd never had to deal with before. It sent my estimated VO2 Max from 44 down to 42 and I've only just this past week gotten it up to 43. My training for the KC Marathon has been going well and I'm hoping to get in the vicinity of my slowish time from last year. I keep getting fatter with every new marathon, too, about 5 to 10 pounds heavier. :)

The stiff legs from a marathon are mostly amusing. They clear up after a day or three, and of course you get to explain it away by bragging that you just finished a marathon. :)

Its all relative and just takes time. What was once hard becomes insanely easy, at least for a while.

I ran 5Ks and thought why run a 10K that's dumb.
After a bunch of 5ks I started running 10Ks and though 5Ks were a waste of time.
After a bunch of 10ks I ran my first half marathon and thought people who ran marathons were insane.

After 3 half marathons I ran my first marathon. Then I ran another.

The next year I signed up for a 50K. (31 miles)

The next year I ran a 50 miler.

Then I was doing marathons and 50Ks as training runs.

Actually got to run Boston in 2019.

To date I've run a bunch of marathons almost as many 50Ks, 2-50 milers including a 55 miler and in 2020 trained for a 100 miler that got cancelled due to covid then got pissed and said **** it I'm not doing long distance anymore. Franky training wasn't going well anyway.

Today a 25K is about the longest distance I want to run and that's usually trail of some sort.

Its all perspective. And do it while you are youngish because after you hit 50 it gets way harder. Just stay active.

my $.02

Great advice and kudos for qualifying for Boston! That's awesome!

Out of curiosity, I looked up my stats from last year's Garmin. Then my estimated VO2 Max was 46 and I ran nearly 5 hours, walked only about 7 minutes and was idle about 7 minutes (for a potty break). Even though I was fitter then, I sorta think I might beat last year's time this year, because I have more experience with using the run-walk-run method and that technique can actually boost one's average pace because of the way it builds in little recovery periods.

You are a sicko. That is bad ass man. I think the KC Marathon is a Boston Marathon qualifier or something I read. I need to get those shoes with wheels on 'em. Knock out that marathon 😆

Experience has a lot to do with racing. You learn a lot about how you handle things.

Another thing to remember for anyone running is a bad training run needs to be brushed off as long its not reoccurring and the same with a bad race. Some days just don't work out.

Don't let a bad day training or racing make you want to stop, its just a day, like a bad Chiefs game midseason .:D

Most road marathons are Boston qualifiers. The Garmin Olathe race is pretty popular for that because its flat and fast.

I was a little confused by the map. It says the 5k in one spot is 3.1 miles but on the map it says it is 3.25 miles. 0.15 mile difference is a big deal sad to say.

Our marathon here in Sacramento, the California International Marathon, is very popular for runners seeking a Boston Qualifying time (https://www.baa.org/races/boston-mar...alifying-races), because it's net downhill. A lot of folks come from out-of-town to run it, and many end up being surprised by the roller coaster hills at the beginning of the race, which can chew up the unprepared. I mostly run in Davis and Sacramento, which are very, very flat, but I mostly do my Saturday long runs out in Folsom, near where the CIM starts, because that's where the hills are. My run last Saturday came within two blocks of the CIM start and for that 17-mile loop, I ended up with 900 feet of climbing, good preparation for the KC marathon and its many hills.

I got to run in Overland Park a few times a couple of weeks ago. Great running trails there!

Which marathon did you use to qualify for Boston, Marcellus?

Whichever one it was, you must have had a great time, as those qualifying standards are impressive!

The last Garmin 5k that I ran a few years back had a course length of just under 3 miles. I finished just a shade over 23 minutes. It hurt.

I bet. I hope they have defibrillators

Great time for a 5k!

Man, having the distance off that much for a 5k would drive me crazy, especially with the name Garmin attached to it, as I depend on their watches for accuracy. Usually, in races, my Garmin watch says I ran further than the actual race distance, which makes sense, given that I meander around to get water and shade. My fastest half-marathon, though, was a February race on a course that mostly was on streets and trails near my home, and I ran geodesics for that race, knowing the trails so well. My watch said I was about a quarter mile shy of 13.1 miles when I got to the finish line, so I kept running, because in my vanity I wanted to have a sub 2-hour half-marathon recorded in my Garmin account. ;)

Little Rock Marathon which is a really fun event but its fairly hilly on the back half. Not the ideal BQ course but I knew it well. I have run that event 3 times, I recommend it for a good time. Lots of spectators etc...Huge finishers metal and they know how to throw a party on the course.

I made the Boston cutoff by only 6 seconds.

You may or may not know this but running a BQ doesn't automatically get you in, it allows you to apply to enter, then they average out the times of all the entries under the BQ time that will get them the number they need for each age group. My qualifying time was almost 5 minutes faster than BQ but the entries were so fast that year the cutoff got moved another 4 min 54 seconds. I thought I was going to be automatic but barely squeezed in. The times have gotten so fast they recently bumped the age group BQ times 5 minutes just to apply so its just getting harder and harder.

Pretty wild 6 seconds over 26.2+ miles was the difference and there is a huge hill almost a half mile long at the start of mile 25 on the course. I easily could have lost another 6 seconds on that hill alone.

I'm not nearly as fast as I used to be and the qualifying times keep getting bumped up so its getting insane. I may give it another shot when I turn 55 in a few years as you get another 10 min at age 55.

I've heard good things about that Little Rock marathon. Any BQ is impressive, but it's even more impressive on a tough course like that! I've thought about running Little Rock, because it's in a mild time of year, March, and it would be interesting to visit Arkansas.

I'm glad you beat the cutoff for the year you qualified! :toast:

There were a lot of disappointed runners this year because Boston had a 5:29 cutoff this year, even though they had a 0:00 cutoff in 2022 and 2023, due to COVID.

Great weather in KC for the marathon this morning and I finished about 5 minutes faster than last year. I was hoping to beat 5:20 and I ended up beating 5:10.

I hope everyone that ran an event today had fun, especially if it was part of the Garmin KC Marathon set of races!

Nice work!

Really was great weather. How bad do your legs hurt trying to get up stairs? I can't even imagine.

They’re pretty cranky, but they will feel better in a day or so. Running down the last hill, on 51st Street to Brookside, was a little rough!😂

Did you have a fun race?

I liked it. I just like competing. It was my first 5k but the race distance was indeed off and longer. The map said 3.25 miles so I expected it. When I got done my Garmin watch had 3.23 miles. I started my watch right as I crossed the starting line...which in itself took forever to get to since we were packed in there like cattle so my first mile was really slow. I ran it in 27:37 but it would have been faster if it was a true 5 kilometers.

That thing is quite an event. I probably bit off more than I can chew. I'm not a very good runner but there were professional looking people everywhere. Tents everywhere. Vendors. It was quite the deal. Next year I plan to either get there early or watch the end of the marathon finish to really soak it in.

You did great! Congratulations!
Keep us posted on your next event!

Very cool but remember for future reference almost no race is exact distance and GPS watches aren’t perfectly accurate either.

Most races just want to make sure they aren’t short because it disqualifies any times for records and believe it or not state records for age and gender happen at events all the time. So if anything they go a bit long rather than risk being short.
Plus it’s just hard to make a course that hits exact distances anyway.

If you have a separate starting line and finishing line it should be easy to get it CLOSE and they wouldnt even be that far apart. My watch is never off by more than .01 in a 3.1 mile area. Ive tested it from my to mile post as well compared to a different device for most accuracy. I would think you could get it within .02 miles either way.

LMAO I’ve ran thousands of miles using a GPS watch with other people
wearing GPS watches and they rarely match completely. They are accurate but your concept of accuracy being within .02 over 3.1 miles being some standard is dead wrong.

Something as simple as how you swing your arm when your run can change the accuracy. Elevation changes affect accuracy as well.

Then there is the concept of how you run taking when your turns etc….

But hey don’t listen to me I obviously have no clue about any of this.

I don't think I must be explaining myself very well. I believe devices can be off but my point is the course was simply too long even compared to the margin of error on any device. .01 or .02 miles is one thing but a .13 or .14 difference over 3.1 miles is a bunch. It was just disappointing it was so much longer than I had hoped.

I'm just providing my experiences and testing I've done with my device. Not trying to argue. I used to use a device that was not very accurate and had a margin of error higher than my S62 Garmin so I switched. Certainly agree different devices will be off a tad. Based on the link of the course map of the 5k it ends up saying it is 3.25 miles. As a seasoned runner like yourself .14 or .15 difference is not a big deal to you but as a shitty runner like myself it is a big deal.

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/course/130702713

I ran a 5k course a couple weeks ago based on the map and it came out at almost exactly 5 kilometers on my watch. Thats all I can tell you.

I'm going to try to do the 5k at the next KC run. I've been meaning to since 2022 but always end up being extremely lazy in September/October for some reason.

Have you done any other 5ks around town? Was wondering what any other good ones they have around town. I'd kind of like to do one either downtown KC or in some nature setting.

I've never done any type of organized run. There's one in Lee's summit next weekend around Longview college. That might get into the woods/lake area.