38th Annual Dam to Dam

Somewhere in the 9:00-9:30 pace start for the 38th Annual Dam to Dam

Small History of Dam to Dam

Erin ran her first Dam to Dam on Saturday, June 3. It was the second time I ran it, but it was the first time since it changed to a half marathon distance in 2014. Prior to this, it was a 20K. 

Using the Dam to Dam 20K and half marathon results, I created a snapshot of the number of finishers each year and the fastest male and female time over the years.  

Growth of Number of DAM to DAM Finishers from 1980-2017

An interesting finding was that the number of male runners was larger than the number of female runners in the DAM to DAM by a significant amount from 1980-2009. Since 2010, the opposite has been true. There have been significantly more female finishers than male in the DAM to DAM. Way to go females!

Finish Times for the Fastest Male and Females from 1980-2017

The last four times above reflect the jump to the half marathon distance. It should be noted that the 1999 finish times needed to be adjusted since the course was inadvertently 177 meters short according to DAM to DAM history. 

The fastest male 20K time was 59:23 in 1985 recorded by Phil Coppess while the fastest 20K time by a female finisher was 1:07:52 in 2012 by Diane Nukuri. It should be noted that the course changed in 2012, and also produced the third fastest male time. 

Our Experience

Erin and I were not prepared for this run. Although we had just finished a week of rest, the previous weekend had us riding 200 miles over 3 days in the Cottonwood 200. Neither of us got our 10 mile training run in. I think we both capped at 7 or 8 mile training runs. This reflected on race day, and we both finished 40-50 minutes longer than we wanted to.

My legs gave out and would not work from about 10 miles to the finish. After several poor attempts at running between mile 10 and 11, I finally gave in and walked the remaining distance, finishing in 2:55:03. 

Erin, who is much more sensitive to heat than I am, had to run at a much slower pace. She was able to keep running for the whole race, with her natural walking breaks. Finishing in 3:08:46, she walked right to the medical tent since she was feeling dizzy and couldn't think straight enough to operate her phone.  

Whatever! We crossed the finish line. We did it; not how we wanted, but we got it done. 

Once Erin had cooled down enough and her dizziness subsided, we joined friends at Vivian's Diner and Drinks for some brunch. They had a really good bloody Mary, Surly's Todd the Axe Man in the bottle (it served as a wonderful beer back), and a great brunch menu. We were happy to be introduced to Vivian's and look forward to our next visit.

If you look closely and deeply into our eyes, you can detect an intense amount of pain and suffering.

This Friday, I will be getting up early and traveling to Tribune, KS for a short ride to the Colorado border and back. On Saturday, I begin my first Bike Across Kansas. As I'm not taking the laptop on this adventure, I will most likely not be blogging.