Runner, College Professor to Attempt World Record with Dribbling Marathon

On April 10^th, local marathoner Mark Ott will try to break the world’s record for the fastest marathon while dribbling a basketball in the upcoming Martian Marathon in Dearborn.

Ott, a Jackson resident and a serious runner since 2005, has been stepping up his running intensity each year and is now trying to achieve something unique by breaking a world record. He ran his first marathon in June, 2006 in South Bend, Indiana, and was hooked.

“When I was younger, I though a 10K race (6.2 miles) was way too far to race,” but now he considers such distance speedwork, a routine part of his training. After a few more marathons, he decided to see if he could run a marathon in each of the 50 U.S. states before he turned 40 years old. Running his first marathon two months shy of his 34^th birthday meant he would have knock them off quickly, which is why he now runs at least one marathon a month, usually in a state he has not yet crossed off his list. That goal in sight with 16 states left to go, he started to looking towards the next challenge.
In the winter months, Ott does not enjoy running out in the Michigan cold and spends quite some time running in the fieldhouse at Jackson Community College where he is a chemistry professor. One time last winter he wanted to break up the monotony of running for an hour and a half on a track only 200 meters long, so he decided to pick up a basketball and dribble while running.

“I am horrible at basketball, always have been. I can’t shoot to save my life” he said, adding that dribbling made the workout go by faster, occupying just enough of his mind.

In early January of this year, Ott was dribbling once again and wondered if there was even a record for the fastest marathon while dribbling a basketball. Sure enough, there was and the current record time was just over 3 hours and 48 minutes, a time he thought he could easily beat. “It just took some extra training, spending hours on end dribbling a basketball, concentrating and not losing control,” Ott said when talking of the new wrinkles of his training.

Ott chose the Martian Marathon in Dearborn for his attempt for a few reasons. He ran the Martian half marathon back in 2006 in preparation for his first marathon. “I remember it being a well organized event, flat and fast. Attempting the record in a marathon close to home will make it even more special.”
He won’t have much time to rest, though. One week after his world record attempt, he is running a 24-hour race in Virginia, where competitors see how far they can run in a 24-hour block of time.

“I have been training for that for a while now,” Ott said, noting he thinks 100 miles is a reasonable expectation. “A few weeks ago I ran 40 miles in a little over 5 hours, and I wasn’t dead after that.”Someday he’ll stop running, but not any day soon!

Ok, so it seems in most of the race pics in this blog, you see me flashing a 2 finger ‘peace’ sign with my hand. It is not just a race tradition, it seems to be a picture tradition. I submit to you a picture from (about) 1986 when I was 14:

As you see, I seem to have started the tradition a few years ago…

 After the fiasco that was the Rocket City Marathon, and my lack of recovery since, I am officially bailing on a race I am registered for, the Mississippi Blues Marathon. My first DNS (did not start) is also breaking my string of 14 straight months with at least one marathon finished.
  Now I just need to concentrate on recovering from my injuries so I can race the other marathon I am registered for in the middle of February.

Ok, So I left my work at 2:30 pm on Thursday, 11/13, and arrived back at my work 2:30pm on Monday 11/17, exactly 96 hours later. In that time frame the following happened…
Miles driven: 1833
Time spent driving: 30 hours
Number of States passed through: 5
Marathons ran: 2
Miles ran: 52.44
Time spent running: 7 hours, 4 min, 3 seconds
Time spent sleeping: Not enough
Mass of ibuprophen consumed: 4000 mg
Total weight lost/gained: 35 pounds
Large Mochas consumed: 12
Different hotels stayed at: 4
Muscles sore: Number of muscles in my body-6, but I am not sure which 6.
New t-shirts obtained: 3

Now THAT was a life experience I will never forget…

Near Lone Pine, CA
22 miles in 13 hours, 5 minutes
     Ok, so technically not a ‘race’ I am still putting this little jaunt in my running blog. It counted as my long ‘run’ for the week and I am still sore days afterwards.
     My brother Michael and I now have an annual tradition (this being our third year) of getting together and tackling some mountain in a beautiful part of the country.  This year we decided to do the 22 mile round trip hike from the Whitney Portal to the top of Mt. Whitney, the highest point in the continental U.S. Now the length might not seem that hard, but you are going from ~8500’ to ~14500’. That 6000 feet of elevation gain is not huge, but it makes a difference when you get over 12,000’ as the amount of oxygen in each breath starts getting  smaller than what your lungs want.
     We started out a little after 5 am, with the sun just barely beginning to light our way. We passed some people early on who were attempting the same feat (up and down in a day, which is considered ‘difficult’, most people go halfway up one day then peak and down the next) that started out as early as 3 am.  It had rained the night before and the storms had knocked down the smoke from recent wildfires in California. There were still clouds in the area, and we did not see direct sunlight until sometime after 9 am. The temperature all day was very nice, ranging from ~55-70 all day.  Total time in direct sunlight over the 13 hour hike was probably 90 minutes.
     My brother and I remembered topics of conversation by their elevation. Presidential politics was at 10,000’. World peace at about 10,500’. What to do with all money that Saudi Arabia has was at about 11,000. Major life epiphany confessed to my brother was at about 12,000.
Above 12,000 feet, the oxygen gets thin enough that people start to show the effects of altitude sickness. Back in 2006 when Michael and I conquered Mt. Tyndall, I started to get a dull headache at about 12,500’ and stayed with me to the peak (just over 14,000’) until we were back below 12,000’. This time, I was blessed with not getting the headache until over 13,500’, but it lingered until well below 10,000’, which was a bummer.
     Mt. Whitney, the highest place in the lower 48, is not even really a mountain as it has no definitive ‘peak’. Having hiked a lot in the mountains I realized that if Whitney was NOT the highest point in the lower 48, it would not even received a name. It is more of a plateau. No ‘peak’ per se, but a gentle walk up with one steep (narrow) side. I am sorry, I was a little disappointed.
     At the top is a 100 year old stone building (built as an observatory) that functioned as a shelter. While we rested inside we pawned off some of the 3+ gallons of Gatorade we had from the trip (We started with just shy of 4 gallons because we didn’t know how hot it would be and how much we needed) and some food to people who not as prepared as us. They were quite grateful.
      A little wine to celebrate with our cheese and crackers (no joke) and it was time to head back down.  There is a register there at the top and ~53 people had logged their triumph THAT DAY before us, at 12 noon. A popular spot, for sure. A relatively even slope 10+ mile hike up and you will have lots of people doing it. There was nothing technical about this hike, and you never had to use your hands. The nice overcast weather killed our view at the top, (we were in the middle of a thick cloud) which kind of stunk, but we got good pictures anyways on other parts of the hike.
Now, there are only 12 peaks in CA whose elevation is greater than 14,000’. And one of them was only 250 m (horizontally) off the Whitney trail, called Mt. Muir. While thousands of people climb Whitney every year, Muir is much less tackled. Muir is a technical climb, having to literally ‘climb’ large rocks. While the ‘peak’ (and I use that term loosely) of Mt. Whitney is maybe 50m x 50m, the peak of Mt. Muir is maybe 2m x 2m, and a hell of a lot more dangerous. Steep slopes on each side (On on side the drop off is effectively 3000 feet) meant that when you got to the top, your pucker factor is about 11.
     I sat on the top for less than 3 minutes, signing a very OLD log book whose entries went back at least until 1996. It was very clear that very few people visit Mt. Muir compared to Mt. Whitney.
After that little excitement, it was a quick (If you call 4.5 hours quick) descent back to civilization, clean clothes and a nice steak dinner. Yum!!
7 Hours up, 1.5 hours on top,  4.5 hours down.  Not a bad day hike. Not bad at all.

  For a very long time there was (I always believed) only one person who read my blog besides me, and that was my dearest Aunt Nancy, my Mother’s only sibling. She loved to read my race entries and always would bother me if I was not quick to update it after a race. It is because of her that I at least put a cursory race entry up the day of each race.
     She had failing health for a few years now, and 4 hours ago, she passed away. All three of her kids were by her side, young grandchildren mere feet away. I always said that she was the person most prepared for death. Calm, not denying it, ready for the next journey. She truly lived her life the way she wanted too, enjoying it. She always knew it would end, and she was ready, darnit. When I visited her for the last time last Christmas, she had great fun telling my brother George and me about the difference between hospital staff and Hospice staff. She joked ‘The hospice people come in and say ‘Here’s your Morphine!’ Still in pain? Have some more!”‘.
     I got very close to her when I was in graduate school (University of Minnesota) living in the same town I saw her at least once a week. We shared a common passion, Jiffy brand Corn Muffins. Whenever I visited, I made them for breakfast for us. She always said they were only good straight out of the oven, and boy was she right. When I first moved to Minneapolis she let me ’live’ on her front porch for a few weeks until I got my own apartment. When I had to come back for 5 weeks in the summer of 1999 to defend my thesis (I had already moved to Wyoming for my first job the fall previous) and teach a course at the UofM, she let me stay with her with open arms.
     She lived in a huge house build at the turn of the 20th century. She prided herself in telling people she moved into the house the same day the JFK was shot. That house was a rock, always there, with her standing guard. I remember being a very small boy visiting her for Christmas and sleeping on the back porch with teh windows open, even if it was freezing outside. It was just the ‘cool’ place to sleep. 
   I would have to say she is the closest family member to me outside my immediate family, hands down. Her stories and sense of humor were so enjoyable. I will miss her very much.

A sad day for me and my poor under-read blog. Her spirit will always live here, though. As long as I run and blog, I do it for her.

 Take care Nanc. I miss you already.

~Your ‘Marko’

A nice little site that will give you a calendar with sunrise/sunset (and twilight) times as well as moonrise/moonset times. I think this is great for me as I am doing lots of training during the winter monthes early in the morning, so it is nice to know when the moon is coming up as I plan.

http://www.sunrisesunset.com/

This image should say it all…

Ok, so for a long long time, marathon runners were the kooks, the freaks, the people that were called crazy for running for 26.2 miles for no real reason. Over the past few decades, the marathon has become a goal to all sorts of people, not just runners. There are many people who are not ‘runners’ who decide they want to conquer the marathon, just to say they did it. They train for maybe 6 months, run the marathon, and then never run again. Over 400,000 people finished a marathon last year. Its hetting so ‘anyone’ can do a marathon, so it is not so cool anymore.

After I ran my first marathon last June, I started thinking about the ‘next’ distance, the so called ‘ultra marathons’. An ‘Ultra’ is (technically) any race longer than 26.2 miles, and I figured if I can do 26.2, why not 50? (or 100?) So I decided to do a little research and find a 50 miler close by.

The Chicago Lakefront 50 is in early november, a mere 2 weeks after the Detroit marathon that I signed up for a while ago. Originally, Detroit was going to be my boston qualifying attempt, but no longer since I qualified just fine back in June at Sunburst. So now, I can run the Detroit marathon as my last 20+ mile training run for the Ultra.

Ultras are different birds than marathons in more than the obvious ways. You can survive a marathon without eating anything during the run (if you have ‘loaded up’ properly) but in a 50 mile race that is impossible. You just HAVE to eat something whilst running. I am not a huge fan of the ‘Gu‘ type energy gels for running, I just don’t like the taste nor texture. As such, I have been trying some other things, all with good success, including caramel apple suckers, peanut butter sandwiches, and flat (so you don’t get an upset stomach whilse running from the carbonation) coca-cola.

The other difference in training is that you have to get a lot more miles on your feet. When training for a marathon, most training schedules say not to run longer than 20-22 miles in your long runs. They say the excitement of the race will get you through the last 4-6 miles so you don’t need to run 26 miles in any one training run. When training for a 50 miler, you need time on your feet. So I have done a few really longs runs (31.25 miles is the longest so far) and almost doubled my weekly mileage up to 80+ miles/ week. The only ill effects I can feel is a nagging soreness in my right ankle. Ice, a ankle brace and ibuprofen seem to be helping there though.

I sent in my registration this morning, so I am in for it. We’ll see what happens….

Ok, so I will never be good enough to finish ‘in the money’ of any race, but I found the next best thing. Today I officially became the assistant cross country coach at Jackson Community College. I see this as an oppurtunity to mesh two things I love to do, run and teach. I am glad to be working with a great head coach, Brian Olsen, who has years of experience and is a nice guy to boot.

What a cool gig!