I am happy to say that I have now finished marathon #24 in state #24 ~ the "Run With the Horses" marathon in Green River, Wyoming. It is called "Run With the Horses" because there are a lot of wild horses in this area, and marathoners sometimes see these horses during the marathon. For me, it should be called "Run Without the Horses," because I was not lucky enough to see any of these critters. Actually, I didn't run the whole time ~ I walked quite a bit of it ~ so maybe it should be called "Not-Run, Without Horses."
Whatever it's called, this was not the usual urban marathon or small-town event. It's out in the middle of the high desert, and not an easy course! Since I am not in the best condition after having run two other challenging marathons in the last five weeks, I even considered not going. Fortunately, I am very stubborn and not very smart ~ I had paid the entry fee, and dagnabbit, I was going to do this marathon!
The difficult thing about this course is the elevation. It is basically plateau-shaped, with the first five or six miles mostly uphill, the majority of the course on "rolling hills" at around 7,000 feet altitude, and the last six or eight miles mostly downhill. I have never run a course quite like this before ~ I did not know whether the downhill part would be as tough as the all-downhill marathons I have done, or if 7,000 feet would be any comparison to the Estes Park Marathon, which was even higher.
The downhill turned out to be not much of a problem. Of course, that late in the marathon, you are pretty tired, so I really felt the pounding of it, but I appreciated the downhill slope, and my quads still had a lot of strength left by then.
In fact, I am not very sore at all, the day after the event. The difficult thing about this course was definitely the elevation! I just read that at 7,000 feet, you get 25% less oxygen, and with this kind of aerobic activity, you really notice it! Under normal conditions, I have no problem running for long stretches ~ I usually run through three songs on my Ipod between walk breaks. By the time I got to mile 6, the top of the plateau, I could rarely run through an entire song.
I woke up at 3 am, did my morning rituals, and we drove to Green River. The marathoners got on the buses at 5:15, and they dropped us of at the start of the course. This was a very small event, so there were no frills ~ no chip timing, no big fancy start line ~ not even a big fancy finish line! ~ just two people waving you in, one to give you a medal, and the other to write down your time. There were two porta-pots at the start area, but as usual, I did not use them. I did not want to wait in line in the cold ~I stayed inside the bus! (I usually go potty at about mile 6, because the portapots along the course are not as stinky as the ones at the start!)
It seemed to me that all of the runners on my bus were 50-State people. I did not meet a single local runner, or any first-timers. These small marathons often attract the 50-Staters. The bus driver was very friendly, and couldn't believe that we came from all over the country "just for this!"
It was sunrise when we started. I always start (and finish!) at or near the back of the pack. For the runner on the right in the above photo, this was his 50th state! He will be receiving a special trophy from the club.
These two guys (above) are my heroes. Burt (on the left) is 82, and this was his 298th marathon. Charlie (on the right) is 71, and has run about half that many. He is now working on his second round of the 50 states, and running all of them while in his 70s. Both of these runners were at my last marathon two weeks ago, and they each have run at least one marathon in between. We have about the same pace, so I have been lucky enough to meet both of them and run with them a little bit. Burt was the one who finished right after me at the Paavo Nurmi in Wisconsin.
The marathon course was on a scenic road, and there were several markers explaining the geographic features and some historical facts. How often have I traveled to places, and not stopped to read the markers? I photographed each one during the marathon, and while I did not always take the time to read it at the moment, I've enjoyed reading it from my photographs. Digital cameras are so cool!
We were very lucky with the weather, I think. For the first half of the marathon, it was in the 40s and maybe low 50s ~ perfect running weather ~ and nice cloud cover. I even felt a few light sprinkles. Then I felt more sprinkles, and realized the cap to my bottle of Pedialyte was not completely screwed on.
One of the dangers of high altitude running is dehydration. I really felt this last year at the Estes Park Marathon, and despite my best efforts to stay hydrated, I had to walk most of the second half, just to make sure I could finish. So for this one, I decided to bring a bottle of Pedialyte, which my dear daughter bought for me. I used to give it to her, when she was a baby and got sick. This is the best thing you can drink, when it comes to running in extreme conditions ~ forget Gatorade, and go for the best. It is sickly sweet, so I wouldn't use it for normal conditions, but I think it really did keep me going during this run.
I'm not sure the pictures really do it justice. The beauty of the scenery was in the broad vistas, so it was difficult to photograph. There was rarely a "focal point," and I couldn't get everything I wanted in one shot!
There were several places along the course where we could see the towns. Rock Springs was where our hotel was, twelve miles from Green River.
An interesting thing about this marathon ~ It was one of my slowest (maybe even THE slowest ~ I haven't checked the results yet! ~ If you haven't guessed, I am not overly concerned with my finishing time!) ~ but despite the fact that I was out there for so many hours, the time between miles seemed to fly. The scenery for most of the course was pretty much the same. There were very few notable surprises as I went along. I would expect that this would make it seem to take forever! But the opposite was true. For most of the marathon, almost every time I came upon a mile marker, I thought, "already??!"
Maybe that is because when the scenery is "busy," there are more objects, causing more visual "friction," like speed bumps, slowing down the perceived duration of the run. In this landscape, there was nothing to slow down my perception of the passage of time.
Pilot Butte was a major landmark, visible for almost the entire run!
There was even a marker telling me about the wild horses I didn't see. A runner had put some items on the marker, because he needed to readjust his cargo. When he saw that I was taking a picture of the marker, he started to pick his things up, but I said "No, leave them there ~ it's part of the story!"
At the halfway point, the weather changed. The sun came out, and while it was not hot, the sun can have a major effect when you are at that altitude. I used a lot of sunscreen in the second half. At this point, too, the running became much harder. I would say it is about four times harder to run at 7,000 feet than it is at sea level. You feel very out of shape, and running for just a short distance makes you breathe very heavily!
We need a little Christmas. Right this very minute. This is just one of the many mirages I saw out there in the high desert.
By mile 17, I often start feeling weary during
any marathon, but especially this one! I started taking pictures of mile markers, just for something different! (It also helps me remember approximately what point in the course each photo is from).
Green River, Wyoming was established when the Union Pacific Railroad was built, I believe. The railroad is still there, a major presence in the town.
There were water stops every two miles, and this was my salvation! I drank at least one cup of water at every station. I didn't drink the Gatorade, because I had the Pedialyte, Skittles, and Sports Beans. I have to be careful what I put in my stomach before and during a marathon. It doesn't take much to make me sick, so it is difficult for me to get enough fuel for 26.2 miles. My guts were relatively kind to me for this one!
The volunteers were kind to me, as well. Most of them were not runners themselves, and some of them were very curious about this whole running thing. I really appreciate that people are willing to sit out here for hours to give us water! There is no cell phone signal out there ~ at least my phone didn't work. One lady said "Oh, I like the solitude ~ they can't find me out here!" I said "You must be a mother!" (She was). All of the volunteers were wonderful. Some of them were getting caught up on their reading.
As this man passed me, he told me this is his 97th marathon. He said "the heat is really making it difficult." I agreed.
Mile 20 is always a welcome landmark. When you make it to mile 20, you usually feel like you can make it the rest of the way.
They produce a lot of "trona" in this area. I had never heard of it, but it is a mineral that is used in many everyday products.
The last six miles were very much downhill. I had been worried about this, but now I know that downhill is not so bad at the
end of a marathon ~ it is only brutal if it is downhill for most of the course. Don't get me wrong ~ the last six miles were still ~ you know ~ the last six miles! They are never easy. But I was glad to let gravity help a bit. It also helped tremendously that we were getting into lower altitude. By mile 18, the end of the high portion of the plateau, I actually had a little pain in my lung when I was running. Just kind of a little kink in my chest. (Therefore, I walked!) It wasn't anything to worry about ~ I knew it was just the altitude, and it went away as we started the descent.
These last few miles were some of the prettiest part of the course. You could see the rock formations close up ~ it was like running through a canyon.
Mile 24 was right before we ran (or walked) into town. There, I finally saw some horses! They were not wild horses (but maybe they used to be? People sometimes adopt the wild horses.) That morning, there was a horse race event going on during the marathon, using part of the same course. So I had seen plenty of evidence of horses, but no actual horses until now.
During the last mile, my support crew (Audrey) was there to run (or walk) with me to the finish line. Our cell phone/email connection had failed, and she had no idea when to expect me. At one point, she saw two runners running together, and recognized the woman as Paula, whom I had run/walked the Estes Park Marathon with last year. So she asked Paula if she knew approximately where I might be. Paula said "I didn't know she was going to be here!" And as it turns out, the man she was running with was Ray ("MacGyver"), whom I had run the Arizona marathon with last January! It really is a small world on the marathon circuit!
When I finally got to Audrey, she said she could run with me, even though she was not wearing running shoes. I said, "No, I want to walk. I
could run a little ~ but I'm just being lazy!" Actually, I was slowing down on purpose, because I really wanted a chance to chat with Charlie and Burt before we left. I didn't know how far back they were, because I hadn't seen them in a few miles, but I didn't think they were too far behind me. I'm starting to see how these marathons are kind of like reunions of old friends, and I'm always amazed and surprised to see people I've met at other marathons!
The last mile was through town. We thought this house was cute.
And some of the old buildings were really interesting, too.
Finally, the last "hill" ~ a pedestrian overpass. At this point, we saw Burt coming up behind us, running strong.
Here is Burt, coming down the overpass. When he passed me, he said, "You're not going to let an old geezer pass you, are you?!" I said "I would be
honored to get beat by you! It would be my
privilege!" After all, I am a "geezer in training."
At the finish line, it was great to see Ray again. (See my account of the January marathon in my blog). He is a member of "Marathon Maniacs," and I had promised him that I would join that club too ~ I am proud to be eligible, so I'm not sure why I have not gotten around to joining yet. (I think it has to do with the "I am not worthy" syndrome. I will never be able to live up to the craziness of some of these guys!) I am sorry that I did not get to talk with Paula ~ I don't know what was wrong with me, but I think I left a few brain cells out on the course, as usual, and I was in such a hurry to get on the road. A 13 hour drive is pretty serious business, even with help, so I really did have to leave quickly.
Before I left, I did make sure to chat with Burt. He won his age group award, and also a special trophy for being the oldest runner. It is a placque mounted on trona! I didn't get to see Charlie, but I know I will see him again at future marathons. I will see all of these people again, if I'm lucky!
The drive home was a marathon in itself. Audrey drove the Wyoming part, hoping I would take a nap, but I wasn't a bit sleepy!
We noticed these funny fences ~ they are all over Wyoming, it seems. I wondered what they were for, because they didn't enclose anything, so they couldn't be useful for keeping cattle confined, and they were a strange "leaning" design. After doing a little Googling, we concluded that they are "snow fences." They must keep the snow from drifting onto the highway. The only way to be sure is to come back in the winter, I guess. Or maybe somebody can tell us if we guessed right?
I drove the Nebraska stretch, because I wanted another chance at not taking a wrong turn on Highway 2 south of Lincoln, like I did last time. Don't need to see that cornfield again! By the time we got to Nebraska City, it was way past midnight, and I was starting to get dangerously sleepy. At that point, Audrey took over, and drove the Iowa/Missouri part. We got home at about 4am. What a day!
Now I have one more medal to put up on the board. This one is very shiny, and it has three horses ~ one brown, one tan, and one black ~ and two runners, male and female. (Using the "female as auxiliary" model of representation.) If I ever see a medal depicting just a female runner (and it is not for an all-woman race), I will know that we have finally made it.
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