The moment I heard about the Eugene Marathon, I knew I had to run it. After all, Eugene is pretty much the Mecca of running and this year, host to the Olympic Trials for Track and Field. In their second year, Eugene has become a welcome addition to Oregon’s marathon options.
Friday night I left Las Vegas with my friend and 2007 LVTC Iron Camel Winner, Phil Weiland, on one of the last flights going out of McCarran-1150pm, arriving Eugene at 2am!-a little late, however at least we'd have all day Saturday.Only small problem with an arrival that late, in a city the size of Eugene is that all of the car rentals are closed. We had to take a cab to the hotel-which actually proved to be one of the most informative cab rides I'd ever taken. In the space of a 20 minute ride, our driver, a long time Eugene resident filled us in on all the history and "goings on" in town. Hot topics for the weekend were Barak Obama's visit a few weeks earlier, the Saturday Market, the oldest open air craft market in the US (a claim they could have made 15 years ago!) and of course, the marathoners--are they crazy or what?We arrived at our hotel--actually a motel, rather on the dreary side-however inexpensive and close to the finish line, checked in and I met my roommate for the weekend, Lois from the 50 States Club. Poor girl, I felt bad waking her up at 3am!Next morning, after the hotel’s complimentary continental breakfast- we were off to the race expo at the host hotel, the Hilton. After picking up our numbers and a bit of shopping and sampling, we walked a few blocks over to the Saturday Market.If you are ever in Eugene, this is a must, after all who doesn't enjoy live music, fresh food from the Farmers Market and the chance to shop for some very unique items?Eugene is a very "green" city-probably due to the fact that it’s a big college town and most people engage in some sort of outdoor sport or activity; in fact the marathon pace car was a hybrid Prius! Recycling bins abound and you could see from the farmer's market and selection of restaurants in town, the residents are very health conscious and completely sold on the organic life style.A visit to the market is something like a trip in time back to the sixties. Except for the ever present cell phones, the atmosphere, music-everything from an impromptu violin solo to a “hippy” with a sitar and a barber shop quartet, also well as the attire of the locals (teens or seniors) would bring to mind the days around Woodstock.
The band on center stage played anti-war songs, young girls wore long peasant skirts with strings of dandelions as necklaces and outside of Jamaica, I have never seen so many guys with dreadlocks.I don't think anyone had ever seen or used a lip gloss or an eye shadow and Miss Clairol would make a killing-no bleach blondes in this crowd!Everyone seemed very happy and friendly, so maybe there is something to this simple life thing??? We spent an hour or so shopping and listening to music until my friend Mark Ornstein, from Las Vegas and the 50 States Club came to meet us and we headed off to a great grocery store something like Whole Foods for provisions.Next we went back to the hotel to watch the Kentucky Derby on television. As I had just run the Kentucky Derby Marathon and had visited Churchill Downs a few days before, I was very excited to see the race.Well, that turned into a disaster and practically ruined the rest of the weekend for me, when Eight Belles, the runner up horse, broke both of her ankles and had to be euthanized at the end of the race, right there on the track.As many of you know, I'm an "animal person", in fact, I've even been a vegetarian since I was 14, so as you can imagine, it was very upsetting to me. I haven't even watched horse racing since Barbaro, because of the danger to the horses.Anyway, I had to try to put my sadness aside and go back to the Hilton, the marathon host hotel, for the 50 States Club Reunion Meeting. This was a special day for me; although I finished my 50 States last January, I had never formally received my trophy. Unless you can make it to one of the quarterly meetings, they just mail it to you.This was my chance to actually have it presented to me by the club's president, Tom Adair. This was the first marathon Tom has been able to travel to and run since he fell and fractured his pelvis on a glacier while running the Antarctica Marathon in March. He's fine now as according to him, the fractured bones were not any "really important" bones!About 50 club members attended the meeting, there were probably about 100, who ran the marathon.
After the meeting, we met more 50 State Club members and talked so long after the meeting that we missed the pasta dinner and ended up eating in the hotel restaurant. Pasta with veggies and a salad: my usual pre-marathon meal. It was fine.I got back to the my "motel" later than I planned and of course, as usual, went to bed too late....that is after downing a bottle of water to "hydrate" for the race and waking up every hour to use the bathroom.We were up at 4:45am, marathon morning. Lois had decided to walk to the start with a couple of the guys; Mark, Phil and I opted to drive to the finish and take the shuttle over to the start-maybe a mile or 2 away at the University of Oregon's, Hayward Field, which beginning June 27th, will be the scene of the Olympic Track and Field trials. Everything went very smoothly, even when we got to the starting line- the baggage check was easy to find and port-a-potty lines were not that bad. Of course, I wasn't at the start to get a good spot to line up; however I did find a break in the corral fence to sneak in-along with about 100 others!
The race begins in front of Hayward Field, travels around Amazon Park and the University of Oregon, then crosses the Willamette River 3 times, makes a loop through Alton Baker Park East and into neighboring Springfield. The return to Eugene follows along bike paths and at least 10 miles of very scenic trails along the river while taking you in and out of 6 parks! The finish line is at East Gate Tower in front of Autzen Stadium.I was very happy with the course, not many hills, beautiful scenery, a sprinkling of spectators and plenty of runners -but not too many!-around me to pace off. My only issue was with the temperature. I had expected it would be chilly in the morning, the race begins at 7am, however by mile 20 I was still wearing my throw away shirt! I should have planned to just wear a long sleeve shirt to begin with. I was not really comfortable with the brisk temps and cloudy skies--actually this is known as perfect marathon weather...I only wished I had an extra shirt or jacket on for it!Mark and Phil were not too happy with the course at all. Mark hates to run on concrete, and sure enough, most of the bike trails are concrete. At mile 16 he decided it wasn't his day and dropped out. This was really bad luck for him as he only needed this race-Oregon and Montana, to complete his 50 States 2nd time finish. Actually, in looking through my photos from the weekend I noticed Mark was wearing the race shirt on Saturday. Could he have fallen victim to "the curse of wearing the shirt before the race"?Unfortunately for Phil, he took a couple of wrong turns, lost the pack of runners he was following and added another hour and a half to his time getting back on course. Finally we met at the finish line. Mark drove us back to our hotel and quickly left to drive back for his flight out of Portland an hour away.
Phil and I spent the rest of the afternoon resting and relaxing with Lois. She had had run a good race and was very pleased with the marathon. At marathon number 280, she’s become an expert.We left for our flight back to LV from Eugene at about 6pm---enough time for a stop for a gelato at a downtown cafe.I definitely recommend this race for next year. See www.eugenemarathon.com for details.
AND check out www.eugenesaturdaymarket.org for more info on the Saturday Market.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
January Was Not a Good Month for Marathons!
Not for me anyway! You would think with two marathons on my schedule at least one would go well.
After struggling with a knee injury for several weeks, I had cut down on my training runs however I didn’t want to give up my marathons! I planned take it easy and keep my expectations low.
First up was P.F. Chang’s Rock and Roll Arizona on January 13th. Saturday morning, day before the race, I was up and out early for my 8am flight to Phoenix. Fortunately I was upgraded to 1st class and was able to catch up on at least an hour of sleep. Las Vegas to Phoenix is too short a flight!
10am - I arrived in Phoenix- yes, the hour flight takes 2! It's easy to forget the hour time difference this time of year.
I had planned to meet Michael Sullivan –another LVTC, LV Roadrunners and LVM21 club member. His flight arrived about the same time so I waited in baggage claim until his plane landed.
Michael arrived and we headed over to Hertz to pick up my rental car. For once I remembered to use my Hertz Gold number, so I was quite pleased with myself when I saw my name on the board and thought how quickly we'd be out and on our way.....that is until we were driving out and noticed the tire going flat. No problem we'll just get another car. The rental agent probably thought he was being nice by giving me an upgrade to an SUV, until I came back contract in hand and asked for yet another car. The SUV was too bus-like! A nice RAV4 bus, however the little steering wheel freaked me out!
Finally in car #3 we left the garage and drove about 5 minutes to the expo.
The expo was held in the convention center. Good thing, it was one of the biggest marathon expos I’ve ever been to and on Saturday afternoon, it was packed! They had a great selection of "Official" marathon shirts, jackets and souvenirs--although most things that I liked were sold out in my size. Just as well, I saved a little money. That is until I decided I needed the race poster with the artist's signature and a new magnet for the collection and a pin-for a future collection
We split up and walked around with the promise to meet in 45 minutes. No chance - it was so crowded you could hardly move!
About 2 hours later we made a much needed stop at Starbucks, then Michael and left Phoenix for Tempe. I left Michael off at his hotel and met my friend Kathy Kass, at our hotel-Hampton Inn Tempe. Kathy belongs to the 50 State Club as well as my team in NYC.
I had only decided to run RNR a few weeks before the race and hadn't really paid much attention to the logistics until about 2 weeks before the race.
At that time I discovered that there was no shuttle back from the finish line to the hotel. I thought it would be better to cancel the hotel we had booked at the start and find something close to finish-which is how I came up with Hampton Inn.
Certainly not the most posh hotel in town-however they offered a late (4pm!) check out and a shuttle directly from the hotel to the starting line. What a find, I thought-- until Kathy informed me that the shuttle to the start was full for their 615am departure, we would have to take the 515am. With a race start at 740am there was no way I wanted to do that-I planned to wake up at 5am! So we agreed to drive the mile to the finish line and take one of the race's shuttles.
After checking in to the hotel, we went over to PF Chang's- the race’s sponsor, for our "Pasta" dinner with a group of running friends. PF Chang’s had provided all of the runners with a $10 gift card for the restaurant and added coupons for free appetizers to our “goodie bags”.
The Chinese themed pasta dinner worked out fine for me. I ordered vegetable chow fun-which is just some noodles with veggies. Perfect replacement for pasta! We had a wonderful dinner and many tiny desserts, after which Kathy and I went for a drive to figure out where the shuttles would leave from and stock up on marathon supplies-bottled water, Power Bars, etc.
Sunday, Marathon Day!
After a not so restful sleep, we were up at 5am and out of the room at 6am to implement "Plan A"-“standing by” in the hotel lobby for the shuttle to the start. Hoping that someone would "no show" or they'd figure out a way to accommodate us on the 615am shuttle, we waited. If they weren't able to squeeze us in, we always had "Plan B" driving ourselves to the finish line and taking the shuttle provided by the race.
After a few anxious minutes, we did get on the shuttle and had a very hassle-free ride to the start. This is a point to point loop course; the starting line is about 10 miles from the finish-through traffic about 1/2 hour drive away.
We got to the start, saw the sun rise and waited in line for the port-a-potties a few times. There were many so there wasn't much wait time. It was chilly, probably 50 degrees (Sorry to those living in sub zero temps-what can I say? Living in Las Vegas has spoiled me!)
We milled around near the line of UPS trucks waiting to bring the checked bags to the finish line, until just a few minutes before the start. At the last minute I threw my jacket and pants into my gear bag, checked it and hurried to the starting line.
It didn't take more than a couple minutes to get from bag check to my corral 6. Very easy and hassle free race so far! I have to say I really didn't have much desire to run RNR AZ. It did RNR San Diego the second year they ran it and was not that impressed or excited about it as I see some runners are.
I really don't care for the this type of big corporate sponsored race and was only doing it as it's a short trip to Phoenix, Kathy and some other friends from the club would be there and if I do decide to go for completing the 50 states for a 2nd time--it would give me a "second Arizona”. Needless to say, I was very surprised to find this RNR race to be nearly "the Perfect race".
I would definitely recommend this race to anyone, no matter what pace they run. It was a fast course if you were looking for time and there was plenty of company for slower runners. The weather was good-no torrential rain, gale force winds or oppressive heat-in fact, it was actually great!
The water stations were plentiful and set up quite well. The volunteers were excellent-everyone ready and doing the jobs. The bands actually played songs you could recognize and the cheerleaders' energy was contagious!
So what happened to my race and my time?
I started out a little too slow but okay-early on I knew it would be a tough day. After weeks of minimal training due to my knee problem, what could I expect?
I was getting a bit bored and wishing I had someone to run with when I saw James, one of the fellows from the LVM21 Club.. We ran together and spoke for a couple of miles. He was doing a walk/run and seemed to really be picking up the pace on the run.
It became clear to me very soon that I was not going to be able to keep up with him. Oh well, I thought, I'll just take it easy, enjoy my run and listen to my tunes.
At mile 16 I encountered my worst nightmare-the battery in my MP3 player died.
Just like that- one moment I was happily singing along to Rihanna, the next sheer silence! Apparently when I had charged the rechargeable battery my computer was off! This was a cause of a similar mistake with my Garmin, a couple marathons back.
I tried to turn it off and on, hoping that it may come back on, but no luck. There I was 10 miles to go and no music-panic was about to set in. I tried to calm myself down and come up with a resourceful idea. I'd find someone to run with!
Well, at the pace I was running, the runners were more of the type that on another day in another race they may have been fast-but not today. Everyone seemed to be struggling....in silence. Not a conversational marathoner in sight!
UNTIL - up ahead I spotted a fellow running in the most uncomfortable and ridiculous looking costume that I'd see all day. Red tights and long sleeve shirt with yellow shorts and he was wearing antennae! I had noticed when I had been running near him earlier he was getting a lot of cheers and recognition from the crowd so I figured he must be purposely dressed like this as some sort of character that I was unfamiliar with.
I ran up next to him and asked him who he was supposed to be. “Chapulin Colorado”, he responded- a Mexican superhero! This explained why only the Spanish speaking spectators knew who he was!
Chapulin is actually a parody of a superhero. Know as the "Red Grasshopper"", he would unwittingly save the day by somehow bumbling up the situation and then take credit for the outcome.
We chatted and ran/walked the rest of the race. It turned out that Jorge was from Las Vegas, too! Of course, he had run the LV Marathon dressed as Elvis, so he had a lot of experience with dealing with the cheers and sayings from the crowds whether they recognized him or just laughed with him as they thought he was a bug!
It was so great to meet him-it really made the last few miles of the marathon go by not faster, but a lot more enjoyable! Maybe there is something to the USATF "no headphones" rule. I doubt that had I been listening to my music I would have met anyone and had an experience that, in spite of a slow time, turned out to be so much fun.
After the race, I met Kathy, walked around the grounds, paid a visit to the medical tent-just to ice my knee this time. We did some shopping at the Official Race Merchandise store and headed back to Las Vegas that night.
Two weeks later I was back on the road again! This time it was the ING Miami Marathon with two fellow LVTC members-Steffen Schneider and Phil Weiland.
If I thought R&R AZ was a tough race, I didn’t know what I was getting myself into in Florida! In addition to my lack of training I caught a cold the week before the race and been taking Sudafed, the most dehydrating over the counter medication available.
Needless to say the first half of the race went okay. In fact, if they hadn’t offered their amazing ‘Spinning Palm Tree” marathon medal-this year with a “diamond” center, I would have dropped down to the half. No way with this medal at stake-I planned to stick it out, no matter how miserable I felt.
Now keep in mind that this was only MY bad day. The weather was great-temps in the 60-70s, humidity was low and the sky was overcast. The course is completely flat, full of beautiful scenery, plentiful water stations and friendly spectators.
In fact, Phil was so energized that “mid-course” he switched from the half to the full marathon!
I had just finished the race, claimed my gear bag and was listening to the voicemail message he had left for me from mile 20, when he came across the finish line!! What a surprise!
Minutes after the race we checked out of our hotel, drove 2 miles to the Port of Miami set sail for a 5 day Caribbean cruise on NCL’s Norwegian Jewel with a group of friends and fellow runners. Not a bad way to end a month of not so successful marathons!
After struggling with a knee injury for several weeks, I had cut down on my training runs however I didn’t want to give up my marathons! I planned take it easy and keep my expectations low.
First up was P.F. Chang’s Rock and Roll Arizona on January 13th. Saturday morning, day before the race, I was up and out early for my 8am flight to Phoenix. Fortunately I was upgraded to 1st class and was able to catch up on at least an hour of sleep. Las Vegas to Phoenix is too short a flight!
10am - I arrived in Phoenix- yes, the hour flight takes 2! It's easy to forget the hour time difference this time of year.
I had planned to meet Michael Sullivan –another LVTC, LV Roadrunners and LVM21 club member. His flight arrived about the same time so I waited in baggage claim until his plane landed.
Michael arrived and we headed over to Hertz to pick up my rental car. For once I remembered to use my Hertz Gold number, so I was quite pleased with myself when I saw my name on the board and thought how quickly we'd be out and on our way.....that is until we were driving out and noticed the tire going flat. No problem we'll just get another car. The rental agent probably thought he was being nice by giving me an upgrade to an SUV, until I came back contract in hand and asked for yet another car. The SUV was too bus-like! A nice RAV4 bus, however the little steering wheel freaked me out!
Finally in car #3 we left the garage and drove about 5 minutes to the expo.
The expo was held in the convention center. Good thing, it was one of the biggest marathon expos I’ve ever been to and on Saturday afternoon, it was packed! They had a great selection of "Official" marathon shirts, jackets and souvenirs--although most things that I liked were sold out in my size. Just as well, I saved a little money. That is until I decided I needed the race poster with the artist's signature and a new magnet for the collection and a pin-for a future collection
We split up and walked around with the promise to meet in 45 minutes. No chance - it was so crowded you could hardly move!
About 2 hours later we made a much needed stop at Starbucks, then Michael and left Phoenix for Tempe. I left Michael off at his hotel and met my friend Kathy Kass, at our hotel-Hampton Inn Tempe. Kathy belongs to the 50 State Club as well as my team in NYC.
I had only decided to run RNR a few weeks before the race and hadn't really paid much attention to the logistics until about 2 weeks before the race.
At that time I discovered that there was no shuttle back from the finish line to the hotel. I thought it would be better to cancel the hotel we had booked at the start and find something close to finish-which is how I came up with Hampton Inn.
Certainly not the most posh hotel in town-however they offered a late (4pm!) check out and a shuttle directly from the hotel to the starting line. What a find, I thought-- until Kathy informed me that the shuttle to the start was full for their 615am departure, we would have to take the 515am. With a race start at 740am there was no way I wanted to do that-I planned to wake up at 5am! So we agreed to drive the mile to the finish line and take one of the race's shuttles.
After checking in to the hotel, we went over to PF Chang's- the race’s sponsor, for our "Pasta" dinner with a group of running friends. PF Chang’s had provided all of the runners with a $10 gift card for the restaurant and added coupons for free appetizers to our “goodie bags”.
The Chinese themed pasta dinner worked out fine for me. I ordered vegetable chow fun-which is just some noodles with veggies. Perfect replacement for pasta! We had a wonderful dinner and many tiny desserts, after which Kathy and I went for a drive to figure out where the shuttles would leave from and stock up on marathon supplies-bottled water, Power Bars, etc.
Sunday, Marathon Day!
After a not so restful sleep, we were up at 5am and out of the room at 6am to implement "Plan A"-“standing by” in the hotel lobby for the shuttle to the start. Hoping that someone would "no show" or they'd figure out a way to accommodate us on the 615am shuttle, we waited. If they weren't able to squeeze us in, we always had "Plan B" driving ourselves to the finish line and taking the shuttle provided by the race.
After a few anxious minutes, we did get on the shuttle and had a very hassle-free ride to the start. This is a point to point loop course; the starting line is about 10 miles from the finish-through traffic about 1/2 hour drive away.
We got to the start, saw the sun rise and waited in line for the port-a-potties a few times. There were many so there wasn't much wait time. It was chilly, probably 50 degrees (Sorry to those living in sub zero temps-what can I say? Living in Las Vegas has spoiled me!)
We milled around near the line of UPS trucks waiting to bring the checked bags to the finish line, until just a few minutes before the start. At the last minute I threw my jacket and pants into my gear bag, checked it and hurried to the starting line.
It didn't take more than a couple minutes to get from bag check to my corral 6. Very easy and hassle free race so far! I have to say I really didn't have much desire to run RNR AZ. It did RNR San Diego the second year they ran it and was not that impressed or excited about it as I see some runners are.
I really don't care for the this type of big corporate sponsored race and was only doing it as it's a short trip to Phoenix, Kathy and some other friends from the club would be there and if I do decide to go for completing the 50 states for a 2nd time--it would give me a "second Arizona”. Needless to say, I was very surprised to find this RNR race to be nearly "the Perfect race".
I would definitely recommend this race to anyone, no matter what pace they run. It was a fast course if you were looking for time and there was plenty of company for slower runners. The weather was good-no torrential rain, gale force winds or oppressive heat-in fact, it was actually great!
The water stations were plentiful and set up quite well. The volunteers were excellent-everyone ready and doing the jobs. The bands actually played songs you could recognize and the cheerleaders' energy was contagious!
So what happened to my race and my time?
I started out a little too slow but okay-early on I knew it would be a tough day. After weeks of minimal training due to my knee problem, what could I expect?
I was getting a bit bored and wishing I had someone to run with when I saw James, one of the fellows from the LVM21 Club.. We ran together and spoke for a couple of miles. He was doing a walk/run and seemed to really be picking up the pace on the run.
It became clear to me very soon that I was not going to be able to keep up with him. Oh well, I thought, I'll just take it easy, enjoy my run and listen to my tunes.
At mile 16 I encountered my worst nightmare-the battery in my MP3 player died.
Just like that- one moment I was happily singing along to Rihanna, the next sheer silence! Apparently when I had charged the rechargeable battery my computer was off! This was a cause of a similar mistake with my Garmin, a couple marathons back.
I tried to turn it off and on, hoping that it may come back on, but no luck. There I was 10 miles to go and no music-panic was about to set in. I tried to calm myself down and come up with a resourceful idea. I'd find someone to run with!
Well, at the pace I was running, the runners were more of the type that on another day in another race they may have been fast-but not today. Everyone seemed to be struggling....in silence. Not a conversational marathoner in sight!
UNTIL - up ahead I spotted a fellow running in the most uncomfortable and ridiculous looking costume that I'd see all day. Red tights and long sleeve shirt with yellow shorts and he was wearing antennae! I had noticed when I had been running near him earlier he was getting a lot of cheers and recognition from the crowd so I figured he must be purposely dressed like this as some sort of character that I was unfamiliar with.
I ran up next to him and asked him who he was supposed to be. “Chapulin Colorado”, he responded- a Mexican superhero! This explained why only the Spanish speaking spectators knew who he was!
Chapulin is actually a parody of a superhero. Know as the "Red Grasshopper"", he would unwittingly save the day by somehow bumbling up the situation and then take credit for the outcome.
We chatted and ran/walked the rest of the race. It turned out that Jorge was from Las Vegas, too! Of course, he had run the LV Marathon dressed as Elvis, so he had a lot of experience with dealing with the cheers and sayings from the crowds whether they recognized him or just laughed with him as they thought he was a bug!
It was so great to meet him-it really made the last few miles of the marathon go by not faster, but a lot more enjoyable! Maybe there is something to the USATF "no headphones" rule. I doubt that had I been listening to my music I would have met anyone and had an experience that, in spite of a slow time, turned out to be so much fun.
After the race, I met Kathy, walked around the grounds, paid a visit to the medical tent-just to ice my knee this time. We did some shopping at the Official Race Merchandise store and headed back to Las Vegas that night.
Two weeks later I was back on the road again! This time it was the ING Miami Marathon with two fellow LVTC members-Steffen Schneider and Phil Weiland.
If I thought R&R AZ was a tough race, I didn’t know what I was getting myself into in Florida! In addition to my lack of training I caught a cold the week before the race and been taking Sudafed, the most dehydrating over the counter medication available.
Needless to say the first half of the race went okay. In fact, if they hadn’t offered their amazing ‘Spinning Palm Tree” marathon medal-this year with a “diamond” center, I would have dropped down to the half. No way with this medal at stake-I planned to stick it out, no matter how miserable I felt.
Now keep in mind that this was only MY bad day. The weather was great-temps in the 60-70s, humidity was low and the sky was overcast. The course is completely flat, full of beautiful scenery, plentiful water stations and friendly spectators.
In fact, Phil was so energized that “mid-course” he switched from the half to the full marathon!
I had just finished the race, claimed my gear bag and was listening to the voicemail message he had left for me from mile 20, when he came across the finish line!! What a surprise!
Minutes after the race we checked out of our hotel, drove 2 miles to the Port of Miami set sail for a 5 day Caribbean cruise on NCL’s Norwegian Jewel with a group of friends and fellow runners. Not a bad way to end a month of not so successful marathons!
Fall Marathon Rundown
As many of our club members know I recently completed running a marathon in all 50 States. So what’s next? I’m basically running a marathon a month, however choosing those marathons that offer something special.
This fall I was fortunate enough to run two of the most beautiful marathons, in September, one that I’ve always wanted to run, the Maui Marathon and in October- St. George, Utah. This was my third St. George, as it’s one of my favorites. Both are very different, however at the same time, very similar.
As they say, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder-so take your pick. Both boast beautiful scenery; one mountains and ocean, the other buttes, canyons and high desert.
From Las Vegas we are just two hours away from one of the world’s most spectacular marathons-St. George. The St. George Marathon is held every year on the first Saturday in October; however don’t wait until October to decide to run! Unless you’re a resident, you need to be a lottery winner to run this marathon! On line registration begins April 1, and stays open until May 1. A drawing is made shortly after, the results are announced a few days later and that’s it. The race is closed.
Who would have guessed that this small town race would be so popular? Probably no one, until Runner’s World magazine voted it one of the 10 most scenic marathons in the USA, as well as one of the fastest courses!
If you are looking for a PR or a Boston qualifying time, this is the race to run. With a drop in elevation from 5243 feet down to 2678, this a super fast course! Based on my unscientific study, I would say your St. George finish time will be about 20 minutes faster than your average marathon time.
Amazing as this may sound, do keep in mind that a drop in elevations does not mean all downhill. There are plenty of small, steep hills. Train for a downhill race, but don’t overlook the up hills. And before you even begin your training, make your hotel reservations even if you are just thinking that you may want to run- don’t wait until you’re accepted into the lottery. With 7000 runners coming into town, St. George will be booked solid.
If you are checking now and finding everything already sold out, don’t worry. One of my favorite hotels, The Rococo doesn’t even start taking reservations until August-three months prior to race day. The hotel itself is basically a motel. Rates run about $85 per night and they strictly enforce the two night minimum stay that all of the town’s hotels have agreed to. This hotel, however, has one unique feature that none of the newer, more posh hotels have-it’s perched on the bluff by the airport overlooking the entire city with a spectacular view.
On race day, buses leave from the finish line from 4am to 5:30am taking runners to the starting line up in the canyon. Be sure to wear something warm! Pre- dawn temps at 5000 feet plus can be chilly-30-40 degrees! The good news is the bonfires lighting up the night and keeping the runners warm.
Once the race gets started you’ll see the sunrise over the mountains and view spectacular rock formations as you run one of your fastest marathons. I’m not exaggerating, the average finish time this year was 4:11. With a cut off time of 6 hours this is not really a race for walkers or the undertrained.
If you’re not into a fast time and more into a vacation, the Maui Marathon may be your choice. In fact, if you’d like to do a destination marathon but hate training in the summer heat, Maui also offers a half marathon and even a 5k.
Currently ATA has a nonstop flight from Las Vegas to Maui at very affordable fares. Hotels and condos are plentiful, however this is one the world’s most popular resort areas so expect too many bargains! In fact, this is an ideal opportunity to plan early and use your frequent flyer miles, hotel points or time share exchange.
The Maui Marathon is run on the second Sunday in September. The race headquarters and finish line are located at the Maui Westin next to the Whaler Village in Kaanapali. You don’t necessarily need to stay at the Westin, however it would be easiest to stay in the area. Marathon morning buses depart from the finish line at 3:30am, two hours prior to race time to take runners across the island to the starting line near the airport.
With a 5:30am start you’ll be running through sugarcane fields as the sun rises over Haleakala, the island’s dormant volcano. The only uphill section of the race is the next few miles as you come around the West Maui Mountains and make your way along the cliffs overlooking the Pacific. Once you’ve passed through the tunnel, from mile 12 to 22 you’ll have amazing views of the neighbor islands Molokai and Lanai.
As for entertainment, at mile 17 you’ll hear and then see the Maui Taiko Drummers. At various other points on the course you’ll see “keiki” hula dancers.
From about mile 13 on the course is basically flat-in fact, if you opt to run the half, the entire course is flat!
At mile22, you’ll pass through the historic old whaling town of Lahaina, now a mecca for art galleries, shops and restaurants. And remember the course is only 10 to 100 feet from the ocean, so expect trade winds. The only real challenge I found was dealing with the humidity-especially coming from running in Nevada where there is none! And the sun-it is an island beach resort, so do plan that it may be sunny and warm-expect temps in the 80s!
In this race you won’t have to worry about speed. There is an 8 hour cut off time. The average finish time this year was 5 hours! The marathon usually gets about 3000 runners total-1000 for the marathon and 2000 for the half.
Whether you choose Utah or Hawaii either marathon will be a great tune up for our hometown Zappos Las Vegas Marathon in December. Happy running everyone! See you on the road!
This fall I was fortunate enough to run two of the most beautiful marathons, in September, one that I’ve always wanted to run, the Maui Marathon and in October- St. George, Utah. This was my third St. George, as it’s one of my favorites. Both are very different, however at the same time, very similar.
As they say, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder-so take your pick. Both boast beautiful scenery; one mountains and ocean, the other buttes, canyons and high desert.
From Las Vegas we are just two hours away from one of the world’s most spectacular marathons-St. George. The St. George Marathon is held every year on the first Saturday in October; however don’t wait until October to decide to run! Unless you’re a resident, you need to be a lottery winner to run this marathon! On line registration begins April 1, and stays open until May 1. A drawing is made shortly after, the results are announced a few days later and that’s it. The race is closed.
Who would have guessed that this small town race would be so popular? Probably no one, until Runner’s World magazine voted it one of the 10 most scenic marathons in the USA, as well as one of the fastest courses!
If you are looking for a PR or a Boston qualifying time, this is the race to run. With a drop in elevation from 5243 feet down to 2678, this a super fast course! Based on my unscientific study, I would say your St. George finish time will be about 20 minutes faster than your average marathon time.
Amazing as this may sound, do keep in mind that a drop in elevations does not mean all downhill. There are plenty of small, steep hills. Train for a downhill race, but don’t overlook the up hills. And before you even begin your training, make your hotel reservations even if you are just thinking that you may want to run- don’t wait until you’re accepted into the lottery. With 7000 runners coming into town, St. George will be booked solid.
If you are checking now and finding everything already sold out, don’t worry. One of my favorite hotels, The Rococo doesn’t even start taking reservations until August-three months prior to race day. The hotel itself is basically a motel. Rates run about $85 per night and they strictly enforce the two night minimum stay that all of the town’s hotels have agreed to. This hotel, however, has one unique feature that none of the newer, more posh hotels have-it’s perched on the bluff by the airport overlooking the entire city with a spectacular view.
On race day, buses leave from the finish line from 4am to 5:30am taking runners to the starting line up in the canyon. Be sure to wear something warm! Pre- dawn temps at 5000 feet plus can be chilly-30-40 degrees! The good news is the bonfires lighting up the night and keeping the runners warm.
Once the race gets started you’ll see the sunrise over the mountains and view spectacular rock formations as you run one of your fastest marathons. I’m not exaggerating, the average finish time this year was 4:11. With a cut off time of 6 hours this is not really a race for walkers or the undertrained.
If you’re not into a fast time and more into a vacation, the Maui Marathon may be your choice. In fact, if you’d like to do a destination marathon but hate training in the summer heat, Maui also offers a half marathon and even a 5k.
Currently ATA has a nonstop flight from Las Vegas to Maui at very affordable fares. Hotels and condos are plentiful, however this is one the world’s most popular resort areas so expect too many bargains! In fact, this is an ideal opportunity to plan early and use your frequent flyer miles, hotel points or time share exchange.
The Maui Marathon is run on the second Sunday in September. The race headquarters and finish line are located at the Maui Westin next to the Whaler Village in Kaanapali. You don’t necessarily need to stay at the Westin, however it would be easiest to stay in the area. Marathon morning buses depart from the finish line at 3:30am, two hours prior to race time to take runners across the island to the starting line near the airport.
With a 5:30am start you’ll be running through sugarcane fields as the sun rises over Haleakala, the island’s dormant volcano. The only uphill section of the race is the next few miles as you come around the West Maui Mountains and make your way along the cliffs overlooking the Pacific. Once you’ve passed through the tunnel, from mile 12 to 22 you’ll have amazing views of the neighbor islands Molokai and Lanai.
As for entertainment, at mile 17 you’ll hear and then see the Maui Taiko Drummers. At various other points on the course you’ll see “keiki” hula dancers.
From about mile 13 on the course is basically flat-in fact, if you opt to run the half, the entire course is flat!
At mile22, you’ll pass through the historic old whaling town of Lahaina, now a mecca for art galleries, shops and restaurants. And remember the course is only 10 to 100 feet from the ocean, so expect trade winds. The only real challenge I found was dealing with the humidity-especially coming from running in Nevada where there is none! And the sun-it is an island beach resort, so do plan that it may be sunny and warm-expect temps in the 80s!
In this race you won’t have to worry about speed. There is an 8 hour cut off time. The average finish time this year was 5 hours! The marathon usually gets about 3000 runners total-1000 for the marathon and 2000 for the half.
Whether you choose Utah or Hawaii either marathon will be a great tune up for our hometown Zappos Las Vegas Marathon in December. Happy running everyone! See you on the road!
“Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler”…Let the Good Times Roll at the Mardi Gras Marathon!
My first visit to New Orleans and the Mardi Gras Marathon was two years ago, shortly after Hurricane Katrina. In those weeks after the storm it was unclear as to whether or not they would even be able to hold the marathon so once it was announced that the marathon would go on I decided the best way for me as a runner to show my support for the city was to be there at the starting line.
The city put its best foot forward that day despite the loss and devastation they had seen just a few months before. The field was much smaller than past years, however the friendliness and enthusiasm for the event was great.
In a city that depends on tourism it was clear there was still a long road ahead in order to get back to normal. Many of the hotels were still closed or housing evacuees. Businesses were boarded up waiting inspections that would verify that their buildings were sound. Restaurant menus highlighted “Help Wanted” in bold print; the food took second billing.
This year, I was back again and I do have to say that things have improved a lot. The hotels are bustling, the shops and restaurants are thriving and the tourists are back on Bourbon Street, partying day and night.
I arrived on Saturday morning from an overnight red-eye flight and was able to get an early check-in. Once again I decided to stay at the Intercontinental, the same hotel where I stayed two years ago. It was close to the French Quarter and just a short walk from the Superdome- the start and finish line for the marathon. I thought I had scored a good rate until I heard that my friend, Mark, had booked through Hotwire, a discount travel web site, and paid just $84.00-a steal for a 4 star hotel!
I freshened up and headed over to the expo. This year it was held at the Hilton Riverwalk and it was much bigger than last time! I picked up my number and bumped into a friend from NYC, then met another friend, James from Texas and set out to explore the French Quarter.
James had arrived two days before which was a much better plan for enjoying the city and running the marathon than the day before like I had. Those extra days give you a chance to enjoy the Cajun and Creole cuisine New Orleans is noted for; drink-the bars never seem to close, and stay up late enough to enjoy the live music found in nearly every club in town!
Actually, you don’t need to go very far to enjoy the local entertainment, as we walked near Jackson Square a wedding party complete with a jazz band came dancing out of a restaurant and closed down the street. Guests waved white handkerchiefs as the couple danced their traditional wedding dance.
Earlier in the day, James came across a jazz funeral!
The French Quarter was filled with musicians, artists and mule drawn buggies. The shops and cafes were doing a brisk business, in fact the wait at the famous Café du Monde, was so long that we had to leave for our pasta dinner before we even had a chance to order our café au lait and beignets!
I’m not even sure if the marathon offered a pasta dinner, however we had enough runners in our group to put together our own. The venue for our dinner was Tony Moran’s located in the Old Absinthe House on Bourbon Street. The group consisted of friends from my club in NYC, the 50 State Club and the LVM21 Club-the message board club for the Las Vegas Marathon. These runners get around! Aside from Las Vegas, we had runners from Texas, Washington, New York and Arizona.
After a great dinner, I unfortunately had to skip the Saturday night fun to get a good night’s rest before the marathon---I can’t speak for the rest of the group, as I did see a few late arrivals at the starting line!
Sunday morning came quickly; next thing I knew we were at the Superdome waiting for the gun to go off. It seemed like a big crowd and why wouldn’t it be? With mild temperatures and a nearly flat course (there is one overpass), what more could anyone ask for in a marathon? If you’ve done your training, it’s almost a guaranteed PR.
This year for the first time, runners had the opportunity to run down Bourbon Street—nearly the equivalent of running on the Strip in Vegas! At 7am, you can still smell the beer and actually see some of the late night revelers trying to figure out what is going on.
Another big change: this year the course was reversed! After you passed Bourbon Street, the first big loop was around Audubon Park. It was an out and back past some very old stately homes along St. Charles-famous for the streetcar line.
One interesting note about the Mardi Gras Marathon is that it is not held during Mardi Gras, the celebration is in full swing for the two weeks before “Fat Tuesday”- the day before Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of Lent. Check your events calendar carefully when making plans to run here as the marathon can be either before or after depending on how early Easter falls.
Surprisingly, you’ll find this a benefit-the hotels are plentiful and not nearly as pricey as they would be during Mardi Gras, plus there are less temptations to overindulge as you would have during those weeks of constant partying!
Even a few weeks after the craziness, there were still a few Mardi Gras reminders on the course-hundreds of strands of beads hung from the bare tree branches! And as we came out of the park we were greeted by a cheering “king” still in his parade gear!
As you head back toward the Superdome, if you’ve opted to run the Half Marathon, you’ll be entering the final miles. If not, you’re halfway home.
In this half of the race, you’ll see more of the flood damage you’ve heard about. It’s interesting to see how many homes have been renovated, however next to a beautiful, freshly painted house you’ll see a house next door still sadly in a state of severe disrepair.
Over the next miles you’ll hit the one “hill” on the course at mile 18. You’ll be offered beer and Margaritas by a group of Hashers in red dresses. AND finally, after an out and back through City Park; the Superdome will come into view and you’ll be back at the finish line!
No matter how late you finish; no worry! The post-race food is plentiful-rice and beans, Subway sandwiches, Mardi Gras “King” cake as well as fruit abound!
As the city gets back on it’s feet, I believe the marathon will continue to grow and probably exceed it’s past popularity to become one of the top “destination marathons”. After all, this was their 44th year and in spite of major setbacks, they are still running strong!
The city put its best foot forward that day despite the loss and devastation they had seen just a few months before. The field was much smaller than past years, however the friendliness and enthusiasm for the event was great.
In a city that depends on tourism it was clear there was still a long road ahead in order to get back to normal. Many of the hotels were still closed or housing evacuees. Businesses were boarded up waiting inspections that would verify that their buildings were sound. Restaurant menus highlighted “Help Wanted” in bold print; the food took second billing.
This year, I was back again and I do have to say that things have improved a lot. The hotels are bustling, the shops and restaurants are thriving and the tourists are back on Bourbon Street, partying day and night.
I arrived on Saturday morning from an overnight red-eye flight and was able to get an early check-in. Once again I decided to stay at the Intercontinental, the same hotel where I stayed two years ago. It was close to the French Quarter and just a short walk from the Superdome- the start and finish line for the marathon. I thought I had scored a good rate until I heard that my friend, Mark, had booked through Hotwire, a discount travel web site, and paid just $84.00-a steal for a 4 star hotel!
I freshened up and headed over to the expo. This year it was held at the Hilton Riverwalk and it was much bigger than last time! I picked up my number and bumped into a friend from NYC, then met another friend, James from Texas and set out to explore the French Quarter.
James had arrived two days before which was a much better plan for enjoying the city and running the marathon than the day before like I had. Those extra days give you a chance to enjoy the Cajun and Creole cuisine New Orleans is noted for; drink-the bars never seem to close, and stay up late enough to enjoy the live music found in nearly every club in town!
Actually, you don’t need to go very far to enjoy the local entertainment, as we walked near Jackson Square a wedding party complete with a jazz band came dancing out of a restaurant and closed down the street. Guests waved white handkerchiefs as the couple danced their traditional wedding dance.
Earlier in the day, James came across a jazz funeral!
The French Quarter was filled with musicians, artists and mule drawn buggies. The shops and cafes were doing a brisk business, in fact the wait at the famous Café du Monde, was so long that we had to leave for our pasta dinner before we even had a chance to order our café au lait and beignets!
I’m not even sure if the marathon offered a pasta dinner, however we had enough runners in our group to put together our own. The venue for our dinner was Tony Moran’s located in the Old Absinthe House on Bourbon Street. The group consisted of friends from my club in NYC, the 50 State Club and the LVM21 Club-the message board club for the Las Vegas Marathon. These runners get around! Aside from Las Vegas, we had runners from Texas, Washington, New York and Arizona.
After a great dinner, I unfortunately had to skip the Saturday night fun to get a good night’s rest before the marathon---I can’t speak for the rest of the group, as I did see a few late arrivals at the starting line!
Sunday morning came quickly; next thing I knew we were at the Superdome waiting for the gun to go off. It seemed like a big crowd and why wouldn’t it be? With mild temperatures and a nearly flat course (there is one overpass), what more could anyone ask for in a marathon? If you’ve done your training, it’s almost a guaranteed PR.
This year for the first time, runners had the opportunity to run down Bourbon Street—nearly the equivalent of running on the Strip in Vegas! At 7am, you can still smell the beer and actually see some of the late night revelers trying to figure out what is going on.
Another big change: this year the course was reversed! After you passed Bourbon Street, the first big loop was around Audubon Park. It was an out and back past some very old stately homes along St. Charles-famous for the streetcar line.
One interesting note about the Mardi Gras Marathon is that it is not held during Mardi Gras, the celebration is in full swing for the two weeks before “Fat Tuesday”- the day before Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of Lent. Check your events calendar carefully when making plans to run here as the marathon can be either before or after depending on how early Easter falls.
Surprisingly, you’ll find this a benefit-the hotels are plentiful and not nearly as pricey as they would be during Mardi Gras, plus there are less temptations to overindulge as you would have during those weeks of constant partying!
Even a few weeks after the craziness, there were still a few Mardi Gras reminders on the course-hundreds of strands of beads hung from the bare tree branches! And as we came out of the park we were greeted by a cheering “king” still in his parade gear!
As you head back toward the Superdome, if you’ve opted to run the Half Marathon, you’ll be entering the final miles. If not, you’re halfway home.
In this half of the race, you’ll see more of the flood damage you’ve heard about. It’s interesting to see how many homes have been renovated, however next to a beautiful, freshly painted house you’ll see a house next door still sadly in a state of severe disrepair.
Over the next miles you’ll hit the one “hill” on the course at mile 18. You’ll be offered beer and Margaritas by a group of Hashers in red dresses. AND finally, after an out and back through City Park; the Superdome will come into view and you’ll be back at the finish line!
No matter how late you finish; no worry! The post-race food is plentiful-rice and beans, Subway sandwiches, Mardi Gras “King” cake as well as fruit abound!
As the city gets back on it’s feet, I believe the marathon will continue to grow and probably exceed it’s past popularity to become one of the top “destination marathons”. After all, this was their 44th year and in spite of major setbacks, they are still running strong!
Friday, August 10, 2007
RUNSFM '07
I'm finally getting a little report together on the San Francisco Marathon!
First of all congratulations to Richard! You're making all of you running accomplishments look so effortless, it's easy to forget that you've only been racing a year! Good job!! Something to remember for next time- this was not an easy marathon for a first time out.
In fact, my friend Laurie, who ran her 130something marathon that day, said she had a tough race. Laurie competes in Ironman and has won 10 marathons, so if she thinks a race is difficult – she knows what she’s talking about.
******************************************
Anyway, with no friends to travel with from Las Vegas (the usual suspects are injured and over-raced) I took an hour and half flight out of LV Saturday morning and arrived about shortly before noon.
(Me saying good bye to Sunny at McCarran.)
Laurie was flying up from San Diego. We met at SFO and took the Bart into the city. This was my 4th time running the marathon, plus I'd been to SF several other times; however I had never taken the train before.
After living in NYC for about 10 years, I've taken enough public transportation, however not wanting to seem like a "princess", I went along with the train idea without any objection.
I do have to say it was easy, fairly fast-about 30 minutes to downtown, very cheap and best of all dropped us outside of our hotel, the Hyatt Regency Embarcadero.
Without a doubt, the Hyatt is one of the best places to stay for the marathon.
The expo is outside on the Plaza, the start and finish lines were just a block or so away. Even better, I had booked very early and got a travel agent discount (something that is seldom available in any city during a big marathon weekend).
After we checked in, we went to the expo. Packet pick up was in a building across the street from the hotel and the expo just downstairs.
It was great. Lots of good speakers-Dean Karnazes was one. Unfortunately, I hadn't checked the schedule so we were too late to see him.
There was quite a bit of shopping. After vowing to myself, that I wasn't going to buy anything....$80 later, I was stocked up on Power Gel and Gu, new sunglasses and replacement socks (the puppy seems to have a sock fetish and either chews or runs off with my running socks leaving me a drawer full of unmatched socks!)
After the expo, I went back to the hotel and hung out while Laurie went to church. When she got back, we decided to do the Pasta Dinner held in one of the hotel's restaurants. Granted San Francisco has great restaurants, so there are probably hundreds of better choices, however this worked out fine as it was just the 2 of us and this was very convenient.
After dinner I just watched a movie and went to sleep fairly early.
SUNDAY morning, with 2 wake up calls ordered, a clock radio and a cell phone set to go off at 430am, I found myself up at 415am.
[
San Francisco has a "wave" start-the fastest runners are out at 530am, and then each wave starts every 5 minutes after that up to I believe 615am. Your wave placement is based on your predicted finish time, I had signed up for 4:15 so I didn't start until 6:10am.
Laurie’s start was about a half hour before mine, so she was up and out before 5:30am.
This left me time (too much time actually!) to recharge the batteries in my camera and MP3 player, plus try on a few outfits that I thought might be more comfortable, warmer or cooler than what I planned to wear. I finally decided to wear what I have picked out the week before.
About 5:50am I realized that maybe I should be getting to the start...
this sounds later, however is worked out fine-- from my room on the 2nd floor to the street was about a minute, the baggage check was right in front of me and the start a block away. In fact as I was dropping my bag, I saw the 6:05am runners take off.
When the gun went off, I noticed the 4:15 pace group right in front of me. I looked through the crowd however I didn’t see Richard or anyone else I knew. I remembered that we were in the same wave however I imagined that he had sped ahead when the gun went off.
I have to mention that I was not a fan of this "wave" start, I really didn't see that it was necessary (SF is nowhere near the size of NYC or Chicago), however I did find that it did work well and kept things organized. Back in May when I race the ING Georgia marathon, it had taken me over 14 minutes to get to the start here it was a mere 90 seconds.
My goal was 4 -4:15. Knowing that I always go out too fast and fall off the pace, I decided to keep ahead of the 4:15 group as long as I could. Who knew, it could have been a good day? As I passed the group, a tall, yellow shirted figure came in to view. At about 6'5” in a LVM21 shirt with red shorts it could only be Michael. We chatted for a few minutes. When he told me that Richard was BEHIND us, I was a bit surprised. I guess that I shouldn’t have been as sticking with the group probably would have been the best move for all of us!
As I moved ahead, I could hear the fellow Michael was running with ask him about the Las Vegas marathon!
Next thing I knew, Richard was aside of me. I was so happy to see him! I had a feeling that even though we hadn’t made a plan, we’d meet up.
The first couple miles are along the water and by Fisherman’s wharf. All fairly flat. You really don’t encounter any for the hills until about the fourth or fifth mile.
Somewhere at that point, I lost Richard in a water station-he stopped to walk and I just grabbed my water and kept running.
For the first half of the race, I kept my MP3 player off. The crowd and the scenery were entertaining enough! I listened to conversations around me, heard the spectators cheering and even birds singing! As much as I love my music, it’s nice to take a break once in a while.
We got to the Golden Gate Bridge at mile 5. It seemed like most of the runners really enjoyed this part of the race. I found it hectic! One side of the road was open to traffic and the other was out and back runner. Very crowded and due to the mist and drizzle-slippery! Plus the distance is much longer than I thought – mile 7 and 8 are on the other side.
I was mid-bridge when I heard someone mention my name. Actually, it was more like “Martha, Get out of my way!” Who could this charming person be? Michael again. He said hello and took off! He looked so strong ass he passed everyone.
After the bridge came the Golden Gate Park. Sadly at this point my hamstrings started to cramp. One would think that running in weather fifty degrees cooler than you’re typically running in would be easy. “Refreshing” to remember Angie’s description of running in 40 degree, drizzle---no not at all. I completely blame the dampness and chill for messing up my hamstrings and blowing my chance for a good time.
At mile eleven, the 4:15 group passed me. Trying not to get too depressed, I convinced myself that it was okay—just because the group went on didn’t mean that I couldn’t have a 4:16 or 4:17 on my own.
At the halfway point, Richard reappeared. He looked strong too and quickly passed me. Hills and more hills is all the entire park is made up of! Actually, it is very beautiful—much “woodsier” than Central Park in NYC.
In most marathons where they also have a half, I’m subconsciously waiting for the half marathoners to finish. In my mind, that’s when the marathon really begins.
No such luck with that approach in San Francisco! As the half marathon veered off to their finish line, I happened to glance over to the other side and saw an entire field of runners waiting for their “2nd Half Marathon” to start!
A unique feature of the San Francisco Half Marathon is that you have choice of running the first half or the second half. A bit complicated system, however they pull it off like clockwork! They end route them away for them the marathon runners for the first couple of miles.
Once out of the park, we hit Haight Street. The Haight came to fame with the hippy movement back in the 70’s. Not much has changed since; as you look around you‘d think you’d stepped back in time. This Sunday, I hardly noticed – all I could see was more hills. AND as if the up hills weren’t enough, the down hills are so steep they’re just as difficult to run.
I decided at this point, my up hill running was slower and more uncomfortable than walking. I start to alternate, walking mostly up hill. At roughly mile 20, I noticed another gal running near me, so I struck up an “on and off” conversation with her. On and off meaning we’d talk, one of us would stop, one would go on and we’d keep meeting. This worked out great---I had some motivation and got myself back into the race.
About mile 22, I catch up to Richard. We talk and run a couple miles together. He wasn’t looking too good, so I tried to keep his spirits up and say something encouraging. When I heard his account of what I said, it came off rather bitchy. Oh well, hopefully he’s a follower of “tough love”!
With just two FLAT miles left to go, Lynda-the gal from mile 20, said to me, “We can still break 4:30.”, I look at my watch and am totally confused by the time. I guess along with my hamstrings, I’ve lost my mathematics skills! I then realized that she’s right.
A sub-4:30-finish time would put me into my “acceptable” time range; so I decided to go for it.
Suddenly, I felt better than I had all day. So I took off. I thought Richard and Lynda had followed however when I turned around they were not in sight.
I just kept running, amazingly the time for my last mile was my fastest of the second half.
I waited at the finish line for Lynda and Richard. I congratulated both of them, took some photos and checked out the post race food. It looked as though they had a lot, however when you looked at each item, most were not that appetizing!
It was there again I spotted Michael. Surprisingly, he had finished behind Richard and me—although I guess it wouldn’t be too much of a shocker as he claimed that this was his ONLY long run.
I hung around the finish line a bit longer, then headed back to the hotel, to check out and set off for an adventure in “finding something to do until my flight”.
The medal had a great picture of the sea lions from Pier 39.
I decided to pay tribute to them and visit.
Pier 39 is no longer a working pier! The sea lions have kicked out all of the boats and have taken over. The pier itself is basically a mall and food court.
After about an hour, of walking around, I took the street car back to the hotel, grabbed my luggage and headed back to the airport via BART.
Ond of the Wyland Whale Walls across from Pier 39
I would rate San Francisco as the premier marathon of the summer. Nothing else comes close.
Yes, even with the hills!
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
San Juan Islands Marathon....June 3, 2007
Do you like to view beautiful scenery while you’re running?
How do you feel about running solo?
Are the hills your “friends”???
These are some of the questions you should ask yourself before deciding to run the San Juan Island Marathon.
First of all, who doesn’t enjoy scenery! The San Juan Islands are noted for spectacular scenery.
Second, it is a very small race; only 75 finishers in the marathon this year. You may find you’re out there on the course by yourself.
AND- be prepared for a roller coaster ride. There isn’t one mile of the island that’s flat.
How did I choose to run the SJI Marathon? It all started when The Other Jeff and Bendare2, aka Matt, decided to go for Ruthenium level in the Marathon Maniacs. For Jeff it would be an upgrade and for Matt, he didn’t want to even join until he met the 5 Star, qualification criteria by running 3 marathons in 3 different states within 9days. In this case it turned into a Double, Double: 2 marathons in 2 weekends. They decided to add a 4th marathon for fun.
I had been considering running the Rock and Roll Marathon in San Diego that same weekend, so when Jeff suggested that I run at least one of the marathons that they were running, I decided on SJI. After completing my 50 state marathon quest and running over 100 marathons, I’ve decided to repeat my favorites and find new interesting marathons to run.
The San Juan Islands would certainly prove to be an interesting choice! First of all, it seemed to me that no one knows where they are. Nearly everyone I mentioned the Islands to thought I was going to run in Puerto Rico! Wrong San Juan—the San Juan Islands are located in Northwestern Washington State. You get there by flying into Seattle and then taking a 45 minute flight on small puddle jumper from Boeing Airfield; or (as we did) you drive 2 hours from Seattle to Anacortes and take an hour long ferry ride to Friday Harbor, the quaint old fishing village-now a tourist haven of shops, galleries and restaurants.
I knew I’d enjoy seeing a new sights and getting away from the already 100 degree plus temperatures in Las Vegas. Most of all as the San Juans are home base to about 90 Orca Killer Whales. I was looking forward to going out on a whale watching trip.
I enlisted what I call the “A” Team, my traveling companions, Phil and Steffen and we were ready to go.
Phil decided that he would be happy running the half (he must have already researched the course, and knew better). Steffen decided to come along anyway, even though he’s been unable to run for at least a month, due to a knee injury.
Day 1: Our flight wasn’t scheduled until 9pm on Friday night, so why was I stressed out and rushing around at 3pm? I’m always late, that’s why. Classic over planning is usually my downfall. I had packed almost everything the day before so I would be ready early however a “nail emergency” sent me on an emergency stop at the nail salon before we headed out to the airport.
With my smudged nail repaired completed and a pedicure, we stopped to pick up Phil on our way to the airport.
We arrived in plenty of time so we leisurely strolled to the gate, which meant we were some of the last people to board.
I knew we were on a small plane, however when I planned taking a nap on the 2 hour flight, I had no idea how cramped and uncomfortable it would be! As a frequent flyer, I’m usually upgraded on all of my flights. Unless I’m exhausted, it’s doubtful I’m going to be able to sleep on a small plane!
No problem, we arrived in Seattle before midnight and were at our hotel, the Embassy Suites before midnight. This was important as the next morning we needed to be up as early as possible to make the 9:35am ferry from Anacortes, a 2 hour drive away!
Day 2: We were up at dawn; however we weren’t ready to leave until about 7am. Free breakfast delayed our early departure. You see Embassy Suites offers a cooked to serve breakfast which Steffen and Phil couldn’t resist. I, however, don’t like to eat that early so I planned to take some fruit, muffins and coffee from the buffet. Apparently, the cover wasn’t quite secured on the coffee cup-I must have squeezed it and as it wasn’t a sturdy Starbucks cup, the top went flying off and the entire cup of coffee ended up on my pants.
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Needless to say, spilling boiling, hot coffee on your leg will cause a burn. Plus it hurts!! I was so embarrassed that I quickly mopped it up and dashed upstairs to change clothes.
I had another 3 or 4 pants to choose from; I quickly changed and we were finally on our way.
It was about an hour and a half drive from Seattle to the ferry. We somehow made it without getting lost and plenty of time to spare.
Even though they tell you that it’s not necessary to bring a car on the island, we decided we wanted explore, so we drove into line and waited. It was a chilly morning; we needed jackets as we stood outside of the car and waited. I struck up a conversation with a guy in a truck parked next to us. He was working on a construction project on the island and had brought his 2 daughters and 4 dogs along to keep him company.
Finally we got to drive on to the ferry. We parked and went upstairs and sat in the passenger area, for the hour long trip. I chatted with a nurse who was sitting across from us. She told me she commuted back and forth a couple of times a week. We talked about the island and her life therefore the last 20 years. She was very informative and gave me a lot of insight into what island life was like in the San Juans.
]
Once we were close to shore, an announcement was made for the passengers to return to their cars. Minutes later we were driving off ferry and our way to the marathon’s host hotel, the Best Western Friday Harbor.
The hotel was on the edge of town, just a few blocks from the ferry. We checked in and decided to make our first stop the marathon expo.
Packet pick-up and the expo are located about a 3 minute drive away at the fairgrounds. In the summer this is the site of the County Fair, it consists of a horse ring, and a couple of exhibition halls, probably busy and bustling when in use, however not this day.
There were a few vendors selling running gear and food, and a local doctor doing a gait analysis.
Phil and I picked up our numbers and shirts, as well as Jodie’s, our friend from the LVM21 club. She planned to come from her home outside of Seattle on Sunday morning. I had to laugh, hoping that I had her last name right! Not to worry, I found the right Jodie!
Next stop was lunch, which we ate outside on the terrace facing the harbor at the Downrigger. We then took off on a driving tour of the course.
First thing I noticed were the hills. After those hills, there were more hills and yet, even more hills. It seemed that there wasn’t one part of the course that was flat.
We turned at the corner where the half marathon and the full, divided. We followed the road a little further than the marathon turn around point and found ourselves at the Lime Kiln Lighthouse .park. We stopped and took a look around the area.
We followed a path down toward the water and found the lighthouse and the whale watching lookout point.
We were only there for a few minutes when we saw a group of kayaks following a pod of whales! Perfect timing! We got to see maybe 5 or 6 whale as they breached—jumped up in the air and surfaced as they swam past us.
After they went on their way, I noticed the lighthouse was open and went inside to speak to the naturist on duty. He informed me that out of the 3 pods that frequent this area, there was only one in residence at this time-J Pod. And what we had witnessed was one of the most famous of the whales they are tracking, Ruffles- a 50 year old male, with a distinctive wavy fin, thus the name!
We got back in the car and continued with our course tour. Still beautiful scenery, however, more and more hills. It was getting late so we made a quick stop for some groceries, and returned to the hotel to get ready for the pasta dinner.
Matt, Jeff and his wife, Linda had finally arrived. The 2 guys had run the Green River marathon earlier that day and had traveled directly from the finish line of that marathon to the packet pick-up of their next race tomorrow, an unbelievable schedule!
I called and asked if they wanted to join us for pasta, they said no and decided to eat at the hotel restaurant.
It was a short drive back downtown to the Grange Hall for the pasta dinner. Actually, it looked like things were winding down when we arrived, however they were happy to serve us –Caesar salad and spaghetti with either marinara or meat sauce. Beverages- either water, my choice or Alaskan Ale, which Phil was game for.
To my horror, Steffen sat down at a table with a couple and their mom/mom-in-law. It appeared to me that they were not experience runners or pasta dinner goers and probably though we were incredibly rude. I later found out it was the husbands 1st race and the wife had run one half a long time ago. It was his mom, visiting from California and they weren’t so bothered that we had interrupted their evening once we got talking to them.
After dinner, we went back to the hotel and met up with the 2 guys and Linda, who having just finished dinner were still sitting out on the patio. We sat and chatted for hours! Jeff and Matt were so funny as they told us their tales of their Double, Double adventure.
Steffen and Phil had long left for bed when I finally was too cold to sit out any longer and went in.
With an 8:30am start, I was hoping to sleep a bit later in the morning. And also with no rooms, other than a one bedroom suite with only 2 beds for 3 people, I had a not so comfy night’s sleep on an air mattress to look forward to. Needless, to say, it was not my best night of sleep ever and the 5:30am “way too early wake up call” came much too soon!
Day 3: Marathon Day!!!
As I mentioned, I was woken up an hour before I had planned. Going back to sleep was impossible so I decided to just get up, take it slow and start to get ready. Steffen and Phil went out to breakfast; I ate my usual pre-race half of Power Bar.
Jodie called from the ferry. She had taken her car aboard so she planned to drive to our hotel then follow us to the starting line.
The guys came back from breakfast and I informed Steffen that we had to wait for Jodie. He seemed a little annoyed, since he couldn’t run; he had made plans to direct traffic.
It was only a couple of minutes later when Jodie arrived. She seemed much tinier than I had remembered her. I knew that she had gotten very serious about her training lately and it showed.
We took some photos; then left for the race. We had about a half hour until starting time at this point.
Once we got to the fairgrounds, Steffen took off in a truck with the race director and we walked around for a few minutes until it was time to take our places at the start. It wasn’t until then that I saw Matt and Jeff. They were lined up parallel to us on the other side of the pack. We went over to them, said hello (they hadn’t met Jodie before) and discussed our race strategy.
Matt and Jeff told us they planned to run a 4:45. I really had hoped to do better than that so I made the decision not to run with them. I’d go it alone; that is until the marathon and the half split; until then I could run the first 6 or 7 miles with Jodie. Knowing how fast the fellows are and my usual go out fast and try to hang on strategy, they would probably catch up to me soon enough..
The gun went off and we started to run. My impression of the first mile was “Oh, no! They’re starting already!” The hills that is! From the first mile on, it was nothing but hill after hill after hill.
Jodie and I were chatting, for the first couple of miles, even though I was having some trouble catching my breath. Aside from the hills it was actually more humid than I had expected, and it was quite sunny with very little shade. Jodie seemed to be running along quite easily as were most of the half marathon runners around us. I ended up walking on most of the steep hills and I was thrilled when we stopped at a water station and Jodie took a minute to take some photos.
It was actually a good thing that I ran those first miles with Jodie; she pushed me much more than I would have on my own. When the split came at about mile 6, in a way I was sorry, as it was nice to have her company and in another way I was relieved it could take it easier! Actually, I’ve run quite a few marathons where the half and the full start out together—somehow in my mind the race really doesn’t begin until those half marathoners are out of the way!
As we had driven the course the day before so I knew this windy road leading down to the lighthouse park was about the most scenic part of the course.
The road was very curvy and as there is no shoulder or sidewalk, you basically had to run in the street. This really was not a problem as the traffic consisted of one car every 5 minutes or so, however I was a bit worried, as I realized that a drivers probably wouldn’t see a runner until it was too late. Not wanting to be splattered on the highway, I finally asked the one other runner who was near me which side of the road he thought we should be running on. “Into traffic” was my thought and his answer, although we were actually running on the opposite side. Go figure! Although, I was sure I could see the newspaper headline from the next day, luckily, no one was splattered.
At the top of the hill, on the very first curve, the most beautiful vista of the Strait came into view. Unfortunately, there was also a dead raccoon. As a big animal lover, I turned my head away as soon as I got a glimpse of it, and tried to focus on the water and the trees. I looked up and I saw what I believed to be a bald eagle soaring above. At least I think it was an eagle. I know they nest nearby however it could have been a crow for all I knew; I’m not very knowledgeable about birds. Anyway, I’d like to think it was an eagle.
As we ran through the woods, the course became very dark and shady. I ran downhill toward the turn around, I saw many of the fast runners coming up the hill. This was really the only part of the course where you saw other runners.
I finally got to the turnaround and was making my way back up the hill when I saw Matt and Jeff. The must have been about a mile behind me. Jeff stopped and took a photo of me and Matt and they continued on their way and I continued on mind, worried that I was falling behind and they would soon be passing me!
It seemed like this stretch of the course went on much longer than it had on the way out. I was counting the miles and calculating how long it would be until I saw the dead raccoon again and got to the “port-a-pottie” where the half and full split off.
Once I finally got there, I made a pit stop, even though it wasn’t necessary. A tiny anorexic looking gal who had been in front of me for the last few miles had stopped too, so we exchanged a few encouraging words.
I continued on the course and to my surprise came up behind a number of half marathon WALKERS. It was nice, at least to see some other humans! I greeted each of them as I “flew” past them at my speedy 11 minute pace!
The hills kept coming and I soon felt myself adjusting my running and walking so at least I didn’t complain (to myself) on each one! For someone in great shape and used to running hills, this would have been a fun marathon. I had an idea what I was in for, however I had purposely NOT looked at the elevation map.
http://www.sanjuanislandmarathon.com/documents/SJIMarathonprofile.pdf
The course turned past the airport, field with a landing strip and a few planes parked around it. I knew this was where the final 6 mile loop of the marathon course would begin.
This was the only part of the course we hadn’t driven; I wasn’t sure what to expect. I thought I heard someone call out that the next 5 miles were flat-apparently I heard wrong. Again, more hills. Beautiful scenery, but all hills. At this point in the race there was only one other runner in view about ½ mile ahead of me. I couldn’t see anyone behind me and tried to imagine where the guys were as I still expected to see them.
What I didn’t expect to see was Steffen on a bike! I was listening to my MP3 player and into my “zone” when a cyclist came up behind me and said something. It took me more than a moment to register it was Steffen.
He had decided to rent a bike and take a tour of the marathon course on his own. He told me he had just seen Matt and Jeff. They were about a mile and half behind me. Matt was limping and thought he had a stress fracture in his foot.
Steffen biking along side of me was a great idea. I really appreciated the company. Those last 3 miles passed quickly as we chatted and I actually passed a few guys who were in very bad shape and walking.
Finally, I made it to the finish line! A pokey 4:40, however, 1st in my age group! (We won’t mention that there were only 2!)
Again, I was surprised to see Jodie and Phil waiting. They had both finished the half about 2 hours before! We waited with Linda for the 2 guys, who followed about 10 minutes later,
They did have quite a bit of food at the finish line for such a small race. I was more thirsty than hungry so I opted for some Gatorade and M&Ms, and decided to wait to eat later. We had lunch plans for the awards ceremony later in the afternoon at Friday’s Crab House.
We went back to the hotel, changed and went off to the Award Ceremony. They made a nice presentation, however no awards! Not a trophy, a ribbon or a plaque. The finisher’s medal was a sort of an “art project looking” round orange ceramic, with a map of the island and 26.2 written next to it. They intended for it to be worn as jewelry!
After lunch, Jodie, Matt , Linda and Jeff all left on the ferry that afternoon. Steffen, Phil and I were booked on a sunset whale watching cruise later that afternoon.
We went back to the hotel and quickly changed rooms. Thankfully, they were able to get us a 2 bedroom suite for Sunday night.
We picked up warmer clothes and headed back to the dock. We were the last to board of the twenty or so people sailing. After a short briefing by the captain and the naturalist, Margot, we set sail.
It was much colder and windier than I thought it would be. Fortunately, we had an inside cabin with plenty of windows so we could take in the view in comfort.
And view we did! We must have seen at least a dozen Orcas from the pod we saw the day before at the lighthouse. These whales are amazing. I couldn’t believe how much information there is on this particular pod. Each whale has a name and is identified by a marking or characteristic. As we watched them breaching and tail slapping, Margot pointed each one by name and bio. I guess if you saw these same whales going past everyday, it would be a sight as familiar as your neighbor out walking their dog!
As the whales gathered together and went into their “sleep mode” our boat turned around and headed for shore.
I have to say this was one the best highlights of our trip. I’ve been whale watching before; however I have never seen such a great show! I strongly recommend this trip to anyone who has a chance to take it. Keep in mind, the San Juan Islands are an easy day trip from Seattle-you can sail from the harbor in the morning and be back that same evening.
Back in Friday Harbor, we went returned to the Downrigger for dinner and back to the hotel for an early evening. It had been a very long day!
Day 4: I tried to sleep in however I was still up about 7am. That was okay as I had some work to do from my office. The hotel does a complimentary breakfast, so stopped in the breakfast room for a leisurely breakfast.
Long gone was yesterday’s beautiful weather! It was cold and rainy. We took our time getting ready and stopped off in town for some last minute shopping before boarding the 1:40pm ferry.
We arrived in Anacortes about 3pm, drove to Seattle and planned to do some sightseeing at Pike’s Market, which is somewhat of cross between San Francisco’s Pier 39 and an actual fish market. Our visit was rather abbreviated as it was just about 6pm, closing time, when we arrived.
We did stop off in an Irish pub for dinner and then returned to the airport for our “very-delayed” flight back to Las Vegas.
The San Juan Islands proved to be a great weekend “escape” from the summer heat of Las Vegas, a fabulous sightseeing adventure and a beautiful course for a 26.2 mile hill workout!
Friday, April 20, 2007
One Birthday Boy, A Bad Knee and 103 Marathons:
“My” ING Georgia Marathon
By Martha Corazzini
I first heard of the ING Georgia Marathon last fall. I immediately penciled it in on my marathon calendar. A brand new marathon- how exciting!. In fact, back in October, when we ran the Twin Cities marathon we met some runners from Atlanta, and I very excitedly told them how we’d be in their city in a few months.
So…with all of this anticipation and early planning, how did we end up needing special permission from the race director to Fedex our entry forms after registration closed?
Just goes to show you to pay attention when you’re running an inaugural race—don’t procrastinate. Sign up early. It may seem like you have all the time in the world to get your entry in, however when it’s capped at certain number and the race meets their maximum early-they’re serious! This turned out to be a very popular spring marathon! The only other marathon actually in Atlanta is held on Thanksgiving Day—not really a day most people can run a marathon and it’s known to be a very hilly course.
We left Las Vegas on a red-eye flight the Friday night before the race. Our group, consisted of myself and LVTC members Phil Weiland and Steffen Schneider. After running the LA marathon a couple weeks before, Phil, who was celebrating his 72nd birthday on Saturday, had opted to run the half marathon. He was also scheduled to run the Laughlin Half the following week. Steffen, suffering from a knee injury for the last few weeks, decided not to run however he came along for the ride anyway.
My friend, Kathy Kass was flying in from NYC on Saturday morning to meet us. She is a member of my team in NYC, the Flyers and having just completed her 10th state, a new member of the 50 State Club.
Of course, you can’t go to any marathon without running into several 50 State club members, we also met. Edson Sanches, also from NYC, who’s run over 400 marathons and Sharon Kerson from LA, who last year became the 2nd woman to complete a marathon in all of the states for the 3rd time. She’s also a LA Marathon Legacy runner-meaning she’s completed the LA marathon every year it’s been held.
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Our flight landed in Atlanta before dawn. With plenty of time to spare we took the Marta train from the airport to the hotel. Marta. is the name of Atlanta’s metropolitan transportation system which actually turned out to be a very efficient and easy way to get around. (I hoped they would give me a discount for having the same name, but no luck)
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It wasn’t even 8am when we arrived at our hotel, the Omni at CNN Center. If you have ever arrived early at a hotel, you probably know, universally, check-in is not until 3pm. I hoped that we would be able to check in early however not such luck as the hotel was sold out the night before. There’s a huge food court in the CNN complex, so we lingered over breakfast then went back to the hotel and caught a nap on some couches in the hotel lobby until Kathy arrived and it was finally time to go to the expo.
The expo was only a few minutes from the hotel. As we walked over from our hotel the first thing I noticed was how sunny and warm it was—bad news the day before a marathon!
Second, was the line of runners waiting to get into the expo—it stretched around the building! We joined in and resigned ourselves to a long wait when a race official came through and asked who was running the full marathon. About 3 of us stepped out of line and she escorted us past the rest of the crowd of HALF marathoners. Is it 1 to 50 running the marathon?? I thought. Turned out the Half had about 10,000 runners and the full about 4000.
The expo itself was great. It was all very well organized so we sailed through packet pick up. There was a great variety of vendors-from running clothes and socks with funny sayings on them to all sorts of nutritional breakthroughs and devices to prevent injury. I even found one company that made marathon clothes for dogs! Of course, I bought 2 doggie marathon shirts for my guys.
AND as a reality show junkie, I was excited to see Dawna Stone, the winner of the Martha Stewart Apprentice, who was there promoting the magazine she founded- Her Sports and Fitness. After hours of expo sampling and shopping, we made it back to the hotel just in time to leave for dinner.
After about 100 pre-race pasta dinners, I’ve found that any and all of the Italian restaurants will be packed the night before a marathon. With no organized pasta dinner provided by the race, I decided that we had better make reservations for Saturday night before we got into town, or we would be out of luck. After a bit of research we found that Maggiano’s in Buckhead would be perfect. Although, somehow our group went from a party of 4 to 6 and then to 10, the restaurant just kept moving our reservation to an earlier time.
Two more 50 Staters joined our group, Debbie from Arizona and Chuck, from North Dakota. We also had “Klink”, a member of the LVM21 club from Omaha and her friend Laurie who recently moved to Georgia. The LVM21 club was formed last year through the Las Vegas Marathon message board. “Klink” is actually her board name-she’s really another Kathy. Even though the main focus of the club is the NLVM, we’ve been able to meet many of the club members throughout the country at different events throughout the year. It’s a great, friendly and supportive club. Check out the web site for more info-www.lvm21.com.
As it turned out, Maggiano’s certainly would not disappoint any serious carbo loader--.a small portion is half a pound of pasta!
After a great a dinner we headed back downtown via Marta and made a stop at Underground Atlanta, a popular dining, shopping and entertainment venue, however with a 7am race start, Saturday night ended rather early.
We did get a chance to walk by the race starting line to plot out our route for the morning.
It was only a few blocks from the hotel.
Race Day Morning- First thing Kathy and I did when we woke up was to make a bet as to whether or not Steffen would run. Actually, we couldn’t even bet against each other as we both thought he’d try.. Even though he had the bad knee and planned not to run, he had picked up his race number and chip at the expo “just in case” he felt better.
However, when we went down the hall to the guy’s room to pick up Phil for the race, we found that even though he was in his running clothes, Steffen had decided not to run.
Just the three of us, set out for the marathon. At 6:30am temps were already in the 60s. It looked like it was going to be warm!
As we got closer to the crowd, there was someone handing out sausage and biscuit sandwiches from Waffle House. For those who don’t know, Waffle House is a more regional version of IHOP, only with more fat and calories. To my surprise Phil took one! Phil, probably weighs less than I do and is not known for his appetite! Needless to say he found that a few bites were enough.
We tried to move up closer to the starting line but it was too crowded. It didn’t seem that we were so far back until I noticed the 6:30 and 7 hour pacing groups in front of us!!
Apparently we couldn’t even see the starting line as it was around the corner and several blocks ahead. When the gun finally went off, it took us 14minutes to get across the starting mat.
As a first time marathon, I have to say there were glitches. Fortunately, there were not many. Mostly at the water stations –the first was overwhelmed and unprepared for the number of runners they had to deal with. The second water stop was nonexistent; which left the marathoners with no water until mile six! Bad news on a hot day; by the end of the race the temperature was in the mid-eighties!
Water stations later in the race were okay. Better organized any way, however if you were expecting to see Powerade, most of them were out.
Many of the runners were complaining. It wouldn’t change anything to listen so I turned my focus to the spectators. As the race passed through mostly residential areas they were plentiful! As they cheered, I cheered back at them and thanked everyone for coming out. ING must have run a good campaign as most of the crowd was dressed in ING’s color, orange! I’ve never seen anything like it before.
I knew that there were some other runners I knew out on the course; out of 4000 runners I never expected to see them however-I did!
After the first disastrous water stop I met up with Kathy. I was running and talking to her for a few minutes when ahead of us I noticed a 6’5” man wearing a dreadlock wig that came down to his waist. On the back of his shorts was a pirate skull and crossbones flag. “What a jerk” I thought until I realized it was Daniel aka “Braz” of the LVM21 club! As he lives in Atlanta it was not a big deal for him to jump in and “unofficially” pace his friend, Claudia in her first marathon. Braz usually is about a 3:15 marathoner. He had no idea what went on in the back of the pack and was taking it all in very lightly as he ran a six hour pace with Claudia. In fact he made a point to stop and sample every Mimosa, Bloody Mary and beer that was offered to him on the course! By the time he got to the finish line he claimed that he was drunk!
After, hugs and kisses and a few words into the “Claudia Cam” he carried to record every moment of the race for her we were off.
Next I saw Dana, another 50 State Club member who spent about 3 hours run/walking with me in the Breakers Marathon last October. I was sick that weekend however that’s the only marathon offered in Rhode Island all year. I had to run and I had to finish otherwise I would not have been able to finish the states as I had planned to January 1.
In fact would have had to wait until this October. Thanks to Dana, who met up with me at about mile 13 and stayed with me to the finish line I made it. Without her I probably would have crawled up under a tree and gone to sleep.
AND I finally got to meet my father’s friend from the airport, Arthur. My father is retired however to keep busy he has a job in security at Ft. Lauderdale airport. For more than a year he’s been telling me about this fellow, Arthur, a dentist and 50 State Club member, who he sees on his way to another marathon every week. Yes, he’s traveling to something EVERY week. In fact, he comes home on Sunday and goes back to the “Departures” area to tell my father about his trip.
Right now, Arthur is approaching his 200th marathon and planning a big celebration, which my dad has already been invited to.
Oddly, out of all of the marathons I’ve run, I’ve never met him, when I heard that he was running in Atlanta too, I made a point to keep an eye out for him.
I’ve seen photos of him and he always wears a very distinctive “Yell Go Art” shirt.
About mile 22 I saw a runner that I thought might have been him. I sped up a little and peeked around so I could read his shirt. Sure enough it was him!
Still running next to him, I introduced myself; he seemed equally excited to meet me.
He was actually doing a “double” –which means that he ran another marathon the day before. He told me to go ahead while he walked for a few minutes. Next thing I knew he took off and was passed me!
The most moving part of the race for me came at the finish line. It was a much hillier, more difficult course than I had expected; plus it turned out to be a very warm day. As I was running those very last steps, with chafing under my arm burning and my legs aching; I heard the finish line MC announce that Scott Rigsby had just finished becoming the first DOUBLE amputee to complete a marathon. With that I completely forgot about my minor aches and pains. I could only imagine his will and determination, the hours of training he must have endured, to be able to run the same 26.2 miles that I had to get to that moment. There was no way I could complain about anything- all I could feel was how proud he must have felt and what an inspiration he was to anyone who is up against the odds in any situation.. You can catch a minute of him running on this You Tube link-
http://youtube.com/watch?v=X7QCcpbvunc
All and all it turned out to be a great race and a good time. Kathy picked up her 11th state. Phil placed 3rd in his division in the half and had a great birthday. Steffen’s knee is on the mend. Hopefully he’ll be back for next month’s marathon! AND I completed my 103rd marathon and can’t wait for the next!
“My” ING Georgia Marathon
By Martha Corazzini
I first heard of the ING Georgia Marathon last fall. I immediately penciled it in on my marathon calendar. A brand new marathon- how exciting!. In fact, back in October, when we ran the Twin Cities marathon we met some runners from Atlanta, and I very excitedly told them how we’d be in their city in a few months.
So…with all of this anticipation and early planning, how did we end up needing special permission from the race director to Fedex our entry forms after registration closed?
Just goes to show you to pay attention when you’re running an inaugural race—don’t procrastinate. Sign up early. It may seem like you have all the time in the world to get your entry in, however when it’s capped at certain number and the race meets their maximum early-they’re serious! This turned out to be a very popular spring marathon! The only other marathon actually in Atlanta is held on Thanksgiving Day—not really a day most people can run a marathon and it’s known to be a very hilly course.
We left Las Vegas on a red-eye flight the Friday night before the race. Our group, consisted of myself and LVTC members Phil Weiland and Steffen Schneider. After running the LA marathon a couple weeks before, Phil, who was celebrating his 72nd birthday on Saturday, had opted to run the half marathon. He was also scheduled to run the Laughlin Half the following week. Steffen, suffering from a knee injury for the last few weeks, decided not to run however he came along for the ride anyway.
My friend, Kathy Kass was flying in from NYC on Saturday morning to meet us. She is a member of my team in NYC, the Flyers and having just completed her 10th state, a new member of the 50 State Club.
Of course, you can’t go to any marathon without running into several 50 State club members, we also met. Edson Sanches, also from NYC, who’s run over 400 marathons and Sharon Kerson from LA, who last year became the 2nd woman to complete a marathon in all of the states for the 3rd time. She’s also a LA Marathon Legacy runner-meaning she’s completed the LA marathon every year it’s been held.
.
Our flight landed in Atlanta before dawn. With plenty of time to spare we took the Marta train from the airport to the hotel. Marta. is the name of Atlanta’s metropolitan transportation system which actually turned out to be a very efficient and easy way to get around. (I hoped they would give me a discount for having the same name, but no luck)
.
It wasn’t even 8am when we arrived at our hotel, the Omni at CNN Center. If you have ever arrived early at a hotel, you probably know, universally, check-in is not until 3pm. I hoped that we would be able to check in early however not such luck as the hotel was sold out the night before. There’s a huge food court in the CNN complex, so we lingered over breakfast then went back to the hotel and caught a nap on some couches in the hotel lobby until Kathy arrived and it was finally time to go to the expo.
The expo was only a few minutes from the hotel. As we walked over from our hotel the first thing I noticed was how sunny and warm it was—bad news the day before a marathon!
Second, was the line of runners waiting to get into the expo—it stretched around the building! We joined in and resigned ourselves to a long wait when a race official came through and asked who was running the full marathon. About 3 of us stepped out of line and she escorted us past the rest of the crowd of HALF marathoners. Is it 1 to 50 running the marathon?? I thought. Turned out the Half had about 10,000 runners and the full about 4000.
The expo itself was great. It was all very well organized so we sailed through packet pick up. There was a great variety of vendors-from running clothes and socks with funny sayings on them to all sorts of nutritional breakthroughs and devices to prevent injury. I even found one company that made marathon clothes for dogs! Of course, I bought 2 doggie marathon shirts for my guys.
AND as a reality show junkie, I was excited to see Dawna Stone, the winner of the Martha Stewart Apprentice, who was there promoting the magazine she founded- Her Sports and Fitness. After hours of expo sampling and shopping, we made it back to the hotel just in time to leave for dinner.
After about 100 pre-race pasta dinners, I’ve found that any and all of the Italian restaurants will be packed the night before a marathon. With no organized pasta dinner provided by the race, I decided that we had better make reservations for Saturday night before we got into town, or we would be out of luck. After a bit of research we found that Maggiano’s in Buckhead would be perfect. Although, somehow our group went from a party of 4 to 6 and then to 10, the restaurant just kept moving our reservation to an earlier time.
Two more 50 Staters joined our group, Debbie from Arizona and Chuck, from North Dakota. We also had “Klink”, a member of the LVM21 club from Omaha and her friend Laurie who recently moved to Georgia. The LVM21 club was formed last year through the Las Vegas Marathon message board. “Klink” is actually her board name-she’s really another Kathy. Even though the main focus of the club is the NLVM, we’ve been able to meet many of the club members throughout the country at different events throughout the year. It’s a great, friendly and supportive club. Check out the web site for more info-www.lvm21.com.
As it turned out, Maggiano’s certainly would not disappoint any serious carbo loader--.a small portion is half a pound of pasta!
After a great a dinner we headed back downtown via Marta and made a stop at Underground Atlanta, a popular dining, shopping and entertainment venue, however with a 7am race start, Saturday night ended rather early.
We did get a chance to walk by the race starting line to plot out our route for the morning.
It was only a few blocks from the hotel.
Race Day Morning- First thing Kathy and I did when we woke up was to make a bet as to whether or not Steffen would run. Actually, we couldn’t even bet against each other as we both thought he’d try.. Even though he had the bad knee and planned not to run, he had picked up his race number and chip at the expo “just in case” he felt better.
However, when we went down the hall to the guy’s room to pick up Phil for the race, we found that even though he was in his running clothes, Steffen had decided not to run.
Just the three of us, set out for the marathon. At 6:30am temps were already in the 60s. It looked like it was going to be warm!
As we got closer to the crowd, there was someone handing out sausage and biscuit sandwiches from Waffle House. For those who don’t know, Waffle House is a more regional version of IHOP, only with more fat and calories. To my surprise Phil took one! Phil, probably weighs less than I do and is not known for his appetite! Needless to say he found that a few bites were enough.
We tried to move up closer to the starting line but it was too crowded. It didn’t seem that we were so far back until I noticed the 6:30 and 7 hour pacing groups in front of us!!
Apparently we couldn’t even see the starting line as it was around the corner and several blocks ahead. When the gun finally went off, it took us 14minutes to get across the starting mat.
As a first time marathon, I have to say there were glitches. Fortunately, there were not many. Mostly at the water stations –the first was overwhelmed and unprepared for the number of runners they had to deal with. The second water stop was nonexistent; which left the marathoners with no water until mile six! Bad news on a hot day; by the end of the race the temperature was in the mid-eighties!
Water stations later in the race were okay. Better organized any way, however if you were expecting to see Powerade, most of them were out.
Many of the runners were complaining. It wouldn’t change anything to listen so I turned my focus to the spectators. As the race passed through mostly residential areas they were plentiful! As they cheered, I cheered back at them and thanked everyone for coming out. ING must have run a good campaign as most of the crowd was dressed in ING’s color, orange! I’ve never seen anything like it before.
I knew that there were some other runners I knew out on the course; out of 4000 runners I never expected to see them however-I did!
After the first disastrous water stop I met up with Kathy. I was running and talking to her for a few minutes when ahead of us I noticed a 6’5” man wearing a dreadlock wig that came down to his waist. On the back of his shorts was a pirate skull and crossbones flag. “What a jerk” I thought until I realized it was Daniel aka “Braz” of the LVM21 club! As he lives in Atlanta it was not a big deal for him to jump in and “unofficially” pace his friend, Claudia in her first marathon. Braz usually is about a 3:15 marathoner. He had no idea what went on in the back of the pack and was taking it all in very lightly as he ran a six hour pace with Claudia. In fact he made a point to stop and sample every Mimosa, Bloody Mary and beer that was offered to him on the course! By the time he got to the finish line he claimed that he was drunk!
After, hugs and kisses and a few words into the “Claudia Cam” he carried to record every moment of the race for her we were off.
Next I saw Dana, another 50 State Club member who spent about 3 hours run/walking with me in the Breakers Marathon last October. I was sick that weekend however that’s the only marathon offered in Rhode Island all year. I had to run and I had to finish otherwise I would not have been able to finish the states as I had planned to January 1.
In fact would have had to wait until this October. Thanks to Dana, who met up with me at about mile 13 and stayed with me to the finish line I made it. Without her I probably would have crawled up under a tree and gone to sleep.
AND I finally got to meet my father’s friend from the airport, Arthur. My father is retired however to keep busy he has a job in security at Ft. Lauderdale airport. For more than a year he’s been telling me about this fellow, Arthur, a dentist and 50 State Club member, who he sees on his way to another marathon every week. Yes, he’s traveling to something EVERY week. In fact, he comes home on Sunday and goes back to the “Departures” area to tell my father about his trip.
Right now, Arthur is approaching his 200th marathon and planning a big celebration, which my dad has already been invited to.
Oddly, out of all of the marathons I’ve run, I’ve never met him, when I heard that he was running in Atlanta too, I made a point to keep an eye out for him.
I’ve seen photos of him and he always wears a very distinctive “Yell Go Art” shirt.
About mile 22 I saw a runner that I thought might have been him. I sped up a little and peeked around so I could read his shirt. Sure enough it was him!
Still running next to him, I introduced myself; he seemed equally excited to meet me.
He was actually doing a “double” –which means that he ran another marathon the day before. He told me to go ahead while he walked for a few minutes. Next thing I knew he took off and was passed me!
The most moving part of the race for me came at the finish line. It was a much hillier, more difficult course than I had expected; plus it turned out to be a very warm day. As I was running those very last steps, with chafing under my arm burning and my legs aching; I heard the finish line MC announce that Scott Rigsby had just finished becoming the first DOUBLE amputee to complete a marathon. With that I completely forgot about my minor aches and pains. I could only imagine his will and determination, the hours of training he must have endured, to be able to run the same 26.2 miles that I had to get to that moment. There was no way I could complain about anything- all I could feel was how proud he must have felt and what an inspiration he was to anyone who is up against the odds in any situation.. You can catch a minute of him running on this You Tube link-
http://youtube.com/watch?v=X7QCcpbvunc
All and all it turned out to be a great race and a good time. Kathy picked up her 11th state. Phil placed 3rd in his division in the half and had a great birthday. Steffen’s knee is on the mend. Hopefully he’ll be back for next month’s marathon! AND I completed my 103rd marathon and can’t wait for the next!
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