Casper the Friendly Marathon (Take 2)

In 2013, my first attempt to run the Casper Marathon in 2013 was thwarted by a United Airlines flight to Denver that sat at the gate at KCI for 1.5 hours.  Oh, the memory of being squeezed in like a sardine on a propeller plane with maintenance  issues.  After United announced that all of us with connections in Denver would miss our connecting flights and not be able to get out of Denver until the next day, United let me off the plane and gave me a refund for my flight.  (It took me over 14 days and a little bit of complaining with United to get that refund.)

Zoom in on Casper Marathon weekend 2014.  The second time around I was smart and flew Southwest (free flight from all my Rapid Rewards) into Denver.  I rented a car and drove the 3.75 hour drive up I-25 from Denver to Casper.  As I drove up to Casper, the scenery reminded me of the old cowboy-western movie backdrops.  More interesting that the scenery was the camel farm I saw south of Cheyenne.  At first I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me and they were buffalo.  They were definitely camels.  The drive was also made much much more entertaining since Sirius XM had a free preview weekend and I good tunes all the way to Casper. 

I had picked the Casper Marathon because it seemed like the easiest choice for my Wyoming Marathon.  The town is easily accessible from Denver, and the altitude (5,000 to 5,200) seemed much more manageable than some of the other races in Wyoming.

I got into Casper around 5:30 p.m. and checked into the Hilton Garden Inn (free hotel from all my Hilton Honors points!!).  I then drove the 0.25 mile over to the Ramada Inn where packet pickup was held.  The packet pickup was a small affair, where I essentially picked up my bib and race shirt (a really nice florescent orange long sleeve Brooks shirt).  I was impressed that such a small race (195 marathoners total) had a chip check.  The local running club also had a booth set up to sell anything that traveling runners may have forgotten.

After the excitement of getting my race loot was over, I drove around the area of the hotel searching for food.  Only seeing McDonald's and Dairy Queen, I decided to eat at the grill in the hotel.  I carb-loaded on French fries and a turkey club sandwich.  Then I went back to my room and tried to figure out the course map.  I hit the sack by 9:00 p.m., ready for my 4:45 a.m. wake up call. 

The Casper Marathon starts at 6:30 a.m. to beat the summer heat.  The starting line is at the Casper Events Center, which is on a bluff above the City of Casper and about what looked like 0.5 mile from my hotel.  On race morning, I could have walked over to the Ramada Inn to catch a shuttle that would take me to the top of the bluff.  Since I've had so many wonderful experiences with race shuttles, I decided to hoof it.  After all, the race website said the finish line at the Ramada Inn is simply 0.5 mile below the starting line.  I missed the fact that the climb was over 120 feet...and Casper already sits at an average altitude of 5,100 feet.  I definitely warmed up my legs and lungs on the hike up the bluff, but it helped calm some of my normal pre-race jitters. 

The race starts at the Casper Events Center and winds around in the area for about 5 miles until heading toward the Platte River Parkway (a recreational trail).  At the starting line, the sky was clear and temps were in the upper 50s.  The temperatures were in my favor, but the first 5 miles of the race were pretty hilly, and I was worried about the impacts the altitude would have on me, so I made sure to stick with my normal 4 minute run/1 minute walk routine.   Around Mile 5 I heard this heavy rumble.  At first I thought it was just my iPod.  Then I heard it again.  When I turned around, the sky behind me was dark charcoal and bolts of lightning were dancing across the horizon.   By the time I got to Mile 8, the skies were darker, but the rain held off.  Just before Mile 10, a spectator said that the storm had gone around Casper.  No sooner did one minute go by that the skies opened and it poured.  Thankfully the rain only lasted a few minutes.   After that, the sun popped back out and heated up the course for the remainder of the race.  

I wouldn't say this marathon is known for it's scenery.   According to the race website, a portion of the trail ran through Crossroads Park where Oregon Trail ruts are still visible.  I wished I would have known about that and checked out the park on Saturday when I had time.   While I was running, I noted a fun little miniature golf course at Mile 10 set up like and old western town.  Further along the trail I ran by a life-sived fisherman statute in the Platte River.  Later I passed an oil derrick, which, according to the race website celebrates the county's oil and gas history.   There's nothing like a little oil and gas history:  Casper grew in the 1880s because of the oil and gas boom.  Miles 22 through 24 of the marathon loop around the Platte River Commons Business Park Trail system and a golf course - the former location of an oil refinery from 1910 to 1990.  There was even a nice placard talking about remediating the area as I ran along Mile 24.  Other than that, there wasn't much to look at.  I was hoping to see a few deer or antelope; I saw a rabbit hop off into the brush once and a dog at an aid station wearing a t-shirt. 

Besides lack of scenery, the City must have gotten a great deal on concrete when they constructed the trail.  A good majority of the trail was concrete, which isn't really a big deal until you've been running for 20 miles.  Then it started to feel like someone was jabbing a knife in each knee with each foot landing.  I did a lot more walking than running to make it through the last 4 miles of the course.  The altitude also started catching up with me around Mile 17. 

The other odd thing about this race is that there were no volunteers on the course telling you which direction to run.  There were a few times when the trail is windy enough that I couldn't see runners in front of me.  After panicking a few times about which direction to go on the trail, I learned to follow lines, race logo stencils, and/or painted arrows and to never cross any solid yellow lines when the road forked. 

On the plus side, the race volunteers did a great job with the aid stations.  Most aid stations were fully equipped buffets of water, gatorade, gel, watermelon, bananas, oranges, and vasoline. The Mile 24 aid station even had cups of ice. 

The three race spectators I saw were highly energetic.  It helped that I knew one, Lisa, from Runner's Edge.  She was there cheering on Janice.  It was a nice boost to see two KC faces along the course.  The other spectator was a gentleman cheering on his buddy that was running the same pace I was running. This guy was everywhere on the course - and he cheered, clapped and passed along motivation to any runner that passed him.  He would get from one spot to the next, I almost wondered if he used teleportation.  Toward the end of the race, in Mile 25, I ran past the miniature golf course again, which was then open and booming with business.  One of the dads playing with his kids came up to the fence and shouting the ever encouraging "You're almost there!"  (For the record, none of the guys playing golf at the "real" golf course uttered a peep when I ran by.)

Between running the Vermont City Marathon the prior week and this marathon course, I was delighted when I saw the Mile 26 marker.  I chuckled when "Fat  Bottomed Girls" was playing as I crossed the finish line seeing as how the runner ahead of me finished at least 30 seconds ahead of me and noone was behind me.  I hope it wasn't chosen as a personal theme song....  As soon as I finished the skies opened open and rained cats and dogs.  

Between the concrete, the altitude, and the monotony of the trail, it was a physically and mentally tough race for me.  I will walk away from this race with memories of all of that concrete and all of those wonderful aid station volunteers.

 I finished this race in 5:07:40.   State #28 is complete!

 

Breaking a Marathon Drought: The Vermont City Marathon

After running the NYC Marathon in November, I seemed to have come under the force of a serious marathon jinx that started when I skipped the Marshall University Marathon the weekend after NYC.  I was simply too fatigued from NYC to make another race so soon.  In December, winter weather prevented me from wanting to make the trek to the Rehoboth Beach Marathon.   I mean, who really wants to get stuck in an airport on the east coast when the ice hits?  In January, well rested after not having run a full in two months, I missed the Louisiana Marathon when I came down with a horrid cold late in the week prior to the race.  Knowing I had work travel coming up, I decided to stay home and rest by running the Battle of the Bean 5K instead.  By the time the end of February rolled around, I was pumped for the Georgia Marathon in March.  My hopes of running the Georgia Marathon were dashed the day I opened my mailbox to see a neon orange juror summons on top of my stack of mail.  I was inconveniently summonsed to report for jury duty the day after the Georgia Marathon.  Fearful I wouldn't make it back in time to report to court, I canceled my trip to Atlanta, reported for jury duty, and found out within 5 minutes that my court case had settled out of court late on Sunday night.  Awesome.  Next up my bad marathon juju served up a bad infection so I was prescribed antibiotics that wiped my digestive system clean of any and all happy little digestive bacteria. After suffering for almost four weeks from GI distress caused by the antibiotics, and starting a special glucose free, fructose free, lactose free diet, I managed to run a local marathon in Olathe:  the Garmin Marathon.  I felt horrible almost the entire time, but I finished.  While I finally felt like I beat the marathon jinx, it took me four more weeks to overcome the side effects of the antibiotics.  

That's quite the explanatory build up to the Vermont City Marathon, isn't it?  When Galen and I left for Burlington, Vermont (me 12 pounds lighter and still not feeling swell) I hadn't been so anxious about running a marathon since my first marathons.  The forecast in Burlington was calling for a warm day and there was a chance for severe thunderstorms, the course is ridiculously hilly, and I was trying new fructose free running supplements (Clif Shot Blocks, and Clif Energy Gel).  After all of the stress associated with marathoning for the prior 6 months, the Vermont City Marathon ended up being the perfect reward.  It was a marathon that ended up becoming my 3rd favorite marathon that I've run so far.  (Disney is #1 and Twin Cities is #2, if you are curious.)

What makes this marathon so special?  The people and the scenery.

With Galen at the starting line

We stayed at the Hilton on Battery Street, so on race day we were able to take a short walk up the hill to the starting line at Battery Park.  Temperatures were in the mid to upper 50s and a misty fog had rolled in over Lake Champlain.  Galen and I had scoped Battery Park out the evening before and were happy we knew about a second bank of port-a-potties further away from the more popular port-a-potty area, so we didn't have to stand in the ludicrous lines.  After our pit stop, we made our way to the starting line and only had to wait about 20 minutes for the race to start. 

The marathon featured a marathon relay, with the relay runners starting with the marathoners.  This made for an overly crowded first few miles.  Miles 1 and 2 are down tree-lined residential streets.  During these miles, I really had to focus on where I was running and pay attention not to run into cars parked along the sides of the street.  During Mile 3, I turned and ran up the Marketplace on Church Street.  The people of Burlington were out in full force: including a gaggle of what I thought were strange looking women and then quickly realized they were drag queens out to cheer on the runners.

Running down Church Street

After the excitement on Church Street, runners left the downtown Burlington area, passing back underneath the starting line, for a long, unshaded out and back on the Northern Connector, which is basically a highway.  The only time Burlington shuts the highway down is for the marathon.  It's a nice fun fact, but it didn't really make this part of the course fun.  The course is downhill from Miles 4 to 6, with a rather long climb back up to downtown Burlington.  It was during this part of the course that I "ran" into Elizabeth, a former Runner's Edger that had moved to NYC.  I chatted with her for about 0.5 mile until I needed to take a walk break. 



Views from Mile 14

Reaching the top of the hill after Mile 8, I was delighted to hear the cheers of throngs of people after returning to downtown Burlington.  I ran over the starting line once again and then retraced my steps, running down Church Street, confirming that those were indeed drag queens that I had seen before on the run up Church Street.  After leaving Church Street, I headed out to Mile 13 toward Burlington's South  End, where the course turned runners back toward downtown.  When I reached the bottom of Church Street, I heard drum beats from a few streets over and started to feel this extreme feeling of dread.  A super large hill was waiting for me at Mile 15...the hill is so large that taiko drummers come out so runners can use the drum beats to get up the hill.  I turned my iPod up and went into denial for a few miles. One of the aid stations along this stretch had my favorite aid station treat:  oranges.  I had a slice and powered on.
(As a side note, the aid stations were really well run at this event.  Each table was set up consistently with water, Gatorade, and then the opportunity for more water.)   

The views of Lake Champlain along Miles 13 and 14 were amazing!  The course ran along an asphalt bike trail along the lake.  I stopped to take a few photos here.  The temps were starting to warm up quite a bit so I really enjoyed the cool breeze off the lake.

The Assault on Battery

Then I turned off the bike trail ready for Mile 15...better known as "The Assault on Battery."  The hill.  The steep, unshaded hill.  I stopped to take a photo at the bottom of the hill and one spectator said to me:  "Yeah, baby!  That's a hill isn't it!?!?  THAT'S A HILL!"  Yep, buddy, I bet it's easy to get that excited about a hill if all you are doing is standing at the bottom of it.   Spectators held signs saying "Beat the hill!"  I started the steep 6-block climb at a slow pace, but still a pace fast enough to be considered a run.  Taiko drummers were located about a quarter of the way up the hill.  I could feel their drum beat pulsing through my body.  I took my headphones out here, and I used the drum beat to continue on about halfway up the hill.  Spectators were leaning over the security fencing as far as they could cheering on the runners by name.  The environment was extremely high energy, I just wanted to power up the hill...except it got steep...and I was hot.   Knowing there were still 11 miles left, I'm not going to lie, I walked up the rest of that bad boy.  I cannot name a point in any other marathon that I've run that I've felt that much energy from the spectators.  For a part of the course that I just dreaded, the spectators made it so much fun.



Finishing the Vermont City Marathon

At the top of the hill on Battery Street, I passed by the starting line again.  That's definitely a race course record.  I've never run by or through the starting line four times during a marathon.  Looking at a course map, it's obvious the race is set up that way so that runners get to see the most scenic parts of the city and spectators can easily maneuver the course to see the runners.

The next 6.5 miles of the course were run along North Avenue and in and out of residential neighborhoods.  The stretches along North Avenue were pretty toasty but running through the shaded neighborhoods was a blast.  People were out with sprinklers and hoses to cool the runners down.  I quickly learned to avoid any kid holding a hose after one almost totally soaked my feet.  The adults seemed to understand to aim for the head and shoulders so our feet didn't wet.  In one of the neighborhoods around Mile 18 or 19, there was a sign that said "Lakewood Musical Mile."  In this neighborhood almost everyone was out in their front yard partying down.   There were plenty of oranges and bananas for everyone.  The oranges were actually cold.   The bananas had been peeled and sliced and put into Dixie cups that we could carry along with us.  That takes effort.  I was extremely impressed.  What a fun neighborhood!

By Mile 20, I realized I'd maybe had one too many bananas and orange slices along the course and felt really full.  Whoops.  I'd become one of those people that snack their way through a race.  It was also at Mile 20 that "Turn Down for What" came on my iPod.  I seriously don't remember ever downloading that song.  I don't really know what "turning down for what" means...I probably don't really want to know what it means, but that beat really carried me along for 3 minutes and 34 seconds.  Um, thanks DJ Snake and Lil Jon.




Post Race Treat:  Maple Creemees are AMAZING!

Around Mile 21, I saw one of the best race signs ever:  You could have chosen chess.  I love the irony in that as I have never understood how to play chess.  Marathons seem easier than learning to play chess...  During Mile 21, the course has a steep downhill to the Burlington Bike Trail, which meant shade at last.  The views of Lake Champlain from this bike trail were also beautiful.  I stopped to take a photo and "ran" into my Maniac pal Murray.  I was grateful to see someone I knew, and we pushed each other the last few miles.  It's always nice to run into a Maniac at the end of race when you need moral support. 


By Mile 23, course officials indicated that the temps were high enough that the event had been red flagged.  It wasn't may imagination that it was hot.  By the time I finished, temps were over 80 degrees.  That being said, at the Mile 23 aid station I heard runners squeal with delight.  The aid station had Freezie Pops.  During a hot marathon, there is no better treat.  Forgot the cold oranges.  That grape Freezie Pop helped get me through the last 3 miles. 

Around Mile 25 I lost sight of Murray, he bounded ahead of me and I just couldn't keep up.  I kept trucking along at a steady pace and passed several people. There's no greater feeling to me at the end of a marathon than passing runners.  There's many marathons where I'm getting passed left and right.  With the warm temps and the issues I had been having in the weeks leading up to the race, I was delighted that I was feeling so strong.  It must have been the boost from the Freezie Pop... 

I crossed the finish line of the Vermont City Marathon in 5:03:40.  (After crossing the starting line so many times, in case you are wondering, the finish line was in a completely different area than the starting line.)  State #27 was in the books!