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!
No comments:
Post a Comment