Ok, I am back from my vacation/double marathon outing. I am wiped out, tired, grouchy, achy, sleepy....sounds like at least half of the 7 dwarfs. I have a ton of pics, and looking at mine and others, I think I need to take a photography class. Maybe my waterproof camera is not so sweat proof? I sure got a lot of fuzzy shots.
Thought I'd start at the start and put a few shots of each day. If you are reading this whilst eating breakfast, have the cook throw a couple more pancakes on the griddle....you're gonna need them.
"All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go. I'm standing here right by the door. Already I'm so lonesome I could cry...." NOT!!!! Twas excited to be going OUTA TOWN....especially to the MOUNTAINS!!
Who says western Oklahoma is boring. I actually prefer driving out that way through the panhandle over b o r i n g western Kansas.
Stopped to have a pee at Gloss Mountains somewhere between here and nowhere.
Sort of a "badland" area, and a stairway to the top of a butte. Of course, I had to go take a peek. Altitude was near 4000 feet, and honestly, I was huffing and puffing climbing to the top. Gotta quit smoking!
Yup, this is Oklahoma. There was a trail across the top of this mesa, which went on for a mile +/-, maybe more.
We made it on to Boise City, the western-most city in Oklahoma, and found all the sidewalks in town rolled up. A Pizza Hut was open and the manager seemed to growl as we walked in, fully an hour before their posted closing time. The waitress was an attractive and friendly girl a good 6'4" tall, and of course, I blurped out "Duh...how tall are yew?"
"6'4"," she says.
"Ya play basketball?" (I am quite the conversationalist, huh?)
Turns out she was a senior and is being recruited by ORU. I was impressed enough that I left a slightly better than average tip. No pics here.
Then we drove on through the darkness into Colorado, across the plains. ended up in Lamar at an overpriced understaffed Best Western which had NO continental breakfast. No pics, no tips, but no ticks either.
It was an easy drive on into Colorado Springs. See the post below for a briefing of the fun we had with Steve and Kathleen.
We ran garden of the Gods, ate dinner with them twice. They were gracious enough to pick of a wheel barrel of race packets for all of our group.
We did the usual tourist thing. Dana had to stop to check out a local artist who was a chainsaw wizard. (Yup, we bought one.)
This "trail" is an old railroad bed that a cog train used to use to climb this ultra-steep mountain. The railroad ties serve as steps, and the incline is climbs 3,000 feet while covering a mile, and at times is at a 68% grade. I am just not sure how anyone climbs this virtual stair-master. Kathleen uses this trail on a weekly basis. I had the grand idea to give it a go after finishing my 2nd marathon on Monday morning, but quickly dismissed the idea after experiencing advance rigor mortise after the 2nd race.
As mentioned in a previous blogpost, we drove up Pikes Peak.
An actual pic of Dana smiling. She was not a happy camper during the trek up.
Near the top.
On the way down.
No guard rails.
Saturday morning, we drove south through the desert wasteland of eastern Colorado and northern New Mexico. It was a long drive, but we always had the mountains in view just to the west. I would have rather drove THROUGH the mountains, but if we had, we would have never made it to Albuquerque at a decent hour, let alone in time to pick up Sandra, Brian, and Kathy at the airport. We did make it in time, and I had just sat down to a mediocre Soy latte at the airport when some dude walked up and put his camera in my face.
Turns out Bobby, Susan, Russell, and Christin had drove out on a whim to cheer us on, and run the half marathon in NM. I was flabbergasted.
We had to get up at 3:30 am to catch a bus to the starting line. The buses started leaving at 4:00, and Brian always like to be EARLY! So, we were at the start fully an hour before the start of the race. Would have like to slept a little more.
What a great group of RunnersWorld Runners!
TZ keeps some weird company!
We weren't the only crazy ones though.
It was a nine mile gradual climb along the base of Sandia Mountain, then finally we turned down a nice long downhill.
I really made up some time during this section. Of course, all of the runners ran this downhill well, but I did manage to pass a dozen or so people. when I hit the bottom of the hill, I was toasted. The remainder of the race was flat, but with the temps getting into the upper 70s and low 802, I was slowed to a run/walk regimen. I did stop at a couple of quickie stores to get some ice in my bottle as the aid stations were serving piping hot water and Gatorade. Yuck.
At one point, I passed a speed trap that was monitoring the driver's speeds. My speed was also recorded.
I finished in something like 5:34. Slower than I had hoped, but nothing was broke, and I was still mobile.
All of our group finished although most were a little slower than they had hoped. A couple of notable exceptions were that of Russell, who PR'd in the half marathon, and Rachel, who ran her 1st full, and ran a 4:00:02. WTG!!
______________________________________________________________________________________
Day Two of the double meant a long drive to Colorado Springs. 380 miles to be exact. We chatted it up all the way back, playing cell phone games between the two cars. Such nerds we are. Another early morning, another bus to catch. We were at the starting line right at sun-up. However, I was in the back of a porta-potty line as the start time neared, and taking my turn as the starting gun went off. So, as I emerged from the wonderful plastic paradise, the race was already in progress, and I was in a familiar last place before even taking a step.
No worries though....no need to hurry.
A good deal of the trail was on an old railroad bed, a nice soft surface of crushed stone.
An almost full moon was chased from the sky by a warming sun.
Several trains passed us along the way. I always seem to run better when accompanied by a speeding train.
Besides the help from the speeding trains, I had another ace up my sleeve. Steve and Kathleen were meeting me at around the ten mile mark and running about 8 miles with me. Having a pacer is always nice, even in a marathon.
Lisa visits with S and K before I got there. Lisa kicked my butt the day before, and was leading me early in today's race. When I got there. they were ready to rock..JPG)
I picked up my pace, and we passed quite a few people in the next 8 miles, including Lisa. Kathleen then hung back with her, while Steve and I motored on.
After Steve and Kathleen finished their pacing duties, they rode with dana and helped crew at two more locations. I hit a bad spell at mile 20 +/-. It had really warmed up, and shade was hard to come by. My water was hot, and I needed some salt. At mile 22, Dana iced my bottle up, gave me a dose of sea salt, and I actually came back to life. Although I had doubts that I was going to get through the race, I soon felt better and was ready to run. Lisa caught up with me, announcing that she had had a massive....umm....err....well, she used the bathroom. So we ran it in together, passing a few peeps, but still walking any short shady section we came to. The word for the day was "HOT!".JPG)
We finished in 6:24 or someting like that. Truly, I don't even want to look up the results. It was a couple of slow races. maybe the altitude had a little affect on me. I was not gasping for air either day, but I was running really low on energy. I did not eat anything during either race....maybe that was it..JPG)
No problem eating after the race though. Rock Star Ed PR'd bigtime in the marathon this day. WTG, buddy!
It was a mega long drive home the next day. Ouch ouch ouch each time I had to get out of the Jeep. Thankfully, Brian and kathy rode home with us and did more than their share of the driving.
What is next? Turkey and Taturs 50K this next weekend. If anyone is still reading this....please consider running the race this weekend. We need runners, and we need volunteers to work aid stations and help mark the course. I am pre-marking tomorrow (Thursday) and doing final markings Saturday morning.
Thought I'd start at the start and put a few shots of each day. If you are reading this whilst eating breakfast, have the cook throw a couple more pancakes on the griddle....you're gonna need them.
"All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go. I'm standing here right by the door. Already I'm so lonesome I could cry...." NOT!!!! Twas excited to be going OUTA TOWN....especially to the MOUNTAINS!!Who says western Oklahoma is boring. I actually prefer driving out that way through the panhandle over b o r i n g western Kansas.
Stopped to have a pee at Gloss Mountains somewhere between here and nowhere.
Sort of a "badland" area, and a stairway to the top of a butte. Of course, I had to go take a peek. Altitude was near 4000 feet, and honestly, I was huffing and puffing climbing to the top. Gotta quit smoking!
Yup, this is Oklahoma. There was a trail across the top of this mesa, which went on for a mile +/-, maybe more.We made it on to Boise City, the western-most city in Oklahoma, and found all the sidewalks in town rolled up. A Pizza Hut was open and the manager seemed to growl as we walked in, fully an hour before their posted closing time. The waitress was an attractive and friendly girl a good 6'4" tall, and of course, I blurped out "Duh...how tall are yew?"
"6'4"," she says.
"Ya play basketball?" (I am quite the conversationalist, huh?)
Turns out she was a senior and is being recruited by ORU. I was impressed enough that I left a slightly better than average tip. No pics here.
Then we drove on through the darkness into Colorado, across the plains. ended up in Lamar at an overpriced understaffed Best Western which had NO continental breakfast. No pics, no tips, but no ticks either.
It was an easy drive on into Colorado Springs. See the post below for a briefing of the fun we had with Steve and Kathleen.
We ran garden of the Gods, ate dinner with them twice. They were gracious enough to pick of a wheel barrel of race packets for all of our group.We did the usual tourist thing. Dana had to stop to check out a local artist who was a chainsaw wizard. (Yup, we bought one.)
This "trail" is an old railroad bed that a cog train used to use to climb this ultra-steep mountain. The railroad ties serve as steps, and the incline is climbs 3,000 feet while covering a mile, and at times is at a 68% grade. I am just not sure how anyone climbs this virtual stair-master. Kathleen uses this trail on a weekly basis. I had the grand idea to give it a go after finishing my 2nd marathon on Monday morning, but quickly dismissed the idea after experiencing advance rigor mortise after the 2nd race.As mentioned in a previous blogpost, we drove up Pikes Peak.
An actual pic of Dana smiling. She was not a happy camper during the trek up.
Near the top.
On the way down.
No guard rails.Saturday morning, we drove south through the desert wasteland of eastern Colorado and northern New Mexico. It was a long drive, but we always had the mountains in view just to the west. I would have rather drove THROUGH the mountains, but if we had, we would have never made it to Albuquerque at a decent hour, let alone in time to pick up Sandra, Brian, and Kathy at the airport. We did make it in time, and I had just sat down to a mediocre Soy latte at the airport when some dude walked up and put his camera in my face.
Turns out Bobby, Susan, Russell, and Christin had drove out on a whim to cheer us on, and run the half marathon in NM. I was flabbergasted.We had to get up at 3:30 am to catch a bus to the starting line. The buses started leaving at 4:00, and Brian always like to be EARLY! So, we were at the start fully an hour before the start of the race. Would have like to slept a little more.
What a great group of RunnersWorld Runners!
TZ keeps some weird company!
We weren't the only crazy ones though.
It was a nine mile gradual climb along the base of Sandia Mountain, then finally we turned down a nice long downhill.
I really made up some time during this section. Of course, all of the runners ran this downhill well, but I did manage to pass a dozen or so people. when I hit the bottom of the hill, I was toasted. The remainder of the race was flat, but with the temps getting into the upper 70s and low 802, I was slowed to a run/walk regimen. I did stop at a couple of quickie stores to get some ice in my bottle as the aid stations were serving piping hot water and Gatorade. Yuck.At one point, I passed a speed trap that was monitoring the driver's speeds. My speed was also recorded.
I finished in something like 5:34. Slower than I had hoped, but nothing was broke, and I was still mobile.
All of our group finished although most were a little slower than they had hoped. A couple of notable exceptions were that of Russell, who PR'd in the half marathon, and Rachel, who ran her 1st full, and ran a 4:00:02. WTG!!______________________________________________________________________________________
Day Two of the double meant a long drive to Colorado Springs. 380 miles to be exact. We chatted it up all the way back, playing cell phone games between the two cars. Such nerds we are. Another early morning, another bus to catch. We were at the starting line right at sun-up. However, I was in the back of a porta-potty line as the start time neared, and taking my turn as the starting gun went off. So, as I emerged from the wonderful plastic paradise, the race was already in progress, and I was in a familiar last place before even taking a step.
No worries though....no need to hurry.
A good deal of the trail was on an old railroad bed, a nice soft surface of crushed stone.
An almost full moon was chased from the sky by a warming sun.
Several trains passed us along the way. I always seem to run better when accompanied by a speeding train.Besides the help from the speeding trains, I had another ace up my sleeve. Steve and Kathleen were meeting me at around the ten mile mark and running about 8 miles with me. Having a pacer is always nice, even in a marathon.
Lisa visits with S and K before I got there. Lisa kicked my butt the day before, and was leading me early in today's race. When I got there. they were ready to rock..JPG)
I picked up my pace, and we passed quite a few people in the next 8 miles, including Lisa. Kathleen then hung back with her, while Steve and I motored on.After Steve and Kathleen finished their pacing duties, they rode with dana and helped crew at two more locations. I hit a bad spell at mile 20 +/-. It had really warmed up, and shade was hard to come by. My water was hot, and I needed some salt. At mile 22, Dana iced my bottle up, gave me a dose of sea salt, and I actually came back to life. Although I had doubts that I was going to get through the race, I soon felt better and was ready to run. Lisa caught up with me, announcing that she had had a massive....umm....err....well, she used the bathroom. So we ran it in together, passing a few peeps, but still walking any short shady section we came to. The word for the day was "HOT!"
.JPG)
We finished in 6:24 or someting like that. Truly, I don't even want to look up the results. It was a couple of slow races. maybe the altitude had a little affect on me. I was not gasping for air either day, but I was running really low on energy. I did not eat anything during either race....maybe that was it..JPG)
No problem eating after the race though. Rock Star Ed PR'd bigtime in the marathon this day. WTG, buddy!It was a mega long drive home the next day. Ouch ouch ouch each time I had to get out of the Jeep. Thankfully, Brian and kathy rode home with us and did more than their share of the driving.
What is next? Turkey and Taturs 50K this next weekend. If anyone is still reading this....please consider running the race this weekend. We need runners, and we need volunteers to work aid stations and help mark the course. I am pre-marking tomorrow (Thursday) and doing final markings Saturday morning.
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