Marathon #16 took me back to Kansas with a group of friends from Runner's Edge of the Rockies. This marathon struck me as a fun idea: a Wizard of Oz themed race promised wicked witches, tin men, lions, blue check gingham dresses, and flying monkeys. And all it would take would be a little brains, a fair amount of courage, and a whole lot of heart.
The race expo was very small, probably the second smallest I've been to after Steamboat. It was set up in the parking lot(!) of Garmin HQ, which happens to be located in Olathe KS. ("Because it's so flat and wide open out there, they have no problem accessing satellites?" "You'd think that, wouldn't you? It still took five minutes for my 305 to sync up at the start line race day.") I spent some time chatting with the folks from the original (Kansas City) Runner's Edge, who were going to pace the race. The pasta dinner that night featured ultra runner Scott Jurek, whose presentation was only mildly detracted from by an uncooperative computer that refused to show his video. He gamely took questions from the audience afterward, though I was somewhat amused to note that he kept artfully dodging any questions about his own running and dietary habits.
The race itself did not start off too auspiciously for me. There were three or four timing mats spread across the road, the long, carpet kind. A runner just in front of me tripped on one, and I was so busy trying not to step on her that I wound up tripping on the next one myself! I got right back up and kept going, and fortunately didn't scrape up my hands or knees too badly; but it took me about 3 miles to shake off what had happened and refocus on the race.
I fell into step with the 4:00 pacers, one of whom had been my co-pacer at the Denver Half Marathon in 2011. I kept with them until mile 7, when I started (slowly) to pull ahead. For about the next 11 miles I managed to stay at just under a 9-minute pace. I was feeling pretty good about that, despite the fact that the course was much, MUCH hillier than I'd been led to believe. Not that they were steep hills (although a couple of them were, a bit); but there were a lot more than I'd thought, and some of them were pretty long. In fact the pacer told me he was having a bit of difficulty keeping his average speed due to the continually rolling hills.
At about mile 18 I started to get discouraged, partly because we were at that point on an out-and-back portion of the course that seemed to me much longer than it was supposed to be. I kept waiting to see the turnaround point.....and waiting.....and waiting.....and waiting.....and getting frustrated when it kept not appearing. By the time it finally did, I'm afraid I'd allowed my frustration to get the better of me and cloud my thinking. This led to my slowing down for the last portion of the race. My spirits were raised somewhat by seeing some of my friends going "out" on the out-and-back as I was returning "back." ("Be honest: you kicked yourself into gear again so they wouldn't catch you." "I don't think I should answer that without my lawyer present.")
The last few miles were a struggle--in fact, I walked all of mile 25. I was tired and discouraged. But my spirits were raised as I approached the finish to the cheers of the crowd and some of my friends who had run the half marathon and were waiting to cheer the rests of us in. Despite the heavy winds which had been present for much of the race but had decided to pick up in the last half hour or so, I was very glad to have finished another marathon and crossed another state off my list.
As a special bonus, Runner's Edge (KC) had arranged for several Kansas runners who had been unable to finish the Boston Marathon due to the bombing to cross the finish line as a group at high noon. My friends and I were fortunate enough to witness this moving event, a fitting cap to today's race.
Official Time: 4:15:41
YTD Race Miles: 30.5
YTD Total Miles: 421
Special Visitor: I met an old college friend, Karen Rundle, for lunch in Kansas City on Saturday
Bookworm at Edwards CO signing
6 months ago
