#72 - Michelle's Grand Ass Marathon 2009

DATE: September 6, 2009

LOCATION: Puyallup to Tacoma, Washington

In 2008, Michelle and Eric Barnes hosted a fat ass style marathon that I helped out with. This was the second year of the event. I was more than happy to help out again this year. I created the logo in 2008, and operated the web site, and also provided the bibs. This time I would do the same. But this year, Eric and Michelle decided to change the course.

I drove up on Saturday evening, and spent the night at the Barnes' house. They were very kind to allow me to stay at their place. This saved me from having to sleep in my car. The race started at 7am, and so I followed Eric down to the start line very early at 6am. Michelle and a few of her friends took an early start in order to finish sooner.

It was pouring down rain the whole night and so I was wondering if this was going to be a messy race. As the sun started to come up before the start, it was dry and so everyone's hopes were high. One thing you should know about this race is that the field is made up of mostly slower runners. This is fine, but it just means I was running in the front of the pack.

As the race started, I felt a little weird being in the front. In the first few miles (about 4-5 miles) I was running along with Shawna Wilskey and Arthur Martineau. After that they took off. I ran behind them for a little while. When I got to the half way aid station, they were just heading back out. I ran the first half in 1:43 (give or take a few minutes). The weather was pretty good at that point.

But the weather changed in the second half. With the new course it had big hill about mile 16. At that point I was still feeling pretty good, but it was starting to rain.

From about mile 18 on it was pouring, and I was slowing down. Everyone was told before the race that the course was long. It ended up being a little more than 27 miles. This meant my time was long. I ended up running a 4:07:04, this ended up putting me in third place and was actually a good time. For a marathon this was about a 3:59, given the hills and rain I was pretty happy with my time.

After changing my cloths and hanging out a while with the other runners I headed home. It was a fun time.

#71 - ET Midnight Marathon 2009

DATE: August 9, 2009

LOCATION: Rachel, Nevada

I came across this race online, and felt like it would be a lot of fun. I was already planning to travel to California for my Grandpa's 90th birthday in August, so I talked with my mom and aunt and we planned this race into the trip.

My mom and I flew to Las Vegas where we met my aunt who drove in from Orange County. We got a hotel in Las Vegas where we spent most of the afternoon and evening. The race starts at midnight in the middle of the desert and travels for 26.2 miles near Area 51 before finishing at Rachel, Nevada (a small town in the middle of nowhere). But from Las Vegas you are bused to the start (a 2-3 hour bus ride). So we had to arrive at the host hotel at 8pm and the buses left about 8:30pm. We were then bused to the starting line, which we arrived at about 11:30pm. Once there we were given glow sticks and go ready to run. Once the marathon started the half marathons were bused to the half way point where they started. My mom and aunt both did the half marathon.

The race is always held in the weekend closed to the full moon, and being in the middle of the desert allowed the moon to provide quite a bit of light. I brought a reflective vest and a headlamp, but really didn't need it. The race was a lot of fun, some people dressed in alien costumes and others brought a lot of glow in the dark clothing.

The first half of the race is all uphill. It starts about 4,500 feet and climbs to about 5,600 feet. Once I hit the high point (about mile 13), it downhill for about 8 miles before it levels out for the final 5 miles. The finish of the race is about 4,800 feet. So needless to say it was a challenging course.

Being my first race back I had no real goal in mind, I just wanted to have fun. I tried to get a good nap in so that I could say up all night, but I also drank a lot of caffeine in order to keep me awake. The first half was hard, but being the middle of the night, I could not see the challenge ahead of me, I just kept going. The race itself was pretty uneventful. Running in the dark in the middle of nowhere was pretty boring, but it was fun to see the other runners and the crazy costumes.

I finished the marathon in 3:57:21, which was less than 4 hours, so I was pretty happy. The race finished in a cafe called "Little A'Le'Inn". There they have a full breakfast and lots of alian merchandise for sale. I wasn't too hungry, but did enjoy some biscuits and gravy as well as some fruit.

They then bus you back to Las Vegas, and on the bus ride back I got to sleep. We then drove to southern California where I enjoyed some time with my family.

The whole experience of the race is a lot of fun!

#70 - Hagg Lake 50k 2009

DATE: February 21, 2009

LOCATION: Hagg Lake Park, near Gaston, Oregon

This was a tough race for me. I once again wanted to do the Hagg Lake 50k. They give a special award to anyone who runs it five times. This was my third time. I knew a number of my friends that were running it, so it was going to be fun to see them on the course. I woke up early and drove to Hagg Lake. The weather was perfect for that time of the year, and it was going to be a run with very little mud.

I check in and got by bib and got ready for the race. I was hoping to break five hours and enjoy the race. The course is two loops around the lake with a 3 mile out-and-back at the beginning. In the out-and-back I was running pretty good.

Once I got to the loop around the course, I got going pretty good. I enjoyed the trail and felt like things were going pretty well. I don't remember my exact times, but I remember this was going well. I did however remember thinking that I would have to have a good second half to break five hours.

In the second loop, my legs started to get really tired. It started about five miles into the second loop (mile 22 overall), I felt some cramping, so I walked at times. A few more miles later, I was cramping pretty bad, and watched as many of the runners were passing me. I remember running along the street at one point and felt my legs cramping really bad, and looked down and saw my calf tightening up really bad. I remember at that point thinking it was all about finishing for me.

As I crossed the finish line, I was happy to be done. I didn't stick around too long. In the week following that race, I was really some real tightness in my legs. On Saturday February 28, I went out for a 15 mile run, but had some pain in my lower back, so I cut the run short by two miles. After that run, I had some real bad pain in my sciatic nerve. After taking a few weeks off from running, I focused mainly on cycling as I was recovering from the sciatic pain. It would be 5.5 months before I would do another marathon. But I did take a four day 386 mile cycling trip down the Oregon Coast during that layoff.

#69 - Pier Park 6 hour 2009

DATE: February 7, 2009

LOCATION: Pier Park, Portland, Oregon

A few local Portland area Ultra marathoners decided to host this race. It was a 6 hour race in a park in North Portland. The park had a nice one mile trail loop. I had never been to this park before, and enjoyed the park.

I drove out to North Portland and found the park. It was nice to see some of the local ultra runners, not that many Maniacs came. The race was organized with very short notice. Anyway, I got my bib and got ready for the race. Since it was a 6 hour, the goal was not a specific time, but was a specific distance. My goal was to run at least 34 miles. This race was a trail race, so my speed would be slowed down. The last time I ran a trail 6 hour race was at Des Moines Creek 6 hour race in March 2008. In that race I ran 34.14 miles.

As the race started I was off and running pretty fast. I was hanging around the top 3-4 runners for most of the race. There were a few of my local running friends that decided to show up and do the 6 hours, so I was able to see them as I passed them.

After about five hours I was getting a little worn out. The one mile loop had about a 50-70 foot climb in the middle which became a lot harder towards the end of the race. I had just hit the 50k mark, and felt my energy slipping. I ended up running 36.36 miles and decided I didn't have enough time for one more loop with just 9 minutes left on the clock.

That distance was good for 7th place of about 20 runners, and I was glad to have done it. Sadly, that was the only time that race was run.

#68 - Yours Truly 50k (MAX edition) 2009

DATE: January 25, 2009

LOCATION: Gresham to Hillsboro, Oregon

Once again, I was wanting to run a fun and unique race for Yours Truly. Since this was an online compiling of run times, you have the option of running wherever you want on a specific date. Now the Maniacs have a rule that these "virtual" races don't count unless you meet the minimum runner count, but at this time they had no such rule.

In Portland we have a light rail line that runs across the city of Portland. It's

called the MAX, and it runs west to east and east to west. So I looked online and figured out that it would be a little more than 31 miles to run from one end to the other on the city streets. So I parked my car in Hillsboro at the start of the MAX line and took the train to the end in Gresham.

Once I got to Gresham I got ready to run. In the days leading up to this day, it was very cold and we had some snow in some areas. I didn't realize that Gresham had a good amount of snow. The combination of cold weather and snow on the ground made it hard to get going.

Since I live on the west side of Portland, I don't run on the east side much, so it was fun to see a new part of town. Once I got about 10 miles or so into the run, the snow was gone, but the cold weather was still hanging around.

The hardest part of the run was about mile 18-20, when I had a 750 foot climb and being a higher altitude the snow was about an inch thick which made it a challenge. Once I got to the part of town I know pretty well, the weather warmed up and it felt better, but I was totally tired and wanted to be done. This made the last 5-8 miles hard, and I was happy to get back to my car. Overall the 50k took me 5:25:17, which wasn't bad.

#67 - Seattle Marathon 2008

DATE: Sunday, November 30, 2008

LOCATION: Seattle, Washington

Day three of the first Turkey Triple. It was a lot of fun to see so many Maniacs that wanted to take on the three day challenge. I ran a triple in July, but there were only a few runners that did that one and the travel was a lot greater. This time is was really fun.

I woke up early in the morning and walked down to the Seattle Center from the hostel. It was a chilly morning, but dry. I enjoyed running into so many of my Maniac friends before the race. Once the race started, I felt pretty good. I started off running at a comfortable pace.

I really enjoy this race, and this was even more special because of the triple. I remember running over the floating bridge, and the fog was pretty thick, which made Lake Washington look really cool. One thing I love about the Seattle Marathon is that there are two out-and-back stretches, which means I get to see so many of my running friends. I know some runners don't like out-and-backs, but I don't mind them.

In the first half I ran a pretty speedy 1:43:43. I knew at this point, I was going to be slowing down, but still felt pretty good. I was happy the weather turned out to be quite comfortable.

The second half of the race, was slower, but give the big hill at about mile 19, I was expecting that. My second half time was 1:51:49 giving me a final chip time of 3:35:13. I was not expecting to run it that fast. Overall the experience was a huge success!

#66 - Ghost of Seattle Marathon 2008

DATE: Saturday, Novemeber 29, 2008

LOCATION: Seattle, Washington

Day two of the Trkey Triple was the Ghost of Seattle Marathon. After spending the night at a hostel in Seattle, I got up and drove to Lake Washington to run in the Ghost. I arrived early and had a chance to talk with other runners for a while.

The race was pretty uneventful. If was just another marathon. I took it pretty easy, not wanting to push too hard. It was good to see the other triple runners.

On Friday it was a trail race, this was a road race, so I had more speed. I enjoyed the day. The weather was perfect. I ended up running a pretty normal time for me. I ran that day in 3:46.

I hung out for many hours watching the other runners finish. I had taken this triple to Seattle by myself, so I was in no hurry to leave. Afterwards I went to the Seattle Marathon expo and got my packet and headed back to the hostel to get ready for the final leg.