#34- The Casper Marathon

I did the Casper Marathon in 2010 and LOVED it. It is a small race made up of a lot of Marathon Maniacs and 50 Staters. This race treated us so good that when my three friends said they were going to go for 5 Marathon Maniac stars by doing three marathons in one week (starting with Casper), I thought it would be fun to go along for the ride (and the run).

We left Salt Lake City Saturday afternoon and made it to Casper, WY just in time to pick up our race packets and go to the pasta dinner. After a great dinner, Teota, Liz, Marsha and I hit the hay.

Maniacs at the start!

The same things I loved about this race in 2010, are the same things I loved about this race this year. Great course, ice at the aid stations (which was awesome as the temperature got to the mid 80's), amazing volunteers and organization, and the post race food is like nothing I have ever seen (pizza, fruit, sandwiches, cookies, beer and soda)! There were also a lot of fun people running!





Guinness World Record Holder, Larry Macon and I



Marsha, Liz, Teota and I



Teota and I at the finish!



The girls and I at the finish ready to head home!
 

I highly reccommend this race for anyone wanting to run a race in Wyoming!

 

#33- The Ogden Marathon!

I love the Ogden Marathon. It's no wonder the race sells out faster and faster every year. It is extremely organized and has one of the fastest and beautiful courses I have ever run.

Since most of my Utah Maniac friends opted to run the half this year, I was hoping not to be running all alone. Now don't get me wrong, I don't mind running alone. My fastest times have come from races I ran without by pals by my side and I always pick up a new "race friend" (or two, or three) along the way, but running with friends does make the miles go by faster. Then came Teota!

I thought she was also running the half until a week or so before the race. She had just run the OC marathon a couple of weeks before finishing with a PR of 5:08ish. Here goal this year was to break 5:00 hours. I told her if she wanted to run under 5:00 hours, Ogden was a good course to try and I would help her.

Now, I am not fast, but I have run under 5:00 pretty consistently, so I told her to stick with me and I promised her she would run under 5:00 hours (provided I didn't blow up).

We got on the bus to the start at 5:00am (which I thought was later than years past) with fellow kilted Maniac and comedian, Tim Gill. Once we go to the start the sun had come up, but it was a little cold. We hit the port-a-potty and made our way to one of the campfires where we stayed put until it was time to meet for the Maniac photo.

Maniacs at the start.

Before we knew it, the race had started and we were off! The weather was perfect. Teota and I headed down the course at a nice pace enjoying the beautiful scenery.

My told Teota my plan was to get us to the half by 2:20, that way if we had to wait at a port-a-potty ,we would have banked a little time. Everything went to plan and even with a potty stop, we still hit the half at 2:20.

Cute 80's Water Stop!

Teota at the 80's Water Stop.

As we continued with the rest of the race we just focused on having fun and enjoying the run.

As we got to the last 3 miles, I knew we were in good shape and would finish under 5:00 hours. We pick up another Maniac named Gus from New York. The three of us told stories and the last three miles flew by. As we came in we saw Liz and Marsha cheering us in which was really nice! As we crossed the finish line, Teota looked at the clock and the pride rolled down her face! Not only did she reach her goal of 4:59:59, she smashed it! Official time 4:47:02! It was AWESOME to see her so happy!  It was a great day!



Teota and I at the Finish!

Teota, Tim amd I at the Finish!

Maniacs at the Finish!

#32- The Eugene Marathon! Oregon, Check!

With all of the drama surrounding the Salt Lake City Marathon this year along with the fact that I had run the race 3 times, I decided to take my April marathon elsewhere this year. That somewhere was the Eugene Marathon. Not only did I need Oregon in my 50 State quest, who wouldn't want to run in track and field's Mecca? As a runner in high school, my goal was to make it to Eugene to train and run with the greats! That never happened, but I was super excited to be running there now.

My friend and fellow Maniac Marsha and I (we missed you Teota) flew to Portland, picked up the rental car and made the two hour drive to Eugene. We went straight to the expo. The incredible Meb Keflezighi was speaking and I really wanted to meet him.

Meb is the 2004 Olympic silver medalist in the marathon and the 2012 Olympic trials champion, but his win at the 2009 New York City Marathon was what made him a real hero to me. I ran NYC that year and was still in Brooklyn when I got sight of a jumbo-tron just as Meb was running in to win. A large group of runners and I literally stopped running to watch the first American win the New York City Marathon since Alberto Salazar (my running hero in High School) won in 1982. I can still hear everyone chanting USA! USA! USA! as Meb ran in pointing at the USA on his shirt. Meb said that race was special to him, but it was special to us too. The excitement felt at that moment was incredible!!

I was so excited to finally meet Meb Keflezighi and give him a big hug!

Meb signing my book! What a story he has!

I literally almost cried when I read his inscription. That's right, we shared the road! ;-)

The Eugene expo was pretty big. Marsha and I walked around, shopping and running into other Maniac Friends.

Richard, Patti, Myself and the Prez himself, Steven Yee!

Luckily, we were staying at the Hilton (the host hotel), so after the expo, we checked in, went up to our room to unpack. We had about an hour until we were meeting our Maniac friends for dinner at Lucky Noodle.

We got to dinner and of course the place was packed. While we waited for our table the Prez and I talked over some 2012 MM reunion business. When we got our table it was a patio table outside, which was awesome and the weather was nice. 

 Marsha, Patti and I at dinner.

Marie, Steven and Tom at dinner.

Maniacs ready to carbo load!

After a lovely (and at sometimes hysterical) dinner, Marsha and I headed back to our super cozy room, got our race day prep done and hit the hay!

We got a good night's sleep and woke up ready to run (OK, I really wanted to crawl back into my bed, it was so comfy)! The hotel was offering breakfast bags for $5 which included an oatmeal, banana and a bagel and cream cheese. That was exactly what I wanted and I didn't have to schlep to the store. It was awesome!

When we were ready, we got the free shuttle to Hayward Field where we were meeting the others to take the Maniac photo.

  Me in front of Hayward Field. Track and Field's Mecca!

Maniacs at the start.

After the photo, we hit the port-a-potty and the bag check and we were ready to run! It was a little chilly out so I brought my throw away foil blanket and my airline blanket to stay warm until the gun went off.

Marsha and I at the start getting ready to go!

The half marathon and the marathon started at the same time, so the course was pretty crowded for a little while, but it was nice to have so many people to run with. The course was beautiful! We ran through the streets of Eugene and on these awesome paths surrounded by woods.

On the road with Marie and Deb!

Go Ducks?

I don't know what this guy was, but he was cute!

Loved it!

HAD to get a photo in front of the house that Pre built!

The weather for the race was ideal. Overcast for the first bit and the sun came out late enough that is wasn't too hot. There were a lot of aid stations as well and the volunteers were all amazing. I loved all the different kinds of music I heard along the course as well. Everything from guitar players and drummers to a guy playing a didgeridoo (Google it)!

One of the many drum groups on the course.

There was also a lot of crowd support as well. Everything from old hippies sitting on their lawn and large groups like cheerleaders to people dressed is crazy costumes. They all came out to show us some love!

I LOVED her!! She reminded me of something my mom would have totally done!

My favorite part of the race was the finish. Not only because it's always great to be finished, but at mile 26 you turn the corner an run the last 385 yards in the stadium and on the track at Hayward Field. When my feet hit that track, I thought of all the great runners that had run there before me. Then I heard my name, "Finishing now is Angeline Whitworth Pace"! I looked up and saw myself on the huge jumbo-tron in the stadium!

The jumbo-tron!

The finish!



Now, I will say the only down point of the moment was the lady I was trying to beat, cut the course by running on the inside lane of the track (the course was marked with cones and runners were to stay to outside of them in lanes 4-8) so she beat me! Grrrr!. I mean really, you just ran over 26 miles, why cheat the course now? Oh well!  I still had a great time at a great race! Marsha did great too! She came home with a PR (Personal Record)!! WAY TO GO MARSHA!!

A few of us Maniacs at the finish.

After the race Marsha and got showers and hit the road back to Portland to catch our flight home. With a minor setback trying to return out rental car, we barely made the flight, but once on the plane, the flight attendants noticed our marathon medals and treated us like royalty! We had a great time! Eugene is a must do race!!



#31- The Sand Hollow Marathon

The first time I heard about this race was at the St. George Marathon expo last year. I saw this really nice medal on the table, and being person that loves the bling I walked over. While talking to the Race Director, I found out that the race was in Hurricane, UT (on the outskirts of St. George) at the end of March. This excited me as the earliest marathon in Utah was in April. It gave me one more somewhat local (5 hour drive) option for early in the year. So, even after looking at the daunting elevation chart, which includes a killer hill called El Diablo, I signed up for the March 31st race.

My fellow Utah Maniacs Teresa, Teota, Marsha, Sue and Jonathan also decided to take on El Diablo. Teresa, Teota, Marsha and I drove to St. George on Friday afternoon. We went to the packet pick up and got our bibs, t-shirts, etc., then headed to the JB's for dinner since it was right across the street from our hotel.

We checked into our hotel and had adjoining rooms, which was fun as each of us laid out our "flat" selves. We talked, got our stuff together, then hit the hay. One of the good (and later the bad) things about this race is that since the race started a 7:30am and we were staying a little over a half mile from the start/finish, we got to sleep in a little more than most races. Once we were up and dressed we all headed to the Start.

Maniacs at the Start!

Trying to keep a little warm at the start.

At 7:30am the race started. We all decided to take this race a little easy as poor Teresa had broken her thumb a few days before and was running with a cast on. We thought this would be a nice training run.

As we continued, Teota and I got to chatting and pulled away from Teresa and Marsha. We met up with a few other runners who started asking us about the Marathon Maniacs. Teresa caught back up with us and we enthusiastically told them the Maniac criteria and found out they qualified! I hope they went home and joined!

Teresa, Teota ans I with our new future Maniac friends, Byron and Polli!

There were a few people dressed in costume which I thought was funny for such a small race, but it was awesome!

Ghost Busters and the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man!

Teresa, Teota and I with the Ghost Busters!

There were two super heroes! Uh oh! Looks like Endorphin Dude has some competition!

The course was an out and back so it was fun to see a few more Maniacs on the course!

Katrina from Las Vegas

Sue and Teota

Marsha

As the race went on, the day got hotter and once we hit the half, it was already feeling a little too toasty and we still had to go up El Diablo. Luckily the aid stations were well stocked. The 13.1 mile aid station even had steak and eggs!

Running behind the ambulance. Good thing we didn't need to get in!

The views on the course were beautiful!

We were all feeling quite good, then we hit El Diablo and the sign at the bottom of the hill summed it up perfectly.

The three of us had a plan to conquer this hill. The hill climbed for about three miles, with the steepest section lasting one mile. On that section we would run one minute and walk one minute. First interval, done. Second interval started and we revised the plan. Run 30 seconds, walk 30 seconds. Second interval, done. Third interval started and we revised the plan. Run 30 seconds, walk one minute. Third interval, done. At that point we looked behind us and about 1/4 mile up the hill, we abandoned the plan and walked the rest!

Having fun on El Diablo!

Looking back down the hill!

Once we got to the top we had another fun sign waiting for us.

This was a great sight!

Teresa's hand was really starting to hurt at this point with the heat, but she was a true Maniac and kept on going! We slowed the rest of the race and finished with a personal worst time, but we all had fun anyway! I have always respected any runner that gets out and runs 26.2 miles, but if you think for one second the slower runners are just sauntering around the course with no effort, think again. It felt a lot harder to be on the course in the heat for close to six hours! I want to run faster just so I never have to do that again! It was freaking hard! The back of the packers are the real heroes in my opinion!

Heading back to the finish!

While it did take us longer than we expected, we finished!

This race while the course was tough and the temps were hot, was great! The RD, the volunteers and the whole organization was amazing! There was medical personnel driving up and down the course as well as people driving between the aid stations with water as it got hotter. They even added an extra  aid station which was great. Plus, look at this bling!

Two days ago the RD sent out a very heartfelt and sweet email thanking everyone for running and offering all runners their race photos for FREE! I love it when RD's care about the runners more than lining their pockets. Looking for a March marathon? Give this race a try!