So, this marathon is weird in that it's during the week, on Pioneers day and this year was on a Tuesday. So, Monday went to work and came home an hour early. Expecting storms too. Flight was supposed to leave at 8:45 pm NY time and land at 11:57 pm local time. I ALWAYS insist on getting to the airport for a domestic flight at least 2 hours in advance but somehow this time I dilly-dallied and somehow got it in my head that getting a cab for 6:45 would be fine. Called for a cab and didn't like that they were messing with me with the price. Seems like they really jack it up for credit card. First they said no credit card, then they raised the price. Finally, got it squared away but the car service didn't get to the house until 7!
Got to JFK quickly and without a problem until I saw the line for security. Huge. At least I was already check-ed in and had my boarding pass. Stood in line and watched the monitors display that my flight is boarding. Not happy. Finally my turn and I forgot I had a belt on and something else set it off and finally done and hurrying to gate as I hear "final boarding". Not good.
Still, it's a direct flight and I got a mostly great seat. It was a great seat except for the fact that the guy in the middle seat was being rude and trying to sit on me and the armrest. Didn't take too long before I took care of that and I was asleep before we took off. So managed to sleep about 15-20 minutes because then snacks were given and after that I was awake for the rest of the flight.
Landed in Salt Lake City Airport (SLC) and took a cab to the hotel. Even tho, it was $ 9.80, cabbie insisted that he has to charge me $ 12.00. Too tired to deal with cabbies today so paid it but asked about it at the hotel. They told me it was a crock but still reimbursed me the 12.00 since they have their own shuttle but it does not run at that hour. Didn't expect that at all!
The marathon had to 2 time slots for buses to the "top of the Big Mountain". There was a 3:15 am and 3:45 am and I was determined to make the 3:15 bus. The front desk called a cab for me for 2:45 and I went up to my room. Didn't make sense to go to sleep tho I was tired. Yes, I was tired.
Did I mention that Utah is 2 hours behind NY time?
Eric Jensen who I met at the Disneyland half-marathon while running was kind enough to find me the hotel and even more important to pick up my packet. It was in my room waiting for me.
Worked, did my thing and was down stairs at 2:43 but no cab. Waited and waited. Front desk kept calling the cab company and they kept saying, just 1 minute. Finally, at 3 am, she called someone to cover the front desk so she can take me to the airport knowing I will get a taxi from there easily enough and then of course the cab showed up.
This guy begged me to pay him in cash since he is leaving to San Diego in a few hours. Gave him all my cash with a crappy tip. Not my fault. I had $ 22.00 on me and the bill was $ 19.25. Gave him the twenty and kept "some" money on me. At this point, I had 3 experiences with cabbies and not so happy with the lot of them.
Got there at 3:10 and the buses aren't there yet. Phew...
Boarded the bus and sat in the front seat. Soon I was joined by another Maniac. I think her name was Briggit from Texas. We chatted on the way and that was nice. The bus driver was in a rush to leave but was told that she cannot leave since she has 8 seats. She replied that she really doesn't know where to go and wants to follow the bus in front of her. Really? Either get a GPS or come with directions. Geez!
So, we are on our way and we get to the Big Mountain and the climb is crazy. At 1 point, it was also a little worrisome. We are on a 2 lane street, pitch black with no other traffic and the driver is driving way on the right side. I mean it seems like our right tire is going to fall off the road which does not make sense as there was so much space on the road. Still, finally we got to the top and there was a small tent and some light and music and we were there. Immediatly hit the port-a-pottie. Thank God I came prepared and brought a flashlight - It's pitch black otherwise. I don't think other people did.
Got my stuff ready, last porta-a-pottie and went for the MM group shot. After that, put my stuff on the truck and walked a little more. I then realized that I put it on the Wrong truck! Told the guy making the announcements that other people did the same thing and went to look for my bag. Actually found my bag. Whew...As I was getting off, I forgot that the gate wasn't completly open. How did I remember? I hit it full blast with my forehead and it knocked me down to my butt. Guy was looking at me. Not sure if he saw what happened but certainly he saw the result. I looked at him, shrugged my shoulders and said in my most relaxed_it's_not_hurting_at_all_kinda_voice "that's gonna break something..." and as fast as I can got my embarassed behind out of there.
The field was small. They had a full starting at 5:30, a 10K starting at 6:00 and a 5K starting at 6:30 but both the 10K and 5K started further down the course so it was only us crazies out there. I could have gone straight to the front but that would have been stupid and wrong. Started midpack on the right side. There was a guy up above us playing the bagpipes. Nice touch.
I heard that the first 3 miles are very steep and they weren't wrong. We were flying down in the dark and it was very surreal. Twisty and down all the way. If there were mile markers at this point, I didn't see them. To think about it, I couldn't really anything too much except for other people. That's fine. Passed people that shouldn't have been in front of me but that's always the case. That's ok. Passed a weird looking guy (thought he was a she from the back) who was talking/screaming to himself. He was obviously doing a run-walk thing all based on his watch. He was walking when he suddenly screamed out "10 seconds to turbo speed..8. 7. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. BOOM!!!! Turbo speed engaged" and he started running. When I caught up with him, it must have been time for walking because there was an announcement for that too. Takes all kind.
By the way, I spoke to Larry Macon who I also spoke to at the Mad Marathon in Vermont. Larry set the Guiniess record for most marathons in a calendar year (103). His shirt says he has completed the 50 states 14 times (600) and obviously he is working on his 15th. Nice guy.
Anyway, started running and constantly trying to figure out the status of my stomach. Downhill is especially hard on my weak stomach but so far so good. Miles 6-8 were a climb. The elevation map says 300 feet but it seemed like it was much longer. It wasn't steep but it certainly was long and un-ending. Seemed like we were climbing back up the freakin mountain. The views were unbelievable tho. The best was a lake who Eric later told me is Salt Lake which Salt Lake City is named for. It was a disappointment we couldn't run around it. I'm sure the smell and the closer view would have been awesome.
Up the hill I started talking to this guy and this girl. Told them about the song that goes "It wasn't me...". I don't know if I annoyed them or not but it made 2 miles go easy for me so who the hell cares?
Once we started going downhill, I had to let them go. I wasn't going to go crazy. My race - my way.
Started talking to a girl called Carol. She was nice. She wanted to know more about MM. It was kinda funny how the conversation started. She started with "I don't know why but it constantly smells like weed to me...". I told her "wishful thinking, HAHA...". I didn't smell it. I did smell the fresh air smell that we don't have here.
She was doing some mutation of walk/run and taking pictures at some aid stations so I left her only to be passed by her later. We would constantly do this until about mile 13.
I can't stress enough how beautiful the course was. I saw lots of cyclists climbing up the mountain. Wow... On the bus ride up, my ears kept popping. That's how crazy it was.
Somewhere after mile 11, I saw a house that had a weird kind of fence. I then noticed what they had in their yard... I saw a few turkeys and deer and dog(s). Wow...
At about mile 13 I started talking to this guy named Mark (#493). He has done 1 marathon about 10 years ago so effectivly it was like he has never done one. There's no memory of it...Nice guy and only 3 years older than me. Carol joined us and ran with us for a while this time. His wife was on the bike and stayed with us on and off. She brought him 2 ibuprofin which I yelled at him later for taking. Hope he listens (I spoke to her too) and hydrates well later.
She was also kind enough to bring me the elixir of all marathon running (an ice cold coke).
Mark and I talked and the miles clicked by.
We eventually left the mountain and the canyon and what not and joined the suburbs. As we were running, there were people who knew Mark as he grew up there and that was nice. Saw some beautiful birds and I remarked about that and these 2 woman around us were so suprised that I didn't know what they were. Apparently they were magpies (see below) and they eat garbage.
I remarked to Mark that usually my (NY) accent gives me away as a foreigner to whatever state I am running in, not my ignorance of birds and he laughed. To the women I said, we should get these in NY and they can eat all the pigeon crap and it would be a clean city. They laughed.
Running and running. Eventually we got to the city and ran on a closed of lane of a major street. I was telling Mark some cool stories and he had a lot of downers to match. Oh boy. Saw his brood as we ran...Dude had 5 kids! and is thinking of an Ironman or a half-ironman. Cool.
At around 20, he started fading but I continued pulling him along. Distracting as best I can. His wife brought me another coke (love her) and we continued. Carol at one point disappeared on us and rejoined us again but around mile 22 she left us. That's cool except for 1 thing...She kept looking back at us to see if we would arise to the challenge. Well, maybe she just wanted to see if we were coming but I liked the first version better and I was itching. At mile 23, I left Mark. It was mostly down hill with flats for the last 5K with 1 small climb too. I knew he had family on the course and that we supposedly join the parade so he would have crowd support.
I had a coke in me and there was a 5K to go and I was determined to catch Carol. Didn't care about the clock. It was weird...People that passed me and that I didn't see for a while now, I was passing including the "it wasn't me people". I'm sure they weren't happy seeing me especially as I was passing them. Mile 23-24 was at 8:30 pace. Mile 24-25 was 9:52 pace. I passed Carol and continued on. We were running parallel to the parade and it was annoying. The sun came out in force around mile 20 and it got hot. Up until then it was really nice. Eventually a right turn followed by a left and for a block I was running with the parade. That was pretty cool. I think the people were cheering for me but even if they weren't, I just pretended they were.
Left the parade and right into the sun. Passed more people constantly. Never giving people the chance to pass me. Eventually, all it was was a right turn and a left to the finish. As soon as I realized the finish was imminent, I started running for real and sprinted to the finish hearing my name. Actually, I think the guy wasn't sure how to pronouce my monstrosity of a name so I just screamed it out loud at him and he repeated it. Got my medal and chip clipped and found Eric and Teresa. Finally met her - super nice. Later I found out she wants to do the Wasatch 50 Mile next year (it's in their backyard) and eventually the 100 miler. Wow.
Hung around making sure Mark finished. Took a picture with his family and eventually left with Eric and Teresa. Took me back to my hotel so I can shower and from there to eat lunch. Never ate (real) Mexican food. It was great. I tried a "MOLE" pronounced MOH-lay which is a Gastronomical delight of authentic Mexican flavor per the menu. So proud of myself for trying something new.
On the way back, the flight had a stop at Arizona. Yes...In order to get home (East) the fastest (11:10 pm on Tuesday instead of 5am Wednesday), I travelled West to Phoenix, Arizona. That part of the flight was fine. From there it was supposed to be a flight to NY but apparently LGA was closed due to weather and they were diverting to JFK. JFK was so busy, it was telling flights not to take off and so we were delayed. Sucks. We eventually left late and got to JFK around midnight. Got home and straight to bed as I had to go to work on Wednesday.
Now, this was one of the most beautiful courses I ever ran but also the hardest. I was in pain afterwards. Yes, I brought my calf sleeves for the flight but still... I haven't felt like this since my first Marathon.
Let's see...My butt wasn't hurting but whenever I poked it, I could feel painful spots. My hamstrings hurt a little and again, I could poke them without pain by Friday morning. My calves on the other hand just hurt all the way through Friday. Saturday, I went out early with the bike for a 50 Mile ride and then later did a small swim (2 x 500) and then I was ok. Sunday due to threat of storms, I opted to not even wake up early to attempt the run. Slept late and it was awesome.
Between the course, the lack of sleep and the flight situation, I truly got beat up on the course. Still, I highly recomend this to anyone. The only thing that could have been a little nicer was the medal. It was nice enough but could have been bigger and could have had a nicer ribbon. Still, small stuff.