Bear Lake back to back marathons

Friday - Bear Lake Marathon - Idaho

 

I love trying something new!  Back to back marathons, why not?!  The closest I have ever ran marathons together was last October when I ran the St. George marathon, 2 weeks later paced the SOJO marathon, and then a week after that paced the Provo Halloween marathon.  This would be a new adventure!  The Bear Lake races were under new ownership this year and with the time crunch after they acquired the race, I thought they pulled it off well.  In the past, the marathon on Friday went around the Idaho side of Bear Lake, but this year the course changed.  The course started and finished at Bear Lake Hot Springs with part of the course running past the Bear Lake National Wildlife Refuge.  Since the majority of the course was on dirt roads, I decided to wear my trail running shoes.  Race morning!!!!  Before the race, the race director gave a description of the course and a heads up on some of the wildlife we may encounter - skunks, porcupines, and snakes.  Not to worry, the snakes would most likely be dormant on our way out, but no guarantees on the way back.  :)   And he mentioned to be careful crossing over the cattle guards.  Flashbacks of the Tri-states marathon cattle guard "mishap" flashed through my mind and you bet I would be taking extra care to cross each cattle guard.   My initial race plan was to run a 3:45 marathon the first day to ensure that I had something left in my legs for round 2.   After spraying a nice mixture of sunscreen and bug spray, I was ready to go.  Chad and the kids stayed at the hot springs to swim while I raced.  The race started right at 7 a.m.  I love it when races start on time!

The majority of the runners were back to backers.  Even though it was a smaller race, there were several people who were from out of state and a lot of Marathon Maniacs.  I love being around crazy people - well the good kinda crazy people.  The first 6 miles of the course consisted of rolling hills on a dirt road.   Right from the start, I ran with the lead girl who was keeping a pretty good pace.  As I talked with her, she shared some of the past races she had done - 3 Ironmans, Boston and other challenging marathons.  I was impressed.  She was a good runner.  I kept debating whether to stay with her or pick up the pace a bit and see if I could start pulling away.  My competitive side won, and after the first aid station at mile 3, I ran out in front.

Oh, and there were lots of snakes on the road and luckily they were of the squashed variety.  I passed a momma cow with her calf that was eyeing me down as I went by.  Cows don't charge at people, right?!  Well, just to be safe I kept my distance.
  Each aid station was about 3 miles apart and I as I reached the 2nd one I glanced back and the lady I was running with at the beginning and another one were not more than 15 seconds behind me.   Guess I would have to keep pushing the pace.  Just over 6 miles, the dirt roads ended and we ran through the small town of Dingle, Idaho.  Dingle?!  Yes, Dingle!  After just over a mile on paved roads, the course was back on dirt roads.  This section of the course was flat and looped around farm fields on the outskirts of town.  The next aid station - mile 9ish both women were still not far behind.  At this point, I started passing some of the runners who started an hour earlier than the race start time since they planned on walking a lot of the course.   I cheered and encouraged them as I passed by.   There was an older gentlemen that was wearing a shirt and on the back it said how many marathons he had done.   I can't remember the exact number, but it was over 1,000 marathons!  Incredible!!!  

Mile 13.1 - Halfway and both ladies were still right behind.  I started questioning if I should slow my pace since I was running faster than I had originally planned.   The course was a little harder than I had anticipated and dirt roads made for a slower run, but I was keeping a decent pace and my legs felt great.   I kept thinking that I was going to regret it and suffer greatly tomorrow if I kept pushing it, but again I didn't want to be passed and decided to go for it!  At this point, it started to really warm up.  There were no clouds, just the sun beating down.  I finished the dirt road loop, and at around mile 18 had made my way back to Dingle.  I looked back and was surprised not to see the ladies behind me.  Finally, I had gained some distance on them.  All that was left was a jaunt through Dingle and then the rolling dirt road back to the hot springs.  As I hit the dirt road, I slowed my pace and with 3 miles left I slowed down even more to conserve for tomorrow's marathon.  It was good to see the green finishing arch.  I did a little dance coming on in and crossed as the first place overall female - 3:38:14.  There was only one other runner who had came in before me- Garrett Burnett from Cincinnati, Ohio.  I talked with him for a minute - really nice guy and amazing runner.   I told him that I would see him tomorrow for round 2!!!   The lady I originally ran with came in 3rd.  She ended up switching from the marathon to the 10k on Saturday.  The lady who came in second was just racing on Friday and wouldn't be back for another fun-filled day of 26.2 miles.  Both of them made it a great race day!



Sweet hand carved bear and a pair of Altra running shoes

 

Now for recovery.  Sitting in the lake and refueling with Core Power - perfect!   And I just had to come back after the lake and sit in the hot pools - not sure if this was the best thing to do, but it felt great!   Later on, Chad gave my legs a good massage with peppermint oil and I made sure I walked around.    At the end of the day, my left ankle was sore and my muscles were tightening up.  I had no idea what to expect for day 2.  I figured that I had a good run on Friday and that Saturday I would shoot for the finish line and if I could break 4 hours I would be happy.


Day 2 - Saturday - Bear Lake Marathon - Utah

I rolled out of bed at 3:45 a.m.  And yes, I was already awake before the alarm on my phone went off.  Oh man!!!  I was tight!  And having little sleep 2 nights in a row, I was tired!  How was I going to pull off another marathon?  Chad massaged my legs as I downed my green smoothie.  After getting up and walking around a bit, I felt a little better.  Bus loading was at 5 a.m.  Chad dropped me off a little before 5 a.m. and as I loaded the bus I saw some familiar faces from the day before and a lot of new faces as well.  As the busses headed off to the start line, I felt bad that I didn't say much at first to the girl who sat down next to me.  I was tired and was trying to keep my eyes open.  I finally asked her if she had run this marathon before.  She said that this was her first marathon.  Her 1st!  How exciting!!!  I asked about her training and gave her words of encouragement.  The bus ride was shorter than usual since the start line was the same place as the half marathon start.  Stepping off the bus, it was chilly!  It was around 45 degrees and windy.  It was going to be colder than yesterday and wouldn't warm up too much.  Perfect for running! :)  Since it was a little cold standing around, the race director said that whoever wanted could climb in back of the U-Haul that they were using to transport the clothing drop bags.  Sure, why not!  I stayed nice and warm in the back of the U-Haul with a few of the other runners.  You could pick out some of the runners who had run the marathon the day before by the distinguishing scent of Bio-freeze. 

Just before the race start at 7 a.m., the race director gave the run down on the course. 

We would head up the road for 6.55 miles and then turnaround and come back down to the start and then continue the same course as the half marathon to the finish.  This time around, the course was mainly on paved roads which consisted of rolling hills, flat sections, and beautiful views of the lake.  Right at 7 a.m. we were off!  I had my Kinvaras on today and as I started running I felt better than I thought I would.  I was still a little tight and my left quad was sore, but not too bad.  I actually was the lead female for the first 2 miles.   At mile 2, this girl flew by me.  My instinct was to try to keep up, but this lasted for a split second.  She had fresh legs and if I tried to keep up I would definitely burn out quickly.  And then another girl passed me.  My legs were still tight and I kept reminding myself that I had to last for another 24 miles.  Just let her go!  I was already running faster than what I thought my legs would let me. I ran what felt good and kept heading towards the turnaround.   Just like yesterday, the aid stations were about 3 miles apart.  The 2nd one was at the turnaround.  As I got closer to the turnaround, I started to see runners coming back down the road.  The guy in 2nd place was none other than Garrett - the one who won the men's race yesterday!  I yelled out "back to back, woo hoo!!!"  He smiled and yelled back.  A little more than a quarter mile from the turnaround I saw the lead female flying back down. 

I cheered her on!  She was still running at a great pace.  As I went around the turnaround, the lady in 2nd stopped briefly to fix her i-Pod.  I passed her.  At this point, my legs loosened up and I picked up my pace.  I cheered on the other runners heading up the road to the turnaround.  One of them yelled out that I was in 2nd out of the ladies.  And then he said, "go catch her!"  I couldn't even see the lead female and I knew she was running at a pretty quick pace.  I did feel pretty good, all things considering, so I picked up my pace a little more to see if I could close the gap.  At about mile 8, I could finally see her, a small white dot in the distance.  At about mile 9, I watched her turn a corner and then timed myself to see how far behind I was.  2 minutes.  I kept pushing and it seemed with every uphill I was gaining a little more.  By mile 13, I was only 15-20 seconds behind.   I finally caught up to her and passed her.

I kept thinking there was going to be a point where my legs were going to give out and then she was going to pass me again.  I decided to keep pushing forward until my legs decided otherwise.   At about mile 16-17, the course turned and we ran on a dirt road for about a mile.  I looked back and couldn't see the girl that I had passed.  I didn't know how far back she was, so I kept my pace.  The course then turned on to the main highway.  There was little shoulder on the road, so as cars passed I ran on the dirt off to the side.  Even though it was a main highway, all the cars that passed by made an effort to stay clear of the runners.  What was unexpected was the wind!  I ran with my head slightly down so my hat wouldn't fly off my head.  At this point, I started passing a lot of the half marathoners who were still out on the course.  I tried to offer words of encouragement to each runner I passed.

I was surprised that I felt pretty good and could keep my pace up.  With 3 miles left, there was a bike/run path off to the side of the road that we ran on.  I looked at my watch and knew if I continued to push it that I could possibly beat my time from yesterday.  I was sore and tired, but still had enough in me to keep going.  I was elated to see the finish line and to cross as the 1st place female beating my time from Friday - 3:36:21.   I ended up with a 10 minute negative split on the second half of the course - guess my legs loosened up!  I found Garrett after the race to see how his race went.  He ended up taking first as well!  Sweet!!! 


Garrett from Cincinnati - AWESOME!

Another sweet bear, another pair of Altra running shoes, and a Back to Back pin.

 

Lexi's First 10k!!!  A few months ago, I asked Lexi if she wanted to train for something.  She said that she wanted to run a 10k.  She has ran a few 5k's and wanted a challenge.  I wanted to make sure that she had fun and at the same time was willing to work hard toward a goal to finish.  I printed her off a training schedule.  Being self motivated, Lexi stuck to her training schedule and put in the work.  I loved joining her on her longer runs to encourage and support.   Her hard work paid off and she reached the finish line in 53:57.  1st in her age group.  I asked her if she had fun and if she wanted to run one again.   "Yes!!!"  I love that she loves to run!!