On September 20th, I ran my tenth marathon and second trail marathon: West Coast Trail Runs‘ Fall Out of Summer out at Calero County Park. It was my slowest marathon (so far); but, in some ways, as I finished, I felt the most accomplished. Between the high heat and challenging climbs (six in total with two CAT 2s), I WAS NOT about to let this course beat me.
Photo Cred: West Coast Trail Runs
And so I didn’t…I sucked it up and gritted it out. Yeah, I was the dead-last finisher (4 out of 4), but still got ‘er done.
At the mile 18 aid station when I realized i was the only marathoner still on the course, I joked with (ok, apologized to) Guy about making him and the others hang around. He assured me they were there for the event’s full duration (there was an 8-hour limit) and to (in so many words) run my run. At the mile 21 aid, I told Guy that I was doing my best to get them out of there by 2PM. I finished at 2:08 (a time of 6:08:28), so I was just a tad over my revised, revised, revised goal of 6 hours – I seriously thought I’d be able to knock this thing out in 5 hours. Wrong. The second loop is where the butt-kicking commenced as the mostly unshaded, hot course took its toll (loop 1, 2:44:30 / loop 2, 3:23:58.) But, I got ‘er done
Many, many thanks to Guy, Maria, and great volunteers for their support all day and for sticking around for me to finish – there was 1h:15m between me and the finisher before me (gulp). It says a lot about an event and the RD to keep the whole crew, all finish line equipment set-up, and a full assortment of finish line food and drink for one, lone runner. This was my first West Coast event…it definitely won’t be my last.
At any rate, this was a tough one and the first of four longer-distance runs that will round out 2015:
- 2 – 26.2s
- 1 – 50K,
- 1 – 50-miler
- …plus a 10K and a 13.1 thrown in for good measure.
Nike released a new video last week titled “Last”. While this was marathon number ten for me, i can totally identify with the woman’s expression at :53…
Giddy-up…
DENNARR(dot)COM 