On September 19, I ran
the first race of the Mainly Marathons Northwest Series. This series consists of marathons on six
consecutive days. The first two
marathons are in Hermiston, OR. The next
two are in Clarkston, WA, and the last two are in Lewiston, ID.
The most convenient
airport was Spokane, WA. I flew to
Spokane yesterday and drove to Kennewick, WA.
My hotel in Kennewick is 28 miles from the race venue in Hermiston. I could’ve stayed at a hotel in Hermiston,
but I chose to stay in Kennewick so I could stay at a hotel where I could
guarantee a late checkout. That’ll be
important tomorrow. After tomorrow’s
race, I’ll want to go back to the hotel to shower and change clothes before
getting on the road to drive to my next hotel.
After checking in at my
hotel, I drove to Hermiston to pick up my race packet. I could’ve waiting until this morning, but
going there yesterday gave me an opportunity to find the race venue when it
wasn’t dark. Getting my race packet
yesterday also saved me some time this morning.
For people doing the
whole series, race numbers are assigned according to how many marathons you’ve
run. I’ve run a lot of marathons, but
there were six people here who have run more.
I’ll wear the same race bib for the whole series.
The race started at 6:30
AM, with an optional early start at 5:30.
I had to allow 30 minutes for the drive from Kennewick, and I didn’t
need to be in a rush to get back after the race. For those reasons, I chose to take the 6:30
start.
The course was a 1.1-mile
segment of the Oxbow Trail. There were
multiple distance options. The marathon
was 12 laps.
The temperature at the
start was in the low 50s. The sun was just
rising, so it felt chilly. I started the
race with gloves and a Tyvek jacket.
Because this was the
first race of a six-day series, I was planning to pace myself cautiously. My only goal was to keep my time under six
hours. I planned to take walking breaks,
but I had to wait until it warmed up. Early
in the race, I needed to run to stay warm.
As I started running, I
noticed another runner who was starting at about the same pace. I started running with her, and we started
talking. Her name was Julie, and she was
doing the half marathon. Her goal was
two and a half hours. That seemed like a
reasonable pace for the first half of my race, so I ran with Julie for the
first six laps.
The beginning of the
trail was next to a barren field. I was
afraid this would be a boring course, but I was pleasantly surprised. After the second turn, we entered an area
with plush vegetation on either side of the trail. There were a lot of gentle turns, so we weren’t
just running in a straight line. I
enjoyed the scenery much more than I thought I would.
Julie was trying out a
run/walk strategy. I walked when she
walked. At first, my legs got a little
cold during the walking breaks.
Fortunately, they were short.
Seven is the lowest bib
number I’ve ever had for one of these series.
Early in the race, I saw why.
Several of the regulars weren’t here.
The race was still well-attended, though. I saw several new faces.
By the end of our second
lap, I had warmed up enough to unzip my jacket.
During the third lap, I took it off and tied it around my waist. By the end of that lap, I needed to take my
gloves off.
Julie wanted to keep her
average pace under 11 minutes per mile.
Whenever I checked, our pace was in the 10:40s.
As we got into Julie’s
last two laps, we had a couple of faster miles.
One was as fast as 10:06. I
sometimes found the pace a little tiring, but I was planning to slow down as
soon as Julie was done with her race.
At the halfway point, I
was on pace for a time in the low 4:40s.
That’s faster than I would’ve run on my own, but carrying on a
conversation the whole time made those first six laps feel easy.
Before starting my seventh
lap, I made a bathroom stop. Then I
continued on my own. Without Julie
setting the pace, I eased into a more casual pace. I also did more walking. I started walking the uphill sections. On average, I was going at least a minute per
mile slower now.
During my eighth lap, I
caught up to my friend Fran. She was
walking, but at a brisk pace. I started
walking with Fran, so we could talk.
Fran’s walking pace was
fast enough that I felt like I had to work to keep up with her. After a lap at Fran’s pace, I realized I
could walk with her for the rest of the race and still finish in less than six
hours. I wanted to keep some running in
the mix, so I coaxed Fran into running briefly on the downhill sections.
It was a sunny day, and
there wasn’t any shade on the course. As
the temperature climbed into the 70s, it felt much hotter. I was getting hot, even though we were mostly
walking.
In the first half of the race,
I was drinking Coke and Gatorade, but I wasn’t eating anything. In the second half, I occasionally grabbed a
small bite to eat at the aid station.
I found the second half
of the race to be tiring, even though it was much slower than the first
half. Maybe brisk walking was more
tiring than an easy running pace. Maybe
the heat wore me down. Maybe I ran the
first half too fast and it caught up to me.
I’m not really sure.
Late in the race, I heard
some other runners say that they saw bobcats on either side of the trail. We were right at the edge of town, where it
borders on wilderness.
I finished the race in
5:42:14. My second half was roughly an
hour slower than the first half. That
was mostly by design, since I knew the second half would be much warmer.
As with most Mainly
Marathons series, the finisher medals are designed to form a chain. The top piece goes to anyone doing at least
one race of the series. The next piece
was the medal for today’s race, which depicted things Oregon is known for.
I didn’t eat much during
the race, so before leaving, I took the time to eat part of a sandwich and
drink some chocolate milk. I had a snack
after getting back to the hotel, but I waited until later in the day before eating
a real meal.
One down, five to go.
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