On June 25, I ran the Missoula Marathon. This is a popular race among people who want to run marathons in all 50 states. Many do Missoula for their Montana marathon. Unlike most Montana marathons, this one is at a relatively low elevation. It’s 3,200 feet above sea level, which is lower than many parts of Montana. It’s also a relatively flat marathon. There’s only one notable hill, which comes about halfway through the race.
I’ve run the Missoula Marathon
twice before. Both times, I qualified
for Boston. I wasn’t confident that I
could do that this year, but it seemed like I’m within striking distance. My previous best this year was 3:52:38, and I
need 3:50 to qualify.
I arrived in Missoula on
Friday. Friday evening, I did the beer
run, and Saturday morning, I ran the Tony Banovich 5K race. For more on those races, see my previous post.
My hotel was at the east end of
the downtown area. From the hotel, I
could see the large M on the hillside above the University of Montana. The M has become a tourist attraction. There’s a trail going up to it.
My hotel was right next to the
river, and there was also a small stream nearby.
This race was a quarterly
reunion of the 50 States Marathon Club.
Saturday afternoon, I attended the club meeting. I always try to do that if that when I’m at a
reunion race. Conveniently, the club was
meeting at my hotel.
This is a point-to-point race. The course starts in Frenchtown and finishes
in downtown Missoula. To get to the
start in Frenchtown, we needed to take a bus.
The buses leave between 4:15 and 5:15 AM, so you have to get up early
enough to be ready.
I usually need about an hour to
get ready in the morning, and it takes about 15 minutes to walk to where the
buses where loading. I set my alarm for
3:15, so I could be at the bus loading area at 4:30. I didn’t want to be on one of the last buses.
I don’t eat much before a race,
but I like to eat something. There was a
food truck at the expo that was selling mini-donuts. On Saturday, I picked up a dozen with a huckleberry
spread, and I saved them for my pre-race breakfast.
It was chilly when I left, but
they had a gear check at the start, so I was able to wear extra layers as I
walked to catch a bus.
We caught the buses at the
university, which is on the opposite side of the river. I crossed the river on a pedestrian bridge
near my hotel. On the other side of the
river, they had glow sticks marking the route to the buses. Some buses going to the half marathon start
and others going to the marathon start.
The volunteers were pretty good about making sure people got on the
right bus.
I arrived in Frenchtown about
an hour before the race. I made a bathroom
stop, while there weren’t any lines, but I knew I’d need another one later.
I found a place where I could
sit on a curb until I needed to make another bathroom stop. It was still dark when most of us arrived,
but the sun came up before the race started.
Once there was light, we could see the white F on one of the
hillsides. That’s Frenchtown’s answer to
the M in Missoula.
I was talking to friends when I
realized I should get into a bathroom line while there was still enough
time. It was 30 minutes before the race,
and the lines were long now. I didn’t
know if I would have time to make it through the line. Then I felt some rumbling in my intestines. Sometimes your digestive system wakes up on
its own schedule. The bathroom stop was
no longer optional.
It took 17 or 18 minutes to get
through the line and a couple more minutes to do my business. Then, I just had 10 minutes until the start
of the race.
I still needed to check my gear
bag. I had the foresight to take off my
warm-up pants while I was still waiting in line. I didn’t know exactly where the gear check
truck was. When I asked someone, he
said, “The line starts back there.” It
took me a minute just to find the back of the line. Fortunately, the line moved quickly. As it got closer to the race, one of the
volunteers told us to just set our bags on the ground near the truck.
After dropping off my gear bag,
I just had five minutes before the start of the race. The wheelchair athletes were already starting.
I was on the wrong side of the
finish line, so I had to walk around until I found the entrance to the
corrals. I wanted to start the race with
the 3:50 pace group, so I had to find the pace leader and line up next to
him. I got into the start corral just in
time for the National Anthem.
About 30 minutes before the
race, they started shooting fireworks above the start area. At first, they were every five minutes or
so. When the gun went off, the fireworks
became constant. I’m told they continued
until everyone was across the starting line.
For most of the first mile, I ran
right behind the 3:50 pacer. I haven’t
run that fast recently, and I ran an all-out 5K race yesterday, so 3:50 was an
ambitious goal. Normally, I would start
a little slower and wait to see how I felt.
I got more aggressive today, because my recent training has been
encouraging. Also, 3:50 is a Boston
qualifier for my age group, and I’m always willing to fight harder for that.
The pace felt a little fast,
but I wanted to at least see how it felt for the first few miles. Toward the end of the first mile, the 3:50
pacer sped up and started weaving between people. It would’ve taken extra effort to stay with
him, and the pace already felt fast. I
decided to maintain my current effort until I saw my time for the first mile.
I ran the first mile in
8:26. That’s about 20 seconds too fast
for a 3:50 marathon. The pace group was
a few seconds ahead of me, so they started even faster. I decided to ease up a little, since the
first mile was too fast.
For a while, I was dropping
back from the pace group, but then I started to catch up to them again. I wondered if they slowed down in the second
mile. Nope. It was faster than the first mile.
I couldn’t keep going at that
pace. I didn’t know why the group was
starting so fast, but I drifted back and ran by myself. For the next several miles, my pace was in
the 8:40s. For the next two or three
miles, the pace group was getting farther and farther ahead of me. Then I noticed the gap seemed to
stabilize. They were way ahead of me,
but they were no longer getting farther ahead.
I overheard several other
runners talking to each other about how fast that group started. We all reached the same conclusion and
dropped back to run at our own pace.
Even though I was no longer
trying to keep up with the pace group, I questioned whether my pace was
sustainable. It seemed like I was
working too hard. I was already
emotionally invested in trying to break 3:50, so against my better judgement, I
gave it a try.
The first nine miles of this
race can best be described by three words:
wide open spaces. There weren’t
any spectators until just past nine miles.
Then we turned onto Kona Ranch Road.
There were several houses there, and it seemed like all the local
residents came out to cheer us.
A short time later, we crossed
the Kona Bridge over the Clark Fork River.
This was the first of three river crossings. Now the scenery changed. Instead of wide open spaces, we were running
along a densely forested hillside, with occasional river views. This was the most scenic part of the course.
By the end of the 10th mile, I
was realizing I could no longer keep up the same pace. Not only did the pace feel more tiring, but
my legs felt a little heavy. You should
never feel that way in the first half of a marathon. I ran that mile in 8:51. That was my slowest mile so far, but it was
also the most tiring. Starting with mile
11, I abandoned my attempt to break 3:50.
I slowed down until the pace felt sustainable. Mile 11 was 20 seconds slower than mile 10.
After abandoning a goal, I’ll
often latch onto a backup goal. The most
obvious backup goal was breaking four hours.
Before committing to that, I needed to get a feel for what pace would be
sustainable for the rest of the race. I
needed to wait until my pace stabilized.
In the meantime, I stopped focusing on my pace and started to focus on
enjoying the scenery. I didn’t bring my
phone, because I didn’t want to carry any excess weight. That unfortunately meant I couldn’t take
pictures during the race.
I reached the halfway point in
1:55:43. I was already well off the pace
for 3:50, and I expected to be slower the rest of the way. I was now within sight of the only big hill
in this race.
It’s been four years since I
last ran this course. My recollection was
that this hill was long but gradual. My
memory was wrong. The hill is about a
mile long, and most of it is gradual, but there’s a steep section at the
beginning.
My plan for the hill was to
keep my effort constant and not worry about my pace. That didn’t work on the steep section. Even though I was slowing down substantially,
it still felt increasingly tiring. I
finally decided to conserve energy by taking a walking break.
I walked for a minute or
two. When I reached a section that wasn’t
as steep, I went back to running. I eventually
got through that mile, but it took 10:19.
That was more than a minute slower than any previous mile.
It's worth noting, that the hill was on a road called Big Flat Road. I find it amusing that it's the only road we ran on that wasn't flat.
After the uphill mile, there
was a rolling mile, followed by a downhill mile. I knew I wouldn’t make up the time from the
uphill mile, but I thought I would make up some of it. I was disappointed when the mostly downhill
mile took nine minutes.
When I reached the 16-mile
mark, I knew the rest of the race would be reasonably flat. It wasn’t until now that I could get a sense
of what pace would be sustainable the rest of the way.
During the next mile, the
marathon and half marathon routes merged.
The half marathon started in a different spot, but the last 10 miles
were the same as the marathon route.
Now, in addition to seeing the mile markers for the marathon, I also saw
mile markers for the half marathon.
The second of the three river
crossings was the Maclay Bridge over the Bitterroot River. This bridge was narrow. I made a point of looking up and down the
valley as I crossed the bridge.
I ran mile 17 in 9:26. I was too tired to do the math and figure out
what pace I needed to break four hours. I
guessed that this pace might be fast enough, but I wasn’t sure. I would be more confident if I could get my
pace closer to 9:20.
I overheard another runner
talking with a guy who came out to support her.
I got the impression that he isn’t a runner, because he was saying all
the wrong things. She said she felt “unwell.” He said maybe she would feel better
later. Then he told her that she was “almost
there.” We still had nine miles to
go. When you’re struggling, nine miles
can seem like forever. It’s not “almost
there.”
After he was gone, I asked her if
she’s run many marathons. This one was
her first. I felt the need to give her a
pep talk. First, I told her that this
would be the most important marathon finish of her life. Then I told her that some miles would
inevitably be tough. She might not feel
better later, but that’s OK. If she ran
the next mile and still felt the same, that would mean she had one more mile
done without feeling any worse. All that
mattered was to keep moving and finish.
I still wanted to pick up my
effort and try to break four hours, but I was tempted to abandon that goal and
stay with her for the rest of the race.
I wanted to make sure she finished.
We reached an aid station, and
I slowed to a walk just long enough to drink some Powerade. Then I lost sight of her. I didn’t see her ahead of me, so maybe she
took longer at the aid station than I did.
When I couldn’t find her, I went ahead on my own.
I picked up my effort and
finished mile 18 in 9:18. That was
encouraging. That pace would definitely
be fast enough to break four hours. I
kept up that effort, but the next two miles were slower. Mile 19 took 9:27 and mile 20 took 9:24. I didn’t know if that would be fast enough.
When I saw the mile seven sign for
the half marathon, I finally did the math.
I had roughly 57 and a half minutes to run 6.1 miles. I estimated I needed to average 9:25 per mile
the rest of the way. I had been staying
mostly in my comfort zone since the hill, but I picked up my effort again.
As I started getting into
residential neighborhoods of Missoula, I looked straight ahead and saw a white
L between two trees. The L is similar to
the M, but it’s not as large, and it hasn’t been there as long. It was put there by students of Loyola Sacred
Heart High School. I’ve seen the L
before, so I knew exactly where it was.
I now had a much better feeling for where I was.
In mile 21, I sped up to 9:02. I immediately recalculated the pace I needed
to break four hours. I could now afford to
slow down to 9:29, although I would go faster as long as I could. For the rest of the race, I made the same
computation every mile. I kept beating
the time I needed.
I didn’t hear much music during
the race, but with a few miles to go, I heard some speakers blasting a Taylor
Swift song. It was “You Need to Calm
Down.” I enjoyed the song, but I wasn’t
ready to calm down yet. I was committed to
breaking four hours, and I wasn’t going to calm down until I finished.
As I continued through
Missoula, I sometimes got a glimpse of the M.
Each time, I saw it from a different angle. Each time, it gave me a feeling for where I
was.
When I finished the 24th mile,
I estimated that I now needed an average pace of 10 minutes per mile. When I reached the 11-mile marker for the
half marathon, I took another look at my watch, so I could doublecheck my math. I had just over 21 minutes to run the last 2.1
miles. I checked again at 25 miles. I had more than 13 minutes to run 1.2
miles. Now, I could afford to calm down,
although I didn’t slow down at all.
The last mile had several
turns. I lost my sense of
direction. I didn’t know where I was
until I made the second-to-last turn.
Then I could see the final turn onto Higgins Avenue.
After making that turn, I saw Beartracks
Bridge, which was our final river crossing.
By the time I got onto the bridge, I could see the finish line. I poured it on. According to my watch, I sped up to a 7:32
pace from 26 to the finish.
I finished in 3:56:52. I’m not ready to run 3:50 yet, but this was
my second fastest race this year. It was
a nice recovery after starting too fast.
The finisher medal for the
marathon had the same design as the medal for the 5K, but it was larger.
After I got my medal, I turned
around to look for other runners. I
immediately got a fist bump from another runner who tried to run with the 3:50
group. He stayed with them longer than I
did, but we both had to adjust our goals and finish on our own.
Then I saw the first-time
marathoner who I had last seen with about nine miles to go. She walked up to me and thanked me for the
pep talk. She started to feel better
with six miles to go. She was probably
never that far behind me. She finished
about a minute after I did, even though I sped up a lot in the last six miles.
Before leaving the finisher chute, I saw a volunteer at a table labeled, “Big Three Challenge.” The Big Three challenge refers to doing the beer run, 5K, and marathon (or half marathon) all in the same weekend. For doing that, I received a blanket that rolls up and closes with Velcro.
The finish area was in Caras Park. The tents that were previously used for the
expo were repurposed. One was used for
the food line, and the other had tables and chairs, so we could sit and
eat. Our race bibs had coupons for food
and beer. We could pick up our beer at the
Big Sky Brewing booth outside the tents.
Post-race food included a pasta
dish, watermelon, bananas, Oreo cookies, and a variety of salty snack
foods. They also had water, but I opted
for beer instead.
It didn’t warm up during the
race as much as I thought it would. We
had a cool breeze, and we often had cloud cover. I felt comfortable for most of the race. The only time I was tempted to take my gloves
off was after running up the hill.
After finishing, I started to
get cold. I put on my jacket, but I didn’t
want to put on my wind pants. I had them
in my gear bag, but they were still clean, and I didn’t want to get them all
sweaty. I had to take my gloves off to
eat. Then my hands immediately turned
white. I ate as quickly as I could and
then walked back to the hotel.
While I was walking back to the
hotel, something happened that impressed me.
Each time I walked to or from the hotel, I had to cross a highway. There was a crosswalk, but it wasn’t at a
stop light. Instead, there was a button
you could press that turned on flashing lights on either side of the
street. Whenever someone turned on those
lights, every car stopped, even if nobody had entered the crosswalk yet. On my way back to the hotel, I hadn’t even
pressed the button yet, and the cars stopped, just becasue I was approaching.
It was heartwarming to see motorists who treat pedestrians with such
courtesy. It’s not like that where I
live.
I had to run warm water over my
hands before I could do anything requiring fine motor skills. Then I took a long hot shower and made some
warm tea. I don’t fly home until
tomorrow, so I’ll probably visit the hot tub and then find some pizza for
dinner.
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