Unlike other "girls weekends" that involve things like pedicures and pink martinis and maybe a Tiara, my idea of girl's weekends has translated to travelling 4.5 hours away from home to go run 26.2 miles! I'm not sure how this happened. One day it's all fun and games and the next, it's discipline and cheap hotels and being dropped off in the middle of nowhere and being OKAY with that!
So, the girls got all packed into Becky's car, coffees in hand, and hit the road! Montana-- prairies, cool mornings, and the smoky haze of all the wildfires! It's rare for us to even see each other like this- altogether in non-running gear. I didn't even realize Becky was growing her hair out until I saw that it was getting longer!
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| Kathy, Jen, and Becky ready for another race weekend! |
The drive went quickly, as long drives with laughter and conversation tends to. Beautiful views of our Badlands as Fall is in the air and it promises to be a cool, Fall weekend.
And soon enough, we were crossing the state line. Can't turn back now! Another state, another race, and another chance to see exactly how far we can go!
We arrived in time for lunch and packet pickup at the store that was hosting the Marathon, Time Out Sports in Billings. Their website promises a "very cool bag" and I'm actually thinking it will be something I can take to the gym on Monday evening after the race!
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| Uhhh.... no. |
Up to this point, what we've seen of Billings hasn't been outstanding. Most people around town had no idea there was a race going on that weekend. The only sign we see to support the race is at the high school where we will be starting and finishing the race. "Small" doesn't even begin to describe this race. And mentally, I start to wonder what we've gotten into. There will be little, if any, sideline support. People around town aren't impressed that I need my food and my sleep. Our hotel is being staffed by an overly-flirtatious front desk clerk who may or may not be tweaking out of his mind and there are cops pulling over some kid in the McDonald's next door. Which makes my decision to bring my own pillow and blanket totally justified now- you KNOW what's been going on in this kind of hotel! Granted, we were TOTALLY hooked up with a discount on our room; but the real value here was the sense of 'adventure' we get out of it! But also makes it easy to smile pretty and ask for a late check out so we can come back and shower before hitting the road! Score!
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| Becky and I enjoy dinner at Ciao Mambo! |
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| guest's crayon art displayed overhead |
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| stunning art, not-so-subliminally makes you thirsty |
And after all this, we are in bed, lights out, at 9pm. I told you this was not your typical girl's weekend. I usually have insomnia so I am nervous about whether or not I will be able to sleep. Aside from a little tossing and turning, I was out! Kathy, not so much. I woke up sometime around 3:30 to find her on the floor. I wasn't sure if she didn't appreciate my nighttime cuddling or what. When the alarms went off at 4:10 am (YEAH, THAT EARLY) she told us that the A.C. clicking and rattling and just being in a strange place had kept her up all night! All night! We have to go run for 4 hours and she had maybe 2 hours of sleep! Ugh, I feel so bad for her but there's nothing for it now but to get ready to get on the bus....
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| all geared up, dressed, ready to go..... BEFORE 5 A.M.!!! |
There's almost no one else in the school parking lot so we're not sure if we are even in the right place. We are, and we are almost the last to get on the bus so we find spots in the way back. "How many people are running this race, do you know?" one of them asks. We don't know so we start counting heads on the school bus. This is it, all of us, for the next 4 hours. By comparison, I am used to being corralled to the starting line among THOUSANDS.
We are driven up a dark highway before dawn, where we will be dropped off and told to run back to town. I train for this. I PAY good money to be treated like this! Just a touch crazy, no?
We meet some pretty amazing people on the bus ride and at the "community center" where we await our start. One guy who is an ultrarunner and is doing the marathon as a "warm-up." An 18 year old sits with us. It's her first race and she asks if we are nervous. No, we tell her, what's the worst that could possibly happen? You might walk a little bit. But then so what, you keep running..... We asked her what her goal is and she said 7:50. Becky tries to think of a nice way to tell her that the race is over after 6 hours when we realize this tiny ball of energy means that her goal is to beat 7:50 minute per mile!! We wish her well because we're not keeping up with that pace. We meet others-- a marathon maniac who is behind me in line for the outhouse (yeah, outhouse. I spared you photos of that, thank goodness!) who is on her 170-th-someodd race!! She's doing 25 marathons this year!!! We meet other girls who haven't trained together but are friends and plan on sticking together for the race. They think it's weird that we train together but don't actually race together. (for anyone else who thinks this is weird-- we just have different goals on race day. And we would never hold each other back.....)
So.... chilly morning. Outhouses. And around the time that the sunlight starts to color the sky, they start gathering us around the starting line-- a spraypainted mark on the highway.
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| another 26.2, here we go!! |
Okay, so we're off! The first 6 miles are nice and flat. It's a highway course. It's an open highway course. There are no safety precautions except "please watch out for traffic" and traffic seems to take this as a challenge.
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| Early morning Sunday traffic did not seem to want to give way to the crazy runners all over the road, |
I lost track of Becky and Kathy around mile 8. The first 6 miles are flat. Then you start to climb. A little at a time. Consistently. You see a hill in the distance, you accept it. You get over it, no big deal. There's another hill in the distance. You see it. You run it. There's another one. And another. You think, "maybe after this hill, we go down! They said there was a good downhill. Nope, another hill. Maybe after this one." This goes on for about 4 or 5 miles. Not 4 or 5 minutes. Almost an hour of hoping for the downhill.
And then, at mile 11, Mendel's Hallelujah chorus sounds in your ears, your legs cry out in relief, and all the runners around you suddenly get the giggles as you spot it---- Echo Canyon. It's beautiful enough on it's own, but you kind of tear up when you realize that road under you is going down down down down down!
Becky checks her time, heading downhill. She's about to pull some 8 minute miles and shave some time off of her goal!
Kathy heads downhill! Wheeeee!!!!
I had lost them by this point, I stole these pictures from Kathy's facebook page!
I didn't take any more pictures of the race.... So here's the recap. The downhill didn't last as long as we were promised. The people I was running around were really inspiring and it was easy to talk to people along this race. When you run smaller races like this (I don't think there were even 80 runners) the people you start with are mostly the people you finish with and you spend about 4 hours basically running around each other. You don't normally get to know people like that, so this race was really good for runner support-- meaning the other runners were who were cheering you on! There wasn't a lot of sideline support, and I hope this race grows bigger because it is a beautiful race and a good opportunity. The water points were way too far apart. I know this is a picky complaint, but most of us don't race with extra weight, so we don't carry water bottles on race day. After the 13.1, it's more common to have water at every mile or so. There was no water point between 15 and 18. That was a hard stretch because that's where the downhill is flattening out so you're trying to keep up some momentum. And then you realize you don't get a sip of water for 3 more miles. Hmmmm.... Just mental, you know?
Becky met a runner friend who decided they hadn't travelled all the way out there to come in over 4, so they stayed on pace and finished with a few minutes to spare! Kathy was close behind her. And mind you, Kathy is still on only about 2 hours of sleep.... on the floor! Way impressive, if you ask me!
Me, I come trudging in about 23 minutes later. I didn't make my goal, but you know, sometimes race days just aren't even your best running day. I felt way better in my training this time around and in fact, I felt really really good on our 20 mile run. Much better on that day than on race day. Oh well. I met a woman who ran 25 marathons a year. An ultra marathoner. A guy in a gorilla suit holding up traffic for us. Got to meet Kathy's family. And that little 18 year old who was nervous about her first race?
She won, in 3:19. We are so proud of you Becca!!!
Another state, another race, another token to remind me of what you can accomplish when you work for it and have great friends to build you up along the way.
And home again, home again. To get ready for the next.....
Happy running, to all of our crazy running chicks.
And to our family and friends who supported us, not only on race day, but in the long weeks of preparation, and then with all of your texts and your words of encouragement.... each of you are more priceless and more appreciated than we can even put into words. Thanks for everything!!!
-- Crazy Running Chicks
