Marathon #53: Missoula Marathon, June 2019

It always amazes me when a seemingly crazy plan becomes a reality. Quite some time ago George pulled up a map of the United States, pointed to the inner states and asked if there was a marathon that I needed to run (for my 50 state quest) within the region. He wanted to combine a marathon with a camping trip that would allow him to drive to the area with his camper in tow, stopping at other places of interest along the way. So I said, yes, I'd like to run the Missoula marathon in Montana, which is pretty close to Yellowstone and Glacier National Park. And I committed to camping as well...The plan was hatched. He would stop at Yellowstone on the way to Missoula, stop over in Missoula for the race, then we would all head north to Glacier National Park. The Saxtons decided to drive north with their camper van, bringing our camping gear in tow, and additionally two other couples signed up for the race/camping. Jamie, Jedonna, and Gigi (who I will refer to as the G-J girls), decided to glamp it at a nearby lodge.

In summary, the trip was truly epic, and Glacier National Park is just stunning. We had a blast with our group as usual, and a really hard time re-entering civilization back in Texas. As for the marathon itself, yes it was a good marathon, and that's why I'm here-to write about the marathon, which was in so many ways eclipsed by the rest of the trip! That's funny because usually it's the other way around! Here goes:

The Missoula marathon is a point to point race, starting in a tiny town called Frenchtown, just north of Missoula, and finishing in the heart of downtown Missoula, in Caras Park, along the Clark Fork river. It's a very early bus ride to catch the start at 6:00 AM!! But here's the thing, the sun is up at 6:00 AM! The shooting off of fireworks was pretty pointless in my opinion. Invested in the full marathon was me, Toby, the G-J girls, and Robert Haworth. We never saw him at the start and he would be the only one I had a shot at seeing along the course, as the others had crushed it during training. I haven't crushed anything in a very long time, ha ha. Robert has had to train in Florida, which makes Dallas seem cool, yikes! Mark, Amelie, Potter, and Lisa did the half marathon, which started further down the road.

That's what 5:30 ish looks like in Montana

We all positioned ourselves into the starting area accordingly. I found the 4:20 pacer and stayed close to him. The instant we started running I could tell that I was feeling the 3,000 ft altitude. It wasn't like running in Colorado, but enough to make me feel like I was working harder than normal. It kind of freaked me out at first, until I settled into a pace and said this is IT, whatever IT is, this is where you are at, so accept it and carry on, business as usual. Settling in was easier than when the half marathon starts with us, so that was nice, sorry half marathoners, but there's always at least twice as many of you and you always have way too much energy!

Our scenery started out as farmland, surrounded by hills on both sides, with full sun to our east, casting our shadows across the road. That's how high in the sky the sun was early on! But it was chilly, near perfect, around 50 degrees. I was both annoyed and distracted by the 4:20 group chatter, so I couldn't tell if I wanted to stick with them or leave them, as this stretch was pretty desolate. We didn't turn off this road until after 8 miles. Shortly after the turn I had to make a pit stop which took way too long. I came out to see the 4:20 pacer turning left in the distance. Right behind him were two guys with balloons which I could only assume were the 4:30 pacers. (Yes they were, but what I didn't know was Robert was with that group at that point). I would never see them again until mile 25 of the race!

The only hills of the course were from miles 13-17, with the first two being pretty steep. I walked those, taking in the beauty of the course during this stretch, as it had gone from farm land to pine forest. At this point I knew it was going to be a 4:30 day at best if all went OK from here on out. It just felt HARD and I really wondered, is it hard for just me, or it is hard for them too? I wanted to ask people, "is this hard for you too?", but thought the better of it.

I have no idea where this picture was taken because I never saw the photographer, but it totally captures the mood. I was trying to pay attention to my surroundings, but had to have my music on and focus more than I'd like to on trying to stay "in the game". Thank God for my music! It's funny what songs end up working for me and what songs get the FF. I have a lot of current music, like songs from Interpol, Vampire Weekend, and Mitski, but I throw in some old stuff from time to time. One such song was Devo's, "Beautiful World", and later, "Through Being Cool". Not sure why Devo worked, but hey. I didn't even care much for Devo back in the 80's, so go figure.

It's a beautiful world we live in...

Around mile 19 or so we started heading into the outskirts of Missoula, so finally, spectators and their antics! Everyone was out! There were all kinds of oddities of things presented to us, mostly in the form of alcoholic beverages! You name it they offered it! A Japanese runner (he was on his phone talking in Japanese while he was running, I'm not profiling) grabbed a cup of whiskey and I'm pretty sure he didn't know what it was! OMG, coughs and gags followed!! Yes, there were lots of turns heading into town, but oddly enough it seemed easier to handle than a long straight away, and like I said, it was pretty entertaining.

I found myself walking the water stops a bit, coming really close to 4:30, and sure enough at mile 25 out of nowhere were the 4:30 pacer balloon guys! No Robert, so we must have crossed paths and not seen each other. The mile 26 banner was sitting at the top of an overpass, and from there you could see and hear the finish line straight ahead. I stopped to walk at that point, saw a bunch of finishers standing on a bar patio, and when they saw me take off running again they started cheering like mad, telling me to go get it. Ha! So I did finish with a 4:30 and quickly rejoined the others, who, other than Toby the freak, said yes it was hard. But it was hard for them for various reasons, none of which appeared to be related to altitude. Whatever, as I ran the best I could, so I have to be at peace with it.

Again, missing Robert! 

I have no complaints about this race. Everything was well executed from beginning to end. No glitches, plenty of water stops, the finish area was great, and they had Big Sky beer! I highly recommend this marathon, but you must make your way to Glacier National Park as well.