Lander ½ Marathon (13.1 mi)

Lander, WY

I made the trek across the continental divide today for one of my worst races yet. I was talked into running my first ½ marathon by one of the ski team coaches. She told me that Joe Howdyshell was going to be running and that right there was all I needed to make my decision to run. Two weeks ago at the duathlon Joe had at least a 5 minute head start on me as his partner came in way ahead of the other bikers. I was pissed that he had such a handicap and that he took all of the glory for finishing first.

Well things started out great today and I was actually leading for the first two miles. Once I hit the hill at mile 2.5 though, things started to go down-hill (figuratively speaking of course). First Joe passed me, then some other dude passed me and some mom right after him. I was starting to feel like shit and by mile 10 I had bonked out! I was dehydrated, my feet were going numb, and my knees felt like they were falling apart. It didn’t help that the course wasn’t marked very well either. I would pass a mark in the road that read “4.5” as in 4.5 miles and not even a mile later I ran over the 6 mile marker. Either I was zoned out or there were some serious issues with the course measurements.

I finished with a time of 94:56 which I can’t say is good or bad for me since I haven’t even raced anything farther than half this distance. In all though, I would have to say this was my worst race ever considering I felt like shit, I didn’t beat Joe, and a frickin’ mom passed me. I think I’ll stick to 10K's!