My Madison Marathon

This story will have a little more leading up to the race than usual. It’ll give you some background for the race.

The week had started off as an amazing epic adventure. We flew into Bozeman and took this opportunity to see parts of Montana and Wyoming that Regaina had never visited before. A quick trip over to Livingston for the night to get us closer to the northern gate of Yellowstone was amazing. Meeting people and going for a morning run before heading off to see Yellowstone. The flooding had created issues with the northern gate so unfortunately, we had to head back towards Bozeman to make it to the east gate.

Landing in Old Faithful Inn, one of my bucket list hotels was completely inspiring. The lobby was amazing, our room was a throwback in time….just Epic!

We ventured out to see a few trails and hike different areas of the park. Just as amazing as we expected.

First thing in the morning we got up and planned on driving to some areas that had some incline to them. I really needed to get acclimated to the altitude and hills. The Madison marathon was going to peak at 9600 ft and enclosed lots of hills….correction…mountains! After thinking about the travel distance, we elected to run the wooden walkways around the Old Faithful Inn. Nobody was up yet so the paths were pretty clear. These paths were wrapping all around the geysers and even though the temps were pretty chilly, the heat from the steam of the geysers was warm. Smelly too. Oh well.

After about a mile and a half, we encounter a lazy breakfast-eating bison near a trail. Regaina was nervous and stopped. I took selfies with him…at a safe distance…well sort of safe. I continued to run for several miles looping back around on the plankways. Never saw Regaina again but found the hill path that led upwards to the overlook. This area was for heading up the steep cliff and watching the eruption from above of old faithful itself. I glance at my watch and believe that I had only ten minutes to push upwards to make it in time.

Kicking it in gear…here is the hill workout I was looking for, I made it to the top out of breath. Both the altitude and hills are recognized now. Race day won’t be easy. Amazing sights from above, more animals. Back down the hill and off for more site seeing.

Flash forward a few days and we make it to Glacier National Park Lodge, another bucket list hotel. We check in, see more sights, and meet more people. Amazing lobby…again. This is just sweet. After all of these little trips, I had felt that I was prepared enough to be ready for the marathon. Oh yeah…I forgot to share…this was going to be a double marathon.

I had an EO forum retreat scheduled upon our return on Monday. So once scheduled I felt comfortable signing up for one of the two marathons that were scheduled. Plans were to run on Saturday for the Madison Marathon, fly back Sunday and then I’d be ready to drive three hours to where our forum had scheduled retreat. As I said…that WAS the plan. Plans change…I messaged my wife a few hours after I had scheduled the flight and signed up for the first marathon.

“Honey, I’ve been thinking.” The response was, “Oh no…now what?”

If I shift our afternoon flight to an evening red eye, I can run the first marathon on Saturday and then run the second marathon on Sunday morning, head to the airport that evening (after a quick shower) fly all night, make it in to Norfolk at 9 in the morning with just enough time to drive to retreat.

“Oh Lord!”

So that BECAME the plan!

Back to the story. I thought I was prepared. A few things were against me. This was the highest altitude I’d ever run….by a lot. Hills or mountains are not prevalent in Virginia Beach. Oh yeah…here it is July and the last long distance I’ve run was the 66 miles from Blackbeard’s Revenge in late March. My feet were so sore I hadn’t done much.

A bit nervous come face morning. We, unfortunately, booked a hotel late so our option was 1 hour away from the city of Ennis Montana where the race was supposed to begin. We’ll sort of. From there Regaina had to continue the drive another hour and forty-five minutes up a crazy dirt stirring, crater infested wash-out trail road that had cattle roaming all over it. She was nervous, which made me nervous…..finally got to the start line. Mosquitoes everywhere! Applied bug spray, suited up (carrying all of my water and supplies) only five water stops throughout the marathon. I fully intended to be in last place!

Off we go. The scenery was beautiful. The mountains were amazing. Amazingly painful. The climb began at mile .01! Uphill! I just did my race. I wasn’t last but was certainly at the back of the pack. You could see the runners in front scurrying up the hills like ants far in front of me. Just incredibly Epic!

In the first half of the marathon, all the half and full runners were together. That populated the pack…until we split. They finished. I kept going. There is always the thought at races like this about just stopping. Half is good. I keep going. This part is brutal. I’ll be running out and back for the rest of the back half. If I run uphill now, I’ll be running down on the way back. And vice versa. Step by dusty step and work my way. This is the most difficult marathon I’ve ever attempted. The theme for these races is, “These ain’t no pansy ass city races!” I agree!

Tired, worn out, and certainly fatigued I crossed the finish line with little fanfare other than a few. Most importantly my wife was there. My biggest cheerleader. Competed! Marathon number 65 is over. Now, back to the hotel for a shower and food. My stomach is not great. I’m dirty. Stinky. Sunburnt. But smiling.