May 3, 2014 and the 38th running of the Whiskey Row Marathon in Prescott AZ. A gorgeous day, not a cloud in the sky and a starting temperature of 60 degrees on the way up to 85 degrees. Today was my “test” marathon for running at altitude, on fire roads, with lots of long steep climbs (and the resulting steep downhills). WOW, is all I can say – it delivered on the “test”. It was a truly amazing race – wicked hard, two climbs, one seven miles long and the second one from mile 13-17, four miles in length. This race was just challenging from the first step to the finish line. My time 4:10 hours. Seemed good to me. For comparison it was almost an hour longer than the Boston Marathon and it made Heartbreak Hill feel like a speed bump.
There really was a lot of learning that went on today. Drink more, even stopping at every stop was not enough. A camelback is mandatory for Leadville. Downhill’s are just as hard as uphill. And while I did slow it down, I have to go even slower at Leadville. More practice will be required at altitude and I need to run more on trails and fire roads. All of this is to say that I am committed to doing everything I can to get ready for Leadville. Good thing I have three months to go.
Marathon number five in the books. Five months – five marathons. Good news is that I have a nice break between now and the June marathon. Yea!
Loving life because the marathon from today is over :-)
Ciao
Joe