Runner Insight

Half Marathon Madness Part 2

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It was just after I crossed McClay’s Bridge that I nearly ran into a little trouble. The half marathon route we were running was my normal route that I run while training, but I had never run it this early in the morning, and with my vision issues, I was a little disoriented.  I was on the look out for these thorny branches that sprawled out onto the path, as I knew they were there…I had run into them before!

I thought I had run far enough on the road to be past the branches,  so I could get back on the bike trail, but just as I was moving onto the trail, a woman yelled, “Branches!”  And grabbed me around the waist and pulled me to safety, away from a very thorny hazard. 

Happy to have avoided a potentially bloody situation, I thanked my champion, and asked her name.  Her name was Lisa, and we chatted about road hazards.  She said that where she regularly ran, she has to ask her husband to move dead deer from her running paths!  At least I don’t have that problem! 

Lisa stayed with me for awhile, and helped me navigate some turns, positioning me on the white line, before she took a walk break.  It was not until I was looking at the race results, that I saw Lisa finished right behind me!

The promised heat of the day stayed away for the most part.  The sun made its little appearance, and then stayed behind clouds, keeping it nice and cool for the race. 

At one point I asked someone what mile we were at and they said mile 4.  But it felt like we had been running longer than that, so when I got to an aid station, I asked what mile we were at, and they said mile 7.  The gal I had asked earlier heard the reply and said, “Oops.”  But I responded that at least it’s a good oops – better to be further than we thought we were than the other way around.

Around mile 8 ½ I heard someone call out my name.  T was on the side of the road, so I made my way over.  I had eaten about half my honey beads, so I finished them up and T gave me some water.  The report was that Dr. Krieg was about 15 minutes ahead of me, Leslie just a few, and Jade had not come by yet. So after a hug for luck, I went on my way, feeling strong and refreshed, knowing I was getting close to the end. 

Around mile 9 I started running with a gal named Tonya.  She paced me the rest of the way.  I was running alongside of her for awhile, but since I kept bumping into her, I told her I was going to run just behind her to avoid tripping her. 

At one aid station they were giving out gels and salty trail mix, but what got my attention was the volunteer yelling, “GUMMY BEARS!”  I said, “Gummy Bears! YES!”  And she ran right over to give them to me!  It was great to have that little boost of energy right towards the end. 

There were times during the race that I really wanted to go faster, but safety was my primary concern, with my finish time secondary.  So I stayed behind Tonya, and as we made the turn onto the Higgins Street Bridge, we could see the crowds lining the sides, the big balloon arch was in sight, and the music and loud speakers were blaring, signifying the finish line!  It was a great feeling, hearing all the cheers and Tonya yelling, “Sprint!”  So I did!

Finishing strong, Tim and Anders from the Runner’s Edge were there to greet the finishers.  I got my medal hung around my neck, and T was just coming through the crowds to greet me.  She led me to the Victory Pose photo area, where I got a free photo of me with my medal and all. 

With the increase in the number of people running the half marathon this year, there was a bit of a line to get into the food tent, but it was well worth the little bit of a wait.  The Good Food Store, our local natural food store, put out quite the spread.  There was a delicious pasta salad, bagels, frozen fruit bars, fig bars, fruit, and other snacks.  I chowed down, quickly replenishing my glycogen stores.

Replenishing after the Half Marathon

We then made our way down to the pavilion where there was music and more food!  We were going down a ramp when T said, “There’s the winner of the marathon.”  Going down to the park just ahead of us, he was not walking very well…Gee I wonder why?  He finished the 26.2 mile course in record time, at 2:33!  It just boggles my mind how fast that is: He did 26 miles at a less than 6 minutes per mile pace!! Wowsers!

T and I enjoyed the post race activities, and then headed home.  I was tired from the race and the lack of sleep the night before, but all in all I had a wonderful time. My finish time was 13 minutes slower than last year, but I’m not too disappointed with that…I am blind after all. So 2:26:03 is perfectly fine with me; I finished my 13 miles a handful of minutes before the first marathoner finished his 26 miles, so I’m happy!

Running with my white cane for the first time in a race worked out beautifully.  Not only did it bring awareness to other runners that I didn’t see well, it allowed me to run without fear of stumbling or tripping over curbs on some of the streets that had roundabouts.

The Missoula Marathon just keeps getting better and better each year.  I look forward to running it again…not sure if it will be a full marathon next year or just the half…Hmmmmm…

How ‘bout it?

-Vision Runner    

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Tags: half marathon, Missoula Marathon, race report, Runner, Running, Vision Runner

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 5th, 2009 at 4:00 am and is filed under Montana, Running, Vision Stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.