Yakima River Canyon RR
I still can’t wipe the grin off my face. The whole weekend was fantastic, one big party with a marathon in the middle. The thing about Yakima, though, is it is a marathoner’s marathon. Small, remote and NO SPECTATORS. None. They are not allowed on the course. Aid station volunteers and race officials are the only people besides other marathoners that you see and they are few and far between. Aid stations were located every 2 – 3.5 miles providing water and Propel, you were on your own for gels or other sources of energy. The course is also on the tough side. It is a net downhill course with major climbs at mile 14 and 22. It also offers a screaming downhill from mile 24 to the finish… perfect for a last long run before Boston. I knew all of this when I signed up so I didn’t expect it to be my best marathon ever.
The weekend started out with a Marathon Maniac Reunion which attracted over 80 Maniacs. The 50 Staters and 100 Marathon Club were also having small reunions, so serious marathoners were everywhere. The pre-race pasta feed featured John Bingham as the guest speaker. He did a great job tailoring his talk for the crowd… no need to talk about tips for completing a marathon, or what a great accomplishment it is, or any of those things that are covered during most carb-load dinners. We all knew marathoning and certainly didn’t need anyone to motivate us.
Race morning was chilly with temps well below freezing. Rain clouds were hovering overhead, but the forecast called for only a 10% chance that we would actually see raindrops. Mr. Dove and I joined the others to march the 1/3 mile from the parking lot to the actual start line, bundled up in gloves and throw-away sweaters. Mr. Dove was about to tackle his first marathon, so on the way to the start we went over our strategy: 10:30-11:00 minute pace with a ¼ mile walk at every aid station. I was going to be the pacer until Mr. Dove got sick of me, then he would send me on my way. Our goal was to finish, our secondary goal was to finish under 5 hours.
The race started nicely. Our first split was exactly 10:30 and remained there as we hit the first aid station. As planned, we walk ¼ mile then resumed our run. The ¼ mile walk only added 1½ minutes to our mile pace, but did wonders for our legs. I felt great. The running was easy and the scenery breathtaking. Our pace continued at a consistent 10:30 during running miles, and 12:00 during miles that we added a walk-break. We hit our first hill at mile 4 and I didn’t even notice. A bigger hill came at mile 14. We happened to reach the climb during our scheduled walk break and I noticed we were actually passing people who were running up the hill. Because we were walking so fast we decided to walk the entire ½ mile hill, picking up the run just before we crested the top and started down the other side. At mile 20 we were just where we wanted to be… on pace for a sub-5 hour finish. We continued on at 10:30 pace until we hit THE BIG ONE, a 1.6 mile climb at mile 22. Mr. Dove’s back cramped and he was having a hard time keeping his legs moving forward. We stopped to stretch, walk backwards, stretch again but nothing was helping. Mr. Dove gritted his teeth and managed to keep going, but in obvious pain. We reached the summit, stretch one last time then picked up our run, hoping Mr. Dove’s back would behave for the final 2 ½ miles. The back cramped again, but somehow he managed to ignore his pain and we ran across the finish line hand-in-hand in 5:12:13. The prez of the Marathon Maniacs was waiting for us with his camera, a big pat on the back for Mr. Dove and inquires about his next marathon. Hippo was there, too, ready to welcome Mr. Dove into the ranks of Marathoner. I was ecstatic: I had just run my best marathon ever, on the most scenic course imaginable, with my favorite person by my side and my friends cheering us on.
