North Olympic Discovery Marathon

I barely slept Saturday night. A few things were haunting me: First was a comment several Maniacs made after the Ultra when I said I was going to run the NODM. The gist of the comments was that it was a tough course and would be a challenge following a short but hilly ultra. Yikes. The other thing keeping me awake was the fact I barely ate following Saturday’s run. I have a hard time eating after marathons and even though I made a huge effort, I just couldn’t get much down. A major bonk during the marathon would be disastrous. I ended up rolling out of bed at 5 even though the race started at 9. I tried to eat breakfast and managed a cup of coffee and half a cliff bar. When I looked out the window I saw enormous black clouds billowing up to the west, but stuck to my initial plan of wearing my red Brooks short sleeve tech shirt, black running skirt, black hat, double diamond studs, Brooks Adrenaline 6GTS in copper and my watch. My goal time was 6 hours and I was planning to run my opening miles with 5 minutes of running, 5 minutes of walking until the legs warmed up. I was surprised that my legs didn’t feel tight at all as I walked to the start line. In fact, they felt quite good and even had some spring in them. I saw Lydenruner just in time to give him a big hug and wish him well on his BQ quest. Then I caught sight of one of my favorite Maniacs, Little Leslie. The NODM was the last of a 7 marathons in 7 weeks streak for her so we decided to start off together, knowing we would both be slow. As soon as the race started, someone dropped a full bottle of red energy drink and both Leslie and I were drenched from the knees down in sticky liquid. Then some guy in the back started running up my heels and even clipped my Achilles a time or two before he bumped me and passed in a huff. With all the commotion at the start, I forgot to turn on my watch so decided to pretend it was a no-tech run. At mile two I did an all systems check. My legs were fine, heart rate low, energy high. We passed Mr. Dove at mile 8. He wanted to be there in case I decided the marathon was too much, but after seeing the ease in which I was running, he knew I’d make it to the finish. Leslie and I were running well, too well for significant walk breaks and limited them to walking through the aid stations. The half way point came quickly, and with it the rain and head wind. The sticky stuff was washed from our legs and replaced with mud as we splashed along. The course started climbing and descending, with some of the descents so steep and slippery I was afraid of falling. Mile 20 I was still feeling great although the fear of bonking was always on my mind. At mile 23 I decided to speed up and get out of the dang wind/rain combo as fast as I could, but Little Leslie started to drop off the back. Finishing together was more important than finishing a few minutes faster, so I dropped my pace back down and waited for her to catch up. We crossed the line in 4:50:02.

The double weekend ended up being much easier than I thought possible. The soft trails of the ultra left my legs undamaged and the marathon was challenging enough that I didn’t slip into boredom (my nemesis). I can’t wait for my next challenge, I just have to decided what that will be. One thing I do know, this distance stuff suits me.