Columbia River Power Marathon

If it’s October, it must be time for another double. As luck would have it, the perfect opportunity for a double was taking place in eastern Oregon and Washington. One of the most appealing things about this double was the easy logistics. Marathon 1 was in Umatilla, Oregon, and marathon 2 was in Richland, Washington… just 35 miles apart. This meant I could stay in Richland and drive to Umatilla on Saturday morning, so no long drives between marathons and no changing hotels.
It sounded good (on paper at least.) The drive over to eastern Washington was easy, we made good time, got settled into our room and turned in early. I was up at 5:45 Saturday morning and left for Umatilla at 6:30: giving me 1 ½ hours to complete a ½ hour drive. Clutching my mapquest directions I zipped on the freeway and was off. Really off, miles and miles off, by the time I realized I missed my exit and was heading for Walla Walla. I was just about to turn around when I saw a sign: Umatilla 35 miles. I decided that was better than back tracking and I still had almost an hour, so I was sure to get there by start time. I finally made it to Umatilla, then couldn’t find the school where the race was held. My directions kept trying to send me to the opposite end of town. Thankfully Umatilla is a small town and we managed to get to the proper location with a few minutes to spare.
At 7:55 we were all asked to line up at the start line. No one was willing to toe-the-line… everyone was hovering back 20 or 30 feet to allow the “fast” runners to take the lead. I was busy chatting with fellow Maniac Jill Hudson and we decided to be brave and move to the front. I think it’s the first time I’ve put my toe on the chalk line for a marathon. After the national anthem and a speech from the town mayor, we were off. The first few miles took us down to the river and across the dam. We then climbed back up the highway, and made a big loop on bike paths, then across the river and back up hill to the start line. Jill and I had been spending most of run chatting and getting to know each other better. She was running her 49th marathon, 12th in 12 weeks and first double. We decided to stick together and use a 10 minute run, 1 minute walk ratio in order to save our legs for Sunday. After we passed the start, the half marathoners peeled off, and Jill and I found ourselves alone out on the prairie. Soon, we were running along the river on a very isolated trail. The footing was loose and sandy. We decided to do our best to run through it, maintaining our run-to-walk ratio. I few times one of us would remark on how glad we were to have each others company on such a long and lonely trail. Every once and awhile we would see other runners, but they were all walking and we would soon over take them. After 5 miles of sand, we emerged out on the highway and ready for the final 9 mile push to the finish. This stretch was windy with lots of long hills but the cool, sunny weather helped keep my spirits up. We were also reeling in other runners, despite our relatively slow pace. Jill and I crossed the finish line together in 4:39:08. TP! Was the announcer and rattled off my running resume as I came into sight, that made me feel great….one of the Main Maniacs actually knew a little about my running history!

The Potato Commission sponsored a baked potato feed for all runners and family, then a brief award ceremony (I was 2nd in the 40-49 age group, 5th overall woman) and we were heading back to Richland. We got back to our hotel in time for a walk along the river front, a stop at packet pick-up and a nice protein-packed dinner. We went to bed early again in anticipation of another 5:45 wake up and day 2 of my autumn double.