11, 2009
PONY ESPRESSO EXPRESS
Dear Ponies:
Well, we’re well into summer- warmer mornings, warm summer days and gorgeous, clear summer nights. Lot’s of time to train and lots of places to go and races to run. Right now, I’m cruising at 34,000 ft over the snow-capped mountains of the Pacific Northwest, on my way to Missoula, Montana. I would like to share some information about a remarkable web site for you marathoners, wanna-be marathoners, ultramarathoners, and voyeurs. It is www.marathonmaniacs.com. I first heard about it 3 weeks ago when I was in Seattle for the inaugural RNR Marathon Seattle. The Seattle Times mentioned the group briefly in a pre-race article. I figured this was a small fringe group of “crazies.” When I got to the start of the marathon, there were literally hundreds of individuals wearing their electric yellow racing singlets, with a small smattering wearing the alternative black or white ones. I had an opportunity to speak with several of them prior to the race. Seattle is their home base, hence the large number. I found, much to my dismay that my 120+ marathons did not suffice for membership- even at the 1 star level! You have to do marathons back to back weekends, or 3 consecutive months, or other equally crazy things just to get in the group. Fortunately, I’ve done back to back weeks several times which got me into the group at the lowest level. I mention this because the site has some great stuff for members, but anyone can visit it and use some of the offerings. The one which is most useful and apropos for most of you is the race calendar. It is the most complete listing of marathon and ultramarathon races I’ve ever seen. It makes marathonguide, active.com, and Runners World look like “bush leaguers” in comparison. Of course, the raison d’etre of the organization is to allow the maniac members to find races every weekend in the 50 states, Canadian provinces, all countries of the world, as well as all continents. They are arranged by date, and you need only click on the name to get to the website and get the race information and application. I think the chat room and training guides may be for members only (I don’t currently have internet connection in the plane). I love these people because they make me look entirely sane. If you go to the insane asylum you can see the marathon data for the members. Some have more than 500, and at least one guy has done the 50 states and DC 8 times! The site is constructed beautifully and user friendly.
A quick review of a few recent marathons may be helpful for those of you contemplating a race for next summer. The Los Angeles Marathon run on May 25th (Memorial Day) this year was a potential disaster, but they lucked out with cool, overcast weather. There is a lot of politicking going on right now to return the race to its usual time in early March. They did go back to the loop course around LA, but that will probably be changed because of the complaints of Christian, Muslim and Jewish clerics. I’ll keep you informed.
The San Diego RNR Marathon (May 31st this year) likewise had cool, overcast weather, making for perfect running conditions. As usual, the organization was excellent, as were the amenities: expo, shirts, entertainment, medals, food, etc. It’s your hometown marathon- support it.
The Seattle RNR inaugural was awesome. Like all of the RNR franchise events, there was great organization, shirts, medals, etc. My only reservation was that the course, while offering beautiful vistas, was entirely on concrete! Our little pony hooves are not used to the pounding! They really didn’t have any choice as I believe all thoughofaires in Washington are concrete.
If you want a beautiful, bucolic run in Oregon, I offer the Foot Traffic Flat Marathon on Sauvie Island, just outside the city limits of Portland. The run is very low key and small (though growing rapidly), and the course circumnavigates the island on a country road. There is not one second on the course in which you don’t have phenomenally beautiful vistas. Lots of cows, horses, flowers, boats on the rivers which surround the island, and other unexpected happenings. One of those occurred at the ten mile mark. I wasn’t sure how far it would be to the next porta-potty and decided to make a quick pit stop since no one appeared to be waiting. However, the door was locked so I waited…and waited…and waited. While I was standing there, I noticed a sweet, pungent aroma, and looked around since this was also an aid station and I thought that maybe one of the volunteers was trying to effect some chemical change in their brain which might just make handing out water more interesting and compelling. I started to worry that the person in the john had suffered some medical problem since the temperature was already in the high 70’s or 80’s. I knocked on the door, and about 30 seconds later a guy exits looking very placid and content. Oh, I failed to mention that when he opened the door, he was preceded out by a gust of smoke. There were also ashes in the urinal! I guess this give a whole new meaning to the term “runner’s high”! When I mentioned this to the stewardess on the way home, she replied “What did you expect? After all, this is Oregon”! That little incident notwithstanding, the race had reasonably nice shirts, cheesy medals, but great food including hot dogs and buns (after all, it was the 4th of July) as well as homemade strawberry shortcake, made and served by the people who live on the island. How’s that for an unexpected treat?
Sorry…we are landing. Need to sign off for now.
July 12th, 2009
Ready to resume, as I’m now again in the air on my way back to San Diego. I just finished the Missoula Marathon this morning. Talk about beauty. I really felt at home and at one with course. We were bussed out to Frenchtown and ran back to Missoula along some of the most beautiful terrain I’ve ever seen. Although the surface was asphalt, there were more horses along this course than any I’ve ever seen. They were in packs and pranced around with grace and ease. If you haven’t seen horses running around large ranches, you’ve missed a beautiful scene. They are obviously just playing, and can teach us all something about economy, fluidity, and power! In addition to the horse, there were lots of MarathonManiacs in attendance. I guess they were doing the same thing as I was…chasing the 50 states crown. The weather was perfect, the volunteers friendly and effective. This is a great small-town marathon, and well worth the trip!
Well, we’re ready to start our descent, so I’ll sign off for this letter. Please let me know if you’ve run a recent race worth mentioning- good or bad. Let’s get together for some easy summer runs. I will be OOT from July 17 through July 25th, back for two weeks and then away for another week. If you’re planning to do the AFC Half, you may wish to carpool (and get there early!). The roads get crowded and slow very early on 163 to the Park. Plan accordingly J
Happy trails,
JRB