I had only one purpose for running this race: qualify for Boston so I could run it with my brother. Of course everyone knows Boston never fills up before January, and being plagued by injuries earlier in the year I couldn't get ready for TOU in time, so decided this race would get me the qualification I needed. Which it would have, had it been held 8 days earlier. sigh..
OK, so I had signed up, trained (although kind of spotty), had a hotel at the lovely Casa Blanca casino in beautiful Mesquite...might as well go through with it. So I drove down with my wife as my support crew and cheering section.
Well, first off, the beautiful sloping downhill elevation map they posted on their web page advertising this race is completely wrong. Fortunately Clyde (superfly) scoped the course out and provided the accurate description here. Buses loaded at 5:20 and took off at 5:30 and dropped all 170 of us about 11 miles north of the interstate in the absolute middle of nowhere. They did however place 5 porta potties there so we knew we were in the right place. There was no scheduled start time, just "whenever everyone is through with the porta-potties". OK.... so the race starts at maybe 6:30 or 6:45. Superfly was right on the money in his description. the first six miles were some great downhill, then the course levelled out and was fine until we hit the interstate at about mile 11. Then the fun started. the route followed the frontage road for the next 10 miles or so, kind of paralleling the interstate, but with some of the nastiest hills you would ever want to encounter in a marathon. These were not your run of the mill gentle rollers but some serious mile long inclines followed by equally steep declines. I was running with two guys at this point and we kind of looked at each other in amazement each time we went around a corner and saw another one of these fun hills looming ahead. The hills ended at about mile 20 but by then they had taken their toll. I was wiped out. But the (much younger) guys I was running with got more wiped out and I dropped them.
There were no mile markers on this course, just "miles to finish" signs. I was keeping track of my mile splits on my sportcount but then I dropped it and lost it. oops. The aid stations on this course were quite interesting. Apparently mammoth marathons believes in "self service" and water conservation. There was no "gatorade followed by water" order, you got what was handed to you. If anyone bothered to do that. At some of the aid stations the volunteers smiled broadly as they let you stop and help yourself. gee thanks. As we got closer to the finish, water must have been running low so they began to ration. I was pretty thirsty at that point, so running through an aid station and being handed a cup with one ounce of water in it didn't help my mood much. Fortunately, my wife spotted me 10 oz bottles of cytomax at miles 11 and 20, or I would have seriously dehydrated. As for traffic control: there was none until you entered Mesquite. I came within about a second of ending my marathon at about mile 12 when a guy came out of his ranch driveway and turned onto the highway. he looked right at me then decided I should stop for him and gunned his truck right at me. I managed to pull up just in time to avoid getting hit head on, running into the side of his truck. then he stopped, I guess amazed I didn't stop sooner. Along the frontage road, running three abreast, we were forced to pull off onto the gravel by at least 4 or five trucks who decided they didn't want runners on their road, in spite of almost no traffic, they could easily have moved into the other lane. On the bright side, I did finish as the top finisher over 40, and I think maybe 5th overall, though I am not sure exactly who was in front of me. There were a few fast runners, including some bloggers. I will be interested to hear what Walter has to say about his Mesquite experience. Read his report for comparison :-) I know he had a tough run too.
On the women's side, there was Mary Ann and another woman I don't know who were vying for the big 1500 dollar award. I pulled ahead of them at about mile 6 and I don't know how the women's race turned out as I took off right after finishing and didn't stick around. OK, so a 2:57 on a very tough course is fine with me, and a great way to end the season. I am glad I ran this race, it was a life experience, but it is one I will not repeat, thank you very much. I'll run TOU or enter the lottery for St George if I decide to run another marathon.
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