That's perhaps a misleading title as I had an almost perfect week with the Mainly Marathons group across the South Western USA. I have to say the line from the song "Feed animals at the zoo" bought back some aid station memories of pancakes & hot dogs, obviously I am not suggesting the runners are animals ;) although come to think of it ?!!!! ;)
Where do I start reviewing my week ? the start would be the best point I guess ?
Day one of the 6 day Mainly Marathons series for me was actually day 3 in Bluff Utah & is a day that for so many reasons I will never forget. I would have loved to have done all six days of the series but couldn't abandon the 150 runners taking in part in my own Enigma Fireworks races over the weekend in the UK & I needed their entry fees to pay my own entry fees, plus flights, food & accommodation in America's worst motels. I spent a whole 24 hours travelling just to make the start line - Steve Martin & John Candy would have been proud of my travels. My Partner Sarah drove me 3 miles to the train station heading for central London, once their I headed for the Piccadilly line on the London underground that would almost an hour later deposit me at Heathrow Terminal 5 ahead of a 10 plus hour flight to Dallas - Fort Worth, a beer & Nachos in Big D's airport & I was heading for my gate & another flight this time to Durango Colorado where my friends had run on day 2 in Colorado. My stay in Colorado would be a very short one as "Mr Marathon" Nick Nicholson met me & the airport & quickly chauffeured me to Bluff Utah, my first impressions were simply "it's dark" our room card key was under the reception door mat, it was by this time 11pm local time, the time zones I had gone through had confused the hell out of me & all I really knew was I wouldn't be getting much sleep ahead of my Utah run.
I woke up an hour prior to the early race start & threw on my race kit before heading 2 or 3 miles down the road to the race start, i collected my number & started looking forward to my Titanium run, now for those outside the circle of running you are thinking "what's a Titanium run ?" a good & valid question which require explanation - The Marathon Maniacs is a global organisation, based in the USA with I would imagine a 75% US membership, I'm a small part of the other 25%. (there are just over 14,000 members at present) I became only the 315th person to make titanium level with the organistation. I chose the easiest way for it to be done by US residents which I would also suggest is also the toughest way to make that level for Non US residents. I ran marathons in 30 different states or countries in a 365 day period a journey (the other options are 52 marathons in 52 weeks & 20 different countries in that time frame too). My journey would start in Asia where I would run about 200 yards before reaching Europe running the Istanbul marathon, that journey would take in US states from Hawaii to Florida & Vermont to Washington as well as running closer to home in the UK, The Netherlands, Austria & Poland.
The Race Director Daniel made reference to this being my Titanium Run & then also bought up something I had forgotten, it was my birthday which had totally slipped my mind, I have had plenty of birthdays but would only have one Titanium day, I've even had more weddings than Titanium days so you can see how special Titanium was for me. My friends proceeded me embarrass me by singing happy birthday, wasn't quite Marilyn Monroe style but as I'm British they won't let me be their president either - their loss !!! It was now time to get down to some running & I felt quite strong setting off down towards the beautiful copper coloured canyon in the distance, the scenic was breathtaking as the sun came up, the Bluff bear Ears looked like Wile E Coyote's hide out & I could envisage him dislodging one of those very rocks in the direction of the Roadrunner below ( I would get to see my first Roadrunner but not until 3 days later in Nevada ). I faded by 20 miles & walked a few with some good friends i had met on previous Stateside trips - Road Kill Bill,Clyde,Ed, Ila & Trisha to name but a few. George on of the 3 amigos who run the show had selected Pink Floyd for our listening pleasure & had to chuckle as "Shine on your crazy diamond" was playing on one of my aid station visits. I eventually finished the 50km in just under 6 & a half hours even registering the win, to celebrate I went out & won the 5km race too - could it get any better ?
Day two took us to Flagstaff Arizona, a brand new state for me as I aim to run a marathon, 50km ultra & 5km in all 50 states. the temperature was colder than the UK as we started at minus 2 degrees celcius (around 31 degrees F I believe ?) I managed to run a slowish 2.6 mile first lap & was out of breath, it was at this point as i started to walk someone informed me that Flagstaff was 7000 feet about sea level, that & third miles !! The highest UK "mountain" is around 4,800 feet !! the plan was to run a 50km & a 5km but knowing I wo
Day three took us to the Casino City of Laughlin Nevada where our hotel was modeled on a paddle steamer & of course featured a Casino in the lobby & thankfully a Jacuzzi - the cheapest hotel i have ever stayed in at £17.66 (about $22 US) but certainly not the worst hotel that delight still awaited us ! The room was great apart from the lack of free Wifi. I had a better run along the Colorado River overlooking the Davis Dam & spent part of the day with Karen "Evil twin" Vollan who is nothing if not direct in her opinions, we shared some colourful miles highlighted by Karen chasing a Roadrunner in the hope it would fly & we would see it's plumage, I guess they are called ROADRUNNERS for a reason ?!
Day Four took us to America's worst hotel in Needles California, The Regency Inn & Conference center in Iowa & Chek in Colorodo were blown out of the water here, the sheets were stained, the curtain pole bent, The broken taps hung out of chipped tiling in the shower & the clientele wandering around outside were a little scary - I think the term "crack whore" might have had more than one mention ?!I got to meet a Facebook friend & share a few beers with Eddie Hahn & David Jones both interesting characters who make me look rather sane by comparison. Needles would mark another landmark in my running career as I would make it to 300 lifetime marathons / ultras & get my name on the coveted global rankings list. I'm not one for much emotion as it's just running a hobby & not life & death, but I can say the final half mile had me almost in tears, the course wasn't the most memorable & that's me being kind, My buddy Clyde celebrated with me out of the course with shots of Whisky, Clyde Shank is one of the most friendly & supportive guys you could ever wish to meet on the running scene, always encouraging whether folks are taking 3 hours, 4 hours, 8 hours etc ... you get the idea ! Next shots on me sir.
Days 5,6 & 7 would take us to Las Vegas for the Jus Run 3 of a kind series in local parks on the outskirts of Sin City, I running form was returning to some extent & i would come home 2nd in the 50km on day one & 1st male on day 3. day 2 saw me do something i have never even considered attempting & probably won't do ever again, I ran two marathons in one day. This was a day that would require strategy, time management & a strong mental will power, I ran the morning marathon with the great Jus Run crew in mountain View park, I felt good but still decided to ease back to give me a chance to run the Rock n' Roll Las Vegas marathon at 4.30pm that night. I paced my second half as I had planned to finish 9 seconds inside 5.30 before Heading off to the Monte Carlo parking lot in downtown Las Vegas with Nick Nicholson, Nick would be attempting 2 in one day although taking it a step father he had completed the 50km in the morning.
The starts pens in Vegas weren't the most organised but we put our heads down from the entry point at pen 14 & weaved our way through the crowds to pen two to give us the most of the 5 hour cut off after the last person started & who do we bump in to ? Traviss running his 400th marathon, Rachel his partner & Georgina from the UK 100 Marathon club, we shared a few "war stories" about races & our travels before a wonderfully observed minutes silence for those murdered the previous month outside the Mandalay Bay & the National anthem which was well sung with a real passion. The gun sounded the flames flew up from the starting gantry & we were off. My plan was to do 9 ish minute miling until half way which would then allow me to walk with minimal running 15 minute miles to finish in 5.15, the first half went a little better than planned as we ran past the Vegas sign, past the Bellagio, Caesars Palace & headed towards the Stratosphere in the distance. Once over half way i still felt good. Mainly Race Director Daniel & his wife Samanatha spurred me on for a further mile before disappearing into the distance, shortly after Paul Addicott from the UK pulled up on my shoulder & amazingly I was able to hang with him for maybe 3/4 of a mile ? I was still clinging on to 10 minute miles at this point & wouldn't be forced to walk until 18 miles but was still able to keep every mile under 14 minutes & was now confident of beating the cut off & even started thinking of a sub 5 hour finish, the second half of the Vegas course is the most bizarre course i have ever run - gradually decreasing circles separated by steel barricades that covered the space of a football stadium but kept you in for around 5 miles !! the miles ticked away before a deja vu situation in the back lot of Circus circus this time the small loops were distinguished by more cones than you'll see on the M1 motorway (interstate) finally we escaped the madness & were in to the final couple of miles, with maybe a mile & half to go I saw Ollie Dawson & exchanged a high 5, Ollie was running his 100th marathon, just 50 yards behind him was Nick & I knew seeing me that he would come after me & so I moved that 14 min miling down to 8 minute miling in the hope I could hold him off & I managed to finishing just a minute ahead of him although looking at him post finish he had left it all out there in his pursuit of me, a few minutes later & we both welcomed home centurion Ollie. The next challenge was to carry a bottle of water, gatorade, chocolate milk & 2 bags of pretzels - this might have been a bigger challenge than 8 marathons (or ultras) in 7 days ? finally we obtained bags from the organisers although the term organiser seems to suggest this was organised, it wasn't !!
The best part of the fianl day was the finish line pizza & post race beers when it was over, it wasn't pretty but then neither am I !!
a huge thanks to all the race Directors, organisers, volunteers, spectators & fellow runners who made my week so memorable & rewarding.
Six states to complete now, see you all in Mississippi in April
Foxy has left the building !!
