November 20, 2011
Finish Time: 6:05:35
We are officially Marathon Maniacs!
#4631 (Tracy) and #4632 (Stacey)
Day 2 of the Double Marathon Weekend:
The only word that truly describes the double marathon weekend is "EPIC." The word epic is one that is overly used and misused on a daily basis. Why? Because the actual definition of epic means unusually large or powerful. It's funny because this word is used every day so you wonder, is it really epic? Well... we carefully selected this word and will only refer to these two races... this weekend in November 2011 as EPIC.
After watching the movie in Mesquite, we drove our little rental red car to Overton Nevada (about 40 minutes), where we stayed at the only hotel in the town- the North Shore Inn. Upon arrival we met the man who as won the race two years in a row, and ended up winning this one too. He was a very nice guy from Germany, Marcus Lehr. We talked about the race a bit and he talked about his goal of hopefully winning this year. A very humble man because this race is not easy by any stretch, at all!
We got into our room and then headed to the only restaurant in town, "Sugars." A cute little restaurant with locals eating out for the night. The menu had just about every fried food you can imagine. We asked what the southwestern chicken was and found out it just meant grilled, so we opted for that with a baked potato, salad, and peas. It was good, plenty actually. We also had a nice huge slice of Pecan Pie. After all we had just run a marathon and were about to run another.
Oh yeah and it was goooood!!
After dinner it was time to set out our race clothes for the next day and go to bed because we were going to start all over again. We were both pretty excited and nervous because of the hills we heard about, but we were ready.
The Race:
We got up at 5:00 and headed to the race at 5:30. The race started at 7 and there was a little drive to the start so we dressed, grabbed our gear, checked out of the hotel and left.
This race is referred to as "the toughest course you'll ever love" this is so true. The Valley of Fire is a small race that takes place in The Valley of Fire National park in Overton, NV. There is a 10k, half and full marathon - with only about 60 or so people doing the full.
The course elevation scares people from this one. There is one part dubbed "the hill of hell, " which earned it's name in our book. Is it a course for a PR? Absolutely not, but it is breathtakingly beautiful, extremely well run, and promises a memorable experience! Running the Tri-States Mesquite marathon the day before was an even added bonus.
When we got to the start, we saw several of the Marathon Maniacs there again. We were motivated by their shirts because this weekend would earn us entry into MM's and a four star level at that. We hung around the start with some of our friends from the Mesquite Marathon (Salt Lake City running club- see picture below). The winner Marcus also took our picture:
There were about 30 people doing the double so we all got to know each other pretty well. These were definitely the smallest races we had ever run, and we really liked the small nature of it. The race directors, volunteers, snacks, start, finish, medals, everything was perfectly done.
The Course:
The hill we start on
The Valley of Fire starts on a hill and continues to weave throughout the park's beauty with scenic picture spots all along the way. We took our time with this one, stopped for pictures, talked and ran with other runners, and had a blast! The first half has a series of rolling hills. When we hit big hills we walked them.
Throughout the run we met up with different people and talked with them as we ran or walked the hills. Joe, from the Salt Lake City Running club, who was in his 60's told us about the ultras and Ironman races he has done. Impressive!!!
One of the many views
When we got to the half way 13.1 mark we literally had to run right by the finish line. This is when we saw all of the half marathoners finishing up. Wow was that a tease! We had to run by it, but fortunately they had GUs which made it a little better.
We even ran by our car.... and kept on going toward the hills- argh!!!
The route wasn't marked so we thought we had it right and made a right turn but there was literally no one we could see in front and no one we could see behind us. At this point the 60 marathoners had really broken up. We knew there were some ahead and some behind so we just kept moving.
Miles 13-20 are gradual hills ending with the Hill of Hell at mile 20, but what goes up, must come down so the last 10k is downhill. As we climbed the hills we kept thinking that this meant we would be running down it in the end. We went up and around a rock area and then straight down for the final 6.
Sometime around mile 15 we stopped to put on some Biofreeze and pose for some pictures (we said we weren't about to PR with time by any means- our PR was 2 in a row) so we had fun!!!
Tracy
Stacey
Shortly after these pictures were taken, we saw our buddy Larry from the SLC running club. He was our photographer for some of the Mesquite run.
At this point, it was all hills and just straight up, even gravel in some spots.... so.... we walked fast with Larry to the end. The funny part about this weekend is that we thought we would need music to distract us more than anything. But that didn't happen at all. We talked to each other and other runners so much that we didn't even think about music. This is the nice part about small races, you can do that. You can talk and hear each other. We had some of the best conversations out there!
And we kept on moving... even up through that Hill of Hell and what a hill it was!! It was hard to get any pictures of just the hill because it was always winding around the rocks. But the view really did distract us from the aches in our quads.
Mile 18 almost to the top
There were great snacks along the way too! GU, gummy bears, pretzels, Peanut M&Ms, and bananas. Also something you never see in big races.
We also met up with another double marathoner from Colorado around mile 19. As we climbed the last 1/4 mile, we saw those who were ahead of us cheering for us as they went down. Our friends who ran the double (a couple from North Carolina) gave us a high 5 and said the hill was "an investment in gravity." So true! And we just kept moving....
Once we reached the top of the Hell Hill we felt like we should scream at the top. In fact I think we all sort of did. We went to the bathroom, refueled, and then we were ready to head down for the last 6 miles.
Usually around mile 18 or so your legs start to build lactic acid and you really start to feel the race. Add a marathon before that AND hills like no other, well we were so ready to run down but didn't even know if we had it in us. We did though, and we ran, and kept moving. We refueled when we needed and talked as we ran.
Apparently, they did miss mark mile 20 so the course was .6 longer which isn't fun when you've just conquered those hills and realize you see the finish line and it's definitely not as close as it should be. We found this out as we were nearing the finish line and our watches were saying we were close but that finish line looked really far away. Also, one of the runners yelled at us as he drove off saying that the course was .6 longer. At that point what does it matter though...?
Our buddies from the SLC Running Club
When we got close to the finish line, we ran up the last hill. Larry didn't want to run so we waiting for him at the finish. It was great running through and hearing them announce our names. The other runners we knew were cheering for us too and it really felt like we all bonded over the weekend. This is what marathoning is all about. Having a good run with family, friends, telling stories, and enjoying the sites along the way.
You finish at the start where there was a DJ. Our bags were right where we left them at gear pick-up ( spot on the ground) and we had a short walk to the car right across from the start. The logistics of this course could not have been any easier, including the convenient packet pick-up which was at the Mesquite finish line.
Double Marathon Weekend Accomplished!!!!
We met some wonderful people, had really good volunteers, and excellent snacks along the way. This race is definitely a favorite and should be on any marathoners bucket list. Don't let the elevation scare you. Just go there expecting to run in the beauty with no worries about time. Our favorite saying with this race was on the shirt.... Beauty, it's a beast!!!!
After the race, we said our goodbyes, promised to run the St. George marathon with our SLC buddies next year, and headed to Vegas to the Hard Rock hotel. Once there we ate at Pinks tacos and has some yummy celebratory champagne margaritas. Then we went to the spa for much needed massages and went to sleep. Up at 4 am for the planes to head for home. The Epic weekend over. But what a fun one it was. And the theme for the weekend.... Just Keep Moving.
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