6 miles in Utah, 17 in Arizona, and 3.2 in Nevada- we counted this for the state of Arizona
November 19, 2011
Finish Time: 5:21:13
Day 1 of the Double Marathon Weekend
Day 1 of the Double Marathon Weekend
Sometime over the summer Stacey sent an email to Tracy with a link to the double marathon weekend in Nevada with the Mesquite Marathon on Day 1 and Valley of Fire Marathon for Day 2. The title of the email was, "If we were crazy, we could...." Intriguing, yes. Scary, yes. Fun, yes. Marathon Maniac Status, most definitely.
And so we contemplated for months, especially since we knew the races would not sell out. There is no cap because they are so small and relatively unknown, and the Valley of Fire elevation chart is enough to scare anyone out of it altogether. But, the reviews for the Mesquite and Valley of Fire on marathon guide are great. The idea of running through 3 states sounded so fun and the mesquite elevation looks fairly tame (however the elevation profile is a bit skewed because the hills at the second half are much bigger than you would expect- more on that later though). Meanwhile the Valley of Fire looked tough but breathtakingly beautiful. Every one who ran and reviewed it said the beauty was a big distraction. This was very true.
We decided to wait on registration until after the Chicago marathon (10/9/11) to see how we were feeling, especially since we had already registered for the Vegas RnR race on 12/4/11, just two weeks after the double. Four marathons in two months was a lofty goal...but attainable.
Chicago went well and the idea of the double kept calling us, especially since they said it was the only time they would ever be offered back to back. Note: The feedback and energy from all of the back/back runners were so high that they are considering keeping this double weekend next year.
The races were also fairly inexpensive for registration so we jumped in two feet first!!!!
The Expo
Races this small never really have much of an expo. We both flew into the Vegas airport on Friday night, rented a tiny cheap red car and headed to mesquite Nevada.
Stacey and our little car
We arrived to the Casa Blanca (race headquarters hotel) at exactly 10 minutes until 8:00 p.m. after the hour and fifteen minute drive. We wanted to get our packets the night before so we sprinted to the tent and grabbed our race bags with the bibs and shirts. The shirts are red with the mesquite logo on them (see the top of this post), cute and nice. When we got our packets we were super excited and decided to only think about each race at a time. First, we had Mesquite on Saturday. We wouldn't even think about the Valley of Fire with the infamous "Hill of Hell" until Saturday night, after the mesquite was finished.
Well.... that line of thinking was stopped when the lady giving us our bag asked if we were doing both and then told us that the Mesquite was beautiful with some hills, but the Valley of Fire was spectacular with hills that only very serious runners would tackle. Hmmmm.... are we in that category?.... don't think so..... which meant nightmares all night about the hills.
We awoke at 5:00 ready to get to the bus that we had to be on by 5:30 am. We checked out of the hotel, gave our bags to the hotel staff, and made our way to the buses.
The Bus Ride
"Who traveled the farthest?" yelled out a red headed tall and very skinny lady who was sitting with her husband next to us. This was the first set of friends we made. A couple from North Carolina who run races all over the country- they are trying to reach 50 state status too and they bring their two kids. They are also training for their first ultra (100 mile run in North Carolina). They were the farthest and also running the double, along with a few others on our bus.
The fun part of racing is the time you get to talk to other runners about races they've done, funny stories, etc. We chatted it up until we got there. We were driven up to the start in Utah.
The Start Line
You know you are at a small race when.... the race starting line is chalk drawn on the ground. This was the start of the Mesquite. There was only about 4 Porta Johns out there too which wasn't enough with about 100 racers who all had to go at the start.
Waiting at the start
There was a DJ there and some very yummy whole grain bars with water. We ate, talked, and got ready to start the race.
The Race
At 7:00 am off we went. The race starts in Utah and runs for 6 miles in the state. It was beautiful because you are running mostly downhill amongst all of these Joshua and Yukka trees. It reminded us a bit of Dr. Seuss Lorax trees.
We knew we had two days of races so we agreed that we would take both days easy, run at a moderate 10 minute mile pace, stop for pictures, talk, have fun, and walk any big hills.
After 6 miles we saw the Arizona sign and then went along a long straight road through Arizona for 17 miles. We saw runners here and there, some we passed, or some passed us. Everyone seemed to be having fun talking and enjoying the scenery.
Somewhere in Utah
Arizona!
We met some guys from the Salt Lake Running Club who were in their 60's and also doing the doubles. Very inspiring! Three of them were running, and the fourth was walking. One of them, Larry, stopped and took pictures for us along the way which was very nice.
The first 13 miles are basically either downhill or very flat so we ran through it all and at some times ran faster than we planned but it was such an easy course to do that with. Right around mile 13 we hit a pretty big hill and felt bad for the half marathoners because that is where they started. They didn't have the downhill start we had.
There are no major landmarks in this race. It is really straight road, no turns until the end when you are in Mesquite, NV near the finish. It was almost ominous in some ways, like we were on a training run together. People were miles apart from each other and for the majority of the middle of the race everyone had their pace and were in their spot. So, we talked a lot, laughed, and just had a great time. At one point it was eery because one of us (Stacey) felt the need to scare the other one (Me- Tracy) about the horror movie The Hills Have Eyes. At any moment some crazy zombie could run at us and attack. Imagines can run wild when you have 26.2 miles of time.
We were just out there in the middle of nowhere following mile marker signs and coming up on aid stations every 2 miles. It was unique for sure. Nothing like the big races we had run in the past. Up until this point, Colorado was the smallest race we had done with 2,000 marathoners.
No spectators obviously, but the aid stations and volunteers were great! They had GU, water, Heed, gummy bears, pretzels, and bananas. At one station they had no cups though....so we were told to just give a pull form the jug. Hmmmmm.. runners are funny aren't they?
Arizona had some beautiful views, like the pictures above. This was in some canyons we ran through. We continued to run and stop for pictures, walk the big hills (which did exist). In fact, several people said the course elevation profile looked a bit skewed. There were pretty large hills at the second half. But then nothing like what we had coming the next day.
We entered Nevada at mile 23 so we were almost there. This was probably the only part of the course that was just okay. We entered Mesquite and had to run along the city streets, even through a parking lot at one point. They had good mile markers and police stationed, but it was still odd.
Entering Nevada, Arizona sign is behind
We weaved through the streets of Mesquite for the last 3.2 miles and then as we got closer to the finish we ran up a curb and into the convention center/tent where we picked up our packets the night before.
It was the most unique finish we ever ran because as you ran from the sun into the dark tent, all you saw was the marathon clock and the finish line of balloons. There were people cheering with cow bells and beer at the end. And we were done.
There were free massages at the finish tent so we got quick massages, picked up our packets for the Valley of Fire there (same race directors so that was very convenient.
Next we decided we wanted to watch the new Twilight movie- New Dawn. Yes the idea of eating big bags of popcorn, watching a movie, and sitting in comfy clothes sounded great.
We changed in the cars into some swishy pants, sweatshirts, slider shoes and off we went to the movie theatre that was .2 miles away.
What a day it was! Great run, a lot of fun, and at this point very excited for Day 2 of the double weekend. Bring it!
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