rocky mountain double

What a difference a month of solid training makes. Yesterday, I ran the Rocky Mountain Double Marathon just outside of Laramie, Wyoming. Molly and Phil graciously let me sleep at their place on Saturday night since their house is two hours closer than ours to Laramie.

At 3 a.m. the alarm sounded, I got dressed, ate some oatmeal, a banana, two bottles of Ensure, and headed on my way to the race. Once I arrived at the race start around 5:15, I quickly got checked-in and then sat in my car until 5:58, two minutes before the start.

The course was a beautiful 26.2 mile roundtrip out-and-back on mostly on dirt and gravel roads. Except for a paved three mile section that ran along I-80, it was really nice running terrain. The race director said afterwards there was 6000 feet of climbing for the Double Marathon, but he wasn’t positive and it felt like less to me, which is a good thing.

I felt good nearly the whole way. I finished the first 26.2 in 4:45; I don’t think I’ve ever felt so good this far into a race. My legs felt really fresh. Around mile 40 I hit a moderate low point. I had blisters on both big toes (I now know what socks I’m definitely not wearing for Leadville), and I wasn’t sure I’d finish in under 10 hours. I started drinking a lot of Gatorade, I survived the final segment along I-80, my spirits lifted, and then I powered through the last 6.5 miles to the finish. My finishing time of 9 hours and 48 minutes was good enough for 8th place overall. Except for painful toes from the blisters, I felt pretty good. I hung around the finish line for about five minutes before continuing the endurance event by jumping in my car and driving for a few hours back to Breckenridge.

Check out the fancy finishers belt buckle…

If there’s one area that I failed miserably with regards to this race, it was my lack of research and preparation for the actual race logistics. I didn’t pack gloves, but it was 32 degrees at the start; my hands were completely numb for the first hour or two. I also assumed I could buy the Snickers Marathon bars I prefer at any grocery store near my sister’s house, but we ended up having to go into three different grocery stores before finding some, albeit in a flavor I had never tried, at Walmart. And finally, I figured the aid stations would be moderately well-stocked. I told my sister the night before that “they’ll at least have bananas.” Nope. No bananas, no potatoes, no peanut butter and jelly. I ended up running the entire 52.4 miles fueled by nothing but potato chips, M&M’s, one Snickers Marathon bar, and Gatorade. Not ideal by a long shot.