Double Robbie Marathon
I'm really not sure that this counts as an adventure, but my one and only loyal follower says that is so who am I to argue with my best friend and only fan?
I'll start with a little history so you know where I'm coming from (just in case you are a random stranger who has no clue about my little bit of crazy). I'm a running. I like running. I run far. I run up hills. For some reason this seems to make me happy. If I workout really hard I'm more accepting of my flaws and faults and I feel like a better person. I know, it doesn't really make sense but I've stopped fighting it and run bunches and the world is a better place (for both me and poor Jeff that has to live with my crazy).
Anyhow... So there is a race in Boise that has a reputation for being really difficult. It is the "Race to Robbie Creek". It is a point to point half marathon that goes up in to the foothills and is supposedly the toughest half marathon in the north west. Someone had the brilliant idea that it would be super cool if instead of a point to point half marathon, they should do an out and back full marathon.
I heard about this and decided I had no interest. Then 3 days later signed up for the race.
My original summer plans included a fast marathon (the Salmon Marathon) in the beginning of September, a relay race (Hell's Canyon) with some people from work in the middle of September followed by this beast of an event. My plans and life (apparently) were not compatible.
It started to go south in the end of July. I went backpacking with Jeff (see previous post) in the White Clouds and my calves were really sore afterwards. My right calf was fine after 3 days, my left continued to bother me, and kept getting worse.
A trip to the sports doctor confirmed that I had a minor tear in my calf. So after much physical therapy, and a hugely reduced training schedule I made the call to pass on Salmon. I didn't have the long runs or the speed workouts to support it and I was worried I'd re-injure myself. The relay fell apart due to the race being candled due to financial problems. This left me with only the Double Robbie.
In order to run a race with this type of elevation profile, training on hills is a really good idea. Lots of hills. Lots and lots of hills. So, once my calf was finally happy enough to run hills I ran a bunch of hills.
After one of those long lovely hill runs in the foot hills I woke up the next day and had a fat foot. The top of my right foot was all swollen up and full of fluid. I it was so fat I had a hard time finding shoes that I could put my monstrous and sore foot in to. It didn't bruise, the bottom of my foot felt fine, it didn't hurt to bent but the top of it was sensitive to the touch and squishy not the bony, vein-y normal top of foot that one would expect.
Went to doctor, again. No stress fracture, no tendon damage just fluid, lots of fluid. I got the all clear to keep running so, I did.
Which brings us to the night before the race. Foot still a little fat but less sensitive. Feeling pretty good about things.
The race morning was cool and cloudy but dry. They started both the marathon and a 16.6 mile run that turns around at the top of the summit at the same time which always makes it tough to know who you are competing against. I started near the front. About a mile in I was the third woman. The three of us traded places a couple times on the way up. Four miles in it got steeper and one of the ladies (16.6 miler) dropped back. A little less than a mile from the summit the lady in front of me slowed up a bit as the road got really steep. I decided to pass her and realized she was also running the shorter event. So even though I was running the long event I was the first woman to summit.
The road descends really steeply on the back side and it was windy and chilly. After all the climbing the steep decent is really hard on your legs. I thought I kept a pretty decent pace but I'm not a great down hill runner.
I was still leading the ladies at the turnaround and feeling pretty confident. There was a little piece of me that was thinking that I might be able to win the race - I have never won a marathon and that is a bucket list item for me so it would be really cool. So as I was having these happy thoughts I was planning on seeing how far behind me the other gals were after the turnaround. About 5 seconds. That's it!
Beef girl (yep, I'm calling her Beef girl because she had on a red shirt that said "BEEF" in really big letters across the back and since that's pretty much all you see in a running event is people's backs, she is Beef girl) passed me shortly after the turn around at an aid station where I was downing a gu. She maintained a slight lead on me for the 5 miles back up the really steep backside. Once we got over the top she took off. Beef girl had long legs and my little stubby ones couldn't keep up -lol.
I kept looking over my shoulder but managed to hang on to second place for the finish (yay!). I was about 4 minutes behind Beef girl and third was about 9 minutes behind me.
And that is the story of the Double Robbie Marathon. The end!
I'll start with a little history so you know where I'm coming from (just in case you are a random stranger who has no clue about my little bit of crazy). I'm a running. I like running. I run far. I run up hills. For some reason this seems to make me happy. If I workout really hard I'm more accepting of my flaws and faults and I feel like a better person. I know, it doesn't really make sense but I've stopped fighting it and run bunches and the world is a better place (for both me and poor Jeff that has to live with my crazy).
Anyhow... So there is a race in Boise that has a reputation for being really difficult. It is the "Race to Robbie Creek". It is a point to point half marathon that goes up in to the foothills and is supposedly the toughest half marathon in the north west. Someone had the brilliant idea that it would be super cool if instead of a point to point half marathon, they should do an out and back full marathon.
I heard about this and decided I had no interest. Then 3 days later signed up for the race.
My original summer plans included a fast marathon (the Salmon Marathon) in the beginning of September, a relay race (Hell's Canyon) with some people from work in the middle of September followed by this beast of an event. My plans and life (apparently) were not compatible.
It started to go south in the end of July. I went backpacking with Jeff (see previous post) in the White Clouds and my calves were really sore afterwards. My right calf was fine after 3 days, my left continued to bother me, and kept getting worse.
A trip to the sports doctor confirmed that I had a minor tear in my calf. So after much physical therapy, and a hugely reduced training schedule I made the call to pass on Salmon. I didn't have the long runs or the speed workouts to support it and I was worried I'd re-injure myself. The relay fell apart due to the race being candled due to financial problems. This left me with only the Double Robbie.
In order to run a race with this type of elevation profile, training on hills is a really good idea. Lots of hills. Lots and lots of hills. So, once my calf was finally happy enough to run hills I ran a bunch of hills.
After one of those long lovely hill runs in the foot hills I woke up the next day and had a fat foot. The top of my right foot was all swollen up and full of fluid. I it was so fat I had a hard time finding shoes that I could put my monstrous and sore foot in to. It didn't bruise, the bottom of my foot felt fine, it didn't hurt to bent but the top of it was sensitive to the touch and squishy not the bony, vein-y normal top of foot that one would expect.
Went to doctor, again. No stress fracture, no tendon damage just fluid, lots of fluid. I got the all clear to keep running so, I did.
Which brings us to the night before the race. Foot still a little fat but less sensitive. Feeling pretty good about things.
The race morning was cool and cloudy but dry. They started both the marathon and a 16.6 mile run that turns around at the top of the summit at the same time which always makes it tough to know who you are competing against. I started near the front. About a mile in I was the third woman. The three of us traded places a couple times on the way up. Four miles in it got steeper and one of the ladies (16.6 miler) dropped back. A little less than a mile from the summit the lady in front of me slowed up a bit as the road got really steep. I decided to pass her and realized she was also running the shorter event. So even though I was running the long event I was the first woman to summit.
The road descends really steeply on the back side and it was windy and chilly. After all the climbing the steep decent is really hard on your legs. I thought I kept a pretty decent pace but I'm not a great down hill runner.
I was still leading the ladies at the turnaround and feeling pretty confident. There was a little piece of me that was thinking that I might be able to win the race - I have never won a marathon and that is a bucket list item for me so it would be really cool. So as I was having these happy thoughts I was planning on seeing how far behind me the other gals were after the turnaround. About 5 seconds. That's it!
Beef girl (yep, I'm calling her Beef girl because she had on a red shirt that said "BEEF" in really big letters across the back and since that's pretty much all you see in a running event is people's backs, she is Beef girl) passed me shortly after the turn around at an aid station where I was downing a gu. She maintained a slight lead on me for the 5 miles back up the really steep backside. Once we got over the top she took off. Beef girl had long legs and my little stubby ones couldn't keep up -lol.
I kept looking over my shoulder but managed to hang on to second place for the finish (yay!). I was about 4 minutes behind Beef girl and third was about 9 minutes behind me.
And that is the story of the Double Robbie Marathon. The end!
Sky -- That was a great race and a great commentary.
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