Wyoming Marathon

Wyoming didn't have a marathon until some "fifty stater's", those strange fanatics not satisfied to simply run a marathon, but who insist on running a marathon in each of the fifty states, talked the organizers of a fifty miler near Cheyenne into also adding the standard marathon distance to their race. Being just a three hour drive for me it was easy to incorporate it into Laila and my marathon schedule for this year. Conveniently, the "Rocky Mountain Marathon" is also a race in the Skyracing circuit of mountain trail racing.

Before I found out who was running the marathon I had anticipated breaking the course record of 3:24. The course, 70% of which is on dirt roads, starts at 8900' elevation, and with continual ups and downs along the way drops to 8100' at the turnaround. The way back is much harder... I succeeded in running it in 3:12, but a certain Dave Mackey from Boulder had already crossed the finish line ten minutes ahead of me.

Laila fared better than I placewise, finishing first among the fair sex and ninth overall with a strong 3:51 on this "ultra-like" marathon. I was astonished at how close she was to me at the turn around point, looking fresh enough to be on a five mile easy training jog! We both agreed afterwards that this was the most difficult marathon course we had run outside of Pikes Peak or the Aspen Sky Marathon.

Though the race director's motto is "Where the race director promises nothing, and he delivers", for the most part the support was acceptable with aid stations spaced about four miles apart. Unfortunately, when I passed by the volunteers were for the most part unready to deliver the goods and I had stop and open bottles. On the way back to my dismay they had dismantled an aid station leaving only one (!) station for the last ten miles of the course! Everyone finished the course in a state of severe dehydration. It wasn't until the next day that I considered myself properly rehydrated.

Following the 45 minute drive from F.E. Warren AFB to the race start in the Medicine Bow National Forest at the Lincoln Memorial(exit 323 off I-80), we barely had time to fit in the obligatory prerace "pit stop", jogging to the start line just as the race director peremptorily and without preamble stated simply "runners go".

Jonathan Cavner, who was running the half marathon took off quickly. On the steep downhill that marked the first mile of the race I felt okay with matching his pace and quickly caught up to him. "Is that Dave Mackey" I asked, referring to the nearest runner behind us by about 100 yards. "No, Dave must have missed the race start!" No one else was in sight after the first mile. Soon "Eric from Longmont" caught up to me--he was running the half as well. Looking back I saw the runner who would prove to be Dave Mackey slowly gaining ground. Eric pulled ahead intent on reaching Jonathan who now commanded a 200 yard lead. Twenty minutes into the race Dave pulled alongside and we met for the first time, though he had also passed me about twenty minutes into the Aspen Sky half marathon nearly a year before.

At the turnaround for the half marathon, roughly six and a half miles into the race, I was surprised to see that it had taken me 44 minutes, just under seven minutes per mile, though the effort felt like 5:45 per mile--clearly the altitude was going to make this race challenging.

Soon after where the half marathoners had turned around we came on the "paved stretch"--a stretch of I-80 service road paralleling the freeway for about two and a half miles. Dave had opened up a lead on me that stretched roughly two highway markers. I concentrated my effort and attempted to close the gap, tracking the distance using the markers to gauge my progress. By the end of the paved stretch I had gained ground, but once on the dirt again I could no longer consistently spot him. I reached the turnaround in 1:27, about two minutes behind. A couple others only a couple minutes behind me kept me on my toes. I thought of visiting the only rest room I had spotted on the entire course, but didn't want to risk losing a place in the process, so I soldiered on. Ten minutes after I had turned around Laila as the first woman and definitely in the top ten passed by in <great> shape. Craig Hess was about a minute behind her.

This time on the pavement was not as easy as on the way out. Dave was now five hiway markers out in front and barely discernable in the distance--I measured him at five minutes ahead of me at this point and the way I felt there was virtually no chance of catching him.

Rounding the corner and leaving the asphalt to go under the freeway I was dismayed to find that they had abandoned an aid station! This four miles after the last aid station! I wasn't until three more miles that a much needed water station came into view. The last six miles was difficult, but not as bad as I had imagined it would be. Still, the effects of dehydration took their toll, and I covered the last four miles in a Bataan-like death march time of 38 minutes, finishing in 3:12.

We stayed one more night in our luxurious quarters at FE Warren, before driving up to South Dakota, where we hiked to the highest point of that state, Harney Peak the next day; also taking in the Crazy Horse monument in progress--will be the largest statue in the world when completed--they are carving a granite mountain into a likeness of Crazy Horse the famous Sioux Indian warrior. That night we stayed at Ellsworth AFB near Rapid City and the following day (today as I write this) we drove north to North Dakota where we ascended the highest point of that state, White Butte, pursuing yet another of our "lists", to climb the highest point in all of the fifty states.

The counts:

Steve: 24 marathon states, 3 provinces; 32 state high points

Laila: 20 marathon states, 1 province; 15 state high points