The Rogue Marathon

In the last year or so I have ran six or seven marathons.  Most of them with a finishing time between 3:20 and 3:30.  In other words I started to get demotivated with my finishing times and quit writing on here.  I use to be a sub 3:05 runner and I wasn’t even getting close to that.  But now I’m feeling back up to it and I’m going to start trying to write again.

                   

This past Sunday I ran in the inaugural Rogue Marathon in Medford, Oregon.  I had done the half before and it was always one of my favorites.  I hadn’t entered a race since June, but I had been putting a lot of miles in.  Over the summer I was averaging around 45-50 mile weeks.

Morning of the race woke up and ate a bagel and cream cheese and some leftover pulled pork from the night before, put on a pair of shoes that I had only worn for four miles and caught a ride to the finish line with a friend that I was sharing a hotel room with so we could take the bus to the start.

My friend Bre and I after the finish line.

This race has a pretty decent pay structure for top three ($1000, $500, $250), so I wasn’t sure what kind of competition there would be.  Hanging around the start were a lot of really fast looking runners, but it turned out they were all volunteers.  When it came time to start it was only me and another guy that were brave enough to toe the line.  Some other people ended up joining us but they seemed hesitant.

Me and the other guy took off in the lead, but he pulled away in the first mile and I settled into a pace.  After a couple miles I started to think that I might actually win $500.  Then around mile 14 somebody passed me, but I was still at the $250, and was pushing harder than I wanted to.

Around mile 17 I got passed again and I turned to the guy and said “You’re in third, I can relax now”.  And that I did.  I stopped and peed, had a snack and slowed my pace a bit.

At mile 21 my wife and daughter were there to greet me with a banana and some encouragement.  It was perfect timing and always great to see them.

Briar cheering me on.

Around mile 22 I saw the guy that was originally in the lead, but he looked like he was hurting and would alternate run/walk.  I wasn’t sure if it was him because we had caught up with the half marathoners at this point. As I passed him I realized I was back in third and I would need to keep up the pace.  The last four miles were some of the most difficult I have ran, because I knew there was probably somebody right behind me.

I did stop at the notorious beer tent at mile 25 though.  Had a couple ounces of Coors Light and was on my way.

Passed mile 26, turned a corner and saw the finish line 100 meters ahead of me and promptly puked all over my shirt and shoes.  Looked behind me, didn’t see anybody else and walked in.  Turned to the medic and told him I need a garbage can and a water and he nicely wiped my mouth for me.

finish

Finished in 3:12:13, third overall, second in my age.  Picked up my first cash prize for a marathon

They gave me things.