By 5:45 I was dressed in my running shorts, long sleeve shirt, cambleback backpack and my well worn in running shoes. Jessie had driven me up the parade field at the air force academy where the race was to begin. I was very excited for the race ahead, but was not entirely committed to running the ultramarathon. Last year I had run the marathon, all 26.2 miles of it, and it had been brutal, but I thought I'd give it a go. This year i was running the race with one of my beat friends from the air force academy, Joe Truxal.
Before the race started, the Dean of faculty, Brigadier General Dana Born, had a few words to say to encourage us as we run. She thanked all the volunteers, of which Jessie was one, and then proceeded the thank the race staff by name (which included me as I designed the course). Then she gave us the countdown and we were off!
For the first 4 miles my friend was leading us out pretty fast and we were probably in the front 20 runners. That leg was downhill, so we were moving pretty quickly, but the next 7 miles were gunna get more hilly and more uphill so I knew we'd slow down at least a bit.
Jessie was working as the "cheer crew" or something, which was awesome when I saw her and her best friend Emily at mile 7. Having some smiling, cheering spectators really makes the race a lot more fun. After running through Jack's valley I saw Jessie again at about mile 10 at aid station 2. That was pretty lucky since Emily's fiance was also running the race and was behind me. They would get to the next spot, hopefully ahead of me and would wait for Emily's fiance to pass then try to guess where I was and where they could intercept the course.
Shortly after that we started slowing down a bit as we reached the steepest hills of the course. The run became a hike, but we decided we'd stick it out through all 50 miles. Even as I said that though, I hoped we wouldn't. After the crazy hills we saw a bunch of teachers from the electrical engineering department, in which I study, cheering for us as we started a good leg from 13-18.
Jessie and Emily met us again at aid station 3. The aid station needed some serious help as the workers were not paying attention to the runners needs. Jessie and Emily took over and were able to provide water, Gatorade, and snacks for the majority of the runners. They stayed there working the aid station for the remainder of the marathon. As we started heading into the fourth aid station 4 we were tired, and sore. Joe looked at me and said "we're just gunna do the marathon, right?" I was glad to agree. The Falcon 50 hike began again as we climbed over the hills from the south side of base back up the parade field.
The last 3.5 miles were the worst! We were just dragging tail by this point and then whoever designed the course (of course that wasn't me) decided that it'd be a good idea to have the last 3 miles be uphill along a ridge. It really was a hike. Halfway up the ridge we could make out the buildings of the cadet area. That gave me some hope. Then we finally caught sight of the parade field that was the finish line. I was pumped. I found some energy to run again.
We pushed ourselves and jogged our way into the finish. My teacher, the race director, saw us coming in and tried to convince me to run the 50, but I was done. I was so glad to kick off my shoes as one of the volunteers pulled off my RF id chip. Jessie and Emily were able to make it there in time. I'm sure Jessie was glad I decided to stop at just a marathon.
This was my third Marathon, and it still wasn't as good as my first, by an hour, but it isn't a road race, that's for sure. I want to run another road marathon to see how that goes comparatively, but I shaved off 45 minutes from my time on this race last year. I was stoked.
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