Lewis & Clark Marathon

Sunday, Sep 14, 2008:

Lewis & Clark Marathon. The marathon that wasn’t. They explain it here.

Hurricane Ike delivered six inches of rain in the hours just before the marathon, flooding out parts of the course and forcing the organizers to shorten the race to 10 or 11 miles. No marathon, no half-marathon.

I discovered:

• Drenching rain coming sideways at 35 mph hurts more on the side of the face than on the front;
• It’s sufficient to watch the feet of the runner in front - no real need to look up very often;
• In a race such as this, there is no need to waste water by pouring in on the head;
• Volunteers are truly heroic;
• Spectators are totally amazing. Hard to believe, but there were a few;
• A Timex really does take a licking and keep on ticking;
• 66 degrees is plenty warm for running, except in drenching rain and a strong wind. I was glad I put a short-sleeved shirt over my singlet.

Hey, I won my age group! Four other old farts slogged along just a little slower than I did. My time: 1:43:06, for 10+ miles. Of course we all thought we were running a marathon until about mile eight or nine, so none of us was in a hurry.

We three were all pretty disappointed, after driving for nine hours and paying for a car and a hotel, but I suppose we can’t fault the race organizers. Except: It would have been nice if there was a way to finish a marathon, even by circling the block however many times or whatever, so that those of us who wanted to continue could rack up Missouri as a marathon state. Something for marathon organizers to ponder - contingency plans.

We three have had some interesting times:

• The Chicago Marathon last year was cancelled because of high temperatures;
• A three-alarm fire broke out along the course of the Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon this spring, forcing the organizers to change the course in the minutes before the race start;
• Ike clobbered the Lewis & Clark Marathon;
• High temps caused Grandma’s Marathon to be black-flagged two years ago;
• The Boston Marathon temperature was 85 at the start and 86 at the finish when I ran it in 2004.

Race directors are having second thoughts about inviting us to enter their race.

Splits: 8:52, 10:39, 9:55, 9:52, 10:14, 10:01, 43:54 (4+ miles), total 1:43:06. Total distance was between 10 and 11 miles. No pains, the body held up well.


Breakfast: Organic oatmeal with organic flame raisins and dried cranberries, blueberries, organic plum, organic nectarine, dark chocolate, pecans, organic nonfat milk.