I signed up for the Winthrop marathon in March as my target BQ marathon. My kids used to walk to this store with their allowance to buy candy or any goodies they desired.

Winthrop is close to home, a race in my former backyard. I have biked the race course for over a decade when we lived in Winthrop, so I knew that a BQ there would be very possibly there. When I got my surprise BQ at the Redwood forest I changed my focus for the Winthrop marathon, which converted into the just for the fun of it and enjoy the scenery type  of race.

With his in mind, I recruited fjordrunner to join me for a few miles, also a dear friend from the maniacs group who was running this marathon as a recovery run from her 58, 24 hour race just a week ago.

But the competitive spirit in me still wanted to see if I could get a course PR since I ran this race about three years ago, even when I knew that it was going to be a cooker of a day. In fact, I was plotting my own race logistics plan in my head when a surprise call from the twocat's came in on my cell phone to wish me good luck. After talking with twocat he gave me a sound advice, which I believe helped me to finish the race.

Racers all met at the famous Winthrop Barn to take the bus up stream to the starting line, funny, we used to live just across the street from this place and both of my kids learned to ride their bikes here.

The bus drove us 20 miles up the Chewuck river at the starting line.

We all gathered at the bridge for our race course instructions and off we went.

It was cool at the starting line, think 38F, but a few miles into the race the sun was starting to  warm up the place very fast. My goal was to run an even pace, not to work too hard so I can be prepared to run the last 10 miles in the 80+ weather and not to get in-trouble with the heat.. I ran a few miles with my ultra maniac friend who was actually helping a maniac wannabe to her goal. Knowing that my goal was to have fun, I hang out with these gals for over 10 miles. We were having so much fun running sub 9 paces while enjoying the gorgeous view in front of us that several other runners joined us, including a runner from England who flew to do this run because it was on his bucket list.

The Methow Valley is truly a magical place.

And the wild flowers were amazing

With this type of beauty the miles just go by so fast. I was having a blast not realizing how far I have gone when all of the sudden I realized I was already at the place where the race crossed the river and about half an hour faster than expected .

Thiswas the first time where we had cell reception and where I was supposed to call fjordrunner to tell  her that I was about 20' away from her place. I stopped to call her and left a message, did some minor sports bra adjustments, which took longer than expected.

and I kept on running.

By this time, the sun started to heat up the place, even the top runners were walking the hills. I got to the place where I was scheduled to meet fjordrunner and she was not there 

What to do?.

I called here at her home line. She was waiting for my call, not expecting me yet for another 30'. She said she would drive down ASAP to meet me so we can run together the last few miles as we had planned.

Knowing how much both of us were looking forward to running together the last 6.2 miles, I went off the race course, ran up her driveway until I met her and her DH coming down their driveway (this added an additional 1/2 miles to the race ). When she saw me she got off the car and we started running together.

It was a blast. How can you not have fun when you have this  view as an inspiration?

Here is me and fjordrunner at about mile 22. She is training a-la-gallow-walking, so we ran for 30' and walked for 30' while chatting the whole way.

I am so grateful for fjordrunner's company in the last miles. Her presence and training plan provided me the structure I needed to finish the race safely and besides, we had a few fun-tastic  few hours of girl time together.

This Winthrop marathon will always be kept in my "race treasure box". It was not the fastest, it was not the slowest, but I tell you...

it was the most scenic marathon (and very well organized) little hometown marathon I have ran.

and, at the end all racers received a free complimentary Mexican meal and free homemade ice-cream with as many scoop you wanted (I had three)

Here we are at Carlos 1800 with running angel fjordrunner and her DH.

and after all that fun I have this cool medal to hang  in my the living-room )

great report, pictures and wise pacing - what fun!

marj

Sounds like a funtastic race, Mariposai! Thanks for the photos of the gorgeous views from the course. It is great that, especially with that heat, you could just run relaxed and have a great time - as you always do so well.

Jay