Bizz Johnson Marathon Report (Read 583 times)

BIZZ Johnson: I definitely recommend this for folks who don’t need crowd support (there isn’t any really) and who love the outdoors. Not tons of people so if you are like me (not fast) you might find yourself with some long stretches of “alone-time”. The course definitely is perfect for those who detest hills and for some…it can be a fast race. It was really well organized with stations every 2 miles serving lots of food GU and drink. Most of all it was set in a beautiful landscape of Mt Lassen. First here's a link to some pictureshttp://picasaweb.google.com/sherrytamone/BizzJohnson?authkey=9mOHl1b6XNk so you can see who we are... When I joined RA, I remember asking about where to run my very first marathon and I got lots of great replies…Jake told me Nashville, Don said Utah and Trent… (do you really think the Flying Monkey would be a good 1st marathon???). I chose Bizz Johnson because it was a dirt trail and a fairly fast course (I thought that would help me) and it was in California where I could visit my mom…and my training partner (JJ) had family in Lassen county, so there you have it. First before training I had to have a meniscus tear fixed and I did that at the end of Feb letting my self rest all of March. So the training sort of started in the middle of April getting more serious in June. By the time the race was a week away I felt like I knew I would finish it but I didn’t know how I would do. My goals were in order of low to high expectations 1) finish it without injury 2) finish under 5 hours 3) finish in less than 4:40 and 4) Finish under 4:30 minutes…and then there was the fantasy of me crossing the finish line with the Kenyans. JJ and Ron were awesome in completing most of the long runs with me and I could not have done it without them. We trained almost exclusively on bear infested trails in Juneau. Through August and half of September I think we saw over 10 bears on the trails. 7 of us left from Juneau (38 degrees and raining sideways) on Wednesday or Thursday and all met up near Susanville (50’s and sunny) by Saturday. JJ and I went for a nice run in Berkeley before heading up north and 5 of us ran a short easy 2 miler on Saturday near Susanville to check out the altitude. I did not think altitude would be a big deal…BUT IT WAS!!!! OK not that big a deal but I could definitely feel it. We went to the prerace spaghetti feed (I would not do that again…horrible food) and got a good night’s sleep in a cheap funky hotel. Race day we were so excited and JJ and I took the bus to the start after eating a bagel and a banana. I could have sworn after 25 minutes of driving that the driver had missed the turn and had taken us to nowheresville. The ride took sooooooo long. The bus was full of skinny runners and a couple of folks I knew I could beat. We started out in a beautiful wooded area (lots of “port-a-pines”) and that’s about all we did for the next 30 minutes. It was 35 degrees out. The early marathon starters left at 7:30 (one of my friends (Sandi) was in that group. We chose to sleep in and leave at 9:00 as did about 500 of the 600 runners. It did not look like that many runners, more like 300. Here I will be brief and just say that the trail was really pretty and wide in most spots (single track in few) and not a bad view ever! It was a 6-mile climb at first; which I did not notice too much except for the lack of oxygen, and the rest was really an imperceptible downhill. About 1200 feet over 20 miles. The trail surface was perfect and only muddy in a couple of spots. There was snow from the day before in spots (mostly off the trail). It was a gorgeous run especially the last 6 miles through this canyon. Ron JJ and I started out faster than I wanted (9:03) and we spent the next 4 miles adjusting to a 10 minute pace. They are faster than me but really wanted to hang together so that they finished healthy and strong. At mile 8 I let them move ahead as I wanted to maintain a 10:15 pace. I was fairly consistent with a couple of 9:30’s thrown in and at mile 9 and 14 I caught up with Ron and JJ but I was sort of in the zone and preferred to run alone. I could hear JJ and Ron talking the whole time! At mile 16 I was still on line for a 4:30:00 finish, but then I just got pooped. I think it was mile 18 that I spent 3 or 4 minutes talking to a volunteer at a water station about Alaska. I remember saying “well I guess I better get going now” and I knew goal #2 was in trouble. At mile 20 I stopped to take 2 HM runners picture by this pretty bridge. They asked if I really had time for that and I told them I was fairly certain I did. Goal #3 was about to be reevaluated. I took 1 minute walking breaks each mile until mile 23. I was moving into this weird shuffle that I really tried to break out of. I found it much easier to keep running than to walk and restart. I had told JJ at mile 14 that my goal was to pass this older man in yellow with knee supports and it took me 8 miles to do that. He kept passing me while I loitered at rest stops. There are 2 tunnels towards the end that are really dark inside and it was kind of strange to run without anything to see except the light at the end of the tunnel. I am pretty sure I passed Mr. knee support man in yellow in the second tunnel. At mile 26 I felt like I had enough to pick it up for 0.2 miles and the pictures at the end look pretty good. Finished in 4:41:23 (10:58 min/mile). Walked right over to the Susan river and put my feet it. I was so proud of myself and of JJ, Ron, and Sandi for completing that distance. I also think Sheila, Steve, and Ken did a great job for their HM. Here’s’ what I think….I think it is amazing how people of all shapes and sizes can complete this distance. I won’t be so cocky now at the start thinking I can beat this or that person. I passed a really fit guy in his 30’s and was passed by a number of folks with funny gaits. I also think that I want to do another one with a better understanding of the mental needs for that distance. I want to work on keeping my splits constant for the first 16 miles and then picking it up instead of pooping out. BTW: the winner of this year’s race was a woman who finished in 2:46…just short of 2 hours faster than me. Gives me a goal to work towards!!!!!

Congrats on finishing your first marathon, Sherry! I think it's great that you got to run with your running group friends! After reading your report, I think I'll try to find a trail marathon to run next year. Sounds like you all had a great time and I'm definitely with you on all the different people you see at races.

Great Job! Thanks for sharing your 1st marathon with us. modal (who needs to get on with a marathon training program... thankfully the cooler temps have arrived!)

Yay Sherry! WTG on your first marathon! ... see ya next year at Baltimore

Awesome job, Sherry. That sounds like a good first marathon. I should never have let Trent plant that Monkey seed in my brain.

Congrats on finishing your first marathon, and enjoying it enough to stop and smell the roses (or take pictures/talk to volunteers)!

Thanks you guys for all the support!!! I actually should modify the time that I finished though...I thought it was 4:21:23 but it was 4:47:23. Dang...Should not have stayed so long at rest stops. It really was not a gnarly trail. It was a rails to trails conversion. All dirt though.