Spent the weekend in ID and MT doing some running.  Here is my weekend report.

First, the backstory: A friend who is doing marathons in all 50 states wanted to do her 50th marathon on her 50th birthday in a new state for her, so she picked the Missoula Marathon.  As a loyal friend who likes trails, I looked around for a trail race nearby and found the Beaverhead 55k.  So, for some reason, I decided to do both.  And for some reason, few other friends thought that sounded like a fine idea, and plans were made (Queen: Scrapster is a friend of a friend who was in on this loony idea, so I met her in person over the weekend).

It was complicated but surprisingly, everything worked as planned. Met up with 3 friends at the Missoula airport on Friday and we drove to Salmon, ID in time for the Beaverhead 55k packet pick-up. Caught the pre-race shuttle at 4:40 am on Saturday, which took us up to the start at Lehmi Pass, ID, at 8000' elevation. I think I remember the first half of the race was mostly nice single-track, up and down, through trees, although the elevation made it a little hard for this flatlander to breathe. Things got more challenging during the second half, where the race peaked at 10,000 and included several miles of scree, cliff-side trails, and seemingly endless peaks. I actually forgot that I could not breathe because I was so intent on not falling off the continental divide.  It was the hardest but most spectacular running I have ever done. Finished in 11:18. Two of my friends finished, one dropped early.

Then we got a little sleep before hopping in the car at 12:30 am on Sunday to drive back to Missoula for the 4:15 am shuttle to the Missoula Marathon start. Met the 50th birthday friend there (who was too sensible to join in the Beaverhead craziness). Temps were actually cool at the start and "only" got up to around 90 on Sunday, so not quite as dire as predicted. It was a mostly flat course and the first half was a little boring but the second half was nice, with trees, some shade, and lots of kind Missoulians offering fruit, ice, and sprinklers to keep runners cool. The friend who dropped on Saturday finished the marathon, one friend skipped the marathon, two of us did both, and the birthday girl finished in fine style. I did it in 5:36. Legs were ready to fall off and I have a few mosquito bites but otherwise, no real complaints.

Some pics:

This is only pic I took during the Missoula Marathon:

That looks breathtaking in more ways than one. And who needs sleep. I can't sleep much the night before a race anyway.

AT -- yes, if I had to tuck and roll, going to the left would have been wiser.  It was hotter than I expected up on the ridge.  Slathered on sunscreen frequently and stuffed snow under my hat and in my pack and grabbed a Rocky mountain snow cone every time I passed a pile of snow.  At one point, saw (and heard) a thunderstorm on the next ridge which appeared to be blowing towards us.  Good motivation to keep hustling and get down off the mountain.  Apparently it passed to the south without hitting any runners but it was sort of an ominous moment.  MTA: Yes, Scrapster did both races like me.

LB -- good questions.  I'm of the "less is more" school of running.  I take at least two rest days every week.  My training peaked in the weeks before Lake Sonoma 50 in April, but even then, I never did more than mid-50s per week.  I think I have a pretty solid base so ramping up a bit here or there is not a big deal and I've never been injured (knocks on wood).  Although I've never done a double like last weekend before, I didn't doubt that I would finish.  Someone who wanted to be competitive or had more ambitious time goals would probably run more than I do, but I'm not that person.   If I were to change one thing, I'd add strength training since I think I'd benefit from being stronger.  (I keep saying I'll do that, and one of these days maybe I will.)  Crazy mileage is not for me... if I didn't get injured, I'd burn out.  But, everyone is an experiment of one, and YMMV, as they say.

That's a big weekend, and some great running. Congrats on not falling off a cliff too! You look pretty happy up there on the mountain, and no offense to Warden, but we were getting kind of sick of seeing his mug out there in the big mountain scenery. LOL. That's a great photo. Besides doing the double it seems like it was a sleep deprivation weekend as well. Congrats, and hope you are recovering well.

Good job!!   Especially with coming from the lowlands and doing it at those elevations.

There's no way I could have come close to finishing something like that  on that little sleep and going right to the elevation.  Always find it interesting how elevation affects people differently.

Nice job Gatsby!!!! Especially adter what NH and Warden said..a 11 hour 30K 55K tells me it was $ucking hard!!! Then no sleep and a street marathon...wow just frigging wow!!!

Whoops!!  Even more badass!!!

no 30k, 55k- but yes- a very hard 55k 

WOW aposolutely beautiful!!! 

Thanks everyone!

 

One more pic from the race photographer.

 

 

Okay, enough about me.