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 Run
Comments: I hit higher HR numbers soon. Was it the elevation? I really liked this run for the mental challenge. I am accustomed to doing my long runs in Seattle. This means hills, people, and a constantly changing type of neighborhood. This run was out in the peaceful, mountain range area. Just the hills and mountain peaks and straight roads for as far as I could see. We passed one little, little town called Inkom, population 700 and a few. We were not totally alone out on the rural roads. We passed some cattle and horses, and families who drove out into the "middle of nowhere" to cheer for their runners. Also, there was water and aid stations at every mile staffed by a number of enthusiastic and smiling volunteers. As we got to closer to Pocatello, there was a drum team at the top of one of the climbs. My niece, who had finished her 5K race, was busy handing out water and offering to splash water on the backs of runners at the 11 mile (?) water station. The last mile of the race hurt. I kicked it up and in the last stretch to the finish line I noticed a few women ahead of me. I could not tell if they were over 45, but decided to try to find another gear just in case they were. About 20 yards from the finish line, my dad came from the sidelines and ran with me across the final mat. I also heard my sister's fiance yelling "Go Michele". He was at the finish collecting timing chips! Seeing him and my dad really made me feel a tad less spent. What would you do differently?: I did not expect to place anywhere near the top. So gun time/chip time was not a concern to me. I placed 3rd by gun time, 2nd by chip time. Maybe I would not have waited for everyone to get a ways down the road before starting. Maybe I would not have stopped to take several pictures along the way. Or maybe I would do it exactly the same.  Post race
Warm down: Saw my mom and sister-in-law at their posts in the finish area and gave them sweaty hugs. Grabbed a water bottle, an ice cream bar and a cold chocolate milk and found a patch of grass and stretched. Event comments: More to come later. I cannot believe I have not come to this race sooner than 2009. But now I will be sure that this is on my race calendar every year. Last updated: 2009-02-23 12:00 AM
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United States
Pocatello Marathon Committee
65F / 18C
Overcast
Overall Rank = 73/207
Age Group = F45-49
Age Group Rank = 3/14
Alarm: 6AM
Shower
Breakfast: yogurt, banana, coffee
My sister and her fiance picked me up. Her fiance drove us to the shuttle pickup spot. We got on the first shuttle bus. The bus took us up to the half marathon starting point which was somewhere outside of Pocatello in ranch land.
We did a few warm up easy runs on the road. I was in awe of the land. The mountain desert-like environment is so different from wet,wet, wet Puget Sound. It was so peaceful to be out in the middle of ranchland with a bunch of other crazy runners. We cheered for the marathon racers who passed by us at their half way point.
We checked our bags onto a UPS truck staffed by two very friendly UPS employees; received a pre-race talk from the race director (my brother). His talk to me was emotional. This was the 10th annual Pocatello Running the Gap race. One of the original committee members, whose goal was to have this race reach 1000 participants, passed away not even a week ago. The participants of the marathon, half marathon, 10k, 5k, 1.5 mile and .2 mile (for the little kiddies) run equaled 1044! I know "Babe" was smiling down from his heavenly cloud and giving us all a thumbs up. "Babe" had been the starter for many of the early races (I believe the first eight years). The gun had been passed, so to speak, to the co-race director. And in Babe's fine tradition, he fired the starting gun and the race began.