Blue Ridge Marathon

My last big training run for the Everest prep was the Blue Ridge Marathon in Roanoke yesterday. This was the inaugural race of the event after a 20-year hiatus of marathons in Roanoke. They came up with a doozy.

This race was billed as one of the most challenging and beautiful marathons on the east coast. They got that right. The marathon had 3,076 feet of climbing, almost all of it in climbs of Roanoke and Mill Mountains in the first 14 miles. Part of the race route is on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Therese and I headed down to the 'oke after work on Friday afternoon. Race headquarters was in the downtown historic district. It's a nice area where they are trying to do some redevelopment with cultural, entertainment, shopping and dining attractions. Not too many people around, though, and by 7:00 everything was closed except for the restaurants.

We were hungry and went into the first restaurant that had some pasta dishes. The dinner was pretty lame -- lousy wine, terrible service and so-so food. Oh well, at least it wasn't too expensive. We should have walked around a bit more. After dinner we walked by a number of restaurants that looked a lot more interesting. C'est la vie.

Back to the hotel and bed, only to be awoken by Katie's 1:20 am text to Therese. I went back to sleep but Therese was up for the duration. We were up at 5:00 am and off to the race headquarters by 6:00 am. The race start was at 7:30. For some strange reason, they had everyone pick up their timing chips just before the start of the race rather than the night before at packet pickup. Fortunately, they only had about 1,000 runners in the marathon, half marathon and marathon relay so it wasn't too crazy.

Just before the race start, we found our friend Grandison Burnside and her friend, Laurie Benton, who were running the marathon. Grandison and I had run a couple of trail races earlier in the year -- the Swing Bridge 35K and the snowy trek, also known as the Holiday Lake 50K. She's taken a "break" from doing Ironman triathlons to try something different with the trail runs and mountain marathons. Laurie was running her first marathon in 5 or 6 years following the birth of her two children. (Under the "it's a small world" category, I found out about half way through the race that Laurie was a neighbor when we lived in Forest Hill Terrace!) Therese was running the half marathon, continuing her comeback from a knee injury by racing on hilly courses. Great idea.

My race plan was get in a hilly 4 1/2 hour run. This would be great prep for the Everest Marathon where it will probably take me 6 to 8 hours to finish. Therese wanted to run about 2:15 for the half, Grandison and Laurie weren't sure but said something about 5 1/2 hours -- no way!

The gun went off at 7:30 sharp and we all started off together through the streets of downtown Roanoke at an easy pace -- it always seems way too easy at the start, but you pay for it at the end if you go out too fast. We didn't know how hard the climbs would be, but we didn't want to be out of gas at 14 miles.

Therese took off ahead like she always does (we'll see her again). Laurie was itching to go ahead but we reminded her to take it easy through the hills.

The easy running was over at 1 1/2 miles as we started the first long climb. It wasn't particularly steep but just steady. It was 2 miles long. We caught back up to Therese about half way up. I ran with her until about 4 miles to where the half marathoners turned around to go up Mill Mountain. A lot of people were walking the steeper sections. I kept plugging along "running", but the runners seemed to be about the same pace as the walkers!

From 4 to 8 miles the course climber steadily up to Roanoke Mountain and the highest point on the route. I caught back up to Grandison and Laurie at about 5 miles.

Amazingly, the race organizers had aid stations every miles or so with water, energy drink and various snacks and goodies. There were also a lot of spectators on the course even up in the mountains. They all were very supportive and enthusiastic. It was great.

The last big climb of the day was to the top of Mill Mountain and the Roanoke Star which can be seen from all over the city. The last climb was pretty steep. Grandison and Laurie were running at 14:00 per mile and then started walking like everyone else -- at 14:00 per mile!

We had some fabulous views of the city and then began the long descent back into town. On the way down, we passed the big stone castle that sits just below the Star. A couple was sitting at a cloth covered table in the finely manicured lawn enjoying a bottle of bubbly. They were watching all of the runners going by and having a great time. It reminded me of what the French do watching the Tour de France.

By 15 1/2 miles, we were back in town. We thought that the hills were over. The big climbs were done but there were still a lot of up and downs, some very steep. In fact, one block-long downhill was so steep that some runners were walking down the hill!

We ran through several nice neighborhoods and lot of residents were out cheering on the runners. Everyone was very friendly and into the event.

The last part of the couple had seemingly dozens of turns. I have no idea where we were, but the course was well and and marshalled and traffic control was excellent.

We clicked through the final miles together, running at a faster and faster pace. We felt pretty good.

Everything was going along fine until the last water stop at 25 miles. Grandison and Laurie knocked elbows a couple of times and Grandison went down hard. Bloody knee, bloody hands and a scraped hip. But she got back up quickly and gathered herself. We walked a few yards and then began running again to the finish. Our last mile was the fastest at about 7:50.

We finished in 4:08, quite a bit faster than planned. Our second half was 2:01, a negative split by 6 minutes.

Therese finished the half marathon in 2:09, went back to the hotel, showered and returned to the finish line to see us finish. She also hunted out and sampled the post-race food including her favorite, the spicy buffalo wings (after a race?).

Grandison went to the EMS truck to get her cuts and scrapes taken care of. Some of Laurie's family who live in the Roanoke area were at the finish line cheering her on. (Her young daughter ran the last 100 yards with her to the finish line.)

All in all, everyone did quite well in the race. Therese finished first in her age group in the half, Grandison and Laurie were 3rd and 4th in their age group. I was sixth.

Overall, times were slow due to the tough course. The winning men's time was 2:42; the winning female ran 3:30.

I used this race to test some of the equipment and nutrition that I plan to use for the Everest Marathon. The hydration pack and electrolyte solution worked well. I used the Gu Blocks rather than gels. They tasted like orange gummy bears but were easier to get down than the gels. I think that I'll use them for the race. The pack has a lot of pockets to stow things. I carried a camera and was able to shoot some pictures and video along the way. I'll post something when I get a video edited.

So the major preparation for Everest is finished. I'll run easy for a week to ten days and then get in a couple of long trail runs just before I leave on the 12th.

It's getting close.