Wabash Trail Marathon, Shenandoah, Iowa
September 12, 2020
5:09:19 138/145 Overall 4/4 in
70
1st Male from CA (There was also a female
from Los Alamitos was ahead of me😊)
On Wednesday, Sep. 9, I received word that the Boston
virtual marathon that was scheduled for Sat at Woodward Park had been
postponed due to the awful air quality from the fires in the area. Jodi
sent me a list of marathons that were still going to take place in the next month,
and I saw one in Iowa which is a state I needed to do a second
time. I was trained and tapered for a marathon and itching to run one
somewhere. I also wanted to get away from the smokey air. Jodi told me to
go for it so I started the process. I was able to use points to fly to
Omaha. Then I registered for the race and booked a hotel room
and a car. I was all set.
I flew into
Omaha on Friday and made the hour drive to Shenandoah, Iowa to get my race
packet. It is a cute, old-fashioned town of 5000; think of Mayberry or
any other town you’ve seen in a 1950s’ movie. I found out that it was
the boyhood home of the Everly Brothers, Don and Phil. I walked next door from
the packet-pickup and saw their tiny house. It was full of memorabilia.
The guide there told me about helping host a parade honoring them back in 1986.
He also told me he owned the restaurant across the street and that they
had a runners’ special spaghetti dinner that night. So, I enjoyed dinner there
before heading back to Omaha.
Sat morning
I got up at 4:45 (2:45 PDT) so that I could get to the race in plenty of time
before the 7:30 start. It had rained lightly on Friday so it was cloudy and
100% humidity with a temp of 56 at the start. We had to wear masks in the
starting area and stay socially distanced there, but once the race
started, we could throw the masks off and just run. There were only 145
full marathoners so it was easy to be distanced the whole race. (The 100 half-marathoners
were bussed to the middle and we just saw them as they ran by us later.)
From the beginning I had a basic plan to run about 5 minutes
and then walk 1. I pretty much did that the whole race. It seems that due
to the stent and the heart medicine, that I need those intervals to keep
running at a consistent pace without slowing down even more. I hate being so
slow, but I do what I can to cover the ground.
I had a real
scare at mile 10. My right calf all of a sudden cramped into a big knot. I
stopped to stretch and massage it, but could only limp. I thought I might
be done, but I was near an aid station and got liquids and tried walking
and running again. It felt good enough that I could run and not limp so I
was relieved. The pain subsided, but it hurt the rest of race and was
still there the next day. The course was an old railroad bed that was turned
into a great running trail with a very good hard-packed dirt surface. The rain
made it a bit muddy in spots, but not bad. We also ran across many bridges and
even through one short tunnel. The course was out and back so we went past
them twice as we did with the aid stations. They had small bottles of Gatorade
and water and chomps at each station. The people attending them were very
friendly and cheered for us. They were about the only people on the whole
course so it was very lonely; I was able to listen to a lot of
podcasts.
My time of
5:09:19 was a PW, but I was just happy to be out of the smoke and gloom of
California and in the fresh air of Iowa and Nebraska. After the
race they even offered showers in an old armory. I was very happy about
that since I had the hour’s drive back to Omaha and also wanted to explore
the town a bit more. I got a Blizzard, took a 15-minute nap in my car, had
a hamburger at the same place I’d eaten at the night before, and then walked
up and down all 3 blocks of main street. They have a “Walk of Fame” where
you can see the names of famous people from Iowa such as Bob
Feller, Ronald Reagan, wrester Dan Gable, the twin columnists, Dear Abby and
Ann Landers, and Donna Reed.
Sunday,
the sky was clear blue and the temp went up to 80. I enjoyed walking
across the mile-long pedestrian bridge that spans the Missouri River connecting
Nebraska and Iowa. I could stand in both states at the same time at a spot in
the middle. I met a guy on a bike who spotted my Wabash Trail Marathon
shirt and asked me how it was. He had riden his bike to certify the course
for an upcoming marathon in Omaha. He told me about a great museum of
Nebraska history called the Durham Museum. I went there and spent a couple
of hours that afternoon enjoying all of the interesting exhibits. The museum is
in the old Omaha railroad station which is immense and impressive, similar
to Grand Central Station in NYC. They even had an old-fashioned soda
fountain where I got an ice cream sundae. In addition to the Nebraska
history, they had a temporary exhibit of all of the Pulitzer Prize winning
photos. I took pictures of a few of them which you’ll probably
recognize.
Monday, I
filled-up the car with $1.87 a gallon gas and braced myself for the
trip back to California where gas costs at least twice as much and the air
quality is very unhealthy. It was a refreshing trip to America’s heartland
and an encouragement that the rest of the country is not as messed up as California
has been made.
Local news story:
https://www.kmaland.com/sports/2020-wabash-trace-nature-trail-marathon-half-marathon-and-relay/article_4f0d5d38-f540-11ea-a8a1-13fc536a5cca.html
This
was Marathon #168; 30 states on 2nd go-round; All 10 Canadian provinces.
Marathon photos: https://photos.shutterfly.com/album/1678120165507097
“View Photos” link will take you to
Shutterfly where you can sign-up for free account to view the slideshow. Hold
Ctrl and Click “Enter” to go to website.
