It's taken a few days to sort out my feelings about the Three Sisters Marathon. The marathon was a good time, but not a 'good' time. As I ran the last half of the course my mood vacillated between euphoria and anxiety, as my gaze shifted from the stunning rural scenery to runners passing me by, then on to my watch which informs me that my turtle pace will not yield anything close to my personal quest of a 4 hour-or-less marathon.
It was wonderful though to finally have a marathon in my own back yard. 2011 is a bumper harvest for the Central Oregon marathon crop, with three new marathons on the scene. Picking Three Sisters was easy as it was the first on the calendar. Held in a triangle area between Bend, Redmond and Sisters, it ascends 1000 feet over the first half and descends the same on the second half. Aside from a hill or two, the rise and fall spread out over 13 miles is barely noticeable.
Putting aside disappointment over my slow pace, this marathon was exhilarating. There was the stone cold thrill of running on rural roads, passing by farms blessed with nature's green bounty, with snow capped peaks so near I can feel their frosty air conditioning in the heat of the morning. The jazzy vibe of Steely Dan's 'Time out of Mind' loops in my mind space:
I am holding the mystical sphere
It's direct from lhasa
Where people are rolling in the snow
Far from the world we know
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| "Time out of Mind" - Broken Top photo by Lonnie Howard |
And yeah, it is a song about drug use, but it is also a song about transcendence and removing yourself from the daily grind. A lot like running a long distance.
The marathon begins at the soccer fields of Eagle Crest. At 6:57 am the start line holds three runners. At 7 am, 72 other runners materialize out of the mist. It is a small intimate affair and feels cozy, like we are gathered for a cup of coffee and a scone. The race director cordially introduces himself and tells us about the course - 12 miles south on Cline Falls Highway to Tumalo, where we will make a left and then wind our way back along 8 miles of rural roads, and the last 6 miles back on the Highway into Eagle Crest.
With that, some cheesy song blares out the speakers - I remember 'Eye of the Tiger' - we shuffle towards the front and are off. First is a 1 mile loop around the golf resort, then across the start line a second time, and now out onto the Cline Falls Highway. The "Highway" part of the name is a little presumptuous. "Path" or "Parkway" would be more appropriate, as there is absolutely no traffic to speak of at this early morning hour. The shoulder is relatively narrow and difficult to run two abreast, and the race director Chad drives by exhorting us to stay within the bike lane.
I run the first few miles behind zebra pants and backpack guy, pacing myself to 10 minute miles. I'm practicing my 'don't burn out, save yourself for the end' philosophy. Around mile 4 I am slowly passed by Travis, a police officer from Albany, and I think he would be a good pacer. For the next 9 miles I run with him and we average 9 minute miles, which is my 'race pace'. Travis has lost 37 pounds over the past 4 months and we talk about running, kids, property prices, SWAT teams, the long winter. The snowy mountains are on our right, it is a beautiful blue day, and the miles melt away.
At mile 12 we approach the burg of Tumalo, make a left and climb a low grade hill to mile marker 13 and an aid station. The halfway point! I always feel a little surge of relief knowing that I'm halfway done. I stop to fill my water bottle with Gatorade and tell Travis I'll catch up to him later. I gobble down two Ibuprofen and a handful of gummie bears and proceed past a prancing white horse, who is excited by all the attention he is getting today.
At mile 14 is an intersection and I am directed by one of the smiling and pleasant volunteers onto a gravel and dirt road called Sturgeon. This road is straight and flat for half a mile and then ascends steeply behind some mysterious bushy trees. I run a lot on trails and I love the scrunch of the terrain beneath my feet. The road dead-ends at the Old Bend-Redmond Highway and for the next 6 miles winds back and forth between Two Bridges and White Rock Roads until mile 20, at which point the route turns back onto Cline Falls Highway.
During this long interlude, my mind flits and wanders from one subject to another. I feel twice removed from the material world, like I'm divided into three parts. One part is the physical, with the slap-slap-slap pit-a-pat drumming of soles on the road, the huffing-puffing, the counting of strides 1-2-3-4. The second is the mental, my mind, which likes to wrestle with Gordian knots such as where does space end, and what are the implications of Nietzsche's final years (insane and in an asylum - his own existential prescription led to his doom), and what a nice pun it would make to say that we have left our 'souls' on the road. And isn't On The Road now being made into a movie? And the third part...yes, that third part is a sleek laughing man who shakes his head in wonder at the foolishness of running so long, but agrees that in a world filled with foolishness this is the best way to spend a day.
I lose track of time as I run with all this company, and around mile 20 I realize I have slowed considerably. In the absence of a taskmaster my natural inclination is to slow it way down like a Rastafarian. In more populated marathons I would face the ignominy of being passed by grandmothers, but this marathon doesn't have a lot of grandmas, let alone runners. So shame cannot spur me on. My secret weapon is my i-pod, which I have saved for just this occasion. As Elvis Costello segues into the Allman Brothers I think to myself that the past is present both in my thoughts and music selections. Around mile 23 I am yelling out loud the lyrics to Spoon's 'The Underdog'
You got no fear of the Underdog
That's why you will not survive!
It is terrible and wonderful to be free and tired and closing in on the home stretch!
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| Ah the finish line |
The last mile is another loop around Eagle Crest. The residents are up and walking about, elderly men in sweater vests, ladies in golf attire cooing at the runners passing by. I wave hello to Travis, who's walking back to his timeshare, and then yell to Isaac and Alanna and implore them to join me for the final sprint, to the finish line where Rosanna is waiting for a salty kiss.
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| Gobbling down oranges |
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| With Alanna, Rosanna, Isaac |
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| Enjoying a Three Creeks Ale ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- My time was 4:44, good for 42nd place at an average pace of 10:52 minutes per mile. Tied for my slowest marathon yet. This is trending in the wrong direction! In hindsight, I went out too slow and left too much gas in the tank. I read a book that emphasized the 'easy does it' technique on the long runs rather than pushing it. This made for enjoyable weekend runs in the countryside, and that is what this marathon was for me. Next up is the Sunriver Marathon Sept 4th. I got a new book this week that involves speed work on tracks. OK - time to hit the track! |
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