InSane at last!

July 4th was a big day for me; I ran the Sauvie Island Foot Traffic Flat Marathon, and thus met the baseline entry criteria for the Marathon Maniacs, a running club based out of Seattle. The lowest level is run 3 marathons in 90 days or 2 in 16 days. I ran 3 in 64 days (counting the ultramarathon as one of them).

Sunday's marathon was not my best. Still worn from running an ultra 4 weeks ago and a half marathon trail run 2 weeks ago, I didn't feel like pushing my pace. And, flat, as the race name implies, can also translate to boring. Flat and boring. The course runs through farm after farm, which is interesting at first, but there are only so many berry farms and sheep a girl can look at before wishing she brought her iPod.

Another implication of running through flat farmland is that the residents, spread out over great distances in their farm-homes, are also busy getting Sunday morning farm-work done. Working - or more specifically - not entertaining me. No music, drag queens, church choirs, cheerleaders, nothing. Well, there was one girl sitting in a lawn chair hosing off runners as we passed - which I appreciated. And, there was the guy who looked up from under his tractor hood to wave. And, the little girl waving from her front lawn. That's about it. For 26.2 miles, 3 fans.

The other downside of the race, hopefully only for me, was that I over-indulged in berries, from the very farms I ran past, the day before. Too many berries + long run = lots of honeypot stops. I will say, though, that there were ample honeypots along the course and I didn't have to wait to use them. So, kudos to the race director for catering to my dietary-indiscretion-induced-GI needs.

The race wasn't all downers. There were lots of Marathon Maniac jerseys, reminding me why I wanted to run this one. And I ran into plenty of running friends on the course. As always, I made new friends. I met this lady, 55 years old, running with her daughter. She started running when she was in her 30's, for stress relief, and was working on her 61st marathon - most of them run with her husband or daughter. What a great family tradition! I met another guy, 69, who decided to start running a marathon a month on his 68th birthday - this was marathon/month 21 for him! Now that's how to retire!

The best part of finishing this race was accomplishing my Maniac goal. It's not a goal everyone would shoot for, but it makes me happy. Plus, now, I can work on even more amazing feats of endurance to level up in the club.