Yakima river canyon marathon

What a great event. Not just the marathon, but the pre and post race gatherings as well.. Bob and Lenore Dolphin know how to put on an event. There was plenty of food at the pre-race pasta feed , Lenore is a riot (I loved her “nuts to you” acknowledgments), and they really thought of everything. They even had extra long-sleeve shirts that you could wear in the morning then ditch by the roadside as the day got warmer.

I didn’t eat enough in the morning. In fact a lot of things were going wrong that morning ( I kept reminding myself that I have had great mornings fall to pieces on the course, so perhaps a little adversity would turn into a great run). Typically I like to have toast with peanut butter and a banana. Instead I had a few rice cakes. I blame this oversight on the migraine I had been fighting with for 4 days. I didn’t bother taking any migraine medicine in the morning cause the migraines usually take a break while I run (but they are waiting at the finish line). My stomach was growling at the starting line. I started eating GU immediately but by the third one I needed real food, I knew the aid station with food was still a ways off, but I decided to ask anyway at the station I was approaching. “Do you have a banana?” Salvation seemed imminent if only I could eat a banana. The woman offered me the one from her lunch. And I accepted with extreme gratitude. The food on the course was rice crispies, peanut m&ms, and chocolaty trail mix…all very delicious, but I would have liked some fruit in that mix.

And we were off…I decided to try something new, so I took off at a sprint (no, not really…I stayed with my slow shuffle). The run felt good, surprisingly good. I didn’t have my Garmin on, so I had no idea how fast (or, more accurately, how slow) I was going, but it felt like the right pace. The course photo shows me trying to smile at the camera through pain so thick you can see it everywhere in my body. But in spite of that the first 20 miles felt like a cake walk (cake shuffle?).

The last 6 miles got a little more difficult, I think only because I am out of shape. I tried a few times to push my pace, but my body made it clear that there would be only one pace for me today, sadly it was my same slow shuffle I started with. I have a friend who talked about a guy he knew only as “one speed Gregg” the explanation, “he only has one speed, fast as hell” My mother ended up marrying One-Speed-Gregg on Feb 4th. He slowed down long enough to ask her for a date, and the rest is history.

With a quarter of a mile left in the run the gentleman I walked the Redding Marathon with caught up to, and passed, me. He was walking faster than I was running. I saw him check over his shoulder a few times as we got closer to the finish, he really wanted to beat me. Fortunately for him, I was already at my maximum speed.
At the finish line, Lenore Dolphin was giving hugs to everyone as they crossed. And someone was handing out roses to all the female finishers. I was more interested in the food, bananas and cookies. Here were all the bananas…why didn’t they make it onto the course?

The baked potato feed and awards ceremony was just as fun as the pasta feed. Again Lenore was a crack-up. I stayed the whole time but didn’t manage to win anything, which is a huge surprise. I didn’t anticipate winning any sort of speed related prize (last place in my age group?) but they had so many drawing prizes, I think nearly a quarter of the group got something.


I finished in 6 hours and 6 minutes…I guess I really was moving slow. I realized later that my only slower marathon was the one I walked, and that one had a lot more hills. But it felt like the right pace, and my hips and back have felt good ever since.