The Hayden Lake Marathon is hands-down my favorite road marathon (thus far)....Granted, I have few marathon experiences for the sake of comparison but regardless, I JUST LOVE THIS RACE.... Ran along country roads, it's a scenic challenge.
I always laugh when someone says "rolling hills" and the elevation gain is less than 500'. I understand that ANY hill in a marathon feels like an obstacle but still.... This marathon packs in just under 2000' of gain....You're basically going up or going down.
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| Elevation Profile (My Garmin) |
This course definitely caters to my skillset. I've spent all year running hilly ultras....I've learned A LOT about how to pace myself so that I don't explode in the final miles. Going into this race, I was quite skeptical that I could finish. After Le Grizz, each run was horrible...and I mean UGLY. From the beginning, I battled with that end-of-race heaviness in my legs. Everything was just so tight and sore. The first 14 miles were ran on auto-pilot....I'm not a morning person so I wasn't even awake enough to understand that I was miserable.
Around mile 15, my knee began to SCREAM....I battled with the desire to quit....I really did. Going downhill on an angry knee is not what I'd call pleasurable. But I kept chugging along - I really wanted that finisher shirt, I guess. Thank goodness for the second wind that I received around mile 20.
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This is what the final mile looks like....
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I ended up placing 5th female / 18th overall / 1st in AG....I'd say that's not too shabby given that I was running with what felt like a broken set of legs.
This was a perfect way to end the 2015 racing season.
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