Mach3Multisport.com

My running buddy is seeking to become a 50-stater, so I get to add some cool marathons to my race calendar when she can't cajole anyone else into joining her in odd places. Area 51, in the middle of the Nevada desert, at midnight? I'm in!

This was a cool race, only about 120 marathon runners (there was a 1/2 and 10K offered as well) and mandatory reflective tape and headlamps. Also, instead of water stations we had refill stations, so you had to run with a water bottle and refill it as needed. Plus, I wanted some tunes and some gels and an extra light in case of cars (it is on an open Highway), so I ended up looking like I imagine Clark Griswald would look if the Griswolds did marathons. A man actually stopped in front of me and said, "Got enough gear on? Are you bringing the cooler?". Well I hadn't thought of that...

The first 14- 15 miles of this race were uphill- a steady climb in elevation until Mile 9 and then five miles of a pretty steep incline. I had a great first half, and completely expected to negative split the run and fly downhill....

...but I didn't. I ended up slowing way down and really feeling the downhill in my quads. I didn't come close to negative splitting the race, but I did enjoy almost every minute of this run. My running buddy was affected tremendously by the altitude and ended up with a personal worst time of over 6 hours (but she finished!) .

Even with my slow-down and my walking through some refill stations I placed third in my age group (30-39, a ten year age group) with a respectable-because-it-was-a-mountain 4:51. Plus, I've got a wicked cool alien medal and memories of 120 glow in the dark necklaces snaking up a mountain at midnight to the light of a full moon and a shooting star at the start. Beautiful!

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