Dust Bowl Series, Lamar CO

Published March 26, 2016

The Dust Bowl, also known as the Dirty Thirties, was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the US and Canadian prairies during the 1930s; severe drought and a failure to apply dryland farming methods to prevent wind erosion caused the phenomenon. The drought came in three waves, 1934, 1936, and 1939–40, but some regions of the high plains experienced drought conditions for as many as eight years.

prevailing winds blew away [dust] in huge clouds that sometimes blackened the sky. These choking billows of dust – named “black blizzards” or “black rollers” – traveled cross country…

The drought and erosion of the Dust Bowl affected 100,000,000 acres that centered on the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma and touched adjacent sections of New Mexico, Colorado, and Kansas.

Set a lotta new running goals in 2016 – first ultra distance, first trail race…and this weekend, my first marathon Double.

Boulder⇨ Louisville⇨ Westminster⇨ Englewood. Work, home, dog drop-off, commuter Park N Ride. Picked up Dave [a fellow 50 Stater] Friday nite 7pm & highway’d west. Hour-half to Limon (KS border), 2 hours south to Lamar – a super small town on the Plains (population 7,776), more reminiscent of Kansas than Colorado.

Tomorrow’s marathon would be my 2^nd Colorado ‘training run’. [Already selected the Colorado Marathon on May 1^st to complete my 50 States Quest.] January ran Cause & Effect Marathon in Brighton (Achilles Int’l charity race); registered tomorrow’s run as a FREE entry thru Mainly Marathons, part of their 5-day Dust Bowl Series. Well…kinda free. Week later signed up for Sunday’s 26.2 in Clayton, New Mexico. LOL>

Good training for next month – when I run State 49 Saturday in Illinois, hop on a plane, then finish State 50 the following morning in Fort Collins 🙂

Hoteled 6 hours at the Cow Palace (yep, completely serious) – then landed 10 minutes away in Lamar’s Willow Creek Park. Bib pick-up & blueberry pancakes. Game on!

Mainly Marathons trademark – FOOD. You’ll never go hungry on one of their runs!

Today’s course: 14 laps on urban trail (dirt & gravel…but this ain’t Moab – no mid-race rock climb required 🙂 ). Have never run so many laps in my life – tough to stay focused repetitive looping. Today we’d collect rubber bands – 13 bands, then one last loop to the Finish. Simple brilliant idea. I proudly collectedly 7 on one arm, 6 on the other.

Felt STRONG this cold day, went out fast. Held third, then slipped to 4^th a lap later. Been running desert 5 weeks straight. I’m a cold weather runner, today my kinda day.

Temps dropped, wind blew & my pace slowed. Four laps remaining, tagged a steady runner – Dan from Iowa. Proudly declared ‘Victory Lap’ as I slipped on band 13, downed a handful of salty chips & hit trail, one last loop.

1.87 miles more. Mentally STRONG – FINISHED marathon/ultra #58.