Marathons/Ultras

Rocky Mountain 50K

Published May 26, 2019

7am Start @ the Lincoln Monument.

Nope, not that Lincoln Monument. Exit 323 I-80 East, 10 miles outside Laramie. 8,640ft elevation. High point of the Lincoln Highway. Park Ranger greeting: “Welcome to the Summit” 🗻

Buffalo NY Memorial Day last, Buffalo image on today’s state flag – high flying beside a WYOMING roadside museum. Museum? Yep, I’ll be back ✅ First… 32 miles of Ponderosa Pine, Colorado Aspen, dirt trail, old Highway 30 and HILLS. Billed as Wyoming’s toughest marathon – it’s a high elevation hilly one. Training run for Bighorn? Third times a charm me thinks, only a few weeks away.

Chilly/foggy/overcast Start, dodged another hot one. Notta lotta tree cover after 6 miles. Pine are scenic aromatherapy but not broad leaf green. Cup-less course. Hydration vest ready. Let’s roll.

Downhill first 2 miles. Wonky gut only 4 miles in. Elevation, lotta trail bounce. Slowed pace. Gonna finish, finish with a smile. That’s the Milano mantra. “Be the person your dog thinks you are.”

Strong headwind past the Halfers’ turnaround. Asphalt next few miles, old Highway 30. 10% grade (and wind) but pavement appreciated under my feet. Change is good, mixes it up. Lost all the crowd (notta lotta 50k or marathoners). Cranked up my tunes, head/body feelin’ good by Vedauwoo.

5-mile stretch of trees & campers on a dirt ranch road. Memorial Day weekend. Grills & lawn chairs early-morn abandoned, waiting for holidayers to waken. Breakfast cooking on my return thru town.

Marathon turnaround. HILL. Two miles more ‘til my orange cone & race rep check-in. Good bit of climb between the respective half-way points. Sun HIGH, getting warm. Run, walk. Refuel’d, dumped sand/rocks outta my shoes before the short 3-mile highway reverse. Easy steady pace – NO WALK, NO STOPPING ‘til I see dirt on the other side. Goals are good 🙂.

STRONG legs, stomach a-ok, smile on my face. I’ve got this. 6-hour goal in my head. Well, that’s not happening. Would miss 6:30 too, but enjoying the ride. Steady. AND know what’s coming – 2 miles of UP – then FINISH BANNER a blowin’.

My first belt buckle, fourth ultra of 2019 and my 49^th state. Eyes on Deadwood & a SECOND 50 State finish. 7 days.

Highway drive HOME, shower, quick sleeps. Bolder Boulder tomorrow! It’s a Colorado tradition ❤️

2019 Wyoming Marathon Series

50K Results

KR Haga Colorado M 6:52:47

: Lincoln Monument

: 32 miles along the Lincoln Highway

: 4th ULTRA of 2019

: high elevation & HILLS

: WYOMING roadside bonanza

Posted in Marathons/Ultras, Rocky Mtn West | Tagged museo, urban-trail, us-presidents | Leave a comment

50 State 2: third Dozen #tbt

Published May 23, 2019

Pact made, solid plan in place. Round 2 a reality now, bring on the USA East. And rain. Whole lotta water. Would tag 10 states in 12 weeks AND continent #4. Brasil!

Ran my second Maryland 26.2, thirty minutes outside Baltimore. George Washington’s Birthday. Generously attended by the local DC Run Club; nice Support! Louisiana x2 took me to French Acadia. Wild mix of y’all, Cajun & bluesy Zydeco. Fell in a pothole mile 14. Tried to quit (DNF). Po’ folks, no cars (luckily, notta heart attack). So…3 hours later, finished, collected a medal, done. North Carolina’s Tobacco Road. Easy rail-to-trail towpath. Reconnected with friends of marathons past, an unofficial 50 State reunion 🙂

Trail in PA, in March? Was the $1 a mile [cheap] registration that grabbed me. Midnite flight to Philly, 2-hour drive north, Saturday a.m. start. Lederhosen, accordion tunes & sauerkraut. Aid stations FULLY stocked, trails snow-free. Upbeat, German & FUN. Totally unexpected. Fave of my third Dozen. Organizers done good. Hidden gem.

April showers, May showers too. Athens Ohio – college town. Wilmington Delaware – urban town. Holyoke Massachusetts – ski town? Trail/road mix thru abandoned (hilly) Mt Tom Resort. Trail portion – leafy GREEN. Northampton road – meh, not so much.

FARM CHARMED in Vermont. Country roads, rained the entire day – but GREEN & New England & COWS & Vermonter accents. Big SMILE memory. Vienna Illinois, Day 7 of Mainly Marathon’s Riverboat Series. Easy forgiving dirt towpath. STRONG 50k day. Returning November 2019 for my first 50-MILE finish (key word ‘finish’). Tunnel Hill. Fingers crossed. GOAL run.

Memorial Day sweltered in Buffalo New York. July sunburn (& altitude) in the high Rockies of Ennis MONTANA.

ALASKA. Place it where all began, state I ran marathon #1. Round 2’d on the peninsula, in Alaska’s ‘Rainforest’ capital Juneau. Hiked UP Mount Roberts, kayaked UNDER Mendenhall Glacier. King Crab feasted, Douglas Island marathon’d. Salmon JAM in Cordova next July (music fest not jelly). Bringin’ home a cooler of fresh-catch SALMON (another marathon medal too). A-L-A-S-K-A!

Why do you marathon? Folks, it’s the adventure.

African elephants, Antarctic penguins, Moscow’s Red Square. DREAM & dream BIG! ❤️

#	State	Marathon	City	Date	Time	Bib #
109	MD	George Washington’s Birthday Marathon	Greenbelt	2/18/2018	5:00.13	164
111	LA	Zydeco Marathon	Lafayette	3/4/2018	5:39.31	134
112	NC	Tobacco Road Marathon	Cary	3/18/2018	4:37.04	481
113	PA	Naked Prussian Trail Marathon	Leesport	3/31/2018	5:58.03	189
115	OH	Athens Marathon	Athens	4/15/2018	4:49.05	188
116	IL	Riverboat Series Day 7 50K	Vienna	4/21/2018	5:33.14	27
117	DE	Delaware Marathon	Wilmington	4/29/2018	4:18.58	1053
118	MA	Race of Champions Marathon	Holyoke	5/6/2018	4:35.41	41
119	VT	Shires of Vermont Marathon	Bennington	5/20/2018	5:01.35	330
120	NY	Buffalo Marathon	Buffalo	5/27/2018	5:00.38	579
123	MT	Big Sky Marathon	Ennis	7/22/2018	5:37.23	625
124	AK	Juneau Marathon	Juneau	7/28/2018	5:09.32	88

: Maryland, Louisiana, North Carolina & PA

: Ohio, Illinois, Delaware & Massachusetts

: Vermont, New York, Montana & Alaska

Posted in Marathons/Ultras | Leave a comment

Colfax Marathon

Published May 19, 2019

Touchdown in Denver. Home, well…almost. Broncos Stadium for bib pickup, 2-marathon weekend. Friday in CT, Sunday morning in Colorado’s capital city. Colfax, Denver’s only FULL marathon. HUGE Expo, but I’ve done this before. Finished the Colfax Half – in 2013. Was my last ‘big’ run before Marathon UNO, in Alaska. Lifetime ago.

Early to bed, early to rise. 6am start in City Park. Off-street parking before 5. Shower, walk the pup, hour drive to Denver – math check, that’s ‘middle-of-the-night’ early.

PERFECT run weather. Rain afternoon-delayed, no SNOW ’til morning. Week out from Memorial Day holiday, chilly 39 degrees Start. Nice! Glad I wore sleeves. LOL>

BIG city race. Feelin’ good. Aside from the long stretch down Colfax, FULL marathoners run a lap inside Mile High Stadium. Now that’s cool, huh. Go Broncos!

Stepped BACK a corral (G on my bib), lined with the 4:45 pace party. Elevation, body recovery (CT, 2 short days ago). Hoped to hang thru mile 15. Finish with a smile 😊

Slow & steady. Tight first mile. Pic snapped the Capitol Dome. Pacer stick on my left, 4 of us from the Start. Pacer Greg (last month, Big Sur & Boston), Brian from Hartford CT (what are the chances?) & Maredith (2018 100-MILE finisher). My Colfax family, next handful of hours. Easy comfortable pace. Talked briefly/intermittently, mostly listening.

12 miles. Greg (with the stick) says he’s supposed to hand off the baton. He’d catch up with us. Whaaaat? HE’S the pace bunny, we’re the flock. Never ever. Picked up another marathoner, run introductions – and we’re 4 again, crossing the Half. No pacer, no bunny.

PACE GROUP finish

14 miles. Porta-potty stop. Afraid to slow, lose my group. Efficient in-n-out (like Shalane Flanagan at Boston, just like that) Warned them I’d go dark by 18, abandon all mile 20. Appreciated their company. Only Sis’ been able to master the voices.

18 miles. Upbeat positive. Legs good, breathing easy. Didn’t go quiet for two miles. Tried to say goodbye at 22. Aid station stopped. Pollyann’ers kept cheer-leading.

ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT! But I’m NOT talking, can’t make me talk.

LAST mile. Really really really wanted to walk. Pace-group peer pressure. Happy endorphin over-achievers. Bridge. Late hill. Kinda all a blur. Happy talk in the ears, evil Mordor in my head. AND…we’ve sped up AGAIN, sub-9 minute now.

4 STRONG FINISH! Crossed together. 4:45 pace group, start-to-finish. Complete strangers ‘til today. Group SMILE. Crossed EIGHT minutes early.

Colfax FAMILY photo. LOVE LOVE my run community. Super supportive folks.

DIG being Colorado local. Pasta, hot shower & Pup – just an hour away.

Wyoming next Sunday, 50 State FINISH week after. Happy LIFE ❤️