Thursday, October 4, 2012

Tahoe Marathon weekend

This past weekend I had the opportunity to run 2/3 of the Tahoe trifecta, three half marathons back to back, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Due to time constraints, I only ran the Sat. and Sun. legs of the race. The marathon weekend is a four day celebration of all things racing in South Lake Tahoe the last weekend of September. There are multiple marathons and half marathons, SUP races in the lake, a 72 mile loop bike race around the lake, and a couple of Ultra runs, 172 miles and other crazy amounts. In addition, there are pasta feeds, beach parties, Expo sales, and just great weather. None of this comes cheap, including the hotel stays. My whole family drove down from the Bay Area to participate, but not everyone could afford the race fees. 10 of us crammed into a cabin rental 6 miles outside of town, and slept in a hamester pile. Six of us ended up racing various races, including as pirates, running with a borrowed Tahoe marathon expo shirt and no bib number.
As to the two half marathons, I got horrible cramps 3 hours before the run start Saturday morning. I popped 4 Motrins and sucked it up, getting out into the 40d morning at 6 am. Very cold and frosty moring for the all-Nevada East shore side of the race. Regardless of the cramps and cold, three of us ran a good race. I, the human metrinome, ran 2:30 on the dot. The Sunday leg of the trifecta was better. The start was by Meeks Beach on the California side, at 9:30 am. The sun was out and the moring warm. My cramps were long gone and my pirate brother kept me laughing with Gangnan-style dancing. This half was a much hillier, and much more dramatic run. This run was also supported with water stations almost every mile, set up by local children's clubs. This run was a party. My time was 2:40, but I felt that was good due to the hills and the tired legs.

2 comments:

  1. How funny, that is definitely the same shot I got! I recognize the bearded ginger fellow in your photos for sure, so we must have been close by; sounds like y'all had a crazy weekend! Question- ever heard of Hashing?

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    1. Yes - I occasionally run with the w.e.e.n.i.e.s. EastBay. I know that the BARH3 run with us sometimes. My work schedule is weird, so mostly I run alone. But beer is one of my favorite foods.

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