Subject: Durango Marathon Adventure


On the 13th of October I had the pleasure of participating in the inaugural Durango Marathon. What a trip and what an adventure it was. My husband Tom our two dogs Trooper and Prancer headed out west on the 28th of September in our motorhome. We rounded up some buffalo in Custer State Park. It was 5 hours of waiting for 5 minutes of excitement watching the buffalo thundering through the valley. Remember watching Dances with Wolves? Then we drove to New Mexico saw some sights in Taos ate at a Mexican restaurant. Went to the famous Rancho de Chimayo and of course ate some more Mexican food. Continued on to Santa Fe and stopped at the Nambe' Pueblo where they were having a Feast Day. We participated in a unique procession, after mass let out the congregation walked out of church singing and walking through the village. We joined in walking, but what was interesting was in the back of the line was a guy with a shot gun firing shots into the air scaring away all the bad spirits. There must have been a
lot of them because he fired alot of shots. I could hear the singing, I could hear the shots being fired, I could smell the gunsmoke and I was thinking to myself this is really cool. We watched some dances and had the pleasure and good fortune to be invited into an adobe house for the actual feast. Complete strangers took us in to their house and fed us. What an experience! After that we went to the Albuquerque Hot Air Balloon Fiesta and watched hot air balloons for three days. We would watch them do the Dawn Patrol where six or more balloons would rise into the sky and then light up like a big lightbulb in the darkness. When that was done the mass ascension would start where hundreds of balloons would inflate and rise into the sky and float right towards us. All colors
all shapes all sizes of balloons they were everywhere you looked. What a sight! In the evening they would have a balloon glow and a fireworks show. After the balloon fiesta we drove to Durango for the big marathon. Wouldn't you know it after months of dreaming
and planning this big adventure and looking at the Durango Marathon website I completely forgot to print out any information about it, like packet pick up what time it starts where it starts I'm surprised I remembered what day it was supposed to be on. Thankfully a hotel we stopped at printed out all the necessary information for me and I was once again informed. We camped in Durango for
three days before the marathon I'm tapering at altitude. Actually really enjoying being on vacation sitting by a campfire from morning until night throwing logs on, drinking coffee ( I mean water) and soaking in the scenery. The mountains are beautiful. Okay now it's marathon morning. We're parked at the Fort Lewis College parking lot over night. It's 42 degrees, Tom gives me a ride to the start line on his little Honda passport 70. My legs get goose bumps but we're looking cool. I hear Ian Torrences name being announced I know that Bob Boeder is there a grand slammer and author of Hardrock Fever that I met at Voyageur and of course little Marie is there from Minnesota amongst the big timers. I'm confident I can go the distance but don't want to pay the price to finish in a fast time. I start out at a moderate pace, Tom is meeting me on the course with his siren whistle cheering me on. I look at my watch only once at the half way mark it says 2:18 at least I'm not going out too fast. I'm taking my walk breaks, Jeff Galloway would be proud of me. I'm drinking and doing Clif shots. The whole time I'm running I'm just thinking how darn grateful I am do be doing a marathon a marathon in Durango Colorado at that. I no longer cared about time, I cared about the adventure the scenery the experience. I saw Tom on his little bike driving on the course blowing his whistle cheering me on as well as the other runners. The marathon was billed as runner friendly, no killer hills. Yeh right. Guess it all depends where your coming from. If you live in Colorado it wasn't hilly. But it your not and from mile 16-22 is a gradual uphill roll it's hilly. Face it. I finish in 5:06 or something, got my first post race massage, the marathon hosted a great block party at the finish. I spend the afternoon sitting in the sun, then it's KFC for dinner and a stop at Trimble Hot Springs for a much deserved soak. What a day, what a marathon and what an adventure.
Marie
Hanging out in cool places

That sounds great. What a great blessing to be in such wonderful shape. I only dream of it. Thanks for you travelogue, even though I can't visualize the marathon I can dream of the days by the campfire. Thanks again.