Lander, Wyoming Half Marathon Race Report

Wyoming. State No. 16 is in the books.

Can anything be more patriotic than running a half marathon on the fourth of July? (Please don't insert the word "idiotic" instead.)

Waverly and I were up at 2:30 a.m. and were out of Laramie by 3 a.m. We did the 221-mile drive in about three hours as I was able to open the speed up on the road from Rawlins, which was the town we went through as we came off of Interstate 80, into Lander. (Why didn't we stay closer? Everything in the area appeared to be either bed and breakfasts, which were full, or were hotels that weren't on the Internet. I'd rather be assured of a bed than to gamble. This trip didn't have camping in the plans anywhere!)

The weather in these parts has actually been scorching, as I indicated in our trip to Denver's Elitch Gardens amusement park on Monday. Therefore, when the bank clock temperature moved from 61 degrees to 63 before the race's start, I thought it might get a little interesting. (Another automated clock had 69 degrees. I tried to believe the first one was correct.)

We saw a legion of walkers get started at 6:15 a.m. Thank goodness, even with my time (as bad as it was), I was able to catch about ten or so of them.

The 28th annual Lander Half Marathon gets the town's Lander Pioneer Days Fourth of July activities started featuring the 10 a.m. annual Pageant of the Old West Parade. (Yes, I made it in before the start of the parade. What is it with me and parade starts? In Parkersburg, West Virginia, you finish before the parade starts and they cheer for you there to finish just because they prefer to see the high school band peform instead of you running down the street drenched in sweat. Can't say that I blame them!)

Lander, Wyoming, which is the 12th or 13th largest city in the state at just over 7,000 residents, sits at 5,587 feet above sea level.

When I registered and it was mentioned that I was from Texas, I'm sure that they thought I was crazy ... then I mentioned about running Leadville on Saturday. That certified it! (My thought is, "Why not?" When I was running and having a little bit of a tough time, I thought to myself, "How many other people would try it?" Not as many, I don't believe. Besides, it provides a lifetime of memories and a number of good laughs too.)

The course description was as follows: "The Lander Half Marathon follows a beautiful rolling loop course on paved country roads in the scenic foothills of the Wind River Mountains. The race begins and ends at Centennial Park in the 200 Block of Main Street in Lander. The course proceeds west and south on Main Street 1 mile to Baldwin Creek Road. Here it turns west and follows the Baldwin Creek-Squaw Creek loop road for the next 11 miles. Racers re-enter Lander on Fremont Street, turn left on Fifth Street, and then right on Main Street for a final 0.3 miles to the finish line at Centennial Park. Total elevation gain and loss is 640 feet."

When I read this, I thought to myself, "This doesn't sound too bad."

All things said and done, it really wasn't that bad. Here is the elevation map.

My plan was to go out as easy as I possibly could and see where things went from there. Within the first two miles, most of the runners were gone. (I was worried about knowing the course, but that really never was an issue as there were water stations with friendly people at each one and a person just past the mile 12 marker to direct you towards Main Street.) Which, to me, meant the majority of them were from Lander and certainly were acclimated.

Mile 1/2 -- 23:52.53 (ran most of it, but deliberately slow.)
Mile 3 -- 12:52.65 (included some uphill)
Mile 4 -- 13:21.47 (some more uphill)
Mile 5 -- 13:38.33 (and some more)
Mile 6 -- 13:59.56 (and some more)
Mile 7 -- 13:57.83 (and some more ... but, by now, I had a rhythm - and I hadn't seen the elevation map until today)
Mile 8 -- 11:12.09 (downhill)
Mile 9 -- 12:56.78 (might have included a water stop)
Mile 10 -- 12:11.19
Mile 11 -- 11:52.52
Mile 12 -- 12:19.07
Last 1.1 -- 13:15.19

Final -- 2:45:29

The scenery on the course was absolutely gorgeous. Some of the best that I've seen during a race. At mile 7, if I had heard the strains of "O beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain...." emanating from the clouds, I wouldn't have been shocked.

There was no cloud cover at all and shade was nearly non-existent. I carried a bottle of water with me the entire way, which I drank from consistently. (I noticed that at the end of the race that I hadn't lost as much salt as I normally do, but I had the "water slosh in my stomach" feeling just past mile 12.) There was only one spot on the course where there was any electrolye replacement and that was probably just something that one of the stops had.

Those two bank clocks that I mentioned earlier? When I finished, the first one was 81 and the other was 89. (I believe the first one more so than the latter.)

Most all of the water was gone when I made it in and the folks who lined the city's Main Street were ready for the parade to start and they weren't focused on runners coming in. (I immediately walked to the corner store - within a block - and drank some Gatorade.)

Now ... what about Leadville? I had some major misgivings in the early part of the run today about even thinking about doing it on Saturday. My hope is that the cool weather in Leadville at 10,000 feet will help a little with the altitude. It seemed to in Albuquerque two summers ago when I ran on the back side of the Sandia Mountain after work a few times.

Today, I went up 600 feet in 7 miles ending up at around 6,100 feet above sea level.

I did a race in Albuquerque at the end of July in 2005 that was 7.2 miles up a downhill mountain bike trail. That race started at around 8,500-8,750 feet above sea level and finished at just over 10,000 feet.

Saturday is going to be a change of 3,000 feet in 7.5 miles. I'm insane.

We made it into Cody, Wyoming, where we are staying this evening and tomorrow and using it as a base to go into Yellowstone National Park in the morning. I slept for about two hours or so this afternoon.

Waverly and I had dinner at Buffalo Bill's Irma Hotel Restaraunt & Saloon for a little local flavor and history. It was OK. Basically, it was "tourist town"-priced, in my opinion. I think there were a couple of other options that we could have easily explored. But ... live and learn.

Unfortunately, we witnessed a theft at a place called Pete's where we stopped to get a little ice cream. As we were sitting in this establishment (and it was very busy), I saw a young blond - attractive and dressed to probably get into some late night fun - with a muscular guy with a goatee and a number of distinguishable tattoos. There was a Pepsi case just inside the front of the store. The line to get ice cream sort of distracted the four young female workers from being able to keep an eye on it and this lady exploited it. (And I didn't notice it until she had done it.)

I went out and still saw the individual down at the next street corner, went back inside to try to let somebody know and couldn't get their attention for how busy they were.

Good day, lot of driving, a race, walked around Cody quite a bit this evening and looking forward to some fun tomorrow.