Eleven years ago, I ran the I-35 challenge. This is running a marathon in Kansas City, MO, on Saturday, and then driving the 3.5 hours or so to run Des Moines, IA, on Sunday. I was a younger man, and in better shape then. Both of those events way back in 2013 were significantly faster than today’s one and done event in downtown Des Moines.
I started well… the first half I was on a pace to BQ, staying ahead of the 3:20 pace group. But I quickly fell apart in the back half. I don’t know if it was a low grade dehydration issue or a full disclosure pushing 50 situation. But man did I go from a delirious runner high to a “this sucks!” quagmire oh so rapidly.
But who cares about any of that? Nobody reads this blog to hear me whine and complain… but that’s because so few people do read this silly little slice of internet madness.
Point is – some pics… or it didn’t happen, right? I can assure you it did happen… just not the way I remembered 11 years ago nor how I was hoping it would go here in 2024.
You see where they say you should turn around for the race morning toilets?
Here’s what was behind me. For 7000 runners in various events this morning… two port-a-Johns.
They said there were more than a hundred but I didn’t see them. I saw two.
Look at me at mile 12… so full of vim. So full of vigor. It would all go wrong soon enough….
I was promised brisket at mile 20… and they delivered!
