I’m staying at a middle of nowhere casino called Virgin River Hotel/Casino. It’s not a bad room, especially given that it’s $30 a night with tax.
Plus, it’s only a ten minute drive to the Mesquite NV Sports and Events Complex where we’ll be running today and tomorrow. The course is a 14-loop affair, out around the sports fields with a small circular curly cue at the end to finish up the out before reversing course for the back.
There’s a tiny incline about a 2/3 into the out (which means a small decline on the way back). But I swear that incline molehill turned into a mountain as I collected my rubber bands for each loop.
One of the drawbacks of a multi-loop course is that I tend to snap some photos and then figure it’s just more of the same and thus stop snapping. So there are fewer shots and given the smaller set of photos to pick from, a lot more blurry / unusable pics versus ones worthy of posting.
On the plus side, we are running here again tomorrow, same bat time, same bat course. So maybe I can pick up some shots during “re-shoots.”
As the super moon is still pretty super, and even though my iPhone is a poor moon shot taker, I’m still marginally happy with this “Moon over Mesquite” photo.
As dawn approached and the race start countdown clock ticked by, I tried to capture the flavor of a group of crazed but cool runners gathering in a random place to run many, many loops for fun and exercise. I don’t know how I did but I’m constantly impressed by these folks. People cheer me on but they’re out there for 6-7 hours in the ever increasing heat – they’re amazing!
Speaking of amazing, the behind the scenes and front line Mainly Marathon folks are of course great. I didn’t snap as many pics as I meant to with them but here are a few of the all-stars (though many are not pictured and I’ll try my best to remedy that in the coming days):
Hanne and Clint are two of the heart and souls of MM. This is truly a family affair with Kate and George working the tables and the course, plus Cathy and Norm pulling timing and cooking duties. One often sees Clint and Hanne putting in some miles on the course, often walking hand in hand, and it always brings a smile.
There’s something to be said for the inherent positivity of a race – thanks to the multiple loop out and back course, there’s always somebody to cheer on or to be cheered by. So while it can be a bit mind numbing, it’s also a little bit heartwarming.
Round and round we go. Rand cheered me; Dee Dee Turtle and Margaret Tollner were back on the track as was Chavet Breslin hitting her 50th MM race and taking home a day of the dead skull as a reward. Deb Greene was there as was Clyde Shank… and his wife Kelly was working the aid station. Countless other vets were out and about, Marv hitting his 300th marathon and the legendary Larry Macon celebrating his 1800th (eighteen HUNDREDTH) marathon.
Norm cheered me on throughout the loops (as did everybody else) but he also handed me an Otter Pop at the end. He’s a great guy but anytime I try and snap a photo with him he gets so serious looking — don’t let this moment captured in time fool ya — he’s a smiling dude who brings sunshine and happiness to runners (and sometimes in the morning makes fresh French Toast as a pre-race treat!):
The guy who “won” did it as a sub-3 and was flying out there. As for me, I finished with a just under 3:32:28.
And because tomorrow will be deja vu all over again here in Mesquite, I’m able to stay in the same hotel. As a result, I’m at a $5 Tuesday movie theater. I had hoped to see Arrival but it’s not playing within 20 miles of Mesquite. So instead I’m doing a double feature of Trolls and Hacksaw Ridge. Way cheaper than my sitting at the blackjack tables!
