45/50 - Missoula Marathon

A cirque - formed by glacial erosion or a giant ice cream scoop

And then there were 9... Montana just became my 41st sub-3-hour state (2:59:38) and 45th state marathon. Close one, eh? With 21 seconds to spare - and not intentionally - this race was nothing short of suspenseful.

I grew up watching The Price Is Right. Who didn't? At around mile 20 of each of these races, it's as if Bob Barker calls upon me to, "Come on down!" to join Contestants' Row to see how close can I get to 2:59:59 without going over. My strategy of late is this: 2:14:00 or better at mile 20 allows me to slow the pace to about 7:15/mile for the final 10K. In this case, Montana was set to be my 8th sub-3-hour marathon in the last 10 months and I'm beginning to feel worn out.

But enough about running for a bit...

I had been looking forward to this trip since I pulled out of it last year because of a skateboarding injury during my taper (I know, I'm a dummy. It wasn't even during a cool trick or anything). I flew into Missoula on Thursday and found myself sitting creekside at Highlander Brewing Co. a few minutes later. It's a 5-hour drive to the Swiftcurrent Motor Inn on the east side of Glacier National Park, most of which is breathtaking. While Going-to-the-Sun Road is the star roadway in the area, driving along the coast of Flathead Lake is also quite pleasing; you'll see plenty of cottages, cherry farms, and a smattering of cute towns.

Found it!

Going-to-the-Sun Road is the main artery crossing the Glacier National Park. Its 50-miles of winding white-knuckle turns, idyllic overlooks, glacier lakes, wildflowers, waterfalls, trailheads, and wildlife give you a great introduction to such a magnificent area.

With so many hiking options and so little time, I opted for a 10-mile guided hike to Iceberg Lake that left Friday (the 13th) morning from the Swiftcurrent Motor Inn. This hike took us through bear country, and presented sweeping views of glacier cutouts and, finally, a glacier lake. Having a National Park ranger as a guide really enhanced the hike.

Iceberg Lake - the water is about a degree above freezing, touch it!

Without a room booked for Friday night, I leisurely made my way back to the west entrance, stopping here and there to admire how glaciers sculpted the land, and the pristine waters of Lake McDonald at its impressive namesake lodge. But at $300 a night, I drove on in search of a brewery and cheaper accommodations.

Ooh, bear claws... Oh, not the pastry.

In driving toward Whitefish, I happened upon Backslope Brewing in Columbia Falls. With 30 minutes before last call (Montana state law prohibits breweries from serving past 8pm), I realized I probably wasn't going to make it to a brewery in Whitefish and pulled on over. Priorities, ya know?

I sat next to a woman from Palatine. She saw my IL driver's license and we struck up a conversation. She left IL a few years ago for the scenery of Montana. Every time I travel west, I wonder why I don't live there. I admire those that take the chance and move. I've suggested it more than once to The Wife, and hopefully one of these days I'll finally convince her...

For now, I found a room at the Glacier Inn Motel down the road from the recently opened Gunsight Bar & Grill, where I caught a band in their beer garden. And with that, the day ended pretty abruptly; I was tired.

Blues band, beer, and mountain air

A local recommendation led me to Buffalo Cafe in Whitefish for breakfast. Huckleberries, a top food source for bears in the area, pop up on nearly every human menu as well (in beers, pancakes, coffees, and milkshakes). Seeing as I am A Bear On The Run and have two bears tattooed on my arm sleeve, I ordered the huckleberry pancakes and wasn't disappointed.

It's 3 hours back to Missoula, and by timing it right, I was able to stop at Flathead Lake Brewing Co., to grab some roadside Flathead cherries, and then arrive at packet pickup with 30 minutes to spare. The view from the brewery's patio overlooking the lake is worth the stop.

And then I settled into Imagine Nation Brewing with Thai takeout from Pagoda across town - well worth the long wait. This brewery is everything I find many breweries to lack: a focus on community over profit. Their story tells it best, read it HERE. So while their beers followed the same old New England IPA trend du jour, the names of their beers (including No Human Being is Illegal! and Freedom Fighter) and a community calendar supporting education and activism (even hosting free HIV testing events), leave an impression far greater than most breweries I've visited across the country.

And then I remembered I was here to race.

I had to be on a bus at 4:30am to make the 6am race start. It's a point A to point B course running west to east. The first half of this race is great: I loved the sunrise, temperature in the 50s, and peaceful two-lane road that runs along a mountain range and river at 3,300ft above sea level. The second half is where it gets a bit challenging. There's a nice hill at mile 14 then not much shade along an undulating road from about mile 18 - 22. The day was forecasted to be 90F and the sun really began to take its toll at 8am.

At mile 20 I hit my 2:14:00 strategy goal. Unfortunately, my legs couldn't stay under 7:15/mile from there on: mile 21 - 7:25, mile 22 - 7:28, mile 23 - 7:26, mile 24 - 7:22... Sure, a few seconds here and there doesn't sound like the end of the world, but with a margin of error already calculated down to the very last second, it can be catastrophic. At mile 24, the 3-hour pacer passed me and I knew I was in real trouble. Then my mind started to focus on the financial and training cost of doing this trip again, and that became a big motivator. I gave it everything I had, grunting and all, to catch that pacer, and at mile 26.1, I did! You know what's more exhilarating than Deena Kastor putting a finisher medal around your neck at this finish? Not having to come back to try it again!

You see that 3:00 pacer behind me? 

This race ends on the Clark Fork River and there's nothing more refreshing than a post-race river bath. I settled in to Missoula Club, a dive bar that serves milkshakes and cheeseburgers with pickles, PBR mustard, onions and that's all. What more do you need? The rest of the day was a blur of breweries (Kettle House, Draught Works - I'll never forget your Tomatillo Sour!, Bayern, and Imagine Nation again), and The Big Dipper for an unnecessary amount of ice cream - 6 scoops (including a huckleberry flavor, of course) with all the fixings.

I mean, it WAS National Ice Cream Day

Weird, yet it worked

Before flying out Monday afternoon, I had to visit Big Sky Brewing for their Moose Drool Brown Ale (more for the memory of first drinking it on a trip to Jackson Hole, Wyoming years ago) and others (which are mostly better). It's a worthy stop so close to the airport, and a nice way to wrap up another great Western Experience.