39/50 - Casper Marathon

Giddy up, legs!

This race was a last minute addition after the Fargo Marathon 2 weeks ago: I felt great, it fit the schedule, and I could book it on the cheap. I knew that I would have to acclimate to the 1-mile high elevation so I arrived in Fort Collins, CO on Thursday night, giving me 2.5 days to get my body to adjust. In contrast to my modus operandi, I actually reviewed the course elevation chart and compared it to recent failures to run sub-3-hours at elevation out west (Oregon and South Dakota). I could do this course in under 3 hours.

I flew into Denver and drove to a hippie hostel commune that we discovered last year when we stayed in Fort Collins on the Mickelson Trail Marathon / Revel Rockies Marathon trip. My wife did yoga at Solarium International Hostel and raved about the hostel so I booked a bunk bed in a room with 3 other strangers. This place is amazing! It's like staying in a greenhouse, on a river, on a bike path. The following pictures are of the interior courtyard:

I walked down the street to Colorado State University campus in search of a brewery... which took half a mile - this IS Colorado. Great eats were had at Music City Chicken for their Nashville Fried Chicken before I ventured next door to Black Bottle Brewery.

When I returned to Solarium, I saw a suggestion for great hiking at Horsetooth Mountain, about 20 minutes away. What better place to do a 5-mile easy run 2 days before the marathon, I thought? I made plans to drive there Friday morning.

An early view about 3 miles into this run

Now, I'm not completely naive. I love mountain running. I do this every time I head west. I've run the Pikes Peak Marathon. There is nothing more exhilarating to me than a run along a mountain trail where I tune out the Garmin and run by feel, jumping in creeks or waterfalls at will. However, after this run, my quads were starting to feel the wrath of some elevation drops that I hadn't anticipated. 5 miles turned into 7. While I felt the effort was not hard, my legs would tell me otherwise the next morning.

As you can see, this is probably not the best run to do when you have a marathon in 2 days

After the run, I drove straight to the breakfast suggestion I also picked up at Solarium: Lucile's Creole Cafe. This breakfast cafe knows New Orleans about as good as New Orleans knows itself. It was packed but I found a seat at the bar next to a gentleman (a retiring Union Pacific train engineer) that was quick to chat. This is my favorite part of traveling. If it weren't for my discussions with him, I would have never driven the route to Casper, WY that I'll talk about shortly.

After a quick nap, I walked to Rally King Brewing, my favorite brewery of the trip. Many of their beers, from IPAs to sours are memorable, even if their location is not. Sitting on their balcony in a faceless plaza, I struck up a conversation with Jim, a writer for an athletic publication. We waxed poetic about running, cycling, Leadville, Russia, beer. He left and I sought dinner.

Spicier than last night's fried chicken

Fort Collins has a great downtown promenade. It's Friday night and people are congregating around a live band under the band shelter, drinking beers, watching their kids dance their asses off. I found pie at The Chocolate Cafe, beer at Equinox Brewing, and donuts (on National Donut Day) at Peace, Love, and Little Donuts. You can take your pro-athlete nutritional regimen and shove it.

Hippie donuts at my hippie commune

Saturday morning is when it hit me: my quads are shredded. A 2-mile shakeout run confirmed it. I took a yoga class at my hostel hoping for some relief. It's a 5-hour drive to Casper. It could be 3 hours, but my engineer friend suggested taking the scenic route: Snowy Range Scenic Byway through Medicine Bow National Forest. Any time you have a chance to veer off the Interstate, do it! This route took me to the Saratoga Hot Springs; this gem of a public hot spring is located on the outskirts of an unassuming small town. It's free. It's got a couple of pools and a river with natural hot springs. Maybe this will help my aching legs?

The road just opened last week and the snow was 12 feet deep at points

Medicine Bow Peak

The main hot spring pool and bathhouse, all free

Alright, alright, let's get to the race.

If it weren't for us 50-state-marathon runners, the Casper Marathon might not exist. Fortunately, it does and it's celebrating 15 years. The race hotel, the Ramada Inn, is the finish line. That's convenient. It's a short bus ride to the convention center, the highest point of the course at 5,300ft, where the start is located. Bathrooms and shelter are available inside - another convenience. If the forecast weren't 90 and sunny, it would be a great place to stay warm before the start.

This might not be a familiar sensation to many of you, but at the start line, I felt like I did on day 2 of back-to-back marathons. My head was ready but my legs couldn't find that next gear. There's 120 of us running the marathon so it got lonely quick. Luckily, there has never been a course more well-marked than this one. I hung onto a sub-3-hour pace until about mile 14. Knowing it wasn't going to happen, I tried to hang onto 2nd place, hoping for a payout that would subsidize my plane ticket back to Wyoming. I finished in 3:10:48 in 2nd place... with no payout. Coincidently, the last time I missed my sub-3-hour goal was 1 year ago on this day in South Dakota, with a similar time of 3:10:24. I should just not run on this weekend!

The course is beautiful - much of it is rolling hills on the Platte River Trails that follow the North Platte River. The finish party was quite stocked with food and beer for such a small race. It was hot and sunny and the elevation was a mile high; I was comfortable with those factors. In the end, I made a mistake that cost me the sub-3-hour goal yet I don't regret it. 55 marathons later and I'm still learning. I had a drive to the airport to reflect on this with time for one more brewery along the way: Freedom's Edge Brewing Co. in Cheyenne, WY.

Oh, FHS!

While I won't pay for the race pic, the look on my face says I paid dearly

 I'll be back Wyoming!

38/50 - Fargo Marathon

It's me, "kinda funny looking, in a general sorta way."

Fargo was the perfect marathon trip to celebrate my 38th state marathon for my 38th birthday. On occasion, I turn one of these state marathon experiences into a group trip for the Libertyville Running Club - the club I founded. It's trips like this where others get to see firsthand how a seemingly uninteresting city can actually be a lot of fun and that the goal isn't so much getting to and running the race as it is about the discoveries along the way. Perspective can produce completely different experiences; my hope is that this blog entry, and the others before it, inspire you to embrace a new experience.

The Fargo Marathon is a week-long event and something the city clearly takes pride in. There's 9 hours of driving between Libertyville, IL and Fargo, ND and by leaving early enough, we got there in 31 hours - you've got to plan for the unplanned stops. We left Thursday morning and Ale Asylum made for a worthy lunch stop. From there, Surly Brewing Co. coincided with dinner. This place recently constructed a massive brewpub and production facility making beer that is still consistently good.

The Ale Asylum Crüe

It was here that I made a decision I regretted for days... I did not treat myself to the gift shop flannel shirt. While it enveloped my body in its slim-fitted, Brawny-like woodsy warmth, I asked myself: Can a ginger pull off a red flannel? Is it worth $60? Are these sleeves a bit short? The answer to all three questions undoubtedly, was yes. However, we departed for Luke's lakeside cabin 1.5 hours away without the flannel - a location that would prove fitting for such a majestic piece of lumberjack-inspired apparel.

Luke's cabin in Watab, MN has been in his family since World War II. It's a beautiful wooded lot on Little Rock Lake with a cabin, a log guest house, a sauna building, and a tree house, much of which his dad built. Upon arrival, seven of us piled into the sauna to sweat out the day's beer, followed with a fireside chat before bed. In the morning, our lakefront theater hosted a beautiful sunrise - which I saw a lovely photo of after I awoke at 7am.

I'm sure this was great to see in person. Thanks for the pic, Ryan!

After a group run, breakfast made by a couple of the guys, and a showing of the movie Fargo, we had quotes that would sustain us for the rest of the trip and food that would sustain us until the next brewery... in 2 hours for lunch. Big Axe Brewing was not necessarily on the way but we were inspired to head north to Brainerd, MN to find the Paul Bunyan statue and the Blue Ox truck stop motel featured in the movie - we found neither. However, Big Axe proved to be one of the more entertaining and enjoyable unplanned stops in our travels. Take for example this interaction between a sarcastic Grumpy Old Man-type patron and the bartender:

     Patron: What d'ya got that tastes like PBR?

     Bartender: Here's something you might like. (hands Patron a beer)

     Patron: (takes a sip) TASTES LIKE HAMM'S!

The beer was damn good. Their flannel however, was not quite right.

"He steps lightly with his right foot and heavy with his left. This cursed devil scours the woods felling any tree giving him a crooked look." - The Axe Kicker beer label description OR a description of Syed

We finally made it to Fargo at 5pm for packet pickup and dinner (at a brewery, of course) with the others that took more direct routes. The next morning was race day.

The pre-race dinner Crüe minus Lauren, Ann, Erin, and Vaughn

Staying at the Scandia Hotel was a wise choice and, well, every other downtown hotel was sold out. It's walking distance to downtown and about 2 miles to the Fargodome. You could not have asked for better running weather with clouds and temps hovering around the low 40s all morning. The race starts inside the Fargodome providing pre-race warmth, bathrooms aplenty, and post-race showers.

The course is well-routed through various neighborhoods, parks, college campuses, riverwalks, and city streets giving us a pretty good tour of the area. Hell, we would have completely missed out on Drekker Brewing Co., our post-race favorite, had we not run past it around mile 24. The residents of Fargo really contribute to the atmosphere of the race by hosting their own cheer stations and front yard parties to welcome us to their city.

I started with Tom and Ryan who were first-time marathoners with the impressive goal of running a sub-3-hour marathon. Our plan was to start with a few 7-minute miles then fall into 6:40s. Well, we mostly did that. Around mile 13, Tom and I pulled slightly ahead and by mile 18, I no longer heard his breathing. Hoping to be a carrot and stay in Tom's sights, I lingered to chat with Kurt who was running the half marathon when we met up around mile 21. I finished with a close-to-even split in 20th/1,302 (2nd in my age group behind the overall winner) with a finish time of 2:55:46. Check North Dakota off the list for my 33rd sub-3-hour state marathon.

Somewhere near the finish with no one shouting out my custom bib name "Happy BDay!"

I went through the chute then joined Jeremy at the finish line to cheer on the rest of our club - there were 16 of us. The jumbotron was showing video of the runners at mile 26 so we could be ready for them. Most of us wear the Nefarious shirt for easy spotting and cult-like intimidation. It garnered a few comments from the religious participants; the race did begin with the Our Father prayer.

They even made a wine for us.

One by one, we came through the finish and joined the group to cheer on the next runner until we walked and ran in our last two, Michael and Syed, from mile 26. No runner left behind; that's how we roll! All of our group had a PR and/or successful race. Everything came together at this one.

Bringing in Syed

Afterward, the race hosts a bar crawl, complete with a medal, but we opted for our own. Starting at Würst Bier Hall, we walked next door to Drekker Brewing Co. where we engaged in conversation with a few women that also ran and were enjoying a post-race "recovery" drink. With two more in tow, we ventured over to Fargo Brewing Company for a Fargo-themed beer called The Woodchipper and a round of Cards Against Humanity. No good decisions were made after this stop, nevertheless, we persisted.

Fargo Brewing Company - probably when we should have called it a night.

We departed for home after a run and Babb's Coffee House the next morning. Well, home eventually. This was my birthday and I'll be damned if we weren't going back to Surly for that flannel! From there, we made a short detour to Toppling Goliath in Decorah, IA for great beer and pizza delivery. Our car still managed to keep this a 4-day trip by pulling into my driveway at 11:59pm fueled by Dot's Pretzels (a North Dakota staple) which of course I'm eating while typing this and Scotcharoos (a Wisconsin favorite) which I'm also eating while typing this.

The moment you've all been waiting for: the Surly flannel.

Next up: Missoula Marathon on July 9th.

32nd Sub-3-hour Marathon State: The Ohio Redo

You know me, GO SPORTS!

After a dozen or so sub-3-hour marathons, I changed my original 50-state-marathon goal to running them all in under 3 hours; to my knowledge, there are less than 10 people that have done so. My previous Ohio marathon was the first time I ran a back-to-back marathon (2011 Kentucky Derby Marathon on Saturday and 2011 Flying Pig Marathon on Sunday) and my post about that race starts with, "And here we are, a couple of post-race beers, a shot of bourbon, and 100 miles (drive) later..." Needless to say, I had to redo Ohio.

That brings me to Canton, OH for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Marathon. I had never heard of this race until a friend, Carrie, mentioned she was running it. I changed my plans from another OH race and in doing so, was able to add the Eisenhower Marathon 3 weeks ago. Little did I know at the time that Canton was home to the McKinleys and is now the resting place of William and his wife, Ida and home of the McKinley Presidential Library - by now you know my love of presidential history. Everything's coming up Milhouse!

Ohio trips involve a visit with family and beers at Fat Head's Brewery - easily one of our favorite breweries. While surfing channels at the hotel, I stumbled upon a public access music showcase with Strand of Oaks - he rips, check it out! After visiting family and the North Olmsted and new Middleburg Heights Fat Head's locations, we left the kids with Grandma to spoil at will and drove to Canton on Saturday afternoon.

It's 5pm, the expo closes at 6pm, and we still don't have a hotel reservation to this SOLD OUT race! But I did get a good laugh from the volunteer that handed me my GO SPORTS custom bib name. The race hotel and probably the best hotel in the area, McKinley Grand Hotel, had a few reservations open up at reduced rates so we lucked out. The hotel houses artifacts pertaining to President McKinley. It's located half a mile from the start and across the street from Ida McKinley's family home - now the National First Ladies' Library.

The National First Ladies' Library

Burial site of President McKinley and First Lady

We met with Carrie et al. for dinner. After a presidential night's sleep, I awoke in time for a short walk to the start line. The temperature was set to rise to the mid-80s; the faster I get this over with, the better. After a 15-minute delayed start, we were off.

Within minutes, I fell in line with Chuck Engle and a small entourage. Remember Chuck? I've mentioned him in previous posts; he's the guy with 350-some sub-3-hour marathons and likely the first person to have run all 50 states in under 3 hours. I figured I would stay with him but he didn't fare so well in the heat as he dropped off pace after 5 miles. I was soon alone.

I enjoyed the course. It's got some slight rolling hills and shows you what it can of Canton. It's out and back so there is a lot of opportunity to cheer for my fellow runners. In fact, I don't recall being cheered for by runners as much as this race - good midwestern people! It did get a bit warm and the course wasn't so generous with shade. I had a woman ride past me, stop to shout, "you're my hero!", then ride ahead to do it again and again until the end of the race. That ruled. I finished 8th of 1,227 with a time of 2:56:29.

Near the end: kind of hot, kind of wet.

Book of Shadows is a witchcraft shop on the course. I had to go back.

After a shower, we ventured into Cultured Coffee & Waffles Co. for beer and waffles. I know, their name is misleading. We met Christine and walked to Mile 26 to cheer for the rest of the runners. It was wild to see how strong the winds were getting: knocking over the course flags and creating litter cyclones. I ran the last stretch in with Carrie and back we went for more beer and waffles then lunch at BJ's Brewhouse - the best option we had since the Canton Brewing Company was closed on Sunday.

Carrie and I flashing the (Michael) Stehling.

I've mentioned in the last two state entries that I've been going to physical therapy and Pilates to fix this hamstring issue. In addition to that help, my therapist/instructor recommended staying at Gervasi Vineyard (Thanks Rachel!) so we headed there Sunday afternoon. This rustic Tuscan-style winery and villa seemingly doesn't belong: it's a beautiful property with a couple of restaurants, upscale villas around a lake, and a jogging/biking path on the outskirts of Canton. After a nice dinner (their ice wine was really good) and childless night's sleep, The Wife and I enjoyed a peaceful morning 5K and breakfast before reclaiming our offspring.

Most peaceful coffee I've had in a while.

At least they were exhausted.

Next up: Fargo Marathon on May 20th.

37/50 - Eisenhower Marathon

Carry on wayward son! Yes, I'm listening to Kansas while typing this

I registered 2 days before this race, just as I was about to get in the car for the 10-hour road trip. Ok, this race was on my radar for a few months but I've got a nagging hamstring strain that won't leave me alone. After the Snickers Marathon 5 weeks ago, I needed to address it: physical therapy, Pilates, rest. Just before leaving, I got a call from my son Mars' school that he fell off the playground equipment. After an ER trip and 4 staples in his head, I was on the road. Poor kid.

Abilene "City of the Plains", Kansas was considered the wildest town in the west as a bustling stockyard for cattlemen traversing the Chisholm Trail after the Civil War. It is also the birthplace of the cowboy boot; true story. Nowadays, it is home to the Eisenhower Presidential Library, Dwight Eisenhower's boyhood home, and about 7,000 people. The main drag is lined with stately colonial homes surrounded by less fortunate dwellings. I couldn't find anything wild (oh, I looked) but President Eisenhower was a fascinating man!

President Eisenhower's boyhood home

Boots made for Ike as President

While looking for Kansas marathons to run a sub-3-hour race, this one came up as the best option. Most of my research for this 50-state marathon goal comes from Marathon Guide. This is a small race that combines the marathon with a half marathon, 10K, and 5K and is set up as 2 half marathon loops. I like these. You get to survey the course then you know what to expect on the second loop. For small races, it ensures you're never alone for too long.

I've mentioned before that I don't have a pre-race regiment. Enter Joe Snuffy's fried chicken. This homey diner is reminiscent of your grandparents' wood paneled, drop ceiling basement - probably with similar cooking. I listened as the pre-dinner staff meeting unfolding in front of me discussed the exotic special item for the evening: gyros. Or is it gee-rohs. Or maybe guy-roos. No one could be quite certain. This place knows fried chicken.

It was as greasy (and delicious) as it looks

The first loop went well. You climb slightly uphill to the 6.5-mile turn around then coast back down to the start line. I fell into second place after a few miles and that hamstring kept its mouth shut. Lap number 2 brought the sun and warmer temperatures - the day would reach the low 80s. I realized at this point that 2nd place was secure so I dialed it back a bit. There is a part of me that truly enjoys the thrill of just finishing under 3 hours. I like to get to a point in a marathon where I determine that I can still run a sub-3-hour race by dialing back the remaining miles to a 7-minute pace. It's a dance with the clock and any miscalculation can cost me the entire goal. By finishing in 2:58:33, I kept it exciting and had minimal pain in the hamstring. I now have 31 sub-3-hour marathon states completed. Another one bites the dust!

I won $300, I'm a paid runner! Time to take myself seriously, get some sponsors, and post my running exploits incessantly - complete with a lot of unnecessary pound signs. Or I can just hit up the donut shop on my way out of town and spend with reckless abandon. I think you know what I did. #donuts.

This is Mary Eisenhower, Dwight's granddaughter, handing out the awards

From Abilene, it's 2.5 hours to Kansas City, MO (I could have made it longer as I stopped to consider a visit to the Wizard of Oz museum but hunger won). Kansas City, KS is not a city to me because all the great BBQ is on the Missouri side. I drove straight to Danny Edward's BBQ for burnt ends. It's another 4 hours to St. Louis where I met with friends at Perennial Artisan Ales (a highlight of the St. Louis Marathon blog post 2 years ago).

You know it's good by the bars over the windows and doors

Rural America is beautiful. I love to drive through areas of wide open space, poverty and wealth, historic land and buildings, stocked with podcasts, music, and NPR. Having conversations with locals is what moves me to see more and see differently. Try it. I haven't been to a state marathon I haven't enjoyed because of it... or maybe I just enjoyed 4 peaceful days without the kids.

Next up: Ohio in a couple of weeks.

So serious

36/50 - Snickers Marathon

Albany, GA - Birthplace of Ray Charles under scandalous pretenses

First of all, the Snickers Marathon and Half Marathon in Albany, GA is very well done. I'm a race director and though I sometimes take for granted the effort that goes into staging races, I do notice the little touches that make a great event. Albany is not a city you would immediately think to visit when you think of Georgia. However, the routing of this course showcased the diversity and beauty of a city steeped in civil war and civil rights history. Translation: a lot of turns! And though I ran 24 of these miles completely alone, I was never confused. That's pretty remarkable.

After a solid run of 12 marathons in as many months, I finally succumbed to a strained hamstring in October and took some time off to rehabilitate. I wasn't sure I would be healed in time to run this race so in true fashion, I waited until 2 weeks prior to book anything. Of course, no plans are the best plans.

Arriving in Atlanta Friday afternoon, I made the 3-hour drive to Albany via highway roads dotted with pecan farms (a beautiful site to see), small cotton mill towns, giant mossy oak tree-lined streets, and the occasional plantation mansion. Most hotels were booked but I found one yesterday and it worked out just fine: takeout from a great little Italian place nearby, the ID Network's murder mystery shows, asleep before 8pm. This is what escaping the chaos of my everyday life looks like.

Pecan orchard - the uniformity alone is beautiful

With 8+ hours of sleep the night before a race, 45 degrees and sunny at the start, and a leftover cannoli in the fridge, I really had no excuse to not meet my sub-3-hour goal. These trips are not cheap to have to revisit and with 29 completed going into this one, I'm feeling the pressure to fund my kids' 529 plans. I had a goal of starting with 7-minute-miles then running comfortable to a 2:55 finish time. I'll spare you the suspense: I nailed it - 2:55:30 for state #30. Well, except for the "comfortable" part. I felt the hamstring sing from mile 16 on and dealt with an unexpected calf pain for 24 miles. Still, I wasn't about to redo Georgia, as beautiful as this state is.

Taking it in stride

With Snickers and Miller Coors as sponsors, this race has some impressive prize money and as such, draws a fast field for 500+ marathoners. My time, which would normally put me in the top 5 for a race this size, landed me in 20th place! Prize money be damned, I was more interested in the free post-race massage and let me tell you, I am going to be chasing the dragon here - best damn massage I've ever had! Unreal. He worked the hell out of those issues I mentioned above. I miss him already.

What now? It's a beautiful day and a 3-hour drive to Savannah, I'd be stupid not to! So off I went. Now if you've stayed in Savannah on a weekend, you know the hotels in the Historic District are $250+ and mostly booked. Hell, it's hard to just find parking. See my comment above about "no plans are the best plans". Let's see how this unfolds, shall we?

There are so many nooks and crannies in this city that the best way to experience it is to walk, so for the next 8 hours, that's what I did. I walked to the south end of Forsyth Park then zig zagged my way back through all of the Historic District neighborhood through its 21 squares, stopping to take in the sites and shops at will. Did I mention you can walk the streets with alcohol? Well, you can. And of course I Strava'd it, 9 miles. HERE.

Forsyth Park - 30 acres of serene park space and open alcohol

I've been missing playing in a band lately so I set out for some live music. Damon and the Shitkickers ripped it up with some outlaw country at The Jinx, a cover band on the street went from Prince to Rage Against the Machine seamlessly, and In Business closed my night with some solid booty-shakin' funk at Congress Street Social Club. Parked 2 blocks away in front of the post office, I passed out in the car for 5 hours until sunrise, pleased with the extra $250 in my pocket.

"This shit ain't gonna kick itself!"

A room with a view

As part of my adventures that evening, I mingled with a mother and daughter at Moon River Brewing and regaled them with stories of how an alligator becomes a designer handbag (the daughter works for a NYC designer and I worked for a family that farms alligator skins for those bags). THEY bought ME a drink and told me to visit Tybee Island. So when I woke up, I drove to that sleepy old school beach town for a stroll on the beach. I then headed back to Savannah for breakfast at Clary's Cafe before the 3.5-hour drive to explore Atlanta until my 9pm flight.

The view from under Tybee Island pier at sunrise

Atlanta is a great city with too much to see in one day. With that said, there are two things I love: history and hipsters. The Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site is emotional and given America's current state of affairs, the history within is frighteningly foretelling. Follow this up with a visit to Margaret Mitchell's gravesite at Oakland Cemetery and it would drive any Gone With the Wind lovin', equal rights advocate to the brink of a stiff drink. And so I headed to The Porter Beer Bar in the Little 5 Points neighborhood - an eclectic mix of restaurants, resale shops, and bars. Before splitting for the airport, I stumbled upon The Vortex for a great burger with a side of shut-the-hell-up-this-is-the-way-we-do-things. Seriously, it's on the menu - peruse their Policies tab on the website to see what I'm talking about.

Yep, that's apt

35/50 - Des Moines Marathon

That 50th marathon look

50 marathons! Let's reminisce a bit: this all started back in 2001 when I was dating a girl who wanted to run the Chicago Marathon one day. I signed up for the 2001 Chicago Marathon a week later, not knowing exactly what a marathon even was. Stupid me. After that race, I swore I would never do another, yet here we are, 50 marathons over the past 15 years. I also never saw that girl again.

That 1st marathon look of not knowing what the hell you're doing

Let's get nerdy with the stats: the Des Moines Marathon was my 50th marathon, 35th different state marathon, and 31st sub-3-hour marathon. My slowest was the 2010 Pikes Peak Marathon (5:46:57) and my fastest was the 2014 Memphis Marathon (2:47:23); you could put two of those Memphis races into that Pikes Peak race and still have time for lunch! Pikes Peak is a tough one and is one of my favorites. My first sub-3-hour marathon was the 2009 Boston Marathon (2:59:06) - the race that kicked off this goal of running a marathon in every state. It was a perfectly executed race for me; I'll never run it again.

My average pace for all 50 marathons? That's 3:07:33. And my average pace for the 35 best state marathons I currently have? That's 2:57:30. Interestingly, my median marathon times are the couple I did in Wisconsin: the 2014 Wisconsin Marathon (2:58:57) and the 2013 Lakefront Marathon (2:58:39). Go Wisconsin!

All I have to show for it is this collection of ribbons and metal alloys

And now Des Moines... This was my 9th marathon this year and 12th in as many months. That schedule was starting to take its toll. Knowing that and knowing how poorly I've been training (read: not cross-training at all), my plan was to just get this one under 3 hours so I wouldn't have to go back to Iowa. Oh right, my ultimate goal is to complete a sub-3-hour marathon in each state. By that measure, the Des Moines Marathon narrowly got me to 29 states (there are 6 I have to redo - VT, ME, FL, OH, SD, OR) with 19 seconds left on the clock. But we'll get to that...

Michael and I made this a quick trip. After a Saturday morning shakeout run with the Libertyville Running Club at home, we drove the 5 & 1/2 hours to Des Moines. Have you been to the Iowa 80 - World's Largest Truck Stop? Michael hadn't. It's really not much to see but they do have a Caribou Coffee so...

We got to Des Moines, went to the expo, then to my delight, Michael had researched and mapped out the best and closest breweries and eats worthy of mention in a marathon blog that's more about beer and food than running. It's like he reads these! First stop: Court Avenue Brewing Company for lunch and, well, beer. Then after checking into the hotel and a few hours of yelling at people on t.v. - we were watching Tiny House Hunters on HGTV - we were ready to eat again.

Next up on the list of places: Zombie Burger + Shake Lab. This is a place 1995 me would love! Milkshakes were set to a mid-90s punk rock soundtrack - Operation Ivy & Social Distortion right off the bat. Everything is simple and fresh (think In-N-Out Burger), zombie-themed, AND delicious. Based on how crowded this place was and the recommendation from a local friend seconding this place, I'd say it's a must when in Des Moines. Back to the hotel for some murder-mystery shows. I'm starting to realize these are not Michael's favorite but they're my guilty pleasure.

The race started at 8am Sunday and we were 4 blocks from the start. This is sleeping in when you have 3 little kids at home. As I'm walking to the start corral, I stumbled upon a familiar face from college; Megan and I were friends and orientation leaders at NIU back in 2000/2001. I met her husband and friends then off we went. In our corral, Michael and I ran into Tom, also from the LRC, then kicked this off at a reasonable pace (6:45 min / mile).

It was warm and humid with an eerie, dense fog hanging around all morning (see race photo above). It might as well have just rained; we were drenched. Despite that, Des Moines has some great sights on display along the course: the stately homes along Kingman Blvd, Gray's Lake, and the Iowa State Capitol were some of the highlights. Of course things got a bit ugly on the hilly part around the Capitol (mile 23 - 25). Whose idea was it to put that there?!

Put a little gold on your dome

We were pretty consistent through mile 21, running together (crossing the timing mats at the same time to give those tracking us back home something to speculate over) and posing for every photographer. However, I was done. We both were. I faded knowing there was a 3-hour pace group that would soon catch up and keep me on track. Michael faded a little less. Sure enough, the first pacer passed me around mile 23 and the second pacer caught me around mile 24 and took me in with a finish of 2:59:40. Just enough to check Iowa off the list.

Shout out for 2 consistent 3-hour pacers! Not many races even have pacers for that group. Honorable mention to the guy running a 6:30 min/mile then walking 20 seconds that we passed (and who passed us) 26 times! I've never seen that strategy for a sub-3-hour marathon.

This race knows how to have a good time. It is well-organized and has a most righteous afterparty. Massage tables lining the finisher chute, free food from many vendors, and a street fest with beer and entertainment made it worth the price of admission.

I only drink beers that match my outfit

There was only one thing left to do before the drive home... Coffee at Mars Coffee Bar. My son Mars would approve. Oh, and a stop at Maid-Rite to introduce Michael to the classic Iowa burger joint... Or is it a Texas sloppy joe place? 60% of the time, I'm telling the truth but I ALWAYS say it with conviction. So I was half-right Michael, it IS an Iowa thing but more sloppy joe than burger.

34/50 - St. George Marathon

After all, this is Utah

I love the state of Utah. There is something different, almost otherworldly, about it that sets it apart from others: the red sandstone arch formations, colorful gorges & canyons, the Great Salk Lake, the Mormon religion... In & Out Burger. All of it fascinates me.

Our story begins after a flight into Las Vegas, lunch at In & Out Burger, and a 2-hour drive to St. George, UT the day before the race. The St. George Marathon is held on a Saturday - as are many races in Utah - for reasons I can only assume have to do with the followers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) and their more disciplined observance of the Sabbath.

After the expo, we toured the winter home of Brigham Young - founder of Salt Lake City and 2nd president (after Joseph Smith) of LDS. Brigham Young was responsible for relocating the church from Illinois to Utah after Joseph Smith was killed by an angry Illinois mob. Just imagine, Illinois could have been the land of Mormonism! Nothing makes you feel like an outsider more than refusing a free copy of the Book of Mormon from the Elder (who claimed to have done mission work in Libertyville, IL) facilitating the tour. Instead, I asked to see the golden plates. He wasn't so accommodating after that.

Brigham Young's winter home, now a place for the LDS hard sell

St. George is not a party town on a Friday night. We opted for a good night's sleep since we had an early morning bus ride to the start. Similar to the bus debacle at the 2015 Revel Rockies Colorado marathon that Michael (who, along with Cheryl, joined me for this marathon) and I attempted, getting to the start looked to be questionable when we arrived to load the buses at 5am.

In hindsight, we should have known better given that they were incentivizing runners with some great raffle prizes if you loaded the buses between 4-4:15am. So here we are with about 6,000 of the 7,500 participants standing in unorganized chaos hoping for more buses to arrive. In the end, they did arrive and the race was delayed by only 8 minutes. We were on one of the last buses.

Michael and I started off conservatively. In true fashion however, I didn't really look at the map until the day before. This fast, downhill course also has quite a bit of long uphill. We were introduced to that at mile 7 at which point Michael turns to me and asks, "are you ok?" Shortly afterward I see that obnoxiously bright yellow/green Libertyville Running Cult shirt he is wearing fade into the distance.

I was just not feeling it. I decided early to run this smart and secure another sub-3 hour state. I have two more marathons in the next month and just ran one three weeks ago. I successfully ran nearly even splits - 1:27:30 for the first half and 1:27:36 in the second half. Michael on the other hand had the race I knew he was capable of since I first met him two years ago, 2:45:56 - a 5-minute PR! Incredible. I think he fully recovered and ate lunch by the time I finished.

Flashing The Stehling

Swimming at the hotel pool in those short hot pink shorts will turn a few heads, even more so in Utah. Afterward, we cleaned up at the hotel and staked out a spot at the finish line to see Cheryl finish. It was approaching 80 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. Cheryl, Michael, and I all had a great race. The course showcases a beautiful display of mountains and canyons, farms and small towns along a mostly downhill highway. The field of runners is FAST and largely Utah residents. These folks are fit; no surprise given the playground they have to train on.

A best-places-to-eat list of St. George doesn't run too deep so we opted for the best for a celebratory lunch at The Painted Pony before a short drive to Zion National Park to hike the splendid canyon country.

Vantage from the Emerald Pools hike in Zion National Park

Before driving back to Las Vegas Sunday morning, we walked to the LDS temple then enjoyed coffee on top of some cliffs within the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve for sweeping views of St. George. This is a great way to start or end a trip to this area and clearly a popular spot.

The Temple... Of doom?

The Libertyville Running Cult does Utah

There was one recommendation from the 2015 Las Vegas marathon I didn't make it to that we could now remedy before our flight: Frank's Tiki Room. This old school tiki room located off-strip is housed in a dark room with Polynesian-punk kitsch everywhere. Naturally, we bought mugs to commemorate this successful trip.

How can you not want one of these to take home?

Finishing with a cartwheel