Since we had "picked" the restaurant for the group to eat at after the Day #1 marathon, then it was on Jennifer H. to pick Day #2's dinner spot. It was a little North of Stateline (where the casinos are located) in Zephyr's Cove and we met there separately at what looked from the outside to be a dive bar. They were a few minutes late due to driving past the place and having to circle back. They had found it in a travel magazine at the hotel/casino and it was billed as one of the oldest bar and grill in the area. Once seated, we got the story from Jennifer about her wallet. Turns out, other people were off in the woods using the restroom, due to the whole only 1 port a potty thing at the startline and a girl had found the money, credit cards, and her ID. Then, with the powers of Facebook, the girl sent a Facebook message, found out where she was staying and then dropped it off at the front desk of the hotel! Nothing missing. Jennifer had also suffered from achilles tendonitis (heel pain) pain from day #2 which made for a slower day for the last marathon on day 3.
Anywhoo, dinner was actually really good, the waitress was great, and we hatched plans to track down the 72 mile runners that had just started in South Lake Tahoe at 8pm for the "early" start, in order to cheer them on. However, as we approached the turn back up to the top of Heavenly where our hotel was, we turned left to go to bed early. We were caught by the others as they saw us turn, but it was worth it to get the extra sleep since the start line was 1 hour away on the far side of the lake.
Start line was at a park beach in Tahoe City, with the race starting at 7am. They had a bag piper playing at the start, and we saw the same guy again about 13 miles into the race on a scenic overlook.
The walkers who started 30 minutes before the runners almost needed an alternative start as the sprinklers had turned on throughout the park....luckily they turned off just in time, albeit making for a wet ground start in the grass for all.
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| Triple Marathoners |
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Last minute instructions at the start line,
note the tree as it was the official start line |
As a slight reprieve from the first 2 days, the first 10 miles were mostly flat and mostly had an entire lane of the road closed for the runners. The other days we were primarily on the shoulder of the road and it got close a few times with both cars and bicyclists along the course. We hugged the lake as we headed south and were treated to being able to watch the full sunrise progression.
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| Flat at altitude |
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| I'm in green, Jennifer in the blue tank |
Now, HH's crewing skills ramped up a notch for this race with adaptation of a resupply messenger bag, as the race was on the left side of the rode and cars needed to park on the right side and then crew had to cross one lane of traffic to offer support.
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| Work bag turned crew support bag, like magic! |
We picked up the half marathoners at, the halfway point, and from there to the finish the left lane was completely closed to traffic which was nice on those windy mountain roads. Then the hills set in, first once that was 1.3 miles long, the second passing Emerald Bay was "only" 0.5 miles long. Cumulative elevation gain for the course was 2,700ft!
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| Emerald Bay from HH's crew spot |
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Walking up the 0.5m hill,
I was a little winded while running |
After the second big hill to inspiration point it was either downhill, flat, or a little uphill, and was all repeat terrain from the first 10k of the first day's marathon. We finished at Pope Beach (on the park's road) near the town of South Lake Tahoe and was treated to hot dogs from the city, water and gatorade from the race. Some people soaked again in the lake afterwards but it did not seem appealing and most in the group just sat at a picnic table socializing and telling stories.
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| Finished and in need of some sunglasses. |
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| Marathon Maniac Photo |
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| Hanging out with GREAT people, one of several reasons why I run |
The real rockstar of the weekend was HH as my crew. He was super helpful in offering water/gatorade/pretzels on day 1 and 2 as there were only 4-5 aid stations each of those days. He also became a rockstar as he offered these things to all the Triple Marathoners that came by when he was in a particular crewing location. Once I had finished and sat down, he went to go cheer on those that he had helped the last few days. He got hugs from old ladies to thank him for his support, and one couple told him he had to come back next year to help with their attempt at the 72 mile race!
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| HH in his easy to spot shirt he wore to crew |
Statistics
Day 1 Emerald Bay to Spooner Lake (counter clockwise direction each race)
5:12:04 (11:55 min/mile)
44th/100 runners
1,700 ft of elevation gain
Day 2 Spooner Lake to Tahoe City
4:47:18 (10:58 min/mile)
42nd/111 runners
1,100 ft of elevation gain
Day 3 Tahoe City to Pope Beach
4:56:07 (11:18 min/mile)
2,700 ft of elevation gain
Next up, Lakefront Marathon, Milwaukee, WI 10/7/12
Repeat state, lifetime marathon or longer #48
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