This race was planned only five days in advance, and I knew it would not be a fast one for me by any means. I was a bit nervous about how I'd feel, considering I ran a half marathon last week, a half marathon the day before, and had a 7 hour drive to get to the race.
Missoula is on the way to Glacier National Park, where my wife's family has a cabin that we spend a week each summer. It seemed only appropriate to take advantage of being in the area, and to see why Runner's World Magazine hailed this as the best overall marathon in America.
My splits were: 1:36:26, and 1:48:32. It is clear to say that I fell apart in the second half! I was running on stiff calf muscles, and overall fatigue. It confirmed my belief of taking a couple of days off completely before a race. I could tell from early on that I had very little in the tank and that I would have a literal uphill battle to the finish. My strategy of negative splitting wasn't to be, and just hanging on until the end was all I could do.
I'm glad I did this race, if anything; for the experience. All involved in putting the race together did a wonderful job; the volunteers were plentiful and the community support was better than many I've seen. | 