I took a morning direct Delta flight out of LAX to the MSO Johnson-Bell Field airport in Missoula, Montana. It was pretty stinking hot when I landed and went outside to wait for my ride to the car rental office. I reserved a car with Thrifty and their office was a short ride from the airport. I had to call on the courtesy phone for them to come pick me up. After filling out the usual paperwork, I got a nice silver Nissan Sentra and was ready to roll. Per the rental agreement, the first 150 miles were included and anything over would be charged at 18 cents a mile. I normally would've taken the bus, but I goofed on booking a place to stay for the weekend. So I ended up in a fleabag motel in the next town over which required that I have a car. Anyways it was off to the expo I go at Caras Park. I had no luck finding a spot in the parking lot next to the park, so I drove over a couple of blocks and found street parking on N Pattee St between E Main St and E Front St. Fortunately meter parking was free on weekends.
I walked over to the expo, picked up my race packet, and ran into the usual suspects near the Marathon Manics booth. I keep bumping into the same Marathon Maniacs at all of these out of state marathons. They didn't have lunch plans but told me that they would text me about dinner. Since I was pretty hungry, I decided to just walk up N Higgins Ave to The Iron Horse Brew Pub.
I found a seat the bar and started with a Big Sky IPA. With the warm weather, this beer really hit the spot. For food I ordered their Iron Horse Burger. It was actually a pretty disappointing burger. The patty was just too plain and tasteless. Oh well, at least they had good beer. I had a Big Sky Moose Drool to help finish off the burger.
Big Sky IPA
Iron Horse Burger
Big Sky Moose Drool
I then walked over to my car and started driving over to my motel, Redwood Lodge, in a small city called Wye. Along the way I stopped by a Safeway to buy water, Powerade, coconut water, and a banana. The motel was pretty easy to find. The lady at the front desk was pretty nice. Unfortunately that was pretty much the only good thing about this place. All they had left when I booked was a smoking room. Beggars can't be choosers, right? The room smelled like an ashtray. I haven't smelled a room this bad since back in the days when Vegas pretty much had nothing but smoking rooms. It was next to a truck stop and Fred's Lounge, where there was exotic dancers and gambling.
I relaxed a bit going through the expo stuff and watching some TV before going back out to meet up with my friends for dinner at an Italian restaurant called Ciao Mambo. Nearby parking was somewhat hard to find. I had to drive a few blocks to find some street parking. I'm thinking the lack of parking was because they had a weekend block party in that area. The place was packed! Thank goodness my friend had made a reservation and we didn't have to wait too long to be seated. I ordered the small version of their Santo Pietro pizza with shrimp. I had a couple glasses of the Shooting Star Syrah to go with the pizza. The pizza was a bit on the salty side but all in all the food was great and the service was excellent! There was a good number of us and they were able to split the check for everybody. We took a picture before going our separate ways.
Shooting Star Syrah
Small sized Santo Pietro pizza with shrimp
Pre-race MM dinner photo from Michael Hammonds
After getting back to my room, it was time to lay out my race gear, GU, and handheld bottle before hitting the hay.
Race gear
Sunday 7/13
I got ready very early in the morning and drove over to the Adams Center parking lot at the University of Montana. A line of cars backed up to S Madison St just at the crossing of the Clark Fork River, but it was steadily moving along. Once I got to the parking lot, it was pretty easy to find a parking spot. I bumped into a fellow Marathon Maniac while walking over to the bus pick up spot, so we rode on the same bus over to the starting line.
At the starting area, it would appear that there was quite a turnout for the Marathon Maniacs. I got in line for the portapotties to take care of the last minute tinkle. Most of us gathered near the starting line and took a group photo before lining up in the corral.
Pre-race MM photo from Stephanie Puckett
Happy early in the race
The weather was going to be hot, so I decided that I would bank some faster miles in the beginning. The legs felt pretty fresh during the first 5k. I got the chance to run a little bit with a fellow Marathon Maniac who is such a speedster. It was only her "slow" pace. As planned, I slowed down the pace once I reached the 5k mark and wished my friend a great race. I got through 10k still feeling good, but then I started having GI issues between miles 7 and 8. It felt a little bit better once I slowed down, but I felt like I was going to crap my pants. So eventually when I saw the portapotties near the mile 12 marker, I had to pull over. Thank goodness one was not occupied. Then came a nice climb. It was pretty much the only significant climb of the race. I decided to just walk the steeper section because my tummy was still not feeling too good. As advertised, we were treated to some nice views to our left. Once we've reached the more residential area, the weather really heated up and I was just running from one sprinkler to another. Thank you Missoula residents for cooling us down! Unfortunately my legs eventually cramped up pretty good and I had to walk a good majority of the next several miles. I was fortunate enough to get the legs loosened up enough to make the run up Higgins Ave to the finish line.
1: 7:49
2: 8:01
3: 8:02
4: 8:20
5: 8:24
6: 8:24
7: 8:43
8: 9:27
9: 9:12
10: 9:14
11: 9:23
12: 11:45
13: 9:29
14: 12:00
15: 10:30
16: 10:36
17: 11:30
18: 11:47
19: 12:42
20: 12:52
21: 13:09
22: 13:28
23: 12:46
24: 13:35
25: 14:10
26: 14:01
26.2: 1:24
Finish: 4:40:42
After grabbing my medal, I bumped into a fellow Marathon Maniac that I had just met yesterday at dinner. It was fun to chat a bit about our difficult races while we waited for friends to finish. After I saw my good friend finish, she went to go get a massage. We picked up some Popsicles and then headed over to Caras Park to get our free beers. The weather may have been hot for a marathon, but it was nice to hang out for a bit in the park.
This race was well organized and the course was enjoyable. Missoula, Montana was definitely as beautiful as advertised and reported by fellow runners that have run this race before. If you decide to run this race, book your room early because I wasn't the only one that was stuck in a fleabag motel!
Scape Goat Pale Ale
I made the beautiful walk along the Riverwalk Trail and Kim Williams Trail back to my car. Along the way I talked with a couple from Florida about running races in warm weather. They were triathletes and were used to training in warm and humid weather. One thing I like about running marathons is being able to talk to a lot of nice people from all over the world.
I drove over to my friend's hotel to shower up and to go have lunch nearby. We decided to eat at The Iron Horse Brew Pub since it was near the pick-up spot for the Tap Room Tour. The place was busy and it took us a short wait to get a small table. We shared a pitcher of Dump Truck. My friend really loved this beer. It was not bad, but I prefer a darker heavier beer or a hoppier beer. This time around I ordered The Griz. This was a much better burger than the Iron Horse Burger that I had yesterday. It was a burger with ham, Jack cheese, fried onions, and a hard fried egg. It was a more substantial burger with a lot more flavor going on here! Make sure you have a nice healthy appetite if you decide to order it.
Pitcher of Dump Truck
The Griz
We walked down the block to the four large red X's in front of the Northern Pacific Railroad Depot at the north end of Higgins Ave. That was where we caught the shuttle for the Tap Room Tour. It was $40 per person and they drove us out to 3 different local breweries to check out their beers. It was pretty fun but the shuttle's air conditioning was not working properly so by the end of the tour I was having none of that heat. I can get a bit cranky when it gets too hot. I'm just not built for warm climates.
Our first stop was at the Kettle House Brewery. We sampled four of their beers on taps: Nitro Cold Smoke, Nitro Cream Ale, Pineapple Lemon Fresh, Double Haul IPA. I liked their Double Haul IPA. I believe it is their most popular beer.
Nitro Cold Smoke, Nitro Cream Ale, Pineapple Lemon Fresh, Double Haul IPA
Our second stop was at the Draught Works Brewery. I had a pint of their Vanilla Bean Gwin Du Oatmeal Stout and I believe my friend had the That's What She Said Cream Ale. I really love vanilla stouts.
That's What She Said!
Our third and final stop was at Bayern Brewing. According to their website, they specialize in authentic Bavarian beer offering traditional German beer styles, using traditional German brewing techniques, using German equipment, with oversight from two German Master Brewers, and in strict accordance with the 1516 German Law of Purity (Reinheitsgebot). I had their Schwarzbier and bought a souvenir t-shirt because I liked their logo.
Schwarzbier
Tap Room Tours
We decided to check out James Bar since it was recommended by the tour guide when he dropped us off. The couple that was with us on the tour had the same idea as we saw them there later on. I had a glass of wine and was pooped. My friend was still going strong. She let me hang out at her room while she stayed out a bit longer. Her hotel room didn't smell like an ashtray, but the air conditioning was not working. She was able to have the hotel management give her a fan, but it did not help much. I must have been super tired because I dozed off in that heat. It turned out that my friend was waiting outside to get in. I felt bad that she had to wait outside, but I guess it was better that I did not drive right after having a bunch of alcohol after the marathon. She also couldn't call me since my phone was on domestic roaming and I had already used up my allotted minutes and data. Keep that in mind if you have T-Mobile and visit Missoula. Luckily I had my 4G tablet so she could leave me a message on Facebook. Anyways, thank goodness my stinky motel room had very cold air conditioning.
Sign outside the James Bar
Monday 7/14
After checking out of my room I drove over to the Carmike 10 movie theater to catch a movie. I decided to watch the Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. There was a 3D version showing in a few minutes when I got there, but I decided to wait about an hour to watch the cheaper 2D version. It was an interesting movie. It was definitely entertaining and kind of silly at times, but one that makes you think.
After watching the movie, I gassed up the car and drove back to the car rental office. Apparently I could drop the car off at the airport. The lady at the office told me to park in a Hertz spot and drop the keys off at the Hertz counter. If there is a next time, maybe I should just rent from Hertz. :)
As to be expected at a tiny airport, the food choices was very limited. I tried to hop on an earlier flight but the gate attendant told me that the earlier flight was full. So I hung out at the airport and it would turn out that my friend also had the same flight back home. We ate at Squatter’s on our layover in Salt Lake City, Utah. I had a glass of 4 Bears Cabernet Sauvignon to go with the Classic Burger with cheddar and salad. The burger was decent, but I think the salad was better than the burger.
4 Bears Cabernet Sauvignon
Classic Burger with cheddar and salad
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