For this marathon, I used my miles for a free round trip ticket to Casper, Wyoming. It was an early morning Delta flight out of my favorite airport, the Ontario International Airport, with a short layover in Salt Lake City, Utah. For the second leg of my trip, I flew on a small regional jet out of Concourse E. I kind of like it when I get to walk out on the tarmac and board the plane on a ramp.
After the short flight, I landed in Casper in the afternoon. I had reserved a compact car with Hertz, however they gave me a very nice SUV, a Buick Enclave. It had wood paneling and leather seats. Thank goodness it also had an onboard navigation system as my cellphone data service was nonexistent. Darn you, T-Mobile! I had not memorized any maps, so it was good to have some sort of GPS to point me in the right direction.
Buick Enclave
I drove to the McDonald's across the street from my hotel to first eat lunch before checking into my room. I ordered the Bacon Clubhouse Quarter Pounder meal. It was pretty good for a burger from McDonald's, very different from the usual Big Mac or the regular Quarter Pounder. Since it was still a bit too early to check in, I drove down to the nearby Albertsons to buy some drinks and bananas for the weekend. People were staring at me while I was walking up and down the aisles of Albertsons looking for my items. I guess the locals aren't used to seeing Asians in Casper.
Bacon Clubhouse Quarter Pounder meal
After picking up supplies, I drove back to my hotel, the Best Western, to check-in. A few of my fellow Marathon Maniacs spotted me in the lobby. I got a room that was pretty close to the stairs and the side exit door of the hotel. It was a pretty nice room. The cleaning crew even left a handwritten note on the desk. That was a pretty cool touch, because I'm not even sure if they still teach penmanship in school these days.
I watched about an hour's worth of TV on the history of the Belmont Stakes. At about 3 pm, when the expo opened, I drove over to the nearby Ramada to pick up my bib and race shirt. I was done with the expo in about 2 minutes. I saw a bunch of familiar faces there, so I stuck around to chat with a few of them. On the way back to my hotel, I went through the McDonald's drive-thru to pick up my usual pre-race dinner, a Big Mac and 10 pieces of Chicken McNuggets with hot mustard sauce.
When I returned to my room, I went through the expo stuff, laid out my race day breakfast and fluids, and laid out my race day outfit before eating my dinner. Then it was finally time to watch the Belmont Stakes. It was pretty exciting to watch American Pharoah win to join the elite ranks of Triple Crown Winners. No wonder that there's so many people that bet on the ponies!
Big Mac and 10 pieces of Chicken McNuggets with Hot Mustard sauce
Sunday 6/7
The weather forecast had said that there could be rain until noon. It was slightly raining early in the morning when I was getting ready. I decided to just chance it with arm sleeves and a mylar blanket. So when I was ready, I walked over to the Ramada to catch a bus up to the starting line at the Casper Events Center. They opened up the place for us to stay warm indoors and to use the restrooms. They also had a lot of refreshments set up for the runners. The Marathon Maniacs were sort of all gathered in the same general location, so we ended up taking an impromptu group photo before heading over to the starting line.
Marathon Maniacs
Starting line
The race started off with a gloomy overcast. The ground was still a little bit wet. But wow! Be careful what you wish for! Everybody was hoping that the weather would stay dry and boy did it turn out to be a beautiful sunny day! The first 4.5 miles was a big loop with the first and fourth miles almost overlapping. The first mile felt pretty good because it was mostly downhill. Then I got a light headed when there was a slight incline for the next couple of miles so I had to pull way back on the pace. I forgot that Casper was at a much higher elevation than where I call home. Then the course took us to the North Platte River. Most of the course was along or around the river. At about mile 9 we ran by the finish line at the Ramada. I'll see you in another 17 miles! At about mile 11, we crossed a bridge to take a lap around the Three Crowns Golf Course. That bridge looked pretty solid and stable, but my brain told me otherwise. Crossing it made me a little nauseated. It already got quite sunny as I ran around the perimeter of the golf course. I ran a bit with MM#2445.
Maybe I should take up golfing instead! :)
1: 7:53
2: 8:45
3: 9:34
4-5: 17:59 (9:00)
6: 9:21
7: 9:44
8: 9:54
9: 10:26
10: 10:42
11: 10:20
12: 11:18
13: 11:27
As I was headed back to the river, I saw my friend, Joe. He has run a few hundred more marathons than me! We're both from California and if he's running an out-of-state marathon, it must be a great marathon worth running!
Joe!
Around mile 16
At about mile 17 at the intersection of Wyoming Blvd and Fort Caspar Rd/13th St, this was where the course was somewhat confusing. There was a lot of construction in the area with cones everywhere. Luckily for me, I noticed the traffic cop at that intersection and he was directing me to cross diagonally to the other side of the road. Everything was pretty much nice and flat until the course became quite rolling at about mile 18 with a big incline up to Magnolia Rd. There was a downhill stretch down to the turnaround point at Paradise Dr. Then it was back up the hill to mile 20.
Around mile 21 near Morad Park
At about mile 23, there was a note written on the ground stating that this was the last hill. I beg to differ, but then again any slight incline felt like a hill! At about mile 25, I took a picture of the fly fishing statue in the river that was near the Jonah Bank of Wyoming. You don't see this sort of stuff in California! They have actual rivers here. The last mile was a bit grueling for me. My legs kept cramping up, but it was cool during the final stretch as it was lined with enough spectators to keep me going.
Around mile 23, this was not the last hill! :)
Around mile 25
14: 10:24
15: 11:27
16: 11:56
17: 11:40
18: 12:09
19: 11:57
20: 16:20
21: 12:38
22: 12:14
23: 12:42
24: 13:18
25: 13:43
26: 13:06
26.2: 2:01
Finish: 4:53:00
Gun time: 4:53:09
37th state finished and it was a nice scenic course! Besides the leg cramps, both of my feet were very sore. After getting my medal, a volunteer gave me chocolate milk and a Gatorade to help with the cramps. Instead of drinking either one, I hobbled over to the tables in the back to get some beer! They had a few choices available. I went with a PBR. I enjoyed the beer with some of my friends that had finished ahead of me.
Finished!
Oh my goodness, I was pretty wiped out. After drinking the beer, I started heading back to my hotel. I stayed long enough to take a few pictures of my friends finishing their race, but man, I was pooped!
I went back to my room, got cleaned up, and watched a bunch of the Women's World Cup Soccer. The Norwegian team had a lot of good looking players!
Norway!
For an early dinner, I drove out to the FireRock Steakhouse & Grill. Along the way, I found a country music station on the radio, Buckin' 92.5, Casper's High Energy Country! I set the station to one of the presets, so the next person that rents this car can enjoy. :) At the restaurant I sat at the bar so I could watch a little TV while I ate my dinner. I started off with a Ellie's Brown Ale. I then ordered their bone-in rib-eye cooked medium rare with creamed spinach. I also had a house salad to go with the steak. While I was waiting for the food to come out, they gave me some bread. The bread was nice and warm, tasted good with butter. The steak wasn't the best that I've eaten, but it was good enough to hit the spot after a long day of running. The creamed spinach and the house salad were both decent as well. When I was settling my check, the bartender informed me that he comped the salad because he mistakenly told me that it was included with my meal.
Bread and house salad
Bone-in rib-eye with creamed spinach
Done!
After dinner, I drove back to my room to veg out. I watched the NBA Finals game between the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers. Man, it was tight close game!
Monday 6/8
I got ready, packed up my stuff, and checked out of my room. My flight wasn't until 5 pm, but I figured that I'd save a bunch of money on the rental car by returning it at noon and just wait at the airport. First I stopped at McDonald's one last time for lunch. I got the Quarter Pounder Deluxe meal with large fries. Man, I love McDonald's fries! I'm lovin' it! :)
Quarter Pounder Deluxe meal
As I was parking the rental car in the rental car lot, I bumped into a fellow Marathon Maniac who was also from California. Lucky for him, he was catching an afternoon flight. I dropped off the keys at the Hertz rental car counter and found a nice spot to sit down. It was going to be a long wait. I noticed that the TSA agents weren't there the entire time. They would only be present when there were scheduled flights taking off.
When it was finally about time to catch my flight, I went through the TSA security. This particular agent was the first to tell me that the Microsoft Surface Pro needed to be in it's own tray when going through the machine. I told him that his counterparts at the other airports told me that it was considered a tablet. Oh well. So he re-scanned my backpack and the Surface separately. While in the terminal, I bumped into a couple of Marathon Maniacs. We talked a bit about marathons before we each boarded our separate planes.
On my way back home I had another layover at the Salt Lake City Airport, so I ate at my favorite spot, Squatters. I started things off with a Wasatch Polygamy Nitro Porter. I then ordered the Ute Burger. It had beef, pastrami, cheddar, tomato, and fry sauce slaw. It tasted good, but it was cold. They must have left it sitting on the counter. I think it would've been a hundred times better if it was hot or at least warm!
Wasatch Polygamy Nitro Porter
Ute Burger
