Roswell, New Mexico (pop: 56,000), “Dairy Capital of the Southwest” at least according to it’s welcoming sign, but better known for the 1947 Roswell UFO incident, that we all know the U.S. Gov’t has covered up. For me, Saturday September 3rd it was the running of the Turtle Marathon. My 75 marathon and 44th state. No ideal why it it’s called the Turtle Marathon in this desert city and not the more obvious aliens theme.
Flew into Albuquerque on Thursday with a quick visit to the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History before heading to my hotel. Took in a morning visit to Old Town area of Albuquerque, including visits to the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science, plus the Albuquerque Museum of Art & History before remembering to take that left in Albuquerque for the three hour drive to Roswell. No need to get to Roswell early since it’s such a small race, kit pick up is only the morning of the race.
In ordered to beat the heat, the marathon and half marathon started at 5:30am, so it was an early 3:50am wake up call for my usual morning routine of a buttered (or peanut butter) bagel, banana and Gatorade for breakfast. Adding in a couple of Ibuprofens tablet to calm my piriformis syndrome that had been plaguing me the past couple of months. A nice long relaxing session on the porcelain throne. Get dressed and out the door. Debate whether to keep my room key and rush back to the hotel for a shower and perhaps a quick nap before the 11:00am check out time. Decided I would be cutting it too close if my piriformis acted up.
It was a ten minute drive to the start/finish area at a Roswell Park. I had driven and reconnoitered the park the day before. As expected, quick pick up on race kit which was only a bib and cotton tee. Also saw a map of the race route for the first time. An out and back course with 5 miles and a park pathway and the rest of the 21 miles on the shoulder of a secondary highway. Elevation was like a bell curve, starting at 1096 meters and toping up at 1223 meters. So it was basically a slow climb to the turn around.
Approximately 30 full marathoners and 70 half marathoners toed the line in the dark as the Race Director yelled his final instructions. Only two runners were wearing headlamps as the dawn’s early light would be appearing about 30 minutes into the race. I toe scrapped a tree route bump on the starting bike path just once. We were escorted out by four bikes with their lights blazing to help light the way. Felt the altitude a bit starting off, (3,573 ft. elev.) and took a mile or so to get in rhythm. Only three intersections crossing on the course, with two of them controlled by police. Otherwise a couple of patrol vehicles went back and forth on the highway to encourage slower traffic on the route. For the most part the traffic kept to the left lane and keep the right lane and shoulder to us. Did have one truck go by in the right lane and the truck wash blew off my running cap. Lots of motorcycle on the road heading to some meetup.
Only the half marathon turns around and marathon turn around water stations were manned, otherwise cases of water were left for self-service every two miles. It obviously got very lonely after the half marathoners turned around, but pretty much kept someone in sight ahead of me until the last three miles. Saw the first runner heading back when I was at my 18K mark and the first female a mile later. We got real lucky with the weather since it was sunny at your back on the way out climbing toward 80F, but a couple of miles after I made the turn around into the sun, a large cloud bank rolled in and I was basically in cloud cover for the rest of the race.
Upon the 21.1K turn around there were four people within sight from 200m to 400m ahead of me. Caught the first gal at 25K, then a guy when he took a porta potty break at 32K, the third at 35K and the fourth runner at 37K.
As you can see by my km split below, I kept a pretty consistent pace and my piriformis basically behaved and was just a background nuisance. Not the biggest finishers medal I’ve received and the medal and tee were common to the half and a later starting 5K race. Only more bottled water and a banana to feed on at the end. So a trip to Wendy’s for a Baconator combo was in my future after a sponge bath. Went to the UFO Museum afterwards as well.
KM TIME SPLIT CHG ELEV CHG
1 06:08 6'08" -1m
2 12:33 6'25" + 0'17" +2m
3 18:52 6'19" -0'06" +1m
4 25:19 6'27" +0'08" +5m
5 31:42 6'23" - 0'04" +12m
6 38:12 6'30" +0'07" +11m
7 44:53 6'41" +0'11" +15m – Dead skunk in the middle of the highway shoulder
8 51:20 6'27" -0'14" +18m
9 57:35 6'15" -0'12" +10m
10 1:05:54 8'19" +2'04" -13m - Bathroom break
11 1:12:15 6'21" -1'58" -2m
12 1:18:39 6'24" +0'03" -3m
13 1:24:55 6'16" -0'08" +4m
14 1:31:33 6'38" +0'22" +12m
15 1:37:52 6'19" -0'19" +11m
16 1:44:08 6'16" -0'03" +8m
17 1:50:52 6'44" +0'28" +8m
18 1:57:20 6'28" -0'16" +20m
19 2:03:31 6'11" -0'17" -5m
20 2:10:12 6'41" +0 '30" +1m
21 2:16:24 6'12" -0'29" +8m
22 2:23:25 7'01" +0'49" -2m
23 2:29:41 6'16" -0'45" -16m
24 2:36:11 6'30" +0'14" +5m
25 2:42:22 6'11" -0'19" +1m
26 2:48:39 6'17" +0'06" -16m
27 2:55:11 6'32" +0'15" -7m
28 3:01:22 6'11" -0'21" -9m
29 3:07:36 6'14" +0'03" -12m – Long dead small dog on the side of the road. Just skin left
30 3:14:36 7'00" +0'46" -9m
31 3:21:10 6'34" -0'26" -2m
32 3:27:48 6'38" +0'04" -4m
33 3:35:15 7'27" +0'49" +7m - Extra long stop at water station
34 3:41:59 6'44" -0'43" +12m – Dead(?) tarantula in the middle of the highway shoulder
35 3:48:1 9 6'20" -0'24" -14m
36 3:54:40 6'21" +0'01" -18m
37 4:01:23 6'43" +0'22" -16m
38 4:07:32 6'09" -0'34" -14m
39 4:13:42 6'10" +0'01" -9m
40 4:20:03 6'21" +0'11" -3m
41 4:26:07 6'04" -0'17" -1m
42 4:32:15 6'08" +0'04" -2m
