I would be the last one to accuse Rich and Colleen Shea of holding a grudge. A few years back I convinced them to run a trail race in Malibu. I remember afterwards Colleen going out of her way to tell me what a miserable experience it was for her. But I had pretty much forgotten that and was completely unsuspecting when they suggested I run the Valley of Fire Marathon. Both of them were doing the Half along with Kate Rupley. So about 2 weeks before the race Laura and I decided we would go out and do the marathon. Valley of Fire is a state park about an hour north of Las Vegas in the Mojave Desert
There are large red sandstone formations everywhere with about a dozen other colors thrown in for emphasis. From the start you could see a ridge of dark orange hills with a road leading up into them. Rich got sick before the race and had to miss it. Or at least that was the story. Then for unknown reasons Colleen dropped to the 10K. Me, Laura and Kate were clueless and stuck to our original plan.
The start, at the bottom of the valley, was a chilly 45°F but strangely comfortable. With a coyote howling way in the distance the gun went off and we started. We were crammed on one side of a 2 lane road so the first 100 yards were a bit slow. Then we got going and headed up a hill directly toward those gorgeous orange hills. What an amazing view to start off a race! The next 6 miles were a series of short but very steep hills. We passed Rainbow Vista on our way to the turn around point at White Domes. Around mile 5 I passed some guy who wanted to know where the turn around for the 10K was. Poor fellow had missed the turn off about 3 miles back. But the same thing happened to me a couple of miles later. There was a detour that was not very well marked so I missed it (along with the first 30 or so half marathoners). They fixed this problem mid-race so by the time Laura and Kate came by the volunteers directed them in the right direction.
After the first turn around I saw Laura and Kate powering up the hills. At mile 13 I passed the start and there was Colleen. She asked me how liked the hills. Then she did that evil cartoon villain laugh “bwaa ha ha ha ha”. Payback time. My legs were already complaining and I was only half way. My pace slowed to a crawl. I ran by the petrified logs and did a section on a dirt road by Arch rock. About mile 16 I saw a tarantula crossing the road in front of me (Why did he cross the road? I did not ask). Then the road turned up and I started feeling better. At that point I did not know this hill was going to go on for 5 miles, but I was able to pick up the pace again. There was no traffic control here and no shoulder so the occasional car kept me on my toes. One of those cars was Colleen and Kate leaving us to our doom. Bwaa ha ha ha
Mile 20 was the high point and then it was all downhill to the finish. It was a pretty steep descent and there were a couple of people close behind me so I tried to push it. These were some of my fastest miles of the race. When I hit the finish line they gave me a cold wet washcloth which was a nice touch. My GPS told me I had only run 25 miles so I went to DQ myself to the race director. She told me a lot of people had missed a turn off (and a few people had made their own detours) and they would just adjust everyone’s times. Laura did the full course and was the 4th women overall, which put her 1st in her age (4:11.03). Kate managed an impressive 2:15.54 for the half. Colleen was 4th in her age (1:14:51) despite stopping to take pictures all along the course.
This was the toughest street marathon I’ve ever done. The early hills were steep enough to pound your legs going both up and down. And the final hill was not steep but very long. Still the course was stunning. After the race we drove the course taking lots of pictures.
But misery loves company so I would recommend this race to everyone for next year. As for Rich and Colleen, my plan is to sign them up for a 50K and tell them it is a typo, really it’s just an easy 5K. Bwaa ha ha ha.