I’m not special as a runner or otherwise, but I need a little encouragement to sign up for any race.  When I heard about the high elevation of the Madison, I didn’t have to think twice.  I did have second thoughts, though, when told there was a chance of encountering large – and I imagined, unfriendly – animals on the course.  In any case, I was too concerned with the challenge of running 13.1 miles, totally at elevation well over 9,000 ft, to worry very much once the race got started.  Something runners hadn’t expected was the stiff wind but I welcomed that additional challenge (and of course, the endless hills!).  In all honesty, though, I can say that I didn’t much notice the elevation or care about furry creatures or complain about the wind (or the hills) once the course led out of the trees; the unbelievable scenery of the Gravelly Range just put all that in the background and I settled into the best experience of my race career.  Both years at the Madison the weather has been great and the views rival those of the Beartooth, in my opinion.  At my running speed, I have plenty of opportunity to sight-see.

Being an introvert, I mostly hide out on the sidelines at my races until the start but hanging out at Clover Meadows, pre-race, it was easy to find approachable people. The Madison’s remoteness creates a closeness between racers, their families and friends and the relaxed, friendly race staff.  This race will likely grow into a big event but even when it does, I think it will retain the flavor of a “boutique race,” a term I believe writer Rachel Toor uses to describe small, out of the way, unique races in unusual places. 

There’s a steep, 360 ft-high hill in my neighborhood that I use for training. Prior to running the Madison, I’d never run this to the top without at least three rest/walk breaks. Thursday after the Madison, I ran it all the way, easily, without a break.  THAT was an amazing rush and I really think the sustained effort required to finish the Madison improved my conditioning.  A race experience doesn’t always end when you cross the finish line.



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For me this race is a Stairway to Heaven every step kept getting more and more beautiful and everyone should run it not only for the challenge but to experience their own little piece of Heaven.



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Over 20 years ago, I made a bucket list of the cool things that I wanted to do in my life before I died. It included things like getting certified in scuba (done), traveling long distances by bicycle (done), climbing two mountain peaks in Montana (done), travel in China (done, and on a bicycle!), live in a big city (done), publish a children’s book (done, but it wasn’t a children’s book), learn to wind surf (I tried, but ended up swimming and pushing the damn thing in from about a mile offshore), live and work in Japan (almost, I lived and worked in Taiwan for four years and Vietnam for 11 years), sky dive (done), teach (done), and learn jazz and ragtime piano (I have a piano, which is a start, but I’m still working on this one). It’s not a bad list and I’ve done okay with it. The things I have not yet done are kind of hard to do with a full-time job and not a lot of money. They include trekking in Nepal, traveling in New Zealand, climbing Mt. Fuji, and climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. I am confident that I will get to at least a couple of those things, especially the last one.

Also on my list was to run a marathon. Theoretically, this should be the easiest accomplishment as I have always been healthy, sports-minded, and certainly did not feel daunted by the distance. Finding training time was an issue because of work, but these are things that you either find the time to do or stop talking about them. I even signed up and paid to join a running club in Ennis that had a trainer and the goal of the club was to get everyone ready for a marathon that was more than six months away. Unfortunately, I was the only person to sign up and the trainer was not really into working with a running club of one. She gave me my money back. Left on my own, I ran out of steam and work took over.

The idea re-surfaced about three years ago, but with a slight twist. I would not just run a marathon, but I would run the highest road marathon in America. The only difference being in the definition of the word ‘run.’ What are those things called? Homophones?

So when I set out to run the first annual Madison Marathon, the first thing I did was to tell everyone that I was running a marathon (I have an ego, too, you know). I didn’t bother to explain what a homophone was and instead just focused on how to actually run (i.e. set up and manage) a marathon. I had researched it a bit and learned that there were more than 800 marathons run every year somewhere in the world. That’s more than two a day so I thought ‘how hard could it be?’

Well, it ain’t easy. I have to believe though that it is easier than actually running (the other definition of the verb) the Madison Marathon. I have enormous respect for the runners who ran the first and second Madison Marathons. The altitude really kicks your butt and some of the up hills are two miles long. I got tired just putting out the mile markers and hauling those stinkin’ porta-johns around.

At the end of the day though, it was and is a lot of fun running (back to the first definition) the Madison Marathon. I think we’re on to something truly cool. I can’t help but believe that within a few years this marathon will be on the bucket list of runners from around the world. I was surprised and very appreciative of the thanks that I received from runners who crossed the finish line, looking half dead, many limping, some crying, some looking like they were ready to puke, and yet they thanked me profusely for making them pay me money to run either 13.1 or 26.2 miles on a public road at 9,000 feet above sea level. They all said they would come back.
I hope they do. I also hope that I will get the chance to run (back to the other definition) the Madison Marathon one day. I want to cross that item off my bucket list.

See you all on July 25th!



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