In The Wild, Wild West: Whiskey Row Half Marathon

 I have been fortunate enough to meet some really cool and interesting people through running and I am happy to count Cat and Daniel among those folks. I met them last year while running the Texas Independence Relay (TIR) and we hit it off right away. So when they invited Erik and me to travel with them to the Whiskey Row Marathon and Half Marathon in Prescott, AZ we jumped at the opportunity. Cat has family in the Prescott and Phoenix area and the Whiskey Row race is an annual tradition for them.

We hopped a flight to Phoenix on Friday morning and enjoyed a delicious lunch filled with down home Texas (that’s right….TEXAS) cooking at a local favorite called TexAz. The owner hails from Highland Park and has created a little slice of Texas in the heart of Phoenix. I can tell you first hand that the chicken fried steak was authentic and the Shiner was cold. We were even greeted by a familiar face on the mural outside of the restaurant and laughed over the signs that said “Parking for Texans Only.” Pretty sure we were the only diners who met that qualification that afternoon.

After meeting Daniel’s flight we headed off on a very scenic drive up to Prescott (pronounced Prescuit….like biscuit) which is about an hour and a half, if memory serves me correctly. The views out the window were pretty amazing—I am not sure that I have ever seen cactus that big! And the terrain changed as we made the ascent up into the mountains. Prescott sits at 5300 feet—a mile high! The cactus began to disappear and scrubby bush-like trees took their place. When people heard I was going to Arizona for a race their first question was about the weather, or more specifically—how hot it would be there in early May. The beauty of Prescott is that since it is at altitude it is an average of 20 degrees cooler than Phoenix. This gave us lows in the 40s and highs in the 70s during our stay there…perfect weather for running! And the humidity…non existent!

View from downtown Prescott

Upon arrival in Prescott we drove part of the race course. It was billed as one of the “toughest marathons in the country”—but aren’t a lot of races guilty of self-imposed superlatives like that? I knew from the elevation chart that the race climbed 1000 feet in the first 6.5 miles before turning around and coming back down the mountain and into town. However, I had no real comprehension of what 1000 feet in 6.5 miles would look like! Imagine the look on my face when the engine of the SUV we were driving kicked into a higher gear as we drove along the course! Any ideas that I might have had about a “fast” race evaporated and I decided to focus on having a good time and soaking in every bit of the scenery that surrounded us.

Beautiful Courthouse on the Square

 We enjoyed a delicious dinner and entertaining evening with Cat’s folks and their friends before heading off to bed. Daniel was running the full marathon and we wanted to be there to give him a huge send-off. We were staying on the race course, just about three miles for the start line and it made for a super laid back race morning. The sun rises super early in Arizona and it was daylight when we dropped Daniel off at 5:45 am. A quick trip back to the house for another sip of coffee and to gather up our gear and we were ready to go.

Daniel and Cat just before the marathon start

 I love the feel of a small and friendly race and the Whiskey Row Marathon and Half did not disappoint. We heard the sounding gun, fired by the Prescott Regulators, and we were off on our great adventure. My goal was to run as steady as I possibly could for as long as I could—ideally to get all the way to the top without walking. Somewhere around mile 2 it became apparent that this was going to be more difficult than I thought. The altitude, paired with the OKC Half which I raced hard the six days prior, made things seem pretty darned challenging. Erik and I made a collective decision to take things easy when came to the first hills near mile 3. I am not sure that there are any hills like this in all of Dallas—they make the famous Dolly Pardon hills look like speed bumps.

Most unique starting pistol ever!

Erik and I both chose shirts that had Dallas or Texas on them hoping that it would provide an excuse for our slowness. We were having a great time talking and laughing about being flatlanders, enjoying the scenery, taking pictures, and cheering on the race leaders who were screaming back down the mountain into town. Just before we reached the top of the hill a voice behind us commented on Erik’s shirt and when we turned to look at him we saw that he was wearing a Dallas Running Club shirt. Small world! His name was Rich and he had just moved to Sedona, AZ about six months ago. It was great to have a fellow flatlander to commiserate with for the second half of the race.

One of many race photo ops

 I was beyond thrilled to see the turnaround point just past mile 6 as I was really looking forward to the downhill stretch. I love the feeling of running downhill and I knew that I was about to experience some of the best downhills of my life! The views were nothing short of amazing and I had to stop to snap a few more pictures as we made our descent. I felt much stronger as we headed into town, I am sure that it is a combination of running down the mountain and also of getting more and more oxygen as we ran. Erik and I raced through the finish line (he came out of nowhere and beat me by one second) and happily took our 2:20 finish time. Slower that our average pace—but wow what a ride!

We found a fellow Texan--Rich of Sedona (via Dallas)

Because we were staying on the race course we were able to walk out and cheer Daniel as he passed by mile 23—looking like he was out for a neighborhood jog! No doubt he is going to do well at the upcoming Comrades Marathon in South Africa this June. After Daniel finished the marathon we headed back to Whiskey Row for an afternoon of fun. We laughed at how this was the “second marathon” of the day as we made our way in and out of various historic saloons there on the strip. The town was having a huge party celebrating Cinco de Mayo, the Kentucky Derby (hello—off site betting!), and the Whiskey Row Marathon. Cat’s dad even hit the jackpot when he bet on the now famous I’ll Have Another to win/place/show in the derby. And just when I thought that I couldn’t hold my eyes open for another second, we headed back to the house where we were did some banjo picking, guitar strumming, and harmonica blowing around the fire pit. The “super moon” was full and beautiful and the coyotes provided a beautiful song of their own. I could get used to this life!

Breathtaking view on the way back down

The rest of the weekend was just as much fun as we were treated to more beautiful views in Prescott before heading to Phoenix to spend the night celebrating with Cat’s sister Christy and her family.

One of my running goals for the year was to run a race in another state. I have certainly exceeded that goal with a race in Oklahoma and Arizona all within a week of each of each other. I wanted to be able to run half marathons so that I could experience new places and see new sights--this experience was excatly what I had in mind when I dreamed that dream.

For those of you who are into the numbers...

Erik and I would like to thank Cat and Daniel again for inviting us to share in one of their annual running traditions. We would also like to thank Cat’s family for the hospitality that they extended to us during our stay in Arizona. It is certainly one of our favorite running experiences to date!