Run It Fast®

Here is the colorful finisher’s medal from the Bozeman Marathon that took place on September 7, 2014 in Bozeman, Montana.

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[medal photo submitted by RIF #31 Elizabeth Rehmer – follow her on Twitter @turtlegirl00]

Here is a massive indexed state-by-state library of all of the marathon, half-marathon, and ultramarathon medals (and more) we’ve received over the past four years.

Enjoy and be sure to Tweet us your medals @runitfast on Twitter or email them in to us.

United States

State #25 – Montana: The Madison Marathon – An Adventure to Remember

7/28/2013 by Jeff Liu

My 25th State marathon was the Madison Marathon in the Gravelly Mountains in Montana.  I had to get out my thesaurus for words other than “amazing,” “incredible,” “magnificent,” “stunning,” and “beautiful” to describe the course.  It IS the most beautiful course I’ve run in my in 33 marathon so far across the country and world.  It was also one of the toughest courses I’ve ever completed…  but, worth every step in these mountain ranges in Big Sky Country.

Being a city slicker from Orange County, CA, completing Montana started out as just a check mark on my way to completing the 50 States.  But when I stumbled across the Madison Marathon website I was struck by the photos of the incredible course.  Now, have you ever been fooled by hotel websites with unbelievable photography only to show and and find out that the place was a dump?  Well, make no mistake, the beauty of this race is as advertised.  If anything, the pictures cannot do the experience proper justice.  The endless blue skies and miles of velvet green fields, the smell of the wildflowers, and the touch of the gentle breeze are simple indescribable by words or photos.

My buddy Mike L. from Denver (AKA Yoda, finished in 4:11) and I decided that we’d meet to run this extraordinary race.  Mike brought his wonderful wife Michele and three boys and spent a week in Yellowstone prior to the race.  He was also kind enough to pick me up and transport me throughout the weekend.  My only regret was doing this trip in my usual fashion, which is to fly in Saturday and fly back home immediately after the race on Sunday.  This is a part of the country that deserves and requires days to explore.  The turn-around trip posed some logistic challenges.  The nearest airport to the town of Ennis (race central; hotels, bib pickup, shuttle to start) is in Bozeman approximately an hour drive away.

The drive from Bozeman to Ennis is straight forward and scenic.  It immediately screams, “you aint’ in the city no more!”  Miles of fields decorated by the occasional barn looked like oil paintings.  We saw families playing in the waters and floating in rivers besides the freeway on our drive in.  Something you just don’t see in the city (unless you are into Raging Water parks packed with pool peeing kids).

Ennis is a small town of approximately 1,000 residents.  From all the signage it looks like a terrific town to visit and do A LOT of fishing.  We stayed at a modest motel called Rainbow Valley Lodge. Main Street Ennis is the gather place of the marathon on Saturday and has several restaurants, stores and the town pump for our needs.

From Ennis, runners would be shuttled to the staging area and start of the race in the Gravelly Mountains approximately 2 hours away.  Sounds complicated?  It is and it isn’t.  The race organizers did a tremendous job providing direction and support of this small and intimate race.  In order to meet my flight time on Sunday evening, I requested for and took advantage of the early start option at 7:00 a.m. (regular 8:30) offered by race organizers.  I met the RD Sam Korsmoe Sat afternoon after our arrival at the bib pick-up.  Sam was friendly and we joked about the sophisticated timing device used at the race…  his hand held stop watch.  After a quick bite to eat at the local pizza joint (Pit Stop Pizza; very good by the way), it was off to bed early in order to make the early shuttle pick up at 4:50 a.m.

Race morning started with a gathering of the early starters at the town pump promptly at 4:50.  About 10 of us gathered and exchanged pleasantries in the early dawn.  Then we were divided into three cars for the two hour drive up to the start line at the base of Black Butte Mountain.  Now, I had the misfortune of getting the cherry seat in front of an extra cab pick-up truck with five other dudes.  And I don’t mean little dudes.  I think most of us stood at about 6 feet tall.  Imagine a two hour ride with six dudes in the dark with a little space and lots of morning breath of coffee…  But the ride actually turned out to be an entertaining treat.

Our driver was a local triathlete named Cory.  Cory is like a character straight out of “Born to Run.”  Between the sideburns and big laughter was one funny dude.  Between Cory and the elder European gent on my other side we got stories about marathons in Poland and living in Tokyo.  We also found out about the magic qualities of the coffee from the town pump and vodka in the morning.  With a few more stories about bear and sheep dog attacks on the marathon course we were almost at the start.

We arrived at the start promptly at 7:00 a.m. and began one of the most memorable runs of my life.  The course “road” is a dirt trail of mostly loose gravel and small pebbles.  There were a few sections with fist sized rocks.  The climbs are challenging and some descend are steep.  I was glad to have worn my Hoka Ones!  They saved my feet.  Ok, I’ll let the photos below do some of the talking…

At the start with fellow 50 Staters, Marathon Maniacs Cowboy Jeff, Melinda, and Sandy

At Monument Ridge rocking my RIF shirt for the first time

The Madison Marathon is billed as “highest road marathon in America.”  The course peaks at near 9,600 feet near mile four of the course at Monument Ridge.  My Garmin recorded a total elevation gain of 2,894 (drop of 3,547) throughout the course.  The first four miles presented the most major climbs but climbs continued throughout the course with some real tough SOBs after mile 19.  The last six miles were “hard” as the knees began feeling the effects of the descends.  I finished the run with a time of 5:23 which is one of my slowest recorded marathon time.  Am I unhappy about the finish time?  Not at all.  Do I feel like I let down the “Run It Fast” shirt I was wearing?  No.  Just the opposite.  This was a run for the adventure and a run for the unique experience of being in one of the highest and most beautiful races.  Was it “fast?”  Yes.  It was my fastest marathon at  9,600 feet.  It was my fastest marathon with the amount climbs and descends.  I ran it as fast as I could…  but more importantly than speed, I ran it with my eyes wide open like it was my first marathon.  There were places on the course so beautiful I wanted to cry.  At times during the run I forgot that I was running altogether.

Madison Marathon is a must do and I hope everyone gets to experience it in person.

Yoda and me at the finish

One race, one mile, and one step at a time,

Jeff Liu
Run It Fast – Club (RIF #275)
Madison Marathon Garmin Data

This is the finisher’s medal for the Missoula Marathon that was held on July 14, 2013 in Missoula, Montana.

Very cool medal. Love the shape and the runner inside the horseshoe!

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[Medal submitted by RIF #280 Suzy Spiceland. Follow on Twitter @bookaroo32]

This is the medal the finishers of the Run To The Pub Half Marathon received on March 16, 2013 in Bozeman, Montana.

How convenient that a run to a pub medal would include a bottle opener!

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[Medal photo submitted by RIF #31 Elizabeth Rehmer.  Follow her on Twitter @turtlegirl00]

RIF #1 Joshua Holmes at Yellowstone-Teton 100

Yellowstone-Teton 100 Mile Race Report

So here is a breakdown of the 2012 Yellowstone-Teton 100 Miler:

Weapons: Hoka One One – Evo Tarmac (45 miles) and Hoka One One – Stinson B Combo Hybrid (55 miles)

Course: Point-to-Point – Starts in West Yellowstone, Montana and finishes in Driggs, Idaho.  The course winds through the town of West Yellowstone before heading down the Hwy 20 towards Idaho Falls. At mile 37 runners take a left off of the semi-busy highway onto Scenic Mesa Falls By-Way with a wide open view of the Grand Teton Mountain range for most of the way.  At mile 67.5 the course turns to gravel. The sun had just gone down as I found this part of the course. The road had some bumps and indentions that made it tough with a headlamp to see accurately.  It wasn’t bad but after being on paved road for the first 67 miles it took some time to adjust to.  The course returns to a nice asphalt road at mile 70.9 when we took a left onto Hwy 32.  The road was smooth and good running until hitting a gravel road again at mile 92.7 when we turned right onto N. 2000.  The gravel road during this part seemed packed better or else I just didn’t care at this point. At mile 97.5 we turned right on Hwy 33 towards Driggs and it was a straight shot to the Dreamchaser’s store in Driggs for the finish.  OVERALL – Fair and fast course even with extremely cold temps. No obstacles to worry about outside of highway traffic during the first 37 miles. There were a handful of decent climbs in the race from miles 8-10, 56-60, and around 80-87.

Elevation: 5,394 ft gain, 5,899 ft loss.  Minimum Elevation 5,316 ft Maximum Elevation 7,092 ft

Organization: The race was extremely well organized. Race director Lisa Smith-Batchen and her husband Jay did a great job of marking the course, making it easy to pick up bib/race packets whether it be in Driggs, Idaho at Dreamchasers or at the hotel in West Yellowstone, Montana at the pre-race meeting the night before the race.  The aid stations were good but not great. It didn’t matter too much as most of the runners had crews.  I wanted hot soup when it became dark and cold again but half of the aid stations didn’t have any or the soup was cold at the one aid station later in the race that had some.  The volunteers at the aid stations were great and made sure I was ok and if I needed anything. RD Lisa was amazing as she drove the course checking on us runners at several points. She was very positive and enthusiastic towards us which was worth a boost of energy.

Weather:  It was brutally cold for this Tennessee/SoCal boy. It was 9 degrees at the start. My handheld froze up 3 miles into the race and all of my hair was white with frost during the early miles.  I had to ditch the handheld and just drink water when I’d see my crew. The weather did gradually warm when the sun finally came up. Temps rose to the mid to high 40’s in the late afternoon which made for very comfortable running.  However when the sun went back down that evening temps dropped once again to the low teens with some cold spots dipping into single digits briefly. It was cold but once layered up it wasn’t that bad. I’m for sure a warm weather runner, but I enjoyed the challenge of running in the opposite extreme.

Food: Tangerines (10), Double Stuf Oreos (22), Vespa (4), Roctane (25), Cups of Soup (4), Cheesy Hamburger Bun (1), Boiled Potato (1), Gummy Bears (147)

Drink: Water and Nuun (Lemon Tea)

Handicaps: My crew…I joke. I injured/tore something in my knee around mile 30. By mile 42 it was very painful. I tried a knee strap, but it didn’t seem to help much. I knew I’d have to DNF or quit with 58 miles remaining unless something changed.  I felt like my knee was hanging on by a thread. I was at peace with the possibility of having to accept my first DNF and quit the race.  In a last ditch attempt I put on a tight knee compression sleeve and rolled it up and down to where there was a lot of pressure on the part of the knee that was hurting. I also changed my shoes at this point to hopefully change my landing spot a bit.  It wasn’t a magic or perfect fix but it did seem to make the pain more manageable.  The knee also seemed to heal or regenerate a bit when I’d walk in between my running. Sometime during this I sprained my right ankle. It was not a bad sprain and probably occurred from overcompensating from my left knee.  It eventually faded away.  Once I made it to mile 50 I started to feel like I would finish the race and eventually I did.  Since the race my knee has definitely felt like something is torn in it. I can walk with no pain but occasionally a certain step or going up a stair causes intense pain in the knee.

Crew: RIF #5 Lisa Gonzales graciously agreed to crew me for the Yellowstone-Teton 100. With aid stations at the race being sparse and far apart I thought it was vital to have a crew to help me perform at my best.  I had only used a crew twice before, both times during The Last Annual Vol State 500K.  Lisa was very nervous early on in the race. I tried to reassure her that she was doing a good job, to relax and enjoy the day. She relaxed as the day went on and quickly picked up on what I’d want or need when I’d come upon her on the course.  It was great to have her company throughout the race and weekend. She for sure helped me perform at a very high level for the #YT100.  I’m very thankful for her help.

Hardware: Beautiful finisher’s belt buckle that has a large ‘Y’ and ‘T’ separated with an engraved bison with the phrase ‘Running With the Buffaloes – 100 Miler’ beneath it on an arrowhead shaped buckle. One of the more beautiful buckle’s I’ve received to date.

I finished first in the 30-39 male age division and received a hand painted tile of snow capped mountains and trees by a local artist. My finishing time was 21:23:55.

Splits: Mary-4:20, 30-5:10, 50K-5:20, 40-7:14, 50-9:25, 60-11:38, 100k-12:06, 70-14:00, 80-16:30, 90-18:53 = 100mi-21:23:55

Summation: A wonderful 100 miler that I would do again.  Not many races of any distance will be more scenic.  Dreamchaser does a great job putting the race on and making sure all runners are as comfortable as possible for 100 miles.  It helps to be crewed here but with added water stops this year it’s very doable without a crew. Congrats to Lisa on putting on a truly great race.

– Joshua Holmes @bayou (October 6-7, 2012)

Yellowstone-Teton 100 Mile Website

[photos by: Lisa Gonzales, Lisa Smith-Batchen, and Joshua Holmes]

This is the buckle for the Yellowstone-Teton 100 Miler that was held on October 6-7, 2012 in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming (West Yellowstone, WY to Driggs, ID).

Awesome buckle! Love the unique shape. I want one!

Congratulations to RIF #1 Joshua who PRd the race by over an hour, came in 5th Overall, and won his Age Group! Here is his Age Group award:

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[Medal photo submitted by RIF #1 Joshua Holmes.  Follow him on Twitter @bayou]

RIF #1 Joshua Holmes at Yellowstone-Teton 100

Note from Lisa: The following is a post from my blog about crewing RIF #1 Joshua Holmes at the Yellowstone-Teton 100 Mile race on October 6-7, 2012. It was my first time crewing for a friend and I did it for a few reasons:

• I wanted to give back to the running community that has helped me so much.
• I wanted to do this for Josh because I’ve seen how much support he’s given others and not just those in RIF – The Club.
• Selfishly, I wanted to see what a 100 mile race was like from the inside as prep for my first 100 miler, Javelina Jundred.
• Also selfishly…I’d never been to Idaho, Montana, or Wyoming and wanted to see them.

The whole experience was amazing! Read on to check my perspective on the Yellowstone-Teton 100…

Crewing At Yellowstone-Teton 100 Mile

I have not run in 4 days! 4! And I don’t even care. That’s pretty wild, eh? But I experienced one of the most amazing, fun, and inspiring weekends ever so it more than made up for the lack of running for myself. Besides, I got to see plenty of running while crewing Joshua Holmes (@bayou). This was my first time  crewing a runner during a 100 miler so I was a little nervous. Of course, I didn’t let Josh know that! But I really wanted to help him finish this run and PR so I had a few goals for this weekend:

For Josh

1. Get him to the race start.

2. Help him finish and PR at YT100.

3. Get him home safe!

For Me

1. Don’t get lost during the race.

2. Stay awake.

3. Don’t lock the keys in the car.

I’m happy to report that all goals were met!

So, that’s the short story. The long story is this…

(Yeah, you knew that was coming, right?)

PRE-RACE DUTIES

So on Thursday, I picked up Josh on the way to LAX. We were flying to Salt Lake City and then on to Idaho Falls. There was some traffic and the line to go thru the checkpoint was super long so it was iffy but I finagled us into the short line and we made it to the plane on time. Woo! 1st flight was a go. We only had 30 min between flights so when we landed in SLC, we ran thru the airport to our next flight and made that in time too. Woo! Flights…check.

We stayed in Idaho Falls on Thursday night and drove to West Yellowstone on Friday after hitting up Wal-Mart for supplies. We made it to West Yellowstone around 3:30 with plenty of time to spare before the runner’s meeting at 5. To pass the time, we went to the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center to check things out. I almost lost him to a Grizzly there!

But I was able to save him from the grizzly so he made it to the runner’s meeting. 😉

After the meeting, we went and got dinner (delicious lasagna) and then I dropped him off at the hotel while I went to get a few more things. Then I went back to the hotel to get as much sleep as possible to prep for the night ahead.

In the morning, I woke up and sent Josh a text to make sure he was up and then got ready, ate, and packed up. I got Josh’s stuff too and packed them in the car so he could head to the race start. He got to race start on time…barely…but on time. Goal #1 for Josh complete!!! Thank god.

YELLOWSTONE TETON 100

So…a little background first. Before we arrived in Idaho, we thought the overnight temps for the race would be 26 degrees…which is flipping cold, right? But then Josh had checked on Friday and the predicted low for West Yellowstone was SEVEN degrees! Insane! But Josh was going thru with it as did all the other runners. Brave souls.

Luckily…ok, not lucky but at least a little better…it was 12 degrees when the runners started out. I took longer to pack the car than I thought so I didn’t make it to the start line in time for the start but decided to wait in front of the hotel where they would be passing twice. I cheered Josh and the other runners as they passed me going and then coming back and then jumped in the car to head out on the course…and warm up!

I decided to go out a few miles and wait for Josh. I parked by the course photographer and the flash as he took pictures helped identify the runners in the dark. And then there was Josh! And Oh.My.God…he was covered in frost. All of his hair was white with frost, from his eyebrows to his beard to his hair. It kind of freaked me out a little but I didn’t say anything. He told me that his bottle had frozen and he gave it to me. The water bottle that I had taken out with me to fill his Amphipod had already started to freeze too. Yes, it was that cold. As I was driving on the course, the temp dropped to 9 degrees! But Josh ran on and I drove out a couple of miles to meet him. AFTER slipping and falling as I ran back to the car. Doh! But no damage thankfully!

After that, I would leap frog Josh on the course. He’d ask me to wait for him 2-4 miles ahead and then I’d give him whatever he needed: water, nuun, roctane, boost, etc. He would usually tell me what he wanted at the next stop so I could have it ready but sometimes I’d have to scramble. There were a couple of mishaps along the way.

At one point, he told me that he needed to use the restroom and I must have stopped at every building along the road and they were all closed! One of the gas stations was even closed already for the winter. That is so weird. But I finally found a place. Then he asked me to find him a cheeseburger and the only cheeseburger I could find was the last one at this one little store. I microwaved it with their presets but when he tried to eat it, the burger patty was rock solid. Damn it. He didn’t say anything but I’m sure he was disappointed. 🙁

But he kept running. And it got warmer so he could start shedding layers.

Around mile 30, his knee started giving him trouble. And it was bad. He put a knee brace on and kept running.

He seemed really down about it and thought he might have to DNF. I told him to just be smart about it. But he changed shoes and kept running. He was a machine. And I was really impressed by him.

Saturday, during the day was interesting for me because I not only got to watch Josh but the other runners around him. I’d see the same mix of runners each time I drove ahead to wait for him. They helped me keep track of him. I’d see this runner or that runner and know that he would be coming soon. Then I would grab what I think he’d need or what he told me wanted and run out to meet him. Then I would walk/run with him a little to get the bottle or gel packet and instructions for the next stop.

The other thing that was cool was that I got to meet the crews for the other runners and we would talk while we waited for our runner to come by. And I would get to see what they were doing for their runners and learn a little bit about everyone.

And of course, the views along the course were pretty darn cool!

When Josh hit the aid station past the 50 miles and he was still running/walking and didn’t talk about stopping again, I knew he would finish. So then it was about getting ready for the coming night for both of us. He came thru the aid station at mile 60.5 in 10th place and after that, I saw that he was starting to pass some people. He was doing amazing!

So the day time in the sun was nice. No jacket required. And then the sun set.

And the temperature dropped at least 20 degrees faster than you can put on a glove. I was not looking forward to the night ahead. I’d froze my butt off in the short time between the start of the race and sunrise. What would it be like with hours out there? For me, the other crew and most of all for the runners? We started adding layers to Josh and eventually hand warmers. I’m not sure how much it helped but he kept running. Like a machine.

For a while, Josh ran with another runner named Tom who was doing the race without a crew. Josh asked me to get him water at one of our stops and I did. And then later that night, I asked Tom again if he needed water and while I was filling his bottle he told me Josh was doing well but to not turn on the heater for him so he wouldn’t be tempted to stay in the car. But there were a couple of times that Josh asked me to turn on the heater and I did because I didn’t have the heart to say no with how cold it was. That and he kept asking for something hot to eat at the aid stations but they didn’t have anything hot until about mile 90! But Josh was very disciplined so he got going as soon as he’d eaten or changed or whatever. I didn’t have to push him. He was pushing himself.

The night was freezing! But it was beautiful. There was an awesome moonrise w/a golden moon. And then there were a bajillion stars. I made a bunch of wishes: that Josh’s knee would stop hurting, that he would finish with a PR, that I wouldn’t get lost, etc. I’m glad a few of them worked. 😉

Josh was passing more people on the course and it caught me off guard at one stop. The pattern was solo light, solo light, pair of lights, Josh, pair of lights. And then at one point he became the second solo light! I was like wow, he must be have switched into beast mode. So after that it got a little lonelier since there wasn’t other crew around. I’d kind of relied on them leap frogging me too so I would know I was headed in the right direction and I had to do the last part completely on my own, but didn’t get lost once! Woo! So Goal #1 for me was accomplished.

At the 2nd to the last stop, I almost fell asleep. I closed my eyes for a few seconds and the clicking of the hazard lights was hypnotic. It was close, but I didn’t sleep. Goal #2 for me accomplished. But that stop and the last stop were rough for me. At the last stop, I was walking toward Josh and listening to these dogs barking and wondering if they were going to come out at us and it took me a while to realize he was telling me he needed boost. But I finally got the message and got some for him.

And that was my last stop with him and I drove ahead to meet him at the end. He was really doing this! Just a few miles left after everything that he’d fought thru – his knee, the freezing cold, not getting the hot food he needed, me getting things wrong sometimes. He was about to finish.

The race finished at Dreamchasers, which is the store owned by Lisa Smith-Batchen and her husband. Lisa was out on the course so I was talking with her husband while we waited for Josh to come in. Being out the cold and the excitement of seeing Josh finish woke me up a little but I was still not 100% awake, I think, because when he came running in he asked me where my camera was and I was like damn, how could I have forgot that. I didn’t even have my phone on me. 🙁

So, I didn’t catch the big moment but Josh finished in 21:23:55, over an hour PR for him AND he was 5th Overall and 1st in his Age Group! Totally amazing considering his knee and the weather!

So Goal #2 for Josh accomplished! Oh, and I never locked the keys in the car either so Goal #3 for me was accomplished too. Funny, that Josh told me after he was worried about that too. And about me getting lost. Whatever!

POST-RACE DUTIES

So the race was done but my crewing duties weren’t over. I still had to get Josh home but our first priority was to get him warm and feeling better after running the 100. But I got him safely to the hotel after the race and then to our hotel in Idaho Falls the next day too. And I got him to the airport on time. And I got him home after we landed in LAX. And that’s even with him deciding to take the roller coaster, crazy narrow, steep detour to his house. It was fun…sort of…because he showed me where Steven Tyler lived but my gas warning light came on so when he said did I want to do any more sight seeing, I was like no, let’s just get you home. I was so relieved to drop him off! I’d gotten home in one piece so Goal #3 for Josh accomplished.

Whew.

Seriously, the crewing was not hard at all. He was patient with me and never acted like a diva. I almost wish he would have though because he was too stubborn to let me help! If you’re reading this Josh…learn to accept help from your friends without us having to twist your arm. Sheesh. 😉

I learned a lot during this experience. I saw some beautiful scenery. Met some amazing runners and their crews. And got to watch a good friend accomplish an incredible goal. Definitely a successful and rewarding experience and one I would do again in a heart beat.

If you get the opportunity to do this for a friend, I highly recommend it. You will be inspired.

Oh, one last pic of the two of us back at the finish the next day where we hung out for a while (also a lot of fun since there were other runners and crew back at the finish too).

Thanks for reading!

[Photos provided by Joshua Holmes and Lisa Gonzales]

Here is the finisher’s medal from the Two-Bear Marathon that took place in Whitefish, Montana on September 16, 2012.

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[medal photo submitted by RIF #155 Trent McDowell. Follow the race on Twitter @runningfranklin]

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Here is the finisher’s medal from the Montana Marathon that took place on September 16, 2012 in Billings, Montana.

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[medal photo submitted by RIF #20 Laura Raeder. Follow the race on Twitter @lauraraeder]

Join Run It Fast – The Club