Jack and Jill Downhill Marathon – A pair of BQ’s

Wow, what a day. Fiona and I are celebrating dual-BQ’s (Boston Qualifiers). We haven’t done this since 2015, 10 years ago in Alice Springs, Australia where I went, still my best PB of 3:02 and she went 3:09. But being half way around the world, we didn’t go for Boston at that time. Now we’re here and hoping it’s enough to earn our spots! Fiona should be good with a 7:30 buffer but me unsure with 2:15 buffer.

In January we both ran the Buckeye Marathon west of Phoenix, Arizona on a very fast downhill course of around 500’ and cold temps. I missed a PR by 10 seconds but set a BQ for the required 3:05. Fiona missed out with a 3:38. So next up was 1 month later at the Mesa Marathon. We both had terrible runs, I went 3:21 and Fi went 4:06. Fi was sick and I wasn’t recovered from the 70.3 World Championships in December and then my BQ. So we opted for another shot so that Fi could set a BQ time for us to run Boston together. We had friends compete at the Jack and Jill downhill marathon outside of Seattle (2,000’ descend, hard packed rail-trail). So we signed up to complete our 3rd marathon in 6 months, something I hadn’t done since 2010.

Thursday night we had pizza’s to start the carbo-loading of DiGorno rising crust. I took Thursday and Friday off of running after 3/4/3 M-W including 4x400m at 6:40/mile goal start pace. Friday, I got a race day haircut 😊 and started carbo loading with 2 english muffin, 1 bagel, 1 package of gummy savers, ½ pack of airheads, 2 cans of Coke, 1 can of Sprite, half bottle Gatorade, dinner was 2 cup of Noodles (2G of salt) and then 1liter of sprite and 1 hostess coffee cake for another 800 calories before bed at 9:06pm. During the day we hopped on a direct flight from Tucson to Seattle, grabbed a rental car, drove to Snoqualmie to the run shop to get our bibs, and then to Summit Hut Inn across the street from a SkiResort at the top of Snoqualmie pass. In Tucson Mt Lemmon Ski resort is at 8,500’, but here not shy from the Canadian border, we only had to go up to 3,200’.

resting HR 1BPM lower than pre Buckeye marathon Max HR is like 160.

Race Day

We woke up at 4AM after 6hr38min of sleep with a 75 Fair sleep score. I ate 2 Hostess Cinamon rolls at 860 calories in total and 1 medium redbull at 210 calories and 151mg Caffeine. I wore my Zoot Sam Long Tri shorts but forgot crème, ouchies, Sam Long Singlet, Visor, and water waist belt. I had brand new Hoka Ceilo 2.0 carbon plated super shoes with socks. We drove 10min to the start, had to head to the overflow parking, and then hit the loo. I did just a quick 6minute warm up running to the 2.5mile historic train tunnel we would start the run after 400-800meters of running. We dropped off bags and headed to the start.

There were pace groups from 2:55 and all the way up. I lined up near the 3hr pace group right near the front, Fiona went to the 3:30 pacer a few feet back. The group was let go in increments allowing some separation between groups.

I started up the day at nearly 189 pounds, up a solid 7 pounds over this year. I had trained my own way with a goal of Sub3. I ran up Mt Wrightston, Mt Lemmon, Grand Canyon Rim to River, and 2 weeks ago went 4:48 at Musselman 70.3 in NY. I was running 40M per week up to 52M Peak. I had no idea what to expect but was hopeful knowing how “easy” this course would be; LOL, no such thing in marathon or IRONMAN.

I started off and then I heard the announcer say “3hr group wait here”, ah shit, I missed it, ok, just keep running. It seemed like they just went for it because they caught me by the tunnel. A tunnel in which you had to wear a headlamp because it was pitch black since it’s a historic train tunnel, like I said, 2.5miles long. 6:51, 7:07, 6:34. I started to lose the 3hr pace group half way through the tunnel, looking ahead to the emerging light a mile away. There were mile marker signs so I knew how far was left. The GPS went to shit so at Mile 2 in the tunnel so I lapped my garmin to restart 1 mile splits at M3. I lost the pack and was back 20-30seconds now. I just kept up the pace. At 30 minutes, I had my first Victus gel I found from the Netherlands. 180 calories, mostly liquid but with 340mg of salt. I got these through The Feed because I am a big guy and need my salt and this was what I learned from Buckeye Marathon where I started cramping in the last mile.

I continued on the trail which was a bit rocky, flat, but getting quite annoying for my shoes. Cutting through the stunning mountains of National forests with giant evergreen trees, viewing the mountains beyond the low clouds that we were descending into over the 2,000’ decent.

6:38, 6:38, 6:38, 6:37, 6:40, 6:41, 6:51, 6:52, 6:46. I went through the half in what I recall may have been around 1:28:30… This was OK, I was trying to get through in 1:27:30 to create a 5minute buffer on the back half for Sub3. But, I was just giving my best and holding on. Over this first part I lost my bottle 2X when moving my waist belt around to grab gels. And It would happen 1X more. It really pissed me off because I had to go from 6:40 pace to stop, to run back 10’, to run back up to pace. I lost probably 30s on the run because of it. And I didn’t stop once. There was only 1 tiny incline which was nothing but that was noticeable and I felt like a fat salami going up it. I am buying some serious weights in 2 weeks to strength train the rest of the year in preparation for November’s Grand Canyon 50mile+ Rim to Rim to Rim and the December Tucson Marathon Sub3?.

I got within 20seconds of the 3hr pace group but they continued to slowly pull away. The legs and pace felt good but I was starting to regret my shoe choice.

6:39, 6:54, 7:14, 7:14, 8:08 (which I don’t believe from GPS), 7:37, 10:32 (which definitely didn’t happen). I started to lose some mental toughness at Mile 18 and legs soreness came on. I was figuring sub 3:10 at this point but I just thought to just give my best. I had water and Gatorade from the aid stations, went through 3 of my gels, and had a Maurten 320 Caf with 1G LMNT Salt. In total 860 calories during the run with 100calories and 100caffiene just 10min before the start. So around 320 calories per hour and 350mg caffeine on the day.

Mentally I knew I wasn’t going to reach my goal but I smiled at M18 and somewhere around M22 passing the half marathons I had just had a bit of a high on life; this is living.

A surprise lack of mile markers and water stations over the last 6 miles had me finish my bottle and also doubt if I had another mile. A negative mark on the race here even though it was stunning crossing multiple train trestles through the mountains. I could see the finish with 400m to go and was so amazed to see I was going to go sub 3:05 and went 3:03:55. I grabbed my results card and walked 800meters out for Fiona. I saw her at 9:24am, knowing she had done it. I shouted loudly cheering her in and she smashed it in 3:27:27.

Running a marathon with a 2,000’ drop doesn’t make it easy. I dropped 5,000’ once in NM and it was absolutely brutal. I dropped 500’ in Buckeye and it wasn’t a PR but my best ever race. I dropped 1,000’ in Mesa and Tucson, and parts of those are brutal. But in my 53rd marathon I am proud. Of all these marathons over 16 years, I have only set 6 BQ times and one was on a treadmill (3:03) (which doesn’t really count). I set my 3rd fastest time at 41years of age and set 2 BQ times within 6 months. I think that is quite bad ass. Even more than that, with 6 months I did 3 marathon, a half Ironman, ran Rim to River 24M, 6.5hrs, 7000′, and passed the CPA Audit Exam, and finished a 5,000 pice puzzle 🙂

You know whats next up in November, and then 2026 will be my 4^th IRONMAN Arizona.

The day continued to the amazing little town North Bend for amazing wine-tasting, waterfalls, walking historic towns, then a drive into the mountains, and a drink and some food at the oldest pub in WA State from the 1889.