Pinedale Half Marathon, 10K and 1 Mile Run 2017
by Terry Allen
September 25, 2017
The first Marathon in history was a run by the soldier Pheidippides from a battlefield near the town of Marathon, Greece, to Athens, Greece in 490 B.C. According to legend, Pheidippides ran about 25 miles to announce the defeat of the Persians to the Athenians. He delivered the message "Victory" then fell down and died.
This past Saturday we held the 14th annual Half Marathon. There was no announcement of a war victory and though there was fresh snow on the ground, no one died.
Friday night before the race you might have noticed a lot of slim people walking around town in slim looking racing and warm up clothing. There was a Health Fair going on and you could get your blood pressure and pulse rate checked compliments Steve Kipp of Public Health. Stephanie Lund of Public Health was also giving free helmets away, with a focus on preventing injuries from skiing, biking and horse riding. The helmets are still available from Public Health if you missed the event.
You could get your hand grip and your balance checked, too. I registered a 112 grip and thought I was pretty good until I heard about a guy who got 157. Oh well, as long as I have a fit shutter finger.
I met Abby Board from Indiana while she was getting weighed by Leslie Hagenstein. "I was looking for an out of state race and thought I'd try this one. I haven't run at high altitude yet though."
Ken Hartman was wearing an Iron Horse Marathon t-shirt and said he came all the way from Charleston, West Virgina for the race. "I'm combining it with a Yellowstone visit, too." Never having been to WV before, I asked him what it was famous for. "Well. Kentucky is famous for its whiskey, but West Virginia is famous for its moonshine."
Ken Konicek, as of this week, has run every half marathon since they started holding the event in 2004. "I'm not at 100% but I'm going to give it a shot. I'm saving myself for the New York Marathon, so if I have to pull up I will."
Jonah Energy, major sponsor of the event had a Jonah Team of seven racers coming from Denver and one from Oklahoma.
Dwight and Marita Worthington came over from Pocatello, Idaho. "I'm a little under the weather and we're a little concerned," Dwight said. "The Half Marathon site says the elevation gain is 300 feet, but we tracked the course with my Garmin and accounting for all the ups and downs, it says it’s more like a 2000 foot gain. Not sure if I'll be able to run it or not."
I saw a guy with bare feet and went over to say hi. He happened to be the featured speaker. "My feet are my prop for my speech," he said. "It's really all about the feet. If you learn to strengthen your feet properly and pay attention to how well or poorly we use our muscles, we will develop strong feet that will help the rest of our muscles improve racing stability which will keep us healthy."
Saturday:
The Half Marathon gun went off and the lead runner took off with his knee's exceptionally high and arms swinging exceptionally high, while doing a loud vocal "Huh Huh Huh" as he ran. All thru the race he gave a loud "Huh" for every step he took. Ordinarily if I saw someone do that right from the start I'd figure he would fall off in a hurry. It just seemed like too much energy was being burned. But, there was a strong rhythmic authority to his style and it seemed to me he finished the 13 miles with as much energy and the same posture as he started.
I did notice something interesting during the race...but I won't mention names. A few guys peeled off from the race and headed to Lakeside Lodge and JM Horn's...I suspect to get a refresher. I saw them later at the finish and they looked refreshed.
I didn't get a chance to talk with the Women's Half Marathon Denise Tegeler, but did talk with Amber Robbins who took 3rd in the 10K. "We went to the talk on feet last night and we were thinking about our feet the whole race," she said. "It definitely helped my race."
Laural Kurth won the 1 Mile Run. "I've been doing cross country and a mile is pretty easy compared to what we run in practice," she said. "It was a close race though. I heard footsteps but I wasn't afraid. I just wanted to win so I ran harder."
A man running the one mile had a little girl on his shoulders and as he crossed the finish line he came over and talked to Jill Tegeler and I and said the little girl had been in cancer care just a month ago.
When I mentioned the little girl, Laurie Latta (who ran the 10K and finished first in her age group) told me she is well acquainted with cancer and the fantastic work of The Huntsman Cancer Institute. "While I was in treatment I told myself...when I get out of here I'm going to focus on getting better and better and better...and that was the key to my surviving," she said. "Fighting and surviving cancer forces you to re-assess your life. I realized I could do something with my own adversity to help others. Relative to survival, I want people to know I am a resource...to share my experience and what I learned."
I saw a smiling little face of about age three looking at me and learned she had just run the one mile race. "I didn't run all the time," she said. " I had to stop once because I saw a bunch of super-hero's my size go by and then I saw a big super-hero go by. I run with my Mom sometimes, and I like parades."
Thank you to all the kind people who took the time to pose for a photo or to give me a few words. I love it when people give me a holler when they run by.
Your photographer: Terry Allen txpartisan@gmail.com
Thank you to Dawn Ballou at Pinedale Online for sponsoring this important community event.
As I was preparing for this story I ran into a couple of old friends. When I mentioned what I was doing now and how I was able to do it, they made a generous donation toward this story, and simply asked if I could include a few words about the good work performed by the Huntsman Cancer Foundation.
In 1995, the Jon and Karen Huntsman family started Huntsman Cancer Foundation to ensure the future of cutting-edge research at Huntsman Cancer Institute.
Huntsman Cancer Foundation's sole purpose is to raise funds to support the mission of Huntsman Cancer Institute and is dedicated to ensuring excellence in these endeavors through the development and prudent stewardship of private resources.
Thanks to the ongoing generosity of the Jon M. Huntsman Family, 100% of your donations further the treatment, education and research being conducted at Huntsman Cancer Institute.
http://huntsmancancer.org/giving/foundation/index.php
Results link:
https://www.sportstats.ca/display-results.xhtml?raceid=47100
https://www.sportstats.ca/display-results.xhtml?raceid=47099
Pinedale Half Marathon:
http://pinedalehalfmarathon.com/index.html
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