Montana Mountains and Connecticut Cursing

I went into 2021 planning on running a midnight marathon in Nevada, but COVID had other plans. A week before that race, I tested positive. Fortunately my symptoms were fairly mild and I was only off the road for about a week. Since I was already trained to run a race, I tried to find another state with one coming up. Bozeman Montana was the winner. So a month after having COVID, (and a few negative tests) I was off to Bozeman to run a hilly, mountainous marathon. 

I was pleasantly surprised by Bozeman. A very hipster-y sort of town. The first day I arrived I explored the Big Sky area, which was about 45 mins from Bozeman, in the Gallatin Valley. There were a lot of hiking options, but since I was alone and running a marathon the next day, I tried to play it safe by picking a family-friendly, well populated trail, the Ousel Falls trail. I realized why they call Montana the Big Sky state. I finished off the day carb-loading at a local brewery, Beehive Basin, in downtown Big Sky. There was no shortage of good beer in Montana. 

Race day morning, we were loaded onto school buses and dropped off in the middle of a dark field in the middle of nowhere. If I watched a lot a true crime, I'm sure my imagination would have been going through a lot of unpleasant scenarios. I think it was too cold through for any murderous ill-doers to be out there. It was maybe about 36 degrees, and I was not dressed for these temperatures. By the time the race started, I had no feeling left in my toes and couldn't stop shivering.  

The sun quickly came up though and while it was a challenging, hilly course, the views were amazing. I didn't finish with a great time, but I did finish, which I was pretty proud of having only had COVID a month earlier. 

Very Montana medal

I did visit a few breweries after the race, and ordered an IPA at Nordic Brewery simply because it was named Princess Unicorn. I typically avoid IPAs, but how could I pass up that name. And much to my dismay, they are starting to grow on me. I also visited the local hot springs just outside of downtown Bozeman.  They were a bit commercialized and not a pool of hot water in the wilderness, but still pretty amazing. Plus, you get the benefit of going from the hot pools into the icy cold baths and then repeating. They say it's good for circulation. 

Unfortunately, I didn't have the traditional oysters after this race. I did replenish my carbs with some delicious pasta at a restaurant with very unique artwork. 

About a month and a half later, I snuck in another marathon before the end of 2021 to try and keep on track with at least 2 races a year. I headed off to West Haven, Connecticut for the Savin Rock marathon. 

A bit of a different landscape from Montana. West Haven greeted me with gray skies and rainy beaches. One thing that both race courses had in common where the hills. I spent most of this race cold, wet and cursing the weather the entire way. I really did not want to be out there and it was really hard to keep going. At least I got a medal with a shark on it out of the whole ordeal.

The presumed Savin Rock

Right down the road from my hotel, in the famed town of Orange, CT was the PEZ factory. Since it was still raining, and I couldn't think of anything else to do, I took a visit. Some interesting facts, PEZ was invented in Austria in 1927 as a breath mint to cover smoke breath, and derived from the German word for peppermint, "pfeffrerminz."  I'm not sure how it became the company of character dispensers, but they had display after display of old dispensers throughout the years. I captured photos of some real gems, even one that I'm not sure ever made it to market, which is probably a good thing. I'm not sure the Colonel would have been flattered by his likeness.

 I did finish the visit off with my traditional post-race oysters at a place in New Haven that made amazing cocktails as well. 

So that wrapped up 2021 for races 37 and 38.  And I rang in 2022 by getting married! Upcoming blog on my first race of 2022 in Eugene, Oregon, and perhaps a second chance at that Nevada midnight marathon!