The Reno Marathon

Since I had recently run a 50 mile race, and since I am in training for the Stockholm Marathon in June, I thought I could easily just throw in another marathon without much trouble. At least that was how I felt last week when I made a last minute entry into the Reno Marathon. I am a little chastened today after struggling through another less than perfect run. It was the same old story, everything was great up to mile 18 then I had nothing left and it was a walk run deal to the finish (with a lot more walking than running).

The race was the inaugural Reno Cinco de Mayo Marathon and it was perhaps the most disorganized race I have ever been in. The start was postponed half an hour, many of the mile markers were missing, a majority of mile markers that were in place were incorrect, many of the aid stations were non-existent, un-manned, or only had water (no electrolytes). Other than that the Marathon was great – Reno is not the prettiest of cities (at least downtown isn’t, but we were quickly out of that area) but the course was very nice indeed, with great views of the snow capped Sierras.