2022 Cascade Express Marathon Recap

Megan Morris
Nov 6, 2022
7 min read

Better late than never? I wrote most of the recap right after the race while it was fresh – but between moving and work, and probably a lack of discipline – I am posting it two months late.

It was a good race. I am grateful I saw Rob Bondurant before he unexpectedly passed a few weeks later. I’m used to seeing Rob at the starting line of most races. Pacing or running – he is dedicated to the sport. He always quick to share some wisdom about the course. The tip he gave me before this marathon probably changed the outcome of my race for the better – thank you, Rob. You will be missed.

A few key take-aways from the race:

This course may not be as fast as you think. It is a downhill marathon that claims to be a top Boston qualifier and PR course. It is also on packed gravel. Based on their advertising and my training, I thought I had a chance at coasting to a sub-3 PR finish. However, Rob said to run the course as if it were flat. He had tried to PR on this course multiple times, but consistently got faster times on paved, flatter marathon courses. He suspected the softness of the packed gravel cancelled out the downhill, so it runs like a flat course. I adjusted my expectations after that, deciding to stick with the 3:05 pace group instead of trying for sub-3. This turned out to be a very good choice!

Vaporflys do okay on packed gravel – but they are very prone to filling with dust and dirt because the mesh on top has so many holes. Luckily, there was enough moisture that there wasn’t much dust and this didn’t create a problem for me – but I would definitely won’t be taking those shoes near any packed gravel in drier conditions.

This tiny flashlight with a clip was perfect for the tunnel. It shed enough light to avoid the potholes and keep a good pace, and clipped conveniently into the pocket of my shorts, so I didn’t have to carry a bulky headlamp the whole time. Side note - the tunnel was not nice and cool like I had expected -rather pretty muggy.

I really need to remember to take a day off work after a marathon. Ouch.

Race recap:

I drove up to Snoqualmie Pass the night before and car camped at a trailhead parking lot. I enjoyed the quiet time. I read, got extra sleep, and as usual, listened to some of Deena Kastor’s book – “Let your Mind Run”. Chapters 6-9 are my favorites for race-day mindset strategies.

Race morning, my alarm went off three hours before race start. As soon as I could bear to loosen the cozy cocoon of blankets and sit up, I ate one plain bagel with honey. I had a second plain bagel with honey ~1.5hrs prior to race start. I sipped gatorade and water (approx 6oz ea) throughout the morning, and stopped an hour before the race. 5 minutes before the race, I ate ½ of a Spring Energy gel (awesome sauce) and had a sip of gatorade. My stomach felt great before the race, no gurgling or tightness and I was able to use porta potties successfully, several times.

I met my friend Blake at the starting line of the race. We jogged around a few minutes, and I did a few skips and butt kicks, and hip circles – not much else for a warm-up. I was feeling like I needed to save every ounce of energy for the race.

It was cloudy and the weather felt just perfect. There was a quiet, focused energy at the starting line. Lots of runners gearing up for their last shot this year at a Boston Qualifier.

When the race started, I tucked in behind the 3:05 pacer and the group of 7-8 men that clustered behind him. I usually don’t like following other runners. It annoys me to have someone else setting my pace for me, but I was intentional about staying with them. An anxious feeling kept bubbling up that I should be going faster. Remembering Rob’s caution - I tried to focus on staying smooth and finding a rhythm.

The first 7 miles were flat and the paces came easy. I’m sure the Tunnel threw off my watch, but the paces according to Coros were 7:10, 6:57, 7:13, 7:01, 7:02, 7:00, 6:57.

I don't do well posing for photos:

Coming out of the tunnel and starting the gradual downhill, I was still feeling great and was on-track with my nutrition so far. My game plan was 1 Awesome Sauce Gel (190 cal) @ mile 5.2 (I ate this slowly over a few miles), 1 Power Rush Gel (90 cal) @ mile 12, 1 Koffee gel @ mile 16, and 1 Power Rush gel @ mile 21. I had been excited to try out Maurten gels for this race, but I ordered them too late, so I stuck with Spring Energy gels instead. I was a bit nervous about this because I haven’t done any hard training with Spring gels before – and generally my stomach does not do well in the second half of a marathon.

My stomach started to complain early. Gels already sounded terrible at mile 12. I knew I needed the calories, so by mile 13 I forced it down with a sip of water at an aid station. This is where I started to lose the pace group and fell back a bit.

As usual, at mile 13 on the dot the effort and my breathing suddenly felt astronomically greater. I knew this was coming and didn’t let it scare me. My mantra at this point was ‘find your rhythm, find your groove’. I was surprised and elated that my paces were good even though I felt like I was dragging through mud and sucking air through a straw. Miles 13-17 I clocked 6:59, 7:05, 7:02, 7:04. My race experiences in the past have taught me that I can sustain the 'gasping for air' effort for several hours - as long as I'm eating.

However a knot had started to grow in my stomach and I felt like I was going to throw up. Eating the gels was awful. It sounds silly, but I pretended I was a fierce prey animal and literally growled out loud as I ate them. I hope no one saw the faces I was making. Somehow they stayed down.

By mile 17 I the energy it took to ignore my stomach was really starting to drain me. I was losing motivation to keep the up the effort. A man with a big video camera started running in front of me and then beside me, recording me as I ran for a few hundred yards, as I was first female. This distracted me for a bit and the fear of looking slow on camera helped me pick up the pace. Almost as soon as the camera man left, I slowed again, and the second place female flew past me. I had no motivation to stay with her. This is when my paces started to drop and was the toughest part of the race.

At mile 20, I started forcing the gel with caffeine down (the one I was supposed to take at mile 16). I gagged and kept almost puking but did my best to keep my thoughts on how good the rest of my body felt. At mile 22 I threw up and immediately felt better. I got a massive second wind, it felt like a weight had been taken out of my stomach, like I could breathe without restriction. It was such a relief. I couldn’t wipe the smile off of my face. I think I even laughed out loud at how good I felt. All of a sudden I had this massive motivation to hunt down 1st female and pass her. I started pumping my arms and stretched out my stride to maximum effort - but annoyingly my muscles weren’t responding. It was an odd sensation. I was mentally fresh but my body that felt like the tin man. My hamstrings felt like they might snap and all of my muscles felt rigid. I tried to visualize and pretend like I was turning off the tired muscles and turning on new, fresh ones, using my core and arms to try to compensate for the dismal response of my legs. No matter how hard I pushed I couldn’t get the pace to drop below 8 min mile – which was maddening but I felt such exhilaration it didn’t matter to me, I kept pushing.

I started asking joggers coming towards me if they had seen the first place girl. After a few parties didn’t know, I realized she was probably too far ahead to catch. Regardless I was able to pick up the pace at mile 25 (7:17) and I’m very proud of mile 26 (7:10).

After crossing the finish line my legs didn’t work well. The deep throb set in – but not as bad as I felt after the Bremerton marathon. I also wasn’t delirious like I’ve been in the past – I felt calm and satisfied. I finished in 3:11, which is was the second fastest time I’ve ever run in a marathon, and only 1.5 minutes off my personal best.

Here were the splits all together:

7:10, 6:57, 7:13, 7:01, 7:02, 7:00, 6:57,7:01, 6:54, 6:55, 6:54, 6:55, 7:16, 6:59, 7:05, 7:02, 7:04, 7:30, 7:05, (gps fail), 7:05, 7:20, 7:56, 8:15, 7:17, 7:10, and the last .2 were 8:18

A few highlights of the course:

The railroad bridges over the deep treed valleys were stunning.
Seeing the rock climbers in the second half was fun and a nice distraction
Dumping water on my head and down my chest at the last few aid stations – gave me a boost of energy each time and helped cool me down.

A few other tangents:

The air quality was not great from the wildfires nearby. I’m not sure if it affected my performance at all or not.
The top of my feet were painful after the race. I was unable to extend my toes for a few days and there was some swelling on top of my feet. I hadn't felt them at all during the race, and the pain completely resolved after a few days. This was my first time wearing the vapor flys for more than a few miles so I think it was just bruising from the lack of padding.
I was not strict with my nutrition the day before, but tried to keep my nutrition as close to 80% simple carbohydrates, with just a little fiber, fat and protein. I ate a bowl of cheerios with almond milk, two plain bagels with honey, two cliff nut butter bars, gatorade, tacos and chips, 1.5 beers (probably not ideal, but they were free) Ham and cheese sandwich on white bread, and a blueberry pastry. I had dinner (the sandwich and pastry) later than I should have - close to 9:30pm.

A few other photos from the race website:

This is the tunnel you run through for a few miles: