Pinedale Half Marathon
Held Sept. 24, 2016 in Pinedale
by Terry Allen
September 24, 2016
Exercise and diet for heart health was the theme for this year’s race.
"I eat shrimp," Adrien Messal said. "I just like shrimp. That‘s my racing diet. I eat shrimp a lot and sometimes I eat beets because we grow them. I also eat garlic. Geez, it’s hot!" With that, Cowboy hat wearing Adrien dropped to the floor and knocked off a few pushups for the camera. Not to be left out, his brother Deano Carlo Massal showed me his summersault. In the background Katie Belka did burpee’s.
Outside in the lightly falling rain, athletes jogged down to the Food Basket and back, and then came back to the Rendezvous Pointe dining room for the fresh muffins Bonnie Billig had set out.
Ranae Pape had steak, a lot of veggies and her homemade sweet potato chips the night before. She hit the sack at 9:00PM and was up at 6:15 drinking straight black Folgers coffee. At 7:15 she ate a handful of nuts and that was it till after the race.
Mae Orm told me she just loooved the chicken and white sauce wraps at Boondocks, washed down with a mango margarita.
The half marathon started in front of Rendezvous Pointe with 82 athletes. They charged off through town, up to Fremont Lake, down the Sylvan Bay road and then back down for another run through town before finishing right back where they started. High wind, rain and cold up at the lake made life difficult for cameras, but I didn’t hear any runners complain.
About the time the lead half marathoners made the turn at the Y for Sylvan Bay, a starter fired a pistol and turned the 147 gathered 10K’ers loose for a run along the lake, a meander around the CCC ponds and then a dive down into town.
I made my way down the mountain looking for "art" shots. I found one on a beautiful autumn leaf covered lane. I sat and waited for the lead runner to enter my set. There he was...everything was working perfectly. Then came a news competitors Toyota car into my shot. "Scream"! Might have been a cuss. Oh well, I get in my truck and leave...and would you believe it...I find myself right on the heels of the runner in my competitors shot! You can see how well I photoshopped his Toyota out of my shot. We'll see how good my competitors photoshop skills are...
Monte Skinner and his medal ceremony friends at the finish line stood at the ready to loop medals around necks, but about the time we saw Steve Vrska appear down the street headed for us, we got an idea. Here came Steve across the line and Monte planted a French Finish on both checks of the surprised runner and I took the shot. Denise got a French Finish and then Ken, and then Monte turned into the Mad Kisser…no one was safe, but everyone was smiling. Except for the young lady that brought him to the dance who called a halt to our escapades…for a bit. But, boys gotta be boys…
Nathan from Casper and Washington came across the line a little confused and refused his medal saying he was a 10K runner who had been directed the wrong way somewhere out in the wind and the rain. Everyone looked around for a ladder to refer the problem up to. Jayne from Jackson and Casper also got a little confused but said it was okay.
Brendan McDermott who finished 3rd in the Half was already laying on the massage table and didn’t care about anything else.
Eli peeked out of Mollies jacket for his runner.
Camille and Tyrney had their puppy, Honey in a sack and ran the mile race together.
At 11:00 all the 1 mile Fun Runners took off for a quick jaunt around town and back. This is the event all the little kids ran in and they loved it.
Races all done, Dana and Kayle Sluyter stood guard over jars of peanuts next to the Wind River Brewing beer booth and wouldn’t let me have any. "They are for runners and you’re not a runner," said one of the Peanut Police. The other one looked at me and said: "Nah nah nah, nah nah, nah." Yep, just like that…in a snappy little rhythm like she did it a lot. I decided to distract them somehow and just take some peanuts but then Tamra offered me a Pale Ale and I forgot all about it. Next year…
The following comments are from participants and volunteers and organizers:
Denise Tegeler: "Although the weather wasn't ideal for the events surrounding the race it was a great temperature for running and once again the community amazes me with the support every year. This is always such a fun event, come rain or shine, and the smiles on everyone's face is a great way to tell the success of any race. As for the French Finish - it is by far the BEST finish to any race! It's a great addition and Hopefully, this becomes a staple for years to come!"
Steve Vrska: "I live in Utah and run at about 4500 elevation. This race went from about 7200 feet in town to around 7500 feet at the lake. I wasn’t sure how I would perform with the hills thrown in, but I felt fine. My wife is a vegetarian so that influences my eating habits. For 10 years I’ve been eating a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables. Three times a week I eat meat, mostly chicken. I rarely drink a soda or have candy. My morning diet is a couple pieces of toast with butter and honey. If I’m racing I’ll add in some carbs. I drink coconut water for a few days ahead of a race. During the race I only take water. Gatorade is too sugary for me. I was a little conservative on the start. Kris Holmes went ahead early, but I was worried about the hills. Eventually, I got comfortable and ran with Chris for a while. He’s a friendly guy and was helpful on sharing course info as we ran. I really love the course. It’s nice that my family could follow along in the van. It made it more personal for us. Offering athletes a massage is a great idea. The Lion’s and Rendezvous Pointe had great pre-race and after race food. The muffins were great. It is a great event for the family and I’ll definitely be back next year. All three of my brothers live here, so it makes for a nice family event."
Sue Holz: "The race was awesome," she said. "We lucked out on the weather. It wasn’t pouring and it was great running because it was cool. We loved having so many out of town competitors. My favorite part is to see the kid’s faces as they cross the finish line. We go to the schools each year and give a presentation on heart and diet fitness and encourage the kids to enter the race. This year we had about 60 or 70 kids. The highlight for me was having cardiologist Ellen Gallant talk to us Friday evening about the impact of a good diet on a healthy heart. This event has evolved the way it has because of Cally. Because Cally was so dear to us all, we have naturally moved in the direction of prevention for the community."
Karen Olsen: "Encana and now Jonah Energy has been a major sponsor every year. Cally McKee hired me when I went to Encana. She was one of the founders of this event and was a real go-getter. I always remember that she loved the Bob Marley quote: Love the life you live and live the life you love."
Coralee Petersen: "I always think about the first race and how hard Cally worked to persuade me to enter it. "But what if I can't finish? I asked. "We'll come and get you. We'll come and get you," she said. "So, here we are and I'm still the last one to finish the race. I'm sure someone will come and pick me up if I can't finish, but I've never had to be picked up yet"!
Friday afternoon:
A whole crew of volunteers manned diagnostic machines at Rendezvous Pointe with the intention of testing the fitness of any runner or citizen who could brave the results.
Josh gave me a health screening for the fun of it; and Ken Konicek tested right after me so we could give you folks a comparison.
We are both about 6 feet tall and the same age.
I’m 204 pounds clothed and Ken has got to be 50 pounds less.
My Body Mass Index is: 27.1 and Ken: 22.1 (Lower is better)
My body fat: 21.7%, Ken: 7.2%
My visceral fat (around internal organs) is: 11%, Ken: 5%
My skeletal muscle: 34.7, Ken: 42.4
Josh pronounced me to be in good shape for an "overweight" guy. Ken: "Fantastic shape."
Steve Kipp from Public Health took my blood pressure and said he’d never taken a perfect one before, but I had a perfect 120/80.
Colleen from Colorado was testing the grip strength of hands. Presumably our ability to twist off beer caps and use a cigar cutter decreases with age. Turns out I’m a superman. Average grip for a person of my age and condition is a reading of 100 and I got 125 in both hands.
Marcy was in charge of a device that looked like a foot bath. It measured bone density. Her assistant, Claire giggled when I jerked as she smeared a cold grease on my ankles. I inserted my foot, the machine wheezed to life and squeezed both ankle bones. Marcy looked apologetically at me as she delivered the bad news that I produced a slightly geezerly reading of negative .09. "But," she told me brightly, "You can exercise and be on the plus side without too much trouble."
Over at the eye examination machine, Mindi Crabb was getting tested. I asked Mindi if I could share the info and she was fine with it, but Shari the examiner was having none of the sharing HIPA stuff. "I’m a feeling examiner," she said. "Mindi seems like a wonderful person." Okay, points to Shari. I can’t trump a blocking maneuver if I don’t even understand what she said. It is possible it was my ears…
At about 6:00 PM, cardiologist and Everest mountaineer Ellen Gallant gave a slide show of her two attempts to climb the highest mountain in the world. Both attempts ended due to natural disasters. 16 men were buried in 2014 and last year an earthquake hit the area which ended the attempt. Although Ellen was also caught in the avalanche and earthquake, she survived in good enough condition to join with the other physician’s on the climbs to attend to the many wounded. Ellen says she suffered from sleeplessness, bad dreams and other lasting symptoms from her close calls.
During her recovery, she recognized that balance and proper diet is important when one chooses to live a life of extremes. She talked about the peoples who live in the Blue Zone. Many of these people live to be over 100 years of age, have family connections and lead an active lifestyle. They also have a diet based primarily on fruits and vegetables. Dr. Gallant told us that 1 in 3 American women die from heart disease and suggested 2 ½ hours a week of physical activity and following a diet similar to the Blue Zone people would lead to healthy heart fitness.
She suggested going to the website www.cvriskcalculator.com and check your own risk.
Finally, Dr. Gallant is going to leave next April 12th to try another ascent on Everest. But, tomorrow morning she was climbing Teewinot up Jackson way.
Results:
Half Marathon: https://www.sportstats.ca/display-results.xhtml?raceid=41011
10K: https://www.sportstats.ca/display-results.xhtml?raceid=41012
A huge thank you goes out to my sponsors who paid me to take pictures and write these words about the event.
Thank you: Pinedale Half Marathon, 10K and Fun Run! Thanks for giving me access to everyone and everywhere and taking my calls, emails and visits for endless details.
Thank you: Dawn at Pinedale Online for telling me to just do whatever I want to do…and paying me for it! It is so great to have a place to put my community stories and photos.
Thank you: Patty at Boondocks! She serves great pizza, fantastic old fashioned milk shakes…you know…where you also get the metal can. She also hosts my Pape Ranch Branding exhibit.
The photos may be shared among you all. If you want high resolution prints, I make those for a reasonable, family friendly charge.
Terry Allen: txpartisan@gmail.com
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Editor's Note: This story has been updated slightly from the original post to add a bit more text.
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