NORTH OLYMPIC DISCOVERY MARATHON The sixth annual North Olympic Discovery Marathon (NODM) was held on Sunday, June 8, 2008, at Port Angeles, Washington. I’ve described the event in earlier reports of this marathon. In this report I want to give recognition to ten fellow Marathon Maniacs (MM) for their extraordinary marathoning of a “weekend double.” These runners had participated in the Green River Marathon (GRM) on Saturday, June 7, 2008, that followed a riverside course from Kent to Alki Beach in Seattle. After they finished this race, they drove more than 100 miles to Port Angeles for packet pickup at race headquarters at the Red Lion Hotel. Lenore and I had our own kind of “weekend double.” Friday, June 6, 2008, was our day to travel to Port Angeles. But on the way, we stopped at Galliano’s Cucina Restaurant (near SeaTac Airport) to have lunch with Green River Race Director Steve Barrick and many of the participants. For the past three years this race had been a favorite one on our schedule, so this helped us feel that we were still a part of it, even though we weren’t there on race day. At most of the NODM’s Expos, we’ve had a booth to publicize our Yakima River Canyon Marathon (YRCM). This year it was exciting for us as we were able to display our new YRCM quilt that was made for us by Beverly Whitehouse of Puyallup. She used the colorful T-shirts from our eight marathons and transferred this year’s poster picture onto fabric to use it as the center square of the quilt. This display was a highlight of the Expo! It was after talking at our booth with some of the MM’s who had run the Green River Marathon that I realized these ten MM’s deserved special recognition for their “Running” of this weekend double. In alphabetical order with their GRM and NODM times, they are:
Chuck Engle finished second overall at the Green River Marathon and first at the North Olympic Discovery Marathon. Remarkably, he was the overall winner of 10 marathons in 2007. The race for second and third places was close as Jansen Falen, 36, of Kingston ran a 2:53:19, and David Millet, 45, of Spokane came in behind him in 2:53:32. The women’s race was won by Laura Gould, 32, of Sequim with a 3:17:14. She was also the winner of the 2008 Surf City USA Marathon. The second and third place finishers were Ginger Gruber, 38, of Port Orchard (3:22:21) and Shannon Porter, 26, of Puyallup (3:29:14). Unfortunately, early leader Annie Thiessen, 37, of Tacoma dropped out due to illness on the course. She was the winner of the women’s races in marathons at Yakima, Whidbey Island, Tacoma, Olympia and Newport, Oregon, in 2008. An article about Annie’s marathoning career appeared in the Seattle Post Intelligencer newspaper on June 11, 2008. My race went well. I liked the weather, which was overcast with light winds and temperature in the 50’s. The course is flat to rolling and very scenic. Fields, forest, farmland, urban, suburban and seashore vistas continually change to make it interesting. Early in the race I overtook a few runners, but invariably they passed me in the late miles. I knew there was someone in my age division in the race, but I didn’t know if he was in front of me or not. In the last mile, MM Monte Pascual caught up with me and slowed his pace so that we could finish together. I appreciated his interest in doing this. My finishing chip time was 5:35:17, and I came in 315th of 367 overall, first of two in the 75+ male age division. Lenore was waiting at the finish line with a hug, finisher’s medal, refreshments and a chair! At the end of the awards ceremony, Tim Bruce, Bob Dolphin, Ron Fowler, Steve Supkoff and Steve Yee were recognized for having completed the first five North Olympic Discovery Marathons. Those present received a special jacket with the following embroidered on it: “Therapeutic Association North Olympic Discovery Marathon…from Sequim to Port Angeles……5 YEAR FINISHER.” I appreciated receiving this award. Through the years I’ve had a number of annual strings going to 20+ years (24 is the longest) with little recognition, except for one. At the 5th annual Yakima River Canyon Marathon a special TyVek jacket was presented to each of the 35 runners who had completed all of the races. (Three years later the number is 25!) On the bus transporting the runners from Port Angeles to the Carrie Blake Park staging area/starting line at Sequim, I sat next to Katherine Chong, 32, of Redmond. Congratulations to her for finishing her first marathon in 4:40:37! Several weeks before the race MM David Bartholomew, 53, of Walnut Creek, California, had e-mailed us with questions he had about this marathon. It was a surprise to both of us that we arrived at the lobby of the Super 8 Motel in Port Angeles at the same time two days before the race! At the Expo, I met Chuck Milliman, 75, of Sequim. He told me that in 2007 when we were in different age groups, I had finished before he did. I didn’t see him in the 2008 race, and didn’t expect to finish in front of him, but I did. My 5:35:17 beat his 5:48:59. Thanks to race directors Larry and Michelle Little, their fabulous staff and volunteers for hosting another great race. We enjoyed our get-together with the Green River Marathon participants on Friday and the special treatment given to us at NODM the rest of the weekend. “Weekend doubles” (the Dolphin way) don’t get any better. My wife Lenore as co-director of the 100 Marathon Club North America celebrated attending her 300th MARATHON at Port Angeles. She has never been a “marathon runner,” but she has been very active in the sport as race director of the Yakima River Canyon Marathon, as an advisor to new race directors, as a volunteer at most marathons that she has attended, and as a supporter of all of the marathon runners that she knows……especially me! ……………………………….Written by Bob Dolphin
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NORTH OLYMPIC DISCOVERY MARATHON, Partial ResultsJune 8, 20082:48:54 Chuck Engle, 37, Dublin, OH, FIRST OVERALL WINNER, Marathon |