The Lake Tahoe Marathon! My favorite marathon! Lake Tahoe itself is just a spectacular place to visit, with the crystal clear blue lake waters coming right up against beautiful beaches, mountains and pines. I loved it! Plus running under blue skies and feeling the fresh mountain air made it all the better! The race began on the northwest side of the lake, near Tahoe City CA and finished in South Lake Tahoe. The site today states the start is near Homewood CA, so although the course might be slightly different, it’s very similar as it traverses the California side of Lake Tahoe. There are a TON of races throughout the weekend. You could run anything from a 5k to an Ultra to a marathon each day! It was and is a pretty awesome running event in the most perfect place for outdoor enthusiasts and lovers like myself! You can kayak, SUP, fish, hike, mountain bike, swim! It’s an amazing place to see and play! We enjoyed a few days prior to the run so I could acclimate and be in Lake Tahoe!
I ran the Lake Tahoe Marathon, the original. If you look on their site you’ll see a bunch of races offered as I mentioned above. Sunday morning we rode a bus up from our hotel in South Tahoe to the start, which I believe the year I ran it was located just south of Tahoe City. Here is a look at the starting line, right along the water and in the pine trees.
Off we go and I was taking pics from the get-go, I loved being able to see sides of Lake Tahoe that we didn’t visit.
Blue shirt in front of me, it says Tahoe Triple, meaning this was her THIRD marathon in three days. Crazy. Go Girl!
Another Tahoe Triple runner. I feel like a slacker! Beautiful pines along the course!
Early in the race a monstrous climb begins! Beautiful still, but the burn begins! Already the elevation is above 6000 feet and the race takes you to just under 7000 feet by mile 13! And you stay there until just after mile 15 where finally you’ll start your descent.
Below I took a snapshot of generally the middle of the race, you can see where just after you pass the maker that states there are 17 miles REMAINING in the race, you start to climb! The elevation map is really on the rise just after mile 10. Yikes!
A closer look, you make it past 9 miles, 17 miles to go, approaching mile 10, you’re climbing… then REALLY climbing!! You can see on the topo map the 6830… that’s 6830 feet elevation! And you’ll get there!!!
Spectators feeling my pain!
You can see on the elevation map, it goes up after mile 10, comes down a bit then starts to really climb toward miles 13 through 15. So this is a big tease below.
Because here we go, climbing!
Another 100 feet and still going UP!
Love the people on the side! It’s beautiful here and it was an amazing morning!
Another 100 feet… still climbing!
ALMOST THERE! I was feeling the burn in my legs! I was doing my best to continue to run the entire time and I did good, I kept a steady pace! However, it’d be a couple miles later when I’d be hit hard with altitude sickness! Towards the end of the race!!
So many volunteers helping at the top!
MADE IT!! 6800 FEET! And as you can see, it still goes up after this! 6830′ or around there is the peak, and you keep running at this elevation for a while! Breathe.
Incredible views!!! Goes down a bit then comes back up and we’re coming around to the view of Emerald Bay and Inspiration Point! This part of the race was the best!
Going back up a bit then we’ll start a nice downhill to finish the race.
Look at these views!!!
Feeling fine here and having fun! I made the climb, peaked the ascent, now we’re on our way down and around.
I saw my dad at Inspiration Point… at this spot with this view above. I talked to him briefly. I was running at a pace at about 8 minutes early on in the race, then dropped down closer to a 9/9:30 pace during the ascent. At mile 20, talking to my dad, I was on pace to finish around 4 hours. I had 6 miles to go and my total time so far was just about 3 hours. So giving myself a full hour to finish another 6 miles: 6 x 9 = 56 minutes; that was reasonable. It didn’t work out that way…
It would be just after this point below I would feel altitude sickness; it hit hard! I could not breathe. I mean, I couldn’t catch my breath at all. I’ve pushed myself in competitive racing and I know what it feels like to exhaust yourself in sports. This was different, even after I stopped running, the burn and out-of-breath sensation wouldn’t ease. It was comparable to when I was a kid and would swim for a long distance under water, for a long time. I would do this for “fun” all the time growing up, swimming in a lake in my hometown in Ohio. (I’d also get “sat-out” often by the lifeguard because he couldn’t find me surfacing. He told me to stop doing this, as I could faint under water.) We’d play tag and the best way to hide was to stay under water. And swim along the dark bottom, 12 feet below. There were a few times I’d push myself to the limit, staying underwater for the longest time. I’d start to feel my entire body burning, needing that air. Finally when I decided I needed to breathe, taking the risk I’d be tagged “it’ but realized I might die otherwise, it would take a while for my body to really catch that deep inhale and replenish my lungs and blood once I surfaced. But once I took a few gasps I was good. During this race, in Lake Tahoe at mile 23, the plethora of beautiful oxygen that relieved me when I would finally come up for air from being under water for so long as a kid wasn’t so much there now. It was just gasp after gasp and what felt like empty air. Nothing being replenished. I felt pain throughout my entire body, not just out-of-breath pain, but a sickness in my head, a woozy feeling in my throat and a draining feeling in my legs. It was lack of oxygen my body wasn’t used to, combined with the taxing of my body from the running-climb-ascent to 6830 feet. I realized what was happening and I had to stop, slow my breathing, and just be still for a while, then simply walk. I needed to calm my heart rate the best I could given the circumstances (I was in fact running a marathon at 6000 feet) and take in slow easy deep breaths through my nose and long out my mouth. Finally I began regaining strength and feeling a bit more normal around mile 25. I was able to start jogging at an easy pace.
I finished at a time of 4:56 at an overall pace of 11:20 per mile. Those last 3-4 miles took about an hour and a half to get through. When I was walking them, I was probably dropping back to a 20+ minute pace! But I finished. And the finish area was… stunning. It was Lake Tahoe after all so obviously it was all so perfect and felt so good to stand in the waters. And just breathe. I saw my dad and he said “Did you get lost?”. Nope. Not lost, just thought I was going to die.
Ok! I did it!! Now, shower and on to Yosemite National Park for some hiking! At high altitudes!
