Casper Wyoming Marathon
Casper, Wyoming
Sunday, June 7, 2009

I race walked the Casper Wyoming Marathon in Casper, Wyoming on Sunday, June 7, 2009. It was a cold day as the temperature stayed around 45 degrees with overcast skies and some wind. The course was advertised as flat, but that was not the true facts as there were many short steep hills with one mile long uphill and one steep half mile downhill that lost about 170 feet of elevation. The mile high elevation of Casper did not bother me; however, it did affect many of the competitors. My Marathon Maniac friend, Chuck Engle, won the event in 2:49 which is more than 10 minutes slower than he usually runs marathons. About 7 miles of the marathon was on roads devoid of traffic and the rest was on paved bike paths mostly along the North Platte River. In fact, some of the paths followed the historical Oregon Trail. The event was well organized with plenty of enthusiastic volunteers attending to the water/Powerade stations which were located approximately every two miles. The marathon was small and very friendly, having only 101 finishers. There were almost no spectators as is normal for such a small event. I enjoyed the event and exploring the history of the more than a half million travelers along the Oregon, Mormon, and California Trails as well as the Pony Express.