Before running this marathon, I did a little research on the area that I would run. I read the book Night Falls On The Cumberland. A man on a flight back from Louisville recommended the read. This man lived in Littleton Co, and ran the half at the Derby. He was in the same ward as Don and Sheri Peterson. Small world! He actually lived in Kentucky before moving to Colorado. He told me it was a depressed part of the country. Poorest county in the country. After reading the book, and finding out where the mountain people came from, who they intermarried with and how the cole mining executives tricked them into risking their personal safety for the all mighty dollar having them spend their money in the mining companies commissaries no wonder their poor. A psychiatrist who was waiting in line at Walmart with me at Pikeville explained why the checkout lines were so long, like after Thanksgiving in Utah. He said the people can't pass drug tests to become employed. He continued to say that the Holler Doctors prescribe oxycotin to the people here, granted he says they truly are in pain, and since they are not strict with regulations, the doc can continue to write out the RX's for a small fee. SAD!!! 40 percent of the houses are substandard, I wouldn't dare walk into one. No building codes for safety. The scary homes are the ones built in the hollers some resting on cinderblocks leaning into creaks, or crooked nailed up boards or trailer houses sitting right next to the mountains. In inner city WIlliamson, you can actually see the old mining homes and how the cole mine execs built it up several years ago. They are the homes with no screens or doors, roofs in repair, and filth everywhere from the cole dust and human litter. A train carrying cole ran all night through the city which enabled me to get any sleep. The screeching of metal on metal the train made was a hideous sound that ran almost all through the night. Between the train screeching, domestic fighting, and the hot humid night, sleep was impossible. I was tired when I woke up to run. Should have taken the lady up on the offer to sleep in her house when I was registering for the race the night before.
I started my morning with two bananas, and water. I tried to fall back to sleep after dressing. A group of us caught the bus in town to arrive in Goody to start the race. After hanging out at the local market for a few hours and talking with several nice people from Florida and Kentucky, and using the potty more than my fair share of times, the race was about to begin. David Hatifield the RD explained the course. I was on team McCoy and they began their running feud after a beautiful prayer imparted by David. He even prayed for himself to get through the day of being a RD. At the start my legs were lethargic because of the high heat and humidity. My muscles felt sticky and tired. I knew this was going to be a long, hard race. After running into the race about 4 miles, we heard thunder quite close, and then buckets of rain poured on us. It felt so good. My running shoes became slosh, but still it felt sooooo good. Quite honestly, I believe the rain saved me on this run. A tender mercy of the Lord.
The course was gorgeous, I mean it. It was green with the unique foliage. Unfortunately too much litter lined this beautiful run along creek beds and roadway. I tried not to add to that by dropping cups in garbage cans. The course was hilly with a hill around mile 7, that I ended up walking. SMART MOVE, because I ended up passing up everyone on the last six that kicked my bottom up the hill. The hill was a about a mile long, but a gradual hill for at least 2 miles before. We ran around all the Hatfield and McCoy feuding landmarks and houses of the clan. At the McCoy house a big tall white house adjacent to the Hatfield McCoy park, there were about 5 woman cheering us on and asking where we were from. Very Fun moment on the course. Most of the residence in the city just sat in their rocking chairs on the porches and would wave if you waved to them first and said good morning. They were very shy to say the least. The people who manned the water stops were incredibly kind. They were cute as well. One young girl was pregnant and she wore a sign that said Barefoot and Pregnant while passing out the water. I had a burst of adrenaline at about mile 16 when a dog came out of no where and tried to get me. I SCREAMED so loud I scared him off. Through sweltering humid heat resulting in thunderous spots of drenching rain, over holler and dale and last but not least over the dreaded swinging bridge, I finished this marathon 1st place in my age division with a time of 4:09:46. I would like to run this race again for the challenge and the people. MISSIONARY MOMENTS: After shop hopping through 10 different quilt shops through West Virginia and buying a different panel to sew into a West Virginia quilt that was displayed, I was able to tell many people I was from Utah. THEY WERE SHOCKED I CAME ALL THE WAY FROM UTAH TO VISIT THEIR QUILT SHOP HOP! I had to tell them I was really there for the marathon! Some great conversations were started and friendships unfolded when telling these cute gals about Utah. On the plane way to Louisville, I had a great conversation with a girl about the church. She had been living with her boyfriend, and wanted to make a break hoping to be selected in a new position at a Texas Roadhouse. She said she had learned her lesson about shacking up. I told her about our church and our moral code as nice as I could without hurting her feelings. I had another great conversation about the church with a man flying out of Louisville going to Oklahoma. He had been training Islam citizens how to shoot guns. He had to stay in a secured compound for 4 months at a time. He said one of his fellow trainers was LDS and he loved this man. My conversation was just one more seed planted for this man, even though he ordered a whisky and coke for his refreshment. On Sunday morning following the marathon I greeted the missionaries (one from Washington and the other from California) at the Pikeville branch, (this branch looked like a toy church), where I attended their meetings. President Stump who was married to a Korean and his cute little family of 5 boys, was very kind. Originally from SLC, his wife clearly did not like living there. She tried to get me to move to Pikeville. No chance, this place was great to visit, but not for a long term residence. An elderly sister I talked to at this branch told me of her her Grandmammies conversion. Two missionaries were caught by a storm in her Grandmammies holler. Having no place to go, they asked her Grandmammie if they could stay. She consented if they did chores to pay for their board. She said her Grandmammie learned alot from these fine missionaries while they lived with her and she can still remember the words her Grandmammie said "I was like a frog leapin' from stone to stone until I finally found the truth". Her posterity has never drifted from the church, as I testified of this sitting next to her 95 year old Granddaughter in a branch of no more than 35 people that were present that warm humid Sunday morn. I LOVE THIS CHURCH! TOURIST SITES I visited: New River Gorge Bridge, Cumberland Gap, Frankfort, Charleston (the state capitol museum and quilt show), Buckhannnon, Elkins, Harrisville, Parkersburg, Beckley and Hunington!
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