Mary Hanna's Yakima River Canyon Marathon Report

Mary Hanna and Cliff Richards did the Yakima Marathon this weekend with some other RTB members. Great race report from Mary below. Congratulations to all of you!!

First the men's race: This was a very close race. Joe Darda (recent UW runner) won in 2:35:12, and second place was two-time Yakima winner, Manuh Santos in 2:35:32, a four or five minute PR for him. I for get who got third, but my friend and fellow SRC runner, Glen Weissman, was fourth in 2:46ish. My other friend and fellow SRC runner, Cliff Richards, finished fifth in 2:54. He was also the first master, because Glen won't be a master for two more weeks. :) There were three women highlighted in the paper as potential winners: Selina Danko (3rd last year, just minutes behind me), Amber Green (CWU runner, 2nd marathon, but shooting for 3:10-3:15), and me. I looked around when I started the race and found myself in the lead, but after a couple of miles, Selina joined me. I didn't know her, but guessed that was who this was. We ran together for about 13 miles. After a few miles, we started to hear a woman's voice behind us. It was Amber, and she slowly caught up to us. I really enjoyed having the three of us running together. I felt like the veteran, and I was counting on my marathon experience and YRCM experience to get me through. I knew that we were all three running under our goal time. I hung back a little, but stayed with them. Then Selina dropped back and told me to hang with Amber. I said OK. I ran along with Amber a couple of miles and noticed our splits were slipping. At mile 18, I decided to make my move. Not knowing what would happen, I picked the pace up just a notch and never looked back. I found out in the newspaper Sunday that Amber had hung within 30 yards of me for the next three miles! At mile 23, my calves started cramping, so I slowed down and took shorter steps. That kept the cramping at bay, and I was able to get to the finish before Selina (2nd) and Amber (3rd).
It was my slowest Yakima and the closest women's finish since 2001. The weather has never been better, though, and I had a lot of fun. :)