Zoom! Yah! Yah! Indoor Marathon

This was a really nice event, beginning with communication beforehand. Katie, the race director, was really quick in responding to e-mails I sent with questions. The dinner in the cafeteria the night before was very good, with lots of food options available. Each runner had their own timer. Mine was an alumni who came back to volunteer. She was wonderful, cheering for me on each lap, and that's a lot of laps! I highly recommend this marathon.

This was a great opportunity to run a winter marathon in the upper Midwest. And from my home, I could drive there in a day. Dick Daymont organized this race some 15 years ago. He passed the torch to a couple of young coaches from the college a year or two ago. Dick was still there this weekend meeting the runners, visiting with us, and encouraging us. I asked him about the name, and if he came up with it. Dick told me "Oom Yah Yah" was a chant from the school's fight song. Then a friend of Dick's was trying to come up with a marathon name for each letter of the alphabet, but was having trouble coming up with a name using the letter "Z". So they added the letter Z to the chant and came up with Zoom Yah Yah. An interesting bit of trivia. In years past, getting into this race was done by lottery because they only take 58 runners. I think that is the biggest crowd the track can accommodate. Two years ago I was registered to run, but with the bitter cold that year that had settled over the upper Midwest, the fuel lines in my truck froze, and I simply could not get there in time. This year they just opened registration until their quota was met. RD Katie told me they had 54 registrations and about 10 no-shows were expected. This marathon was held in the sports complex of St. Olaf College. St. Olaf is a Lutheran school, a short drive south of MSP. The pre-race packet pick up was in the commons building, in a room on the third floor. It was coordinated so afterwards we could eat food from the dining hall where the students eat. We received a meal ticket in our packets, and there was about every choice of food imaginable. In the morning we all met up at the Tostrud Sports Center - where the indoor track was. Each runner was matched up with a student volunteer from the college, and that volunteer recorded laps and cheered on their runner. Where the start/finish line was, the volunteers congregated. We started running at 6:30 a.m. and the event was open for 6 hours. The track was kind of rectangular, with rounded corners, and at each corner were tables where each runner could put their refreshments. That is another thing: No food or drink was provided by the race organization for during or after the marathon. You were told to bring with you what you needed and then set your stuff out on one of the tables provided. I think there was one water fountain on the track that was available. So runners brought water, sports drink, gels, fruit, and whatever else. It worked well. And we knew ahead of time. Track marathons are good in the respect that you do not have to carry anything with you during the run - unless you want to. The track had three lanes; the slow runners or walkers were on the inside lane. Faster runners passed in the outside lanes. Then every 30 minutes we switched directions. That worked out really well too. Katie and Erica were the co-race directors - both of them are coaches at the college, and they did a good job. We were kept informed ahead of time about how it worked, and what to expect. The course was flat and fast, with no wind, rain, or snow!

I'm a little obsessed with this race....just a little, in fact it makes me DIZZY. I 'found' this race in 2009 and since then have run it 6 times. 2019's edition was as fresh and fun as the first time I stepped onto the raised indoor track. The Race Director is a warm, friendly and funny guy. He loves running and this race is 'for the love of running'. The young women from St. Olaf's track and cross country running clubs, who for the most part, are our lap counters, are full of enthusiasm and cheer for EVERY runner, not just their own. The music, yes MUSIC, is fun and interesting and relevant. Water tables are placed in each of the four corners of the track for you to stock your own fluids and nutritional needs. Indoor bathrooms are no more than 60 meters away. The weather conditions are always perfect inside, regardless what what it is doing outside. The course is predictable, no hills, no rocks, no roots. There is always a doctor on site through the entire race - just in case. Oh, and the entire field reverses direction every 30 minutes. The pre-race dinner is OUTSTANDING! Swag is nicely designed. Photos are taken and available. Costs are kept low and yet it is a fundraiser for the track and cross country teams. Everybody WINS. Yah! Yah! Ya gotta do this one.