Here's what I wrote when we (Kathy Murgas, Bill Baxley, Laura Steen-Patterson, and me) returned from Baltimore...
Ironically, the beauty of the marathon can sometimes be in its ability to draw the ugliness out of the very core of our souls, to strip away every protective layer and leave us out there in the bright sun, bare, naked, UGLY...nowhere to hide...Somehow we find something within us to conquer it and bust through the "ugly place" and make our way, miraculously, to the finish line.
I thank God that not all marathons are like that...but this one sure as hell was...at least for me...
OK, short version: Kathy: 4:00 flat, Bill: 4:16, Laura: 4:09, and me, 4:12. Perfect weather, a bit windy, but not a factor. Course: beastly hilly. In my opinion the course is harder than Boston, but I knew it would be hilly, so no excuses. But that doesn't mean it didn't beat me to a pulp. We are all happy with our finishes and our ridiculously huge blinged out medals to boot. In total, it was a great day and a great trip overall.
Ok long version. (sigh). Hey, you knew it was coming.
It was a gorgeous morning. Not a cloud in the sky, and cool crisp air. Lots of positive energy flowing. A happy morning. And then the race started...First 3 miles all uphill and it was work from step one. Kathy was gone right away. Bill, Laura, myself, and a hovering helicopter stayed together for the first few miles. Finally, the helicopter left, about the same time Bill pulled away. I told Laura, "I'm really glad he finally left". pause. "I meant the helicopter, not Bill." :)
And it was harsh, those first miles. I was still easily blowing sunshine out my rear at this point, telling Laura how great the downhill will be when we get to the turn around. Once we turned around though, surprise, hill, and then bam, another hill. So it went: downhill, up, down, up...down. GEESH. Was running out of sunshine already...By mile 12 my sunshine reserves were depleted and I'm pretty sure this was my lowest point in the race. I was realizing at that moment that this was going to be one of those marathons I mentioned above. (Trust me, I know the warning signs by now).
The "beauty" of the miles that followed is hard to explain, but I can tell you that sharing them with Laura as we went back and forth was priceless. What we didn't know, and wish we had, was that Bill somehow ended up behind us (popped into a medical tent around mile 16 I believe).
We could have suffered together! Anyhow, somewhere along the ridiculous climb from mile 16 to 20 ish I started to "come around", and salvage my race. I knew then that I would make it to the finish. It wouldn't be pretty, I'd have to walk some of the hills, but I was going to make it. Huge relief.
My main remaining issue was trying not to kill any of the half marathoners along the way, since they were running nearly their entire race along with us. (They kicked them off at an hour and 45 minutes after us and merged them in with us at mile 16...do the math). For those who like noise, chaos, crowds, half marathon runners darting all about you, this is your race! At their 11 mile mark they had a cheering crowd. "11 miles! and only 2 to go". Inspirational. Mile 24 marker...cue the crickets chirping...Seriously, the full marathoners were simply lost in the crowd of half marathoners, especially as we finished, when they accelerated into their mad-hatter sprints to the line. The marathon finishers didn't even have our own finishing chute. The marathon runners were forced to come to a complete stop as the masses (mostly half marathoners) slowly filtered into a narrow opening in a gate. You could tell who the marathoners were, because we were all moving about in tiny circles, grabbing our knees, or some were even puking over the rails. And NO MEDICAL ANYWHERE. It was the most ridiculous finish I have ever encountered, and have already emailed the race director about it.
Once I pushed and shoved my way through the hole, and grabbed a mylar blanket I encountered girls with boxes of medals and made sure I got the full medal (ceremonial. Nice touch).
From there I was in the chaotic sea of humanity, trying to decipher where to go next to find a: the beer tickets, then b: the beer. I came across people standing in line for a dixie cup of soup. Really, REALLY? Sure enough I found the beer, and my peeps! We always know where to find each other! For some reason we decided to stand around a giant plastic drum positioned between two beer trucks and have our little celebration. And we were all so happy!!
Later I will make my pros and cons and submit to marathonguide.com. The pros: The course was pretty, the people of Baltimore were out cheering for us, Baltimore is a great destination city, the race logistics were great (start and finish close to each other and hotels), great starting area (Camden Yards), and finish (Ravens stadium). Organized aid stations, mile markers, traffic control. Beautiful medals. Expo was decent.
Cons: besides the obvious half issues, and finish area, nothing really!
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