A marathon in New Jersey is a hard sell. You tell someone you're running a marathon in New Jersey and they scrunch up their nose and repeat "New JERSEY??" Forget that it's a coastal point to point run along the Barrier Islands from Cape May to Sea Isle City, one of the most popular tourist spots on the east coast, or that it's pancake flat except for a few bridges across the marsh lands .It's NEW JERSEY, EW!!! So naturally, the only people I could recruit were my "50 state" friends, Zac and Kathy.
First things first though as we drive into Cape May--Wine tasting trumps everything, including checking into the hotel. Currently, Cape May has two vineyards/wineries with a third on the way. The first stop was the Turdo Vineyard. Yes, Turdo. It's the family name, no reference to the soil, so no worries there. Then onward to the Cape May Winery, which was presenting their 2005 white wines in celebration. Both places produced some good wines worth buying. Later that evening we polished off two purchases with our BYOB dinner at the Black Duck. Can't recall exactly what I had, but it was delicious.
We stayed at the historical Congress Hall Hotel, which means it was really old and a lot of history happened there. ;) It was a great location. You could walk to the main shopping area, to the beach, to Bill's pancake house, and most importantly, to the race start, which was going to be right out in front of the building.
The expo was in the Wildwood convention center. We got kind of excited when we pulled into the parking lot and noticed there were lots of cars and people walking in and out until we realized the crowd was there for a boat show. The expo was off in a little side room to itself. Still, it was nice to have that verification that there was actually going to be a marathon taking place!
On Saturday the weather gradually deteriorated throughout the day. At nightfall it went from a cold steady rain to a wintry mix with a 70% chance of rain the following morning. The sense of dread set in at the "last meal". We considered a plan B. Can't discuss it here, for legal reasons. ;) I hate that sense of dread. I dozed off while repeatedly watching the weather channel feed every 8 minutes, hoping it would change, and then had one of those fitful dreams where you show up to run in a pair of wooden clogs or you missed the start or have to run through someone's house for the first mile. I hate those dreams!
Race day morning was clear! Cold, but no rain, and only a slight breeze, but the breeze brought the temperature down from 38 to 31 degrees. Again, seeing other runners milling about was a relief. It was weird. The whole week-end you felt like it wasn't going to happen and then here it was, finally! The three of us were all "gimpy" and wanted to run easy, so we ran together and chatted among other runners in the early miles. Small marathons are friendly like that. Two women we met had on Reach the Beach relay shirts! We met a guy who was running Boston in 3 weeks, same as Zac. He stayed around us for most of the race.
We noticed busted clam shells on the road, and at one point we heard a loud bang on the road. It was later discovered that this loud bang was a gull dropping the clam on the road in order to break it and eat the clam. My favorite part of the marathon was a boardwalk stretch on old wooden planks along an amusement park with hot dog stands, rides, and arcades. Really neat! Zac and Kathy's favorite parts were the last stretches through Sea Isle City, with nice summer homes. All three of us agree that the finish was great. It finished along a bike path than ran parallel to the beach for nearly a mile.
Afterwards they served chicken broth which was surprisingly good! We hung out in a tent for awhile, chatting with other runners, one of which thanked us for pacing him to his first marathon. Even though we didn't remember him, Zac's photos show him behind us along the boardwalk, so he must have ran behind us in silence for a good ways. Finally, we made our way to the bus to take us back to Cape May, and then later we had to say good-bye to Cape May and head home.
I think Kathy and Zac would agree that this marathon is way more than a check off a list. It's truly a unique marathon worth considering. Yes it's small with 450 runners (up from 300 last year), but small marathons can be a nice change, especially with the sound of the ocean in your ear as you near the finish line. Logistics are so easy too--we didn't even need timing chips. And if you need another reason?
Hey, it's New Jersey!!
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