Marathon #45: Rehoboth Beach Delaware Marathon, December 2016

Race starting area

I love running marathons with a big group of friends. Not only did Karen and Candy make it to cheer us on (third year in a row!), but we rented a big house this time, which made it all even more fun. This was an excellent choice destination marathon! The house was within walking distance to the start and 2 blocks down from the finish. Even though it was off season, plenty of shops and restaurants were open. Everything was within walking distance to the house. Perfect. Ok, onward to marathon details...

After three hot marathons this year I was praying for cold, but I think I prayed too much! It was really really cold! Probably one of the coldest marathons I've ran, but this time I dressed appropriately, so the cold wasn't much of an issue. The only real bear was gusty cold wind, which we only had to battle in parts.

Race morning. Ready for whatever lies before us!

Even though there were less than a thousand marathoners, there was probably twice that for the half, so when we arrived at the start we quickly lost each other in the crowd. I started with Jamie and Robin, but didn't get to wish the others good luck. I never saw the half marathoners, Zelda and Kathy again until the end.  The marathoners were: Toby, Kelly, Mark, Laura (LSP), Robin, Jamie, and myself. Toby and Jamie had just ran the NYC marathon a month ago, so their goals were iffy, especially Jamie's since she had just been to the doctor,was diagnosed with bronchitis, given antibiotics and an inhaler, and told not to run...Since the course ran back behind the house around mile 18 I wasn't sure if those 2 would simply stop at the house and call it a day. Had the half marathon runners been there with beers in their hands, well...you just never know.

The course is largely remote, with the first half running through Cape Henlopen State Park, and the second half, after coming back through downtown, running along a dirt path with a turn around at mile 22 back into town. Roughly about one third of the course is on dirt paths (there is a stretch along the first half too), which concerned me until I actually saw and ran on it. It is largely packed dirt and sand with virtually no rocks, roots, or things that could trip you up.

Some of the path was asphalt in the state park

Sadly it's true that somehow most of us missed seeing this!

Glimpses of the ocean

Right from the start, as happens sometimes, I felt like I had to pee. Add to that the inability to get into a groove. There were a lot of twists and turns getting out of town, and then at mile 3 the half marathoners split off. If anyone missed that turn they need to have their hearing checked! Then we hit the dirt, which wasn't bad, but just hard to settle in. Also, I started desperately searching for a porta potty. We did a brief out and back at a lookout point, where I saw LSP and Kelly for the first time! I finally came across a porta potty around mile 9, but had to stop and wait for it to free up, ugh! No doubt I over hydrated, thanks to my past history! Shortly after that we had a brutally long headwind stretch! The good thing is I could look across the street and see the runners heading back. Saw Toby right away! Then I saw Mark and Kelly (I think), before making the turn to see the ocean before turning around. I looked out at the ocean and tried to take it in, even though the wind was whipping me around like a rag doll. The turnaround was awesome, with that gusty wind hitting my back. Somewhere along this stretch I came across pink Ironman girl. We both had our music on and never spoke, but stayed together like a little train, sometimes picking up runners we passed along the way. She had a rock solid never changing pace. I stayed with her until we came back into town and lost her somewhere. Candy and Karen were on the course with the Texas flag! So great to see them!

We headed out of town back into a headwind stretch, which was even gustier than before. A real struggle! About a mile into it we hit the woods, which would help shield us from the wind. I was excited about this stretch, because it was an out and back and I would get to see everyone. It was narrow enough that we could high five each other. Right away I saw Toby and I swear the guy was flying! Also, pink Ironman girl was back! I tried really hard to stay with her again, but I felt myself slowing down. She was gapping me as we approached the mile 22 turn around. At this point I had seen everyone but Jamie, so I started feeling really down about her having to drop out, but then there she was at the turn around! Bad news is she was having major "issues", and I'll leave it at that. I was really worried about her, asked her if she should go to medical, but she said no way and ran off into the bushes. I saw pink Ironman girl up ahead, running that same solid pace. I really wanted to thank her, but I never saw her again.

Around mile 24 I was sick of the dirt trail. Even though it was packed, I felt like the balls of my feet were tired and cramping up from trying to grip the ground. Afterwards others complained about their calves being really sore. We train exclusively on asphalt and concrete, so it makes sense. When we exited the trail it felt so good to be back on asphalt, and combine that with the gusty wind on my back, I ran my fastest mile yet! We made a sharp right into the finish and everyone else was right there cheering for me! One of my favorite marathon finishes ever! I quickly finished and headed over to join the others to wait for Jamie. I warned them that things were ugly at mile 22, so needless to say we were really concerned.

Around the corner Jamie came, and we all screamed like crazy, but she was not fully aware of us. She was just gritting it out to the line, and when Toby got to her past the finish she broke down crying. Zelda and I started crying too, and I told Zelda, "I need to find wimpier friends".

This marathon has one of the best post race parties I have ever seen! They had a full spread of food and free beer (which never ran out), and in the big tent they had live music. LSP's son Tommy, who's going to the University of Delaware, joined us! Later we had our own after after party, which is usual for this crowd! Run hard and party hard!

Jamie didn't make the after party, but did rally for the after after party

Running stats for our Crew:

Half Marathoners:
Kathy: 1:57
Zelda: 2:25 PR!

Marathoners:
Toby: 3:21, 3rd place in AG! 4 weeks after NYC marathon, AMAZING
Mark: 3:44
Kelly: 3:51 3rd place in AG!
Robin: 3:51 seconds apart!
LSP: 4:02
Me: 4:04  2 minutes between us and we didn't run a single step together
Jamie: 4:14 Amazing

In summary, I highly recommend this marathon and/or a visit to the Rehoboth Beach area. No, I wouldn't say this is a PR course, even though it's pretty darn flat, but it is a great course, very scenic, and overall a well ran race. My only real complaint would be their terrible website. This one will go down as one of my fondest memories for sure.

Marathon #23: Eugene Oregon, 2008

The Eugene marathon is one of my bottom feeders, i.e., one of my least favorite marathons, which is why it is taking me so long to write about it. 2008 was my year of living with plantar fasciitis as well. Most, if not all distance runners encounter PF at least once during their running lives, I know this from selling running shoes at Luke's Locker. Every single day I had at least one customer afflicted with it, looking for a cure. If I knew the cure I would be very very rich. But I digress. The PF impeded me from doing Napa in March, then I waited too long to register for Bayshore in Michigan before it filled up, so I looked into Eugene in May as an alternative. My foot allowed me to train well enough, so I was good to go. Toby decided to run the half.

I can blame a lot of my disappointment on expectations. We would be running in the footsteps of legends, such as Prefontaine himself. I imagined narrow roads or dirt trails lined with evergreens and ferns, heavily shaded and peaceful. I imagined morning fog or mist. The race map indicated that at least half of the course would run along the Willamette river, which I held high expectations for as well.

Locked out

This marathon was pretty new. I think it was their second year. We would be starting outside of famous Hayward field, but not allowed inside, which has changed since then, in fact now this is the location of the finish line as well. Our finish line was in the parking lot of the Autzen stadium. The course zig zagged about these two buildings along with the river stretch.

Although Eugene was fun to visit, I was taken aback by the lack of scenery. Eugene is your typical run down little college town. Also, standing at the start, I felt like I was attending some local 10K race, and that we were the only two that had traveled from out of town. I used to tell people that it felt like I was running a Thruston race, which means nothing to most people now. (Thruston used to put on very low cost no frills local races here in Dallas).

I couldn't complain about the weather, 40 degrees and dry. What little cloud cover we had (no mist or fog) was long gone about an hour into it, so we had full sunshine for the majority of the race. Not bad, but not what I expected, and too, the roads were largely residential with little to shade. The park areas were wide open with not much shade either. I remember feeling beat down mentally about halfway through the race. We were on this little black asphalt bike path going nowhere really, just in a large circle out in this field and I thought to myself to just hold on because we would hit the river at mile 14 and it would be great. Well the river route was along yet another boring bike path, and this one was concrete. It was pure torture for my foot! There was a lot of fanfare on this part of the course, which helped, and a man was playing the bagpipes at the river turnaround (mile 20). Luckily, the bike path on the other side of the river was asphalt, and did have more trees for shade, as it was more residential. Still, those final miles involved dodging people walking their dogs, no fan fare, and was really quiet and boring until the end, where we crossed a bridge into the stadium parking lot.

I ran a 3:52, which I was happy with. I do have a disturbing memory though, that preventing me from enjoying the finish line food or festivities. There was a narrow passage way to get from one point to another and this girl decided this was where she would stand and projectile vomit. That did it for me. We were out of there!

An idea of scenery on roads

Onward to finish line

Eugene was my only marathon in 2008, due to my PF. I spent a lot of time that year with my foot in an ice bucket! I am glad I ran Eugene though. It taught me not to build up high expectations for a race, even if the race reads well. It also taught me how to mentally fight to get out of "the ugly place" in my head and focus on moving forward.

Here are some pictures from the coast! We drove there after the race and yes, it was beautiful!