Tuesday, December 26, 2017

Marathon Medals

My Marathon Medals

 Since people are not going to come to my house for a tour, I decided to take some pictures of my marathon medals (or other things that signify that I did it).  I once had them all crammed on one wire on my wall near my computer, but having now finished a marathon in all 50 states, I have spread them out and arranged them in orders which will be explained with each individual picture.  I have have lost a few over the years and some of the ones I did on trails (five Stumpy's Marathons were noted with rocks from the creek with labels).



Philly and Boston Medals: I first ran a marathon in 1995 - the Philadelphia Marathon.  My goal back then was to be able to qualify for Boston, which I first did in Philadelphia in 1996 after learning about track work and other training aspects.  Here are the medals from Philadelphia (9) that I ran from 1995 to 2006, from left to right and the medals from Boston (13) that I ran from 1997 to 2014.  I could have gone to Boston a few other times, but other plans got in the way and I became less interested in the experience.  I would like to go one more time at age 75 if I can qualify.



 Overview of East Coast Marathons: This is the space where I was originally cramming all of my marathon medals, except for Philly and Boston ones.  As shown below, I have spread them out now and I will detail what these are in sectional pictures.



Overview of the Rest of the Country Marathons:  These are the medals from states that I did to complete the 50 states with only having done one in each state.  The other wall has a couple that I did only only along the East Coast.



Delaware Marathon Medals: When I first started running marathons, the Races2Run organization had a Delaware Marathon in Middletown, DE.  I ran it twice in 1995 and 1997.  But the race lost sponsorship and ended.  Before 2004, the 50 States club contacted Wayne Kursh and asked him to start a new Delaware Marathon as the only option at that time for a marathon in Delaware was to run a tough trail half-marathon twice.  The club guaranteed Kursh that it would make sure at least 50 people came to the event.  Well, it went better than expected and that version in Wilmington, DE has gone on for 14 years now and has been sold to an organization that specializes more in larger events.  Since I am from the area, I decided I would do the marathon every year as long as I could.  There are only a handful of us left who have done all 14 so far. Above are the two medals from the earlier version, plus all 14 from the current version (in chronological order from left to right).  Notice how the medals have gone from plain metal to bling and iconic illustrations of the Wilmington skyline.




Other Delaware Marathon plus Maryland Marathons:  Once I started diversifying from qualifying for and running in Boston each year, I became interested in doing marathons in other places.  But I kept it local at first - others in Delaware and surrounding states.  This is a picture of the others in Delaware plus Maryland.  In Delaware they include Rehoboth (3), C &D Marathon (2), Fortitude for First Descents (2), Monster Mash, Stumpy's, and Triple Crown Trail Marathon, plus a medal from the first Triple Crown Challenge (a trail half marathon, 10K and 5K, one after the other).  I did five other Stumpy's Marathons that were immortalized with rocks.  Maryland's are: Baltimore, Last Train to Boston, B & A Trail (4), North Central Trail (2), Ocean City, Lower Potomac (2), George Washington Birthday (3, one medal missing), Western Maryland Rail Trail, and Potomac River Run.



Pennsylvania Marathons (exc. Philly):  I have done a lot marathons in Pennsylvania, but not nearly all.  They are: Steamtown (2), Via (2), Half Sauer Half Kraut (2), Garden Spot (2), Harrisburg (2), Johnstown, God's Country, Drake Well, Delaware & Lehigh Heritage, Bucks County, Bob Potts, Erie,  Two Rivers and Run The Loop.



Other East Coast and Southeast Marathons:  New Jersey, Ocean Drive (2), Asbury Park; New York, Wineglass (2), Mohawk Hudson River (3), Greater Binghamton; Virginia, Shamrock (2); Tennessee, Chattanooga(not included for Tennessee in 50 states because of short course); North Carolina, Last Chance for Beantown; South Carolina, Columbia, Hilton Head; Georgia, Savannah; and Florida, A1A (2).



New England and Mid-America States:  Reading from right to left - Bay of Fundy (shell shape), Maine; Gannsett (patch), Rhode Island; Hartford, Connecticut; Clarence DeMar, New Hampshire; Vermont City, Vermont; Freedom's Run, West Virginia; Rocket City, Alabama; Nashville, Tennessee; Mississippi Blues, Mississippi; Canton, Ohio; Carmel, Indiana; Martian, Michigan; Fox Valley, Illinois; Lakefront, Wisconsin; Louisiana, Louisiana; Mid-South, Arkansas; Mo Cowbell, Missouri; Heartland Series - Iowa, Iowa; and Minneapolis, Minnesota.



Western States:  From right to left - Lucky Trail, Texas; Route 66. Oklahoma; Gobbler Grind, Kansas; Logan View Raid Run, Nebraska; Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Fargo, North Dakota; Duke City, New Mexico; Revel Rockies, Colorado; Run With the Horses, Wyoming; Bozeman, Montana; Buckeye, Arizona; Deseret News, Utah; Lake Lowell, Idaho; Hoover Dam, Nevada; Carlsbad, California; Portland, Oregon; Birch Bay, Washington; Juneau, Alaska; and Big Island International, Hawaii.


Finishing 50 States and 2017 in Review

For unknown reasons I have let my writing on this blog slip past for over a year.  It's time to get caught up.  I have run 11 marathons since I last wrote, so posting articles of any length at this point on particular races would be overdoing it.  Here is a quick summary of each race:

Portland Marathon, 10/10/16:  Oregon was my 48th state and doing Portland meant not having to travel much by car, as I flew from Philly to Seattle to Portland.  I showed up the day before and scouted out the downtown area to figure out where I could park for free.  The marathon started in a drizzle, sometimes turning to more rain and never stopping during the marathon.  But being in the 50s that was not too bad, except that my hands were cold.

Unfortunately, during the wave start, about half of the waves, including mine, were misdirected and run about a half mile longer than they should have.  I could tell by the two mile sign, which was the first I saw, that there was a problem.  Later the times were adjusted for the extra distance, but the race director botched his interviews with the media and came off as a total jerk about it since he stated that the extra mileage with not affect the "serious runners", by which he meant the earlier, faster waves.  Well, anyone who runs marathons knows that we all are "serious" about finishing and most are trying to do the best they can on that particular day. Subsequent articles showed that he and another executive of the organization were making big money.  Later the marathon organization was forced by the city to change its route in 2017 so that not all of the police force was needed to work overtime.  My time was a miserable 5:08:13.  As a consolation, I got ungraded to first class on my flight home from Seattle to Philly!

Nashville Marathon,  11/12/16:  This is a race I did to make up for the short course at Chattanooga, so it became the one for state 49.  The beginning went through downtown Nashville, which was a bit hilly.  Most of the rest was flat, but there were two bridges that had to be crossed each way.  The last one was in the 26th mile and I did a bit of walking.  I finished in 4:38:39, which was my fastest time since the previous fall.  The day before the race, I spent some time in downtown Nashville, which left me with the impression that its business was mostly honky-tonks and boot shops.

Rehoboth Marathon,  12/3/16:  I did this one in Delaware  because of a conversion I had while running ten miles with long-time icon of Delaware marathoning Doug White.  Doug had the second longest streak doing the Boston Marathon (over three dozen times straight).  He was also the person who had measured and certified most of the running courses in Delaware, including the Rehoboth Marathon.  Doug was training to run the half-marathon at Rehoboth.  While we were running, I mentioned how expensive ($160) late entry into the marathon was.  Doug asked me if I would run it if he could get me a free entry and I said I would.  A couple days later Doug told me I was entered.

With Rehoboth being a hundred miles away, I slept at home, got up early and drove to the race.  I parked on the main road, less than a block from where the after-race party would be held.  At 6:30 I walked to the start which was at 7:00.  I saw Doug and exchanged hellos.  A couple miles in, right before the half marathoners separated from the marathoners, I came upon Doug, who noted that I seemed to be running a bit fast.  But I felt good, at least until my first encounter with the wind from the northwest in the tenth mile.  After i turned around there, I felt better until about 14 miles.  Then we turned and spent time going several miles into the wind.  I was affected just as I had been years earlier at Rehoboth.  My hamstrings got tight and gradually I walked more and more.  After the second turnaround, with the wind at my back, I had nothing left and mostly walked.  While my first half was slightly better than the first half at Nashville (2:15+), my second half (2:43+) was 20 minutes slower, resulting in a 4:58:36.

Nevertheless, Dough White was at the finish line to greet me.  I changed and then we went to the tent to get some food and beer, but the beer was out.  After eating and collecting my age-group third place award, I left because the beer truck had to leave for more beer.  As I left, Doug was having something stronger and laughing with other post-race revelers.  It seemed interesting to me that I had never been that close to Doug, but felt more of a friendship with him after his doing this favor of getting me in the marathon.  Sadly, about a week later, Doug suffered a massive brain aneurysm and passed away after several days on life support.  The line of people at Doug's memorial service was quite long and we waited for almost two hours to say a few words to Doug's widow Susan.  So, unfortunately my memories of Rehoboth, having now run it three times, is that strong winds are common and they mess with my hamstrings and my last interactions with Doug White involved that race.  Oh, and the race is still too expensive.

George Washington's Birthday Marathon, 2/19/17:  This is a rolling course with a brutal hill in the last two miles that I had done two other times.  I ran it to get in some sort of shape before going to Hawaii for a marathon in the last state I needed.  Surprisingly, it was sunny and in the 60s and, at times, it felt quite warm.  I was slow and finished in 5:14++, which was better than the time years before when I "pulled" my right tensor latae fascia muscle and had to walk about the last eleven miles.

Big Island International Marathon, 3/19/17:  This was it!  The last of my fifty states!  Carolyn and I flew Hilo on the big island of Hawaii for a medium long vacation.  The time change was six hours and I think we never adjusted as we were constantly wanting to go to sleep in the early evening and waking up in the wee hours of the morning.  But that was OK for getting for a 7 a.m. start.

This marathon starts in downtown Hilo near the beach.  It goes north to a turnaround and returns.  Then it goes south through less attractive city streets.  The first half was hilly, eventually returning after the turnaround point at a botanical garden that Carolyn and I visited a couple days later.  At one point we had turned off the main road and ran along a road in neighborhoods right above the beach.  We could look below (about 80 feet) and see people surfing.  There were many cars parked and some people were just sipping coffee and watching the sun rise over the ocean.  It was a cool sight, but when I took Carolyn several days later, it was cloudy at sunrise.  The first half got me pretty tired.

While the second half was flat, the sun was out in full force and it rose pretty quickly into the 80s.  I spent a lot of the second half walking.  I hated it, but I knew that this was it, so who cared?  After doing the first half in 2:28, it took me over 3:08 to do the second half for a total time of 5:36:53.

Finishing my 50th State marathon & 50 states trophy right -->

Western Maryland Rail Trail Marathon, 4/9/17:  Rather than just do a long run before the Delaware Marathon, I figured I would work in another marathon.  So I picked this one, which is one of many put on by a company called AltisEndurance.  They are low key affairs, run on rail trails or park roads.  This one involved two out and backs.  Being a rail trail, the rises and falls were moderate, but could go on for a while.  I was not in good shape and the day got warm. While I ran the first half in 2:17, I got tired fairly early in the second half.  By the time I started the last quarter of the race, I tried to duplicate what I did in Albuquerque a couple years earlier where I would run a segment at a 5K pace and then walk to recover.  That worked for a while, but by the last couple of miles I was mostly just walking.  I did the second half in 2:42 to finish in 4:59:54, with my last few hundred yards being a desperate attempt to stay under five hours.
                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Delaware Marathon, 5/14/17:  This was my 14th time running this marathon.  I was one of only about ten people who had done all of the marathons.  My old friend John Schultz, who had also run all of the Delaware Marathons, had been killed in November by a vehicle while crossing a street.  I wore a sign with a picture of John on my front and back that said "This one's for John".  I had requested the specific number 145 because it was my 145th marathon.  They gave me number 1145, which had the first name of the runner who had previously been assigned that number before I asked for it.  The runner's name was John!  I have no idea if that would have been John Schultz, but I used the printed name in my sign.

The race itself was the same tough slough with 2:19 in the first half and 2:38 in the second for a total 4:57:51.  I suppose I was happy enough to finish a couple minutes ahead of the time of the last marathon on a tougher course.

Run The Loop Marathon, 9/3/17:  I couldn't wait for fall after a summer lay-off from marathons.  I jumped into this one which was close by and for which I got a discount code that made it cheap.  But after I made the arrangements, we planned a family vacation that started two days before.  So I helped move our needed belongings to the beach house we rented in the Cape May area, drove home the next day, ran the marathon the following day and drove back to the beach.

The marathon is at a school complex, involving one mile loops running around a couple of schools on the driveways.  Each loop had about a 30 foot rise and fall to it, which takes its toll doing it 26 times. Fortunately this early September race took place on a cloudy morning with drizzle for about half of the time.  The temperatures remained in the low 60s at the warmest.  I realized that there was shade on this course and realized the odds of this sort of day were slight.  So I will not be doing it again in the future.

I was pretty happy with my result, with the big glitch being an almost four minute toilet break.  At least there were actual toilets inside the high school.  My first half took 2:14:40, with the second half being almost 2:36, including the break.  I finished in 4:50:33, but was ticked that my  time did not read in the 4:40s.

Greater Binghamton Marathon, 9/24/17:  The first thing to note about this race is that it starts and finishes in Vestal, N.Y. and never is in any part of Binghamton.  Secondly, Dick's Sporting Goods was founded in Binghamton and is the major race sponsor, included putting it's name on the huge round finishing medal.  So I now literally have a big Dick's medal.

Unfortunately, even though the race was a couple hundred miles north, it was a warm day, which started at 66 degrees and was 81 by the time I finished.  The course was somewhat rolling, mostly along secondary roads which were not closed.  So you had to run on the shoulder, but at least you were facing traffic.  I finished in 5:07.  Also the mile markers were way off in the latter stages with some too short and others too long. Oddly, as seems common in New York races, the last age group they have is 65+, instead of 70+.  So I ended up second in that age group.

Potomac River Run Marathon, 10/28/17:  This was about ten miles above Washington, D.C. along the tow path on the Potomac with two out and backs.  What I did not know beforehand was that the trail is hard dirt with gravel ground into it.  It made for uncomfortable running in road shoes.  The race director was not allowed put out mile markers, so I had to go by the time at the turnaround points, which were at each quarter of the race, which was not enough information for me.  I finished in 4:53:13.  Having run this course, I would not do it again.  Plus it reminded me not to run North Central Trail Marathon near Baltimore in late November because that has a similar surface.

Harrisburg Marathon, 11/12/17:  This was only two weeks after the previous one, which may have had something to do with my finish.  Carolyn was with me and our motel was on the course.  So we planned to meet at certain points and I could avoid carrying my fuel belt for most of the first half of the race.  That worked until she arrived late at the last place I would see her before going onto the second half.  So I did not have a fuel belt, but I grabbed several gels a couple times and figured I had consumed enough fuel.  Maybe not.

I started with the 4:40 place group, knowing that I had run a similar time the previous November and hoping the day would be favorable.  I felt pretty good and got a minute or two ahead of the group.  I felt like I could hold that pace.  At 20 miles, I was averaging a 10:34.  The next three mile I ran under an 11 minute pace and at mile 23 I was thinking I had 36 minutes to run a 4:40.  It seemed quite possible.  Suddenly a couple minutes later, I felt light-headed.  I slowed to a walk until the feeling passed.  But when I started to run again, aerobically I felt like I was at the end of a hard sprint.  I was just jogging, but I was out of breath.  So I would slow to a walk to recover and then try again and again.  But the feeling got worse.  My 24th mile was over 13, my 25th over 15 and my final mile was over 17!  Yet I was panting like crazy while merely walking!  I guess it was another form of "hitting the wall". Although usually, for me, I have gradually slowed down in most marathons, this time it was a precipitous plunge.  More mystifying was the fact that I had continued to take on energy, including at miles 22 and 24.

Overall Year: I am quite sure that overall I lost fitness and speed in this past year.  Some of it is to be expected as I age. Every runner seems to experience this as they age, but can still run.  The slippage is not so much gradual as it is a holding pattern for several years and then a sudden drop to a lower level of fitness, which may then become the new holding pattern for a while.  I am aware that being in my 70s now, those periods of holding what speed one has left become shorter and the declines tend to start happening almost constantly.  Still, in the back of my mind, I still feel I could train more and better if I was motivated to do it.  Finishing a marathon in 50 states was more about getting through them at whatever pace and recovering in-between, especially when one is doing eight to twelve a year.  So now I do have more time to train should I so choose.  I just need the motivation.  I think I know what it will be within a year or so, but I am not going to spill the beans now and jinx myself.

Overall in 2017, I ran eight marathons. With not many 70-74 year-old runners, especially in the smaller marathons I chose, I won my age-group two times, was second three times, and was third two times.  The one time I did not place (Western Maryland Rail Trail) did not have age-group awards.