I Set a New Delaware State Record

Five years ago I trained to attempt to break the Delaware men's 70-74 age group record in the marathon. I did downhill repeats and signed up for a marathon in Colorado. But the website misled me into thinking that running at altitude wouldn't matter much if I was running downhill. Wrong! in the first few miles, running at the pace I had determined I wanted to do, I was breathing like I was running an all-out 5K. When I hit an uphill stretch, I couldn't run at all and had to walk. There were other problems with that event, but needless to say I missed the opportunity to break the record at age 70. I know well that every year now, I slow a good bit, so it was at 70 or nothing.

Fast forward to yesterday. Having just turned 75, I attempted to break the 75-79 state record. I went to the Mohawk-Hudson River Marathon, which ends in Albany, New York. I had run this race three other times and each time I had qualified for the Boston Marathon there. I knew from those three experiences, that my time at that race was anywhere from four to ten minutes faster than a marathon I had done the previous spring. I ran the Delaware Marathon this past spring. I was not in good shape because of an injury I had suffered in mid-summer of 2018. But I ran a 5:11:45. The current state record was 5:08:35. So I figured that if I could cut four minutes off at a minimum, I would break the record by 50 seconds.

While again not in good marathon shape, I figured I had done enough, between a very slow Erie Marathon (5:26) five weeks earlier and a 14 mile run three weeks earlier that I was in comparable shape to what I was when I ran Delaware. The slightly downhill course would take care of the rest. I started with the five hour pace group. But the pacer was running faster than that and then telling people to walk through the water stops for recovery. Even doing that, we were ahead of schedule. I don't walk water stops unless I am real tired near the end. Although "banking time" is needed recommended in a marathon, I know my body. I have always slowed down in the second half. So O decoded to go for it.

I went ahead at the first stop and put some distance on them. Later we yo-yo-ed back and forth. They would pass me at a faster pace than I planned to run and I would pass them at the water stops. I basically held my pace, which was faster than at Erie, for two miles more than at Erie - to 18 miles before the inevitable slowing. Even then, at 20 miles, I had 82 minutes to cover the last 10K. 

It is a good thing I had the goal that I did because those last 10K was some of the toughest miles of my life. Various muscles, mostly in my right leg, took turns starting to cramp up. I just kept up whatever pace I could, which was basically a race walk at that point. A twelve minute mile, then a 12:30, then a 13, then a 13:30. Each slower mile kept me worried that I was not going to break the record, but it motivated me to push as hard as I could. Finally, the 26th mile went faster than the 25th. I knew I had it, only not by as much as I thought I might have done. I crossed the finish line in 5:05:52, 2:43 faster than the previous record.

I must say that running that sort of time is not a great feat. It is a half hour slower than the qualifying time I would have needed for Boston. That was a goal I had aspired to early in the year, but the heat and humidity together with the drastic fall-off in my overall conditioning in the last couple of years, made that an impossibility. Instead, my achievement is more about the fact that I am one of the few Delaware men who reached 75, who wanted to run a marathon and who was still healthy enough to do it. The two who held the record before me, John Schultz and Henry Gunther, were the same. In fact I do not know of another man in Delaware, who reached this age and ran a marathon. So it was persistence and my experience that got me to this point.

Marathon Bests and Worsts

I have gotten the question several times – “What is your favorite marathon?”  I have never had an immediate answer because I want to know “favorite” for what reason?  Speed? Scenery? Fun?  There is no one answer.  So I have decided to look at my marathons – 123 as of the beginning of September 2015 – and make lists of various categories.  Note: I have run over 30 more marathons since I first wrote this in Sept. 2015. I will add in italics any marathons that occurred in the last four years.

First Marathon:  Philadelphia, 1995, 3:46:05

First Boston Qualifying Time: Philadelphia, 1996, 3:26:55 (needed under 3:30), 3^rd marathon.

Fastest Time: Boston, 1997, 3:21:51 at age 52, 4^th marathon, stops for cramps and portajohn break cost five minutes.

Most painful post-race recovery: Boston, 1997, had to walk down steps backwards for a couple days

Most marathons for one venue:  Boston, 13. 1996-8, 2000-5, 2007-9, 2012, 2014

   Delaware, 16, 2004-20119

  Philadelphia, 8, 1995-7, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005-6  

Most consecutive marathon at one venue: Delaware (Wilmington), 16, 2004-2019

Marathons where I felt most “in the zone”, excluding Philadelphia, 1996 and Boston, 1997:  Philadelphia, 1999, 3:33:12 (incl. 2:30 for “pit stop”); B & A Trail, 2001, 3:34:46 (inc. 2:09 “pit stop”); Mohawk Hudson Valley, 2003, 3:43:20; Ocean City (Md.), 2006, 3:49:30; Delaware, 2013, 4:07:59; Erie, 2013, 4:04:04, Milwaukee Lakefront, 2015, 4:22:04.

Number of marathons requiring “pit stops”:  21, 13 of which were before 2003. Two more in last four years.

Marathons involving injuries:  Washington’s Birthday, 2011, tore gluteal/hip muscle and had to walk almost 12 miles; Martian Marathon, 2015, fell and jammed elbow into rib, possibly breaking it; Gobbler Grind, 2015, tripped on crack in asphalt path and hurt ribs; Lake Lowell, 2016, tripped less than mile from end and got a bloody hand.

Slowest Marathons + reasons:

50 to 54:  Delaware (old Middletown into Maryland course): 4:09:20, wind and “pit stop”

55 to 59:  Boston, 2001, 4:14:35. Knew I was not going to have a good day, took a camera and shot a roll of picture, had a full beer at the Hash House Harriers stop on Heartbreak Hill.

  Boston, 2004, 4:19:59, temps in upper 80s.

60 to 64:  Seashore Marathon (Rehoboth), 2008, 4:23:29, windy conditions caused hamstrings to cramp the entire second half, forcing me to alternate jogging with walking.

  Boston, 2009, 4:29:02, felt awful all day

  God’s Country, 4:24:08, long climb over Eastern continental divide left me so fatigued that I could not run much going downhill to the end

  Drake Well, 4:28:19, although the temperature stayed close to 70 most of the race, the humidity was 100%.

65 to 69:  G.W. Birthday, 2011, 5:40:17, tore hip muscle and walked

  Deseret News, 5:09:02, altitude and steep downhill early beat me up

  Boston, 2012, 5:24:57, 88 degrees and more humid than in 2014

Over 70:  Revel Rockies, 5:22:53, altitude and cambered road made running impossible in the second half

  Green River, 5:28:15, started at 6100 feet, went up to 7500.  Actual running was impossible and my speeds were, depending on the difficulty of the terrain at the moment, jogging, race walking, or walking.

  Big Island, 5:36:51, first half hilly and second half sunny going into 80s with no shade, this was my 50^th state.

  Deseret News, 5:54:44, being out in Salt Lake City, I decided to this one for a second time, even though I approached it conservatively early, the heat and altitude affected me.

Courses with most loops:  I don’t mind courses with multiple loops and, in fact, I preferred the older Delaware four-loop out-and-back course to the current two-loop course.  I may be doing a course in early 2016 with 13 out and back loops, essentially a one-mile course with one aid station.

  Run the Loop Marathon, 2017. 26 loops --  This was held about 35 miles away from my home.  We ran around a couple of schools, running up and downhill about 25 feet on each loop. Held near Labor Day and with no shade, I was lucky that it was drizzly and cloudy.  I would not do it again.

  Last Plain To Boston, 1999, 8+ loops – Put on by the DC Roadrunners in a year when the Last Train to Boston wasn’t being run, it took place in conjunction with the club’s 20K championship at Haines Point in DC.  The loop is 3.2 miles and the marathoners started an hour before the 20K runners.  It got awfully old having speedsters go past while one’s body was tiring.

  Around the Lake Marathon, 2010, 8 loops – This event is in late July in Massachusetts and starts in the evening.  Some people do 12 and 24 hours runs.

  Asbury Park, 2009, 5 loops

  4 loop courses – Delaware (Middletown), 1997; Delaware (Wilmington), 2004 -9; Last Chance for Beantown; Lucky Trail

  3 loop courses – George Washington Birthday; Fortitude for First Descents, 2011 and 2012

Marathons with finishes on tracks or football fields:  Freedom’s Run, 2011

  Canton, 2012 – Hall of Fame stadium

Marathons with notable places in the race:  Philadelphia, Independence Hall

  Boston – for runners the entire course is historic, including screaming Wellesley coeds at 20K, the Newton Hills, the Johnny Kelly statue, running past the Citco sign and Fenway Park with a mile to go, and the final 3/8 of a mile down Boyleston St.

  Monster Mash, 2013, first mile on Dover International Speedway, also run past historic government buildings in Dover

  Ocean Drive, 2001 and 2009, starts in historic Cape May

  C & D Canal Marathon, 2007, ran over and back on the St. Georges bridge.

  God’s Country, 2009, crosses the Eastern continental divide

  Drake Well,  2009, starts near the site of the first oil well in the country

  Asbury Park, 2009, does go past the Stone Pony, where Springsteen got his start.  Truth be told, it’s just a concrete block dive bar.

    Freedom’s Run starts in Harpers Ferry, W. Va.  Later the course goes through Antietam Battlefield, site of the bloodiest battle in the civil war.

  Deseret News, 2011, starts outside Salt Lake City in the pass where Mormons first came through and found the Salt Lake Valley.  The marathon finishes at the park where Pioneer Day is being celebrated.  The runners go alongside the parade of covered wagons that is the main attraction.

  The Hartford Marathon, 2012, starts and finishes near the golden domed state capitol.

  Hoover Dam,  2013, starts in a park on Lake Meade and then climbs up to the trail originally used to bring supplies up to the people building the Hoover Dam.  There are several tunnels to run through and eventually the runners turn around after running onto the roof of the parking garage for the Dam.

  The Louisiana Marathon, 2014, starts right in front of the state capitol and also goes past LSU’s Tiger Stadium.

  The Savannah Marathon, 2014, goes through a historic area of the city and also through Savannah State University, where a choir sings.

  The Huntsville Marathon, 2014, goes under several rockets outside the aerospace museum.

  Duke City (Albuquerque), dozens of balloons carrying people go aloft during the race.

  

Trail marathons completed:  Seven - The above slow times do not include any of the trail marathons I did:  five Stumpy’s, one Triple Crown, and HAT Run, which was actually a 50K, but I include as a marathon because it’s the only ultra I have done.  All those times were over five hours, except my first Stumpy’s in 4:48 in 2002 and second Stumpy’s in 4:50 in 2003.

Windiest marathons:  Delaware, 1995, 4:09; B&A Trail, 1999, 3:59 (I ran one here three years later 24 minutes faster); Asbury Park, 2009, 4:28:11; Gansett Marathon, 2011, 4:31:20; G.W. Birthday, 2013, 4:36:21; Vermont City, 2013; 4:24:54.  BTW, almost every marathon I have run near a beach had strong wind.

Marathon requiring qualifying time (other than Boston):  Gansett, 2011, 4:31:20.  The qualifying time was five minutes faster than Boston and the race is held two days before Boston.  I was the oldest person in the race and since everyone was capable of running a Boston qualifying time, I was the second to last finisher.

Marathons where the sounds of explosions were heard:  G. W. Birthday, 1998, 2011, 2013, near a military installation which tests munitions; Last Train to Boston, 2001, at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, which was never held again after 9/11; Hatfield-McCoy, 2013, put on by descendants of the famous feuding families in Kentucky near the West Virginia border.  After running pasts a house with about a dozen people watching from a porch, someone shot off a gun, which was unnerving to me.

Most poorly planned events:  Asbury Park, 2009, this course had multiple loops which ended up running north up the boardwalk into the teeth of gale force winds.  The rest of the course through town was more sheltered from the wind, so reversing the direction of running the loops would have been much easier on the runners.

  Last Chance for Beantown, 2013, this event was held in a gated community in North Carolina and the singular propose seemed to be to promote the community.  Held in the evening, sections were poorly lit, and there were no awards at all for running the marathon.  The event never was held again.

  Two Rivers, 2014, I can’t list all of the issues with this one.  The races are held on both Saturday and Sunday.  Promised a Boston certified course, but the finish was changed because of snow on the finish area parking lot (hadn’t snowed in weeks). The course was short and the water tables ran out of fluid early.  The director is stealing money.

  Revel Rockies, 2015, the website misleads about the ease of running a downhill marathon (starting at 11,200 feet).  But the biggest issue was the bus snafu.  Several dozen people could not get to the start, including the woman who may have won (she won the half and was ranting afterward).  1,200 half-marathoners could not get to the starting line.            

  Chattanooga, 2016, this was the inaugural event.  The course was certified, but on race day an early mile was definitely short on a turn around.  I thought the discrepancy was made up in the last mile, which took me three minutes longer than it should have.  But apparently the turnaround missed even more distance.  I had to go back to Tennessee to run a certified course in Nashville.

  Portland, 2016, this race has been around a long time.  But on this year, some traffic cones were moved in the early miles.  There are so many people in the race, that there are five corrals.  The fastest runners in the first two corrals were not affected, but most of the rest of us ran an extra half of a mile.  The race director compounded the issue by giving a TV interview in which he said that the error did not affect the “serious runners”.  Eventually we received adjusted times.  Because the race was longer than the marathon distance, the 50 States Club accepted that result, unlike with Chattanooga.

Most worrisome traffic issues:  Johnstown, 2006, the second half of the event was on small back roads and the runners had to go with the traffic with virtually no shoulder

Lower Potomac, 2007 and 2013, the first half is on islands with little traffic, but the second half was on the main two-lane road in the area.  Because of the camber of the road, people tried to run in the lanes when there was no traffic and then get to the shoulder when traffic came.  But a number of times in both the races I did, drivers seemed to resent the runners and would come quite close to us on the side at speeds over 50 mph.

Angriest drivers:  Baltimore, 2001 (closed a four lane highway and cars sat for hours; changed the course after that first year; Canton, 2012, another first year event.

Most over-hyped Boston qualifiers:  Mo’ Cowbell, 2014 and Revel Rockies, 2015:  Both websites promised fast times, but neglected important details.  Mo Cowbell had a first half with a lot of concrete and a second half that was on a gravelly, cambered trail.  Revel Rockies misstated the difficulty of running at altitude and had a second half severely cambered to the right towards a creek.  I basically walked the second half.

Coldest marathons:  Delaware, 1995, a blustery day where temperatures did not get out of the 30s.

  Mohawk Hudson Valley, 2003 – It was a very unusual day where the temperature in the Mohawk Valley in early October was in the 30s with drizzle.  I ran a BQ, but my hands were stinging from the cold wetness the entire race. Later I checked and found that area was the coldest place in the contiguous 48 states that morning.

  Route 66, 2013 – Who would imagine that in November in Oklahoma the temperature would be at 23 degrees at the start and not rise higher than 28 degrees by the finish?  I was forewarned and had multiple layers of clothes as well as charcoal warmers in my mittens and shoes.

Hottest Marathons:  Boston, 2004, the race still went off at noon then.  The temperature was in the mid 80s with a dry tail wind.

  Half-Sauer, Half Kraut Marathon, held in June, 2010.  The race didn’t start until 8:00 AM.  I was sweating just standing at the start.  I took it easy and took lots of fluids and ended up passing a runner who ordinarily was much faster than me, but who was overheated.  The dew point was near 70 with temps up to 88.

  Boston, 2012, 5:24:57.  With the now earlier start the temperature was even warmer than in 2004 with no dry breeze.  The run became a slog to just get from one water stop to the next.  Hundreds of people deferred their entry as the BAA offered the chance to not run.

The Eastern most marathon to start in the United States (and also the only U.S. marathon to include 20 miles in another country) – The Bay of Fundy International Marathon, 2013 – starting in a state park outside of Lubuc, Maine, the runners goes almost six miles and crosses a bridge onto Campobello Island, which is part of Canada.  The next 20 miles are about and back on the island with only a quarter mile run to the main street of Lubuc after crossing back.

Most northwestern marathon in contiguous 48 states: Birch Bay, Washington, near the Pacific Ocean and right up near the Canadian border.

Easiest courses (for me):  I preface this by saying some people are good at running downhill, but I am not one of them.  Also, many beach marathons are relatively flat, but one frequently has to deal with winds at those races.  

B&A Trail, Severna Park, MD:  I have run this one three times.  Put on by the Annapolis Roadrunners, it goes out and back, first south and then north.  The first time I encountered winds going north, but the second time I ran BQ and had a negative split (second half faster than first).  The first half has some slight hills in the early neighborhood running and then only serious hill at the seven-mile turnaround.  So I ran conservatively until I got back up on level ground and then picked my pace.

Mohawk Hudson River - I had run this course three times, using each time as my qualifying time for the next two Boston Marathons.  The course drops gradually for a total decline of just a couple hundred feet – enough to speed you up without beating you up.

Erie – located on Presque Isle, this two loop course is totally flat and about 75% shaded. In early September on Lake Erie the air was cool and dry.  Perfect weather!

Scenic Marathons:  This category is different from the category with notable landmarks, concentrating on the views around.  First, six of the seven trail marathons that I did were in White Clay Creek State Park and Middle Run County Park in New Castle County, Delaware where I live.  The other was at Susquehanna State Park in nearby Maryland.  Running in woodland is obviously peaceful and tends to make you feel at one with nature.

  Other courses I have run that incorporate a lot of woods and sometimes dirt trails are:  North Central Trail, Mohawk Hudson Valley, B&A Trail, G.W. Birthday, Drake Well, Lehigh River Valley, Freedom’s Run, Delaware & Lehigh Heritage, Bucks County, Fortitude for First Descents (in Cape Henlopen State Park, DE), Bob Potts, Veteran’s Day, and Two Rivers (not recommended).

  The truly scenic courses would be some of the latest ones I have done:  Deseret News, Bay of Fundy International, Hoover Dam, Revel Rockies, and Run with the Horses.  As I finish the Western states, I’ll probably do more scenic ones.

Marathons with unique features:

Monster Mash – This race starts with one mile around Dover International Raceway and ends outside the stadium in front of the statue known as Miles the Monster.  However, after several miles in Dover, running near the historic government buildings, most the marathon is out on lonely roads through soybean fields.

                                                                                                     

Sioux Falls – There is a park in the middle of the town where the small falls flow.  The marathon goes over a bridge, which passes over the falls.

Juneau - The race is on an island and on the backside of the island we could see a glacier.  It was a learning experience to see how dirty the front of a glacier is.

Loganview – Run outside of Omaha, a high school puts on races of distances of half marathon, full marathon and 50K.  In all there were only about a hundred people and about two dozen in the marathon.  The course is mostly on gravel roads through cornfields and the races started at 5 pm.  We were told to bring headlamps, but mine died after 15 minutes and I spent about five miles in the total darkness, following someone ahead or a vehicle that would run through checking on the runners.  It was mostly a walk after dark.