Monster Mash & Midsouth Marathons

The marathons have been accumulating faster than ever this year as I have now done 13 with one, perhaps two, more to go. I did two more this past few weeks.  I don’t have great memories about them, so here’s a brief re-cap of each.

The Monster Mash Marathon, Dover, DE:

Although this year marked the third Monster Mash Marathon, it was the first time the course was certified. I intend to run any marathon in Delaware that is certified at least once.  So this was the time for it.

The race starts at Dover International Speedway, home of the so-called “Monster Mile”.  A few years ago a statue of “Miles the Monster”, sort of a hulk-like creature, was erected at the main entrance, which is where the marathon would finish.  The first mile starts on pit road and circles the oval once before exiting the stadium.  It’s a bit annoying because of the slant of the surface toward the infield, even when running as low on the track as possible.

After exiting the track, the runners took about 3/4 of mile through the Down Downs roads before crossing over Route 13 and entering Dover. This few miles was full of memories for me as my mother grew up in Dover and moved back there when she re-married.  I ran past the house she grew up, Wesley College - which I attended for a while in the 1960s, the graveyard where mom’s second husband is buried, and, finally, the graveyard of Christ Church, where the ashes of both my mother and my brother are interred. Then it was through the legislative area and out back across Route 13. 

Within another mile the half marathoners split off from those of us who were running the marathon.  We became more spread out.  The area is composed of corn or soybean fields, which had been harvested at this time of year.  The rest of the run was unremarkable, except for the dozens of brown fuzzy caterpillers attempting to cross the roads – some going one way, some going the other.  Just where were they going?  At any rate, the course is flat; there was no wind and few trees.  It was my second fastest of the year.

Finishing in front of the stadium at the Miles statue, I saw the guy in my age group from Florida, who had also run the Last Chance for Beantown Marathon in North Carolina.  He had a good day, getting within a few minutes of four hours, after voicing his doubts before the race about being able to get close to four hours.  We agreed the cool weather made all the difference.

One interesting side note was that David Buckson, the father of the race director, Kent Buckson, was on hand when the awards were presented to the winners.  He is the founder of Dover Downs and was also a Delaware politico back in his day. When he was serving his second term as Attorney General of Delaware, he showed up to observe a trial in 1968 where I and three other young men were charged with “distributing obscene literature”.  Actually we were handing out anti-war leaflets, which had a provocative title.  Our four ACLU lawyers quickly had the case dismissed and AG Buckson had to leave the courthouse disappointed.  But then, seeing Mr. Buckson pushed out for the awards in a wheelchair in failing health, my former resentment over the decades-old incident melted away.

Recommendation: This course is fast and flat, so it’s a good one to run a fast time.  The post race food is excellent.  But the race is small and after the first six miles is pretty boring.

Photo of me at the start, with friend Dave Baca (running the half-marathon), two to my left:

http://chessiephoto.com/p730480743/h1f673e2#h1f673e2

The Midsouth Championship Marathon:

I had spotted this one in marathonguide.com.  As a 50-stater, this is the easiest and probably cheapest Arkansas marathon to do.  Wynne, Arkansas is about 60 miles from the Memphis Airport.  Driving to BWI made the flight a lot cheaper.  I left Friday afternoon, arriving about 7:00 p.m. local time.  I picked up a car – the Alamo attendant offered me a new deep blue Dodge Charger.  When I turned on the ignition, the mileage read 666, which meant nothing to my non-superstitious mind.  Although I drove as lightly  as possible on the gas, I still only got about 25 mpg on country roads.  Give me my Honda Civic anytime!

I could not find the pasta place that I had found on Google Maps and had to settle for fast food to eat.  Then I drove about 15 miles to West Memphis, AR to a motel. The good news was that a Waffle House was right next to the motel, so I could get up at four and have some breakfast.  The bad news was that I ate the Waffle House food.  It didn’t “bother” me, but it seemed greasy. 

After prepping in my room, I was off to Wynne, about 45 miles away.  Halfway there I passed through an intersection of a town called Earle.  Only an older guy like me would remember from the names of this town and the one I was approaching that there was a major league pitcher (now in the Hall of Fame) named Early Wynn, who finished his career with exactly 300 wins.  He was from Alabama, not Arkansas.

Pulling into the Wynne High School parking lot at near 6:30 A.M. it was still dark since it was the last day of Daylight Savings Time.  I walked up to the tables and collected my bag and number (and then walked up again when I could find no pins in my bag for the bib). I used the restroom near the football field where I would later take a shower.  It was rather primitive with one stall and one urinal. (Many more portajohns were on the road to the start, but we weren’t told they were there.)  As for the showers, there were only two chairs plus some weight benches on which to sit to get undressed or dressed.  I spent most of the time in my car until race approached - called Carolyn, hydrated, made sure my shoes were double-knotted, etc.

Everyone hiked a quarter mile up the street to the start, giving us over a quarter mile to spread out before the first turn.  Right from the gun I knew I didn’t have the usual strength in my legs.  Could it be that I was a tad foolish to run a 10K in between marathons that were only two weeks apart?  I think so!

I also quickly noticed that the course rolled, almost constantly.  I’ve decided that the best description of a rolling course is that the runner notices and has to work harder on the uphills, but he doesn’t seem to get a corresponding benefit from the downhills.  After five miles (with the fifth mile being run on the shoulder next to moving traffic), we turned off the main road and headed north, running into a wind for eight miles. 

Around mile ten, I noticed a runner coming the other way, all alone.  At first I thought it was someone out for an individual run.  Then I realized SHE was the leader.  Several minutes later came another runner.  SHE really looked like a fast runner.  Then came men.  The winner won by about 14 minutes over the second woman and qualified for the Olympic Trials.  I wasn’t the course I would have picked for a qualifying run.

By the time I turned around, my energy had been badly drained.  The second half became a series of one mile increasingly slower than the previous mile.  Ah well, I finished in 4:20:51.  Got it done! Arkansas down, my 22^nd state!

I noticed on the results that were posted that I was second in my five-year age group.  After my shower, I got some food in the cafeteria and asked the guy arranging the awards if I could pick mine up early since I had to get back to the airport.  He called the timer and then presented me with first place in my age group.  I was incredulous and asked him if he was sure.  He was.  When I got home and looked up the results, I realized that this event was exceedingly generous with its awards.  In addition to three deep in five-year age groups, it had three deep in Masters (40+), Grandmasters (50+), and Seniors (60+).  There was a man of 65 who won the second-place Senior award, so I moved up to first in the age group.

Recommendation:  Unless you live in the area, why would you go?  Well, if you are a 50-stater, it’s the perfect Arkansas venue, close to Memphis, which is a relatively short and cheap flight from BWI.  BTW, registration was only $50!  Or you might want to win an award – the chances are good!