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.

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, 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, 12, 2004-2015

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

Most consecutive marathon at one venue: Delaware (Wilmington), 12, 2004-2015

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.

Number of marathons requiring “pit stops”:  21, 13 of which were before 2003

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, fell again, scraped right knee, bruised hip, cracked rib.

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.

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. (I later abandoned going to this one.)

  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.

    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.

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.              

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.

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.  The other was at Susquehanna State Park.  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), 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 by state (as of 9/10/2015):

Delaware - 28
Pennsylvania - 25
Maryland - 15
Massachusetts - 14
New York - 5
New Jersey - 3
Virginia, Florida, South Carolina - 2
Each one - District of Columbia, Rhode Island, West Virginia, Ohio, Utah, Illinois, Indiana, Vermont, Kentucky, Maine, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Nevada, Louisiana, Missouri, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, Michigan, Minnesota, Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, Wisconsin, New Mexico, Kansas, Arizona.

In my first sixteen years of running marathons, having done a total of 73, I had only done them in eight states plus the District of Columbia.  In the next five years after having decided to attempt to complete a marathon in every state, I will have added 31 more states by the end of 2015.

Marathons by year:

1995 - 2   2008 - 7
1996 - 1   2009 - 8
1997 - 4   2010 - 8
1998 - 2   2011 - 9
1999 - 3   2012 - 10
2000 - 3   2013 - 15
2001 - 5   2014 - 8
2002 - 6   2015 - 13
2003 - 4
2004 - 4
2005 - 4
2006 - 5
2007 - 7