Running Sayings:

I found a website that has cartoons of runners saying different things.  I pulled out the ones that either remind me of myself in some situation or that contain a nugget of running wisdom.  I've sorted them below:

SOUNDS LIKE ME:

Yelling "You're almost there!" is strictly forbidden until mile 25.

When making weekend plans, your first thought is always, "When can I get my long run in?"

Runner:  One who has six pairs of "retired" running shoes in the closet, in addition to the ones in use.

How can you tell if someone ran a marathon?  Don't worry.  They'll tell you.

Yelling "Run, Forest, Run" at me?  I'm blown away by your creativity.

You know you're a runner when... you try guessing the pace of a runner as they pass you.

Running keeps me busy until it's acceptable to have a beer or two.

If you don't go for a run, how are you supposed to know when to take a shower?

Of course it's a coincidence that there is a race in the same place where I planned our vacation!

You know you're a runner when... you see another person running and get jealous.

You know you're a runner when... you google your name and all you find are race results.

You know you're a runner when... people in your neighborhood say "I see you running a lot."

You know you're a runner when... you can run six miles and still feel out of shape.

Things only a runner understands:  Sizing up every street, path or alley for the potential as a running route.

When your legs get tired, run with your heart.  If that doesn't work, just keep moving towards the free beer.

You know you're a runner when... you are stuck in traffic and you think "i could have run there by now."

The tree in 20 feet or the port-a-potty in over a mile?

That moment after you realize it's a rest day... and you just don't know what to do.


RUNNING WISDOM:

26.2 - because 26.3 would be crazy!

Joggers bounce up and down at red lights.  Runners stand there looking pissed.

In order to "kick ass" you must first lift up your foot.

NEVER AGAIN - until the next one.  That's what marathons do to you.

Marathon thoughts:  I'm going to die.  But if I don't, I totally want to do it again!

Running is about finding friends who are your kind of crazy.

Our AGE is no big secret among RUNNERS.

Endorphins:  More effective than any drug!

Running has taught me I can keep going long after I think I can't.

There is no magic pill.  No great shake.  No secret diet.  Just get off your ass!

Running:  It's not as boring as it looks.

You know who NEVER says "running is really hard on your knees"?  People who actually run!

I'd rather be the slowest runner in a race anytime, than a spectator for a lifetime!

Ask your doctor if getting off your ass is right for you!

The Martian Marathon

As I get into 2015, I am going to be seriously working on my goal of running a marathon in every state.  For April I signed up to do the Martian Marathon in Dearborn, MI, which is close to Detroit.  This would be my 31^st state. By the way there is no obvious reason for the Martian theme for these races (which also have a half, 10K and 5K) other than it is cool.

In researching how to get to this event I discovered that flying was expensive directly from Philadelphia and that it would actually be cheaper to fly from BWI and transfer to the same plane in Philadelphia.  The latter scenario already involved driving 70 miles and paying tolls, so I decided to simply drive to and from the event. This will be my last drive to one of the fifty states as the closest left to be done is Tennessee and the flight there is fairly cheap.

So on Friday, April 17, I was up before 4 A.M.  I simply got dressed, grabbed my suitcase, got in my car and started driving.  Going up Rte. 41, there is a Sunoco station fairly close in Pennsylvania.  I got some coffee, which kept me awake.  By quarter to six I was at a rest stop on the Pennsylvania turnpike.  I called Carolyn, ate, visited the restroom and took more coffee to go. 

Around ten A.M., I entered Ohio.  Driving there was easy, except that there were numerous construction zones where the speed limit officially dropped from 70 to 50. Having received a speeding ticket the last time I drove this highway in 2010, I tried to keep my speed under 60 when I got into the construction zones.  But everyone was passing me.  I finally gave up when a car continued to pass me in the lane that was disappearing as the cones edged out and I was forced to brake in order to either prevent the woman from hitting my car or plowing into the cones.  I laid on the horn, but she sped on.  After that, I just went with whatever the traffic was doing.

By 2 p.m. I was off the Interstate and driving to my motel.  After checking in, I drove to the expo only a few miles away.  On that drive, I started to realize that as Wilmington used to be synonymous with DuPont, so Dearborn was such with Ford.  I drove past one huge plant on my drive.

Upon getting in the building, I realized that I, along with a couple hundred other runners, was 15 minutes early before the 3 p.m. opening.  I stood in line and struck up a conversation with a guy in his 40s who was behind me.  He was running the half-marathon as a training run for the U.S. National 25K Championship, which occurs annually somewhere in Michigan, and may be the only one in the country.  (Later I found that he was second overall in the half-marathon.)  Getting my number, I browsed the expo briefly.  I checked the shoes, which were not being sold as any bargain prices.  One of the guys working there noticed my shoes and commented that he didn’t see Sportivas much.  Turns out that he used to work in Kentucky selling rock-climbing apparel, such does my son at his Delaware Rock Gym.  I had gotten the shoes through an employee discount, but after realizing they were impossible to tie tightly for racing, I pulled out the laces and use them as slip-on comfort shoes.

After leaving the expo, I checked possible places to eat.  Then I drove from the motel to where the race would be held.  This time, driving down Oakwood Rd., I passed another Ford facility that seemed to go on for a mile with R&D buildings for Ford on the other side of the road.  I scouted out the parking lot that only marathon runners (who would start long before any other runners) would be allowed to use.  I also talked to a couple of the people setting up and noticed the two brand new cars at the finish.  The company was apparently the major race sponsor.  You can guess the brand.

Then I drove back toward the motel, but turned where I had located two places to eat and have a beer.  The first one seemed to have a full parking lot, so I pulled in the second one, called Brews Brothers.  But as soon as I walked in the door I smelled cigarette smoke.  So I did a u-turn and left.  I went back to the first bar and found a parking spot..  I had a nice burger with sides and a couple brews.  I told the waitress about the other place.  She said some of the smaller bars allow their customers to smoke in order to keep them even though it is supposedly illegal.

Back at the motel, I was turned in by 8:15.  I was tossing and turning by 3:15, so I was up before four a.m.  There were no cups for the coffeemaker in the room, so I used a water bottle to catch the dripping coffee.  I probably melted and consumed some plastic in the process.  I had a banana and a granola bar, got ready and left around five.  There was a Tim Horton’s coffee shop less than a mile away, so I got another and drove to the park where the race would start.  I pulled right up where I could watch the vendors setting up and nursed my coffee until six.  Then I started to pound a quart of Gatorade.  One of the nice aspects of starting in the marathon (which had less the 300 entrants) was that we got to use the roughly 50 portajohns by ourselves without having to deal with the almost 4,000 other runners in the other races.  I used them twice and there were no lines.

By seven I was finishing stripping down to my running stuff.  It was in the mid-forties with no wind.  So I wore shorts, my short sleeve 50 states shirt and decided not to wear gloves as I would be warming up and not needing them. After a few introductions and a trumpet playing of the National Anthem, we were off at 7:15.

I could tell I did not feel especially energetic and settled in about a 9:45 minutes/mile pace.  In the first eight miles we did some loops and in and outs of various neighborhoods.  Most of this section was composed on concrete roads, which I find to be a surface that is too hard on your body.  At some point a guy struck up a conversation.  He was from the suburbs on the other side of Detroit.  He was going a bit faster than me, so I focused on following him as he said he would eventually walk, because he always did.  At one point he stopped and walked at a water stop and then went by me.  I said, “Yeah, you’re supposed to be my rabbit.  Get up there!”  After we got on the road on which we would run out and back for almost 15 miles, I asked him on the way out, “Is it my imagination, or are we going slightly uphill all the time?”  He said the road runs along a stream and we were going upstream on the way out.  I eventually left him for good at about 14 miles.

By the time we turned about at 16 and a-half miles, the sun was beginning to take its toll.  While the temperature probably didn’t go over 70, there was no shade and there were no clouds.  I kept making sure I was hydrated.  I also began to slow, a bit slower every mile.  I had passed the half-marathon point under 2:08, but my miles were creeping towards an eleven-minute pace. Still I had figured that if I kept plugging away, I could finish under 4:30. 

Then the little purple man appeared!  No, I wasn’t hallucinating.  It was an actually runner in full Martian costume – a purple suit and a rubber Martian facemask.  I could only think it had to be hot in that mask.  He passed me, but a short time later, peeled off to run into a restroom. 

I kept shuffling along as I went toward the 23^rd mile at just over an eleven minute pace, but my legs were tired and I wasn’t picking them up as much.  It was then that my shuffling foot caught a toe on a ridge of asphalt, probably created from a previous hot summer. That leg did not go forward, but my body did.  I threw my arms out and I remember the road rushing towards my face.  Apparently the force of the landing was fairly evenly distributed as I hit my hands and my knees on the asphalt.  My right arm was a bit inward and my elbow went into my ribcage.  Fortunately, my face hit my arm and not the road. My upper lip was caught between my arm and one of my crooked teeth, which produced a gash (and eventually a bruise on my lip).

The worst aspect of the fall was the elbow in the ribs took my breath away.  I heard myself uncontrollably moaning for about thirty seconds.  I hated the sound, but I could not stop until I started to get my breath back.  Three or four runners, including the young man in the Martian get-up, gathered around me, asking if I was all right, if I needed medical attention.  We had just passed a water stop.  A guy came running up with a water bottle and poured water over my hands, washing off blood and road grit.  I was walking by then and as soon as he was done, I started jogging again. 

Twenty yards later, there was the 23-mile marker.  The time that mile took was 12:45, meaning the fall cost me a minute and a half.  I figured it had cost me finishing under 4:30 and it did as I did finish in 4:31:22.  As I shuffled towards the finish, I realized I had also bent my glasses when my face hit my arm.  I could only keep one or the other of the temple pieces on an ear as the right one was bent out.

After I finished I went to medical and got my scrapes bandaged.  I also asked medical, the cops and the race direction for a pair of pliers to straighten out my glasses. But none had a pair.  Eventually I collected my first place award to go along with the finisher medal.  As I was about to leave, I spoke to a woman who had the 50 states finisher shirt on.  She invited me to have a beer, which she had stored in her car, but I had to decline because I was going to have to drive.

I went back to the motel, showered, and hit the road.  I did manage to partially straighten my glasses with a towel, pressing the bent part on a counter (and got the rest done at the optician on Monday).  I drove to Pittsburgh, about halfway.  It was a mistake.  I should have stuck to the Pennsylvania turnpike and gotten a room at a local exit.  I got lost in Pittsburgh and had to take a detour the next morning to get back to the Turnpike.

As a 50 stater, the Martian Marathon is one of the closest ones to Delaware.  The same group puts on another marathon in the summer and, of course, there is also the Detroit Marathon for other relatively close options.  Someday I might go to the Detroit Marathon, but I recommend this one for one that is easy to get to in Michigan with a fair price.

The Seabrook Marathon

Back in the latter part of 2014, when I was planning what marathons to run in the early part of this year, I originally thought I would run the Houston Marathon in January and do one in Mississippi in March.  But when I looked at the website of the Houston Marathon, I realized I was very late in applying.  In fact it has a lottery, which was closed out months ago.  So I switched months, deciding to do the Mississippi Blue Marathon in Jackson in January. 

On the Running the USA website I found the Lucky Trail Marathon in Seabrook, Texas in March. It turns out Seabrook is a suburb of Houston and is only a couple miles from the Johnson Space Center.  In checking flights I found that Southwest went to the Hobby Airport, which is on the side of town closer to Seabrook.  When I say “side of town”, realize that Houston is a massive city of about 600 square miles.  The airport is still 20 miles from the destination.  Nevertheless the idea of running a lower keyed event on trail sounded more appealing than a big city marathon in the middle of Houston.

I flew out Saturday morning and arrived by mid-day.  I quickly found the motel where I had reserved a two-night stay.  I also quickly found that the wi-fi was problematic in my room.  Management had to reboot it a couple times and even then, at times, I would have to walk out into the hall in order to log on to the server. 

But once I had that squared away, I first drove to a drugstore to get a couple bottles of Gatorade and then headed to the park where the marathon would start the next day.  The race organization puts on a running festival over the weekend and earlier Saturday it had had a 5K and a half marathon.  The next day it would have the marathon, another half marathon and a marathon-relay.  I spoke to some of the people relaxing after having cooked all morning.  They were all involved in the shelters for abused women that the races support and said the races had raised over $100,000 for the shelters over the years.  Many of the hydration station volunteers were women from the shelters.  I felt good that I had inadvertently chosen to support such a worthy cause.  I was reminded of it the next day when I saw the various signs out on the course about the numbers of people caught up in domestic violence.

Heading back from the park, I wasn’t sure where was a place to eat.  But I lucked into finding a small place that was still serving brunch (it was nearly two p.m. and I had not had a solid meal all day, only snacks).  The two cranberry rolls with maple butter that were brought for appetizers were excellent and the meal was good also.  I talked to the owner who was transplanted by New Jersey through his work in the oil business.  He took his parrot out of its cage as we were in a patio area that had wire fencing all around and above. 

After going back to the motel, I decided to walk up and down NASA Blvd. to see what was close.  I walked over to a couple of restaurant/bars on the nearby bay.  The first looked like a dive.  Plus I noticed the smoke (apparently in this corner of Texas, smoking in restaurants has not yet been banned).  I walked over to the second place, which was also on the water and was up a flight of stairs.  It had an outdoor deck and, while people were smoking inside, all the doors to the deck were wide open, so the air moving kept the smoke from building up.  This place had possibilities.  Then I walked in the other direction and found some strip malls.  There was one Chinese restaurant, but I wasn’t about to tempt fate before a marathon.

Back at the motel, I eventually decided to try to go to a little town called Kemah a few miles away.  I had gotten a voucher from the motel for a free appetizer at one of the several restaurants there and it looked like an interesting touristy place to walk around.  So I got in my rental car, got out on NASA Blvd., drove a half-mile and then was stuck in traffic.  Up to a corner I went, turned and headed to the bridge that went over to Kemah.  Two lanes were moving as slow as molasses.  I was in the right one and it took 25 minutes from the motel to go 2 and ½ miles.  But suddenly the right lane was moving well down the other side of the bridge, while the left was still at a standstill.  Then I realized I had to take a left to go to Kemah.  Ahead I saw a shopping mall on the right and decided to scrub the Kemah visit and maybe find a restaurant in the mall.  Sure enough there was a Chili’s, which was fine by me.  The bartender ended up telling me that the reason so many cars were going to Kemah was because it was the start of spring break and that’s where all the kids went.  I’m glad I missed it.

Back at the motel, I got my stuff ready for the next morning and I was in bed by 8:15 (hour later than here).  I woke up by 3:30 and ate a granola bar and banana and had a cup of coffee.  By 5:30 I was in the car and on my way to the park.  The parking was close by in an athletic facility less than two blocks from the park.  It was in the upper 50s, warm enough to simply wear shorts.  I had a shirt and jacket over my singlet and kept those on until 20 minutes before the start.  I went to the pavilion, got my number, chip and bag and sat to put on the number and chip. 

I recognized the Boone couple – Steve and Paula.  They were the people who helped spur the Races2Run organization to start the Delaware Marathon by promising that a number of 50 state marathoners would attend the race.  In this event, Paula was among the earlier starters.  A bunch of them headed out at 6:15 a.m., one hour before the official start.  Many were wearing head-lamps as it was still dark.

A couple minutes before seven, having spent the last hour sipping a quart of Gatorade, I made my way to the portajohns.  Because the half marathon was going to start fifteen minutes after the marathon, there was a very short line.  Then I went to the road where the marathon would be run for the first mile.  By then I was chilling down and my teeth were chattering as I awaited the start.  But that was fine for I knew I would warm up soon enough and I was more worried about it being too warm later.  As it turned out, the morning was mostly cloudy with a breeze and it never got above the mid-60s. 

It had barely gotten light before the marathon field took off.  After a mile of road, which helped to spread everyone out, we went onto a dirt path with a slight amount of gravel.  I found it to be firm footing with no slippage, which occurs when there is a lot of gravel.  However, I think running on dirt, while easier on one’s legs, is more work because the surface is soft.  It’s doesn’t return any energy to the legs. 

The course ran by a small creek, then over a swampy area with a boardwalk, exiting to a small park where we eventually ran over some grass near the bay before returning.  On the way back we crossed a bridge on the creek and took a side trail for about 3/8s of a mile, before returning and running down the other side of the creek.  Eventually we worked our way into the park, looping around the nearby fire station, running next to the road before turning and running across the timing mat. 

Oh, I forgot to mention:  That was one lap of 6.55 miles.  Then we repeated the lap three more times.  All of the way there were people going in both directions, which made for some tight passes.  There were also a few places where there was standing water.  Actually the organization had sent an email warning us not to wear new shoes because of all the rain that had occurred in the days leading up to the race.  I’m glad I didn’t, but the puddles weren’t much.  I had expected to get my feet wet, but it didn’t happen and my orthotics stayed dry to the end. 

As I said, the dirt course was hard work for me.  Each successive completion of the loop was slower.  I ran a 2:07:26 first half, but achingly finished the second half in 2:25:41 for a total of 4:33:07.  I got my bag and went to the park restroom to change, but the area was very small and I would have to have been changing almost on top of guys trying to use the toilet.  So I took off my fuel belt and changed from my singlet and went out to get some fuel and some green colored Miller Lite beer.  I heard someone say the chicken sandwich was good, and I did not feel a hot dog or a burger would have been very good, so I grabbed one.  But it must have been flavored with jalapeno juice.  I took one bite and put the sandwich down and made do with chips and beer.

The only quibble I have about the race organization came with the awards.  When I got done, the board of results was only up to 50 years old.  Forty minutes later it still had not been updated and when the awards were done, they stopped at the first sixty year-old, saying other people were still out on the course.  So I had a second beer and talked to the sixty year-old winner, a Brit who is a 50-stater.  Eventually, I told the guy giving out the awards that I had been finished for over an hour and now everyone was gone, so how about my award so I can go get a shower?  After checking with a couple people, he eventually came back with a new results print-out.  One of the women, who had been helping with the awards, was dressed in an Irish sort of costume (Lucky Trail – St. Patrick’s Day theme), also came over.  The guy said I was indeed the winner of the 70-74 age-group.  The woman, thinking that with my name I must be Irish, bent down and gave me a peck on the cheek.  Only afterward did I mention that in fact McCorquodale is a Scottish name.  Then they presented me with the award – a 24-ounce beer stein.  Good thing I was first.  Those who finished second and third only got a pint mug.  I will be putting that award to good use.

Later I did go to that second story bar on the bay.  It was then that I had a burger – surely a much higher quality than the patties that were cooked at the park.  Getting back from that around five, I realized I had not yet checked in for my flight, which I then did.  Thus I ended up sitting pretty far in the back as a result of my forgetting that detail in the recovery from the marathon.  Nevertheless, the rest of Sunday and early Monday, getting to the airport and the flight home were uneventful.

Recommendation:  I highly recommend this race for a marathon to do in Texas.  It’s not a PR course, but it’s enjoyable.  If you have an extra day, then a trip to the Johnson Space Center would be really easy.  By the way, I found the air to be delightful, which would make sense being so close to Galveston Bay, as long as the temperature is relatively mild.  I noticed it got into the low 80s two days later, so you never know.  Avoid going to Kemah.

The Mississippi Blues Marathon:

Hills, Hills, and Did I Mention Hills?

As the fall of 2014 became the winter of 2015, I continued my quest to complete a marathon in every state.  The options have become smaller as the number of states dwindle.  I am almost done with the eastern half of the country and, of course, winter means heading either south or west.  

Originally, I was going to go to Texas in January for the Houston Marathon and then to Mississippi in March for a marathon in a state park.  But I learned that not only was Houston sold out, but that there was a lottery to get into it.  In actually I was months behind any possibility of going to Houston.  So in looking at other possibilities, I finally discovered that I could go to Mississippi in January and Texas in March.  In Texas I would actually fly to one of the two Houston airports and run a small marathon at Seabrook, a bit outside the metropolis.  This actually appeals to me more than Houston itself.

For Mississippi, I chose the Mississippi Blues Marathon in Jackson, Mississippi, the state capitol.  I flew down on a Thursday evening for the Saturday event, because flying Friday would have made things tight, especially getting to the expo.  I did have a sighting of a somewhat famous person.  The plane from Philadelphia flew to Reagan National in Arlington.  We then transferred to another plane which would go directly to Jackson.  Being a smaller plane, we had to get on a transport that would take us out to the plane away from the terminal.  While standing in this vehicle, I watched as others boarded.  One man has hair so perfectly coiffed, it looked like it might have cost $500 to style.  Then I noticed his glasses and the shape of his face and realized we are going to Mississippi.  I turned and asked someone else if he was from Mississippi  When he said he was, I asked "Is that Trent Lott(former MS senator and now lobbyist)?" It was.

Once off the plane, I went to obtain my rental car.  I usually reserve a compact, but I was given a choice of a Jeep or a Camaro.  I chose the Camaro, which may have been a mistake.  I found it too low slung for a person of 6'5" and looking out the side windows for traffic alongside was difficult because of the way the window goes down to a corner in the back with the roof and side blocking the view.  I also turned on Onstar trying to adjust the mirror and had to fiddle with the buttons quickly so that it went off before making a connection with the operator.  When I went to fill the car up before returning to the airport, I could not figure out how to open the gas lid.  In my Honda, there is an inside release, but in the Camaro, you push on the lid and it pops open.  But I did not know that and asked another driver, who called a friend who has a Camaro.  I also was not impressed with the gas mileage of this vehicle that growled any time I nudged the accelerator.

I easily found my motel and settled in for the night.  The next morning after I ate the motel self-serve breakfast, I went out for a walk and headed to a CVS for a few supplies.  A couple of the streets were part of the race course and I started to get a first-hand inkling of how hilly it was going to be.  I had read comments on Marathonguide about the hills and now I was discovering for myself.

Later I drove down to the expo and scouted out the parking for the next day since the race started right there. The expo was small, but I rarely shop at them anyway.  Soon I was outside again.  I walked back to my car and dropped off the bag and then headed down the street to the Iron Horse Grill that I had scouted out in advance on Google Maps.  It was close enough to the lunch hour, so I ordered one of the local craft beers as I studied the lunch menu and later had a second.  The restaurant was in a restored building that was part of an old meat-packing business.  The meat was loaded onto the railroad which ran right next to it, hence the "Iron Horse" name.  Several other runners came in and sat at the bar and we engaged in running conversation.  One guy remembered me the following week and made a Facebook friend request.  

After I ate, I had the afternoon to kill.  I wandered back past the expo and checked out the finishing area.  Right there was a planetarium so I went in and saw most of a show (as I dozed off some between the food, beer and reduced hours of sleep the previous night).  Later, I went into the Mississippi Museum of Art and spent an hour looking at the various periods of artistic output of Mississippians.  I found photographs from the depression era, particularly of black residents to be most interesting.

Later I went to a place for dinner called Burgers and Blues.  Apparently I was there too early as few people were there on a Friday evening.  A musician was just starting to set up when I was ready to leave.  But I wanted to retire early because I would be getting up at 3:30 A.M. in order to have some breakfast before the 7:00 A.M. race start.  Even though an all-day breakfast chain was right down the street from the motel, I had been to one of those (which was remain unnamed) in Huntsville and I found the food to be greasy.  I had done a previous search and found a Denny's about halfway back to the airport.  But it was worth the ride as that food was OK.  I also found the cheap price of gas at the truck shop and decided to stop back in the afternoon on my way to the airport.

Returning to the motel, I went through my preparation rituals and headed out to the car by 5:45 A.M. I wanted to make sure I got a spot in that parking lot.  When I pulled into it, I found it was already filling up.  I wanted to move closer to the front, which would mean a shorter walk from the finish.  As I moved forward in the unlit lot, which apparently used to have buildings in it and perhaps an alley, I drove off a curb in the middle of the lot and scraped the back bottom of the car.  Well, it passed inspection when I returned it, but I did not mention this incident.  Once parked, I sat, alternately running the engine and turning it off, listening to music and taking sips from a gatorade bottle.  By 6:15 the sky was beginning to lighten.  Jackson is in the Central Time Zone, but a lot farther east in that zone than Wilmington is in the Eastern Zone.

Around 6:40 I got out of the car and used a short wall to avoid a waiting line at the portajohns.  Then I gathered my fuel belt and gloves and off I went to join the gathering runners.  It was 26 degrees with a slight breeze.  Around 4,000 runners were starting together in the marathon, half marathon, quarter marathon and marathon relay.  I found the 4:20 pacer, figuring that with the hills, I would be fairly conservative and shoot for a time about five minutes slower than my two previous marathons.  

After the start we ran about a quarter mile before encountering the first uphill.  The first three miles were comprised of a small loop through Jackson State University, a name I remembered from around the time that four students were killed at Kent State.  At JSU two students were killed and twelve injured protesting the invasion of Cambodia, but since those students were black, the incident did not receive as much attention. This loop was moderately rolling hills.  As we headed back through the area where the race started, a woman running by asking if that was it for the hills.  I said no, they are just getting started.  OK boy, was I right.

As usual, the pacer, capable of running faster, had started out too fast.  I told him we did the third mile in 9:23. when we should be averaging 9:55.  As we encountered more hills, I noticed he took them more easily and pulled away.  I followed him for miles, but he was fading into he distance.  Then I lost sight of him.  Next thing I knew he was beside me as he had stopped at a portajohn.  He asked how I was as he went by me.  At this point there was no one with him and he was running on his own.  

By the time I had covered a half marathon, I was slightly under a ten minute pace, but already was feeling the effects of the endless hills.  These hills were not big, but they did not end.  Some, particularly in the latter stages, got pretty steep.  My strength was slowly sucked away.  After twenty miles, I had to take some walking breaks on the uphills.  I logged miles of 12, 13, 14 minutes.  Around mile 23, I saw a guy with white hair go past me, still chugging up the hills, while I was walking.  I had a sense that I had just lost a first place age-group finish.  Later I confirmed that I was correct.  At mile 20, he was four minutes behind me, but he beat me to the finish by almost seven minutes.  I looked up other race times of his.  He consistently ran times over 4:30, whereas I was usually ten or fifteen minutes faster than that.  But despite the hills, he ran his normal race, about 4:33. whereas I slowed down to 4:40.

The race course did take us through some nice quiet streets in neighborhoods at times.  One area in particular was really for those at the high end of the socio-economic scale.  There was one house in particular which had a massive wrought-iron fence around the property.  Another runner later commented that the price of the fence alone would probably cover the cost of two homes of ordinary people.

There was a pretty good selection of food at the finish, especially tomato soap.  I did not wait around as I wanted to get back to my motel which had granted me late checkout to clean up.  I was miffed that no results were available at the end.  I was told to download an App (which would not work on my inherited iPhone 3 anyway).

After I cleaned up and left the motel, I went back to the gas station near Denny's halfway to the airport.  For some reason, there was caution tape around the entire section of gas pumps.  Later I found another station with the price of 1.89.9, which at the time, was 25 cents cheaper than gas in Delaware.  This particular road also had a number of restaurants and after some searching, I found one that offered beer and food.  I got the strong impression that this racially integrated crowd at the restaurant was united in their interest in shoveling in the calories.

I sat at the bar, which was being tended by a young black woman.  On the other side she was tended to two black women, whose appetizers and salads alone would have been enough for me, but who also had a main course served as I was leaving.  Early on the woman tending the bar asked the two woman, "How's my booty, look?", apparently concerned she might be getting a little hefty.  Naturally, I had to make an independent judgement as I gazed for a moment at said subject.  One of the women on the other side looked up at me, grinned, and made some comments to the bartender.  She kept glancing at me.  Well, the question was asked!  But after that I did all I could NOT to study the area again.

Getting into the airport, I quickly got through security and to the terminal.  There had to be a half dozen more runners all leaving on the same plane, which was going to Charlotte, a hub for USAirways.  We spent time comparing our runs and looked up the results, which most had not yet seen. I confirmed I had finished second, after first previous firsts in my age-group in marathons since turning 70.

After Charlotte, on the leg back to Philadelphia, a guy from Bucks County, who had run  the marathon, sat with me and we spent the entire flight talking running.  He's a 50 stater also and he was giving me tips about flying and how to save money, which will be useful in the years to come.

Recommendation:  Well, I have not yet mentioned the medal.  It is a replica of a guitar, over nine inches long, chrome on blue plastic, with a pick hanging off of it, which says the 2015 date. I think the finishers in the shorter races got smaller guitar medals also.  Everyone who has seen it is impressed.

I also got a vest, a small harmonica, and a CD of blues music that I will not listen to again since it was mostly unknown lone male guitar players doing droning acoustic versions of songs that were rather plain.

If I had been there with my wife and we were staying longer, I would have hung around at the finish, listened to the band. and then gone to one of the local restaurants later which were part of the celebration of the running.  The course isn't for a PR;  the Space Coast Marathon would probably be flatter for a Mississippi course.  There is not much going on in Jackson.  It was good for me as an in-and-out, no tourism marathon.

The Fall of 2014 and Year-end Marathon Summary

This year I took a slight step back from the 15 marathons I did in 2013.  Because our daughter was pregnant with our only grandchild, it was not feasible to be traveling during the summer.  I did five marathons in the winter and spring and then took off doing them until October and got three more done in those last three months. 

I also used the summer to do some track work which eventually indicated that I might be able to run a sub-four-hour marathon and possibly break the existing Delaware men’s 70-74 state record of 3:57:04.  However, I had also run some 5Ks and my times in them told me that I was still not fast enough.

As it turned out, my fastest marathon of the year was the first one I did in January in Louisiana – 4:10:06.  It was definitely the flattest with the only “hills” being some elevation change in downtown Baton Rouge, including crossing a bridge twice. When I got to the fall marathons, I ran the first one on the Mo’ Cowbell Marathon course, which was advertised as fast and flat.  But the first half had some hills and the second half was on a gravelly path, which crested in the middle, making for uncomfortable running.  That time was 4:22:20. 

The second and third marathons, Savannah Rock and Roll(4:14:43)  and Rocket City(Huntsville, AL)(4:15:48) were flatter, but not as easy as Louisiana.  I had hoped to do better at Rocket City than RnR, but the cold, sunny weather at the start turned cloudy and breezy.  Although I hung in pretty well during that one, being only three second soff my RnR time at 23 miles, heading into the breeze at the end and a somewhat uphill finish slowed me up.

Not only did I do fewer marathons in 2014 than in 2013, I also only added four new states to my 50 states quest (as opposed to nine states last year).  Of course, I have gotten to most states east of the Mississippi River, so the trips will be getting longer and more costly.  Now in a mood to add more states while I am healthy and relatively fast for my age-group, I have already planned on doing marathons in these new states in 2015: Mississippi(January), Texas(March), Michigan(April) and Colorado(July).  I’ll also do one I’ve done before in Florida (A1A) in February and, of course, will continue my streak of doing all of the Delaware Marathons (May).  I am researching on races in other mid-west to far-west states.  By April Tennessee will be the only state left east of the Mississippi.  Currently I have done 28 states, but will be up to at least 32 in July.

I have concluded that I am probably able to run my best time on the flattest marathon course (like Erie) in about 4:04 at best and tougher conditions will add more time.  I doubt that speed work will do enough for me to drop over seven minutes to break the state record.  But I have found a marathon course which might do the trick.  The Revel Run Marathon course outside Denver drops close to 5,000 feet.  That’s an average four percent downgrade, but the first half is steeper than the second.  The race website states that with the downhill racing, the fact that one is starting at over 11,000 feet is not an issue as far as oxygen is concerned because one does not have to work nearly as hard aerobically.  Being long legged, my stride naturally lengthens when running downhill.  So it may not be any more taxing aerobically to run a nine minute pace downhill, which would be good enough to break the state record I mentioned.  However, what I will have to do is practice a lot of downhill running to get my legs, mainly quads, inured to the pounding of such running.  At least in my mind, it’s somewhat of a plan that I will pursue.  Even if I don’t break the record, the downhill running will be the way I need to train and will have to help.

I ought to mention that I won my age-group in each ofthe three marathons I have run since I turned 70.  I know I am only a somewhat local class runner, so why is this so?  Two factors: I am fortunate not to have been injured nor do I have any old leg issues from earlier in my life, unlike many other runners who played sports in school. Secondly, other men runners just seem to mostly disappear at age 70.  There are certainly few in the age-group in even mid-sized marathons. Perhaps a number of even experienced marathoners considerate it more prudent to simply run shorter events.  But I’m hooked on doing marathons. I’ll get beaten now and then. There are much faster runners around.  But I actually expect to be among the top three age-group finishers almost every time for a few years.  It’s hard not to be when there are less than a half-dozen in the group.

As far as recommending these last three marathons, here is my view:  Mo' Cowbell is certainly not as advertised, but if you want to do one in Missouri and are not looking for your best time, it is not far from the St. Louis Airport.  The theme of the Mo' Cowbell is from a SNL skit about the cowbell in Don't Fear the Reaper, which is played before the marathon - with cowbell accompaniment. Rock and Roll Savannah is well done logistically.  The course is fairly easy, but has boring highway sections.  I generally do not like RnR events because of the price, but Savannah is a nice place to visit for several days and flatter than many other parts of Georgia.  Of these three marathons, I liked Rocket City the best.  It is easy enough to get to on USAirways with a connecting flight in Charlotte.  The race is put on the local running club, so they understand runners a bit better.  It is not too expensive, and there is no  other race, like a half-marathon, so everyone is in it for the full distance.  It finishes with the runners going into an arena and running over a rug on an ice surface of a hockey rink (yes, in Alabama!).  It does take a few minutes to negotiate one's way up the steps into the stands and out to the hallway around the rink.  But there is plenty there for the recovering runner to eat and drink, starting with hot soup. Somehow the beer garden, which was promised, was not present.  Another great aspect of this event is that it has a deal with the aquatic center a block away where one can get a shower.  Unless one is staying at one of the two very close hotels, which I was not, this was a very convenient feature.  I simply left my motel room that morning, used the shower, and after the times were posted and I received a generic age-group medal on a ribbon, I went back to my car and right to the airport.