Here we are, three weeks after running the Presque Isle Marathon. Given all the travel required to run 50 marathons in 50 states, it is occasionally advantageous to run a few back-to-back. There are several marathons that make this ideal and often you'll be among like company with Marathon Maniacs and 50 State Club members - perplexingly, I'm not a member of either. I've always held a philosophy that running with friends should not cost you a membership fee. That being said, these are still wonderful clubs with incredible people.
Being the road trip enthusiast that I am, and knowing all the breweries we were planning to visit, we drove the car. If you've ever driven through New Hampshire, Vermont, or Maine, you know that the shortest route between point A and point B is about 7 different 2-lane highways and an additional 150 miles! If you can accept that, there are some beautiful, quintessential New England towns inhabiting a landscape of rolling hills dotted with balsam fir, white and black spruce, and various species of pine, maple, oak and birch trees, in various metachromatic stages. Each charming town contains a steepled, white church and a general store and not much else.
We spent an entire day driving all over Vermont in pursuit of beer in what was considered prime fall foliage. Vermont has a reputation for some of the best IPAs produced partly for their excellence in craft and partly from scarcity due to small-scale production. The day started out very much like a scavenger hunt - following beer delivery times (www.lawsonsfinest.com and www.alchemistbeer.com only get delivered in small amounts to a few general stores in the area weekly), adhering to limited tasting room hours (www.hillfarmstead.com is an anomaly in of itself. I could write an entire post about the inconceivable hype for this beer and its inability to live up to it), and mapping the best routes. We also managed to stumble upon Ben & Jerry's headquarters for a tour and tasting. I highly recommend this quirky stop if ever you're in the area. In the end, we drove away with a car full of beer and one contradictory conclusion: we are so over this game of acquiring rare beer that is akin to collecting baseball cards when I was a kid. That being said, I was going out with a bang on this trip; a last hurrah if you will.
We had the day to lounge on our wrap-around porch at a historic bed & breakfast (www.thewhipplehouse.com) near the start line of the marathon. The mayberry-esque view was an ideal setting to enjoy some of these beers and a lobster roll on the afternoon before the race. Joining us at the Inn were two other couples also doing the double marathon. In fact, I met a lot of runners in New Hampshire and very few were not running the double marathon!
Small town races have their charm. There are usually 200 - 400 runners. The townspeople and participants are most gracious and friendly, and the passion for the sport is not as lost in translation as compared to that of huge production races. Don't get me wrong, I love them both. However, there is something special about the local freemasons at the New Hampshire Marathon volunteering to serve runners a pasta dinner at their masonic temple complete with a dozen of their different homemade pasta sauces along with other goodies that you won't find at the New York City Marathon. It makes the personal and economic impact you are making on the host city palpable.
Now let's talk marathon. I divulged the training I did for this double marathon in the Presque Isle Marathon post 3 weeks ago: double long run weekends, speed and hill workouts, and 46-mile weeks on average. I really wasn't thinking too much about the races this weekend. I was hoping to get as close to breaking 3 hours at both of them as I could but mostly looking to enjoy myself; these were fairly hilly and scenic courses. When I ran the double marathons at KY & OH, I finished in 2:59 and 3:09, respectively.
I woke up the morning of the race and threw my back out; I was just thinking I hadn't done this in years! There is always something, psychosomatic or otherwise, to fret over before a race. Luckily I found some Aleve and after a few miles, I hardly noticed any pain. This marathon started at 9:00am with a 10K on a cool, grey and dreary day yielding rain at times. I started with a couple of 7-minute miles but noticed I was in 6th place after the 10K runners turned off. Knowing that there was prize money for finishing in the top 3, I started picking up the pace. There is a massive hill at mile 10 that I used to my advantage (all those hill workouts paid off!) and was soon jockeying with someone for 2nd & 3rd place. He and I worked together until mile 19 when I started picking up the pace for the final 10K (my new technique). Details within: http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/605367696
I finished in 2nd out of 281 finishers in 2:56:39 (6:45/mile pace) with $150 in prize money! I always said that I would quit running marathons if I could win one. Truth be told, I really don't want to quit! I had a great masseuse after the race work on my back then we were off to Portland, ME to do it again tomorrow.
This:
Had to fit into this:
Also, I'm going to start adding the race photo, as ridiculous as some may be, to each post from now on. I'll see how far back I can do this for previous posts.
DANG! You so speedy!
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