Newport, RI
3:07:08 (7:09/mile)
19th overall (out of 610 finishers)
9th in division (out of 160)

Another runner’s blog entry  Elite woman marathon runner’s blog entry

    So, Rhode Island, is not exactly nearby. In fact, to get there from Michigan you need to roll through Ohio, Pennsylvania, Parts of New Jersey and New York, and even the long axis of Connecticut. It ended up being about 14 hours of driving, so I broke it up into two days of driving both ways. As such, I got to the town of Newport about 2 pm the day before the race.
    In the course of this trip I drove to the eastern end of Interstate 80. That means I have now driven (in the last 8 years) the entire 2902 mile length of that interstate, from San Francisco to just outside New York City. Not all at once, mind you. There was a sign in the middle of Pennsylvania that said “highest point along I-80 east of the Mississippi, elevation 2250 feet”. I laughed out loud and sarcastically said to myself ‘Whoopie!’ The 7239’ elevation peak on the other side of the Mississippi is much more beautiful. I have previously done all of I-90 but it will take me a while to knock off I-40…

     A quick stop at yet another unexciting race expo gave me time to take in the local tourist attractions, which in the case of Rhode Island is big yachts, ocean views and really expensive houses (actually, they are mansions, behind huge gates and stone walls) I am what you might call a ‘speed tourist’ in that I can take in many different things very quickly. I stopped by a local state park, did the whole ocean drive thing, and even went by many of the mansions on the official mansion tour. This was old money at its finest. The views of the ocean, I must admit, were not that exciting. This is my 5th marathon along the Atlantic Ocean coast, and ocean vistas never really tripped my trigger. Mountains are my thing, I guess. You can tell this city had been here since the early 1600’s.  The locals I talked to were all very friendly, especially the people I met with respect to the race. The one notable exception would be the young woman working the desk of my hotel. She was not nice.

    Just because I am lucky, there was an Applebee’s nearby and for the third marathon in a row, I had Fiesta Lime Chicken for dinner the night before the race. Delicious, as usual. I have dreams of getting a sponsor for my all my racing, and Applebee’s seems like a natural for a sponsorship I should look into that…
     So I could park for free, I showed up at the race start over an hour before the race. I sat in my car for a while listening to a book on CD that I brought along for the trip and then made my way to the start. As hoped, I met up with the two ladies I saw at Stumpy’s trail marathon (you know, the ones in the picture) and we talked a for a little while and then off to get this thing started.
       The race had a late start, 8 am, and the temperature was a perfect 55 degrees. What was not perfect was the 15 mph wind that we had for the majority of the race. I am not complaining, per se, it was just annoying. The overcast sky added the so-so nature of the course. Oh well. The aid stations were unique in that the people handing out the water and Gatorade were so motivating. Screaming and cheering you on with such vigor, so different from most marathons. Each aid station was run by some organization with one aid station at about mile 16 having ~20 people dressed in Halloween costumes, and these were serious Halloween costumes. Darth Vader (full regalia), a bishop, numerous ghouls and witches, it was awesome. They looked out of place holding glasses of Gatorade and water screaming ‘You’re doing great! Keep it up!’
    The first half of the course was mostly along the water’s edge, the last half mostly inland running along residential streets, sometimes by large beautiful mansions, sometimes by boring single family homes. Not the most exciting course, but not the lamest, for sure. This marathon again being just another long training run allowed me to relax and enjoy the day. I never ventured more than 3 seconds off my goal pace for the entire race, finishing within 1 minute of my goal time. That is what you call consistency. At mile 25, you run a ways along (no joke) Purgatory road. You know someone did that on purpose…
   The post race festivities were actually kindof cool. There was no wait on the 10 massage beds laid out, so I actually got both of my legs massaged at the same time by two young ladies who were just waiting for more customers. That was the best post race massage I have ever received in my life. My legs felt great afterwards, honestly. No sore quads whatsoever. The only pain I have is the shin issue I started the race with, which only got a little worse. The food was catered and delicious. High end pasta, pizza, and (apparently) really good clam chowder. I hate chowder, so I didn’t partake, but everyone said it was great.
    Another memorable trip, for sure. Next up, my first double in the middle of November. That will be fun, for sure…

     So most times when you run a marathon, you get a medal for finishing, no matter what your place. Marathon freaks like me then tend to have quite a collection. People do many different things with theirs, like hanging them on the antlers of a mounted deer head, hang them on a door knob, or even worse, put them in a drawer, but no, not me. See, I am proud of my marathon running. Is not the whole PR tattoo thing telling of that?

    Well, meet Murphy the marathon finisher medal holding sculpture. Murphy ( Marathon Running PHinishers medal) has all my finishers medals epoxy’d to his wood body (3/4″ plywood with alumnimum bar bracing on the back) and my age group awards are epoxy’d to the base. When I built him earlier this fall, I used the finishers medals I had to judge how big I would have to make him. With my huge dreams, I had to make him rather tall (see second picture for size reference)

     In case you were curious, I do think about where to put each medal. The ‘head’ location is very precious. The 4 that are currently there are all significant, including 2 of my marathon wins, Boston, and my very first marathon.

     Let me know what you think!

8 year old girl for size reference:

Corning, NY
3:09:53 (7:15/mile)
41st place overall (out of 550)

Another runners blog entry

      My parents, bless their souls, were very smart to raise me the way they did. One of the many ‘good’ things they did for me was teach me that experiences were much more valuable than physical objects. Me and my siblings grew up in an upper middle class house but lived (for the most part) a middle class lifestyle. What we got in exchange was travel. In my youth I got to travel all over the country. So much so, that by age 25, I had visited all 50 states, many of them more than once. It is in that vein that I truly love to travel, especially by car. When I started this marathon thingie a few years ago, I got to merge some passions with my lifestyle. I got to mix my love for travel with my obsession and ability for running marathons. 22 marathons is just over 2 years, in 17 different states is a testament to that. This marathon trip is a perfect example of just such a marriage.

      I left 2 days before the race to enjoy the trip. The race was on Sunday, but I left on Friday afternoon, stopping late Friday night in Hamburg, NY. On Saturday morning I did the quick trip up to Niagara Falls. I had not been here for a few years and it was (as usual) beautiful. Then, I decided to take in some culture. Stopping at a Buffalo Starbucks early Saturday morning, I talked to a very nice employee and he let me know that there are a few art galleries in town. I did some research and sure enough, there was an awesome art gallery (with lots of abstract stuff, which I love including a Jackson Pollack) so I took that in as well. A quick drive to Corning, NY on Saturday afternoon got me to the marathon check in/expo (unexciting, honestly) and then I hit the Corning Glass Museum to round out the ‘tourist’ part of my marathon trip.

     I ate dinner at a local Applebee’s (which seems to be a standard for my night-before-marathon dinners) and met 3 women who were planning on running the 3 person marathon relay. It turns out one of them got diagnosed with a stress fracture mere days ago so the third leg will be split by the other 2 runners. At the first transition point (9 miles in) I saw two of them waiting for their teammate. I sacrificed the 15 seconds to stop and say hi to them. They were still all smiles.
      Race morning I stood outside my hotel room for 10 minutes at 5:30 am trying to decide what clothes to wear for the run. It was about 40 degrees, and I ultimately decided that shorts were not the right choice. I was not racing, so I wanted to be comfortable, so running pants it was. After a 30 minute bus ride up to Bath, NY and I had about 30 minutes to hang out. The temperature stayed crisp, and the fog was very dense.
     Since I am shooting for a PR in Alabama in December, I decided right before race start to run a 3:10 (7:15 pace) because that is what my training schedule calls for. I set my GPS watch, wished some nearby runners luck, and we were off.
     About 0.6 mile into the race I met Dovid (no, not a typo. He is the guy in that really crappy finish picture above. Sorry, it was my cell phone) from New York City. He lets me know he is shooting for a Boston Qualifying time, which for him was (ha-ha) 3:10. We start chatting and next thing you know, we decide we are going to run together for a while, and we end up staying next to each other the entire race. We talked about where we grew, up, or respective running history and stories, marathon and other. It really was a pleasant conversation, making the miles fly by for both of us. He was born in the Bronx, grew up on Long island, now lives in Queens and works in Manhattan. He said he has never lived more than 20 miles from downtown NYC.

    At about mile 15, a group of 3 guys (all from Philadelphia) caught up to us, and sure enough there is another guy trying to qualify for Boston. They remark to me that they have seen me for a while and hate the fact that I am not sweating that bad and my form is smooth and relaxed. They are jealous when they realize how slow I am running this. So, I became an unofficial 3:10 pace group leader.  At about mile 20, everyone pretty much stops talking except me. They were starting to get weak and I started playing full time cheerleader. Getting them to relax their arms, keep their heads up, etc. As the assistant cross country coach at JCC, I have lots of practice yelling at runners, but they are usually only for short periods of time as my athletes run by me. It is different when you are running with them. I have thought before about being an official pace group leader at some of the bigger races I run. Today, I decided I definitely want to do that as it was way fun, especially seeing those two guys achieve their goal. It made me feel like a first time Boston qualifier all over again.
     The fog stayed with us for almost 20 miles. At mile 6 the view was literally picture perfect. We were on a lonely stretch of road, with farm land on both sides. We were running towards the sun, but visibility was only about 400m. The runners in front of us were literally silhouettes disappearing into the distant abyss. It was totally awesome.
     Post race food excellent (pizza and soup along with standard post race fare) and I defied my rule, eating 3 pieces of pepperoni pretty much right afterwards (after a bottle of water) What I thought was post race rot-gut due to eating solid food is (new evidence says) actually from consuming too much sugar afterwards. With lots of water, I can eat solid food right after a race, well a race that I run a 3:10 in :).
     After a short walk and shower, my legs felt fine. Here, 10 hours later (after a 8 hour drive) my legs feel almost normal. I massaged them as much as I could while driving and every time I stopped. My double in November seems more possible.
     This ranks up there as one of the most memorable marathon trips I have ever taken. Great tourist stuff the day before, a fun race, it was awesome.