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Posted by danerunsalot on 3/2/2007 on danerunsalot's blog North Central Railroad Trail Marathon Recap A Runner's Ramblings: Volume 1; 47th Edition • November, with only four marathons and very little running in between, will have the least mileage run by me of any month this year. I am convinced Maryland has the strangest names for its towns of any state/province out there. Sure, Canada has Medicine Hat and Moosejaw, but those are just quirky and funny. But Lutherville Timonium? Are they celebrating the unholy matrimony of Mr. Vandross and some yet to be discovered element? Cheverly? Boring? Crappo?! These are really names of cities? Would you date a person who hailed from Crappo? And the start of this race: Sparks Glencoe. They may call it “just” Sparks on the website but the post office says “Sparks Glencoe”. Sure I could do the exhaustive research my friend Jack does for his recaps (which are simply superb, FYI) but rhetorical questions are fun sometimes. Now, I am not complaining about these names; just making a note here in print, which I have made mentally often. But I digress. For the second straight week, the weather was perfect for the race. A little frost was on the window of my car but the sun above quickly melted that off. After a night at the stellar Red Roof Inn with a car load of dogs barking outside all night (well not a car load but a Dodge Sprinter which, for some reason, are frigging ubiquitous) I met my friend Kira in the gym where we were picking up our timing “chips” before the start of the race (they were actually those prison house arrest anklets which I am none too fond of.) Kira signed up for the race the day before hoping to bolster her resume to apply for Badwater in July. If you do not know what Badwater is I suggest you google it because you will not believe me if I told you. Also in attendance was my friend Cowboy Jeff sporting his Fiddy2 shirt. Located near to his home Cowboy made the trip to the race and showed me tremendous support throughout the race handing out flyers and getting rousing cheers from many of the spectators! Great guy. I did not even know he was going to be there but the hat gave him away immediately. He looks naked without and whenever he takes it off it is like he is missing a part of his head. Flat out one of my fave people I have meet during Fiddy2. Then I almost missed my friend the Pink Fairy as he was running the race in …*gasp*… shorts and a shirt!! No pink tutu, pink shoes or pink wand. Keith (which he says is his real name…psshaw) was running his 25th marathon of the year!! He kicks butt and takes names! Rachel, one of the race directors of the Frederick Marathon, tracked me down to say hello; a few people who I had never had the chance to meet in person, I was finally able to see face-to-face and have a chat; more runners I had never spoken to but who said they were following my progress on fiddy2.org passed on encouraging words; and assorted other characters gathered in the gym made this race feel like a family reunion. When we exited the Sparks Elementary School to get ready for the start I was wishing we had more time to talk! 1st half marathon: 1:30ish Knowing that the course was supposed to be flat and fast (and also knowing Race directors lie more than fisherman) I was curious what my legs would do on a short week of rest. Hoping (as always) to run a PR, I thought I would take it easy and hope that the “flat” section of the race coming back (i.e. mostly downhill) would allow me to negative split my time from the “flat” section of the first half (i.e., mostly uphill). I had read reports that the miles are a little askew and sure enough mile 1 was a 5:30 for me. Um, no. How can people mention the same problems year in and year out and not have them addressed. Now, this is not me flailing the RD but rather curiosity in its purest form. Why not address a seemingly easy to address issue? Oh well. After the first mile and change we ventured onto the mostly crushed gravel surface that we would run 95% of the race on. As much as others love trail and gravel, I prefer concrete and asphalt. Call me weird (I have heard far worse) but I guess this is just another preference I have that differs from others. So going into the race, I knew I was not necessarily going to love the surface of the course. Throw in the fact that the “flat” was a constant (low grade but constant nonetheless) uphill and it looked like these tired old quads were going to get a workout today! Mile after mile took us runners through wooded areas with a creek or river on one side and wildlife and trees on the other. My opinions on “scenic” courses are well known (I do not give a damn…fauna ain’t helping the pain in my legs) but given I did not expect too much from the day, I decided to look around a bit. I never ran cross-country in high school but this course assuredly looked like a training run or a XC race. Squirrels played tag, birds sang and I am pretty darn sure I saw a deer flit quickly crossed the trail up ahead. Not too shabby as the sunlight filtered in through the net like trees and kept the body warm without cooking it extensively. As the miles went by in this race a few runners who had passed me earlier in the race were coming into focus. To my legs and mind, the miles felt relatively fast but my watch, based on the miler markers, told me otherwise. I was routinely running just over 7 minute miles while I felt they were well under that time. While that was not ideal the good turn of events in this case was that I felt internally good. The exhaustion of the past month had yet to creep in and I thought perhaps I could indeed run that negative split after all. In case you are curious, this was not a race to run if you need spectators. You might have found enough spectators, not affiliated with the race, which, if you were to count them, would force you to use your second hand. But chances are better than average you would not need your thumbs. That said, those who were at the aid stations were very helpful (“Gatorade on your right, water on your left!”), friendly and rather plentiful for being out in the middle of nowhere just 48 hours after Thanksgiving. A large helping of kudos goes out to the volunteers of the race. Mile 17: A runner who I had passed earlier in the race came up on me around mile 15. We ran together and chatted a bit after my fellow Drake Well Marathon runner Scott Pearson passed us. (He had approached out of nowhere about a mile earlier with a hearty: “Is that Fiddy2?!”) Rich was this chap’s name and he told me he was actually a cyclist. I told him that I was actually a swimmer and asked what the hell both of us were doing out here without a bike and/or a pool. As mile 17 approached I commented to Rick how good I felt. A sub 3:05 seemed to be well within grasp. The question was how far sub I would go. Like before on the front half of the course, my efforts put into each mile (now downhill and ever-so-frustrating to a guy who likes downhill miles) were not showing on the watch. No worries. I felt great and expected to turn it on at the end. Mile 18: How the heck does one get exhausted one mile after they felt so great? Sure, I picked up the pace a smidgen to try and push through a faster time but I was all of a sudden spent! So I stopped, ate the Gu provided by the race (nice touch by the way, as was the Nutri-Grain bar in the race packet), down a full glass of water and then Gatorade at full saunter. A few yards down the path my good friend Danielle had tracked me and brought me a beloved Propel. Having gone for a five mile run herself she was looking all sporty in her running gear and I am sure she could have dropped out a few fast miles with me if she had not been hopping back in the car to be at the finish with me. Mile 23: In full catch-up mode I passed approximately 4 or 5 people as I began tracking down runners and make them pay for having gone out too fast. Few things feel better than just blasting by someone, making them feel like they are standing still. I have been on the receiving end of that attack a few times, so I am not being a mean person. Rather I am expressing some of the joys of running to all of you in case you have not experienced them. My football days are over and with a professional career I can no longer box amateur so this is about the closest I am coming to just leveling someone with a bone-crushing block or laying someone out with a left cross. I am not violent whatsoever but damn those things feel good. A completely unexpected fan and supporter almost made me lose my composure, as they were not supposed to have been able to make it to the race. Without a doubt, their presence helped push me through what was coming up. Finish: You are kidding me right? We have to end on these hills? Having read reports of the course, spoken to a few people and studied the course profile, I knew that we were supposed to end on the same hills that we had run down to begin the race. Apparently, however, I was mistaken. So, instead of knowing what crappy hills were in store for me ahead, I had to guess what crappy hills were in going to be coming up around the bend. And bend. And another bend. Arrgh! With one more guy in my sights who kept taking walk breaks I was startled to have someone pass me at a fast pace. Fully expecting him to be a relayer (they had been passing me throughout the day but most were kind enough to wear the RELAY tag on the back of their shirts), I was quite shocked to see he was not. Time was slipping away and I knew the goals needed to be readjusted. Both of the last 2 miles and change had made me lose over a minute per mile as I slogged up these huge hills. Nothing like having a 3:06 in your grasp and watch it slip away. So, running for my friend, promised I would not only qualify for Boston but do it in the good way: sub 3:10. Crossing the finish line in 3:09:56 I felt pretty vindicated for having missed other goals. A second place in my age group helped me lick my wounds as the North Central Railroad Trail gave out Steam Engines as race awards. Nice tough indeed. Hello Cayman Islands Marathon! In what promises to be a hot race I can only hope some other surprised are in order. Cannot wait for the tan! Was going to ask you to donate at www.fiddy2.org to benefit L’Arche Mobile but figure you are well aware of the website by now. | |
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North Central Railroad Trail Marathon Recap |
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