Summary:  Official Gun Time – 3:27:21 – OA – 91/392 – AG 3/24 – Males – 82/229

Weather – Rain, more rain and then some more rain, and a cool 48 Degrees at the start.

Gear – Black/Red Nike running shorts, white short sleeve Nike tech shirt and Maine Rowdies singlet, Black Boston 2011 Nike Hat, black running gloves and yellow running jacket (ditched at about mile 9), Asics 2150’s, and of course my trusty Garmin!

The whole buildup to this marathon has been a little stressful for me to say the least, since I only decided to run it as I was at about the halfway point during the Boston Marathon this year.  While running Boston my right hip and knee were giving me quite a bit of trouble and I was having a hard time maintaining pace and decided to pull back even stopping at mile 16 to talk with my sister-in-law and give her some clothing items.

Then of course we have the weather, it rained before, it rained after and yes it rained during this race!  However, I made the decision to go with the shorts and no tights and no long sleeve shirt with a plan to ditch the jacket if I got too warm.  This turned out to be a very wise decision indeed.

I had a good friend offer to provide me support on the course as he was also there to provide support to 2 other runners as well (they finished at 02:57:21 & 3:21:07 respectively).  Talk about a huge relief, as he carried a bag with my extra clothes, GU, my phone and other items of necessity, simply awesome and a great stress reliever.

The early miles of this course are relatively flat with just a few easy rollers.  I experienced a little twinge/buckling in my knee twice during the first mile and started to get discouraged thinking that I might be in for a very long day, luckily the knee and hip never acted up again during the race and I got into a very comfortable pace in the early miles.  During the early part of mile one I also saw a couple of friends pushing out ahead and
thought hmmm…nope they’re going too fast just run your own race Bob.  I had told another friend that I wanted to be around 7:30 pace for the first few miles and I nailed them!  I passed one of those friends at or around mile 3.  Miles 1-5 were as follows: 7:28 - 7:32 - 7:25 - 7:35 - 7:36.

Miles 6 through 8 consist of a few nice rolling miles and my pace reflected that: 7:52 - 7:47 - 7:50.

Now for the long climb consisting of miles 9 & 10, I was really feeling strong and had been picking runners off pretty consistently as the miles ticked by at 8:26 and 8:13.  I also passed the second of those friends during this stretch and even met up with a younger girl that graduated with my daughter (Kd) and we ran off and on together for the next few miles.  I also gave my jacket to my support crew (Steve) and had him get my wrist band to put on under my Garmin during this stretch.

At some point during the next mile you hit the crest of the hill and begin a very steep downhill, I had been warned not to push this too hard and to use the soft shoulder to make it easier on my quads.  I followed that advice and hit miles 11 & 12 at 7:43 and 7:29.  During this stretch Kd had to pull off and into a convenience store as she was having some issues that she needed to attend to.

Miles 13, 14 & 15 consists of some nice rolling roads and the start of the descent towards the finish and came in at 7:43 - 7:53 - 7:45.

As I was nearing Mile 16 I began to really gain confidence as I felt pretty strong and thought of how horrible I had felt at this point during Boston, this mile ended up being my fastest at 7:15.

As I approached mile 17 I knew I was nearing the start of the 15K and the course was very familiar to me and boosted my confidence even more and I hit this mile at 7:21.

Miles 18, 19 & 20 offer some of the longest descents you encounter and help me keep my pace fairly steady but I can feel my energy beginning to fade as the miles come in at 7:35 - 7:41 - 7:56.

Mile 21 would be my last sub 8:00 mile as I begin to tire (due in large part I am sure to my lack of quality training as a direct result of my injury) mile 21 ticks off at 7:57.

I am now struggling to maintain anything close to an 8:00 pace and hoping that one of my running buds that has been keeping tabs on me would join me real soon as I was in need of a boost really bad!  Mile 22 comes in at 8:19.

I see my wife’s car up ahead on the left and see one of my friends getting out as he prepares to join me (thank you so much Don Harden).  Mile 23 comes in at 8:30.

Don is pulling out all the punches as we run these final miles trying to boost my confidence and encouraging me every step of the way, and mile 24 ticks off at 8:15.

Somewhere during this next mile Kd passed me and was really looking strong.  She ended up finishing with a very respectable 3:25:46 (boy did I lose time in these last few miles, I’ll address that later).  Mile 25 goes by in 8:30.

Finally the last mile as Don keeps telling me all we have to do is crest that last little hill then you’ll see the finish, if it wasn’t for him there is no way I would have kept this final mile below 9:00, Mile 26 registers at 8:56.

And finally I give it all I have to push towards the finish line and actually pass a couple of runners and make final .2 in 3:01.

So I crossed the finish line with a gun time of 3:27:21, good enough for a 3^rd in my age group which was totally unexpected…Woo Hoo.

What a relief, not the 3:25:00 I know I can run if I can get healthy and fully prepare.  However, it is a BQ by a full 17:30 minutes so I feel pretty confident that I’ll be able to get into Boston next year even with the new registration process….I hope!

I would strongly recommend this race to anyone. For me this one could be a PR course as the terrain suits me just fine, the toughest hills at miles 8-10 are at a place where you should be strong enough to push through them.  The rest of the course features some nice rolling terrain and even though there are a few at the end of the race they aren’t too bad at all.

Thanks again to Joel for his constant mentoring and support, Steve for the course support which proved to be invaluable and last but certainly not least to Don, who even after having to DNF in the 15K because of issues he's dealing with, jumped out and ran me in those last 4 miles.  Friends just don't come any better than that!

Sugarloaf Marathon elevation chart:

Great report, Mainerunnah! You really worked hard for that time, and yes it's good to have friends like that to help. That does look like a nice course. I love all that downhill!! Will definitely check out that race for the future. Gotta do something about all that rain though, ok?

Nice race Mainerunnah!  That hill before mile 10 is a doozey. Good payback for the climb with the downhill after.

A BQ-10 and Hardware too! Sweeet!

Thanks for taking the time to make this report Maine.

There are so many talented and strong runners in the Masters group and I learn so much from your reports.

How bad was it raining?

A sub 17:30 BQ time is pretty damn awesome in my book !  I'd hope that would get you a spot.

Nice running, great report! Awesome Finish with the AG Placement.