On December 30, I signed up for the Ocean Drive Marathon, so as to get the early entry price.  It was about 5 weeks after my first marathon, and I figured, heck, just because the OD is a week after the Shamrock, how bad could it be?  Why don’t I do it?  After all, becoming a Maniac in my backyard would be about as easy as it gets, right?

...elapse time to days before the Shamrock...

I had several things going against me: 

• I was sick with allergies/head cold

• I had a poor training cycle due to shoveling but not nearly as much running as I had planned

• I was 10 lbs heavier, mostly due to Christmas and New Year’s overindulgences

I had several things going for me:

• I’m a cheapskate who already paid my registration fees long ago, and like to get my money’s worth

• I had a good 21 miler 2 weeks before the Shamrock

  • I had no injuries or significant twinges during this poor training cycle (Really, how could I? I didn’t run enough. Shhhh!)

To me, the lack of injury was such a positive, I really couldn’t not attempt this two weeks in a row thing.

Recap: Shamrock 4:26 and change…other than 2 banged up toes, my body felt great again by Thursday.  Except quite drained from the continued allergy battling.  Ugh.   By Friday, 2 days before the OD, my toes felt whole again!

OK, gotta do this one too. 

So, here’s how it went.

Short story: Got it done. For the OD, my official time was 4:44:23.

Long story:  I met Buehrle and RS at packet pick up on Saturday with my kids, as Bayside (Mr. Nono) was running late from his morning appointment.  My kids were so bad at packet pick-up, I’m surprised we weren’t asked to leave. There is a bit of photographic evidence somewhere of this meet…I’m not sure where.

Sunday morning, I had slept so soundly that I had a hard time waking and turning off my alarm.  I realized at 7:10 that no one was up in my house but me, and I might as well drive to the north end of town and catch the shuttle bus to the start instead of waiting for the family to get up, get dressed and to drop me off at the start. Had to still wake up Bayside to brief him about some of the road closures, and then I drove over to the 10 mile finish line, where there were plenty of shuttle busses to the start. 

I was wearing my Adidas shorts with green stripes, long sleeve green NB tech shirt (this was supposed to be my outfit for the Shamrock before it turned warm), my Mizuno Wave Revolvers in “plug-em-in electric blue”, and just in case I wasn’t already looking bright enough, an Old Navy fleece pullover with a Hawaiian print of blue/green/white.  Also wore my Shamrock finishers hat, Silver Mountain (ID) headband over that, and black gloves.  Now, besides this being ugly, it probably sounds excessive for a 45 degree day with partial sun and 10% chance of rain predicted.  We’ll see.

I met Buehrle and RS in the Brown Room Lounge of Congress Hall.  Congress Hall is this stately old lady of a hotel, which is kind enough to always throw its doors open to runners the day of the event.  So we lounged; we chatted. Then, we went down beach to the public rest rooms, about 4 blocks from the start to do our final visits before the race.

Some laughs at the start while waiting, and then after the National Anthem, we were off. I chatted with Buehrle and RS for a bit,  and then tried to run by feel, to see where I was.  I was shocked to see I was at an 8:44.  I kept trying to dial it back without obsessively looking at my watch, but 8:44 was comfortable.  Then, after the first bridge, I heard my name called, and it was two women from town who I know just from running and our snippets of conversations over the years. (They spotted my outfit! )  They were running the 10 miler this year, so I kept my 8:44 pace with them for a bit longer, then came to my senses by the water stop heading into Wildwood Crest, and dialed it back.

About 12 blocks before my first meet up with the family, Buehrle and RS come along, and we chat a little about area. There’s my family right where they should be, with “the bag” which contains everything on earth a runner could ever possibly need.  Another guy I chatted briefly with took a tissue as we were offering them out to folks. I also shed my fleece and put on a singlet over my long sleeved tech shirt as the sun was out. I grabbed some refreshment, and was off, but not before my son implored, “Mommy, watch this” as he ran down the sidewalk and then kissed a tree.  OK son.  I’m thrilled you are in love with that birch tree, but I’m due at a finish line a bit later…

Sun was out now and the miles clicked off up onto the boardwalk and out past the 10 mile finish.  The wind was mostly from the E, which meant a nice little tailwind through Anglesea out to the causeway to Stone Harbor.  I met some Maniac packs through that part of the course, and when we hit Mi. 14, there was my support team in the southbound lane.  Three of the older Maniacs followed me over to the car to partake of the eating of the Peanut Butter Fudge, and were raving about it for the next few minutes.  The sun had gone under cloud cover, so I grabbed another fleece (light pink) and ditched the outer singlet.  The Maniac guys were laughing at me, but agreed the temp “feel” was fluctuating wildly. 

At Mi. 16 in Stone Harbor, I had to start walking, and like last week, it hurt like HELL to walk, but I needed to get air.  Apparently, it is necessary for running.  (I’m a slow learner – you think I’d have this down after last week).  Anyway, a lot of folks seemed to be doing a 9/10 run, 1/10 walk, so I tried that.  As I got to each mile marker, I walked for 1/10 and then ran. This distributed the agony nicely.  While my body was screaming, it was really a nice time out there for a couple miles, until the clouds turned dark and it started raining on us in Avalon.  Oh, I was miserable. I wasn’t meeting the car again until Mi 23 ½ on the next island, and darn if there wasn’t a trash bag “raincoat” already cut and ready in the bottom of the “bag with everything.”  Oh, I was bumming out big time along that stretch.  But, several folks came along and chatted me up, as was the case the entire race, actually.  I don’t think I’ve ever had so many hands extended and introductions made as I had during this race.  It was so sociable out there, which really made the body pain tolerable!

Thankfully the rain ceased pretty quickly, and I knew the causeway from Avalon to Sea Isle was coming up.  The bridge is a standard Ocean Drive bridge – 25’ – no biggie.  But, in my head, I was picturing the causeway as a very long one.  I was not remembering it correctly, because it’s really short! Over the bridge, turn right, and halfway down the block is my “bag with everything” sitting at the curb. No sign of our car, or my family, because they were in my parents’ best friends’ house.  They saw me coming, and the kids and Bayside ran out the door.  Mrs. Kelly (We were running on 93^rd St. which is also named Kelly Dr!) was hanging out the door, and Mr. Kelly, who just had back surgery, was waving from the window.  I ran over and ran into the house and gave Mr. Kelly a kiss, and then changed my shoes to my Nike Air Track Stars (don’t look them up, they're a low end Dick’s special and no longer made and I love them!) and got kisses from the kids and was off.

Ah fresh running shoes relieved the pain in my two previously banged up toes, and the kisses all around gave my heart such a lift.  The rest of the way was easy.  Everyone out there was still convivial, and now I felt OK.  Well except for the 5’ elevation change to get up onto Sea Isle’s Promenade.  Holy cow, I could have died laughing at myself for barely making it up there. Once I did though, it was painless.  I got my pace back to around 9:10, and ran it in, picking off the only two folks in front of me.  Bayside and the kids were right behind the course photographers, and the chute is easy – we were coming in one at a time and no muss there.

My family met me at the end of the chute, and I hugged my husband, and asked too loudly, “Who the hell thought it was a good idea to run a marathon two Sundays in a row???”  The smattering of folks milling around the finish laughed.  I went down off the Promenade into the tent to get a bagel and then we chatted with some folks for a few minutes.  I soon realized I was ravenous, and the post race snacks weren’t going to do it for me.  So, we walked to the car, and we drove straight back to North Wildwood, where we went for a late lunch with me sporting my sweat, race number and medal.  Everyone at the bar congratulated me, and wow – ½ a prime rib sandwich and ½ of a fish n chips order (along with a Manhattan) sure tasted good!

So, I don’t have a MM number yet, as results just got posted. I’ll get to that this week. I have to say, I feel a lot better this Tuesday, than I did last Tuesday after the Shamrock.  Maybe the Maniacs are really onto something.  Hmmmm……  

Now to back-up, regroup, and get my mileage where I want it to be before the fall cycle of marathons.  Thanks for reading. Sorry so wordy! It was worse before I cut it down...

I am so glad that I met Nono before I read this... because I could "hear" her tell the story in her own voice.

Nice job and great attitude, Nono!

I am so glad you told us your pace (8:44) in those early miles... because you disappeared rather quickly and now I know why.  You were running faster.  (ha ha)

Your family is lovely.  Your home is beautiful.  And your town is delightful.  Thanks for sharing.

Your friend,

Rose

or

Barbara

Nono -  congrats on being a Maniac now.  I think fearlessness is one of the traits of a maniac and you proved that by signing up for back to back marathons so early in your marathon career!

I'd like to see that Hawaiian fleece, way cool.

And the fudge sounded great, until I thought about the sugar content late in a race.

Congratulations, maniac nono.  You sure had a lot of support and company of friends and family.  I loved your report.

TomS

I love this report!    Not too wordy at all.   You captured the experience so well, just what I needed to read right now!    There's so much to learn from how you made it through the challenges of the doozy of a winter you had.   It is wonderful what a healty dose of  stubborness determination. along with a lot of hard work, can accomplish.

I'm so glad you were able to meet and spend time with Rosie and Ralph. 

What an awesome support crew!     I think you made the best of this whole experience.   Kisses and all.

Way to go.

So glad that dg bumped up your RR,

 I hope your little tree kisser doesn't get splinters on his lips.

I loved your RR Nono. It's just what I needed.