Well, I did it. I finished the Medoc Mountain Marathon. That's about all I can really claim. It was really interesting to be on trails vice roads but really something I should have trained for more specifically. I finished in 3:58:29 which was fast enough to win the 20-29 division (although 1st overall went to a 29 yr old). Believe it or not, I'm actually quite pleased with my time as the MCM and Richmond will hold no fear at all for me now. Course was HILLY as I pretty much assumed it would be from the name. At times we were running up and down stairs, reminding me many times of high school races. The MCM and Richmond are effectively flat and well surfaced so I'm looking forward to that...I'm really banged up all to hell today with gashes all over my hands, right thigh and shoulder. I was fine until about mile 18 and then I just started falling. I fell a total of 8 times, some more serious than others. Some had me tumbling down hills and slamming into trees. I was really paying attention to the trail too...it was just that I couldn't lift my legs up high enough. A couple times I caught myself before actually hitting the ground and I'm not sure if that was better for me in the end as I think I may have pulled a muscle in my right hamstring with the unexpected strain. In conclusion, it was great as a training run (although I treated it as a race as well, I admit) but not the best return to marathon running. It left me overall demoralized and in pain from my wounds. It's only in day-after analysis that I've become so upbeat about the positives of the experience. It's also the reason why I'm only writing this now, a day and a half later...

That sounds like running a marathon on the steep, twisting trails of Calvert High School! Now the question is, do you think you'll be able to fully recover in three weeks time?

Rick, I won't steal your thunder by heralding your finish time before you can, but I'll say that, once again, you greatly underestimated your abilities! Furthermore, I humbly rescind everything I said about the ludicrousness of Alden running the full marathon. He finished in 4:44:30!

The 8th Annual Baltimore Running Festival boasted a record 17,500 participants, divided between the three races (marathon, half marathon, 5k). Particpants were from all 50 states and 28 countries outside of the US. In hindsight, the Chicago Marathon caps at 40,000 people, and draws participants from 120+ countries. That may be the difference between Chicago being an established marathon and Baltimore being relatively new, or the difference between Chicago and Baltimore as cities in general. Likely a combination of both. However, with Under Armour as its key sponsor, I'm confident the Baltimore Running Festival will continue to grow. The health and fitness expo was pretty good. There were vendors and specialty running stores selling all of the gear a runner could ever want at clearance prices. I purchased a Brooks running jacket and Under Armour shirt for a bit under $40, but limited myself to that. All registrants received an Under Armour techinical shirt, with each race sporting a different design/color. Alden was kind enoiugh to offer a spot to sleep only a few miles from the starting line, so I took advantage of the opportunity. I was somewhat worried when I realized I forgot pillows, though. I had brought two sleeping bags, planning to use one as a padding between me and the floor, and the other as a blanket. However, without pillows, I ended up resting my head on one sleeping bag and roughing it on the floor. I awoke in the morning feeling surprisingly fine. I didn't even feel the slightest cramp or neck pain. No worries here. In an effort to save time in the morning, we hopped on the metro and took that almost down to Camden Yards, the site of the Under Armour Baltimore Marathon starting line. The marathon started at 8am, the half at 9:45. I had more than enough time to listen to different speakers talk about how Baltimore is "one of the greatest cities in the world," and hear the mayor (Juan Dixon's aunt) say the phrase "twenty million dollars" several times (that is the amount of revenue the city made from the event). The start of the marathon was very organized. There were zones marked by signs "5 minute mile" in the front, then 6:00 miles, 7:00 miles, etc. After the start of the race, I wandered thru the "celebration village" nestled between Camden Yards and the Ravens' M&T Bank Stadium (side note: this is MUCH nicer than FedEx Field). I found the convenient baggage check, and then made my way to the Half Marathon starting area. This was probably almost a mile from the marathon starting line, so the walk chewed up a bit of time. I then stood in line for nearly 20 minutes for the porta-a-potties, before suffering from an unfortunate bout of stage fright. Never a good thing before a race, but there wasn't much I could do with a hundred people waiting for me to wrap things up. Afterwards, I proceeded to warm-up for only about 5 minutes, and stretched well. The Half Marathon starting line was a bit less organized. Those with bib numbers between 10,000 - 19,999 were asked to make their way toward the front, 20,000 - 29,999 stay in the middle, and 30k - 40k get in the back. I believe the front group was for those intending to run faster than a 9:00 mile pace. Unfortunately, this meant that some people intending to run 9:00 miles were up ahead of me, and impeded the start of many people. The half marathon course was on its own for the first three miles, and then piggy-backed onto the last 10 miles of the marathon course. This gave plenty of time for the slower runners to fall back a bit before merging with the marathoners. The course saw some of the best parts of city, and other parts which left me singing the theme song to "The Wire." Regardless, I only heard one heckler throughout the entire race... all of the citizens of Baltimore seemed to love the race and were extremely supportive of the runners. That excludes people in their cars, some of whom seemed ready to fight with cops to gain passage thru intersections. The course was plenty hilly. As I said before, almost every mile had some significant uphill climb in it. That could be another reason why the flat and fast Chicago Marathon is immensely popular. I think it was Alden who spoke of an article that compared the Baltimore Marathon course to Boston, including a reference to the infamous "Heartbreak Hill." I powered thru the hills as best as I could, and rarely saw the Forerunner drop below 8:00/mi in the instantaneous pace. This led to a major cramp on my right side just below the rib cage before mile 6, but I held off for another mile before using a packet of GU. Like DR, I also benefited from the gummy bears available later on the course. I tried to remained focus on what I did in training... keep a powerful stride, and make sure the feet aren't hitting the ground too wide. I was worried that I started out too fast, as my watch read ~23:20 when my Forerunner registered 3.12 miles. I just tried to keep a a constant effort, but I was more worried when the aforementioned cramps began. The GU helped greatly, and I kept moving. I was getting very irritated at the spectators who kept yelling "this is the last hill!" or "it's all downhill from here!" because they were all liars. Enough of all that though, here are the unofficial splits: 1- 7:40 2- 7:37 (15:17) 3- 7:24 (22:41) 4- 7:24 (30:05) 5- 7:37 (37:42) 6- 7:59 (45:41) 7- 7:38 (53:19) 8- 7:35 (1:00:54) 9- 7:46 (1:08:40) 10- 7:48 (1:16:28) 11- 7:39 (1:24:07) 12- 7:56 (1:32:02) 13- 7:25 (1:39:28) 13.19 Forerunner time: 1:40:51 Official Half Marathon time: 1:40:48. That's an official pace of 7:41, which isn't horribly far off the 10K pace that I ran earlier this year. The amenities after the race were decent... crab medal, bagels, apples, bananas. One thing stood out from all other races I've seen, though: MASSAGE TENT. A 10 minute massage certainly didn't undo the pain of the race, but it definitely took the edge off. I'll let Alden tell his own story, but I think he shocked the world with his time. I guess that shows how incredibly hot it was at the VA Beach half that he and Adubb did in August, because I believe his half marathon split yesterday may have been a PR. Should I expect to see other race reports in the coming days? ----- CORRECTION: My chip time has been changed to 1:40:46.

Rick, you're going to the Super Bowl! And by Super Bowl, I mean the marathon (which I hope will be the LPR). I think all of your steadfast dedication and strategic training is really paying off. Will any pictures of that colossal event turn up online? And Alden's performance was all the more extraordinary considering that, just about six weeks ago, 13.1 miles was the longest run of his life. There were, however, other worthy deeds accomplished today --- many miles to the south of Baltimore ... I imagine that there couldn't have been a greater contrast between the atmosphere/environ of the Under Armour Baltimore Running Festival and that of the First Annual Lower Potomac River 10-Miler. There seemed to be less than 100 participants, and there certainly weren't any segments of the course that would've made me hum The Wire theme song (not that I even know how it goes). Today's route was likely just a bit more ... rural. Anyways, I parked my car around 6:40 a.m. and started walking. The event parking --- designated by a flashing strobe light and a helpful sign --- was over a MILE away from the start line/packet pickup/amenities area. It'd been as dark as the dead of night when I'd left my house around 5:55 a.m., yet things began to change as I struck up Lighthouse Rd, hiking behind a quintet of fellows in their 50s (including Mike W., the Chaptico Classic race director). Looking back over my left shoulder whilst wobbling by the wealthy waterfront homes, a silver luminance conquered the eastern sky over St. George's Island, covering the surface of the wide, tranquil Potomac with an indigo sheen. It was easy to forget that I was walking by a river and not the ocean. And the gulls cried ... "Take a pre-race dump!" I really needed one. It was also quite chilly out, and thankfully I was wearing my old SMR TRACK hooded-sweatshirt. So yes, it was a relatively small, intimate crowd gathered (200 was the cap off, and I don't think that was fulfilled). Most of the familiar faces were there, though --- including Perry and Valiant Vic P. There were also a few prize fighters, er, runners, who'd been drawn from afar. Two of them, a young man and young woman, were said to be actual Kenyans (or maybe the guy in front of me in the Porti-Pody line was just making thinly veiled racist remark). Naturally, they were destined to (literally) run away with the event! But first we had to line up. Perry headed straight to the rear, but I snatched a front line spot, knowing full well that I was standing shoulder to shoulder with folks way out of my league. And then we were go'd! Now, I'd been reminding myself beforehand that this was going to be a 10-miler, not a 10-kilometerer. Nonetheless I went out way too fast, running my first mile in 6:44 --- when my intended goal pace was 7:15/mi. That sub-7:00/mi pace, however, felt remarkably comfortable, so I figured heck, why not maintain it. And I was actually enjoying myself. Unlike the marathon, I felt like I was really racing, and compared to running 5ks it was quite relaxing. Oh and Rick, I hope you're pleased to know that I was clad in the New Balance shorts and shirt you sent. Whilst approaching the St. George's Island bridge --- the only "elevation" whatsoever to contend with on this "pancake flat" course --- I started pacing alongside a lumbering ogre of a runner. This fellow, standing nearly seven feet tall, could be heard from many yards away by the pavement-pounding thuds of his leaden feet. It was as though I were racing the Juggernaut! He was remarkably fast for his unwieldy gait, however, and he'd gotten away from me before the bridge. Meanwhile, I'd been perceiving Perry chatting with his running colleague just a few steps behind me all along, but he was obviously holding back. As for me, the sub-7:00/mi stopped being relaxing around mile four, and there I began fighting to keep things under 7:20/mi. Still, I hit the 5-mile midpoint of the race in 35:05, which was a whole minute ahead of schedule. Shortly thereafter I made the end-of-the-island U-turn --- and beheld Perry hot on my trail! He really had been reserving his energy. He hustled up to me, announced his desire to speed up, and then shot forward at a pace that must've been sub-6:30/mi. Within moments he was about 100 yards ahead! I was still pleased, though, with my 10k split that was just under 43:45. Now, I had a very specific goal for this race: break 1:12:47. I'm not sure why I was so determined to beat that particular time; I suppose I just wanted the reassurance that I'm still capable of defeating someone who recently might have run that exact time. Hah, Adubb, it was really as though you were there running with me in spirit --- for the challenge of conquering your worthy time was my main motivation. If you hadn't run that race a couple weeks ago, I probably would've been content with a 1:15:00 performance. Thanks for upping the ante! As such, I hit mile 7.5 in a little over 52:00, meaning that I could run the remaining 2.5 miles at a leisurely 8:00/mi pace and still match Aaron's record. So a new, terrifyingly ambitious goal occurred to me: break 1:10:00! I really thought I had a shot at it, but alas I was facing a bankruptcy of energy by the time I hit mile nine (somewhere around 1:03:45, I imagine ... yes, I was scoring PRs left and right for every distance over 10k). Approaching one of the final turns of the course, back on Lighthouse Rd, I was most disheartened to see Vic running towards me --- well into his post-race cool down! By my reckoning, he was probably one of 10 people who'd already finished. Anyways, I found a bit of a kick in the final 200, passing a hairy brute (who I'd been gradually catching up to for the past eight miles). Then I finally brought it home in 1:10:16 --- a DR-PR (which wasn't hard since it was my first 10-miler) that indicates an overall average pace between 7:01 and 7:02/mi. And yes, this was the first race in which Perry was already there waiting by the finish, ready to cheer me in (he had over two minutes on me!). Of course I wish I could've gone 17 seconds faster and thereby scored a sub-7:00/mi overall average pace, but I think it's safe to say that I ran to the best of my ability today. I think 1:10:16 is a rather excellent time considering that I've been averaging only about 25 miles a week and haven't had a long run longer than 14 miles since the marathon last Mach. I don't think I've ever felt such shocking pain upon completing a race --- not even after the marathon. It was as though a sharp metal vice was crushing my rib cage from either side, and after staggering away from the finish chute I, rasping for air, all but collapsed against a nearby chain link fence. The agony was only temporary, thankfully, and I soon found myself loading up on buffalo wings from the hot food tent. Eventually, after a long wait that I didn't mind at all on such a pleasant autumn day, came the awards presentation. Rick, how many miles is it from Towson to Piney Point? Because the person who drove the farthest to reach the race got a "get home for free" gas money donation --- and the winner was a man who'd covered no more than 140 miles. As for me, I was --- for the THIRD race in a row -- the second place finisher in the men's 20-29 division. They gave me a very ornate plaque! Perry also placed in his age group --- but he wasn't there to accept it since he was out on a five-mile cool down (hopefully the club will make sure you get it). And no surprise, "the Kenyans" were the overall male and female finishers, running stunning times of 54:## and 56:##, respectively. Alright No Show Joe, what do you have to say for yourself? Actually, I saw something in Emily's Facebook status update indicating that a couple people had died, so perhaps you had a funeral to attend ... ? If that's the case, we certainly can't subject you to any fault for missing the race.

Nice job to you both, congrats on the solid performances.

I almost forgot - one thing that made this the best of days for me was to spend time with an old, old friend after the race. As I left the turnstiles after the finish, I ran across Mary Yates stretching! Yep, my kindergarten buddy. She ran the 1/2 marathon, said it was her second year doing this one and that time was 2:04. I called and talked to her parents, they were driving up for the afternoon. All seems well. Not to be picky about this, but I had lots of free time today and looked up lots of people. Cuz i'm nosy like that. Her time was not 2:04, will leave it at that.