Notes
Fil put it best: 3 weekends, 3 marathons - 2:50; 3:03; 2:58. The final act in this three part comedy concluded at the Monster Mash Marathon in quaint Dover, Delaware. This is a fantastically awesome 2nd year race that will attract thousands in the coming years. Great people, awesome venue (Dover International Speedway - the first mile is on the race track!!) on probably the flattest marathon course in the history of marathoning. The only "hill" is at mile 26.2 when you cross the timing mat. I'm not joking. I found this race post Hartford when I needed something to give me a shot at winning GLRR's Athlete of the Week. This marathon road trip was arguably the zaniest of the three that I've taken so far. For some unknown reason my brother wanted to go with me. Fact: we haven't been on a road trip, or really hung out together, since high school (15+ years ago). He's also never seen me race. Ever. This was going to be special. We started the 6 hr drive at 5:30PM on Friday, and we were in Dover by midnight and gambling in the local casino by 12:30AM. We had absolutely no lodging plans. We were going to do this old school (i.e. on the cheap). After leaving the casino a little after 12:34AM, and a fistful of dollars lighter, we made the short drive to the marathon start line and fell asleep...in the car. I woke up a few hours later, got dressed, took a dump, had a muffin, and toed the line. We started with the half-marathoners, and the marathon standings were pretty much set right from the get go. I ran much of the race in 4th-5th (got passed at mile 19). I suffered a calf-crap at mile 7 that never loosened up. I thought my day was done, but I just blocked it all out for the remaining 19 miles. It was really peaceful and serene to be out in the Delaware countryside as the sun was coming up. It got a little warm, but nothing drastic. Plenty of water stops, and oddly, every water stop had GU. Overkill. I ended up taking 4 GU's just to keep my head in the race. My only moment of despair was around mile 16 when I had to take a really bad shit. Fortunately, there was a port-a-john at mile 17. I felt much, much better (and lighter) after unloading. This run was very similar to the "Mile 14" Sugarloaf when I also ran 2:58. I had to dig deep for the final 10K to ge tunder 3 hours, but told myself that I had 44 minutes to do it. No sweat. I managed to finish strong (6:30 last mile) to cross the line in 5th overall and with less than 2 minutes to spare. In the process knocking off Delaware from the sub-3 hour/50 states list. Winning time at this race last year was 3:14. I think the top 20 people were all under 3:14. Had a blast spending time with my brother/cameraman. We're thinking Texas next weekend....