On October 20, I ran the Atlantic City Marathon. I needed a New Jersey Marathon for my fifth circuit of marathons in every state. This was the only one I could fit into my schedule. It wasn’t an ideal fit, as it meant running marathons on five consecutive weekends. After pushing to my limit in my previous four races, I wasn’t sure how fast I would run this one.
Friday night, I went to
bed feeling fine. I woke up during the
night with discomfort on the left side of my lower back. I was able to get back to sleep, but in the
morning, I found that I sometimes had sudden pains on that side just standing
still.
I didn’t have time to do
much about it. I had an early flight, so
I had to get ready quickly, so I could get to the airport.
My back didn’t bother me
during the flight, but I started to notice it after getting off the plane. It got worse while I was standing in line
waiting for my rental car.
I flew to Philadelphia
Saturday morning and drove from there. I
rented my car from Dollar. I did their
online check-in, which was supposed to allow me to skip the counter and go
straight to my car. After answering all
the questions, I got a screen telling me they were sold out of economy cars.
I went inside to the
counter, and I saw about 20 people already in line. They all did the online check-in too, but
they were waiting for cars to become available.
I was there for about an hour before I finally got my car. There’s no excuse for that. The whole purpose of a reservation system is
to manage inventory. I’d rather be told
they don’t have enough cars when I’m trying to make a reservation. I’ve had good experiences with Dollar at
other airports, but this is the last time I’ll ever rent from them in
Philadelphia.
The headquarters hotel
for the race was Bally’s Atlantic City Resort & Casino, but I stayed at The
Claridge Hotel, which is in the adjacent block.
The Claridge is connected to Bally’s by a skyway, so staying there was
just as convenient as staying at Bally’s.
The drive to Atlantic City
took about an hour. I was originally
planning to do some sightseeing, but I went straight to the hotel instead. That’s when I thought my luck might be improving. The advertised check-in time was 4:00, but I
was able to get into a room as soon as I arrived. That gave me time to do a workout before
going over to Bally’s to pick up my race packet. I noticed my back while doing my exercises,
but no more than when I was just standing or walking.
After my workout, I
turned on my GPS watch, just to make sure it was charged. It’s a good thing I did. It was completely dead. I tried to charge it, but it didn’t seem to
be taking a charge. For the race, I
needed to use my Timex. I normally use
that watch just to know the time of day, but it also has a stopwatch. For the second straight week, I was going
“old school.” If I wanted to know my
pace, I would just read my time at each mile marker. Alternatively, I could run with a pace group.
When I was growing up, my
friends and I used to play Monopoly. The
names of the properties in that game are based on the streets and railroads of
Atlantic city in the 1930s. Most of
those streets can still be found in Atlantic City today. I was initially planning to drive around and
find them all. I decided to settle for
just taking pictures of Boardwalk and Park Place. That was easy. My hotel was next to Park Place, and about a
block from the boardwalk.
Packet pickup was at
Bally’s. I didn’t see any signage in the
lobby, so I asked the bellman. Once I
got up to the right floor, I saw signage leading the rest of the way. As it turns out, there were signs in the
lobby. I just came form the wrong
direction to see them.
Bringing my race packet
back to my room took longer than it should have. The Claridge has 23 floors. There are five elevators, but two of them
were out of service. There were several
large groups staying at the hotel, including two wedding parties, so there were
always dozens of people waiting for elevators.
I had to wait more than 20 minutes before I could get an elevator. If I was on a low floor, I would’ve taken the
stairs, but my room was on the 17th floor.
I had some time before
dinner, so I went to Tennessee Avenue Beer Hall to have a pre-dinner beer
flight, since they have 40 different beers on tap. I ended up staying there for dinner.
Before going to bed, I
took some Tylenol. That allowed me to
sleep comfortably for about half the night.
By 2:00 AM, however, the Tylenol wore off. After that, the pain came back. I felt it when I got up to go to the
bathroom. I also felt it when I rolled
over in bed. Most likely, I strained a
muscle in my lower back.
After 3:30, I couldn’t
get back to sleep. I rested in bed for the
next two hours. Then, I finally got up
and started getting ready for the race.
When I ran this race two
years ago, it was rainy, and we had a strong headwind in the second half of the
race. This year, the weather was much
nicer. It was a sunny day, and there
wasn’t much wind.
When I got up, the
temperature was 42 degrees. I was expecting
it to be warmer than that. I took a look
at the hourly forecast and saw that it wasn’t as warm as the last forecast I
saw on Saturday. I was planning to wear
shorts, but I made a last-minute decision to wear tights instead.
When I was ready to go, I
decided to take the stairs, rather than risk an unpredictable wait for an
elevator. I only had to go down to the 2nd
floor. From there, I could take the
skyway over to Bally’s.
The race organizers
provided a gear check, but I didn’t need to use it. The starting line was right outside of
Bally’s, so I could wait until 15 minutes before the race before going outside.
When I went out onto the
boardwalk, I was more comfortable than I thought I would be. For the second straight week, I misjudged the
weather. I would have been OK in
shorts. Now I had to wonder if I would
get too hot in the tights.
The race started on the
boardwalk, but we only ran for about three blocks before turning onto Martin
Luther King Boulevard. I was hoping to
run with the 3:50 pace group, but I had to go at my own pace until we got off
the boardwalk. On the boardwalk, I had
to pay close attention to my footing.
The leader of the 3:50
pace group warned us that he would probably start a little fast. As we turned to leave the boardwalk, we ran
down a short ramp before getting onto the street. He and the rest of the group
accelerated. I waited until I was off
the wooden ramp before trying to catch up to them. Then I had to work hard to catch up.
As we got onto the
pavement, I started to pay attention to how my lower back felt. Running wasn’t causing any additional
discomfort. If anything, it was
helping. As I got warmed up, my back
seemed to feel better.
The first mile was about
15 seconds faster than our target pace.
That wasn’t a surprise. It’s what
our pace leader told us to expect.
Over the next several
miles, we looped through the Venice Park neighborhood. We ran over a few bridges and through a
tunnel. Those were the only real hills
in the race. The rest of the course was
pretty flat.
At one point, another
runner noticed my Comrades Marathon shirt and asked me about it. As I was talking to him, I missed an aid station. I was overdressed for the conditions, so it
was inevitable that I would get hot later in the race. I couldn’t afford to skip any other aid stations.
I realized I was getting
to far ahead of the group when I found myself right behind the 3:45 group. Then I had to slow down.
I fell back to the 3:50
group, but after a few more miles, I found the pace to be tiring. I wasn’t sure if I could keep up that pace
for the whole race, but I wanted to stay with the group until we reached the
boardwalk. After that, I might have to
slow down.
In the middle of the
eighth mile, we reached the beginning of the boardwalk. At first, we were on a section that runs from
north to south. Then we turned a
corner. The rest of the boardwalk ran
from east to west.
I’ve run on some boardwalks
that were springy. This one was fairly
firm, which helped. The boards were at
an angle to the direction we were running, which minimized the risk of tripping
on the gaps between boards. What made
the boardwalk somewhat hazardous were the screws holding the boards in
place. Most of them were flush with the
wood, but sometimes a whole row of screws would be stick up about an eighth of
an inch.
The lines of screws weren’t
uniform. Sometimes they would be as much
as two feet apart. More often, they
would be only about a foot apart, which made it difficult to run between
them. I had to focus all my attention on
watching where the screws were, so I wouldn’t catch a shoe on one.
Shortly after we got onto
the boardwalk, I saw a section on the right that seemed safer. I was able to pick up my pace there, and I
got a little ahead of the group. After
that, I managed to stay ahead of the group for the entire length of the
boardwalk. I knew they were right behind
me, because I could hear them.
The boardwalk was five
miles long, and maintaining my focus for that long was mentally draining. After one mile, I was already getting
tired. It was also more tiring
physically. I altered my stride so I
could pick up my feet more than I usually do.
I tried to pretend I was running on a trail. That was something our pace leader suggested
before the race.
About halfway down the
boardwalk, I got far enough ahead of the group that I could no longer hear them
talking. I rarely took my eyes off the
boards, but at one point I glanced ahead and saw that I was getting close to
the 3:45 group.
By the end of the
boardwalk, I could hear the 3:50 group talking again. As I was about to turn to leave the
boardwalk, I heard the pace leader say, “right turn ahead.”
We ran inland for one
block and then turned onto Atlantic Avenue.
We would follow Atlantic Avenue west for three more miles before turning
around.
As I turned onto Atlantic
Avenue, the group caught up to me again.
I was pleased to have made it through the longest section on the
boardwalk without falling behind. I paid
a price, though. That section was really
tiring. I still had to work hard to keep
up with the group.
At the halfway point, we
were about a minute ahead of schedule. We
would eventually have to come back to the boardwalk again. We would be on it for the last three miles of
the race. I wanted to have a little bit
of a cushion when we got there, so I would have the option of slowing down in
those last three miles.
At about 16 miles, we
reached The Point. This was the westernmost
point on the course. We made a small
loop and then doubled back on Atlantic Avenue.
I didn’t realize it at
the time, but we had a slight headwind before the turn. After the turn, it was a light tailwind. Now that I no longer felt the wind, I started
getting hot.
We ran east along
Atlantic Avenue for about a mile and then turned to begin a loop through a
neighborhood in Margate City. In miles
17 and 18, I was finding it increasingly difficult to keep up with the group,
which had gradually thinned out to just three runners. The other guy who was still keeping up with
the pacer said that his watch was showing a current pace of 8:10. Our pace leader acknowledged that we had sped
up, and he slowed us down again. After
that, it was much easier to keep up.
I took more of an
initiative in leading the conversation.
As I did, I may have inadvertently sped up. Soon, our pace leader said we were speeding
up again, and we needed to slow down.
The loop through Margrate
City was about four miles. When we got
back onto Atlantic Avenue, we had less than five miles to go. I was hot, but I was hanging on.
We retraced our route back
to the boardwalk. Then we had just over
three miles to go. I didn’t know if I
would need to slow down on this section, so I asked our pace leader how much of
a cushion we had. He said we were about
30 seconds ahead of schedule. Over the
last three miles, I could afford to slow down by about 10 seconds per mile, if
necessary.
I had to stop paying
attention to the guys I was running with and focus 100 percent of my attention
on watching my footing. I felt like I
was slowing down, but I was staying ahead of the others.
The only things that
might trip me up were those screws. When
we were on the boardwalk earlier, I was watching them constantly, but on three
separate occasions I felt one of my shoes momentarily catching on one. This time, I saw a few screws that stuck out
by more than a quarter inch.
At times, I caught myself
starting to take a longer stride. When I
did, I immediately switched back to a short stride, so I could pick my feet
up. I was getting fatigued, but I couldn’t
afford to get careless.
Even though I felt like I
was slowing down, I was actually getting farther ahead of the pace group. As I started leaving them behind, there was
only one other guy who was still with the pace leader.
I didn’t know my current
pace, but I assumed I was OK as long as I stayed ahead of them. Then I started to wonder what would happen if
the other guy couldn’t keep up with the pacer.
What would the pacer do? Would he
maintain a consistent pace, even though nobody was still with him. Would he stay with the guy who was slowing
down to help him finish?
That last thought made me
realize I needed to pay attention to my own pace. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the “24”
banner, so I glanced at my watch. My
time at 24 was 3:29:xx. I didn’t look at
my watch long enough to see how many seconds.
I was too afraid to take my eyes off the boardwalk for more than a split
second.
I had at least 20 minutes
to run the last 2.2 miles. Even if I
slowed down to nine minutes per mile, that would be fast enough.
I maintained my same
effort for another mile. I encountered a
few spots where the boards were a little bouncy, but I stayed on pace.
At 25 miles, I made a
point of noticing my exact time. It was
3:38:25. I was easily still on pace to
break 3:50.
Just then, I reached a
section of the boardwalk where the boards were all in good condition and none
of the screws were sticking up. That gave
me the confidence to speed up. I ran
faster all the way to the finish.
While the boardwalk was
mostly wood, there were spots where it crossed a sidewalk leading to a
pier. Then there would be five to ten
feet of concrete. I used those brief concrete
sections as opportunities to look ahead.
Ahead of me, I could see one of the Bally’s towers.
When I was running on the
boards, I didn’t dare look ahead, even briefly.
At 26 miles, I knew the finish line was just ahead of me, but I couldn’t
look for it yet. I had to get much
closer.
When I could actually see
the finish line, I accelerated. Before crossing
the line, I had to remind myself that I was wearing a different watch. I had to think about where the Stop button
was. I finished in 3:49:07. It was my fourth consecutive Boston
qualifier. After getting my medal, I waited for the others. They both came in under 3:50.
The finisher medal has a cool design. The anchor swings from side to side.
As I left the finisher chute, I started looking for two things: the beer tent and a results tent. I found the beer tent, but I didn’t see any place where I could look up my result. The fact that I didn’t have any Garmin data made me somewhat paranoid until I saw my official result.
While I was drinking my
beer, I was spotted by two other Marathon Maniacs, and we took an impromptu post-race
picture. When I asked one of them if he
had seen a results tent, he offered to look up my result on his phone. When he entered my bib number, it showed my
name, but no time. That certainly wasn’t
reassuring.
I walked back to the timing
tent that was next to the finish line.
When I told them my result wasn’t showing up online, they said nobody’s
result was online yet. Then the finish
line announcer made an announcement to that effect.
I went back to the hotel,
where I had left my phone. I had several
text messages with my times at the various chip mats. One had my time at the finish line. Now I felt reassured.
I had been too
preoccupied to think about my back, but I suddenly realized I had not noticed
any discomfort since the first mile of the race. I’ll have to wait and see if it bothers me
later. Pain has a way of melting away
when you’re exerting yourself. That
doesn’t mean the pain is gone. I was
probably just suppressing it. Still, it’s
helpful to know that running didn’t make it worse.
I never bothered to look
for post-race food before leaving the finish area. I usually don’t eat a real meal until later
in the day, but I was starving. After taking
a long hot shower and getting into clean clothes, I went over to Bally’s to
have lunch in one of their restaurants.
I also rehydrated with a glass of water and two glasses of orange juice.
I just need one more
state to finish my fifth circuit of marathons or ultras in every state. I’ll finish next month in Oklahoma at the
Route 66 Marathon.
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