In 2014, I ran the entire
series, although it didn’t include a Vermont race at that time. This year, I’m just doing three of the six
races. When you’re racing in different
states each day, the travel is just as challenging as the running. I’m not a big fan of having to check out of
my hotel and drive for a few hours on the same day that I’m running a
marathon. For that reason, I’m only
running every other day this time.
To get a reasonable rate
on a rental car, you need to pick it up and drop it off in the same place. With that in mind, I picked an airport that
was centrally located for my trip. My
first race was in Portland, and my last race is in Hartford, so I flew to
Boston and drove from there.
My flight got in right just
before noon on Sunday. After picking up
my rental car, I made a lunch stop in Revere before continuing to Portland. The drive took about two hours, so I arrived
in Portland in the mid-afternoon.
The last time I was in
Portland, I didn’t have time to do any sightseeing. This time, I had much more free time. The place I was most interested in visiting
was the Portland Head Light. This
lighthouse was originally completed in 1791, and underwent significant
renovations during the Civil War. It was
decommissioned in 1989 after being operational for more than 200 years. Since then, it has been converted to a
museum.
There were sunny skies
over most of Portland, so I was disappointed when I got to Cape Elizabeth and
found it to be socked in with fog. I
could see the lighthouse, but I couldn’t take any good pictures. I took the pictures below on Tuesday, when the skies were clear.
Last winter, Deb and I
binge-watched a TV series called Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. The last few seasons of this series featured
a setting commonly referred to as “The Lighthouse.” The fictitious lighthouse in the TV series
was said to be somewhere on the shores of Lake Ontario. In fact, the actual lighthouse used for
exterior shots was the Portland Head Light.
After getting back to the
hotel, I organized my clothes for the race and then walked to dinner. When I booked my hotel, I didn’t know if it
was close to any good restaurants. As it
turns out, I found a good pizzeria just half a mile away, and there was a
brewery in the same building.
When I was in Fort
Lauderdale for the National Senior Games, I needed to be up at 4:30 three days
in a row, so I got used to an early-to-bed, early to rise schedule. I’m doing the same thing this week. I went to bed right after dinner, and I was
able to get to sleep right away. On race
morning, I woke up before my alarm.
As is often the case, I was staying at a hotel that has a complimentary breakfast, but I had to leave before they started their breakfast service. When I woke up, I made some tea and ate a few shortbread cookies.
The race started at 6:00
AM, but I needed to get there early to pick up my race packet. For the other races in this series, I’ll wear
the same race bib, so this was the only time I needed to get there early.
The temperature was in
the low 50s. When the temperature is
below 50, I wear tights. Today, it
seemed like it was warm enough that I should be comfortable in shorts. While I was waiting for the race to start, I
occasionally felt a few drops. I didn’t
know if it would rain during the race, so I started the race wearing a light
jacket. I also wore gloves.
The course was a 3.55
mile loop around Back Cove. We ran this
loop seven times, plus an out-and-back at the beginning, to make the distance
come out right. The course is certified,
and the race is chip-timed. You can qualify
for Boston here, but I wasn’t that ambitious.
I just wanted to run the race at a comfortable pace and keep some gas in
the tank for Wednesday.
I started running at a
pace that felt nice and relaxed. I didn’t
have any time goal. Instead, I ran by
feel. At any given time, I ran at the
pace that felt most comfortable. That’s
what I generally do for training runs, but I rarely do that in a race.
There was one well-stocked
aid station in the start/finish area.
When I finished the out-and-back, I wasn’t that thirsty. I knew it would be about half an hour before
I came back to the aid station again, so I drank a small amount of water. After that, I always drank a substantial
amount of Gatorade.
By the time I started my
first full lap, my hands were getting warm.
I took off my gloves and put them in my fanny pack. I kept my jacket on a little longer.
We were running on Back
Cove Trail, which is firmly packed dirt.
While technically a trail, I found it to be a good running surface.
At one end of the cove, we
ran across a bridge. This was the only
part of the course that was paved.
The course was mostly
flat. The only hill was coming up to the
highway before turning to cross the bridge.
After about three miles,
I started to feel sweaty underneath my jacket.
It was time to take it off and tie it around my waist.
By the middle of my
second lap, I started to notice that my hands were getting cold, but only on
one side of the cove. There was a breeze
blowing in off the coast. I got coldest
where I felt that breeze the most. I
also sometimes felt a few small drops. At first, it seemed like drizzle, but I don’t
think it ever rained during the race. It
seemed like there was a fine mist in the air, where the wind was blowing across
the cove.
By my third lap, I also
noticed my legs were getting cold. In
the first half of the race, my hands and legs only felt cold on one side of the
cove. By the second half of the race, I
was feeling cold all the way around the cove.
In addition to water and
Gatorade, the aid station had a variety of food. I don’t usually eat solid food during a marathon,
but I paused after my fourth lap to eat a PBJ.
I wanted to make sure I was taking in enough calories to stay warm.
Before starting my next
lap, I slowed to a walk, so I could put my gloves on again. Even though my hands were cold, they were
also sweaty. I had trouble getting my
gloves on. I probably walked for at least
a minute while I put on my gloves.
During that time, my legs got even colder. With gloves on, my hands quickly got more
comfortable. It didn’t help my legs,
however.
I wasn’t trying to stay
on any particular pace, but I still noticed when my watch recorded a
split. Early in the race, my mile times tended
to be between 9:30 and 9:45. By the
middle of the race, I was consistently running miles that were slower than 10
minutes. That trend continued. By the end of the race, my pace slowed to
roughly 11 minutes per mile.
As my legs got cold, some
of the muscles in my legs felt tight. I’m
sure it was affecting my running efficiency.
It seemed like my strides were getting shorter. I probably could’ve compensated by putting more
energy into my stride, but I didn’t want to do that. I wanted to run the whole race at a pace that
felt relaxed. I was also afraid I might
pull a muscle if I tried to pick up the pace when my muscles were so tight.
I felt like my cadence
never changed much. As a result, any
decrease in stride length led to a slower pace.
I could’ve worked to increase my cadence, but I really didn’t want to
put too much energy into this race. I
just accepted that this was going to be a slow race.
When I finished my fifth
lap, I ate another PBJ. I had a little
over seven miles to go, but all I could tell myself is I had two laps to go. That’s how it is when you’re running multiple
laps. You measure the remaining distance
in laps, rather than in miles. You could
know exactly how many miles are left, but that somehow feels abstract.
After my sixth lap, I ate
an egg roll. The egg rolls were warm,
but not too hot to eat. That really hit
the spot, although washing it down with Gatorade sort of ruined the flavor.
With only one lap to go, the
remaining distance seemed much more manageable, but I was running so slowing
that it still seemed to take a long time.
I finished the race in
4:34:20. I never expected to be that
slow in a race where I was basically running the whole way. I slowed to
a walk a few times, to put on gloves or to take off my jacket. I also took a few pictures. Other than that, I was always running.
The finisher medal was in
the shape of the state of Maine.
Ordinarily, I would’ve left
right away, so I could get back to the hotel and warm up. I decided to hang around at the finish when I
found out they were making a pot of chicken fagioli soup at the aid station.
While I was waiting for
the soup to cook, I went to my car to get a pair of wind pants to keep my legs
warm. It was only after pulling them on
over my shoes that I realized how dusty my shoes were. I got a lot of dust inside the lining of my
wind pants.
I ended up talking to
other runners for more than an hour before finally driving back to the
hotel. I was looking forward to warming
up in the hotel’s hot tub. It wasn’t
until I got there that I found out the hut tub was out of order. I had to settle for taking a hot bath in my
room. At least I had a tub. That’s something I usually make sure of when
I’m booking a hotel for a race.
When I retrieved the data
from my watch, I looked to see if my cadence changed during the race. From the first graph below, you can see it remained
fairly consistent. There are a few
outlying points, but those were times I slowed to a walk briefly or stopped to
take a picture. From the second graph,
you can see the way my pace changed throughout the race. The deterioration of my pace was due entirely
to a gradual shortening of my stride as my legs got cold.
I’ll be curious to see
how my next race goes. Hopefully this one
was a fluke. If the weather is similar,
I’ll probably opt for tights instead of shorts.
I’m also a little worried about my left hamstring. Later in the day, it still felt tight.
Most of the other runners
had to leave right after the race to drive to New Hampshire for tomorrow’s
race. I’m skipping that one. I’ll be spending one more night in Portland
before driving to Rhode Island for Wednesday’s race. That means I can sleep in tomorrow and enjoy the
hotel breakfast.
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