Race Report: Andorra la Vella Marathon

I belong to two running clubs that are all about running marathons in different countries.  One is Marathon Globetrotters.  The other is the Country Marathon Club.  Sometimes, a member of one of these clubs will organize a marathon in a country that doesn’t have one.  That was the case with the Andorra la Vella Marathon.

In July, I learned that several runners were planning to run marathons in Andorra, Gibraltar, San Marino, and Monaco, all within an 8-day span in November.  The first three races were small races organized by club members.  The race in Monaco was an existing race.

I chose to just do the race in Andorra.  I passed on the race in Gibraltar, because the other people running this race were planning to stay in Spain and just make a day trip into Gibraltar.  Likewise, I skipped the race in San Marino, because they were planning to stay in Italy and just make a day trip into San Marino.  I would’ve been interested in running marathons in these counties, but only if I was going to stay overnight and have a chance to do some sightseeing there.

I passed on the race in Monaco, because it was an 8-day race.  The other runners were planning to arrive on the second day and run just long enough to finish 26.2 miles.  If I was going to do a multi-day race, I would want to run as far as I could.

Andorra is a small country in the Pyrenees, between Spain and France.  The race was in Andorra la Vella, which is the capital of Andorra.

Friday, November 8

I arrived in Spain on Friday, after an overnight flight to Amsterdam, a 3-hour layover, and a connecting flight into Barcelona.  I wasn’t going to meet up with the other runners until Saturday, so I had an afternoon and evening on my own in Barcelona.

Hotels near the popular tourist destinations were expensive, so I stayed at a hotel that was closer to the airport.  I’ve been to Barcelona before, so I didn’t need to do all the sightseeing again.

After getting settled in at my hotel, I went for a run.  My hotel was about two miles from the Magic Fountain of Montjuic.  The fountain is currently shut down because of draught conditions, but it was a familiar landmark.  I started by running to the fountain.  From there, I gradually worked my way up Montjuic until I reached the Olympic Stadium, which is at the top of the hill.  I took a different route down.  I had to detour around some construction, but I eventually found my way back to the hotel.

There weren’t many restaurants near my hotel, so I spent the evening in the city center, where there are lots of dinner options.

I had been awake since the previous morning, so I had no trouble getting to sleep.

Saturday, November 9

I didn’t need to be up early, but I set an alarm, so I could force myself to get used to the local time zone.  That gave me time to do a workout at the hotel before leaving for Andorra.

The original plan was to meet at the airport and carpool to Andorra, but that turned out to be complicated.  It’s a three-hour drive through the mountains, and we would be required to have snow tires and chains.  Also, everything in Andorra la Vella was close enough that we wouldn’t need a car while we were there.

There are two different companies with express buses from Barcelona to Andorra la Vella, so most of us took a bus.  I caught the bus at a bus station outside Barcelona’s central train station.

The bus ride took about three hours.  There wasn’t a bathroom on the bus, so I was really glad I used the bathroom at the bus station before boarding the bus.  We drove through a little bit of rain, but it wasn’t raining when we arrived in Andorra.

From the bus station in Andorra la Vella, I was able to walk to my hotel.  I stayed at the same hotel where packet pickup was held.  It was about a block away from the small city park where the race started.

After checking in, I attended a pre-race briefing and picked up my race number.  Then several us walked out to where the race would start in the morning,

I spent the rest of the afternoon sightseeing.  Andorra la Vella is in a valley.  From different places in the city, you can get views of the surrounding mountains.

One of the attractions is Casa de la Vall.  This historic manor, built in the 16th century, was formerly the headquarters of the Consell General, which is the oldest parliament in Europe.

Another attraction is the Church of Saint Esteve.  This church dates back to the 12th century.

A river runs through the city, and there are a number of interesting bridges.

There are also several interesting sculptures around town.

For dinner, I went to an Italian restaurant near my hotel.  For the record, I’ve now had pizza in 51 countries.

Sunday, November 10

Sunday was race day.  The race was originally scheduled at start at 9:00, but there was an early start at 7:30 for runner who needed extra time.  When I found out everyone else was taking the 7:30 start, I decided to also start at 7:30.  We met in the lobby at 7:10 and walked to the start together.

The temperature was about 40 degrees at the start and climbed into the upper 40s during the race.  I was expecting to go at a slow pace, so I dressed warmer than I normally would.

The course was a loop that we ran five times.  We started at Parc Central.  From there, we ran on a bike path alongside the river for about 2.6 miles before coming back on the other side of the river.

In general, we were always on the left side of the river, but there were a few exceptions.  Sometimes, we had to cross a street, and there was only a crosswalk on one side of the river.  In those spots, we would cross the river, cross the street at the crosswalk, and then cross the river again on the other side of the street.

This was a small race, with only 31 runners.  There weren’t any aid stations, so I needed to carry a bottle with me.  There was a drinking fountain in the start/finish area, where I could refill my bottle after each lap.  I brought a few packets of Gatorade powder, so I could mix it each time I refilled my bottle.

When Raoul, our race director, measured the course on Saturday, he found it to be a little short.  To make up the distance, we needed to do two laps of a much shorter loop.  Raoul called these “penalty laps.”  We ran our “penalty laps” first, which gave Raoul time to begin marking the turns on the main loop.

By the time we finished our first “penalty lap,” it was clear that there were four runners who were starting much faster than everyone else.  I started out at an easy pace.  I quickly found myself trailing the four leaders, but I was ahead of everyone else.

Some of the runners had walked the entire loop on Saturday, so they were familiar with all the turns, and in particular, they knew were to turn around.  I wanted to follow somebody who knew the course, and it quickly appeared that the only way I could do that was to stay within sight of the four leaders.

I accelerated enough to keep from falling too far behind.  I ran the first mile in 9:05.  That’s faster than I was planning to run, but it wouldn’t break me to run at that pace for a few miles.

The second mile was faster.  I ran that one in 8:12, but I was still barely keeping pace with the leaders.  That pace felt a little tiring, but not as tiring as I would have expected.  I didn’t realize it yet, but as soon as we started our first full lap, we were going downhill.

In the first half of each lap, we were following the river downstream.  The river descended fairly rapidly.  There were rapids almost everywhere.  That made the fast pace seem deceptively easy.

Before the turnaround, we crossed Pont de Madrid, which is an easy landmark to recognize.  We were still on the same bike path, but now we were on the opposite side of the river.

Next, we ran by this gas station.  I knew the turnaround was somewhere near the gas station, but I didn’t know exactly where.  It was the first place after the gas station where there was a road going to the right.

By the time we reached the turn, I was catching up to the four leaders.  Then we made a big 180 degree turn that led us onto a street that gradually brought as back toward the river.  We ran on a sidewalk until we got back to the river.

Immediately after the turn, we started climbing.  Going uphill, I could no longer keep up with the leaders.  I dropped farther and farther behind, but I worked to at least keep them in sight.

As the road came back to the river, we got onto a bike path again.  Later, as we ran by a large athletic complex, the paved bike path was replaced by a rubberized surface resembling a track.  I enjoyed running this section, but I was still falling farther behind the leaders.

In our pre-race briefing, Raoul had told us that there was a place where the path would end, and we would have to cross the river.  I knew we were getting close to it, when I got a glimpse of two of the leaders on the other side of the river.  I wanted to keep at least one of them in sight long enough to see where we crossed the river again to get back on the left side.

I saw one runner making that turn.  By the time I got there, I had lost sight of everyone ahead of me, but I recognized where I was.  I was about to run past the bus station.  I knew the way from there, because I had walked from the bus station to my hotel on Saturday.

By now, another runner had caught up to me.  His name was Ricky, and he was from Denmark.  I ran with Ricky for the rest of the lap.

Lap one was tiring.  In lap two, I slowed down, but only a little.  I was talking to Ricky, and I wanted to keep up with him.  We ran together for all of the second lap.  It wasn’t as fast as my first lap, but it was still tiring.

Halfway through the second lap, as we turned around and got onto the sidewalk, there were several metal posts that we had to avoid.  I got distracted by our conversation and ran into one of them with my right shoulder.  I hit the post so hard that my shoulder hurt for the rest of the race.  It’s good that I didn’t hit my head.

We continued running together for the rest of that lap.  At the end of each lap, we each ran into the park to refill our bottles.  There were bathrooms in the park, so I stopped briefly to pee.  As I was leaving, Ricky told me he was also going to use the bathroom too.  I went ahead and started my third lap, but at a slower pace.

I expected Ricky to catch up to me, but in the meantime, I had time to stop and take a picture.  By now, the morning sun was hitting the mountains ahead of us.  This is the type of view we had throughout the race, as we ran through the river valley.

Ricky caught up to me as I was putting my phone back in my fanny pack.  I ran with him briefly, but I could no longer keep up with him.  I gradually fell behind.

I no longer had any reason to keep running fast.  In the first lap, I was trying to keep the leaders in sight.  In the second lap, I wanted to have someone to run with, so I ran at Ricky’s pace.  Now, I realized I would probably be on my own for the rest of the race.  It was time to slow down.

We were mostly running on bike paths, but there weren’t many bikes.  In my third lap, I was passed by a few bikers, but I didn’t see any before that.

Now that I was going at a slower pace, I could afford to stop and take a few pictures.  All of my pictures of the course were taken in the third lap.  Here’s a picture of the river that I took in the second half of the lap, when I was following the river upstream.

To take pictures, I had to take my gloves off.  It was still too cold for that.  My hands were getting cold, so I had to put my gloves on as soon as I was done taking pictures.

It was during that lap that I reached the halfway mark.  I was on pace to break four hours, but only because I had started fast.  I expected the second half to be slow.

By the time I finished my third lap, I was feeling pressure in my intestines.  I needed to make another bathroom stop when I got back to the start/finish area.  This one was going to take longer, but I was no longer worried about losing time.  The rest of the race was going to be slow anyway.

I had to take my gloves off to use the bathroom.  After my bathroom stop, I didn’t feel any need to put them on again.  It had warmed up noticeably since my previous lap.

I felt a little sluggish as I started my fourth lap.  That didn’t last long.  I was back on the downhill side of the course.  That made it easier to gradually pick up the pace.

About a mile into that lap, I started to feel more pressure in my intestines.  I wasn’t done yet.  I was going to need to make another bathroom stop, and I couldn’t wait a whole lap.

Raoul had told us about some other bathrooms along the route, but I never noticed where they were.  I remembered the gas station just before the turnround.  I knew I could use a bathroom there, but it was still more than a mile away.  I had to hold it in, and running downhill didn’t make it any easier.

When I finally got there, I ran into the gas station and found the bathrooms.  I was in there for a long time, but I was confident I wouldn’t need to stop again.

By the time I left the gas station, my watch was reading just over three hours.  The last time I ran by this gas station, it was still less than two hours.  It had taken me more than an hour to run one lap.  That was discouraging.

As I made the turn and began the uphill half of the loop, I saw a few runners just ahead of me.  At this point in the race, I was sometimes passing slower runners who were a lap behind me.  I caught and passed a couple runners, but one runner was always about the same distance ahead of me.  I eventually realized that he must be on the same lap as me.  I never saw him ahead of me before, so he must have passed me while I was in the gas station.

The first half mile after the turnaround was the steepest.  I always struggled there.  I was working hard to try to catch up to the runner ahead of me.  That was the only reason I worked hard going up this hill.  Having someone to chase kept me motivated.

Now I was hot.  Earlier in the race, I needed the warm clothes I was wearing, but now I felt overdressed.  I would be hot for the rest of the race.

I followed the same runner for the rest of the lap, but I couldn’t catch up to him until he stopped in the start/finish area to get a new bottle.  I needed to stop to refill my own bottle and mix in more Gatorade powder.  By the time I started my last lap, he was well ahead of me again.

On the downhill side of the course, I was able to gain ground.  I caught up to him, and we ran together for a few minutes.  His name was Martin, and he was from France.  We were both on our last lap.

As we got to the steepest part of the descent, I started to pull away from Martin.  I wasn’t trying to get ahead of him, but I always pick up speed going downhill, and it was steepest in the last half mile before the gas station.

When I reached the uphill side of the course, I slowed down substantially.  It helped to know that I was running this for the last time, but it was still a tough uphill grind.

By the time I finished the steepest section, Martin had caught up to me again.  We ran together for the rest of the race.

I was just reading a split from my watch when Martin asked me what distance I had.  I told him I was at 24 miles.  His watch was reading in kilometers.  His was just over 38 kilometers.  As I thought about what was left, I was skeptical that we still had 2.2 miles to go.  I told him if my watch was reading low as we approached the finish, I was going to run an extra “penalty lap.”

We continued, and as we got within sight of the bridge we crossed at the end of each lap, I took another look at my watch.  It was obvious that my watch was going to measure less than a marathon.  Martin’s watch was also coming up short, so instead of crossing the bridge, we each began a “penalty lap.”

I thought for sure that would be enough, but as we ran into the park, my watch was still a little short.  I did a little extra running through the park until my watch read 26.22 miles.  Then I stopped.  I finished in 4:18:52.  Martin’s watch was also still reading short of a marathon.  He continued to run for a few more minutes after I finished.

My second half was more than 20 minutes slower than my first half.  Bathroom stops accounted for at least 10 minutes of that.

After finishing, I talked to a few other runners who were still in the finish area.  Everyone I talked to had the same experience.  Their watches were reading short, so they did extra “penalty laps” to make up the difference.

If this was a certified course, I would trust that the course was measured accurately, and I wouldn’t worry if my watch read low.  It doesn’t happen often, but it happens.  Under the circumstances, we all felt it was important to keep running until our watches had recorded a long enough distance.

How much of a difference was there between the first and second halves of the loop?  Here’s the elevation profile my watch recorded.

Ricky said his legs were already getting sore.  I didn’t have sore legs, but my shoulder still hurt.  When I got back to the hotel, I looked to see if there was a bruise.  I couldn’t see any bruising, but it hurt with any movement.

After I had time to get cleaned up and recover, I went walking with Ricky and Lone, who were both from Denmark.  We walked through a part of the city I had not seen yet.  Then we stopped at a bar for beers.

Later in the afternoon, there was an awards ceremony at the hotel, where everyone received their medal and finisher certificate.

I went to dinner with Ricky, Lone, Raoul, and Peter.  Raoul and Peter are both from Finland.  We wanted to eat right away, but most of the restaurants didn’t open until 7:30 or 8:00.  The restaurant I went to on Saturday opens at 6:30, so we went there.  Everyone seemed happy with that restaurant choice.

Monday, November 11

When I woke up on Monday, I still had some soreness in my shoulder, but it wasn’t as bad.  It no longer hurt to move my arm.  Other than my shoulder, I felt fine.

I had breakfast with the same runners I had dinner with the night before.  After breakfast, I had time to do a workout at the hotel before taking the bus back to Barcelona.  Several of the other runners were on the same bus.

Some of the other runners flew to southern Spain, so they could drive to Gibraltar the next morning.  I was planning to fly home, but first I had one more night in Barcelona.

I stayed at the same hotel in Barcelona, so I was already familiar with everything nearby.  After checking in, I went for a run.  I could’ve run the same route that I ran on Friday, but that would have been too strenuous for a recovery run.  I started with a few level miles.  Then I started up Montjuic, but I didn’t go all the way to the top.

After a quick shower, I went into town. I had a little time before sunset but not much.  I went to La Sagrada Familia.  I toured the basilica in 2017, but it was still under construction.  I wanted to see how it looked now.

I arrived as the sun was going down, so there wasn’t much light for pictures.

While I was there, I randomly bumped into Ricky and Lone.  We stayed to see the basilica at sunset.  Then we went to dinner together.

Tuesday, November 12

I woke up early on Tuesday.  While I was trying to get back to sleep, I heard my phone vibrate.  That surprised me, since I usually put my phone in airplane mode overnight.  I apparently forgot to do that.

I had a series of notifications from Delta Airlines about delays to my flight from Barcelona to New York.  It was originally scheduled to depart at 10:15 AM.  That was delayed to 12:30 PM.  Then it was delayed to 1:45.  Then it was delayed to 3:15.  That last delay meant I would arrive in New York too late to make my connection.

As soon as I was awake enough to be coherent, I called Delta.  They were able to rebook me on different flights.  Instead of connecting in New York, I connected in Atlanta.  That was good news, since it’s easier to make an international connection in Atlanta.  The flight times were similar to my original flights, but my seats were less desirable.  They gave me a $100 credit for the inconvenience.  After I got off the phone, I saw another notification.  My original flight was cancelled and the next available flight to New York wouldn’t be until Thursday.

I had a little bit of a scare when I got to the airport.  I went to a kiosk to print my boarding passes, but it would only give me the boarding pass for my first flight.  It didn’t show me having a second flight.  I could see that flight in the app, but it wouldn’t show me my boarding pass.  Thankfully, the gate agent was able to print my boarding pass.  It would've made me nervous to arrive in Atlanta without a boarding pass.

Race statistics:

Distance:  26.22 miles

Time:  4:18:52

Average Pace:  9:52 per mile

First Half:  1:59:06

Second Half:  2:19:46

Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:  533

Countries:  50

Race Report: 2024 City of Oaks Marathon

On November 3, I ran the City of Oaks Marathon in Raleigh, NC.  This race has easy logistics.  If you stay in a downtown hotel, you can walk to the start and walk back from the finish.

When I ran this same race two years ago, it took me more than four and a half hours to finish.  There were several reasons for that.  First, I had a cold.  Second, I wasn’t in peak shape.  Even on a good day, I wasn’t fast enough to break four hours.  Finally, it was a warm day, and I was feeling the humidity from the first mile.

This year I had every reason to expect to be faster.  I’m healthy, I’m in better shape, and the weather was cooler.

I ran Boston qualifying times in my last four races, but they were all on courses that were mostly flat.  This race has lots of hills.  Running a qualifying time on this course would be more challenging.

I flew to Raleigh on Saturday.  On my way into town, I stopped at the LeRoy Martin Magnet Middle School to pick up my race packet.  Each year, there’s some type of gift at the expo.  This year, it was a pair of socks.

After packet pickup, I continued to my hotel in downtown Raleigh.  Then I spent most of the afternoon walking around the downtown area.  I’ve been to Raleigh twice before, so I wanted to do some different sightseeing.  This time, I followed a walking route I found online that connects several buildings that have murals.

This mural is called “All Are Welcome.”  It was hard to get an unobstructed view of this one, because there was a car parked right in front of it.  As a bonus, I saw another mural on the same building.

This mural, outside Shaw University, celebrates their 150th anniversary.

This one depicts Ann and Allen Iverson.

This mural is called “No Damsel.”  This isn't the whole thing, but I couldn't get it all in one picture.

This mural on the side of the Lincoln Theater is called “Honest Abe.”

This one is called “Abstraction Motion.”  It incorporates Google Fiber, so you can both see and feel it.

This mural of John Prine was painted during the 2018 World of Bluegrass International Festival.

This mural is called “Color Pop Corner.”

There’s artwork on the back of the convention center that’s lit up at night, but it’s nothing special during the day, so I didn’t take a picture.  I did, however, take a picture of the statue next to the front of the building.

There was one mural on the tour that was missing.  It used to be on a building that’s now part of a reconstruction project.  While I never got to see that one, I saw several other murals that weren’t part of the tour.  I also saw other forms of artwork.

I didn’t have any lunch, so I had an early dinner.  I went to Raleigh Beer Garden, which was just around the block from my hotel.  Their menu includes pizza, and they have more than 300 beers on tap.

This was the weekend that we set the clocks back.  Before going to bed, I checked to make sure the alarm clock in my room was set up to change automatically.  I also manually changed the clock on the microwave, so I wouldn’t be confused if I happened to notice it when I got up during the night.

When I got up on Sunday, the temperature was in the upper 40s, but it looked like it might get up to 50 by the time the race started.  That’s my usual threshold for wearing shorts.

In my last four races, I wore tights, and at times I felt too warm.  This time, I was going to wear shorts.  Thirty minutes before the race, I checked the weather.  It was still only 46 degrees, so I made a last-minute decision to wear tights.  It was the usual trade-off between being cold in the first half of the race or possibly getting hot in the second half.

They had a gear check, but I didn’t need to use it.  The starting line was just a few blocks from my hotel, so I didn’t go outside until 20 minutes before the race.

I didn’t know if there would be pace groups until I reached the start corrals.  They had pace groups, but their target times were all multiples of 15 minutes.  My goal was 3:50, and I expected that to be challenging on this course.  On a flat course, I might have started with the 3:45 group.  Instead, I lined up about 10 feet behind them and started at my own pace.

When I was walking around downtown Raleigh on Saturday, I couldn’t help but notice that every block was either uphill or downhill.  None of the hills was steep, but there weren’t any streets that were flat.  That made it difficult to know how fast I was starting.

The first few blocks were slightly uphill.  It seemed like I was starting at a slower pace than I usually do, but I was breathing harder than usual.

After a few blocks, we turned a corner and started running downhill.  Suddenly, running was easier.  I sped up, but I wasn’t working as hard.

During those first few blocks, the 3:45 pace group got so far ahead of me that I lost sight of them.  By the end of the first mile, I could see them again.  They were about half a block ahead of me.

To finish in 3:50, I needed to average 8:46 per mile.  I was surprised to see that I ran the first mile in 8:10.  The 3:45 group was evidently starting kind of fast.  Their target pace was 8:35, but they started even faster than I did.

The second mile was mostly downhill.  I still found it hard to gauge how fast I was running, because I couldn’t really go by perceived exertion.  Instead, I just kept up with the people around me, even though I had reason to believe it would be too fast.  My second mile was a little faster than my first mile.  As a result, I was now getting closer to the 3:45 group.

Early in the third mile, we turned a corner and started going up a hill.  I was careful not to work too hard on the hill.  I gradually dropped back from the 3:45 group.  Then I reached an aid station, and I briefly slowed to a walk while I drank some Gatorade.  That caused me to fall farther behind the 3:45 group.

The more I drifted back from the 3:45 group, the more it felt reasonable to keep up with the people around me.  That gave me more confidence that I would stay on a consistent pace.

There were lots of turns in the early miles.  Depending on which direction I was running, I sometimes felt a cold breeze.  It wasn’t windy enough to feel tiring, but it made me glad that I wore tights.  For the time being, I wasn’t in any danger of getting hot, but without the tights, I probably would’ve been cold.

After a couple fast miles, it seemed like the 3:45 group settled into the right pace.  I was running pretty close to their target pace, and I was always about a block behind them.  Then we reached a long downhill section, and I inadvertently caught up to them.

It was a large pace group, and they were spread out across the road.  I was running right behind them, but I was careful not to let myself get ahead of them.

The next time we reached an uphill section, I gradually drifted back from the 3:45 group.  Then we reached a downhill section that was steeper, and I accidentally got ahead of the group.  I eased up as much as I could without actually resisting the hill, but I was still in front of the group.  When the road turned uphill again, I fell behind them for good.  For most of the race, I could see them in the distance, but I never caught up to them again.

Around seven miles, we turned a corner and merged in with runners who were doing the 10K race.  I’m not sure how many miles those runners had run by now, but their pace was definitely slower.  There were lines of slow runners that I needed to pass.

I could no longer be confident that I could stay on pace just by keeping up with the runners behind me.  I had to pay attention to keeping up with the faster runners, while moving around the slower ones.  We were going up a hill at this point, so I had to pick up my effort to keep up with the faster runners.  Going up that hill, I got warm enough that I finally took off my gloves.

At the top of the hill, the 10K runners had a turnaround.  Those of us doing the marathon or half marathon kept going straight.  Now, I was once again surrounded by runners who were all going at the same pace.

I was relieved to be done with that hill.  I was also relieved that there were no longer any slower runners on the course.  At the same time, I also knew that I was nearing the end of the easy part of the course.  In another mile, we would leave the streets to begin a long out-and-back section on the Reedy Creek Trail, which is a paved bike path.  On roads, there were hills, but they were all fairly gradual.  The hills on the trail are sometimes steeper, and the abrupt changes in slope make it harder to stay in a consistent rhythm.  So far, I was running faster than my goal pace, but I expected that to be more difficult on the trail.

I wasn’t running with a pace group, but I wanted to be able to compare my pace to other runners.  Before we reached the trail, I was hoping to pick out one or two runners who seemed like they were running a consistent pace.  My plan was to follow them through the various undulations along the trail.

There had been different runners around me at different times, but as I looked around, I spotted one runner who always seemed to be about 20 feet in front of me.  It was a woman in a pink top and white shorts.  I didn’t know, however, if she was doing the marathon or the half marathon.  I wouldn’t have to wait much longer to find out.

Shortly after the eight mile mark, we reached the point were the marathon and half marathon routes diverged.  The woman in the pink top was doing the half marathon.  Those of us doing the marathon left the roads and entered the Reedy Creek Trail.

I took note of which runners were immediately in front of me.  One was a guy wearing a red shirt and a camelback.  Another was wearing a blue shirt and a white hat.  I kept up with these two guys over the next few ups and downs.  Then I inadvertently got ahead of them.  What’s surprising is that I passed them going up a hill.  When we reached a long downhill section, I sped away from them.

I remembered how much the hills on this trail took me out of my rhythm when I ran this race two years ago.  I didn’t remember that there was a downhill trend on the way out.

Over the next two miles, it seemed like we were mostly running downhill.  That scared me, because I would eventually have to run it in the uphill direction.

Mile 10 was mostly downhill, and I ran it in 7:56.  That was my fastest mile of the race.  I was back to being only about 30 seconds behind the 3:45 group.

Mile 11 was also mostly downhill.  That was my second fastest mile of the race.  I was getting closer to the 3:45 group, although it would take an effort to catch up to them.

I wasn’t trying to catch up to the group, but I wanted to keep them within sight.  Behind the group, there was a big gap.  My choices were to either stay close to the group or resign myself to running completely by myself.  As long as I could see the group, I could tell if I was maintaining a similar pace.

At one point, we went under a bridge, turned a sharp corner, and them climbed a ramp up to street level.  Then we crossed the same bridge that we had just gone under.

Going under the bridge, I was as close as I would get to the 3:45 group.  Going up the ramp, I was careful to conserve energy.  I slowed down, and as a result, I fell farther behind the group.

After crossing the bridge, we turned back onto the trail and went deep into the forest again.

Most of the time that we were on the Reedy Creek Trail, we were surrounded by trees.  We were sheltered from the sun, but not from the wind.  There was a constant breeze, and it felt surprisingly cold.  With each mile, my hands felt colder, until they felt like ice.  I told myself to enjoy it while it lasted.  I still expected to get hot later in the race.

For a long time, I was running by myself, but then I was passed by a runner wearing an orange shirt.  I wanted to run with him, but his pace seemed too fast.  It occurred to me that he was going to catch up to the 3:45 group.  If I could keep up with him, he would pull me up to the group.

I stayed with him for a while, but then we reached a steep hill.  The hill was short, but it forced me to slow down.  That was as close as I would get to catching up with the 3:45 group.

That hill took us up to a street, and for the next several blocks, we were running on a concrete sidewalk.  I was worried about tripping on an uneven seam between two sections of sidewalk, so I ran more cautiously here.  That caused me to slow down.

The halfway point was on this concrete section.  When I got there, I was on pace for 3:42.  I was three minutes ahead of my goal pace.  The 3:45 group got there at least 30 seconds ahead of me, so they were still going fast.

I knew that I would have more uphill running in the second half of the race, so I expected to slow down.  I was optimistic that I could run a Boston qualifying time, but I definitely wasn’t going to try for negative splits.

The section on concrete sidewalk was initially uphill, but them it turned downhill.  Even going downhill, I had to take it at a cautious pace.  At the end of that section, we reached an aid station.  Then we crossed the street and backtracked a short distance to where we could get back onto the trail.

As I grabbed a cup of Gatorade at the aid station, a drop of Gatorade flew into my left eye.  I had forgotten how much that stings.  I briefly had difficulty keeping that eye open.

Now that I was back on the trail, I was able to pick up my pace.  It was getting more tiring though.  I usually find it easier to push myself when I’m in the second half of a race.  This race was an exception.  I was still almost three miles from the turnaround.  As long as I was still heading out, I didn’t feel like I was in the second half of the race.  For now, I could only think about how far it still was to the turnaround.

By now, I was starting to see faster runners who were already on their way back.  Now that we had two-way traffic on the trail, we had to keep to the right to make room for the runners who were going the other direction.  We could no longer run the tangents going around the turns.

I started to encounter more and more things that took me out of my rhythm.  Sometimes it was a hill.  Sometimes it was a sharp turn.  Sometimes it was a wooden bridge.  At one point, it was all three at once.  We were on a wooden pedestrian bridge that went underneath a larger bridge.  There were sharp turns and some rapid ups and downs as we went under the bridge.  I slowed down so much here that five runners passed me in rapid succession.

After that, we went up the steepest hill in the race.  I wondered if I would need to walk it.  When I saw the runners ahead of me walking it, I followed suit.

At the top of the hill, we came to a clearing.  This was one of the few places along the Reedy Creek Trail where spectators could easy watch the race.  I recognized this as the spot where some friends were watching for me two years ago.

Next, we ran past a small lake.  Then we went deep into the forest again.

I was now within a mile of the turnaround.  As I got closer, I saw a pace group coming back from the turnaround.  I was surprised to see it was the 3:45 group.  I thought I was still half a mile from the turnaround, but it was actually just ahead of me.

Coming back from the turn, I started to run with more confidence.  I spotted the runner with the red short and the camelback.  I had passed him several miles earlier.  Then he passed me in one of my slower miles.  Now I was on the verge of catching him again.  He was going faster than most of the other runners around us, so I followed him.

Although I wasn’t keeping up with the 3:45 group, I was usually running a similar pace.  In miles 14 through 16, my average pace was 8:46, but before that, my pace was usually in the 8:30s.  It’s worth noting that 8:46 was my goal pace.  Those miles felt slow, but only by comparison with all the faster miles.

In mile 17, I sped up to 8:32, while chasing the guy in the red shirt.  He was setting a good pace for me.

Toward the end of that mile, I ran down the same steep hill where I had to walk going uphill.  It was so steep that running it in the downhill direction was uncomfortable.  I felt one of my insoles slip forward in my shoe.

Right after that, we reached the wooden bridge with hills and turns.  I took it faster in this direction, but I tripped on something just before the bridge.  I didn’t fall, but it scared me.  After that, I accelerated, and I passed the guy in the red shirt.  Mile 18 was another 8:32 mile.

I was pleased with my pace in those two miles, but I still had five more miles on the trail, and they were going to have an uphill trend.  In the next mile, I reached a hill that was long enough that I had to walk the steepest part of it.  That mile was slower.

I was discouraged at first to have slowed to 8:58 in mile 19.  That was my slowest mile so far.  Then it occurred to me that it was only 12 seconds slower than my goal pace.  I wasn’t keeping track, but I knew had to be at least three and a half minutes ahead of schedule going into that mile.  I could easily afford to give back 12 seconds.

In mile 20, I picked up the pace again.  I gained back seven seconds of the 12 that I had lost in the previous mile.  I knew the next three miles would be slow, but I had a large cushion.  I was confident that I could maintain a steady pace when I got back onto city streets.  My concern was losing time on the hills in the last three miles of the trail.

Mile 21 had another hill that forced me to walk.  I was disciplined and only walked for 30 seconds.  I gave back 37 seconds in that mile.  Mile 22 also had a hill that forced me to do some walking.  In that mile, I gave back 19 seconds.

I was giving back time, but I was limiting the damage.  I estimated that I still had a cushion of at least two and a half minutes.

Mile 23 was the toughest.  There was a hill that was so long that I couldn’t see the whole thing at once.  I walked the steepest part of the hill.  Then I resumed running to what I thought was the top of the hill.  I turned a corner and saw that I wasn’t even halfway to the top.  I had to take another walking break.

That wasn’t the last hill in that mile, but it was the last one that forced me to walk.  When I crested the hill, I accelerated.  I started passing most of the other runners, but there was one runner who kept up with me going downhill.  She passed me, but I kept pace with her.

At the end of that mile, I was running strong, but overall, that mile was slow.  It was by far my slowest mile of the race.  In just one mile, I gave back more than a minute of my cushion.

I was thinking we would leave the trail before the 23 mile mark, but I was wrong.  We still had about half a mile on the trail.  Fortunately, this section was mostly downhill.  Then we finally came out onto the streets again.

I knew the rest of the race would have a downhill trend, but the first few blocks were slightly uphill.  I fought my way uphill without losing much time.  When I finished mile 24, I saw that I had gained back more than 20 seconds.

I had been trying to keep up with the woman who passed me in mile 23, but she was too fast.  Then she stopped briefly at an aid station.  I passed her at the aid station and accelerated as I began a long downhill section.  I ran that section as fast as I could, but she was a strong closer.  She eventually passed me gain, and I couldn’t keep up with her, even though I sped up to 8:10 in that mile.

Coming back into the downtown area, we had a strong headwind.  Up until now, the wind was always my friend.  It kept me from getting hot.  Now, the wind was tiring.

With 1.2 miles to go, I knew I would break 3:50 by a comfortable margin, but I could see another hill ahead of me.

Another fast runner passed me.  I wanted to try to keep up with him, but I had to conserve energy for the hill.

That was the last hill of any significance.  After the hill, it was almost all downhill to the finish.  At first, I wasn’t recognizing any of the buildings or street names.  Then I ran past a fast food restaurant that I had walked by on Saturday.  I had a better feel for where I was.

As I approached what I thought was the final turn, I saw a runner who had already finished and was walking back to his hotel.  He said, “Get around the corner, and it’s downhill to the finish.”

I rounded the corner, but I still couldn’t see the finish.  On the plus side, it was noticeably downhill.

I raced down the hill, and I reached the “26” sign.  I ran that mile in 8:12.  I was crushing it, but I still couldn’t see the finish line.  There were still two more turns.

I made the first of those turns, and I immediately saw the second one.  It was just one short block.  It was slightly uphill, but my momentum carried me to the last turn.  Then I could see the finish line, and the final approach was downhill.

This was my first race using a watch that I’ve only had for 10 days.  It’s similar to my old watch, but saving the data from a run is more complicated.  There are two extra steps.  I have to rate how hard I ran and how I felt.  I was so preoccupied with saving my data, that I never looked at my time.  I knew I beat my goal by at least a few minutes, but I walked away from the finish line not knowing my time.

I love the design of the finisher medal.  It features a large acorn that spins.  There are also acorns and oak leaves on the ribbon.

There were volunteers handing one water bottles, but I didn’t take one.  My hotel was less than two blocks away, and I had plenty of water there.  I did, however, make a point of getting some post-race food.

A volunteer at the food tent handed me a banana and a bag with other snacks.  At another table, they had cookies and skewers with cold cuts.  I took a cookie, but I passed on the cold cuts.

When I got back to my hotel room, there were several things I wanted to do first.  I wanted to download the data from my watch.  I wanted to look up my official result.  I wanted to eat my snacks.  I wanted to use the bathroom.  I wanted to get out of my sweaty clothes and take a bath.  More important than all of those was getting out of my sweaty shoes and socks.  I could not do that fast enough.

Shortly after downloading the data from my watch, I noticed I had an email with my official result.  I finished in 3:45:50, which was good for third place in my age group.  I qualified for Boston by more than four minutes, and I did it on a hilly course.  I had BQs in my previous four races, but those were all on relatively flat courses.

I never regretted wearing tights.  Later in the race, it was getting warmer, but I seemed to get a cold breeze whenever I needed one.

In case anyone is wondering, the hotel I stayed at is the Hampton Inn.  If you’re planning to do this race, you should be aware that this hotel has pros and cons.  On the plus side, you can’t beat the location for race day logistics.  It’s about half a block from the back of the start corrals and only three blocks from the starting line.  It’s also only about a block and a half from the finish area.

The big negative of this hotel is also the location.  It’s in a nightlife district, and there’s a place next to the hotel that plays loud music until at least 2 AM.  I was fortunate.  I had a room on the side of the hotel that’s farthest from the noise.  I occasionally heard a loud truck or motorcycle, but I didn’t hear the music.  I talked to runners with rooms on the other side of the building, and they were kept awake by the noise.  To their credit, the hotel staff provides earplugs to all their guests.

Race statistics:

Distance:  26.2 miles

Time:  3:45:50

Average Pace:  8:37 per mile

First Half:  1:50:59

Second Half:  1:54:51

Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:  532

Boston Qualifiers:  173

Place in Age Group:  3rd

Race Report: 2024 Atlantic City Marathon

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.

Race statistics:

Distance:  26.2 miles

Time:  3:49:07

Average Pace:  8:44 per mile

First Half:  1:53:59

Second Half:  1:55:08

Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:  531

Boston Qualifiers:  172

New Jersey Marathon:  5