Servis1St Bank First Light Marathon

I arrived in Mobile, AL around 5:00pm after running the Mississippi Blues and checked into the Holiday Inn.  I took luggage to the room and then went over to the Mobile Government Plaza where the expo and pasta dinner was being held for the marathon.

We received the following swag – marathon shirt, back to back shirt for running both Mississippi Blues and First Light Marathons and a unique plaque created by the L’Arche Community. 

“L’Arche is an international federation of communities in which people with intellectual disabilities and those who help them can live, work, and share their lives together”. 

I returned to the hotel to wait on my friend Mary who was coming over from Pensacola to have dinner with me.  We haven't seen either other since 2007, she arrived in Mobile around 8:45 and we drove over to Friday's to have dinner.  After dinner she dropped me off at the hotel and I was able to finally go to bed around 11:15.  After a restless night of sleep I finally went down to the lobby to wait for the start of the marathon.  

While waiting to start the race I heard from plenty of Maniacs and others talk about getting sick sometime during the night from the pasta dinner.   

The Mobile County Health Department has been investigating and working with the First Light Marathon Committee to determine the reason why people became sick directly after the pasta dinner.

The first half of the course was pretty and relatively flat compare the Mississippi Blues Marathon on Saturday. I was keeping a good pace as there was intention of going for a particular time goal. I saw Larry around mile 8 chatted with him for a bit and wished him good luck and continue on my way.

Around 14 I started with a couple from Texas that was not having a good race due to having GI problems from the dinner. We ended up running the last half of the marathon together. Every other mile one or the other would run head to use the porta-a-potties. During the miles I learned that they were planning on running the Baton Rouge Marathon the following week.

While running through the South Alabama campus we encountered a freaking huge hill that I was expecting since the run up to that point was flat. We continue to chat and encourage each other that no matter what we were going to finish the marathon.

  

  

  

I enjoyed another double weekend and seeing so many familiar faces was a bonus.

This was marathon #27 and State #20

Mississippi Blues Marathon

The Mississippi Blues and Servis First Bank First Light Marathons were my first two marathons of the 2014; and the second double weekend since my first one back in October at the ING Hartford and Amica Marathons.

The weekend started off with a delay out of Reagan National Airport and a two hour delay out of Hartsfield-Jackson Airport. It was during the delay from Atlanta that I got to spend talking to my friend Angie who was also doing the double. Once we started boarding we got to chat with other Maniacs who were doing the Mississippi Blues and First Light Marathon this weekend. 
 

  Earlier in the day while waiting in to depart National; Krissy a local Maniac from Jackson posted that a banana truck had overturned on I-55 and if possible to avoid the area until the cleanup was done. 

After landing in Jackson and picking up rental car I drove directly to the expo since we arrived later than the original time. The expo was smaller than most expos which made the packet-up a breeze. I ran into Angie again and continue to walk through the small room as we were leaving we ran into Eddie, Melinda and Steve; in true Maniac fashion we took a quick picture in front of the tall guitar that was in the lobby.  

                                              

                                                  

I finally made my way over to check-in to the Hilton Garden Inn which was only a few blocks from the Art Garden. Once checked-in I had dinner in the hotel restaurant since it was a lot more convenient than trying to look for a place to eat. 

Here is some of the swag we received from the Mississippi Blues Marathon – Half-Zip (which apparently some had defective zippers); CD of local blues musicians and a harmonica.   

 I had a good night of sleep which I cannot remember the last time that has happen the night before a marathon, after my pre-race breakfast I slowly made my way down to the lobby where I was meeting Tracey and Susan to walk over the starting area for the Maniac picture. I need to say thanks to Tracey for the safety pins; I forgot to pick some up the previous day at the expo. After taking the picture in front of the starting line I went over to drop my dry clothes bag to put on right after the race for the walk back to the hotel. As we were waiting for the start of the marathon and half marathon we were entertained with an amazing playing of the National Anthem by Patrick Harkins who plays at the Mississippi Blues Marathon every year. Click on the link to hear it for yourself.

                                                      http://youtu.be/53r33z4NnZI                                              

 

Mississippi Blues was marathon #26 and State #18.

 

MYRTLE BEACH MARATHON

The weekend started off with snow on Wednesday night into Thursday morning; which cause the Federal Government to close offices on Thursday. So Thursday I spent the day cleaning and packing for the trip to Myrtle Beach on Friday morning. I woke up Friday morning to find out that Panera Bread and Starbucks were opening at 9:00am; so after getting gas I proceed on my 6 1/2 hour drive to Myrtle Beach. I was really looking forward to the weekend. I was seeing Aimee for the first time in year - she spent last President Day's weekend with me in Jacksonville, FL. I called her at 9:30 to let her know that I was 4 hours away from Myrtle Beach; we were trying to time our arrivals.
 

 

I arrived about 10 minutes before Aimee and I waited at the Holiday Inn Express for her before heading over to the Expo to pick up my bib and race swag. The race swag consisted of a messenger bag and a pair of socks. We walked around the expo for a bit and I ended up purchasing a pair of arm warmers for the next day since the morning was supposed to be on the chilly side. We ended up over by the area where they had the animals out playing.

After walking around the expo for a bit we went to get some lunch. I asked Aimee where she wanted to eat and she said it didn't matter so we stopped at McDonald's.

Once we were settled I asked her where she wanted to eat knowing this was going to be a challenge because she can eat just about any place and be happy with her choice. So I came up with a few ideas and we both settled on Olive Garden which was 7 miles from the Holiday Inn. The first one we went to there was an hour and half wait (Valentine's Day); we left there and went to one that was a little bit further away and only had to wait about 20 minutes.

The rain stopped 10 minutes before the start of the marathon which was a good sign but we had to deal with 36 mph wind gusts out of the west for the entire race. The first few miles of the race was fine until I started dealing with a right calf cramp that would not go away. Around mile 4 we ran around the Myrtle Beach Airport for a few miles, I was great to see the Eddie Vega (who is going for the GBWR for the most marathons ran barefoot, Ed Loy who is 5 states from completing his goal of running a marathon in all 50 States plus DC, Letty, Charlotte - whose running attire for this race was a Sunshine and countless other Marathon Maniacs. There were long sections that we ran and some neat neighborhoods before we meandered our way back towards the finish line area.

Around mile 23 I caught up my Tyler a fellow maniac who raced the 5K on Friday night and who said he had ran out of gas around mile 21 and was walking from that point forward. I came to learn that he was coming off and injury he acquired his summer training phase. We walked last 3 miles together and finished in 5:30:32. I was happy with that since I could not get rid of my right calf cramp.

Louisiana Marathon 2014

The Baton Rouge Marathon was the 2014 Marathon Maniacs and Half Fanatics Reunion Race for 2014. I departed the DC area on Saturday morning and was a little nervous about having a connecting flight out of Atlanta due my experience with delays after delay the previous weekend. After picking up rental I checked into the Hilton Garden which was ½ mile from the expo and the Marathon Maniac and Half Fanatic meeting. I wanted to see if there was any rooms available since it was 1 ½ hours to check-in time. I was in luck and they had a room available; it was $17..00 per night to park in the parking area in front of the office; $9.00 to park in the garage or free to park on the street only exception was the cars had to be moved by 7am on Monday morning. I selected the free option. 
 
On my way to the expo I ran into Angie who was on her way back to expo to help the Main Maniacs with the reunion bling; which consisted of your press pass (pictured below) still don't know the significance of the Marathon Maniac Press Pass; the new MM beanie and the wrist band to get into the reserved Porta Johns reserved for the MM/HF; VIP Gear Check and access to the Maniac finish line food tent. I walked around the expo for a bit before making my way over to the Gear Guy table (Ray Shaw). 

                      
 

After returning from the expo and while getting things in order for marathon I went into a panic when I discovered I didn’t pack any running shorts. Back to the expo we go and after walking around for about 10 minutes it became obvious that none of the vendors were selling running shorts. It was during this time that I ran into Cara and Rich at the expo. After explaining my predicament to Cara she said I could borrow one of her running skirts. Lucky I found the Fleet Feet Vendor and asked if she knew where I could buy a pair of running shorts and she gave me the address to the local store. On the trip to Fleet Feet I was able to get the shorts and also there was a small grocery store across the street so I was able to buy water and PowerAde and some yogurt for my pre-breakfast meal.

The reunion meeting started around 4:15. The Main Three (Steven, Chris and Toni) gave a little background on where and how the club started 10 years ago and gave out some prices and presented the club awards. When it came time for the Ambassador of the Year everyone was wondering who was going to win it this. Steven announced that after reviewing all of the nominations that Angie Whitworth Pace had won it for 2013. After wrapping up the club business we headed over to the Hilton for the Pastalaya Dinner where Bill Rogers and Matt Long were the speakers for the evening. Matt Long story is very inspiring; you read a little about his story at http://www.runnersworld.com/runners-stories/second-life.

After dinner went back to room to relaxed a bit before bed and make sure I had everything I would need for the marathon the next. 

I woke up sometime around 3:45 and had my usual pre-marathon breakfast – instant oatmeal with brown sugar, banana and half a bottle of PowerAde. Around 6:15 I text Cara to let her know I was on my way over to the State Capitol for the Marathon Maniac picture. 

The Maniac pre-race picture was going to take place at 6:30 on the steps of the Capitol. Seems like no matter how many times the location and time is posted on the Maniac Facebook page there are few that shows up late for the picture.

                     

At the start we had our own VIP gear check (which was right next to our food tent), porta potties.  It was funny watching non-Maniacs try to get in line to because they thought those were the porta-a-johns everyone was passing by to go use the ones at the opposite end. The security guard was very polite and informing them unless they were Maniacs or Half Fanatics they could not use the reserved ones. 

Cara and I decided prior to arriving in Baton Rouge that we would run the Louisiana Marathon together no matter no if one of us were not feeling good or bad about the marathon. Somewhere around mile 4 1/2 I told Cara that at the next water stop I would stop to use the bathroom and she could keep going and I would catch her. While I picked the one of the longest bathroom stop ever (12 minutes) which meant I would have to run all out to catch her. 

 

While standing in line I saw two of my local running friends (Tee and Donna) running past as I was waiting in line. After the longest stop I proceed to run to see if could catch back up to Cara it took a while but eventually I was able to run up behind her before mile 9. The good thing was we were running around the lake and I could see just how far I had to go catch her. 

Cara posing at Mile 10

As we approached Mile 11 Cara said this is our moment of choice we can stay to the right and head back to the State Capitol or continue on. It was not really a choice because we both knew we would continue on for the rest of the marathon. As we continue to the right we began this long out and back through some neat neighborhoods. As we approached Mile 15 or 16 we saw Gary who was leading the Marathon and right behind him was Marathon Junkie Chuck. At this point of the race we were still enjoying the course and the few spectators that were our giving out encouragement also it was starting to get warm.

                                                             Maniacs on the course

At point all we could think about was the finish line. Cara suggested that at the next aid station I should see if they had any chocolate for her and if so grab her a few pieces. This is a running joke from the Tacoma Washington Marathon last May. One of the aid stations there had a good selection of chocolate and snacks.

The last few miles were going by so slowly all we could think about was finishing and relaxing with our fellow Maniacs. But we also forgot that we had the bridge to conquer since it came so very early in the race the first time (mile 2 1/2) and now we were crossing it at Mile 24. Those last two miles I believe we were both pushing each other to just finish with a smile. The finish line was a welcoming site for me. It was the culmination of a goal I set last June.
 
I still cannot believe I completed 3 states, 3 marathons, 8 days.

Bell Haven to National Harbor Run

On Saturday the Metro DC Galloway Winter Program ran from Bell Haven over to the National Harbor.  We have been discussing doing this run for awhile and just scheduled it without to many complaints.  The group consisted of the 11's, 13's and 14's.  Majority of winter program runners are in taper mode for the Rock N' Roll USA Half Marathon and the Shamrock Marathon/Half Marathon.  

The below image is what you will see prior to actually stepping foot onto the Woodrow Wilson Bridge from Alexandria, VA.

 

Below is the image that is permanently displayed on the Woodrow Wilson to show you the border between Virginia and the District of Columbia.

 A Tale of Three Jurisdictions - Woodrow Wilson Bridge Observation Deck

A couple of images looking towards Washington, DC

After crossing the Woodrow Wilson Bridge we entered Prince George's County, Maryland.

The Awakening (1980) is a 70-foot (21 m) statue of a giant embedded in the earth, struggling to free himself, located at National Harbor in Prince George's County, Maryland, USA, just outside the District of Columbia. It was created by J. Seward Johnson, Jr. and originally installed at Hains Point, Washington, D.C.

Peeps store located in National Harbor, Maryland.

Directional signs welcoming us back into Virginia from Prince George's County, Maryland. 

Bald Eagle on right on the George Washington Parkway about a mile from the Bell Haven Marina.