New Hampshire Marathon

Ok, it's been just a little over a week since this race on Oct. 2, and I find I am already forgetting a lot about it. It was a tough course, it was a nice day, I got it done. That's most of what I remember!

This was state #34, marathon #39 for me. Picked it because it fit my schedule and could be combined with a visit to see my daughter, Susan. She drove up with me from Boston and did the accompanying 10k. We tried to get my sister to come along also but that didn't happen.

The original plan was that we would drive up on Friday so we could attend the pasta dinner, but Sooze had to work. But with race day packet pickup available, that was no big deal.

Dinner with Sooze
I arrived Thursday evening, got the rental car and drove Susan home from work. I was all stressed out about driving in Boston, at night and in the rain, but it was honestly a pleasant surprise. Maybe it is because people in Boston actually know how to drive, unlike the drivers in Cincinnati? Parked on the street in Somerville, also no big deal.

We had dinner at Posto, an upscale pizza place a few blocks from Susan's apartment, and similar to this place. Our waitress, unfortunately, encouraged us to over-order by making it sound like the portions were small. We will blame it on her. We ordered two appetizers: meatballs and another type of balls that were made out of fried polenta with a rather unpleasant and heavy handed lemon flavoring. And we each had our own pizza. Sooze had one with sopressatta that she thought was a bit too spicy. I went with the mushroom pizza, which I did enjoy. We also had two draft beers (Smuttynose Pale Ale) each---big mistake.

The Day Before---Not Off to An Auspicious Start
I felt okay the next morning when Susan left for work but a little while later I began feeling awful. Needed coffee but Susan doesn't have a coffeemaker, and it took awhile before I felt strong enough to go outside. Had three cups of Via. Still had a pounding headache, accompanied by nausea and the sweats. Spent a lot of Friday in the bathroom. Food poisoning? Some weird 24-hour bug? Later, we determined that it was just a hangover. Susan had one also, but she had to suck it up because she was at work.

Okay, I had meant to spend a fairly low key day anyway but this was ridiculous. Hung out in Susan's apartment until I felt well enough to venture out and put our suitcases in the car. Watched some New England cable news station, where they kept predicting torrential rainfall. They were making it sound like it was time to build an ark. So I wanted to get the bags in the car before the rain started since the car was a couple of blocks away.

I did this in two trips. On the way back from the first excursion, I stopped in the corner store and picked up some Gatorade, Lipton teabags, and bananas. Two cups of tea later, I was ready to take the second bag to the car. I was caffeinated, yes, are we keeping track? Three cups of Via, two strong cups of tea.

In the afternoon, as I began to feel a bit better, I was able to distract myself with a little television. I watched the Temple Grandin movie, starring Claire Danes. Pretty good. I had forgotten I wanted to see that, and there it was. And next, I watched a true classic of its genre, Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, starring a very young Keanu Reeves and some other guy who was, I think, more famous at the time but now nobody can remember who he is. This is the one where the evil robot likenesses kill Bill & Ted and try to rewrite history by wreaking havoc at the Battle of the Bands. In the meantime, Bill & Ted play games with Death in an attempt to win back their lives. Instead of chess, they play games that Bill & Ted have a shot at winning, including Battleship and Twister.

Susan's roommate came home just before I started watching Bill & Ted. She immediately retreated to her room for a nap, leaving me alone with Bill & Ted.

At the appointed hour, I got in the car and drove downtown to pick up the Sooze. Thank goodness for the GPS. This accomplished, we headed out to I-93, New Hampshire-bound. It was supposed to be a two hour drive, and it only took us about two and a half hours. In the rain. On a Friday night. I don't think that is so bad. I am really wondering what all the whining about Boston/New England driving is about. Seriously.

We arrived a little after 9 pm, and found a little family-style Italian restaurant down the road from our hotel. We were both hungry now so that worked out great. We took our doggy bags back to the room because we had a microwave and fridge, and I knew I would want to finish this food up after the race.

We were staying at a Comfort Inn, one exit up the highway from Bristol and an easy 10 mile drive. It had been recently remodeled and was very satisfactory. I had thought about booking us at a B&B but that can be such a crapshoot, and everything looked kind of scary/sketchy on the web sites. In any case, I knew at any B&B we'd end up with a cramped little room and maybe just a double bed to share, perhaps not even our own bathroom. We were a lot more comfortable at the Comfort Inn, and the breakfast was not bad, either.

Race Morning
The race didn't start until 9 am, which was great. We could get a good night's sleep and even eat breakfast in the morning. We departed around 7:45, and arrived around 8 am. We were directed to park behind the middle school that served as the staging area for the race. The atmosphere was not unlike a good-sized neighborhood 5k, with packet pickup in the school cafeteria, and small groups of runners gathered outside.

Susan was amused at the Marathon Maniacs (easy to spot in their bright yellow attire) and various other members of the 50 States Club whom I pointed out to her. Chuck Engle seemed to be the only person doing a proper race warmup, and I correctly predicted that he would win the race. It did seem that the vast majority of the marathon runners were members of the Maniacs or the 50 States or both. And most of them were doing a "double," with the Portland, ME race the next day. Susan told me that I should wear my gear Maniac gear, too, so I could properly "represent."

No timing chips for this little marathon. Can't remember the last time I ran a race without a chip. They even use them at some of our local 5ks now. The race shirts were kind of disappointing, light-blue, long-sleeved cotton with an orange, red & black (fall colors?) design that clashed with the light blue. Not much else in the goody bag, except a coupon for a free ice cream cone at the Newfound Bakery, which we made use of later in the afternoon.

The half-marathoners took a bus out to the mararthon turnaround at the Sculptured Rocks, which departed at 8:30 am. The 10k runners would start with the marathoners, and turn around just past the 3 mile mark.

We hung out in the car until it was time to line up at the start line in front of the school. Shared a laugh about one guy who was wearing a very threadbare pair of bike shorts. When he bent over, you could totally see right through them, and when he stood up, they were very saggy in the butt. Maybe they were his lucky shorts, but I think it is time to retire them anyway.

The Race
The start, like most of the race, was uphill (as I ponder once again how it is that a loop course can be net uphill). Susan stayed with me for about the first mile, then wisely dropped back. She was taking it easy. I was, too, but nothing was going to be easy enough. Mile 1 was a 10:57, mile 2 was a 10:15.

As we passed the mile 2 marker, I started looking for a water stop, which was supposed to appear every two miles. Nothing. Tried not to let myself get too irriated by this, but began to wish that I had carried my own water. After we passed mile 3 and still no water, I was becoming concerned. Also, worried for Susan, whom I assumed was having to run a 10k with no water. Finally at about 3 1/2 miles, we found the first water stop. Turns out this was really the second stop. The first one was at 1 1/2 miles, but it was on the opposite side of the street from where we were running, and we all missed it---or at least all the people running near me did.

From this point on, however, the water stops did come every two miles with regularity, so that was a relief. Mile 3 was an 11:25; mile 4 was 11:42. Mile 5 was 10:07---guess that must have been downhill. Mile 6 was 11:25; mile 7 was 11:16; mile 8 was 11:59.

The course was scenic but hillier than I expected. For some reason, although I knew New Hampshire was hilly, I thought that we were literally running around Newfound Lake which to me meant flat, despite what the elevation chart said. Plus there is the fact that I seem to be hopeless at interpreting elevation charts. Fortunately, I train on hills and I was not expecting to have an easy time of it anyway. But it was kind of crazy how hilly the course was versus my preconceptions of how it was going to be.

We passed an inn/restaurant with a big sign out front advertising a Japanese steak house with fine Italian cuisine. I puzzled over this and decided we would have to check it out later.

Here's a little bit about the people around me through most of the race:

There was a tall, thin woman dressed (overdressed, I thought) in long navy blue flared pants and a blue turtleneck. She had what looked like a space blanket tucked into her fanny pack. There was another woman with blond hair in turquoise shorts. Both these women looked like they should have been going faster than back there with me, but perhaps they were saving themselves for Portland.

There was a couple, from Australia I surmise from their accents, wearing 100 Marathon Club singlets.

Mostly we were running in the road beside a heavily wooded area with the trees just starting to change color, and occasional glimpses of the lake below us to the left. At this point I was really thinking give me an urban, flat marathon any day over hills and scenery, especially if it is the same scenery all the time.

At about mile 8 1/2, we made a left turn for an out-and-back segment with the turnaround at the Sculptured Rocks. This was probably the flattest portion of the race, but even this was not that flat.

On the out-and-back, I got to see most of the people who were ahead of me---although, not Chuck Engle, who had probably already gone by. There were a lot of people ahead of me, and none of them looked like they were exactly flying, either. It's a toughie, this one.

Mile 9 was 10:31; mile 10 was 13:06; mile 11 was 12:11, mile 12 was 12:07; mile 13 was 13:23.

Things I do remember from this stretch: a Boston Terrier in a yard, barking. A couple of Pomeranians chained up (who chains up Pomeranians?) in front of a very slummy looking shack. The chains were bigger than the Pomeranians. Seriously, Pomeranians? Figures that most of what I would remember are the dogs. A Golden Retriever laying at the feet of some spectators, its head turned away from the action. Reminded me of Libby. Dog was not interested in the race at all--unlike the Boston Terrier and the Pomeranians.

The wind picked up and I had to put my jacket back on. Thought a few times about the possibility of turning around early and cutting a few miles off this race. But since I am only doing the 50 states for myself, it would mean I'd only have to come back to New Hampshire and run another marathon anyway. This is not something I am doing to impress anybody except myself, and I'm not lying to myself about what I have done and what I haven't.

At the turnaround, a woman with a clipboard recorded our race numbers. I guess that is how they controlled for cheating. It was somewhat comforting to know that they were not just relying on the honor system and honest people like me.

Mile 14 (14:57!) was not too long after the turnaround. I called Susan, to let her know that things were not going well, and it could be as much as 6 hours. Mile 15 was 13:44; mile 16 was 14:20; mile 17 was 15:50.

Mile 18 was 13:04. At this point, I was thrilled with any time below 14 minutes. Somewhere in here, we left the out-and-back and made a right turn to return to Bristol on the other side of the lake. The scenery was a little different now, as we were actually running closer to the lakeshore, and there were many little cottages (some even painted red) that reminded me of Sweden. On the other side of the street were (no doubt) expensive condos that reminded me that I was not in Sweden.

A complication which made for some unpleasantness in the latter miles of this race was the rather heavy traffic coming towards us. I understand that they can't close a lane to traffic for this tiny little race. So it is what it is. But it was kind of scary and not fun. There was really no berm for much of this stretch, so when you had to get out of the road there was often nowhere to go. This would be my only real complaint about this race. I don't think there is anything that can be done about it, so I would just warn people attempting the race to be ready for it.

Mile 19 was 14:30 and mile 20 was 14:38. A guy running in Vibrams commented that we just had a couple of 5ks to go. I told him that I preferred to think of it as just an hour and a half to go. That's because when you say 5k to me, I think it means that I have to run fast. And that was for sure not happening. An hour and a half is a long time, but it was realistic.

I keep using the word "running" but I guess it goes without saying that we weren't really "running" the way most non-runners think of it. We were making the motions of running, but in slow motion.

Mile 21 was 14:22; mile 22 was 13:18; mile 23 was 15:34; mile 24 was 15:04. Just a half hour to go! I called Susan again to let her know of my impending arrival.

I was passed by a woman who agreed with me about the traffic and said that the race was certainly not her favorite. Then I was passed by the woman in navy blue. The final woman to pass me was wearing a Maniac shirt with 8 stars or so on the back. As I am only a one-star Maniac myself, I was quite impressed. Mile 25 was 15:05; mile 26 was 14:10.

Sooze was standing by the side of the road. She tried to take my pic but said it didn't come out. I made the turn down into the parking lot and across the grass of the little park behind the middle school to the finish line. Somebody told me to smile but I didn't see a photographer. Last .2 took me 2:50, for a final, official time of 5:41:50..One of my worst times ever! Worse than Flying Monkey! Worse than Humpy's after Logan died! I think actually my second slowest ever.

I will blame it on being untrained, sick for a month before the race, sick the day before the race, and the race itself being quite challenging. The woman's winner didn't even qualify for Boston! That says something about the degree of difficulty.

Like the race shirt, the medal was nothing remarkable. This is a fairly low-cost marathon, so I guess you can't expect much, but they didn't even have the year engraved on it (it was printed on the ribbon instead), and it had a rather generic look.

Susan had my turkey sandwich ready and waiting, which was a good thing since there was not much food left. I was officially 211 of 246 marathoners, 59 of 71 women and 16 of 24 women in my age group.

Post-Race
We drove (that is, I drove, which is so much fun after a lengthy slog-fest) back to the hotel but at least it was not too far. After cleaning up and eating "lunch" of our leftovers from the night before, we decided to drive back to the Bristol area for our free ice cream cones. Unfortunately, the GPS decided that the best way to go to the bakery was over the backroads. Off-roading in the Yaris! Turns out there are a lot of unpaved roads in the Bristol area. It was like a roller coaster ride.

Found the bakery and got our ice cream plus coffee. The ice cream was disappointing. Seemed like they were trying to use it all up before shutting down for the season. Had a stale taste. We didn't finish our cones. Spotted the Italian/Japanese steakhouse across the street and decided on that for dinner.

What it was: a restaurant inside an inn which included a cozy inner room with American-style cuisine, a small room off to the side with a hibachi grill and a Japanese guy doing the steakhouse thing for people seated at a table around him, and a larger room that opened to a big deck where you could order American, Italian or Japanese. Oh, and what looked like a biker bar upstairs. Very confused place.

We sat in the larger, outside room and ordered steaks. They were okay. We took our leftovers back to the hotel to eat with breakfast. Steak and eggs!

Sunday morning, after breakfast, we drove back along the race course so I could show Susan what she missed by not doing the marathon. We stopped at Sculptured Rocks. Small, and quite underwhelming. Looked kind of like a section of an amusement park water ride. Or Class 5 rapids for Barbie and Ken? So after a couple of minutes of looking at that, it was time to hit the highway.

And that's the story. In summary: a nice little race but nothing fabulous. But overall, not bad. Challenging course. I stunk, but that was not unexpected.