Adirondack Marathon
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Adirondack Marathon info
2007 Adirondack Marathon results
course map
photo slideshow
I signed up for the Adirondack Marathon in 2002 and 2006 and both times DNS'd (Did Not Start) - in 2002 due to my lack of training and Ann being sick, and in 2006 due to the Crash. So the big question today was - would the 3rd time prove to be the proverbial charm?
The short version -
- Did I finish? Yes, in 5 hours 41 minutes
- Which of the possible outcomes was this? Somewhere between #1 (victory!) and #2 (truce) - I ulimately ran at the average pace I expected to and found the course to be quite tough. If I got off my butt and trained more I might be able to achieve a more decisive victory. But right now I'm leaning toward a truce somewhat tilted in my favor.
- Will I do this one again? Probably not, for several reasons. But I won't say it will never happen.
- How was the course? Hills. Hills. Hills. And then, for a change - hills. Even the so-called flat sections were mainly very gradual uphills! (there was some downhill... but that mostly set us up to run more uphills!)
- Any last words? Ow. Ow. Ow. Can I go to sleep now?
The long version -
Be forwarned - I ran 26.2 miles and was out on the course for almost 5 3/4 hours. So the long version may end up being very long.
I've always heard that it's not how well you sleep the night before a race that's important, it's getting rest on the previous nights that makes the difference. Today's race definitely put that to the test, since last night my idiot college student upstairs neighbors decided to throw one of their parties and I ended up getting very little sleep due to all the racket. (I suppose my homicidal thoughts also contributed a certain amount to keeping me awake.) Note to self - in the future, stay at a motel close to the race site the night before a marathon!
Today's race was also interesting to pack for because a cold front moved into the area, bringing us temperatures much closer to the ones I ran in during March and April rather than the past month. I broke out long sleeves and my fleece vest for this one... and hoped I wouldn't regret leaving the tights at home!
The drive north to Schroon Lake had the advantage of taking place early enough that there was little other traffic on the Northway. The drive through the Adirondacks is always beautiful; today was different, however, in that shortly after entering the Park I hit a fog bank that stayed with me most of the way to Schroon Lake (and wasn't that a source of stress, as I imagined running 26.2 miles unable to see more than 10 feet or so in any particualr direction.) Made it into town, passing aid station tables and mile markers along Rt 9, found a good parking spot, and picked up my race packet (thankfully, the line for the marathon was much shorter than the line for the half!) Then I found a convenient pair of Porta-Potties (empty the first time I visited them, but a short line the 2nd time) and wandered around taking pictures of the lake and town before gearing up for the long run ahead of me. There was even a loon swimming around the boat docks, but he kept diving whenever I tried to take his picture.
In the end, I decided to just go with a long-sleeved shirt and no vest... it was moderately comfortable before the race, and in theory it would get warmer as the day progressed. Then I went down to the starting area to wait for things to begin.
About a dozen minutes before the marathon was scheduled to start, the three wheelchair athletes moved to the starting line and prepared for their race... and I was struck by how fortunate I am, to be walking and running and riding on my own two legs. If I ever lose the use of them - I can only hope to have a fraction of the spirit these guys have, to be wheeling themselves up and down some of the steep hills I ran today. Ten minutes before the marathon, the wheelchair racers got the signal to start and disappeared up the road to a great deal of cheering. And then we lined up and waited for the fun to begin.
After a few words about the course and an admonition to wait for the starting siren and not just go when the start clock hit 9:00, the race started and we headed off up the street, with a brief detour around the local school (I'm guessing the bring the course to exactly 26.2 miles) I was near the back, with a few folks running behind me. Hit the 1st mile marker at just under 11 minutes and realized that I was in for serious trouble if I continued at that pace, so I slowed up a bit and watched folks pass me. Ended up being paced by a really nice fellow named Bob who it turns out is from out near Wellsville and used to be on the organizing committee for the Ridgewalk & Run which I'm signed up to do in late October! We ran along at a pretty comfortable pace, about 12 minute miles, and chatted about all sorts of things as the surroundings got a bit more rural. Turns out he's currently working on a degree in psychology, with the potential goal of becoming a school psychologist... another educator! It was definitely nice to have such pleasant company those first few miles.
At about mile 4 I stopped to relieve an overfull bladder, and Bob disappeared up the first of the long hills. From then on I was running alone most of the time, though much of the time I had other runners (and later walkers in sight.)
Only one word is needed to describe miles 4 to 12: HILLS. If there was a level stretch in there it didn't last long enough for me to notice. In many ways it reminded me of some of the road runs I've done over in Slingerlands and down in the Berkshires - woods all around and mile after mile of climbing up and running down hills. There were several water stops along the way, all staffed by fantastic volunteers - one of those stops was the first one where they checked my race number as I approached the stop and cheered me on by name as I came through... that was pretty cool. There was also a small group of school band students who were enthusiastically playing and cheering as I ran by. But the highlight had to be the Burlington Taiko drummers who were set up and drumming away along one hill between miles 11 and 12. Drumming always gets my blood flowing, and taiko even more so! I ran up that hill with extra energy in my step and a big smile on my face, resisting the temptation to yell out "Yoi! (Good!)" as I ran by.
Around mile 12 or so the big hills finally started to wind down as I came to the center of the town of Adirondack. While I'd been able to catch brief glimpses of the lake during the previous miles, the next 4 to 5 miles ran along the lake shore, offering some great views of the water (as well as lots of houses with private beaches!) I ran through the halfway point and half marathon start at 2hr 39 min... a pretty good time all told, but also an indication that I was slowing down a little bit from the 12 minute miles I'd been running for much of the first half.
Other than the views of the lake and the mountains off in the distance, miles 12.5 to 17 were not quite as scenic as the woods I'd been running in for much of the first half. Also, while many of the volunteers had talked about how the course is flat once you get past mile 12.5, in reality it was mostly a very gradual uphill, which in many ways is much more difficult to run consistently than short steep hills. Toward the end of this stretch I could definitely feel the miles (and my insufficient training) taking their toll - running definitely was starting to hurt, and my pace was definitely slowing. Also, it was along here that my digestive system starting acting up, and I ended up in a certain amount of discomfort because of gas buildup. Unfortunately, it wasn't until around mile 20 that I was able to find an available port-a-john and get some relief (there was one just as I rounded the southern end of the lake, but it was occupied and I was worried my legs would lock up if I stood around waiting for it!)
One of the things that was truly strange about this race was running along roads that were almost totally devoid of traffic, because all the local roads were closed for various durations during the race. This became the most evident when I turned onto route 9 and began the almost 9 mile slog to the finish. Half the road was blocked off by orange traffic cones, and periodically a state trooper would go through leading a small caravan of cars, but other than that the only traffic was race, emergency, and police vehicles. If not for the water stops and occasional folks waiting by the roadside to cheer us on, it would have been like one of those disaster movies where the majority of people are gone and everything is abandoned. Running along route 9 with no traffic was a very strange feeling.
The last 9 miles along Route 9 were a long, slow plod... much of it uphill, some gradual and some less so. Fortunately there were water stops at pretty much every mile marker, which gave me something to look forward to as I walked the uphills and slowly ran the level stretches and the downhills. Passed four folks walking along this stretch - two gals who seemed to be doing pretty well, and two fellows who seemed to be having a really rough time of it. Also found myself getting a bit chilly as the wind whistled down the open roadway. At one point I passed the studio of someone who does chainsaw sculptures - those were quite interesting and even a bit spectacular. Initially there were some nice views across the lake, but after that the main thing I saw was the seemingly endless road stretching out before me...
I pulled into the last water stop at mile 25 at 5 hrs 26 minutes, and asked the somewhat grumpy volunteer to snap a photo of me... he seemed quite happy that he had only 4 minutes left of what was no doubt a very boring job waiting for runners and walkers to come through. With only a mile and a quarter to go, I decided to pick up the pace, and did my best to run the rest of the distance, albeit very slowly. When the road re-opened and traffic starting coming through, I moved from the shoulder of the road up onto the sidewalk, and as I came into town I found myself occasionally needing to dodge pedestrians. But I also got a lot of encouraging comments from people walking by or hanging out along the sidewalk, which was good to hear and definitely helped keep me running.
I wish I could say that when I made the last turn for the final tenth of a mile to the finish line that I broke into a strong run and powered across the finish line, but the truth is, I unclipped my waist pack (in case there was a race photographer at the finish... my waist packs invariably make me look even heavier than I am) and continued my very slow run toward the finish line. As I got closer I heard the race announcer call out over his PA system "We have a someone coming in who's having a really tough time of it, he's had some really bad cramping problems, let's give him a lot of encouragement to finish!" and I wondered why he was saying that... then I realized there was a runner staggering toward the finish a little ways ahead of me. The announcer read off his name and watched him cross the finish line, then looked up and saw me approaching the finish. He called out "Hey - are you finishing?" and when I nodded yes said "OK, you're just sauntering up so casually I couldn't tell..." I think he read my name off after that, but I'm not positive because his comment ticked me off a bit - it may not have been obvious, but I was running as hard as I could after over 5 1/2 hours on the road. In any case, I crossed the finish in 5 hrs 41 min - I had finally completed the Adirondack Marathon on my third attempt!
After that I ditched my timing chip, got my finisher's medal, and tried to secure the thin foil "space blanket" around my shoulders while I collected some food to munch... ended up dropping it in the trash can instead, it was just too windy and eating was more important to me at that point. Checked out the T-shirts (they didn't have any in my size) and then slowly made my way back to the car to change into dry clothes. Along the way I decided that the announcer's comment at the end really bugged me - after encountering so many positive people on the course, having him make a comment that at least seemed mocking and belittling as I crossed the finish line really rubbed me the wrong way. Maybe I misinterpreted what he said, maybe he was just trying to be funny... but in the end, that comment left a sour taste in my mouth, and that means I'll probably never run the Adirondack Marathon again.
OK, I have to admit, grumbling about that aside -- there's a part of me that is tempted to run it again, and see if I can improve my finishing time. And someday that part may win out, because as I've already said, almost every other person I encountered on during the 26.2 miles was great... from race volunteers to folks standing at the ends of their driveways to middle school kids playing their instruments to pedestrians strolling through town as I was making my way along the last half mile or so. And I needed very bit of that positive support, because (1) this was a tough course, and (2) running at the back of the pack, I was lucky to even have other runners in sight after the first five miles... fortunately I'm very used to running by myself, but it was still mighty tough, and there were a few times when I found myself tempted to park it at an aid station and wait for a ride to the finish.
So I guess in the end, the question is - how does it feel to finally complete the Adirondack Marathon after 5 years, on my 3rd attempt. Two answers come to mind: It feels good. And, Ow. Ow. Ow. Can I go to sleep now?
JMH
2007 EVENT TOTALS
Running 201.9 mi, 47 hr 48 min
Cycling 26.2 mi, 1 hr 55 min
Snowshoe 31.3 mi, 9 hr 11 min
states visited: CT, MA, ME, NH, NY, VT
