Bucks County Marathon: Sure, lets race a marathon today!

As loyal followers of this blog may know, my race at Stone Cat did not go anywhere near as planned. Thankfully, lots of running and hiking on trails in Maine (particularly on Pleasant Mountain) did a lot to heal. Not to mention that during that span, my legs felt really good.

So it was not out of the question that when I returned to Philadelphia on Friday that I would see if there was a race to do. Oddly enough, this past weekend was light on racing. However, I did notice that up in Washington Crossing, the Bucks County Marathon was taking place on Sunday. I filed that away. Saturday morning, I woke up and did nice quiet 10 miles along the river. Still, I thought about the marathon on Sunday. Normally, a marathon after such a long easy day would be out.

After discussing it with the spouse, I decided I'd figure it out Sunday morning. The 9am start with less than an hour drive, made it easy to sleep in and make the call when I wake up.

I didn't have a great sleep on Saturday due to some tooth discomfort. So I had no problem waking up on Sunday. After mulling it a bit, I decided around 7:15 to go run up in Washington Crossing. (Left at 7:30) At this point, I was more towards the decision to run the marathon. Part of what was holding me back was the race day fee of 125 bucks. I don't normally make snap judgments with high cost like this. My take was if on the way up, I don't want to race, I can run along the towpath on the NJ side. If anything, it would break up some monotony of running the same places near home.

Drive up along I-95 felt good. As I pulled into the parking lot close to 8:15, I was going all in. I was running the marathon. I walk the 1/3 mile to the registration area with my gear bag and register. I hand over my check and get my number. I was not the only person who decided to race a marathon that morning as around 11-12 people signed up race day! Managed to get a small size long sleeve tech-shirt too!

At this point, I find a good spot for my bag near the start/finish and spot Pat McCloskey, the RD. I chat him up a bit and ask who was the guy looking to go fastest. He tells me Brandon Carter, last year's number two was hoping to run 2:37. This was the same time, I jotted down on my entry form for prediction considering the 50 miler a mere week earlier. At this time, I also find out Pat does comps if you ask and provide information to justify it. Did not know this. Once we go off for our respective duties, I hit the line-free port-a-potties. It was great! I should mention that if you are looking for a nice size marathon of 500 people max, this is a great event as the number of potties can handle much more in terms of number, especially with public restrooms nearby!

Anyways, I shake a bit of rust off my legs and line up in the first wave. Before I know it, Pat is giving us the go and we are off. Immediately, I settle in alongside Brandon. Let me say he has a fantastic beard but he was also a Redskins fan wearing an Eagles jersey. We seemed to separate ourselves relatively quickly on the initial paved section before hitting the towpath. The towpath was mainly packed dirt or fine gravel throughout. In all, we might have had 3-4 miles of pavement the whole race. Our first aid station was around mile 2. Brandon grabbed something and dropped back for a moment. I skipped this station. In a bit, Brandon reconnected. A few more miles down the road, same thing happened with my flying by the aid station and Brandon dropped off when he took aid. This time however, he did not come back. Knowing his talent, I moved as steady as I could. I was not really checking my mile splits. Every few miles, I would look. But with the day cool and feeling good, I ran comfortably. My mile times showed I was going under 6 minute pace. With the course out and back, I figured I would likely positive split so go out in whatever and hope to come back in 6 minute pace. I would hope that could be enough. Not until the turnaround, would I know if that was a possible strategy to implement.

In regards to the course, the setting was so beautiful and quiet. All I would see or hear really is the lead cyclist a bit ahead of me and the smattering of spectators.

Eventually, I reached the turnaround in around 1:15:24. At this point, it was look at my watch time and see what my lead is. Less than a few minutes later, I would see Brandon in 2nd. I figured I had 3 1/2 minutes up. Another 2-3 minutes I saw 3rd place. So I felt I had at least 2nd locked up if I was to be caught. However, on the way out, I noticed the course was a tad uphill in spots, so when I saw the first people behind me, I was on a downhill grade so I opened it a bit to keep the tempo up. I felt smooth still. And the best part now was all of the other runners encouraging me as they were headed out! Their support kept me energized more than the occasional gatorade or gels I was consuming. My thoughts turned to running as fast as possible and hope I had 4 minutes up with 10K remaining. There was no longer any desire to settle for second, I wanted to win. I kept pushing. Around the 10K mark, the course circles around giving runners a chance to spot others in the race. Coming out of this little paved loop section, I know I had at least 4 minutes with a little over 5 to go. At this point, I told myself, do not give back more than 15 seconds a mile. Yet, because I was now checking my splits at mile intervals, I was holding just under 6 pace! Not only was I easily going to go under 2:40....I was going to crack 2:35!

With a mile to go, I was now on the 'spiral of death' which is how Pat described the early and last part of the course which make up the majority of the pavement in the race. And after 20+ miles on soft surface, the pavement sucked. So much so, once I knew I had the race victory now, I was like, I'm going to drop a 7 minute mile here and enjoy this. If I run 2:33....awesome. And for much of the spiral I did that, until the last .2. I looked at my watch and saw if I hammered just that bit more, I could crack 2:32. That is exactly what I just did! I ran through the line in 2:31:53. My third fastest marathon just a week after a 50 miler and a month after my 2:30:03 in Steamtown. I was amazed at what I just did.

Heck, I even jokingly looked at Pat and said 'Can I have my race entry back?' Surprisingly, he said yes to it! That was a cherry on top! Especially since I made such a split decision to do the race.

Pat found my drumsticks and gave me a 'what the heck are these for?' We got some nice shots of us with him holding them.

After a bit second place came in but it was not Brandon. It was Brian Cullen in 2:47:02. Brandon held on to third. So I turned a three/four minute lead at the HM into a 15 minute win. Seeing them come in, I walked my gear back to the car while I had energy and to let Peg know how things went. With awards to be done after the third female, I was going to hang out and enjoy some of the delicious food which included handmade veggie burgers! Tasty! I didn't eat much else but I certainly was stuffing my face with one of those burgers when Pat did the awards. It was funny. At least to me because I was so classy looking with a face full of food.

Not long following awards, I said my goodbyes to Washington Crossing and drove home for a lovely evening. All in all a great day!

A few other tidbits:
The course is not entirely flat as many of the junctions where there is a bridge that crosses over the path, the path dips down and up for a few speed bumps.

I've been experiencing some tooth pain since around Thursday. The cold has been good for it so running has not been a problem. (Today, I went to the dentist and there was no signs of anything major so the cause is a bit of a mystery at the moment. Hopefully, some clean up he did will help.)

Raced in my one of my pairs of the Brooks T-7. Knowing the surface I knew I did not need to use the Saucony A3's since they don't have too many big races left. My alternative would have been the Montrail FluidFlex. But once I walked across the field and saw the moisture ice up a bit on my toes, I swapped out for the Brooks. Both the T-7's and the FluidFlex's were considered due to the light weight and race surface.

Now, I know another place where I can go enjoy some easy but scenic running.

Stone Cat 50 Mile Recap: Crumbling Kitten

Today is November 15th, one week after I ran the Stone Cat 50 Miler up in Willowdale State Forest in Ipswich, MA. It has taken me this long to write up my recap for a couple of reasons. One, I was on vacation in Maine where I tend to be much more removed from technology. Second, I was busy running the mountain near the house we stay at and doing some hikes. Both of these have been beneficial in enabling me to even do a race recap for Stone Cat.

In short, I consider it the worst ultra performance of my ultra-career. (Despite placing 2nd in 6:28:23) Respectfully, I should have seen this coming....

Back over the summer I was looking for a fast 50 mile race to take a crack at sub 6 hours. In examining my options, I got down to Stone Cat and the Nashville Ultra in early November. (Due to JFK's entry fee, I did not consider it.) Stone Cat became my preferred choice as it could easily be tied into a vacation to the house my spouse shares with her sister in Maine. Plus, it was two weeks after Fire on the Mountain as opposed to just 1 for Nashville. Thankfully, I lucked out on the lottery and got into Stone Cat back in July. As thus, Stone Cat became a nice A-race to close out the year of big races. And despite it being the third marathon or longer in a month span, I was geared to it. I had to be knowing Samuel Jurek and Sebastien Roulier were in the field. Both guys had times sub 6:15. My logic was it would take a sub 6 possibly to win on an extremely runable course. So yeah, some pressure there.

A couple weeks back, the spouse told me she did not ask her relatives living 45 minutes from the race site about staying with them since we'd have out dog Falcon. This left a bit of a small scramble but luckily the race hotel, the Comfort Inn in Danvers, took pets in addition to having a great rate! This settled things.

However.....on the Thursday, before the race, I locked my keys in my car during a run. My spouse had to come back from work in NYC early to retrieve the car for me since she had the spare pair on her. Stress where I shouldn't have had it....not good.

The next day, Friday, we drove up to MA with only a dash of problems the worst of which was 95 20 miles from the hotel. Not bad since we still made good time, had an easy time checking in, prepped my bottles and gear for the morning while grabbing some take out Panera. (Sadly, they did not remember to give me my Cinnamon Roll.)

All this was fine.....until.....sleep. Went to bed around 10 to wake up around 4:30. An hour later, Falcon barked. We had never stayed in a hotel with him before. He usually is not a barker but he is always attentive. (He is a shepard/chow mix.) Typically, telling him once to stop does the trick. Not this night. Anyways, while he did not bark throughout the night, this instance kept me awake far too long. Stress level HIGH! In the end, I managed only 3 hours of sleep due to being unsettled.

To say I was pissed would be an understatement, I was furious. Thankfully, the drive to the race was easy enough. My spouse, Peg, and Falcon came along. Falcon would be in and out of the car during my race. Peg was a trooper on this day because she knew I was not going to be rosy after the night. My focus was off and physically, I was exhausted. These factors played a big role in my effort.

At check in, I ran into a former HS XC teammate's brother, who I also knew. He was there crewing for a friend of his also doing the 50. It was great to see him and gave me a slight boost.

Before I knew it, 6:15 had arrived and we were off. Three of us, Samuel, Sebastien and I ran together up front almost from the get go. We had some nice conversation. It was really the best part of the day for me. Eventually, Sebastien dropped off the back. I was feeling exhausted. I recall looking at my watch and one point going, 'it's only been 15 minutes! I feel like it has been 30' That said it all. Despite running with Sam for a while, he pulled away and put 2 minutes on me before the end of the 1st lap.

All I could think about was how exhausted I was. Essentially, I was mentally defeated already. During ultras, we all hit that bad patch. Well, I spent much of the race trying to find a good patch. As I finished the first of four 12.5 mile loops, I changed handhelds and mentioned how exhausted I felt to Peg. I was so out of it, I had almost forgotten to take off my gloves, arm warmers and tech shirt I had on at the start due to the cold. Rookie. I tried to run faster but I just did not have any gears. My head and body kept me back from pushing with any relative ease. I was fighting myself and I was losing. After the second lap, Sam had gained another 2 minutes on me. At this point, my only goal really was to finish. This was because I made a promise to Peg that once the race was over, I would be in vacation mode. And the only way, I could do it was to finish because I would really have been pissed about the lack of sleep had I not run 50 miles. Sam's lead grew after 3 to 8 minutes. My pace was ugly. I wanted to sit down and nap or just go for a walk through the woods. I mentioned this time to Peg that I wanted to go to Maine after the race instead of staying another night so we could see family the following morning.

In the end, I slogged through the last lap and SOMEHOW managed to finish in 2nd place. I was happy to be done but sad that I could not give it my best. I allowed myself to mentally lose prior to reaching the starting line. Granted physically, I was drained from the lack of sleep but I do think beginning a race in a bad headspace was my biggest downfall. Due to that, I would claim this as my worst performance since becoming an ultramarathoner. There was no reason I could not have given Samuel a better run for his money. And let me say, he ran an outstanding race. My hat's off to him.

Eventually, I came off my stance of wanting to leave for Maine immediately. And if you were to ask Peg, I handled things much better than you would have expected. Thankfully, the weather in Maine was ideal and on Monday when I finally got to hit trails on Pleasant Mountain, I was able to move on.

Where do I go from here? Maybe try to add something before the end of the year. Likely won't be a 50 miler since I would have to find money to travel for one of those.