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Sub 3 hour marathons are fantasy for folks like me.  We have to settle for sub-4 hour marathons.

At last week’s Rhinebeck Marathon I was able to sneak in my second sub-4 race.  It was a rainy morning and I had never run a marathon in the rain.  Candidly, I didn’t really have it in me to go that morning.  Tired, cold – why bother.

The only reason I did is that this marathon is special to me for two reasons.  First, it was only it’s third year in existence and I had run the first two years.  I’m looking for one or two marathons I can run for years (decades??).  Since Rhinebeck is only an hour away or so, it is a logical choice.  Second, the first year I ran that marathon (it’s first year in existence), there were only 21 finishers . . . and I was 9th.  Yup, I had a “top ten” marathon finish.  I will take it.

As I got through the first half (I ran for a while with a gentleman who was 420 lbs a couple of years ago but had gastric bypass and was now around 190 – tall guy), I felt decent.

About 18 miles in, as is the usual case, I started to tire.  However, at around 20 I felt better and at 22 I noticed – I was right on that witching hour – the 4 hour bubble.  Maybe, just maybe, I could sneak through.

I rounded the bend at mile 26.1 and could see I was at 3:59:20.  Tired, soaking wet, I did the only thing I could do those last thirty seconds.  I ran!   Chip time had me in at 3:59:46 with a “gun time” of 3:59:50 (chip vs. gun time for those who don’t know simply means I was a few seconds behind the official starting lie by the time I crossed it vs. the time the starting whistle was blown).

I can’t say I’m on a quest to be one of those 50 State marathon people, but let’s face it, I’m on a quest to be one of those 50 State marathon people.

My cousin, who has run a number of marathons, told me about the Tobacco Road marathon in Cary, NC for March of 2017.  She told me about it months ago so we registered with the goal to beat a specific time for her.   I drove from NY and overnighted in Raleigh.  I had been eyeing a 5k in Raleigh the day before the Tobacco Road marathon.

Unfortunately, the weather for the drive down grew rainer and less and less pleasant, and I didn’t make it to my hotel until about 1 AM Saturday morning (the marathon was Sunday).  Suffice to say, I decided to sleep in and see Raleigh.

The hotel, however, had other plans.  This has only happened to me once before, but the alarm clock in my room apparently was not turned off, so at 6 AM, less than 5 hours before I went to sleep, it went blaring off.   Now, I was naturally angry at the alarm clock, housekeeping, whoever caused the alarm to go off (it wasn’t me).  Rather though than let my anger stew, I did what any angry runner with a nearby 5K would do – I got up and went to the 5k race.  It was a rainy morning at the Chik Fil A race series – called Ellas’ Run, in Raleigh.  Cold and miserable, it was what it was.

My anger must have been appropriately channeled to the road as I was able to win my age group.  The prize was a great cow bell.  I’m normally not a 5k runner.  However, when you surprise yourself and finish first in your age group, it’s an awfully nice morning.  

In 1996, my future wife and I went on our first trip together.  Disneyworld.  We had no kids, were just out of college, and rather than go to a beach or some party city, we chose the Magic Kingdom.   Disney is a part of the lives of millions of around the world so we aren’t that unusual.

Over the years we’ve been to Disneyland Paris, Disneyland (California), and Aulani – Disney’s Hawaii resort.  We are Disney Vacation Club members.  Yes, we are a Disney family.

In 2016 I told my wife I wanted to run the Disneyworld Marathon.  “oh no you aren’t, not without me” she said.  Huh.  I’ll get her.  So when Marathon registration opened up, I went online and signed her and I up.  She’s a teacher, so in the middle of class she gets an email saying she was registered for the 2017 Disneyworld marathon.  THAT generated an interesting response.

The deal was she would do it, but I couldn’t tell anyone.  She was petrified she would not finish.  I was confident she would.  The week before the race, we told her mother (somebody had to watch the kids when we were at Disney).  Her mother had a suspicion – mother’s have that intuition no matter what the age.

Marathon morning at Disneyworld was the coldest marathon morning I had ever had.  January in Florida this year was MUCH colder than normal – colder than the early November NYC Marathon I had done just two months ago and cooler than the late November Philadelphia marathon I had done just 7 weeks before.

We wore three layers of clothes and were finally off.  It was truly a great experience.  Running through all four Disney parks – places we had been numerous times, was just such a thrill.  Disney says every mile is magic.  It sure was.

Now I’m married to a marathon runner.  How cool is that!

A few quick notes:

The Chicago Marathon entry deadline for 2017 was early this year. Last week I got the email that I AM IN!  So Columbus Day weekend 2017 will be spent on Chicago again!

In just a few weeks I go to Orlando to run the Disneyworld Marathon with a special new marathon runner – and I don’t mean Mickey. Stay tuned!

The scale. My waist is comfortable at 33 or 34 inches but this week I go for my second weigh in at the doctor for this year. Over the six month intervals between doctor visits my weight creeps up and I then have to push to drop about 10 – 12 lbs before my appointment. The scale breeds accountability now as much as it bred embarrassed frustration three and a half years ago when I started this journey.

Given that Christmas and New Year’s are soon and I am very busy at work this is likely my last post for 2016. In the spring of 2013 I weighed 286 lbs. Now, I’m about half that and have run 21 marathons. If I can do it, so can you.

I  think the blog post title is a song by someone. I was able to hit my third big city marathon this fall – Philadelphia. It was my 5th marathon in ten weeks and I think I have a new favorite one.

When you can run the streets Ben Franklin walked, have friendly Philadelphia police cheering you on, run through the frat house row of one of America’s great colleges, see the Liberty Bell and Constitution Hall, meet a lot of friendly people and end at the famous “Rocky” steps, you’ve had a great day.

Philadelphia wasn’t my fastest or my slowest but it was my most enjoyable marathon experience by myself. Unlike NY, I didn’t have to arrive four hours early. Philly had buses that picked you up at your hotel and take you to the start. It was a great course and a friendly crowd. I absolutely want to do this one again.

If you can make it there you can make it anywhere they say.  I’m running the New York City marathon. How cool is that.

• I was in Long Island on marathon day 1992. I remember because a group of us were heading back to college in Albany and we got delayed because of the NYC Marathon. We all made numerous (negative) comments about the absurdity of running a marathon. Those were pre smart phone days so most of us probably did not know the Marathon distance other than to say it was a long run.

Now, 24 years later my wife dropped me off at 645 am so I could wait four hours to start my run. The NYC Marathon is epic for marathon runners. You run through parts of all five boroughs – starting in Staten Island, before ending in Central Park. You head right out over the Verrazano bridge and you are off.

I had a cold that day but wasn’t going to let that stop me. By the end I was really feeling it. Still, it was THE NYC marathon- the largest in the world. It was a great day.

I had been looking forward to the Chicago Marathon ( https://www.chicagomarathon.com)  since April.  Now, the weekend arrived.  I wasn’t sure how I would do having run a Marathon on September 11 and then just the week before, but Chicago here we are!

Allison and I flew in for a weekend without the kids (sad but also kind of fun).  We stayed at the Residence Inn Downtown Loop – about half a mile from the start.  The race Expo was hard to find but it was a great expo.  We met Deena Kastor (www.DeenaKastor.com) at the expo.  Deena is the American female record holder in the Marathon and won an Olympic Medal at the Athens Olympics in the Marathon – if you’ve got to choose a place to medal in the Marathon, it may as well be where it all started!

The race itself was great.  You run through over 25 of Chicago’s neighborhoods – starting on the Miracle Mile of Michigan Avenue (actually in Grant Park which borders the Michigan).  While the second largest marathon in the United States, I settled in with a nice pace group and talked with a guy from Ireland and numerous other people.

Allison saw me on the course a few times but I only saw her once near the end – although I heard her as well at one point.

I reflected with some emotion about my fall of 2012 visit to Chicago.  It was the same weekend – Columbus Day.   I was nearing my heaviest point.  If you had bet me that the next time I went to Chicago I would either (a) have won the lottery or (b) be running the Chicago Marathon, I would more likely have bet on the lottery.   Seeing some of the same sites that I’d seen four years before, but this time running a marathon was emotional.  That being my 19th marathon you might think I was “used to it” by now.  I’m not.  Not even close.  Running a marathon humbles you in many ways.  Running it in one of America’s great cities even more so.   I am absolutely going to sign up for the Chicago Marathon and hope I get lucky and get selected again.

Marathon running in the summer in New York is not fun – so I generally don’t do it.  Now that the fall has started, I found a small Marathon relatively close to home – about 2 hours away in Binghamton.  The Maine, NY Marathon (Maine is home to the Little League world Champs BTW), was a two loop out and back course with probably 100 half marathoners and  . . . 20 Marathoners.

Marathon link:  http://www.irunforhalfmarathon.com

The organizer of it was a gentleman who was nearly 70 and it was his 100th marathon.  I met another man there who had run over 350 marathons.  Things like this can keep an ego in check fast.  It was a nice course though – the leaves just thinking about changing colors with friendly crowd support.  The local girl scout troops staffed the water stops.  Other stops just had gatorade and water on the table inviting you to help yourself.  There were no bathrooms on the course except for during loops, but thankfully that wasn’t a concern.

The small marathons are nice – very encouraging.  Not sure I would do tho one again, but happy to have done it.

I started walking in the summer of 2013.  Walking was all I could do.  I took my first serious runs outside (meaning more than a few hundred yards!) in March of 2014 in Hawaii.  Nobody knew me so even if I looked downright silly I didn’t care.  By that point I was down about 100 lbs so while still overweight it wasn’t a disaster.

Now, back in Hawaii for my third trip there, I had 16 marathons done and running was a part of my identity.  My flight was around 6 AM out of Newark, direct to Hawaii.  I stayed up all night, got a (VERY) early run in on the treadmill to get part of my steps in, then headed to the airport.

We had a week booked at Marriott’s vacation club at Ko Olina, right in front of the path where I took my first serious runs.  I landed about 7 hours before my wife and kids (who had been vacationing in California for a bit before).  I got the rental car, drove to the hotel, threw my bags on the bed, put on some running gear and went out for a quick few miles on that same path.

One great thing about trying to get a step count and going to Hawaii is you pick up an extra 6 hours in your day.  So I more than finished my step count having slept most of the plane ride, went to the airport and picked up the rest of the gang.  I’m sure there are some places on earth that beat Hawaii, but I haven’t found it yet.

This is beautiful Ko Olina, Hawaii.  The hotel on the right is Aulani – a Disney property.  the jogging path goes in front of the hotels.

The scale doesn’t lie.   For my annual physical, stepping on the pressurized square that read nearly twice that high three years ago, I couldn’t help but smile.  I was pushing to break 145 and did so by .2 of a pound.  d did That meant I dropped just under a pound in the past year, which is fine with or without my weight history (weight stability in your 40’s is an accomplishment in and of itself).  The good news though was that my pants were looser than ever – so that means my body weight is shifting around in a good way.  So it was a good weigh then!