36 - Maine Marathon - Portland, Maine

As I mentioned in my last blog — running two marathons back-to-back, 2 days in a row — what was I thinking? 

After I finished running the New Hampshire Marathon on Saturday, I jumped in the car and took off for the 2.5-hour drive to Portland, Maine. I felt tired but not that bad after my shower and massage.

The drive to Portland, Maine on back-country roads was picturesque. However, the rain, which had fortunately stopped for most of the race on Saturday, started again.

My hotel was near the Maine Marathon start/finish area at the University of Southern Maine.  While picking up my number, one of the volunteers recommended a local place, The Great Lost Bear for dinner, so that's where I ended up eating.  Saturday night I slept really well — no surprise! I guess running a marathon that day helped.

Starting line

Sunday morning was a cloudy, cool autumn day. Fortunately, the rain had again stopped, and it looked like it was going to hold out for the run.  There were about 3 times the number of runners (about 900)  at the Maine start compared to the day before in New Hampshire.

Immediately after the starting gun sounded, the rain started and poured on and off during the entire marathon.  This was definitely NOT fun!

Double marathon veterans shared that the first few miles of the second marathon (remember that I did two marathons in one weekend) were tough but after a few miles, you loosen up.  This was NOT the case for me, every step was torture. All I kept thinking was, What are you doing?  WHY are you doing this?  To be honest the answers never came to me.  But after completing the marathon on Sunday, Nancy (my childhood friend from Pompton Plains, NJ who now lives in New Hampshire) made an excellent point, I now had bragging rights — no one could ever say that I was a wimp for not ever running a "double."  Not sure if I every really wanted them, but it sure sounds good now that it's over.

The Portland course was scenic like the day before but not nearly as hilly.  This day I was not holding back, I was going as fast as I could, but felt like I was crawling.  Surprisingly, I actually ran slightly faster than the day before, but it sure as heck did not feel like it.  On Saturday, I ran an 11:19 average mile pace whereas my average mile pace on Sunday was 11:15— yes, a whopping 4 seconds faster per mile.

Almost finished...

Finished!

My finish time on Sunday was 3.5 minutes faster than my time on the day before.  More or less, I finished both marathons in just under 5 hours.

Nancy, Lola, Brian

After the marathon, I took a long hot shower in the University's locker room and then headed back to Nancy and Brian's in New Hampshire.  I collapsed on their comfy couch and watched some Sunday football.  Sorry about those Jets, Brian. We had pizza delivered for dinner and I retired to slumber land early.

Monday I drove back to Pennsylvania where Mark was waiting for me.  He was not able to join me for the "double" weekend; he had just returned from lecturing all weekend at the New York State Veterinary Conference.