Still my conscience wouldn't allow me to do that - nor would the weather. Although I arrived for packet pick-up a good hour before the race, I ended up scrambling around until the last five minutes. First it was the bathroom. I overlooked the port-a-potties in the dark and rainy conditions. Found a Kroger a little ways down. Then I decided I should find a poncho so that I might have a chance of getting through the race with or without rain. They didn't have one, but directed me to Wal-Mart, where I purchased a $0.92 poncho.
The field of participants was small, but not nearly as small as it would get after the half marathoners split up from us. There wasn't much fanfare before the start, which was fine with me. I happily conversed with a fellow marathoner from the Atlanta area running his 20th marathon before the race started. He went on to get 2nd place in the grandmaster's division. There was a good turnout of Marathon Maniacs, two of whom I got to talk to during the race - Troy and Cathie Johnson. Those two have achieve Titanium level (level 10!) in the marathon maniacs, after running 33 marathons in a year (30 marathons in 30 different states within a year will get you to that level). Troy and Cathie are a "mature" married couple. Through our conversation I learned that they've been running marathons for 15/16 years, this was their 163 marathon, that they've done every marathon together (so sweet!) and finished running all 50 states and DC in 2002. They were a very nice couple, so I look forward to seeing them at future events.
The best part of the race/benefit after the race? I qualified to join the Marathon Maniacs!! I'm entry level (Bronze) for now, but not for too long. My number is 5908.
As for the race itself, I enjoyed it, although it wasn't easy. Running a marathon the week after another takes its toll on your body. Nonetheless, I managed to speed up my time on this one over last week's race, finishing in 4:35:49.
Course Rating
Course: 3.0/5.0
Organization: 5.0/5.0
Fans: 3.7/5.0
Swag: 4.7/5.0
Overall: 4.1/5.0
Course
The course itself was okay. The biggest downside was a long 5-6 miles stretch on a four lane highway. I understand the whole course can't necessarily be beautiful, but it was pretty boring and dreary out there, and at the time we reached that area (roughly Miles 5-11) the half marathoners had just split off from us, so there weren't many people to run near. Most of the rest of the course was run on little back roads, through country neighborhoods, which was cute and pleasant. The course support was astounding. There were police officers/firefighters/volunteers blocking almost every intersection! Many of them were very encouraging, which made up for the lack of actual spectators on the course. The biggest downside to the course was that there were many areas where the road was very sloped, which I found very difficult to run on. Additionally, there were aid stations with water and gatorade (and oranges later in the course) every two miles - and every aid station had a port-o-potty! Organization
Details for the event were well communicated on the website and in a pre-race email that was sent a couple of days prior to the event. Additionally, packet pick-up was quick and easy (there were only 115 marathon finishers so no congestion there!). I didn't go to an expo or anything, so I can't comment on that. They also allowed you to change your shirt size, which was a nice perk that isn't always offered. The course was easy to follow with assistance/signage at all the turns. I was really surprised at how well-organized everything was even after reading reviews about how nice a job they do in this regard. Additionally, the race results were posted within a day online.
Fans
There weren't many actual fans/spectators out on the course, however, there were an extensive number of volunteers who served as cheerleaders throughout the course. There were a couple of places with high schoolers cheering us on that was very nice. Additionally, the police officers and firefighters directing and blocking traffic offered support much of the time. I would have liked more support at the finish line, though. There were only a couple of people clapping for any given finisher at a time. It would have been nice to have some volunteers there just to bring a bit more excitement to the end. The guy I met before the race that got 2nd place in the grandmasters went the wrong way with less than .2 of a mile to go - if there had a been a cheering crowd, I doubt that would have happened...just an illustration of how quiet it was.
Swag
Loved the swag. I haven't taken a picture yet, but I'll post it when I do. I did find one online - below it shows both the half and full marathon medals, and that's the swag bag, not the shirt. Received a nice green long sleved tech shirt. Came in men and women's cuts. Only improvement I would recommend there would be to make one just for the marathon. The medal is heavy. Also received a hat.
Overall
I enjoyed this race and would do it again, albeit probably not until I've run many other races, and only because it's convenient. For others I would recommend this race if the schedule/location works out for you or you just want to knock off Tennessee, but I wouldn't necessarily travel just for this race outside of that.
The best part of this race were all the friendly volunteers and fellow marathoners.
Five marathons down and three more on my "immediate" list, starting this weekend in West Virginia! I'm super excited about this one because it will be my boyfriend's (Julius) first marathon. Additionally, my mom will be joining us - yay for help splitting up the 10 hour drive! - for her 3rd marathon. Julius like Civil War history so he wanted to do this one, and I'm stoked to be running through Antietum and four national parks, too.
To get pumped up about the West Virginia Freedom's Run, we watched a documentary called The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia. It was about the most redneck, southern trash family you could find. They followed them for a year. This is an exaggeration, but seemed like about half of them died - mainly from fights/shootings. Notorious for sure. So now we're ready to go to hickville, haha! My grandfather on my dad's side and his whole family is from WV, so I guess I'm getting in touch with my roots.
In other news, the underside of my right foot, close to my arch, was acting up during the entire STP marathon, and only got worse after, so I haven't run at all this week. I'm still recovering. I may try to get a run in tonight, informal medical advice from my family be damned. We'll see. I hate sitting around for too long.
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