Frederick Marathon

I finished the Frederick marathon in 4:58 - woo-hoo, under 5 hours! This was the first marathon I've finished in under 5 hours since Delaware many years ago, which was my PR at 4:30~ish.

The race was held at the Frederick County fairgrounds. I and several hundred other cars were directed to park in a grassy field ("Lot D") a short walk from the starting line.

I picked up my race packet the night before, and also picked up Tammy's packet. I got there early enough to find Tammy and pass along her bib.

The race started at 6:30. It was cool but not cold, short sleeves were perfectly comfortable. Lots of locals cheering.

The forecast was a 9 in 10 chance of rain, and the rain did not disappoint. At 8 little drips started coming down, followed by more drips, and then a light, steady rain for the rest of the race. There were intermittent dry stretches. I was soaked through from 8:30 onwards.

There was a humongous hill at mile 17 (up) and mile 23 (down). Really quite a hill.

I met an interesting guy named Todd. Said he had run 250 marathons, he lived in LA but was born in the western Maryland area. The real thing that was interesting about him I thought was that he was running this road race in bare feet. How incredible! He must have leather for feet. He said he did it because he didn't like wet socks. Who can blame him? But I wouldn't have lasted 10 minutes in bare feet with those little rocks and sand and etc.

The finish line temp was about 53F with a little breeze picking up. The food was in a big tent under the grand stands, and the massages were off on the side. I opted out of the massage, looking for my nice warm car instead. I drank a bottle of smart water and ate a granola bar, gathered some other things to nibble on, and headed towards where my car should be.

Funny, the walk to the starting line didn't seem to be anywhere near as long as the walk back. The field was now full of mud and dirt, but walking through the grass kept most of the mud away. My feet were totally wet in the mud, but my shoes were soaked anyway so it didn't really matter that much.

Tammy caught up with me on the way to my car - she finished about 45 minutes ahead of me. She said my lips were a shade of dark purple and encouraged me on to my car. I passed along her packet along with her jacket. It's a very nice acrylic anorak-style jacket, light-weight.

I continue to have chafing issues along the leg holes of my underwear and also where the heart monitor passes around my chest and beneath my arm. Not awful, but very uncomfortable. I've got UnderArmor, and it does a great job of wicking, but after 26 miles it is just rubbing me the wrong way. I'm going to try Body Glide in both places in June and see if that doesn't help some.

I estimate maybe 5,000 people total participated in the 5K/half/marathon. It was a fun event. I need to learn to like hills better.