After Delaware’s 16 loops, we wound up with 18 loops in Elkton, MD. The Fair Hills NRMA (Natural Resources Management Area) had stables, fairgrounds, and proved to be a long course. By the end of the 18 loops (18!!), my Garmin was showing I had run 27.4 miles. It’s okay — I consumed more than enough goodies from the aid station to make up for the mileage differential.
Speaking of which, I did find one slip of paper with notes on Days 1 and 2 of the Independence Series, and I forgot to include a detail on the food from Day 1. At the end of the race, I nibbled on a bean and cheese quesadilla Norm cooked up… only he must have literally just put them on the table. Biting into it, the molten cheese melted my face a la the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Over a week later, my mouth and lips still smart from the 1000 degree burns sustained in Delaware. What can I say? Sometimes you get the Bear and sometimes the Bear burns you.
Amidst the second loop of the course, my right headphone wire splintered, rendering the music from my iPod mono or at times left-field playing only. I therefore went without tunes for the remaining 16 loops.
This was a milestone event for a number of MainLyners, the term for the frequent flier/runners of the Mainly Marathon events. Hanne Burleson herself was hitting her 50th 5K with the group; Jim and Blaine were hitting their 100th.
Various other folks had hit their milestones throughout the week but I didn’t always write down who did what when. You’d think during the many, many loops I’d be able to create some sort of mnemonic device to recall such things… or at the very least, download the details Keanu Reeves style with an 80gig brain.
As always, the Black Cone is a blessing and a curse:
Also as always, in seeing the same folks round and round, you get to cheer people through hardships and accomplishments. Here’s Chef Norm running his way to a marathon to cross off Maryland on his personal 50 state quest — I didn’t suggest he run over hot coals to approximate the burning my lips still felt from the previous day’s quesadilla.
***
Clyde Shank is a fella I’ve seen all over, including a random chance encounter at Mardi Gras World in New Orleans. He’s always positive and very often encourages me with a “way to hammer, Kevin.” With his Texas twang, it’s a choice bit of cheering support. I’m not 100% sure I understand what it means — I assume it’s that I’m speeding along but part of me also wonders if it’s partly a John Henry-ish tale — will I hammer to victory only to collapse at story’s end? These are the types of stray thoughts that float through one’s head loop after loop, mile after mile.
***
Steve Boone is one of the founding members of the 50 States Marathon Club and I often see him, his wife Paula, and their Sock Monkey at events. Always welcoming and always pushing frontiers to new places and adventures, they’re great to catch up with. While Steve was on the course, Paula volunteered and helped out at the aid station. Also at the aid station today were Bill and Courtney Bird and their kids, helping out and providing the kind of concierge support only elites get at other races. It truly is a family affair at these events.
***
In the end, I came in third overall with a time of 3:51:20.
***
Not so hidden in the Points of Interest section on the Mainly Marathons website, the Decoy Museum of Havre de Grace, MD, promised to be, “one of the finest collections of Chesapeake Bay waterfowl decoys ever assembled.” How could I not go and see that?
Amongst the folk art and practical use decoys, there were also decoys of the artisans who crafted these ducks. It reminded me of that old SNL sketch about the Mr Belvedere fan club, wherein chairperson Tom Hanks keeps telling members it’s not okay to want to put Brocktune (the codeword for Mr. Belvedere) in a glass jar in their basement. It kinda creeped me out… even more so than the numerous duck displays and evolution of the shotgun pavilion.
No real museum would be complete without a gift shop…
If you read my original post on the day, you’ll know I was furious about the $8 toll bridge to get out of Havre de Grace. I still feel like I got lured in and suckered… which might just make the Decoy Museum one of the most accurately named museums of all time.
Eight dollars! EIGHT DOLLARS! Sheesh.
