The Steamtown Report

Although the results pretty much speak for themselves, they are only part of the story of TAF's domination at the Steamtown Marathon. This is the rest (note: most of this report is going to be written from my perspective being that I am me and no one else):

The Morning

The windshield of the car was covered in ice... granted, it was 5:20, but below freezing?!? Thanks to our early start, we were able to get on one of the first buses to Forest City High School. Everyone was kind of nervous, but you had to laugh at the R-U-N-N-E-R-S cheer being shouted as we got off the bus (but I do want to go ahead right now and thank all of the volunteers who got up so early and stood in the freezing cold). We got into the gym and set up camp, "reserving" one of the mats to sleep on. The next 1.5hrs was pretty uneventful... we tried to find Gary, John G., and John T... talked a bit to the woman sitting next to us (she was quite excited that I had an extra pair of neon pink gloves)... ate some nutritious and delicious PowerBars... etc.

The Start

At 7:50 we began moving outside. Rita and I wished Keith, Sean, and Dan good luck... run fast... see you in 26.2 miles... etc. The start was, well... how many races are started by cannon fire?!? It was really cool. Rita and I soon began running down the first hill, and within 0.1 miles spotted John T! We agreed that it was going to be a good day because (1) the cannon was awesome and (2) we found our friend.

Down, down, down we went. Sometime soon after, we passed a store named Tobacco Road. Cool... just like home... our friends were even running at the ATT today... it was going to be a great race! We ran into Dan around the 1 mile mark, and continued to run together for a bit. Rita pulled ahead of the two of us by the 2 mile mark, and continued to gain on us. By the 10K mark, I was on my own...

The "Middle" Miles

I could see Rita up ahead of me for a bit (red shirts and white compression socks are easy to pick out in a crowd). After 6 miles of downhill, we leveled off for a bit, and then went down some more (albeit at a less steep grade). I dropped my inhaler about mile 11, and completely lost sight of Rita (the red shirts in front of me were not wearing white compression socks). The course began to level out at this point, and we spotted the clock from The Office around the halfway point. However, no one was handing out Jello-shots nor wearing a Run for Rabies shirt.

We entered the "Rails to Trails" section a little before the 15 mile mark. The leaves were turning... the river was 10ft away... it was nice to be off the roads for a bit... I looked at my watch at the 2hr mark and thought, "At 10 o'clock on 10-10-10 I am running a marathon. This trail is beautiful, I feel good, my friends are running well... this is perfect, like the number 10." We left the trail shortly before the 18 mile mark. The next 2 miles were nice, we looped around a soccer field and a park and there were lots of people out cheering (although the best spectator award definitely goes to the "old guy with the boombox").

I think we all began to get tired somewhere around the 20 mile mark... the beginning downhills were starting to take their toll. By 22 miles, I know I was pretty dead.

The Last 5K

I thought about the Daves and their 5K on Sat... tried to tell myself that I've run 5K's when I felt worse... this made me laugh because it was a blatant lie and I knew it. The hill around mile 24 felt like a mountain, but at least there were lots of people out cheering and encouraging us on (Persist... Persist... R-U-N-N-E-R-S... Gooooooooo Runners). We got a bit of a downhill after that before heading up the "finishing hill" (yup, someone had a sign that said that in case we hadn't noticed). One foot in front of the other... left, right, left right... Sean said someone told him that he had "three more blocks"... he ran three blocks and there was still no finish...this is pretty much what the end felt like... there but not quite there.

Post Race

FINALLY made it, made it, made it... WAHOOO! I was very happy to see everyone again, and even happier to learn that everyone had run AWESOME! Sean had met up with Gary somewhere around the 20 mile mark, and the two ran together for a bit. Gary sprinted the finish... and both ended up PRing with times in the 3:09's. Keith was next across the line, running a 3:15 in his first marathon ever. Rita crossed shortly thereafter, taking 20min off her previous best to run a 3:17. I was next in 3:20, and Dan followed with a 3:27. Rita and I both finished in the top 5 in our age group, and Rita was in the top 20 woman overall!

We enjoyed watching our fellow marathoners crossing the finish line from the comfort of folding chairs. We talked to Mr. and Mrs. Beard between gulps of All Sport... took some pictures... and eventually made our way back to our cars.

This concludes the Steamtown Report. As a bit of trivia, 101010 in binary is the number 42, which we all know to be the answer to life, the universe, and everything from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. You want to know what else 42 is the answer to? The distance of a marathon in kilometers. Coincidence? Nah! #20