B&A Trail Marathon (Annapolis, MD) - 1 March 2009

57th Marathon
36th State
86th Place
3:49:11

As my father and I have started the stretch run towards completing our goal of running a marathon in all 50 states, the B&A Trail Marathon near Annapolis presented itself quite nicely. The race fell at a very good time for me (the march/April issue of the magazine was finished as was the Winter Distance Series).

I had not really been doing the long runs necessary to complete a marathon in a decent time over the winter, but I figured I had done enough of them in the past that I would be OK. My training mainly had consisted of 5M/day at sub 7:00 pace, with a long run the weekend. I had done a 15M run at sub 7:00 pace two weeks prior, so I figured I would be OK.

My dad and I got to the hotel around 4:00 PM and set off to find a local brewery for our pre-race meal. We found one just on the other side of the Navel Academy and decided to check it out. What my father had neglected to tell me before embarking on this trip was that he had been sick for a day or so. We both thought that a few beers would make him feel better.

They didn't and we both went to bed around 6:30. Well, he went to bed and I watched TV hoping that the forecasted 30 degrees with a rain snow mix would be wrong.

It wasn't. And when we woke up the next morning, there was a dusting of snow on the ground and the wind was blowing about 15 MPH.

We headed over to the Severna Park HS, which was were the race started and finished, and waited for the gun to go off. My dad was feeling the greatest and said that if he didn't make half way by three hours he was going to drop out. Luckily, this race was a double out and back, so the half marathon finished back at the school.

The race started out through a neighborhood for the first mile and then jumped on the B&A Trail, an old rail like that ran from Baltimore to Annapolis. We ran about six miles out on the this path and then turned around. At 13 miles, the half marathoners turn left and finished at the school while the marathon continued on. I hit the half way about about 1:42 and felt like I was running slow. This was a good sign. I just kept running the same easy pace when all of the sudden my left ITB started to hurt around 18M.

At this point, I decided to shut it down. I figured it was better to walk/jog in than to hurt myself. Luckily at the 19M aid station (another turn around point), the volunteers had Advil. I popped a couple of those and then hobbled back to the finish. Stopping and eating cookies at evey aid station I went by.

I hobbled in at 3:49, a far cry from the 3:20 pace I was one, but my knee wasn't hurting any worse, so I felt OK about it.

My knee was fine within two days, so i definitely made the right choice.

My dad did end up dropping out at half way, finishing the half marathon in 3:06. He just said he didn't have any energy. Well, I guess we will have to go back to MD next year. He has already said it has to be this one again. I am OK with it because I think it was a really good event, even if the weather wasn't the greatest.