PaceSetters Weblog

What a way to finish my 58th marathon, including one in every state & the district of columbia. Certainly memorable on many levels. I feel relief to have finished this personal accomplishment. Not sure that it has fully sunk in yet and people are already asking, “What’s next?”

The 2,383 mile round trip started in the rain as we traveled south of Milwaukee on Friday 10/16/09. The rain continued through Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and into Pennsylvania. After about 10 hours of driving, we called it a night in Brookville PA. Woke up to a car covered in snow. It was a blizzard driving through the remainder of Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains then back to rain into New Jersey. I thought the traffic would be down on Saturday travelling by New York City, and maybe it was, but east coast traffic always seems to be heavy. The weather channel called it a ‘nor-easter’ storm ascending on the east coast. But thankfully by the time we left Connecticut into Rhode Island, it was merely drizzling.

Found the Hyatt Regency - Newport RI on Goat Island, site of the expo and packet pickup. Newport is one of those resort areas along the Atlantic coast. It reminded me a lot of the New Jersey marathon resort area with similar rainy & windy conditions. After picking up my number, I drove the course, only getting lost a half dozen times. I’m glad I did that since the views were spectacular and the mansions along the coast were… beyond my imagination. Got to the Howard Johnson and found that there was the ‘2009 Best Pizza Restaurant’ in Rhode Island just across the road. It was ok. Before calling it a night, I checked Accuweather and found out the forecast was for 100% chance of rain, winds 20-30 mph with gusts to 50 mph and expected coastal flooding. Oh boy!

Woke up and checked and looked outside to see sideways rain. Dressed for a winter marathon, checked out, and headed to the start area. Found a parking garage out of the weather to wait for the start.

The start was just after 8 am in the rain with temps hovering above 40 and wind chills at 34. My shoes were already full of water within the first block since the street was virtually under water with puddles. About 2 hours into the race the rain changed to sleet. Yuk! My face was taking a beating and soaked gloves seemed little protection from the driving wind. Like I said, I was glad I drove the course the previous day because most of the time during the race I had my head down into the wind and spend most of time trying to avoid the larger puddles. There were points along the coast where the roads were totally under water. Despite wearing ‘rain gear’, I was totally drenched to the bone by mile 7. I even changed some of my outer wear around mile 15 and that helped for a few miles. I ate more gels than normal trying to maintain body heat. I ran the final few miles with my hands in my pockets trying to keep them from freezing off. The final 2 tenths was directly into the gusting winds and rain and the course through a parking lot was covered with a few inches of water.

I crossed the finish line not with the realization of completing my 50th state but more a desperation to find some warmth. The food tent was crowded with other blue lipped compatriots downing warm soup and cold pizza.

After my fill, teeth still chattering we found a local YMCA for a hot shower and dry clothing. I still cannot believe the conditions. It was like the winds of Casper WY and the rain we had in May in New Jersey not to mention those nasty ice pellets against my face and ears for about an hour before returning to pouring rain.

The return drive seemed to have even more traffic and rain until western New Jersey where the sky finally yielded a bright shiny object. No more rain and drove 7 hours back into Pennsylvania where sleep in a warm dry bed was my salvation. Monday was mostly sunny and dry with temps reaching the mid 60s… too nice of a day to spend in a car for 11 hours. Glad to be back!

This was certainly a memorable trip and will probably never forget my final state in reaching my quest to run a marathon in every state and DC. I will try to write more about the entire experience over the last few years in accomplishing this goal. There are a lot of memories of travel, people I met along the way and the support of my family and friends that made this journey possible. Thanks to all of you!