Harrisburg Marathon

Date: 2011-11-13
Location: Harrisburg, PA
Finish Time: 3:26:15
Official Results
Race Website

Highlights:

• Fall Golf, free room and home-cooked meals the day before the marathon, courtesy of Bill and Marge Moran
• The miles on City Island, along the Susquehanna River and through that random, hilly park
• Post-race picnic with Marge, Bill, Shannon, Luke and Eli

Low-lights:

• Forgetting to get my chip scanned and thus, not ending up in any of the official results
• The 8 tents along the river that constituted “Occupy Harrisburg”, protesting the 1% in Harrisburg
• Eli having to watch hundreds of people run, not being able to run himself (I assume this was a low-light for him but there were other dogs and discarded food as well, so who knows)

Thanks:

• To Bill Moran for the pre-race transportation
• To Marge and Shannon for the mid-race Luke watching
• To Marge for the post-race picnic and drive to the YMCA showers

Gallery:

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Mount Desert Island Marathon

Date:  2011-10-16
Location:  Bar Harbor, ME
Finish Time:  3:36:52
Official Results
Race Website
Local Brewery

Highlights:

• Driving through Acadia National Park, Popovers at the Jordan Pond House Restaurant, Atlantic Brewing Company’s Logger Lager
• The beautiful first 20 miles of the marathon course living up to the hype
• Hannah made cupcakes for after the race, they were pink

Low-lights:

• Driving 7.5 hours from NJ to Maine in the pouring rain
• Luke has had enough of this 7.5 hour drive and is going to let us know about it
• Miles 20-25 slightly uphill/soul-crushing

Thanks:

• To Millie, Jason and Hannah for letting us crash at their house on either side of the trip to Bar Harbor
• To Shannon for agreeing to drive a total of 19 hours over the course of four days with an 8 month old Luke in the backseat

Gallery:

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Lehigh Valley Marathon

Date: 2011-09-11
Location: Easton, PA
Finish Time: 3:07:33
Official Results
Race Website

Highlights:

• Qualifying for Boston on my 31st attempt with a 3:07, one year before the qualifying standard for my age group is dropped to 3:05
• Shannon thinking that the qualifying standard had already been dropped to 3:05, consoling me for being “so close” after I crossed the finish line
• Also, beer

Low-lights:

• Once again, completely ignoring Val’s cheers, encouragement and attempts to take my picture during the race
• The part where heavy rains washed away portions of the course
• Old saying, “If at first you don’t succeed. Try, try again” actually off by 28 tries

Thanks:

• To Marisa Keslica for putting Jon, Val and I up at her house
• To Dave Pugh for helping me drop the weight necessary to shave 14 minutes off my PR and qualify for Boston
• To Shannon for making the trip out from New Providence with Luke to watch the finish

Gallery:

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Estes Park Marathon

Date: 2011-06-12
Location: Estes Park, CO
Finish Time: 3:51:20
Official Results
Race Website

Highlights:

• Don Mattingly in town to manage the Dodgers against the Rockies
• Staying at the the Stanley Hotel, not once experiencing the urge to murder my family
• Walking by this framed newspaper article every time we left the hotel restaurant

Low-lights:

• The part where I threw up in the hotel bathroom after the race
• The part where I collapsed in the hotel elevator after I threw up in the hotel bathroom
• General lack of oxygen in the state of Colorado

Thanks:

• Marge and Bill Moran for staying at our house and baby/dog-sitting Luke and Eli.
• Peg and John Paton for spelling Marge and Bill when they needed a break from baby/dog-sitting Luke and Eli.
• Shannon for only calling home two or three times a day during our first couples vacation since becoming parents.

Gallery:

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Walter Childs Memorial Marathon

Date: 2011-05-01
Location: Holyoke, MA
Finish Time: 3:34:37
Official Results
Race Website

Highlights:

• Luke’s first marathon trip not a complete disaster
• Marathon course in and around Mount Tom State Park, much nicer than I was expecting for some reason
• First marathon as a Dad not that hard; completely agreed upon, non-negotiable 90/10 split of parenting duties really paying off

Low-lights:

• Something about Luke flipping out for 2 hours during the marathon, I don’t know, I was running
• May never have another chance to visit here, opportunity lost
• Couldn’t talk Shannon into spending $30 so I could run into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and take Luke’s picture in front of the display that I imagine must exist to honor this

Thanks:

• Shannon for agreeing to go on our first overnight trip with Luke, waking up with him during the night so I could rest and keeping him as happy as possible while I ran…Nice mom-ing.

Gallery:

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Death Valley Trail Marathon

Date: 2010-12-04
Location: Beatty, NV
Finish Time: 4:20:21
Official Results
Race Website

Highlights:

• Stood here, told myself I would never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy, stressed that I must be cautious
• Stood here, reminded myself that Lando Calrissian and poor Chewbacca never returned from this awful place
• Stood here, noticed there were a couple of Banthas down there but that I didn’t see any Sandpeople…wait a minute

Low-lights:

• Am a large nerd
• No blue milk available on race course (see: nerd, large)
• Forgot my camera, had to take low quality cellphone pictures

Thanks:

Special, larger than normal thanks on this one to Shannon who, despite being 8 months pregnant with our first child at the time, somehow understood my need to run away for a weekend and do one last crazy/stupid thing before becoming a dad.  I’ll always remember driving through the alien landscape of that desert all by myself, miles away from civilization, listening to R.E.M.’s New Adventure’s in Hi-Fi.  It was a surreal experience and extremely calming, just like being a father turned out to be…except without the calming part.

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Freedom Run Marathon

Date: 2010-10-02
Location: Shepherdstown, WV
Finish Time:  3:37:32
Official Results
Race Website

Highlights:

• West Virginia’s local music scene
• Opening miles out to Murphy Farm and through Harper’s Ferry, middle section along the Potomac River’s C & O Canal Towpath, back half through rolling hills of Antietam National Battlefield = Top 5 course
• Only first four and last half mile actually in West Virginia, still counts

Low-lights:

• Nothing comes to mind

Thanks:

• Shannon for being 5 months pregnant but still making it through two 4-hour car rides and a marathon viewing.
• Bill and Marge Moran for providing post-race room and board…and golf.

Gallery:

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Marathon de Montreal

Date: 2010-09-05
Location: Montreal, QC
Finish Time: 4:05:17
Official Results
Race Website

Highlights:

• Montreal has both a biodome and a biosphere, so you’re covered in that department
• Portion of the course run on Formula One race track…with French speaking people
• Post race carriage ride through Old Montreal

Low-lights:

• Couldn’t keep food down for two days before the race, ran anyway with predictable results
• 42 kilometers seems longer than 26.2 miles
• The two hours after the race that Shannon and I spent looking for each other inside Olympic Stadium; hosers

Thanks:

• Shannon for being pregnant but still agreeing to drive up to Canada for a long weekend and watch a marathon.

Gallery:

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Sunburst Marathon

Date: 2010-06-05
Location: South Bend, IN
Finish Time:  3:39:16
Official Results
Race Website

Highlights:

• Got to come out of that tunnel, run onto that field
• Drove from South Bend, arrived at Gary Railcats game five minutes before we left
• Saw the Lake County Fielders while we still could

Low-lights:

• Definitely left the game early so we could rest up for the next day’s race, missed dramatic South Bend Silverhawks walk-off dinger
• Depressingly appropriate amount of Syracuse paraphernalia displayed at the College Football Hall of Fame
• Shannon not wanting to participate in a weekend trip that included, two minor league baseball games, touring the College Football Hall of Fame, running a marathon and gambling on Lake Michigan

Thanks:

• Jon for putting this trip together.
• Shannon for letting me go.

Gallery:

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Mercedes Marathon

Date: 2010-02-14
Location: Birmingham, AL
Finish Time:  3:37:48
Official Results
Race Website

Highlights:

• Valentine’s Day in Alabama! *
• Birmingham Civil Rights Institute
• Can now say I woke up in Birmingham, AL one morning, ran a marathon, drove to Marietta, GA, had a nice dinner, drove 11 hours through the night to Miami, went on a cruise (see: airport closure, chance of snow)

Low-lights:

• Airport shut down due to possible chance of there perhaps being a dusting of snow, maybe
• Completing marathon in Birmingham at noon, needing to be in Miami by 6 am (see above)
• Three Amigos Restaurant and Cantina in Cozumel had a few pinatas, not what I would call a plethora of pinatas

• John and Peg for watching Eli.

Gallery:

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