Mad Marathon 2012 Race Day Review:

The next morning, I got up early for the start. My wife dropped me off and then went back to bed.

This was the second time this race was held. It was very successful the first year so they decided to hold it again. It was a bigger race than last year.

The above pictures was before the start. They shut down the main road into town to kick off the race.

Below are pictures during the race. I knew I wasn’t going to be getting a great time so I took the time to take some pictures. The scenery was awesome.

The last picture is of the highest point on the course. Its all downhill from there!

It was near this point below that I realized I was making great time. I ran about 18 miles in about 3:30, much faster than I thought. My calves started to cramp up so I walked much of the rest of the race, despite taking the electrolyte pills.

There was a great view of Sugarbush resort and the slopes. You can recognize the bright red buildings and silo.

Race Review:

Below was a picture of me after the finish. I finished at 5:10. I thought I would be limping in just under 6 hours.

The race was great. There was a good number of water stations and the course was very nice. We lucked out on the weather as it was cool, highs in the low 70s with low humidity. It reached 90F only a few days ago so all the runners were very lucky.

In the last remaining miles, I was beat out by a 60 year old woman. I passed her around mile 3 or 4 but she passed me around mile 23 or 24. My legs cramped up and just couldn’t run to keep up with her. I tried for about a mile but just couldn’t. I saw her at the finish and remarked to her that she ran a killer pace. She was with her husband who also ran the marathon. She laughed and walked away. I hope I made her day.

Other than the cramps, I didn’t feel too bad attempting this race only 7 weeks after a brutal marathon in China. For the next marathon, I would have 12 weeks of training so much more preparation. This made me believe I can do marathons with less time in between.

I also had my phone so I called my wife to coordinate her picking me up. We had to check out at noon so we couldn’t use the room anymore but Sugarbush Inn allowed us to use their sports facility. They gave us passes for the gym. It had showers, exercise equipment, an outdoor pool and Jacuzzi. It was a nice day so we sat out in the sun near the pool. I showered, swam a bit and jumped into the Jacuzzi to loosen my legs up before a 3.5 hour drive back to Boston. It was a relaxing end to a busy weekend in Vermont. Its definitely different to come up here in the summer, compared to in the winter for snowboarding.