Hartford Marathon

Okay, it’s Wednesday and I still see no race report for the Hartford Marathon. Granted it WAS a road race – yes, Ticket, a ROAD race – but since a few Bimblers and myself ran it, I figured I could step up to the starting line and write up my vague recollection of what happened (at least to me) that day. The race had one major thing going for it and that was perfect weather. Couldn’t have asked for better, and it was worth the chilly wait at the starting line. I wandered down the street, noting “New England’s Finest” (some of the most elite runners in NE personally invited to run the marathon), as well as a number of individuals planning on walking the half marathon, standing at the very front of the starting line. I took my spot right behind the 3:45 pace person, figuring my strategy would be to see how far I could get before the 4:30 pace person passed me. After several minutes of pre-race announcements, we were off through the streets of downtown Hartford. Between the tall buildings and the crowd of runners that combined both half marathon and marathon runners for the first 4 miles, my claustrophobia was in full swing, and I ran too fast in my futile attempt to escape. After a few miles, it opened up a little bit and we ran over some of the most scenic highway overpasses in urban CT, through the outskirts of the city and into East Windsor. At this point, the scenery improved a great deal as we ran by large, beautiful homes that I will never live in. The race was mostly out and back, so I had the exciting, and humiliating, opportunity to watch the race leaders (and half the other runners) run by me as I made my way out to the turnaround. I looked for other Bimblers, but with 5 kids, I am well-trained in how to be oblivious, so I saw no one. I did see Bigfoot, though. He’s a lot shorter than he looks in the pictures. At about mile 20, I was pretty much ready to be done with the race. I felt good, but I was bored. At the mile 24 marker, I marveled at how good I still felt. A few seconds later…the same time a person with a camera told me to smile…my left leg knotted up with a huge cramp. I walked a few feet, trying to massage it out, but it wasn’t going to let go. So, I decided the only option was to start running again. Fortunately, that did the trick and I was able to run the last few miles to the finish. I never did see the 4:30 pace person, but the 5:00 pace person smoked by me at the 11 mile mark on pace to run at least a 4:00. There was no one else with her. Oh, and they had a new gimmick this year where your significant others could get text messages with updates on your progress at various points during the race. I signed up, but no text messages were received. I’d like to blame technology, but it’s more likely that I wrote down the wrong phone number. It makes me laugh to think about some stranger possibly getting text messages about my totally unremarkable progress in the Hartford Marathon. Overall, it was a good race, but I’m psyched to hit the trails again. I think Bigfoot would agree.

Sent in by Jiffy