Number 18 - New Hampshire Marathon in Bristol, New Hampshire
It was a beautiful ride through Vermont and New Hampshire to get to Bristol. This is a small town with a very big lake on its border. The course started North on the East side of the lake and turned around on the Northwest edge in a town called Hebron, where we retraced about five miles of the race course then headed South on the West side of the lake. It was a great sunny Fall day with temperatures in the fifties and sixties, with winds from the Northwest at about 10-15 mph.
Running this race was a last minute decision as some personal and work situations happen to afford the opportunity for a vacation in the Northeast at this time. I have been training for the Marine Corps marathon at the end of October and decided that I could run this race and still recovery for the next one in four weeks. The last minute decision provided some challenges in registering and finding a hotel. We raced through the mountains to get there in time to be the next to last entrant that evening. We then searched for hotels and found none nearby. My cell phone was out of range and we reverted to a pay phone in a convenience store to find a hotel. Quarter after quarter until we had none left, when we found a hotel about 15 miles from the race site.
I intended to run the race at a relatively easy pace so as to not hurt my chances for a good race in Washington. It was an extremely hilly course, which is particularly hard going down hills with these old knees. Jan met me three times on the course and provided Gatorade, Powerbars and Tylenol. As usual I got a great deal of satisfaction during the second half of the race when I was able to maintain my pace and pass many younger runners. It does not get much better than beating youth when you are an old man. My heart did go out to a young woman who was lying on the street during the 26th mile. I stopped to help her deal with her leg cramps and encouraged her to keep going. She had a friend with her who was also helping. They seemed to get it back under control and I proceeded on. She collapsed again with about a tenth of a mile to go. EMT and lots of other volunteers were there to help. She finally was able to finish.
The finish area had a Art Fair where spectators could shop while waiting for the runners. This was great for Jan as she did find an unusual piece for us. They also had massages at the finish and Jan signed me up as soon as I finished.
I really enjoyed the small town culture and race, as well as the scenery driving to and from Bristol. The entire week was a pleasure with visiting my sisters, my father-in-law and enjoying my favorite pass time. I finished 11th of 30 in the 50-59 year old age group and 63rd of 169 overall with a time of 4:18:04.