Harrisburg Marathon - RunMarathon

This was not an easy course. I went with the 4:10 pacer and stayed with him until about 16-17 (sort of in the college area). In hindsight, the pacer really was pretty good. I just never had that "this is an easy" pace feeling that I should've had in the beginning of a marathon. I felt pretty good in the 10-12 mile range, but that was about it... I did not like the narrow paths (some of them were kind of uneven) or all of the concrete. The absolute worst part was the climb after the park and the overpass. It just seemed to go on forever!

I was pleased with my choice of attire (skirt/tank/arm warmers). I had a long sleeve t-shirt on before the start that I threw to my parents at ~mile 3.5. I dropped my throw-away gloves at the first water stop. Then I took my arm warmers off just after the half way point (carefully without launching my Garmin backward like at TCM) and threw them to my parents at ~mile 16.

I walked a little bit at the water stops because that's what the pacer was doing. In the later miles that was probably a mistake because it was hard to get going again. I did pass quite a few people over the last 6 miles. That was new for me because normally it's me getting passed. I think in general I paced better.

Train more, but in general I ran pretty well. This was my 2nd fastest marathon! If I did ever do this one again, I would probably carry water especially if it were any warmer. The aid stations are pretty far apart. Whatever sports drink they had was pretty tasty - it might have been Cytomax - definietly wasn't Gatorade or Heed.

I only did three gels this time - still haven't figured out if that was a good thing or a bad thing! Oh and I will make sure to have a chocolate one with me (I was out of that flavor). I ended up doing one banana and 2 vanilla ones.

Nothing. Met John at the finish, saw Mom and Kara, and then walked over to where the food was. John and Phil left and I talked to Kara briefly before she had to leave. My parents and I walked back over to their car and we drove back to the hotel.


Lack of training between Mussleman and early September and probably should've done a few more long runs. Mileage was pretty good for Sept/Oct, but needed more than that.


This race was very organized. The race doubled in size in the week prior to the race due to the cancellation of the NYC marathon and you would have never known that they weren't planning for that many people. I was a little disappointed not to get one of the nice shirts but I guess they made a decision based on sizing. It appeared that they had a nice variety of food afterward. I only had a some fruit, a bag of chips, and most of a donut, but they had all sorts of stuff - subs, bagels, bananas, someone said there was chicken broth, etc.

The host hotel (Crowne Plaza) was reasonable and convenient. The late check-out (3pm) was nice!

I don't think I'll run this one again because the course wasn't my favorite, but they were definitely organized.