Mount Desert Island Marathon - RunMarathon

I knew this would be a challenging course and I was undertrained (but not injured for a change). I had only done one 15-miler and one 18-miler. I'm still building my mileage for the Goofy Challenge. So my plan was to keep my HR in my marathon pace range and walk up hills if necessary.

I was pretty nervous before the start. It started to sprinkle moments before gun time and continued for about 5 miles. And it was windy, gusty at times. But not too hot and not too cold. It stayed cloudy until the last few miles. Really good weather overall for a marathon. Unfortunately, the peek foliage color was missing. But the course was incredibly beautiful anyway.

I took it easy in the beginning, or at least what felt like easy. I tried to keep my HR as low as I could on the hills, but some were so steep and long that even with walking my HR was going out of range. I was having a really nice run. I was smiling almost the whole time. I remembered all the names Sandra C. had written on her arms for her first marathon. I thought I could use a little extra help up the hills. So for every mile, I had written a name on my arm for inspiration, someone who had helped me in one way or another these past 3 years of running and triathlon. On the really tough hills, I imagined them pushing me from behind up the hill. Focusing on a different person every mile made the time fly by. When I got past 16 miles and had less than 10 miles to go, I couldn't believe I was that far along.

It was great running a marathon that wasn't as crowded. It felt low key, but all the runners and volunteers were still enthusiastic. Even though there was minimal crowd support along a lot of the course, it wasn't an issue since I was enjoying the view so much. Miles 20-25 were tough and mostly all uphill, up up up. But the descent after that climb was by far the hardest. My quads were so very done at that point and screamed with ever step. Yet I was still smiling, thinking of my husband, and what a great run I just had. This was my third marathon, and I think I'm hooked.

Train more on hills.

Food, showers, and long walk back to the car. The uphill portion was painful.


I didn't want to get injured or have to take too much time out of my schedule to recover since I'm ultimately training for the Goofy challenge in January. So I was pushing the pace as much as I could have.


I'm so glad I got the chance to do this race. I loved it. Great challenging course, really well organized, enthusiastic volunteers, low key vibe, spectacular views. I'd do this again if I had the chance.