Mount Desert Island Marathon - RunMarathon

The moment arrived! It was almost race time. Gary Allen, race director, said a few words of encouragement and played the National Anthem. Then a deep booming emanated from the very large speakers up by the start line and AC/DC – thunderstruck began to play. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Evu8L2pF7w

What a way to pump up the spectators and runners. I was psyched! I was going to really do this thing! BANG! The gun goes off and we all start to run. I ran without headphones for the 1st 4 miles then as we began to spread out, I ran to my favorite tunes. The scenery was amazing. We started off heading towards Acadia National Park with Cadillac Mountain as our guide. Then we got off the main road and ran down a quiet country road in the woods. It was magical. Somewhere around mile 6 or 7 I came up on a 3 piece band. They were awesome. My pace quicken as I ran by. At some point, the raining started back up and the hills were beginning to take their toll on me and by mile 10 I began to do run/walk intervals. That is until I caught sight of Michael at mile 12. Then I picked up the pace because I knew he had the camera……oh the vanity of it all……While he filled up my DRIVEN formula, I chowed on a banana. I didn’t need the dry clothes…..I was just going to get wet all over again. I quick hug and a kiss and I was off again. With renewed vigor, I ran from 12 – 17 where I found Michael again and we pretty much the same thing. He filled by bottles and I chowed on chocolate. Another hug and a kiss and I was off again. 15 minutes later I hear, “Go Cheetah Girl!” Michael was yelling out the window as he drove by me, on his way to the finish line. Something happened here and I got a 2nd or 3rd wind. I ran with gusto from miles 18-23. There was no stopping me! The music in my ears was uplifting and the scenery bombarded my senses. I was actually running my best! But at mile 23 a twinge behind my right knee that had been building up finally reared its ugly little head and forced me to walk the last 3.2 miles. I attempted to run a few time because I wanted to get close to my goal time. Each time I did though, tears sprang to my eyes and I limped back down to a walk. Feeling a bit dejected I plodded along while I worked thru the emotion of it all. At mile 24 I came up upon the aid station and the Rocky theme was blaring out of the speakers. It gave me a new resolve and I picked up my pace and pumped my arms and said to myself – I can do this! I won’t lie here. It was HARD. I limped across that finish line, barely acknowledged the people who placed the medal around my neck and collapsed into Michael’s arms in tears of exhaustion. Michael asked me what I wanted to do but I was so disoriented, I just kind of looked at him and said “I don’t know……..home!” Unfortunately for me, Michael had to park the car a ½ mile away. It seemed kind of cruel for the race venue to do. But Southwest Harbor kind of bottle necks and they had blocked off traffic. So I did my best and limped about 0.2 mile, just after the blockade and couldn’t go on anymore. Michael left me to sit on a rock and ran and got the car. Thank god for him! It was so motivating having him an actual integral part of this race.


Next time (yes! there will be a next time) I think I want to train longer than 6 weeks. Each of my half ironman races were 6 weeks apart and the last one was 6 weeks from this race. My longest training run for this marathon was 15.5 miles – and that was only once. All in all, I am VERY happy with my finish!

1. My calves and achille tendons were tight heading into this race.
2. I had only 6 weeks to train


Aid stations were every 2 miles! Water and Gatoraid.

Wasn't happy the car had to be parked so far away.