Gobbler Grind Marathon - RunMarathon

OK, so there's a big crowd at the start, not sure how many started but finish wise there were 165 full, 752 half and 345 5K runners. Everyone started at the same time. The road was wide so no issues at the start. I decided that I would try and run around 8:45 pace for which the start made that easy. I was with Patrick, Jon and Brandon at the start but I knew those three would pick it up within the first few miles. It was Patricks first full but I figured he'd go sub 3:40 for sure and I was pretty sure Jon would also. I didn't know about Brandon since he ran 50K just the day before.

So I get to about mile 3, I'm at about 26 minutes or so so right around target pace but I notice the PF pain is becoming more and more present. So I decided to run more on my heels than I normally would. Just an experiment I guess in an attempt to counteract the pain. It seemed to work as the steady not so excruciating pain remained at a tolerable level. You do a couple loops on the roads/trails in the Corporate Woods area then come back near the race start/finish area after about 6.5 miles or so. My friend Dave was volunteering near the finish chute said hello as I passed by, all was good so far. I passed a couple nice piglets wearing matching shirts with "You just got Chicked" on the back, told them "love the shirts" as I passed them.

The next time I would see Dave would be around mile 13. And so it was, and I was still feeling OK with the exception that I felt a little more fatiqued than I should after only 13 miles. As I want past the race finish area I could see port-a-potties on the other side of the loop and being I had to go, I decided to not have to deal with holding it in, using more energy than necessary. Not sure how long that took, maybe 3-4 minutes or so. One more loop around the Corporate Woods area then we headed back for the final out&back section which started at about mile 16. The turnaound is just past mile 21. As I get to around mile 17 or so I see Patrick, looking stong, then a minute or so later I see Jon, who's also looking good. A few minutes later I see Brandon, all 3 of them looking good at that stage of the race. I can tell I'm starting to slow down a bit but I'm accepting of that fact.

I then get to mile 19 and my quads and hamstrings are really feeling it and are starting to get stiff. The cramping starts and so starts the run/walk routine I was hoping would not come. Those short little hills suddenly become very annoying for which I had to virtually walk up in an effort to prevent my leg cramps from become SEVERE leg cramps. Another runner and I were trading run/walk duties, when he was walking, I'd run past him, when I was walking, he'd run past me. He looked like he was in his mid to late 20's so eventually I think he found his second wind and I saw the last of him around mile 24 or so.

The only food on the course was at the mile 20 aid station which consisted of GU, GU and maybe some GU. I look with me a zip-loc with some fig bars as my nutrition and at those at around mile 11 and mile 16, had the GU at mile 20. I lived off the course for hydration but the cups were very small, maybe 4 oz at best. I mostly took gatorade to get some additional calories and electrolytes.

Miles 21 to the finish were slow, lonely at times and did I mention slow! The race started with neary 1300 runners and by this time there were less than 150 marathoners out there. Luckily it was an out&back so I would see a runner/walker come by in the opposite direction. I got passed by a few people who were actually still RUNNING ...l

It seemed like an eternity to go from miles 24 to the finish. There's a hill at around mile 24.5 that's like a slap in the face at that point of the race. I just death-walked my arse up that little hill. As I got to mile marker 26 I could see the finish but you have to loop around the last 0.2 miles and just as I mustered up enough energy to fake a strong finish, I cramped up big time. I had to stop, bent over to stretch the hammies, then tried again. Moved a few hundred yards, I could hear Jon, Patrick and Brandone yelling "come on Reece, you're almost home...". Then I cramped up big time again, had to stop. Bent over to stretch the hammies again, rose up and was able to run all the way to the finish, did my best to look strong for the finish photo. DONE, FINALLY!

Um, follow a realistic marathon training plan or at least be at 100 or more mile per week before I start some crazy abbreviated 7 week training plan. I could have easily switched my race to the half and just ran a conservative 8:30 pace but I saw too little challenge in that plus the likelihood of me trying to go out too hard was higher risk than with the Marathon. I probably would have tried to PR that half or something crazy like that.

First 13.1 miles: 1:54:08
Second 13.1 miles: 2:27:17

Got my finishers medal, ate a banana, apple, some oranges, drank water, what, no chocolate milk? I'm surpired by how many long endurance races don't have protein at the finish. Jon, Patrick, Brandon and I got our picture taken then we headed to the cars, said a quick goodbye and went home. There was some serious relaxing time and football watching to be done!


Not sure I could have gone faster. Had I gone out with my normal gait I may have been under substantial pain to where I'd have pulled out of the race. As I'm writing this report now it seems as though my PT is still in the healing stage, it actually feels better today than 3 days before the race. What really hurts now is my quads. It's hard just standing up and sucks going up/down stairs. Going down the stairs it's one step at a time. So I think I'm paying the price for the newly implemented heel strike style running. How much of it is the fact that I hadn't run for two weeks straight?


Overall I would give this race a "Fair" rating. It's pretty low key but it is organized, but with only 1300 runners I think keeping it organized shouldn't be that difficult a task. There were plenty of volunteers and an ample number of aid stations. There were lots of course markings in the form of directional arrows. The finishers medals were HUGE (I'll post pics when I get them). I was hoping for more than just apples, bananas, oranges and water at the finish.

What was kind of a bummer was the lack of people at the finish. I think there was like 50 spectators left when I came in. All the 5K and Half Marathoners were gone! I guess I"ll need to sign up for an Ironman if I want a spectator packed finish.