Question:
Can someone comment on this marathon?
I heard a bit about it, but cannot
find too much information on it.
Thanks
Answer:
I ran it and I couldn't have asked
for a better 1/2 marathon. It was
a lot better run than last year.
I'm wondering if last year was first
year jitters or something. I think
we started on time (given that it
takes those of us at the back longer
to get to the starting line). Course
support was excellent.
Water and
Gatorade at every stop and they
were handing it out like candy at
the finish line (along with bottled
water). I don't know how the middle
crowd (215 to 3 hr runners) made
out at the end. I had someone tell
me they were packed in like cattle
at the finish line (which can't
be helped). The sun really never
peaked out but for a just a bit
on the Boardwalk at the last 2.1
miles of the course.
It rained,
mostly lightly at least half the
time we were out there. I think
the only bad thing heard was the
buses going to the Ampitheatre (satellite
parking) were going to
stop at 12 versus 1. I doubt that
would be true, but that is all I
know about. Someone needed to shoot
the announcer at the finish line
when he tried to create
a race between me as the Penguin
and several of the Team charity
crew when we hit mile 13. I have
a bad knee, and trying to attempt
it wasn't a good thing, (I'd prefer
to lose a race then not be able
to walk/jog and spend several days
a week in therapy).
Other than
that I got a whole lot of very positive
comments from people about John
Bingham's waddleon.com shirt. This
is the one that said The miracle
isn't that I finished, its that
I had the courage to start. I had
a number of people tell me they
had the 'I'm slow, I know get over
it' shirt and wished they had worn
it that day. The lady at the table
selling John's stuff was really
nice. One older guy that finished
behind me had a yellow T shirt with
'the abominable slow men' on the
back. He got a lot of cheers when
he hit the finish line.
