NCR Marathon - Marathon#18

The NCR marathon advertises itself as a flat and fast marathon and with 400 feet of elevation gain with the latter half a steady downhill the course is definitely a fast one.  The race uses part of the Northern Central Railroad rail trail.  The trail is about 10 feet wide and on hard stone dust surface and goes through wooded areas.  Here and there you get views of ponds and trees not fully bare yet which made the run scenic at points.  Parking was probably the biggest hassle for the race.  Parking space was limited at the race site so the major parking lot was 2 miles away with shuttle buses moving runners.  That’s not bad in the morning when you’re fresh and all but fairly annoying after running a marathon.  The first half mile of the race started on road, similar to how trail races usually start on dirt roads to separate the field out a bit.  Once you hit the trails there was less space to aggressively pass loads of people, it still wasn’t a single track trail so it wasn’t too bad.  

I had about 4.5 hours of sleep and a 3.5 hour drive to the start so the first 7 miles went by with me in a sleepy state.  Around mile 7 I started to have fun.  I was running at a steady easy effort, I would say 60% effort.  The course went about 13.5 miles out and then back (to a slightly different finish area).  Around mile 10.5 is went I started seeing people in the turnaround.  As typical trail fashion I said things like good job, nice work as people passed by.  Response varied, front of the pack and back of the pack were most likely to respond.  A lot of people had headphones on, a bit weird to see on a trail.  Miles 11 to 13.5 I struggled a bit, maybe I just spent too much time saying good job to people or something.  

At the turnaround I feel much happier, got over the mental block.  The disadvantage to this race was though scenic at points, most of it was the same woods view.  The trail doesn’t twist or turn, there is no mountains to climb or fly down from.  Nor any breath taking views.  The ground is pretty much the same too, just hard surface.  I found it more boring than a road race.  At mile 21 I no longer felt my effort level went to around 80%.  I was still trying to maintain pace and be steady but the distance just started to do a number on my legs so it felt harder.  The next two miles were mentally tough as I wanted the run to be over.  I started thinking of volunteers that have helped me in the past, friends, and family to keep going.  I passed quite a few people here as typical of any race.  The last 5k of the race went pretty easy as my brain realized the end was near.  I didn’t gut out the end but you could see the finish from about a half mile away so I did speed up to 90% effort.  My time goal was 4:37 which I sort of made up.  I had no idea what an easy pace marathon was at this current level of fitness.  The race completes Maryland on my quest to ran at least 26.2 in all 50 states and completes my last big long run before my 50 miler in Arizona.