Bear Brook Trail Marathon, 2014

When you can register for a marathon for $35, you always do it; and this was my third time doing so. The 2014 Bear Brook Marathon has become a favorite for me, even though the distance has gotten longer. According to my Garmin, the 2012 race was 26.85, the 2013 race was 26.80 miles, and the 2014 race was 29.26 miles! This is roughly 47 kilometers...an odd distance, but very fun! Perhaps for next year, the name of the race should be changed away from Bear Brook Trail Marathon to something more accurate.

The morning began even before the sun came up, because around 4:45 there was some kind of animal rummaging around outside the tent. I heard little grunting noises, and thought that maybe an animal like a bear was causing the dog in the adjacent camping spot to make these noises. Upon waking up at 5:10, I looked out of the tent and saw that it was a skunk! While it milled around, I just sat there watching it for a while, until it was far enough away for me to be able to get out of the tent.

With this fun way to be awakened, we drove to the race start, which was about 15 minutes away. On the drive I put on a cd of the Greek clarinetist Yiorgos Mangas, which really got me excited to run!

Basically, the run was a lot easier than the previous 2 years, even though the distance was 2.5 miles longer. I wore the New Balance Trail 1010 Minimus, and they performed outstandingly. My legs didn't cramp up at all, and I think I have to owe it to the shoes. I did not take in any gels, but ate a bunch of bananas, chips, cookies, PB&J sandwiches, M&Ms, and Gatorade. Maybe taking in a lot of calories (usually on a run this size I will just consume 3-4 gels) helped out a lot.

Due to some chaffage on the nips, I had to pull off the shirt at around mile 18. I thought that this would make me more susceptible to being bitten by the deer flies, but I had no problem with those pesky insects. Around mile 22, this dude named Alex started running with me, and we talked and rolled on into the finish together. Although we could have pushed it a bit, we just took it easy and finished it out.

My total time was 5:05:27, which seems pretty good for this being just a training run, basically, and because I had only busted out a 20 miler in June and a 21 miler last week in preparation for this run. Now, 5 hours after finishing, my legs still feel really good. I think it has to do something with the shoes I ran in today, and also because I have been wearing Xeroshoes for the past three weeks. Good stuff!