*For those not familiar with Marathon Maniac lingo, a Double Marathon is two marathons in two days
Long time readers will remember that I did a double back in November 2012. Both races didn’t go so well, with Savannah heat kickin my butt and the Raleigh hills kicking them the next day. Excuses aside I was under trained …and I didn’t think I’d do another double anytime soon.
Fast forward almost 2 years…I decided to do another double on a whim (I signed up less than a month before the races) with a girl I barely knew. And it was awesome.
Monster Mash (Dover, DE – 10/18)
I met Jessica 3 weeks earlier at Hinson Lake 24, where I finally found my mojo. She counted my laps for 8 hours, which totally makes her someone to road trip and spend a weekend with, right? Right. Despite the mojo reunion, I did wonder if a 82.6 mile run 20 days prior to a double was a bad idea….
The drive to Delaware was uneventful and packet pick up was a breeze…gotta love small races. The race starts and ends at a NASCAR track and I decided a this would be a great spot for the Walking Dead peeps to use as shelter. Come on, Rick…you’re in the south…get on it!!!
IDK why the Dover NASCAR track has a monster…you’ll have to ask Abby or someone who cares 🙂
I slept shockingly well that night considering our hotel was full of partying Alums in town for the Delaware State Homecoming. There were people partying in the hallway when we got back for dinner…but Sleep in Dover must have the best walls ever because I never heard a peep. Made it to the start in time for the maniac pic!
The guy told me to take off my hat because he couldnt see my face. I wish I had kept it on because my face is EW
The first mile around is around the track, which was fun but I really had to work on holding myself back. My plan was to stick to 10:30s the whole race, something that should have been fairly easy. Spoiler Alert – it wasnt!
Miles 1-12 were pretty perfect. A girl heard me tell Jess my 10:30 pacing plan and confessed it was her first marathon and that was her plan. We ran through some pretty sections of Dover, including the legislative area. So pretty!
I ran into some maniacs I knew from other races and we totally convinced our first timer she had to do Harrisburg and Rehoboth to join us (including the girl who was in front of Abby and I at the Rosaryville 50k who remembered me screaming at the at the chick who wouldnt let us pass to turn down her effing music). At this point we were out of the city and running through farmland, which was pretty but the long stretches got old, even for me. Delaware is basically the Iowa of the east coast.
Mile 10 was at the top of an out and back, with a water stop that served both 10 and 14. I still felt pretty good going out, but at the turn around at mile 12 it was like a switch flipped. It was a warm (for me) day and the sun as beating down way worse on the way back. I took a gu at 13.5 thinking I’d get water at 14…but there was no water. UGH! I started feeling dizzy and nauseous, which hasnt been totally uncommon lately but I hadn’t had any spells since I found my mojo so I thought that was done. Nope…there was lots of walking miles 13-19
I let the first timer go ahead when I started to go downhill, but picked up a maniac around 15 who was also doing AC the next day. She stuck with me, chatting my ear off even though I was in that dark place where I don’t want to talk and all I can do is grunt. It was nice to have the company..and have someone to calm my “How the eff am I going to do this tomorrow when I wanna DNF today?” fears.
Magically, it started to subside sometime after 20. I wasntmoving fast, but life wasn’t as sucky. Thank goodness. We picked it up…and actually started passing people. It still wasnt good enough to make up for the lost time, but we pulled in at 4:49:30. Not happy but it was done….pretty cool medal too!
I managed to get in a massage while I waited for Jessica, scored a late check out shower, ate some Chipotle, and started to feel better about the fact that I had another freakin marathon the next day.
Jenster's Adventures 