Akron Marathon 2016

I've finished my 6th marathon in my 5th state IN UNDER FIVE HOURS! Ohio is done!

Pre-Race:

Mist trying to hide from the morning sun

A few weeks ago I flew out to Cleveland, Ohio to visit family and run the Akron Marathon. I left the east coast at 8AM and landed in the Buckeye state around 10AM. It was a super quick flight, it felt like when we just reached altitude we were ready to start our descent!

The Beast

I rented a car through Avis and when I got there the very nice lady behind the counter asked if this beast would be OK. I always rent the cheapest, smallest, most economical thing I can get so I wasn't really sure how to respond. I think I just kind of stared at her for awkwardly for a few minutes because she then said... "It will cost the same." and that snapped me  right out of it and I happily agreed. I actually really enjoyed driving The Beast. I drove all around Ohio and only used a quarter of a tank of gas and it was great for driving the family around.

I'm not too steady on mah feet, hence choppy panoramic

The first item on my must-do list was to see Lake Erie. It was a quick 15 minute drive from the airport and I felt like I couldn't possibly skip it seeing how close I was. So The Beast and I drove straight north and found Lakewood Park. It was an incredibly beautiful little spot with a nice paved walkway along the shore of the lake. I have now seen TWO of the Great Lakes in the last year! Michigan, Ontario, and Huron, I'm coming for you!

:)

 After that I headed straight to my grandpa's house. I haven't seen him since my wedding in 2010. I am ashamed of myself. For the first day we mostly just hung out at the house and in the evening some more of the family came over for a little cookout. I haven't seen any of these guys since 2010! It was wonderful to just relax and catch up.

I like my butt in this picture

The next morning I headed to the expo fairly early to grab my bib and hopefully find something to replace my FlipBelt, which I had accidentally left at home. This was a problem because I wanted to carry my cellphone during the race in case my mom needed to contact me (which she did, numerous times).

When I arrived at the John S. Knight Center I got turned around and managed to walk through the entire expo backwards to reach bib pick up... and then I had to go all the way through again to get the shirt, race bag, etc. I ended up finding a great FlipBelt alternative made by Nathan. I feel like it is more secure and it was way more comfortable to wear! I may have also picked up a small (really small!) 26.2 magnet. It's pink and it's awesome.

Ready, set, GO!

Next, I walked a few streets over to see the race start. They had painted the actual starting line on the road, which was pretty cool. They also had a Blue Line painted on almost the entire course so there was little chance of getting lost! The Blue Line is a theme throughout the race (one that I don't exactly understand) and they had it through the entire expo as well - which is amusing because I DID get lost in the expo!

Can you tell I've just discovered panoramic mode?

After the expo it was back to my Grandpa's house! We decided to take a little drive through Cuyahoga Valley National Park. We drove around and enjoyed some of the sights and then headed out for ice cream. Not bad pre-race fuel! We headed back to the house, feasted on some delicious lasagna courtesy of my wonderful friend, Robin who came with my mom on this trip... and I was asleep by 9PM.

RACE DAY!

I was up bright and early Saturday morning. My mom actually kept bugging me so I wouldn't fall asleep again. I was able to get ready pretty quickly because I had laid everything out the night before AND slept in most of my running clothes. I managed to choke down about half a bagel and I headed down to the city!

Shiny

I parked in some random little lot in Akron and booked it to the race start (this becomes important later on). It was still dark out and they had the starting line spectacularly lit up. I had just enough time to take my pre-race Huma, hit the port-o-potties, and find my spot in line. They were being pretty strict with making sure you were in the correct starting corral which for me meant I was NOT in the corral with the 4:40 pacer. I tried to get them to let me in but had no luck.

I stood back moping until the first corral took off and then they just let the two remaining mesh together so I quickly scooted up to my pacer. A few minutes later and we were running through the starting line of the Akron Marathon!

Miles 1-6:

The course starts out on a bit of a down hill. This was great except unbeknownst to me (because I didn't study the route at all), we'd have to climb back up this hill later... and I didn't like it as much that time around.

Hey! A Picture!

You start out right in the heart of Akron and run northeast for a six mile loop. We were passing by pretty impressive historic buildings, like the court house, mixed with contemporary museums. Just after a mile of running we crossed Little Cuyahoga River via the All America Bridge. This bridge is actually a viaduct and we were 134ft up at it's highest point.

My mom and Robin met me around mile three. I spotted them at a corner and ran up to my mom for a high five but she was too busy snapping pictures of me. I yelled out "Stop taking pictures and give me a high five!!" The small group of spectators near my mom got a little chuckle out of that. She did put the camera down just in time to give me a quick high five and then I was back on my way!

Oh yea, I wanted to mention the pacer. I started out right behind Mr. 4:40 pacer because that was my exact goal. We should have been running 10:40 miles. While I attempted to stick with him every time I checked my watch we were quite a bit below 10:40. For those first six miles I probably averaged a 10:25. At first I figured he was trying to bank a little time, we had some decent downhills and I knew the course was a little hilly so I went with it... After six miles I had enough of that, he was keeping up the pace and it was going to hurt me so I let him go. Everyone around me agreed that he was going out WAY too fast. I'd b shocked if he actually got anyone from the start to the finish successfully.

Miles 7-12:

Once you loop back to the starting area (you are one block over), you then head south for another six mile loop. The scenery is much of the same, apparently we ran back over the viaduct (which I have no recollection of) and then through Akron University. This section of the course consisted of many small rolling hills which were slowly but surely taking their toll on me.

During the first half of this race I was full of energy and was waving and thanking every volunteer and police officer out there. I swear over the entire course I probably thanked at least 50 officers. They were out in force at EVERY intersection. It was wonderful to see them and I really did appreciate their presence. There was more than one occasion where people were trying to drive on or cross a closed street and the officers were out there keeping us safe.

I loved the entertainment during this race. There were good bands spread out evenly and the aid stations were full of awesome people... but the best part of this race was the Hero Stations. This is actually the Akron Children's Hospital Marathon and you can opt to be a Children's Champion and raise money for the hospital, which I did! Thanks to my wonderful family and friends I raised over $600. Anyway, along the course they had these stations set up and patients from the hospital were out there cheering on the runners. Talk about a pick-me-up! It was wonderful and sad at the same time to see these kids. I high-fived everyone I could. It gave me the biggest boost of energy every time.

Miles 13-18:

Right at the start of this section there was another rather long climb to get out of the way as you head northwest out of the heart of Akron. This was where I started to regret trying to keep up with that damn pacer. I was still thanking officers and volunteers and high-fiving everyone but I was getting tired. Not a great sign when you are just half way through a race and you know there are hard hills yet to come.

Around mile 16 the course takes a fun little detour through the grounds of the Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens. It was built by the founder of Goodyear Tire and apparently it is one of the largest homes in the US. As we ran by almost every runner made some sort of joke that that was their home.

A little after mile 17 I got a call from my mom. Really?! She was letting me know they were waiting around mile 15 for me... I explained that I was a bit past mile 15 and she said that they would try to find another spot a little farther down. Due to the out and back and loops on the course they were able to quickly hop over to mile 23 and wait for me there.

Miles 19-26:

These last handful of miles were definitely the most beautiful. You are running through old neighborhoods with mansions. Spectators were out in force at this time. People had all sorts of homemade stations set up. You could basically get whatever you wanted, including beer. I have yet to grab a beer from anyone during a race.

I saw my family at mile 23. Unfortunately they were across the road but I waved and shouted out to my grandpa. Robin dashed out across the road to me to give me a high-five, which was pretty epic. It made me really happy to see everyone and you guessed it... it gave me a nice little boost to bring it home.

On the way back into Akron there was this hill. It was incredibly evil. It just kept going up and up and up and it was so very hot. That's really all I remember. Hot. Up hill. Lasted forever. Where is the water stop? I was pretty spent at the top so the rest of the race was a blur. I do know we got some decent downhills but at that point I was taking walk breaks. *Sigh* Someday I'll get through a marathon without walking.

The Last .2:

Usually something memorable happens in the last .2 mile of a marathon for me. Oftentimes I meet someone right at the end and we push each other to the finish like Franconia girl in the Big Sur Marathon. This time it was that I was running right behind a girl who became the world record holder for running a marathon in a chef's outfit carrying a 6.5 lbs stock pot. Not gonna lie, I spent most of that last .2 laughing at her but she's pretty kick ass really. I would never EVER want to run in some uncomfortable getup and I would definitely never run carrying a frigging stock pot! I actually let her go ahead of me to so she could have her time in the spotlight at the finish (and so that I wouldn't be completely overshadowed by her when I went through).

Finish Time: 04:54:28
Pace: 11:04

Post Race:

Play Ball! NOT.

The finish was in a baseball stadium near the start of the race. It was VERY fun to run through. They had everything set up right on the field - the food and beer tents, medical, entertainment, etc. They had live video of everyone running through the finish up on the big screens.

Marathon Socks!

Once I made it through the finish line the first thing I thought was WHERE ARE THE MEDALS? I asked for one and they said I had to keep moving to actually get a medal. I don't think you guys understand... I just ran 26.2 (plus a little extra according to my Garmin). I GET MY MEDAL RIGHT AT THE FINISH. I grudgingly moved on and found another group of people...but they didn't have medals, they had socks. The socks are actually pretty kick ass but at that point I was still focused on my medal. What good would a pair of socks do me??

My mom, Robin, my Uncle Eric, and his kids were supposedly waiting for me outside of the stadium. I was relaxing on the grass waiting for them when I get a text from my mom: "Oops! Wrong stadium!" that's right, they went to the wrong ball park! Apparently there was a game going on there so people were tailgating and they thought that was it. Luckily it didn't take them long to locate the correct park.

I finally got another text from my mom that they were waiting outside the park, so I started searching for an exit. This required climbing up through the stands and out of the back of the stadium. I hobbled out there and texted my mom that I was there only to have her tell me she was actually inside now...so I told her to meet me by the medical tent and I hobbled my way BACK down. I waited a rather long time and I was just starting to become concerned when I got another text from my mom saying that they were not allowed down there and I'd have to meet them outside. After some major grumbling I hobbled back out yet again and finally met up with my family. (Despite all the grumbling, I was incredibly happy my family and friends were there at the finish!)

Now, remember how I mentioned that I quickly parked and booked it to the race start? Well now it was time to figure out where I parked and my marathon-addled brain hadn't the slightest clue where that was. I dragged my poor family slowly up and down the streets of Akron trying to find my car. Finally I was able to get my phone to recall where I had parked (a wonderful Google feature) and we headed straight there.

Picture taken back in the comfy hotel bed

Back at the hotel after a very painful shower (I chafed really badly on one inner thigh which caused much squealing in the shower) and about an hour of laying in bed I headed back out to my Grandpa's. That evening we headed over to my cousin Lindsey's house for another cookout. They made a delicious meal of steak and chicken skewers and then we played some CaH, which was hilarious (and a little awkward)! It was a great way to relax after the race.

Sunday was spent hanging out with my Grandpa we took him to lunch and then just relaxed and enjoyed the nice day. I had to head to bed early because my flight back home was scheduled to depart at 6:30AM the next morning.

This was definitely not my typical trip for a marathon but I wouldn't change a thing. I had a wonderful time and it meant so much to see my Grandpa. It was really hard to leave. While I won't be heading back to Ohio to run the Akron Marathon again any time soon, I will be going back to visit my family. I won't be waiting another six years.