Long Version: Danny Boy wonders where the heck he's at when the 3:00 AM alarm goes off. He somehow manages to get up, out the door and on the road to Erie before four. It takes two hours, and he has to go pretty bad when he gets to the Waldameer Park parking area. Could it possibly have something to do with all the coffee, beet root juice and water he's been gulping during the drive?
Presque Isle is not an island, but a protrusion of land that thrusts into Lake Erie. Such penetration makes for a stunning recreational venue. Okay, okay. Danny Boy will stop. The location is indeed beautiful, but now it's back to the race report.
This race had been on Danny Boy's 'A' list. We don't know why. We don't even know why he does these marathon thingies, for that matter. But with a motto like, 'flat, fast and fun', coupled (there we go again) with absolutely perfect weather, there ought not be any excuses not to run, or not to try to run well. At the very least, he certainly should do better than the 3:56 he did this past spring in Cleveland. On top of everything else, our runner ran some half marathons to get ready, and even (yes, really) tapered and carbo-loaded.
He starts out much too fast. He can't understand why everyone else, some of whom don't appear to be fast runners, seems to be sprinting. Of course he foolishly tries to keep up. After about six miles, he finally settles down to a more manageable pace. As he comes close to completing the first of the two 13-mile loops around the peninsula, his pace falters a little as he slows a bit more.
The half-way point brings memories of his only marathon DNF (Did Not Finish). In 2003 or so, he'd made the trip up here with wife Debbie and some friends. On a horrifically hot and humid day, Debbie said as he ran by, "We're going to breakfast, why don't you come too?" Without thinking at all, Danny Boy stepped off the course and went to Bob Evans. He could have completed the second 13 that day, although he'd have suffered mightily. Danny Boy ran Erie once before and once after that incident. Those other races were super hot ones as well.
Not today. It is 48F at the start, and of course things warm up as the sun rises, but it still never gets a whole lot north of 60. Furthermore, the air was dry and crisp, and there is only a slight breeze. It's as good as it gets.
Hitting half-way with a time of 1:50 is a little scary. That's only a couple minutes faster than his two recent half-marathons. If he could duplicate the time for the second half, he'd have an extremely respectable 3:40 marathon. But can he do it?
He takes some gels, and they seem to help. He runs the next several miles nearly as fast as he ran them the first time around. He's still feeling strong at Mile 20, and the time is around 2:49. 3:40 is still possible, no?
No. The pace begins to slip. Not a lot, but enough. Perhaps those fast early miles did indeed take their toll. Now that silly 3:40 goal is truly out of reach. It's funny how it had became a goal at all. Going in, he had only thought about beating his 3:56. Faster than 3:55 would be a Boston Qualifier. Now he easily had the BQ, but wanted more.
Finish time is 3:43. It's Danny Boy's best in four years, and second best in six years. But then, he retired from marathons a few years ago, didn't he?
The word is out on Erie. The race organization is second to none; it's all about the runners. And it's nice that it's only a marathon; there are no other events. Being so flat and with timing to allow for Boston Qualification, the race has grown a lot over the years. There were well over 1,500 participants from all over.
One more thing. The results show that Danny Boy was eighth in his ancient age group. That means that seven (yes, seven) old-timers actually ran faster. Surely the large field and the perfect day mattered. It sure did to D.B.
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