The Medina Half Marathon

1:55. I survived another hot one.

Actually, it wasn't so bad. I kept a steady (albeit slow) 8:50 pace throughout. Although it was warm and humid, I managed much better than last week. I suppose that being half the distance helped.

Of course the X-Factor is that I'm only six days away from that debacle in the Cleveland Heat. I'm still getting over that one.

And I also helped by volunteering at the day-before Expo and at the early-morning course setup.

But at the race, I persevered. I therefore feel better now. Mostly. Thank you.

One more thing: I was third in my ancient age group. Just like last week. Only different.

The 2019 Rite-Aid Cleveland Marathon

It was a beautiful day in Cleveland. I thoroughly enjoyed running all through my fair city. I ran as well as I could have expected, and had a wonderful time doing so. I’m encouraged to return again next year, and to soon run a lot of other races as well.

None of that, not a single word, is even the least bit remotely true. I’m sure it (the 2019 Cleveland Marathon) was my worst ever. The slow time (my slowest ever road marathon) doesn’t begin to tell the story. Neither does the temperature reading (I think it hit 86F, although my car was telling me 89F as I was driving home.

What does tell the story is this: today stunk, my race stunk, and I stunk.

Allow me a few additional observations.

- I mentioned in my pre-race blog post that I probably shouldn’t even show up for the start. I was right. In fact, running is stupid. And running marathons is stupider.

- I also mentioned in said post that this would be my nineteenth Cleveland Marathon. Now I’m legitimately wondering whether there will be a twentieth.

- Hot weather is never good for distance running. Now then, I’ve run a handful of races that were even hotter than this. But I’ve never suffered so greatly. I think it’s partly/mostly because I’m also out of shape as well. Out of shape + oppressive heat = a nasty outcome.

- I think it was already around eighty by the time I was only about half-way. When I hit that point, I was just under two hours, but I knew the second half would be a death march, and I was right.

- Also regarding the heat, I did consider that since sweat cools the body, and since I’m sweating profusely, and since I have more than my usual surface area these days, all should be good. Right?

- I saw several friends at the start and along the way. That’s one of the things I do like about the Cleveland Marathon.

- Another thing I like about the race is that it does show off my fair city in a good way. I often make mental notes like, this is a cool place. I’ll have to return and enjoy it more when I’m not running a stupid marathon.

Let me close by saying that running is stupid. And running marathons is stupider. Oh, I said that already? Sorry. My brain is baked to well-done.

If I Get Through This Thing

My shirt from the first (1978) Revco Marathon. It was also my first marathon

If I get through this thing, it will be my nineteenth Cleveland Marathon, and my eighteenth Cleveland Drugstore Marathon. The oddball was the Greater Cleveland Marathon that was held only in 2001.

You laugh when I say, “if.” I don’t think it’s all that funny; not making it is a real possibility this time. I am probably the heaviest I’ve been for any of the bunch, and I’m definitely running slower than ever. Also, did I mention the heat? It’s going to be awful tomorrow.

But since you asked (you did, didn’t you?), here’s the sad list. Sad because of the increasingly long and slow times. 2019 will likely be the slowest yet.

Number	Marathons I've Run	Date	Age	Time
1	Revco Cleveland	5/14/1978	25	3:04
8	Revco Cleveland	5/21/1989	36	2:59
12	Revco Cleveland	5/19/1991	38	3:16
17	Revco Cleveland	5/17/1992	39	3:23
49	CVS Cleveland	4/29/2000	46	3:07
53	CVS Cleveland	4/29/2001	47	3:09
54	GCM Cleveland	5/6/2001	48	3:23
57	CVS Cleveland	4/29/2002	48	3:14
65	Rite Aid Cleveland	4/25/2004	50	3:10
69	Rite Aid Cleveland	5/22/2005	52	3:18
76	Rite Aid Cleveland	5/21/2007	54	3:22
83	Rite Aid Cleveland	5/17/2009	56	3:35
88	Rite Aid Cleveland	5/16/2010	57	3:13
93	Rite Aid Cleveland	5/15/2011	58	3:16
97	Rite Aid Cleveland	5/20/2012	59	4:06
100	Rite Aid Cleveland	5/19/2013	60	3:39
104	Rite Aid Cleveland	5/19/2017	64	3:56
106	Rite Aid Cleveland	5/20/2018	65	4:13

Had enough? No? Okay, one more list. Seeing as though I’ve run Cleveland more often than any other marathon, what are those other counts? Here goes.

Marathons I've Run	Number of Times Run	Average
Cleveland	18	03:21
Detroit Free Press	12	03:09
Boston	10	03:18
Scotty Hanton	10	03:13
Towpath	6	03:14
Columbus	4	03:13
Glass City	4	03:23
Inland Trail	4	03:18
Ohio/Michigan	4	03:06
Chicago	3	03:24
Erie	3	03:36
Landis Loonies	3	04:03
Tahoe Triple Day 1	3	03:49
Akron	2	03:49
Athens, OH	2	03:22
Martian Marathon	2	03:19
Northern Ohio	2	03:51
Ocala	2	03:19
Run with Scissors	2	05:31
Sy Mah	2	03:11
Air Force	1	03:29
Austin Motorola	1	03:12
Bayshore	1	03:06
Brunswick	1	04:18
Canton Marathon	1	03:47
Honolulu	1	03:14
Huntington Marathon	1	03:12
InFirst Bank Veterans	1	03:46
Jacksonville Breast Cancer	1	03:58
New York	1	03:27
On My Own Two Feet Kent	1	03:53
Prague International	1	03:28
Whitefish Point	1	03:55

In the Moment

I had a moment just now. Without thinking, I went and registered for the Cleveland Marathon. The thing is a week away.

I must be out of my mind.


....

Having put that out there, I will say that I'm running a little (very little) better than when I wrote about having (or possibly not having) the heart of a champion.

I suppose I'd better train.