Bagel to Beer Marathon (9.13.2008)

Today was the 7th annual Bagel to Beer Marathon! To give folks a quick background, my father organizes this marathon every year that runs from the Bagel Bin in Columbia, MD to Rams Head Tavern in Savage, MD. There were water stops every 3-4 miles where different people volunteer and provide water, gatorade, candy bars, bananas, etc. It is a great (but definitely HILLY) course that runs on shaded paths all through columbia and on to savage. It is not a big fancy run, but this year we did have shirts, thanks to my cousin who has started this cool company called FireMonkeyRun. Basically he finds sponsors who want to advertise on shirts - then the shirts are free to runners, who will wear them in particular races. It works because people are going to see these cool shirts during and after the run as people wear them and advertise for the companies. Different, COOL idea - in my opinion.

Check out the awesome shirt we got today. We live in the Under Armour capital, so it has its perks. Front: (sorry, a little blurry)
The yellow arrow is perfect because alot of times these paths can be confusing and since it is a smaller race (probably 50 people started today)- sometimes you are out there all alone, just looking for the next yellow arrow. There have also been times where the arrows were marked over in black - and this has caused people to get lost. Ok - every year in one neighborhood someone marks the arrows out in black paint. I feel sorry for this pathetic soul with nothing else to do in their life but worry about a yellow arrow on a path near their home. So needless to say - the yellow arrow is meaningful and funny to anyone who has ever participated in this run.

Back:This has the cute firemonkeyrun logo and also a "SH" which represents a runner Steve Henning, who passed away earlier this week after a battle with cancer. He was a 5 time finisher of the Bagel to Beer and very funny guy. I have been on many training runs with him and my father and he had this dry sense of humor that was great to run with.

This morning, the run started at 6:30am, so we were up at 5am! I ate a whole wheat eggo with fig jam and then had half a banana. I also ate half of a cliff mojo mountain mix on the way there. Since my camera had died this morning when I tried to take a picture of breakfast - I took one when i got home. So here are some of my normal running supplies (mojo is NEW):
During the run, I had a ton of water and gatorade. I also had one Cliff Shot Block (lemon lime flavor), 2 mini snickers and 2 mini twix bars. Oh and about 4 advil! 2 before I started the run and 2 more around 12 miles.

Kevin and I used this run as our 20 mile training run in preparation for running the Baltimore marathon in less than 4 weeks! This will be his first marathon and my 4th! It was a very humid and hot day today - which definitely contributed to us having to walk more frequently over the course of the run. My friend Katherine met up with us around mile 9 and ran with us for about 4 miles which was a great way to get my mind off the run. And it also gave me something to look forward too. I have found that chunking the long runs up into smaller pieces in my mind is what gets me through the runs - it is as much a mental challenge as a physical one! I basically think about the 3 miles until the next water stop, and then the next 4 miles until another one, etc, etc. Breaking it up makes it achievable - like I know i can go another 30 mins! So the water stops and seeing anyone along the way really helps get me through!

I have to say that overall, I felt pretty good - and know I could have kept going to finish the marathon. So that is a good thing. :)

I am currently snacking on some peanut butter filled pretzels from trader joe's and some of this green&white unsweetened tea with a hint of lime. So refreshing!
We are about to head out to get some mexican - i love mexican and we deserve it. I have all sorts of things I want to make with all my produce, etc. though, so I am definitely making dinner tonight - or at least all day tomorrow - eating in. Have a great saturday everyone!