2009 Vermont City Marathon

8. Vermont City Marathon – Burlington, Vt. – May 24, 2009

Runners are a funny breed. I was warming up for a hill workout with my friend Nason Newberg and asked what race he was training for. He said he wasn’t sure, and in a mostly joking way I said he should run the one in Burlington, Vt. To my surprise, he said ok. Trying to run a marathon in every state requires some finesse with finances. I try hard to balance more expensive races with cheaper ones. I certainly don’t want to reach the point where all the states I have left are the farthest away. Between splitting the costs and giving me a fun guy to hang out with for the weekend, Nason’s willingness to go was especially welcoming.

The first half of the race was pretty soggy

Burlington is a spitting image of Boulder, Colo. It makes sense, since the man who designed Church Street in Burlington is the same guy that did Pearl Street in Boulder. It’s a nice college town. We ate at a local pasta joint the night before.

The weather on race day was not ideal. It was pouring down rain for the entire first half before heating up in the second half, causing some extra friction (read: chaffing) and feeling like every part of your body was pruning. I was questioning the course design in the days leading into the race. The course was kind of a star pattern, sending the runners through downtown five times. As it turned out, I loved that aspect because it felt like the number of fans on the course was multiplied by five. Sure, they were the same people all five times, but those same people were full of energy. And give them even more credit because of the rain.

Even in the rain, the crowd was enthusiastic

The route started with a five-mile out-and-back. If I’m going to have to run back and forth, I prefer it to be early in the race. There are few things in racing that are more discouraging than watching thousands of people running the opposite direction and having no idea how much longer you have to run before you can turn around, too. For some reason, it seems easier if it’s closer to the starting line. The rest of the course was a series of loops through Burlington with a lot of beautiful views of Lake Champlain.

Several stretches were along the lake front

The race director made a unique decision to bypass a half marathon and instead offer a two-man relay. A lot of races have a ton of half marathon runners for the first half, and the second half feels nearly empty. The relay in this one ensured that there would be runners throughout the race. As an added bonus for the second half runners, the rain stopped shortly before most of them started running.

With about 10 miles to go, there is a steep uphill in the middle of downtown Burlington. Hawaiian drummers play a beat to help the runners up, and then the course heads north of town. As we ran through a neighborhood, a few kind people stood at the curb with mini aid stations with oranges and water. At mile 23, we circled around a horseshoe turn down a steep hill, which was somewhat brutal at that point in the race but fortunately it wasn’t too long. The final few miles were on a bike trail along the lakefront. With a mile left, a few students from the University of Vermont asked if I wanted a beer from their makeshift aid station. I looked and quickly replied, “That’s not beer. That’s Icehouse. You’ll learn the difference by graduation.” Just trying to help the younger generations.

Drummers help the runners up the toughest hill on the course

I finished in 3:36 and was pleased with my time, but as I was walking through the chute I heard the announcer say there was a 12-year-old boy finishing the full marathon. I’m usually not surprised by older finishers, but that one blew me away. I questioned the intelligence in allowing someone that young to run that far, but the kid was flying in with what looked like a smooth stride.

Nason was waiting near the finish line and was quick to tell me that Ben & Jerry’s was offering free ice cream. I’m pretty sure he wanted me to provide cover because he wanted a second serving. When he went back for thirds, the woman in the ice cream truck looked at him and said, “You know you’re not actually fooling us, right? Here’s another one for you.” I always love chocolate milk after a long run or race, but ice cream may actually be better. We weren’t flying out until the next morning, so we had a good dinner and some liquid refreshment on Church Street.