This was a post I put up on Facebook this afternoon after finishing the first day with Mainly Marathons’ Independence Series.<\/p>\n
It was great to be back running with the Mainly Marathon family today in Bear, DE. I once thought of these multi-day events like a summer camp caravan; today made me think it’s really more like a mobile “Cheers” running group, where everybody knows your name. Plus, we have our own “Norm!” Thanks to the folks running the course and everyone on the support team – it’s the people who make these events such a joy. Looking forward to the next one!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
There’s something inherently pure about the Mainly Marathon experience.\u00a0 Founded by Clint Burleson and his wife Hanne, Mainly Marathons puts on multi-day series of races in neighboring states.\u00a0 Ostensibly born out of a desire to help cost-effectively help 50 Staters on their quest, it’s also one of the chief proponents of the notion of “no runner gets left behind.”\u00a0 There are no time limits on the events — the support staff will be there until the last runner finishes, no matter how late.\u00a0 Indeed, there are no prizes for finishing first; there is however a prize for finishing last each day: a custom caboose toy, a badge of honor for the runner who endured the longest, struggled the mightiest, and emerged victorious.\u00a0 The organizers and staff have grown over the years but the regulars are folks who were there at the beginning in some capacity, including timing officials, chefs, photographers, and safety crew.\u00a0 It’s a lean, efficient machine that is best described as a family.\u00a0 There is no better food at any race event; there is no more personal concierge running experience for non-elites.\u00a0 The Mainly Marathon crew treats every runner as a VIP… and the people is what keeps bringing folks back day after day, loop after loop.<\/p>\n
I’ve run a number of series with these folks the last few years but this was my first event with them in 2016.\u00a0 I was welcomed back like a long-lost relative.\u00a0 It really is like Cheers — everybody knows your name, they’re happy to help you in any way they can to help you take a break from all your worries and help you achieve whatever your goal is.\u00a0 That’s true of the organization and the runners themselves.\u00a0 I can’t think of a more positive, supportive environment for runners in all my racing experience.<\/p>\n
As I walked up to get my bib for the series, folks asked about my Mom who they know only through Facebook posts.\u00a0 They asked about my running adventures, again off of social media postings.\u00a0 I asked about their Dust Bowl series which was plagued with tough days including the first ever snow-marathon that unexpectedly struck New Mexico.\u00a0 It was like a high school reunion, catching up and trading stories.\u00a0 It was a homecoming. Kate and Cathy at the timing booth were great; Hanne was manning the early morning PB&Js and had a few already set aside for me.\u00a0 Clint caught up with me to ask how things were going.\u00a0 Norm told me he had already done his half that morning so he could be cooking for us during the event.\u00a0 George was shooting photos — I love this people who love making running dreams come true.\u00a0 And not just for me, but for every person out there — whether it was a person running their first 5K, a half-marathoner, marathoners, or the latest addition — those hardy 50K runners<\/p>\n
I had thought since this was the second year of the Independence Series that I wouldn’t see many of the usual folks I’d seen at previous series, figuring most of them had already hit these states last year.\u00a0 But in fact, I saw A LOT of the regulars — Michael Grehan who flies in for series when he can from England, Vincent Ma, Clyde Shank, Brian Wright, Deb Greene, Liz Gmerek, Dee Dee Urquhart, the two superfast brothers from Minnesota.\u00a0 Many, many others.\u00a0 It was a great group of people… and lots of new faces too.\u00a0 What a pleasant way to spend the morning.<\/p>\n
As is typical of the Mainly Marathon routes, the course was a series of loops affording runners the opportunity to cheer each other on both out and back and enabling the aid station to never be too far from a runner in distress or in need of a drink of water or a shot of calories.\u00a0 Today’s course was a little over .8 miles one way, meaning we marathoners were looking at a 16 loop course.\u00a0 Sixteen loops!\u00a0 You keep track of your loops by grabbing a rubber band each time and wrapping it on your wrist.\u00a0 Me?\u00a0 I grab a rubber band each time for the first half and then swap them one-by-one to my other hand for the back-half.\u00a0 Rocking 16 rubber bands on one hand is just too much for me!<\/p>\n
The turnaround for each loop is a black spray-painted safety cone.\u00a0 The black cone.\u00a0 One goes through all the stages of emotions regarding that black cone.\u00a0 Elation at the first sight, segueing into acceptance, transitioning into loathing as the loops add up, then a begrudging respect as the end comes closer and closer, then excitement at the final viewing… unless of course you’re doing multiple days as you know tomorrow will be the same damn cone, mocking and taunting you, encouraging you, belittling you, cheering you.\u00a0 I love and hate that black cone.\u00a0 I hate and love that black cone.<\/p>\n
Within this 0.8 miles, we had all kinds of terrain — asphalt, mud, grass, trails with roots and loose rocks, pavement, a loose gravel decline (which became an incline on the way back).\u00a0 Thankfully the rain held off but it was a gloomy, slightly brisk day.\u00a0 This was not my idea of a spring May day.\u00a0 It was decent running weather but not the greatest “days” for spectating and enjoyment.<\/p>\n
TEMPORARY NOTE: MORE TO COME LATER — I’M OFF TO THE OPERA WITH MY BROTHER (6 PM).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This was a post I put up on Facebook this afternoon after finishing the first day with Mainly Marathons’ Independence Series. It was great to be back running with the Mainly Marathon family today in Bear, DE. I once thought of these multi-day events like a summer camp caravan; today made me think it’s really […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2354\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}