Delaware Marathon #41

For this marathon I was going it alone. My wife and number one fan was going to stay home and work. It would be my 41st marathon and my 5th one of the year. So far I have been packing them in pretty tight since my first one was mid-month March with the One City in Newport News, Virginia. I had decided to drive up to Delaware by myself to avoid too much expenses. I found a relatively inexpensive hotel and ended up driving from our Richmond office that Friday afternoon. After my meetings were completed, I took off and of course ended up driving through Washington DC traffic. This was extremely tiring…lots of stop and go…not matter what time of day or night. The trip should've taken about 4 1/2 hours however it ended up taking 6 1/2. Man I was exhausted for the drive, but thankful that I did it all on Friday. I was able to rest a little bit on Saturday morning before getting ready and heading over to the Race Expo to pick up my race bib. The Expo was a nice little gathering, nothing too special but just right to jump in and grab my information and race bib and T-shirt.

I was looking forward to adding another state to my growing list of marathon accomplishments.

My Saturday was pretty much wide open and I didn't know what to do however I had heard about the old section of New Castle Delaware. As an architect I love seeing all the old building and history this area had to offer. Their town square had been in continuous use not having to be refurbished or recommissioned. They had everything currently being utilized including the old courthouse in the middle of the square.

No fake history here! I tried to take a little bit of time to relax and enjoy myself enjoy some of the history. Even set down for a few minutes to do a sketch of one of the old buildings. Walking around town taking pictures and seeing all of the neat architecture from an era long ago. The old cobblestone roads around the old church and cemetery in the middle of the historic setting was an inspiration. Especially when you see some of the old estates that were looking out over the water. What a wonderful time in our history. You go just a few blocks away and time catches up and you see all the new construction and buildings and spaces that have crept in on time. I wandered around different areas of the city in Wilmington and Newcastle trying to get a peek of some history. There was an old DuPont residence that unfortunately was closed until May 1 just two or three days away! I really tried to go around the entire facility finding a way to sneak in but I decided that that probably wasn't a good idea. It'll be for another time. But certainly wasn't for lack of trying.

Finishing up the day with another place to eat and in getting my carbs ready for the day. Whenever you travel alone and you plan on checking out the same day as the race it means that all of your prep the night before needs to be ready to pack up and go so you don't waste time in the morning and miss getting to the start line when you need to be. So I had everything ready gathered up the start line was only about six or seven minute drive away and parking was easy. Was a nice little community park where the starting and finish was together.

The description of the race said rolling hills and it actually wasn't too bad. I ran a pretty good time got back to where I felt comfortable with a 5:34:05.2 finish. We ran through a couple of beautiful neighborhoods, some areas of the downtown around the waterfront and over some paved watershed trails that were pretty nice. Wasn't much sun that day it was overcast that along with the tree shade made it a nice run. I started my first push to efforts about marathon reviews and my opinion of the race on YouTube. I call it Have A Fun Run Marathon Review hosted by Run Eugene Run. Maybe one day I’ll have some real sponsors. I'm sure it will take a long time before people start tuning into what I have to say. My goal is to give the review after every marathon within the first 5 to 10 minutes. I'll probably be completely out of breath, mostly incoherent, a bit scatterbrained but I think that will make it fun. It'll be real not some polished press piece of video garbage. I posted thevideo to the Delaware marathon review here below.

Once I was finished I went into the parking garage and change clothes into something dry and jumped in the car and headed south it took me about 4 1/2 hours to get home but man was I tired! Long drive there … long drive back … run a marathon in the middle Overall I had a great experience and it was fun. I'm really trying to push diabetes awareness and make it more known to others. The opportunity to coach people for half marathons and marathons whether they have diabetes or not has become more pressing goal. I come up with a few ideas that will help spread the word of what Run Eugene Run has to say and how I can continue to push the marketing idea for Have A Fun Run brand identity. Be watching for new ideas and promotions that I have coming up the next few weeks and months. I hope these blog posts are encouraging and you enjoy my stories and journey of trying to overcome the diabetes adversities and continuing my march to accomplish more marathons. I look forward to hearing from you and seeing you at my next marathon!