Delaware Marathon 5/13/12 State #24

I had never been to Delaware and honestly have a hard time picking it out on a U.S. map. The most I really knew about this fine state is that it was in the Mid-Atlantic, the Appalachian Trail does not run through it, and the movie Wayne's World makes fun of it.

This marathon had a great story. About 9-10 years ago, the president of the 50 states marathon club, Steve Boone, called up the mayor of Wilmington and suggested that they start a marathon in May so that the club members could run in Delaware. Turns out the same weekend that Steve had mentioned, the city had just had a 5k race cancelled. They held the race that year and it has been going on ever since. The course has changed a little every few years but still a great smaller sized running event.

This year it was 2 loops around town, running through a mix of pathway along the river, industrial area, through a park, winding road through a greenspace, through residential, and back through the downtown area. It was a warm day with shade only at certain spots on the course, so this kept times a little slow.

The night before the race, we joined a dinner at an italian place near our hotel to celebrate Greg Kobel's 50th state, including completion of the marathon the next morning. It was group of about 15 and interesting to hear everyone's stories.

I had roomed with another maniac from NYC to split hotel costs, she had ridden down with Kino and I had driven up from Virginia. The next morning, we met up with a Marathon Maniac in the lobby through the powers of facebook to walk the mile downhill to the start. Our hotel was on the edge of an "interesting" neighborhood, so figured going in a group was a good idea.

The race shirt was a bright pink brooks short sleve tech tee, and I am pictured in the Kettle Fun Run wearing it. I also wore it all day as a volunteer so that friends could easily find me.

Ran 4:32:59