Night Before the Maine Marathon

This is a delayed post from the night of October 3.

The ride to Maine from New Hampshire was pretty short, and Mary was great company. Steph fell asleep for most of the ride, as I’ve been prone to do many times after a marathon, but this time I was totally jazzed up. I had just done a marathon in the rain! In the mountains! With the flu! In the cold! And finished strong! I was on top of the world 🙂

We stopped at our hotel very briefly, and then headed for the expo. We were too late for packet pickup (no matter – there was morning packet pickup too), so Mary and Steph dropped me off for the 50 States Club meeting while they went off in search of a cheeseburger – Steph’s craving.

I snagged a seat near the front of the 50 State meeting, and was really pumped for Larry Macon’s keynote speech. Larry holds the Guinness world record for most marathons completed in a year (108), and he had a lot of great stories to tell! My favorite was about how he started running. He’s a lawyer, and was sitting around in a meeting listening to all his peers brag about their weekend plans. When they asked what he was doing, he tried to be bold and say he was going to do a marathon. However, instead of ending it there, they asked “which one?”, and Larry quickly guessed “San Antonio.” To his surprise, they said, “oh great, we’ll have a party for you at the finish!” And just like that, he now had to do a marathon. Like me, he got hooked though… this sport is addictive!

One of the highlights of the meeting was a cute skit about putting Larry under arrest for breaking laws, like changing clothes in a car on the way to the next marathon. It ended with Larry’s punishment: he was sentenced to run the Maine Marathon the next day and finish with all his friends. Awww! 🙂

I caught a ride with my friend Tim back to my hotel, and then started thinking about food. Steph and Mary had already eaten, and I figured I’d just get takeout rather than go somewhere. My options were Chinese food or pizza, and the front desk clerk had given me a pizza menu that she swore was among the best pizza in the country, so I figured that was the clear winner (even though I had already had two pieces of pizza at lunch). The Portland Pie Company offered a few choices for crusts, and the guy on the phone said they were all good, so I opted for beer-flavored, which he said was a bit sweet and very popular. Cool! Since it was only me, I went with the smallest size, which was 10 inches but billed as personal-sized. I also got the option that was loaded with veggies – I may need extra calories for my double, but I still want to get in my nutrients!

When the pizza came, I opened the box to discover that a 10 inch “personal” pizza is actually not personal at all… it’s pretty big! No matter; I figured I’d stick the extra in the fridge and then bring it back to NYC with me for Boyfriend. However, I started eating, and I just kept going, and going, and going… until I had eaten the entire pizza! I am still appalled at my gluttony, but surprisingly, didn’t even feel a little bit sick after. I guess that’s what happens when you try to run 52.4 miles in a weekend.

But how would that cheese sit with me the next day? Stay tuned to find out!