There is something to be said about a marathon where only 8 out of 119 finishers are from the home state. I think the message is “stay away from this marathon”. Not sure how many of the 21 runners that did not finish were from West Virginia, but three SCR runners, Dick White, Bob Panzak and I joined 140 other marathoners in North Bend State Park to run the only marathon in West Virginia and what is advertised as the toughest marathon in the east.

It seems like every marathon I run I set some kind of a PR. The problem with the PRs I set at the Ridgerunner Marathon is that the PRs were not good PRs. But before I get to my PRs I would like to give credit to Bob “Grasshopper” Panzak for setting a very special PR by leading the marathon, at least for the first 40 yards or so. Bob’s wife Hali was posed at about the 50-yard mark and captured the event on film.

With the first mile almost entirely uphill climbing 150 foot I set my first PR by getting into oxygen debt and seriously considering dropping out before hitting the 1-mile mark. I thought there was no way I would be able to finish this marathon. 25.2 miles to go and I was sucking air. I was fighting the temptation to turn around and go back to the motel, which we just passed a quarter mile back. I then thought rest, just don’t quit and knowing mile 2 was downhill I pressed on. Feeling better at mile 2 I figured I’d go at least one more mile. Mile 3 was a 100-foot uphill run. Can’t say I felt good but I no longer thought about quitting, at least not yet. Mile 4 and 5 were down hill but miles 6 through 10 were primarily uphill climbing over 300 feet. My second PR came when I found myself having to walk most of the up hills starting at mile 6. This is a PR by about 7 miles. The earliest I had to walk in previous marathons was in the 13th mile at the South Hero Marathon in Vermont. Mile 11 was down hill, with 12 uphill, 13 down hill, 14 up, 15 down and 16 an uphill climb of 300 feet. Mile 17 was down hill. Mile 18 through 24 is run on a converted railroad bed (Rails to Trails). The footing wasn’t great but it was at least flat. We ran through three tunnels on the rails to trail section. The tunnels gave us a chance to cool down a little prior to getting back into the sun and heat. At least that was my excuse to walk, that and there was no light in the tunnels so you could not see where you were placing your feet. Coming off the Rails to Trails at mile 24, runners hit the toughest mile on the course. The mile is on hard pack dirt road, very similar to the Rails to Trails section but is totally 100% uphill at what I would estimate to be 3 to 4 degree incline. For comparison the SR 192 Bridge in Melbourne is at 3 degrees. I was beat up sufficiently over this mile to set my third PR for the day, which was walking the entire mile. In spite of walking I found my hams, quads and forearms were cramping and I couldn’t run if wanted to. It hurt just to walk. Mile 25 is primarily down hill but by then it was a struggle to run the up hills or the down hills. My fourth and final PR for the marathon was my slowest marathon to date, 4:08:25.

As poor as my time was I still managed to place 26 out of 119 finishers. Bob ran an excellent race finishing 10th overall in a time of 3:41:55. Dick placed 42 overall finishing in 4:27:26. I recommend this marathon for anyone who is planning to run a marathon in every state. Every one else, stay away. Since this was the only marathon I have run in over 4 hours (my third Boston, the 100th Boston was slower then 4 hours but I was also injured and just ran it to be part of the 100th Boston). By the way, the weather wasn’t great either. The temperature was in the mid 60’s at the 7:00 AM start and warmed up to the mid 80’s at 4 hours. I was a little disappointed that I broke my streak of running all my marathons in each state in under 4 hours. Then I thought back to the one-mile mark where I thought about dropping out. I then felt relieved and happy that I at least finished the marathon.

Although the course was hilly and difficult, hot and somewhat humid, I don’t think it was so difficult that I should have run slower then 4 hours – not that there is anything wrong running slower then 4 hours. I think my main problem was I was not rested. Ridgerunner was my 4th marathon since December 30th (5 months and 2 days). At 57 years old this may be a little too aggressive. I may just have to go back some day when I am more rested. Anyway, 45 marathons completed in 35 states. Next marathon, American Discovery on September 1 in Colorado Springs

Rest if you must, just don’t quit,
Marty