I do not believe in omens. If I did, I never would have run the Spirit of Saint Louis Marathon. Omen #1, the Sunday prior to the marathon I woke up with a sore throat progressively feeling worse each day through Friday and with slight improvement on Saturday. Since I was going to drive to Saint Louis I had to commit Thursday morning. So not feeling good at all, but also not running a temperature and being on antibiotics for two days, I made the commitment to go for it. Omen #2, Wednesday afternoon my pool filter timer quits. I fixed it twice before, so I know this time I need to replace it. I am out there from 5:00 PM to 7:30 PM replacing the timer. The cost of replacing the timer in the evening was, omen #3, over 75 mosquitoes bites on my legs. Doesn’t matter, I am still committed. Thursday morning, 8:00 AM we are on the road. Omen #4,10:00 AM, on I-295 on the start of the 3 mile bridge crossing the St. Johns River to Orange Park, a flat tire, that I am sure was due to the road construction we just drove through at the I-95 and I-295 exchange. I must admit, at this point I thought may be I should turn around and go home. But that was jus a fleeting thought. Omen #5, road construction on I-75 from Valdosta, Ga. to just south of Perry, Ga. Probably lost over an hour on that stretch. Talking to Gene and Mary Ramba at the expo Friday afternoon, they drove the same route and hit no delays. Our plan prior to leaving home was to drive west of Nashville to avoid traffic Friday morning. Due to our delays we got to the west side of Nashville at 10:00 PM. Omen #6, we are in Clarksville, TN and due to the military in Clarksville, we had a difficult time finding a motel with a vacancy. 30 minutes later and 4 motels later we finally get a room. OK, enough of the omens, we get to St. Louis around 1:00 PM with no additional problems.

Whoops, one more omen, #7, the weather projection for marathon Sunday is cold, low in the mid 30’s with highs in the mid 40’s. Oh, and rain. Still not feeling good, the weather has me really concerned. I am just hoping to finish and hopefully under 4 hours. I was thinking the only thing that may save me is I haven’t run a marathon since Oklahoma in November and I have put in a lot of miles this year. I have averaged 63 miles a week, and includes a three taper. I also put in 8 long runs of over 15 miles, including three 20 milers. My training plan and expectation was to run a sub 3:30:00. But, that was before getting sick.

It’s 34 degrees and the rain starts just minutes prior to the start. Somewhere in this crowd of 1300 marathoners (and 1,000 half marathoners) are Sean Black, Mary Ramba, Nancy Cross and Christie. I stayed in the hotel as long as possible prior to the half-mile walk to the start. I got to the start line with about 10 minutes prior to the start. It’s a little late and I have a problem trying to get to the 3:30 or 3:40 pace team. I can only manage to get between the 3:50 and 4:00 hour pace teams. I was guessing Sean is near the front and Mary, Nancy and Christy a little behind me. I start and finish the race wearing four shirts, a singlet, a long sleeve thermal shirt, a short sleeve and a long sleeve. The long sleeve is a though away if I get to warm. I thought I may be over dressed, and I probably was, but I saw many runners wearing tights and water resistant jackets throughout the race. The rain was off and on. It probably rained about half the time. Overall I felt comfortable with the weather. I don’t think it caused me any problems. The course is advertised as rolling hills, and it was. With the exception of about two or three miles in Forest Park, we were either running up hill or down. Although there were a lot of hills I didn’t find them very challenging, there was just a lot of them. Most were long and not very steep. The course was varied in scenery. Several miles are run in downtown St. Louis. There are a couple of industrial area as well as the more scenic stretches through Forest Park, Washington University and St. Louis University. The course also takes you past landmarks such as Busch Stadium and Anheuser Busch Brewery and through some very nice old residential areas. Overall, I thought the course was very nice and diverse. With the exception of the first water stop and my inability to find several mile markers on the course, the race was very well organized.

My split times were18:08 (for miles 1 and 2), 17:22 (miles 3 and 4), 8:57,17:56 (miles 6 and 7), 8:35, 8:51, 8:38, 9:22, 8:57, 9:17, 8:52, 9:00, 17:55, (miles 16 and 17), 18:05 (miles 18 and 19), 8:45, 9:44, 9:48, 8:24, 9:48, 9:40, 8:07, 2:57 (I think the 26 mile mark was in the wrong place). My gun time was 3:57:29 with a chip time of 3:56:43. Not quite what I had planned. Sean Black ran an excellent marathon, running 2:57:50 and placing 8th overall. Christy Zieres ran 4:29:00, Mary Ramba ran 4:51:13 and Nancy Cross 4:57:08.

If you read my marathon report on the Ocean State (Rhode Island) from last October, I mentioned you could set a PR at most marathons. You just have to look for the PR. Since I was still sick and on antibiotics, I was so concerned of dehydrating during the marathon that I drank enough water prior to and during the marathon that I set a PR by having to make 5 pit stops during the marathon (probably cost me about 2 minutes also). The finishers medals are very nice but the shirt on the other hand is poor.

49 marathons completed in 39 states. Next, Casper, Wyoming Marathon on June 1 with Linda Thompson, Bob Panzak and Ken Winn. Slight chance I may run Country Music Marathon in Nashville on Saturday, April 26. It depends how my recovery goes.

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