I then checked out the reviews (all glowing and amazing) and then the race website too. This is what they had as a description:
Marathon o Course Designed by a Runner for a Runner o Boston Marathon Qualifier o Scenic and Shady, Well-Marked Course o Great Race, Great Cause! Bart Yasso, Chief Running Officer at Runner’s World Magazine designed the course and yes, a river runs through it; the Lehigh River to be exact. As Bart likes to say; it’s a course designed by a runner for a runner. This downhill course starts at Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown, PA. Maybe an odd location to start, but it’s easy to find and has plenty of parking. It’s a quick trip to the Lehigh Parkway, past the Fish Hatchery, across a covered bridge and heading towards the Lehigh River. At mile 7, you enter the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor. Mile 12 places you in Bethlehem, PA with a run through the 18th Century Industrial Quarter. Canal locks, a boat launch and several parks make up the run to Easton, PA. At mile 25, the confluence of the Lehigh and Delaware Rivers is right before you. Just 1 more mile places you at the finish line in Easton. Scenic, shady and a net elevation drop of 240' make it an attractive qualifying run for the Boston Marathon. The average runner's time for the past few years has been 4:02 hours.
Sounds like another couple of wins, right? A beautiful course designed "for a runner by a runner" and a downhill course and an alleged easy BQ whatever that means.
Hm...What people don't know or realize is that downhill courses are tough on the quads and especially tough on my stomach and there's no such thing as an easy BQ. Still, it's intriguing. Beautiful course and maybe just maybe I'll do well?
Spoke to Ed. He would really like to go day off instead of hoteling it but he has concerns.
The course is a point to point race so you park at the start, run to the finish and then take a shuttle back to your car at the start. Assuming Anu can come, that means they would drive down together very early (7am start), they would park at the start and he would run. She would then drive the car to the finish and wait for him. Then she would drive home. A hard day for any spectator even if they aren't pregnant. If Anu can't come, he would drive by himself down, park at the start, run the race and then wait long enough until he is recovered enough. At that point he would have to board the shuttle and then drive home by himself which thinking about his experience with Bucks pretty much scared him. I can appreciate his issues and concerns. I have done it. It's not easy. Driving long distance by yourself sucks but then add the fact that you are tired from running 26.2 miles (or more) and add to it the fact that you are tired from waking up very early to drive down to the race and it really sucks.
I reached out to Gary Korner, a Facebook friend who I never met. Started talking to him after a Disney Race online and he already helped me out once. Last year at Run For the Red Marathon he was kind enough to pick up my packet and drop it off at the hotel. Figured hopefully...
He's Funny....Approaching the subject softly, I asked "Are you or any of your peeps doing the Lehigh Valley Marathon?" to which he replied "Are you going to run it? If you need a place to stay, you're welcome to stay with us. It ain't the Waldorf but the service but the service is lousy..." And all I wanted was someone to pickup my bib. Sheesh... Funny stuff. I read this and almost spilled my green tea all over me.
Well, that solved one problem. The other solution I came up with as I was running. While Anu coming with us would be awesome (haven't seen her since the AP 5 Miler while I was speeding along and she was spectating) it's strictly not mandatory. If Ed can't drive, then I can. He drives a stick but I can drive a stick. I'm a little rusty but what the hell? I let him know and he thought it over and boom! We signed up.
So, here and there I ran into Ed and I kept "threatening" with taking him to Oyster Bay to run where I bike for the hills. He actually really wanted it too since he did Ocean to sound and ran a leg there and really wanted to see it again. We kept trying to figure out a time but it wasn't easy. Life got in the way. Still, I went running the Saturday before Tobay. While running 14 miles, I tried to call Adele to wish her good luck on the race the next day. She didn't answer but that's ok. A little later, I was still running, I get a cryptic message from her asking who I expected to pickup the phone at 9 something when she was supposed to get in the water at 7:56. What?!? Called her back and asked for explanation. I mean Tobay is always Sunday so what the hell is she babbling about? Turns out that this is the first year they did the race on a Saturday. Whoa... So she told me the details and while that happened the gears started turning... I didn't want to go to run at Tobay the next day because I thought the next day was the Triathlon and parking and roads would be a disaster but now... Contacted Ed and we were on.
So, the next day after the 14 miler, I ran with Ed at Oyster Bay for 17 miles. Felt good. Tuesday, I ran another 6 or 7 around noon in the swealtering heat on dead legs and then at 5:30 with Adele an easy 3 miles. Nice. Actually Jeremy started with us too but immediatly kicked off. Good for him.
The next week I ran 10 on Saturday by myself finishing as Len was going to start the same water loop. That day we went to New Jersey to celebrate her brothers birthday. I knew I would eat too much and the wrong foods so I wasn't sure about the Sunday run so I took my running gear just in case. I was annoyed there because they ignored us for about 30 minutes and was about to go run but missed my wondow. Oh well. Still had a 10 miler in the bank from the morning so whatever.
We got home late and stomach had wrong foods and major storm was supposed to hit the next day but Jim and I decided to go late (7am) and run 7 miles easy. His knee hurt so he didn't mind. Woke up early and it's raining. Hate it but was going to run anyway. He contacted me at 6 and I think we both were looking for excuses not to run but decided we should and did. When he picked me up it was sunny skies. Later, Lee told me she thought I was joking about storms when she took LC for a walk but it wasn't my fault. That was the weather forecast.
Got to AP and started when a car pulls in to lot and the driver gets out of the car in a hurry and joins us. Len! Nice...He ran the 10 yesterday like me and wanted 8. Cool. So, he's doing back to back runs too now, hm? Anyway, we were going to do the 7 mile St. Francis loop but extended it to Utopia for 8 because we all felt good. At that point, Len turned back and Jim and I continued to Kissena park. We ended with 11 which is funny if you remember all the excuses we both had and how we went from 7 to 8 to 11. Jim suffered badly during the run tho after Len left. Or maybe that's when he finally admitted it.
He told me that his knee stopped hurting but now his hip hurt. Probably from over compensating for knee. It also got very humid and it really did a number on him. He also took his gel 20 minutes too late and that might have had an effect too. Still, on the drive home he kept apologizing about his performance and that he needed walk breaks. Please...I kept reminding him that I am the easiest going guy in our group and it's cool with me.
Between those 2 weekends, I felt comfortable with doing the Marathon. I had miles. It never will be "pretty" with me but doable. Tuesday again ran twice - nice.
Wednesday was going to be weird. It was Erev Rosh Hashanah and usually we meet up with family the next day for lunch but this time we decided to try dinner in Manhattan with the dog going with us.
Didn't swim that night obviously and ate waaaaaay too much. Had 4 pieces of Filet Mignon and a piece of Salmon and veggies and rice and another kind of rice and stomach was way too full.
The next day was going to be a mess. Elizabeth was going to take the car to Honda early in the morning. Also we had a Doctors appt for 10:30. During the dinner, I realized that it's too much for Elizabeth to run home. Granted she could do it easily knowing her but I was worried so I told her that I would do it. The plan was to wake up early (around 3:30 of sleep), take the car to Honda and then to run home (7-8 miles). I would shower and then we would walk to the Doctor so he can look at our feet. Then we would run home, around 2+ miles, and then I would run back to Honda. Normally this would be great but I didn't want the run. It's a hard run and I usually start my taper after the Wednesday swim so I wouldn't do this run normally.
At Honda, they said the car would be ready by 9:30 (2 hours) and I wasn't sure what to do. Lee decided I should stay local so I ran up Nortern (MD Row) to the Cross Island Parkway and then ran a little on there. Turn around and run back. Did it. Total was about 9.5 miles of bad hills which was great I guess. Car ready at 10 which meant a quick drive and shower and another quick drive to MD. Got everything done is the good news. Also drank tea and crashed on the living room floor for about 1.5 hours. Jeremy, who can't tell time, of course told me that I slept for like 4 hours. Sheesh!
Spoke to Ed and he's gonna finish and then decide on how he feels. If he feels ok or can recover before I finish, he will take the shuttle and go get the car and bring the car. If he doesn't feel great then he will wait for me and we will take the shuttle together. Obviously I was hoping that he would feel good. I was worried about the shuttle situation. At Run For the Red, I bummed a ride as opposed to waiting for the shuttle. I am a NYer and proud of it. Still, can't worry about it.
We got there about 5:30am. The drive was amazing. Parked and went for the port-a-potties. Started talking to 2 guys. One was trying to qualifying for Boston and the other was running his first. He was wearing a "I Run For Animals" shirt from PETA. Later I'll refer to him as animal guy.
After that met a MM and then met Gary for the first time. He and his son Lucas came to volunteer. Nice!
Got ready and another visit to the port-a-pottie and then to the starting line. Interesting thing was waiting at the opening ceremonies. I went to stand with the 4+ hour people and I quickly realized that I was at the tail end of the line. Ha? Either everyone here is a liar or everyone is fast. Looking at my results and that I was at the tail end of the results, I guess not everyone is a liar. Oh well.
Started running and the course is beautiful. We run across a wooden covered bridge and there are some big downhills. I feel burning in my calves and I stop for a second to stretch it out. I knew I would pay for it later.
Later there was a turn to get on a bridge and I realize that it is true and that I am toward the finish. Didn't like that feeling. I don't think it was me per se as much as there weren't that many slower people if you understand what I am saying.
Some other interesting things about this race. The half-marathoners start midway and finish with us. Also there are relay teams of 5 legs and that's a little annoying. At mile 20 or so, I don't really want to see someone run very fresh while I am hurting... Whatever.
The relay runner exchange points were a little annoying too. They didn't get out of the way in some cases. Wineglass Marathon had teams of 3 and they pulled them out of the way. Here, we ran through people waiting for the hand slap. I actually had to push a runner finishing out of my way. I don't like that. I'm not that kind of person.
On and off, I leap-frogged with animal guy. I thought we would run together at 1 point but he took off. That's fine. So I enjoyed leap-frogging. I am not uber-competitive but I did want to "beat" him or rather I didn't want to lose to him. Same thing but nicer said.
Part of the course was running on a trail between the canal and the river. Eventually we turned and went the other way with a different canal. This was real pretty although at 1 point it got a little boring.
Right around mile 13, I saw a woman exiting a port-a-pottie. I decided to see if it's clean. My stomach wasn't fully settled and perhaps a pre-emptive strike was in order. I was ahead of animal guy and also in front of no_shirt_full_of_tattoes_and_singing_outloud guy. After my visit, I had to catch up with no_shirt_full_of_tattoes_and_singing_outloud guy and eventually to animal guy.
As a mention, there was a relay team wearing a red dress running. I saw at least 2 guys and 1 girl in that team and they all wore that dress. Hm...
At 1 point, I heard a loud train. Made sense it was a train as on the other side of the canal were parked trains. Anyway, later again I heard it and that was kinda weird. Later, again I heard those noises but smaller in duration and it hit me that they were gun shots. The train I heard was probably a machine gun. Sheesh. I made a comment out loud that someone should have a sign that reads "Run Like Someone Is Shooting At You!". There were 5 people around me and I thought they were all listening to music but they all started cracking up. From there into a crappy gravel road. I don't know how anyone would run that barefoot or even with Vibrams. It hurt through my sneakers.
At almost mile 21, I saw a guy sitting there with his 2 teenage girls. I asked if they have a coke or pepsi and they said only in the car and do I want it...Of course...Guy ran/walked me to his car and oh....That Coke tasted so good.
In the early part of the race, a woman threw her cup of water and nailed a guy in the face. She apologized and he was cool with it. I noticed from her bib that her name was Becky. Later I leap-frogged with her and also ran with her. Toward the end she was doing 4 min run and 1 min walk. I tried to help her and at least to do a power walk instead of walk but she was kind of off. Last mile, we could already see the finish and I took off. It was a straight shot until I realized that there were people running on the road to my right and above me going the other way. OK...Fine. I need a turn around. I felt at this point like this course was never going to end. I called it the un-ending course. Finally the turn and another right and another right and toward the finish line. Yay...
As I finished I saw Ed. He was relaxing. I went to medical and asked for 2 bags of ice. Always gotta think about recovery. Sat next to Ed for a few minutes, with ice bags on my knees. After that we went to stand in the shuttle line.
Quick Tangent: Ed's race... Wasn't what he wanted but he was ok with it. He never ran a hot (or warm Marathon) and wasn't sure what to expect. There were really hot/humid areas and some with nice cool air. He ended up with 3:18. I would love it...Oh well.
The line for the shuttle was big. We got on it and I kept leaving Ed asking people in cars if we could get a ride to the start. People on line heard me and realized what I was up to. They started doing that too. Ha.
Took a while but a bus came and loaded people. Only people sitting went in. We waited. A smaller bus eventually came and said he was going to a specific place. Later we heard he charged people $ 10 a head and actually broke down. Sucks for those people. We roasted in the sun (no shelter) and waited. They were announcing that shuttle service will end at 1pm. We finally got on a bus after waiting close to an hour and a half at 12:57. People squeezed in and stood. Still, there were probably a 100 people still out there. Jeez! Are they still there waiting? I don't know...If shuttle service really ended then....Sheesh.
Later, I found out that people online posted on Facebook, begging for water and volunteers were sent to give them water. What a screwup...
The bus was the kind that had air conditioning like on planes but it was blowing warm air. I took my ice bags and iced my knees and my head. When we got off, we realized the driver (bastard) had air conditioning. We didn't...
We got to the car and got comfortable which included me sticking a needle into 3 blisters. Car ride home was uneventful except for traffic right before the Throgs Neck Bridge until the Cross Island Parkway. Got home, walked LC and showered. Later we got pizza. Yay.
I posted the following on the Lehigh Valley Health Network Via Marathon page:
Elik Hirsch wrote: "The course was designed by Bart Yasso but clearly he never stood around waiting for a shuttle for an hour and a half and then to find out that there was no AC on the bus. Beautiful course and volunteers were amazing but NOT a repeat..."
Guess I hit a nerve since I got the following response:
Lehigh Valley Health Network Via Marathon wrote: "Our sincerest apologies for transportation issues. This includes race participants who were directly affected as well as our sponsors and municipal partners. Via accepts complete responsibility for a breakdown in our transportation plan and is deeply sorry for your inconvenience. Please know that while Bart Yasso designed this course, he has no role in race operations or logistics. We thank you for your feedback and any additional comments as we begin immediately to ensure that we correct this problem going forward. Thanks again for your support and please provide your thoughts to Via@ViaNet.org."
Ed knew he would be in pain and was. I was ok. My father always said that you should never ne awareof your muscles and if you do then you are in injured. I felt my quads a little. Massage the next day was awesome. That evening tho my left calf always felt like it was going to cramp up. Tuesday morning I swam and that helped. I also did my usual run Tuesday evening on the treadmill and another short swim and that did it. I felt great and still do. Wednesday evening swim workout was hard but good. I led most of it. Nice!
Interesting shirt seen on the course: A relay team was wearing (to the theme of "Virginia is For Lovers") a shirt that said "Vagina is For Lovers". They were all female. Awesome shirt...