Adirondack Marathon and skipping Akron Marathon

Picture Left: Tammy at the Start line of the Adirondack Marathon



Running the Adirondack Marathon course around Schroon Lake (which although is around a lake and thus should be flat based on the laws of physics really is VERY hilly but very pretty). Enjoying the lake during a brief period when it was warm


At the finish line with my friends Jesse and Jericho, from the 2006 Adirondack Marathon (in 2006 it was their first marathon and only 2 weeks before they got married). It was great to see them!




Today was a hard day for me. I think running around like a nut (in sandals no less) the last few days at work might have contributed to some foot issues.

Since I don't want small issues to blow up into big issues, I decided to cancel my plans to go run the Akron Marathon. This is really hard and very sad. It is better this way because of so many events and feeling so run down, but I have been looking forward to Akron since it was suggested at the Tampa Marathon last Feb. And even worse, now I will definitely be working this weekend.

Well, at least I can reminsce about my recent sucess at the Adirondack Marathon. This race was just like I remembered. The townspeople were really nice the entire weekend. They were really excited to be hosting the race and made sure the runners felt their appreciation. Friday morning, Tristan and I arrived in Albany then drove to Saratoga Springs. We walked around the town a bit and drank from a variety of springs. Some water was tasty, some so-so and a few springs were AWFUL. Seriously they smelled of rotton egg and tasted like a bottle of sea water that had an animal die in it then sat out in the sun for weeks, only worse! (or at least that is how I think Bear Gryllis of Man Vs. Wild would describe it). After a quick meal at the Putnam Market (which has really tasty sandwiches), we drove to Lake George. We walked around that town and decided to play Mini-golf. Sadly I was not on my A -game, actually I don't think I have an A-game, but this time I did really poorly. On several occasions my ball was barely in the same zip code as me. But ultimately we finished our game and although I listed my name as "Champ" and Tristan's as "Chump" I was not the victor. We then continued our journey up to Schroon Lake and arrived at our Cabin/room just in time for dinner. Walking to dinner we were able to find a race brochure. I learned I was bib 103 and it looked like I knew a few runners. After our quick dinner at a local pub, we headed back to the room.

Saturday, Tristan left about 5 a.m. to climb Gulden Peak. I was left to fend for myself. After sleeping in I wandered 300 meters to the center of town and got a tasty cup of coffee from Higher Grounds. I wandered aimlessly including walking to the Lake and up the 400 meter long main street until packet pick up opened up. I got my bib and my packet. After taking my packet to the room (a 2 minute walk) I continued wandering around the town a bit (a 5 minute walk). I found a chair by the lake and sat down and appreciated the beautiful fall weather and lovely lake. I read for a few hours then it was time to go swim a bit at the Word of Life Pool (like I said this race really treats you right). I swam for about an hour then showered. The pool was right at the location where the pre-race dinner was being held so I wandered over to the dining hall and sat down. Ultimately Tristan showed up after his hike and we had a very nice dinner. Dinner included salad, pasta, a variety of sauces (with and without meat) and veggies. For desert there were a variety of pies, cheesecakes, chocolate cake and ice cream. It was really good. Soon enough my belly was full and it was time to sleep off this very filling meal.

Sunday morning was a bit chilly. The low was in the upper 40's but the predicted high was to be in the upper 60's. There was a slight chance of sprinkles but no major rain was predicted. I decided to go with my usual marathon girl skirt, pink tank and a long sleeve shirt. I carried a poncho just in case there was rain and wore a new pair of Drymax socks that Gus (THANKS) from Drymax had kindly provided (using these drymax socks I used no Glide...with great success, now perhaps I will only use 1/2 bottle of glide in preparation for a marathon rather than nearly a full bottle since now I do not need to attend to my feet at least:-).

I left the room at about 8:30, after "sleeping in" until about 7:30 a.m. Have I said how much I love this race? It has a normal start time of 9 a.m. thus I did not have to wake up at 4 a.m. or even 5 a.m. I could get up at a leisurely 7:30 a.m. and essentially roll out of the door of the cabin.

I wandered to the start line and chatted with many nice runners. I did not see anyone I knew (I had seen my friend Joe Cleary from the Niagara Ultra just briefly at the end of the pasta dinner, but he mentioned he was starting at 7 a.m. with the walkers). Soon enough it was 9 a.m. and we were off. Well, others were off, I was just jogging along taking pictures (or having others take my picture). At several points during the first few miles I was dead last because of this. About 5 minutes into the race I heard my name. I realized it was a runner and I recognized the voice. It was my friends Jesse and Jericho whom I had met at this race 2 years ago. They got married just two weeks after the race, but somehow although Jesse's name was in the book, Jericho's was not (thus when I perused it for runners I knew I did not see both their names). I ran the majority of the first 20 miles with them on and off. It was really great to catch up with them. They still live in Vermont and I sure hope I can convince them to run the Vermont City Marathon in May with me:-) Jesse is now student teaching and should be finished his certification in the winter. We talked about running, life in general and what we each have done since our last race together. It was so great to see both of them running together. At mile 20 I ended up speeding up a bit because I was getting really chilled. Sadly a cold front came through but was way earlier and colder then I expected. After realizing I was getting quite chilled, I decided I had to pick up the pace (a few times my legs, and my knee in particular I have had issues with excrutiating knee pain because it siezes up in the cold). But after I finished, I was able to see and cheer on Jesse and Jericho.

After the race Tristan and I went to the post race party. It was pretty good (not as good as I remembered but I suspect everyone is hurting in the current economy, which took a nose dive on Friday). There was tasty salad, lasagne and lots of meat related items. I did not partake in the meat, but did enjoy the lasagne and salad. After this, Tristan and I went back to the room, walked to the lake then called it a day at 7 p.m. Overall it was a great day!