Peak Performance Maine Marathon... Race Ratings (Part 2 of the Double)

Peak Performance Maine Marathon ~ October 4, 2009
Ratings... Registration Fee: $45 (Early Reg., $55 late)

Overall Race Rating (weighted): 4.0/5.0
Average Calculated Rating: 4.05/5.0
~ Warning: much of this rating is based on Maine as the second half of a double, rather than rating the marathon on its own. I loved the ability to get there quickly and painlessly from the NH marathon. I also loved the people that participated... lots of Maniacs and 50-staters throughout, getting their double in for the weekend. Bad sides? No food/Gel on the course... but don't worry, there were LOTS of post-race cookies and I ate a couple dozen upon completion of my 52.4 miles for the weekend.
Race Director: Let's place race director...

~What would I have changed if I were race director? GU or some kind of Gel on the course. If this is being advertised as the second part of a weekend-double, expect hungry runners!!!

Event Organization: 4.7/5.0 (now broken into 2 parts, see below as well) As far as "event organization" we'll go ahead and include things like Host hotel, website use, ease of travel to the event and to the actual race, etc.

~ If you're looking to make this part of the NH/ME double, the travel is great! It only took us about 1.5 hours to get from Pete's place in NH to our hotel in Maine. There is also a hotel RIGHT near the race... so you can easily fly out of Portland. The website for this race is actually very good... providing a full course map & Description, as well as runner comments, local attractions, etc. They also provide you with a VERY long list of hotels... which there were plenty of, since you're so close to the airport.

Race Organization: 3.7/5.0

~ The race organization was pretty good, with a few ups and downs. This was a significantly bigger race than NH and there were a LOT of people doing the NH/ME double There was also a half marathon going on at the same time. Although I looked like a scared kindergartner on the first day of school (pictured left) before the double, there was actually a LOT of excitement at the start. There was also very large gym for packet pick-up so people could get water, stretch, etc, not too far from the start. 

The big thing I noticed for Maine was NO food/Gel on the course. I, personally had a hard time with this because I ran NH the day before and was SUPER hungry by the time I hit my 40th mile for the weekend! Luckily some kids at a water stop had some munchkins (those are from Dunkin Donuts, for you non DnD lovers)!!! The streets were definitely cleared well for this race (shut down). OH! And we tried to find the "pre-race massage tents" at the start, but none could be found :( Very sad.

Course: 3.4/5.0

~ This course wasn't all that exciting. It was an out and back with a loop in the middle. The elevation contained sloping hills throughout-- which I normally would love, but by day 2 of these was a little tough. Nice course overall.

Spectators: 4.8/5.0

~ Spectators were GREAT! There were people outside of their homes throughout most of the race! Lots of kids with their own water stands, and people seemed genuinely excited for the marathon! Again, there was a relay, so at the relay points, there were TONS of people cheering, especially for the people participating in the full marathon! Even the relay runners waiting on their teammates would cheer for the marathoners.

Pace Group: /5.0

~ DNE and didn't need (from what I could tell).

Runner/Corrals:

4.5/5.0

~ Again, there were TONS of 50-Staters and Maniacs along the route! I got to see all of my galloway friends along the way as well, since it was an out and back. I even got a chance to stop and take a picture with Wild Willie when I caught up to him. Wild Willie is an early starter and very, very close to finishing his 50-states!

Expo: 3.0/5.0

~ There may have been a bigger expo the day before, but on race day they DID have a table set up with some really nice Maine Marathon apparel! MB got me a nice jacket that was similar to a "Boston" jacket (*grumble, grumble*). For a smaller marathon, there was some good stuff!

Swag: 4.25/5.0

~T-Shirt... Yay! Another long-sleeve... finally! I've been waiting for a new one. My Disney one somehow got covered in coffee... oops. Cute shirt, nice fitting, breathable material, and they had (and gave me) my size! 4.6 for the shirt!

~Medals: Another nice medal... this time the medal was the shape of Maine-- very cute! 3.7

~ Goodie Bag: You had the optional goodie bag at the packet pick-up. If you didn't want to kill more trees, and fill your trash with paper then you didn't grab a bag. I peaked inside and looked for marathon discount flyers, but I already had all the ones provided. I thought it was nice that they didn't waste all that paper. + a couple tenths of points.

New Hampshire Marathon.... Race Ratings (Part 1 of the Double)

New Hampshire Marathon ~ October 3, 2009

Ratings... Registration Fee: $40 (Early Reg., $50 on race day)

Overall Race Rating (weighted): 3.8/5.0

Average Calculated Rating: 3.7/5.0

~ Overall this was a fun race with a great course! It could use some help with race organization and definitely with the free swag. But you're only paying $40 so if you're looking for a great course at a low price, this is it! Oh and if you want a T-shirt sign up early (as they req. to order the T's)... and if you want one in the size you ordered, show up to check-in early-- and remember its on a Sat so you'll need to get there friday afternoon. If you're planning to make this part of a double... New Hampshire and Maine in 1 weekend... its a GREAT first double! You get a lot of variety from the courses so your legs won't hurt TOO much. :)

Race Director: Let's place race director...

~What would I have changed if I were race director?  CARS! The roads need to be cleared at least on one side of the road for the whole race. I know the number of participants increased 3-fold this year, but the cars should be a concern no matter the number of participants. They also need to get more police help for the cars SPEEDING down the backside of the course. The people almost seemed mad that the runners were in the way... hit a runner, 100 pts! The T-shirts! If you're required to register early to get a shirt, they should have the size you ordered!

Event Organization: 3.0/5.0 (now broken into 2 parts, see below as well) As far as "event organization" we'll go ahead and include things like Host hotel, website use, ease of travel to the event and to the actual race, etc.

~ This event grew drastically this year... likely due to all the maniacs that wanted to do the NH/ME double that weekend. I'm not so sure they were ready for it. There wasn't too much in line for hotels, travel, etc, and the website was kind of limiting. To travel to this race you had to go through airports at least an hour away. I stayed with our friend Pete and the rest of the galloway group, so I had no experience with hotels in the area... it WAS nice that ME was so close and if you wanted, you could try your luck at a double marathon!!!

Race Organization: 4.0/5.0

~ Definitely a smaller race. The course had pleanty of water stops and had some food at stops as well. I noticed that they had REALLY good flavored "sports drink." I'm not sure what it was but I really liked it! Potties were a plus all over! Before the race we all met at a local school gym, so there were lots of indoor bathrooms we could use! Much better than outdoor porta-a-johns (esp since it was raining). Also, there were VERY well-marked potty-stops all along the way with large signs pointing us to the stops.  The end of the race had a pretty good post-race display of food, including Dunkin Donut Munchkins and pizza!!! Yummmm. The course seemed very well marked with mile markers. The only really bad part of the race was the car-control. Some of the race had half of the road blocked off, but the cars would go FLYING by. There were also parts of the race that were NOT blocked off at all and you were forced to run on the side of the road that had a pretty good slant... causing a VERY large blister on my foot.

Course: 4.7/5.0
~ If I weren't doing a double, this would have been a GREAT course for a PR. The course starts and ends with nice large rolling hills with a middle area of smaller rolling to flat. It provided a lot of variety for the legs and was pretty as well... running around a large lake. It was esp nice since the leaves are just starting to change in the NH area!!!

Spectators: 4.0/5.0

~ There were spectators sprinkled throughout the course, but there were no big areas where people could watch-- usually the side of the road, if they could avoid getting run over by the cars flying by. One thing I did note were the people at the water stops... they were SO supportive and legitimately LOVED watching and cheering for the runners! It was so nice to come up to a water stop with that sort of support. Also, I was STARVING by mile 14 and by mile 21 I thought I was going to pass out before I finished. But, at a water stop I asked if they had anything to eat and they ran into their car and grabbed their personal snacks... oatmeal bars, peanut butter bars, lots of stuff!!! They were SO nice!!!

Pace Group: /5.0
~ DNE and didn't need

Runner/Corrals:

4.5/5.0

~ There were no corrals but I found the runners delightful!!! There was a part of the course that is out and back where you pass other runners. Most runners were Maniacs of 50-Staters so MOST people appeared to be taking it easy on this one-- saving themselves for Maine the next day. Everyone seemed to be having fun. I got to see all of my Galloway group that was up for the weekend at different points.

Expo: /5.0
~ No Expo...

Swag: 2.0/5.0
~T-Shirt... OOOH yeah, the t-shirt was cotton, 1 size larger than I ordered, and not very pretty. We'll go with a 1.8.
~Medals: The medal was nice-- a square with the state of NH on it. 3.0

~ Goodie Bag: There wasn't much to the goody bag, but this was also a very small race.

My First Double!!!! NH/ME

This weekend I ran my first double... NH Marathon on Saturday and Peak Performance Maine Marathon on Sunday. So how is the day after? My legs feel GREAT!!! I don't get it... I'm waiting for my body to come out of shock and put me in terrible pain. I DO have a little cold from running in the rain for 4 hours in New Hampshire, but other than that I hardly feel like I ran. Very weird... esp since both my marathons were at a DECENT clip... Sub 4:30!

Thoughts:
~ Doubles make me HUNGRY!!!!! I will definitely do another double if sombody can invent a fuel belt that holds cheeseburgers. I was STARVING by mile 14 of the second marathon!
~ Where there are crazy doubles, there are crazy runners! LOTS of maniacs and 50-staters all over the place... and all doing the double marathon! Crazy people!
~ I'm getting another SPINNY STAR on the maniacs board!
~ Running in the cool northeast made me feel 10000Xs better than the hot, dry mid-west. Nice change of pace compared to my recent marathons!
~ Must take vitamins... I hate colds!

More to come... just wanted to give you an update and some Pictures!!!!

Cincinnati Gallowayer Running Group... I was late and didn't have my jacket on so I don't match (OOPS) ... where's waldo???

Pete is in the lower right corner.... he hosted ALL of us at his house in NH! He had little gift bags for everyone, incredible meals, and very cute motivational signs all over the house. WHAT A HOST!!!! Pete... do you have any houses in any other states?? hehehe jk!

MB and myself before the NH Marathon

Laura and I befor the Maine Marathon... 2 of MANY Marathon maniacs and 50-staters!

Me before the Maine Marathon... second marathon of the weekend. VERY nervous, but turned out to be great!