Blue Ridge Marathon/Gettysburg North-South Marathon - 26/27 April 2014 - First Back to Back and Five Maniacal Stars

Blue Ridge Marathon - 26 April 2014
4:45:05 Chip/4:45:21 Gun
208/482 Overall and 27/47 M35-39
Third 26.2 of 2014 and 14th career 26.2
4th VA Marathon

Gettysburg North-South Marathon - 27 April 2014
3:43:15 Chip/3:43:46 Gun
99/467 Overall and 14/36 M35-39
Eight US State

Two of my goals going into 2014 were to run a back to back marathon weekend and achieve my Maniac Fifth Star (Ruthenium).  Looking at the various schedules showed the option of running the Blue Ridge Marathon "America's Toughest Road Marathon" in Roanoke, VA along with the Gettysburg North-South Marathon in the last weekend of April.  Coupled with running Kentucky Derby Festival (KDF) Marathon on the 19th April would give me three states in nine days which would meet the requirement to achieve my fifth maniac star, let me pick-up a Pennsylvania marathon and get to see how tough the Blue Ridge Marathon really was.

Race Plan.  My race planning for the weekend was driven by the short six day recovery following KDF Marathon the weekend previous and my goal to run Gettysburg as my Pennsylvania sub-four hour marathon.  The plan for Blue Ridge was to take it as easy so as to save something for Sunday.  I was aiming to run the flats in Roanoke around a 9 min/mile (nothing is flat on this course), the hill anywhere between 10 to 12 min/miles (with power walking on the steepest portions) and watch my pace and form on the down hills.  The race plan for Gettysburg was very simple, run steady 9 min/miles to come in just under four hours. 

Blue Ridge Marathon Course.  Attending the pasta dinner for the Blue Ridge Marathon I heard numerous comments about how it was a beast of a course and that the runner's pain was race organizer's pleasure, and they were accurate in the comments.  The Blue Ridge Marathon course has 7,430 feet of vertical change throughout with 3,710 of climbing and 3,720 of descent with an published elevation profile that doesn't really show any changes under at least 50 feet.  The course starts (950') out rolling for the first mile before heading into 400 foot climb up through mile 3.

Two Mile marker at Blue Ridge Marathon

  Splitting off from the half marathon and 10K, the course then rolls (a couple of 200 foot climbs/descents) for the next two miles before beginning a 750 foot climb over the next two miles to the top of Roanoke Mountain (2,146') at the 7 mile point.  After clearing the top of Roanoke Mtn, the course drops over 800 feet over the next 2 miles before transitioning into a rolling (see previous definition) three mile section that includes about a half mile run along the Blue Ridge Parkway itself.  At the 12 mile point, the ascent to Mill Mtn (1,746') begins which was about 300 feet up to mile 13 and the Roanoke Star, leading into another 2 mile 800 foot descent. 

Roanoke Star on Mill Mountain

After an easy mile along the Roanoke River greenway, the course begins a gradual climb that picks up steam at mile 17 leading toward the top of Peakwood drive (1,607') just before 19 miles.  Following Peakwood Drive the course does another steep 600 drop over the next 1.5 miles, a sharp 200' climb through 20 mile marker before settling into a rolling six miles to the finish. 

Gettysburg Marathon Course.  The Gettysburg North-South Marathon course is run almost entirely to the north of the town through some rolling hills.  The course departs from the North-West side of Gettysburg and travels through the a section of the July 1 1863 battlefield (MacPherson/Seminary Ridge) where Gen AP Hill's Confederate Corps clashed with the Union Cavalry and Gen Reynolds Corps. 

MacPherson Ridge in Gettysburg

Gettysburg Battlefield in the first mile of the race

Slowly climbing in elevation the course starts into a 15 mile figure-eight North-West of the town at the 3 mile point.  The course is rolling (occasionally sharply) with significant hills in the 7-8 mile, 11 mile and 15 mile sections.  The course begins to flatten out after 15 miles although there is a sharp climb around 19 miles. The course then turns back south towards Gettysburg, with a very gentle but rolling descent the rest of the way in.  The course passes just east of the Barlow Knoll area of the battlefield just before the finished where Gen Ewell's Confederate Corps flanked Gen Howard's Corps on 1 July 1863, driving the Union south of the town to onto Cemetery Ridge/Culps Hill section. 

Blue Ridge Marathon.  Saturday morning started bright and mild in Roanoke.  I ran the race in T-Shirt and my lowest mileage pair of Saucony Hurricane training shoes.  I arrived at the start line around 6:45 am after a bit of hunt for a parking spot.  I have linked to my Map My Run file here.

Maniacs before the Blue Ridge Marathon

Meeting up with several other Maniacs we had  had a couple of pre-race photo's taken before watching the Official Unofficial Blue Ridge Double Marathoners arrive at the start line at 7:20.  The Official Unofficial Blue Ridge Double Marathon is a number of runners who start out around 2:30 am, run the course in reverse aiming to arrive at the start just before the gun, and then run the course again. 

Blue Ridge Marathon start

Heading out after the start, I was mostly successful in keeping my pace down through the initial few miles and began using power-walking on the steepest sections of the course.  I stopped for a number of photo breaks along the way before reaching the top of Roanoke Mtn around 75 minutes into the race with my pace varying significantly from 8:00 to 12:00 min/miles. 

Blue Ridge Parkway

View toward Roanoke from Roanoke Mountain

Roanoke Mountain Peak

Reaching the top on Mill Mtn around 2:21, I had a good photo break before heading off into the second half of the course. 

At the Roanoke Star

Halfway

On the descent, I had one my regret of the day, that I didn't take up the offer of a Mimosa around the 13.5 mile marker.  After a solid mile along the Roanoke River greenway, I began the long climb into Peakwood.  The fan support which had been good up to that point, was outstanding throughout the entire neighborhood including a variety of unofficial aid stations and sprinklers, culminating with champagne shooters at the top of Peakwood (where I most definitely learned my lesson and partook in). Following a flying descent from Peakwood, I rolled into the final section of the course.  I found that the temperatures which had warmed from around 52 at the start, to 60 at the half were now becoming a factor (hitting 71 by the finish), which in conjunction with the hills drained me of energy over the last five miles.  After five rolling miles, the race finished up with a nice descent into the finish line. 

America's Toughest Road Marathon in the books

The course served GU Brew as the drink on course which proved tolerable but I was glad I had carried a Gatorade hand bottle throughout.

Transition.  Transitioning from Blue Ridge to Gettysburg saw a quick stretch after the race followed up by a short ice bath at the hotel.  The four hour drive north up I81 was not the most pleasant drive as my legs were more than a little sore.  I arrived in Gettysburg just in time to pickup my packet before closing before heading off to my hotel in Hanover and a little dinner.  There were several sessions with The Stick on Saturday afternoon/evening.

Gettysburg North-South Marathon.  Sunday morning dawned crisp and sore in Gettysburg.  Luckily a light warm-up run, Motrin and some caffeine improved my view on the world.  The weather would remain cool all morning, with a long sleeve tech shirt serving well for the race.  I have linked my Map My Run file here. 

Gettysburg Battlefield

I headed out from the start, grabbed few photos of MacPherson Ridge, and was well set on a 9:00 min/mile around the 5 mile point, although I was struggling to keep my pace down since I was feeling much better than expected.  I rolled through the hills around mile7/8 losing almost no time with my pace starting to climb.  I hit the half way point for a 1:54:29 split and my pace stabilized around an 8:30 min/mile around the 15 mile point.  I ran fairly steady for the next few miles and feeling fairly good began to asses my ability to run a 3:45.  I started to push the pace after the 20 mile point down to an 8:00 min/mile before starting to flag a little bit over the last few miles, rolling in at 3:43:15.

Gettysburg Marathon wrapped up

I was very happy with my race management at Gettysburg as I think I probably got the best possible result I could have expected.

Expo, Finish, Bling and Travel.  The expo at the Blue Ridge wasn't bad considering the race size.  Although it didn't have a large number of vendors, it did have an excellent Fleet Feet section and it was very well organized.  I attended the Pasta Dinner, which had Ms Zoe Romano as a speaker, (first person to run the Tour De France course).  Her presentation was outstanding and the dinner itself was fairly good for a race pasta dinner.  The finish festival for Blue Ridge was excellent, which was tied into Roanoke's music weekend and include a variety of vendors, a decent variety of post race food and beer.  The medal for Blue Ridge was rather unique and a clear challenge to the ultra community but the t-shirt was average.  The race didn't have a specific finisher's shirt but did have a design your own t-shirt option which I exercised.  The Blue Ridge Marathon is also claiming to have free photo's but I'll believe it when I see it. 

Blue Ridge Marathon T-Shirt (left), Medal and my designed T-Shirt (right) 

Since I arrived at the Gettysburg packet pick-up just as it closed, I'm not 100% sure of what they had on offer, but it did not appear to be much,  The finish area for the race was functional with OK food, but only minimal vendors.  The Gettysburg T-Shirts (Blue or Gray) were OK but the medal itself was very good. 

Gettysburg Medal and Confederate T-Shirt

Neither race offered a good venue for finisher photo's.  I traveled to both races by car, driving to Roanoke of Friday afternoon and then to Gettysburg on Saturday.  The four hour transit time is long but viable since both races had morning packet pick-up.

Final Thoughts and Lessons Hopefully Learned.  The Blue Ridge Marathon was an excellent race.  Although it was the most demanding 26.2 road course I have seen, it was a very well organized event with great community support.  I would love to run this race again.  The Gettysburg North-South Marathon was a well run smaller scale race, and I through it was trading on its name a little too much.  With only a minimal amount of time in the battlefield, I thought the race needs to add a little more to the event.  The race blends well into a number of the other club based races that I have run.  I confirmed that running two marathons in a weekend was achievable so long as the first race was ran under control and the transition time was planned out in advance.  I felt my race management of Sunday was some of the best I had achieved.

3 Races in 9 Days = 5 Maniac Stars - Ruthenium Level Achieved

Five Stars Achieved

Next up - Flying Pig Marathon in Cincinnati OH on 4 May 2014.