As October makes its introduction, Portland will play host to one of the biggest races of the year in Maine - aptly named the Maine Marathon. The 3 heats are the Marathon itself (26.2 miles), Half Marathon (13.1 miles), and Marathon Relay (a team of 4 split the Marathon distance). Attendance is at the cap (3,500) for the race which is no surprise. Preliminary weather reports look typical as well, as temps will peak around the 60-degree mark and there will be plenty of sunshine.
I will be running in this race for the fourth year in a row - however I am running the half marathon instead of the full. There are two reasons for this: one, I am not fully trained nor have I had the time to train to run a marathon distance at the moment. Two, I feel that there is no pressure to run a fall marathon now that I've qualified for Boston this year. I suppose there may be a third reason to this as well: I have only completed 3 half marathons in my running career. Since I feel that I'm long overdue to set a new PR for this distance, I should take advantage of the opportunity to run another one.
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| The new logo for the Maine Marathon |
Sunday, October 3 @ 7:30AM
Course Length: 13.1 miles
Personal course best: 2:03:15
13.1-mile best: 1:30:44
Course Map
As you can see, my best on this course for the H-M length won't be too difficult to break. It was only my second road race and the longest distance I had ever run at once. If everything feels good I should easily break the hour and a half mark on the course.
