SPECIAL RACE REPORT: First Light Marathon

Ric Hart
January 13, 2008
Mobile, Alabama
Northwest Runner

I'm really looking forward to this marathon for numerous reasons. First, another state in my 50 states quest and my 9th state, one more and I can join the club. And next I get to see my brother Ed and his girlfriend Bobby. My good friend Rich will be coming with me and he will get his 10th state (drat, before me). And he will see a member of his seal team from Vietnam that lives only 10 miles from my brother. And as a Vietnam vet myself I'm looking forward to meeting him as well. We will fly into New Orleans spend the night at Ed's then drive the two hours to Mobile, get our bibs, etc., at the expo. It can't be too big of an expo as there will probably only be 350 or so in the full. Then do the tourist thing in Mobile. My training hasn't impressed me at all; I wasn't able to get as many miles in as I think I needed. The wood smoke with this cool winter weather drives my asthma crazy. So even though this one is fairly flat I don't have, let's say, great completive expectations. The race tours the downtown area then heads due north in a loop, with foothills of up to only 220' by the profile in the northern most ten miles. But I've run too many marathons to not know that some races really gild the lily so to speak. I'm originally from N.O. so I'm looking forward to showing Rich around the French Quarter and whatever sights we have time for. We left the last day open for just that reason, to tour and enjoy the day after the race.

So travel day finally arrives and I'm starting off sleepy after tossing and turning all night. It's a red-eye flight, Rich shows up we toss our luggage in the trunk laughing about only having a small gym bag apiece for 4 days (as opposed to gals packing), but that way we can bypass the luggage carousel nightmare. My brother picks us up at the airport and we drive to his place and meet his girlfriend Bobby and warm greetings. I get a bed in a spare room and Rich is more than happy with an air mattress in another spare room. The next morning early we four head out to Mobile Alabama, it's a three hour drive and goes easy as I printed out the directions, thank you map quest! A quick check into the motel, which is sort of a bed and breakfast, built in 1862 when things were going well for the south. It has period furniture a grand lobby, and wrought iron balcony all for $100 and only a block away from the starting line (ain't the computer grand). Then we head out for the USS Alabama battleship in Mobile harbor for a tour, after all we are guys and veterans. The ship is so large we could have spent all day there. Rich's friend Ron meets us there, then after the battleship we go tour a submarine next to it. Rich and Ron in thrall, Ed and I with them guiding us through the sub as they were on just such a sub in 'Nam. Things such as explaining the hatch that they flood to let frogmen like them go to the surface in the dark to an inflatable raft to do a mission. I might add from the bottom of the ocean as much as 140' to the top.

After the tour we say goodby to Ron and hurry off to dinner. Its a private dinner that Peggy Shasy organized for the Marathon Maniacs club, we just qualified so were looking forward to this a lot. A dozen Maniacs were there and I was fortunate enough to sit next to Chuck "Marathon Junkie" Engle. This is the guy that ran 52 marathons last year, one each week. He raised quite a lot of money for charity also. A very humble, nice guy, I had a ball talking with him.

Morning came all too soon, another restless night for me. Sixty years old and I still get as excited as a little kid at all this. So we all stroll to the start, meet one of the maniacs, Babs. A short gab and we are off, the race isn't chip timed but everyone is over the starting line in less than a minute I'm sure. We run a bit in the downtown area in sort of a loop for several miles then head due north. I can tell that something is in the air that my asthma doesn't like so I resign myself to not being able to race about 5 miles into things. We got to see some of the down and out neighborhood in town, don't they all have such. And then grander homes in the suburbs. Live oak trees line many of the streets and in some cases create archways actually touching in the middle of the streets. Oh yes and covered with Spanish moss hanging like beards (or the band ZZ top, if you are younger than myself). After the half marathoners leave us it gets less crowded, but I always had someone next to me to chat with. If you don't like nonstop talk, don't line up near me at the start!

The city of Mobile reminds me very much of the city I was born and raised in, New Orleans. But I've spent my adult life in the NW and feel like a resident of both places so it's like old home week to be down here. Anyway we run pass a really peaceful lagoon area in a park, that's a man-made lake with little islands for paddleboats and picnics in the summer. Then we hit the hills that start at about mile 10 and end about mile 20. Another great thing is that this race is a loop, no retracing the same stuff. The hills aren't steep by NW standards and go from Mobiles sea level to all of 220'. Sort of rollers up and gently down, I expect to pass a lot of the locals in what are probably tough hills to them. And sure enough I do, they are walking them, almost funny. Oh, and did I say Rich and I are only wearing shorts and our marathon maniac singlets? But many of the southerners have on tights or leggings and heavy sweatshirts and never strip them off. We started out with temps in the forties and ended in the low sixties, actually kind of warm for me. And as luck would have it was dry and overcast. The weather could not have been kinder to us. I passed a gal at about mile 20 and did a double take when she said, "hey Ric". Who could know me here? It was Betty who was sitting on my right at the Maniac dinner. We gabbed and for the rest of the race took turns passing each other. I had given my brother my camera to take the race pictures that will probably accompany this article and he was indeed there at the finish taking pics of everything in sight and did a bang up job of it. The finish line was well attended even when I came in as a back of the packer. Food was plentiful and good, chili, soup, ice cream, plenty of good stuff.

And one of the best parts is that the race is for the benefit of Le Arche Mobile, a home for the mentally challenged. And I liked the way they were so incorporated into things. They made the wooden finishers medals, helped at water tables, and even did the framed drawings that were the awards for the winners and age groups. Even placing them on the winners, a very touching thing.

I rate this race a true "ten out of ten" and highly recommend it to you all. I can't really think of anything the race directors could have improved and that is a first for me.