When I woke up at 5 a.m. on Sunday morning, Oct. 20, I dreaded getting out of bed. I’m sure it’s a common occurrence in Atlantic City. Except I hadn’t partied all night or lost my life savings in the casino. I had run the Baltimore Marathon the day before, driven three and a half hours to New Jersey, and tried to recover as much as possible to be able to go out and finish the Atlantic City Marathon. Instead of running agains, however, I wanted to stay in bed. Back-to-back marathons had seemed like a good idea when I signed up for the races months before …
Baltimore Marathon — Day 1
I flew in to Baltimore on Thursday, which gave me plenty of time to check out the city and get some great local food. I enjoyed the lead-up to the race — the expo wasn’t large, but it was energetic and fun. Running through downtown and around the homes of the Ravens and Orioles gave me a great feel for the city. I had visited the area before, but I hadn’t spent much time downtown. Running past Babe Ruth’s birthplace and the Edgar Allen Poe house gave my shakeout runs some historical flair.
Race morning went smoothly. The marathon starts next to Camden Yards, where the Orioles play. So the ballpark is open for runners to use the bathrooms (and I took advantage of that perk).
Because the race starts at 8 a.m., the sun was all the way out when the air horns sent us racing north. The first several miles are all uphill, climbing to Druid Hill. It was a rough way to start a marathon, but we were rewarded with a loop through the zoo (complete with zookeepers holding penguins) and then a slight downhill back to the downtown area.
There was a lot of energy along the course as we ran along the waterfront harbor area, and then I realized that the half marathoners were just starting their race (an hour and a half after the marathon). That added to the chaos on the roads and explained why there were so many more people spectating in that area.
Thankfully the half course didn’t join the full course until our mile 16 (their mile 3). By that point, the course was climbing uphill. We ran up from mile 15 until mile 20 with no relief. Then after a loop around lake Montebello, the course dropped back to the downtown finish.
While the half marathoners filled up the road for the final 10 miles, I didn’t find myself dodging side to side on the road like I have in other big races with a half joining. The later start for them meant that the half marathoners around me were running closer to my pace.
My pace at the start of the day was right in the 8:30-45 range that I planned. But running downhill five miles in sped my legs up. I felt pretty good about my pacing, so I tried to maintain my tempo uphill and then coast back down for the final 10K. That strategy led to a 3:33 final time. I was pleased with that time, but I had a feeling that the hills and faster-than-planned pace would make day 2 tougher.
Baltimore was a great experience. The course was challenging but scenic and fun. I started overheating a bit in the final hour because of the late start. But an extra cup of water dumped on my head at each aid station kept me cool.
I loved the race atmosphere — city residents were out on their stoops encouraging all of the runners. The police officers directing traffic almost all thanked runners for visiting as they ran through intersections. Baltimore is a big city race with a small-town friendliness. Plus the after party seemed like a lot of fun. Sadly, I couldn’t hang out. My friend Jack (who also ran both races) and I hopped in the rental car and started our drive northeast.
Atlantic City Marathon — Day 2
The drive to Atlantic City made my legs lock up. I stretched and foam rolled and spent extra recovery time on Saturday night, but nothing seemed to help. Sunday morning, I was worried about finishing my second race.
Since I live in Las Vegas, Atlantic City’s glitz doesn’t grab my attention. Casinos with slots and tables aren’t my scene. The boardwalk is nice, but most of the time the Atlantic Ocean isn’t visible unless you walk up and over some sand dunes. So I wasn’t expecting AC to match the charm of the Baltimore course.
When I finally rolled out of bed, I tried to do some warmup stretches. I was so tight I decided to start the race cold and ease into whatever pace I could manage.
Parking was super easy, and the host hotel (Bally’s) had plenty of bathroom options. Pre-race bathroom stops are high on my list of priorities, and there was zero waiting line.
As we were starting to creep down to the starting area, we noticed several guys wearing Baltimore Marathon shirts. They had also run the previous day, and they were moving gingerly as well.
At the starting line, I noticed several guys wearing 50 < 4 hats. Because I’m trying to run a sub-4 hour marathon in all 50 states as well, I started talking to them. On guy had run a marathon in Delaware the day before. When the race started, I decided to try to keep pace with him for as long as I could.
For 10 miles, I was hurting. We were running 8-8:15 pace, and my legs weren’t happy about it. I just kept pushing all of the negative thoughts out of my head. We talked about races we’ve both run, races we want to do. While painful, the miles flew by.
Then something happened around mile 11. We had crossed back by the finish area (the race course is an out and back to the north and then one to the south), and the half marathoners were turning back for their final two miles. My legs finally accepted what was happening. I hit a rhythm.
It was a great feeling. I went from wondering if I was going to be walking the second half of the race to clicking off mile after mile without worry.
I stopped for a bathroom break in mile 13, but other than that, my pace was consistent for the first 23 miles. By the final 10K, I was running back north with a strong headwind and cold rain. Still, once I hit the boardwalk for the final few miles, I dropped my pace some more. My final three miles were my fastest, and I finished in 3:34.
The Atlantic City course is extremely flat, but with gray skies and rain, the two out-and-backs were dismal. The boardwalk has a slight bounce to it, so the eight miles run in that section are really nice.
I also learned a valuable lesson: get everything ready the night before. This is something that would normally be second nature for me, but the back-to-back marathons threw me off. I ran Baltimore without music. That was my plan. I wanted to have my headphones with me in Atlantic City in case I started to struggle.
At the last minute before leaving the hotel on race morning, I tried syncing my watch to download a new podcast. Something went wrong. When I tried to access it in the middle of the run (which I’ve done many times), I only had a super old podcast I’d already heard. Then I tried to switch to music, and nothing happened. I eventually had to reset my watch completely to get it working again. Because I planned on having something to listen to as a backup, it was devastating when it didn’t work. In the future I will double and triple check everything the night before.
Back-to-back marathons
It may not have been the smartest thing I’ve ever done, but I’m pleased with how I handled Baltimore and Atlantic City in two days.
My body, which struggled through an injury to finish Missoula in 3:59:10 back in July, held up well. I nearly even split the two races, smashing my goal of just running sub-4 hours.
This was the first time I’ve ever attempted something like that. I learned a lot. Most importantly I crossed off two far away states with one trip. Maryland and New Jersey are down, which means I have 12 states left to go.
I’m not going to be signing up for the 7-in-7-in-7 challenge anytime soon (because I don’t want to run seven marathons in seven days on seven continents and because I don’t have enough money for that), but I have started to scout my next back-to-back marathons.
I think I’ll wait a year until I do it again. That should be enough time for me to start thinking it’s a good idea again.