Another marathon!

 I've been quiet lately while I was on a cross-country trip, out as far as Yellowstone National Park (gorgeous, especially after getting snow) before circling back to get to Brookings, SD for the marathon there on Sept 12. I was the pacer for the 3:55 group.

Brookings is a VERY small race. While they usually cap the marathon to about 400 people, this year there were only about 1

20 finishers. (!) They separated the field of marathoners and half-marathoners into three waves, based on expected finish time; I was in the first wave. They had socially distanced dots painted on the ground in the starting corral for everyone to stand on. This is the first time running a marathon where there was no "crush" of runners towards the start line in the minute leading up to the gun going off. Everyone stayed separated, and kept their masks on until crossing the start line (at which point we all dropped them on the ground).

My group only consisted of two people -- one half-marathoner and one marathoner. (There may have been others who kept us in sights, given the pace sign that I held the whole time.) It was a comfortable run for me, though given the slower than normal pace, my stride was definitely shorter than standard (which did get a little annoying). The half marathoner stuck with us on-pace until the split of the courses. Alas, my marathoner started feeling it around Mile 19 and finally cramped up at about Mile 20. While he lasted longer before cramping than he did in his previous 2 or 3 marathons, it was enough that he had to take it down a notch. He wound up finishing in about 4:10.

I don't run with my phone, so couldn't take any photos along the way. No loss, frankly, because there was really nothing of any note to look at, even after the heavy fog lifted. This is certainly one race where running with other people was a huge help to keep the motivation going, as there were relatively few people along the course (though a few of them appeared in multiple locations), too.

I'm happy to have #43 in the books. #44 is planned for next month. Hopefully they will actually have a pacer for the 3:00 pace group, as that time is my goal, and I *definitely* need to have the extra motivation and support to keep that pace.