Coast Guard Marathon 2026

While two years ago I placed first in my Age Group as I was chasing a sufficient BQ, this time I was running as a pacer looking to assist people in my group accomplish their respective goals, be it finishing their first marathon to setting a personal record to getting their own BQ, or whatever else.

I drove down on Saturday morning (not bad at 4 hours from northern Virginia to Elizabeth City, NC) and, having arrived too early to check in and drop my bags into my room, I went to the expo, to pick up my bib, my new branded pacer shirt (since we have a new sponsor -- recover), and hung out for a while at the pacer table, both chatting with a few fellow pacers and answering all manner of questions from the next day's half and full marathoners.

We even had a brief visit from the mascot of Texas Roadhouse restaurant, who was one of the sponsors and who was providing lunch for the vendors. (Shame I didn't know that I could have partook (partaken?) in that. What I got from one of the food trucks outside was tasty, at least.)

A couple of hours later, I bid farewell for the day and walked around the small town a little bit, checking out a couple of things for tomorrow's parking and lunch situations and came across a couple of nice murals I hadn't seen before painted on the sides of buildings.

Having stood for a couple of hours and walked around town for a little bit, it was decidedly a good idea to get back to hotel, check in, set up my gear for the morning, and hopefully have enough time to use the Normatec boots for an hour before setting out for dinner.

Well, I got most of the plan done. By the time I arrived at the hotel (only a few miles from the start/expo), there was a VERY long line of people trying to check in. Sigh. As I entered, I passed one of the other pacers I had met at the expo, who had just finished checking in. Dutifully, I made my way to the back of the line, which looked like it would take forever. What made the wait truly bad was the fact that it was a hot day, and the hotel did not put on the air conditioning in the lobby area, so it was sweltering in there. (I felt sorry for the guys behind the check-in desk.) Surprisingly enough, despite the fact that there were at least a dozen rooms (from singletons to families) in front of me, it took only about 20 minutes for me to be the one checking in.

Having learned from my prior turn down here that the Italian restaurant I had found is extremely busy on Marathon Saturday (and having not gotten a table last time because of it, despite the early hour), I made reservations weeks ago, and was immediately seated, despite arriving about 15 minutes early. The view from my corner table was really quite nice. (It's a small enough place, so long as you're in the main room, all of the tables have a similar view.)

It was reasonably fast to get the complementary bread (mmm... tasty) and side salad, but it was SO busy, though, it took about 40 minutes before I got my entree. It was well worth the wait, though. Quite happy with the choice.

Back at the hotel, I finally donned the Normatec boots for a little pre-race recovery, got sucked into watch Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (for the umpteenth time -- such a fun movie, especially with the character-related easter eggs), and did my best to hit the sack early. Alas, it was a somewhat restless night -- in part because of trying to go to bed early, and in part because it wasn't the most comfortable of beds for me.

Morning arrived soon enough, and I went about my regular routine for getting ready. Given I had been denied a late checkout, I made sure to pack out and get everything into my car. I arrived plenty early to my planned parking location, so just sat in the car for about 30 minutes -- covered in my mylar blanket, given the chilly pre-race morning. 

I made my way over to the tent that was made available for the pacers -- where we not only picked up our pacer sticks and had our pre-race meeting (during which we recite the Serenity Prayer), but also were allowed to store our drop bags (rather than use the gear check everyone else was using). At one point in conversation, one of the pacers, who was had his bib picked up by someone else the day before, asked if anyone had some safety pins, so he could pin it on his shirt. For months now, I have made sure to have several safety pins fastened to my shoelaces for just such a request. So, I started to reach down to take them off of my shoes when I noticed there were none. And my RaceID wasn't on my sneakers, either. Oy! I had put on the wrong pair of shoes. While I could have run the race in the pair I had on, I use "retired" sneakers (that have gone past their "expiration" date of 400-500 miles of use) as walking shoes, not running. So, I sprinted back to my car (only about 2 blocks away) to switch my sneakers -- mostly for me, as someone else was able to provide safety pins to the person who asked for them.

Then, after the group photo, one of the other pacers did something that I've not seen done before -- she commandeered two of the port-a-potties for use by the pacers. So, all of the pacers followed and lined up, specifically to use a couple of port-a-potties that opened up by the time we got there, jumping in front of the very long line of racers. Amazingly enough, we didn't hear a peep out of anyone when we did that -- presumably because it was blatantly obvious what was going on (since we were all wearing our pacer shirts and carrying our pacing sticks). But if we had to line up among everyone else, as we typically do, we would not necessarily have made it into the corral early enough to line up properly and gather up our respective groups. This needs to become a regular thing at more races!

It was finally time to get into the corral, lined up by time, deal with the various speakers, and finally be sent off. Go!

The corral area is far too tight. Not only do they have the broad pace range signs set up starting at the very front (despite the fact that we can't line up that far forward to begin with because of the wheeled athletes and duos that take up the front space for their start before everyone else's), which cramps the really fast paces on top of each other, but there isn't enough space in the other ranges to enable a good self-sorting by expected finish time. The race has grown enough over the last several years, they need to expand that out further.

But, in short enough order (maybe within a half mile), the cramped pack of runners spread out enough and was running at their expected paces with reasonable amount of room to have a normal stride length. I asked a couple of questions of my group, trying to see who was actually in the group -- how many first timers (only one replied in any way), what number marathon was this for the non-first-timers (only one replied -- 30-ish), what bucket list races do people have after completing the day's races (one replied Cape Town (the newest candidate for the Majors), which turned into a bit of a conversation among several of us about the various Major marathons).

While the day started out chilly pre-race, it warmed up very quickly by the time we set off, especially as it was a crystal clear sun. ("Whose job was it to order a cloud to put over the sun?" I asked, as is my wont on sunny days. One of the runners was thankfully comfortable enough to say "Yours!") My frequent refrain of "drink and douse" was said about a dozen times or so, advising at each and every water stop, even the early ones before it had really warmed up much.

While there was sufficient water and Hoist (an electrolyte drink) on the course, the usual confusion of which would be first was ever-present, exacerbated by there being do difference in the design of cups used. Standard.

My biggest gripe that, to date, is unique (I think) to this race, out of all of the ones I've run (and this was #95), is the number of vehicles that were actively driving ON the course. And I'm not referring to the one road that we were one where one lane of traffic was coned off for the race (half the width of the lane for each direction) where the other three lanes of traffic were available to the cars -- that's normal and expected -- but the MANY sections of the course within some of the neighborhoods where there were residents who were driving on our section of the course in either direction, and at least once or twice where there were two cars going in opposite directions headed for each other in the same space that the runners were running. No cones separating runners from traffic, no course marshals directing/holding up traffic to let the runners pass by safely. While the overwhelming majority of the time such drivers were going at a crawl (maybe 5 mph?), there were at least 2 or 3 times where the drivers were certainly going a fair bit faster than that (maybe 10mph or faster?) and, given they were amid runners (and often approaching from behind), they were dangerously fast. This is a situation that desperately needs to be fixed for future runnings of this race.

There were multiple times during the race where a couple of the Coasties in my group were chatting -- one civilian employee and a rear admiral (!). While they were usually maintaining their distance a few feet behind me, I would occasionally chime in, adding an extra anecdote or answering some probing questions. Topics of conversation that we had?

• Gout (the civilian sounded like he was currently suffering from it, and I answered his questions about my apparent bout with it around the Miami Marathon)
• Using anti-seizure medication to help with cramps (rather fascinating concept that there is one train of thought that cramps might be mini-seizures of the muscles, and the gabapentin/neurontin that he had been prescribed seemed to do the trick; I mused whether my having been cured of epilepsy as a child had a role to play in the fact that I don't cramp during my marathons -- or if it's just good enough nutrition that I manage during races)
• Experiences with people passing us in races where they have... had unfortunate accidents. The one that he related was much more graphic and disturbing than what I was witness to during the 5k during Flying Pig weekend.
• Eating non-standard nutrition during a race. While Barry described the Taco Bell 50k, I then went on to relate my exploits with my friends Robert, Laura, and Jacque during my last Dopey Challenge marathon in 2023, inclusive of the 30-45 minute sit-down brunch at the Trattoria on the Boardwalk at around Mile 23 of the marathon.

As time marched on and temperatures continued to rise, bit by bit the members of my group fell off of the pace. Despite encouraging Barry to stick with me to the end with an offer of my beer ticket if he finished in front of me, he and the rear admiral wound up slowing a bit somewhere around Mile 16. (They both finished well, but about 6-7 minutes after me.) 

The first-timer was with me through about Mile 21 or so, but also faded off around the same time that I picked up another runner who had been in front of me but had slowed a bit from her prior pace. She stuck with me for the next several miles and broke in front of me, into the distance, when we had maybe 1 mile left to go. (Yes!) 

The tail end of the marathon meanders its way, in a stair-stepping fashion, past the back side of the Museum of the Albemarle (in front of which is the finish line), going further and further away, leading me to wonder where the heck is the final turn back towards the finish.

Finally, we make the penultimate turn, I see the Mile 26 sign about 3 blocks away, which marked the final right-hand turn into the final stretch.

Spot-on with my goal time, I finished in 4:09:38.

I gathered up the post-race food/drink and headed to the pacer table, to drop off the pacing stick, eat and drink, and get my sneakers off. I should have taken off the sneakers faster, as I had a blister on my big toe that ballooned enough that I would ultimately wind up driving home while still wearing my flip-flops, rather than putting on my dry pair of wool socks and other sneakers.

I eventually made my way to my car to drop off most of my stuff, and then continued on to the restaurant. Yet again, another crazy-busy restaurant. It was about 15-20 minutes before I was able to be seated, and they were mentioning to various patrons that they had run out of certain items on the menu.  By the time I ordered my lunch, I heard them saying that they were actually going to close up to new patrons pretty soon because so much was no longer available. It's a good thing that I didn't order the french fries to go with my burger, as they had even run out of potatoes.

By the time I finished lunch, there were about 30-45 minutes remaining in the race before the official cut-off time. I decided to walk back along the tail end of the route to cheer on the back-of-the-packers who were approaching the 26 Mile marker. While doing so, I chatted with one of the volunteers (who was helping to hold up cross-traffic whenever there were runners approaching, and then direct the cars appropriately, preventing them from turning onto the course) and with one of the other runners (who had joined the 4:00 pace group and was very happy with the job that Pacer Jeff did for the group).

Finally, the Sweeper Pacer Mike, along with two female runners, turned the corner, followed closely by the "wrap-up" vehicles marking the official end of the race. After they passed by and got the last of our cheers, I headed over to an ice cream shop to get some dessert before hitting the road back home.

On the way back to the car, I came across a memorial I hadn't seen previously:

Finally, after an exceedingly long five hours (for a four-hour drive, thanks to a couple of traffic snarls), I made it back home.

Not only does the medal open up to reveal a lighthouse, but there is a switch on the back that has the light blink fast, blink slow, or stay on solidly, before turning off.

                                            

Big MCM Announcement

For those who like to view announcements themselves, you can watch a recording of the livestream.

There were several announcements:

There is a new 8k race (on MCM weekend Saturday). The race course is not yet determined, but registration opened this morning. Both the 10k and 50k are no more, though they are looking into a standalone 50k at some point.

Yet again this year, they will have a field size of 40,000 for MCM. While I still think this bodes very poorly for several of the logistics (standard course bottlenecks made worse, and hideous overcrowding on Metro both pre- and post-race), the fact that they have expanded the expo to 4 days (from 2) should improve that experience, at least. And the venue has changed to the National Building Museum. I've not been there before, so I don't know how big it is compared to either the Gaylord hotel nor the previous expo space at the DC Armory.

For those who want their supporters to cheer them at the finish -- yet again, that's verboten. They'll need to be earlier on the course if you want them to cheer you on directly. There will be jumbotrons in the Finish Village broadcasting the finish line, though.

While there will be an MCM finisher's premium, they are not revealing it yet as to what it will be. It's a fair bet, though, that it will somehow tie in with the America 250 celebration. Quite possibly have the logo as part of it. Whether it's another poncho (dang, those were nice last year), blanket, or something else - no reasonable guess at this point. We'll all just need to wait and see the big reveal. (Maybe when they do the medal reveal that they've been doing as of late?)

Upcoming Forecasts

The weather has been going through some interesting twists and turns lately. A few days ago, it got into the 70s. The next couple of nights it will be dipping down towards freezing. So, what do I have in store for me (at least as of now) for the next couple of weekends' marathons?

Coast Guard Marathon:

Looks like a really nice day. Standing around before the race won't be all that bad. And while it will get a touch warmer than desirable during the marathon, it really won't be all that bad -- mid-60s -- since the high shouldn't be hit until a few hours after I finish.

Jersey City Marathon:

Nice. The conditions are almost identical. And my pace will be 20 minutes slower overall, so it should be really quite nice.

And, just for the heck of it, what do the runners in Boston have to look forward to the following day?

Fantastic. For Boston, you really can't ask for anything better than this. Sure, if you are outside and in the Runner's Village tent for multiple hours ahead of time, you'll need to make sure you've got your extra layers to keep warm. For those people that are on the charter buses (I did that for the first time last year), you're set! 

To everyone joining my pace groups, enjoy the conditions. And to those running Boston, revel in having one of those rare years where the conditions are as near-perfect as you can get. (Of course, that assumes these forecasts don't change umpteen times over the intervening days.)

Just a Short Run

About 30 minutes or so outside of Pittsburgh is Allison Park where, for 26 years now, the Sean T.  Smith Memorial "Just a Short Run" race is held. This morning was my second time pacing 2 hours for the half marathon (and the commensurate times for the 5k and 8.1 mile races-within-a-race). It was COLD at the start -- not quite 30 degrees for the overnight low.

With the change-up of parking, I had about a 1-mile walk to get to race day packet pick-up. No issue with the walk, but the frigid temps certainly did me (nor anyone else) any favors. :-) But soon enough, I got inside, got and donned my bib to my pacer singlet, and made a quick pit stop before waiting for the pacer with the signs to show up and grab mine for the morning. (No, the singlet wasn't my only shirt for the day. It was actually my third layer. I had one of my MCM mock turtlenecks and then MCM 1/4 zip on underneath.) I shook up my hand warmers to get the chemical reaction going and left them exposed to the air (as I had recently been advised) to hopefully get them to be warmer and last longer than normally.

After we got our respective pacer signs, a few of us made our way to the Boathouse (just across the road), which is a little closer to the start line and where bag check is done. One or two of the other pacers are hoping to make it off of the waitlist to pace for MCM in October -- I was fortunate enough to make the team straight off (given my history running the race and pacing it, I was pretty confident I'd make it on). After one more pit stop (you can never have too many in the lead-up to a race, so long as you're out in time for race start), I donned my gloves with hand warmers, made sure I had everything else I needed, put by bag down, and headed outside for the pre-race announcements, before heading up to the start line (about half a mile further up the road).

While I was standing around, unsurprisingly, my hand warmers were essentially dead. What was supposed to last 8 hours (and has never lasted even a full hour for me) lasted a good... 15 minutes. WTF? I definitely need to get recommendations for product that actually WORKS.

Standing in the cold, a few of us marveled at a couple of the totally insane people who were standing around in singlets and short shorts, seemingly nice and toasty, making us feel all the colder for it. And several of us commenting on our respective hands always being cold -- all of us having Reynaud's Syndrome. (While it *seems* like it's mostly a runner thing, that's likely just anecdotal. I don't think there's actually any causation nor correlation.)

Finally, we were off!

Try as I might, after we were about 1/2 mile into the race when people were spread out enough, I never really got a good sense of who was actually attempting to run with me in my group. There's an evil hill after that point that takes you to about .9 miles before a sharp turn and a VERY STEEP downhill. I let the people around me know that I would be flying down the hill (it's too difficult to take that slowly for me) but that I would drastically slow down at the bottom of the hill to even out the pace. Since I never had a good sense for who was in the group beforehand, and they didn't make themselves known before or after, I couldn't be too sure about whether they wound up catching up to me while I was taking it very easy on that next flat section.

And by the time we were nearing the 5k mark, I had few people around me. I dutifully yelled out to anyone in earshot that the 5k runners needed to stay to the right (to go through the finish arch), and the rest of us stay left, to do our lap(s) around the lake.

5k goal was 28:22 and I nailed it exactly.

By the time we made it to the bottom of the lake, I only had one person solidly with me (with another shortly behind me, I think).

But within the next couple of miles, it seemed like I unfortunately lost them. For the remainder of the race, I was running solo. :-(

First 5-mile lap finished, with a goal of 1:14:07, I was a little faster than desired (at 1:13:50), but still within an acceptable window. Even with no one else running in the group anymore, as a pacer, I'm supposed to be effectively a moving clock. Even people not with me can get a sense of how they are doing based on my passing them or (better yet) them passing me.

Finally, the second (and, for me, last) lap around the lake. The goal? 1:59:30 (30 seconds under the posted 2-hour goal).

The actuality? 1:59:25. Pretty darn "close to the pin" (as we like to call it in this pace team) and completely acceptable. Really happy that I was able to stay as close to my pace band for each mile as I was. I'll be able to keep re-using my actual splits from one year's race for the subsequent year's race, so long as I keep returning.

Why the discrepancy in the time, you ask? The time I wrote about is "chip time" (how long it took from the moment I crossed the start to when I crossed the finish). The time on the certificate is "gun time" (the time from the moment they started timing to the moment I crossed the finish -- apparently it was 20 seconds into the race before I crossed the start line).

This is a solid, though very small-field, event. Given the layout of the course, they only need to have a total of 4 water stations (3 of them are on the 5-mile loop). They are well-staffed so that you don't have to stop to pick up your cup, and the trash bins are far enough past them that most of the cups make their way in to the bins rather than only on the ground. And they do have pretty good premiums -- either a pair of shorts or a shirt (runner's choice during registration). Sure, it's unfortunate that no one is out on the course cheering on the runners (save for the volunteers at the water stations, and whoever is at the intermediate/finish line), but that's expected with a race that has: 153 in the 5k, 197 in the 8.1 miler, 160 in the half, and 131 in the 30k (which, itself, starts slightly earlier and a half mile away going up a different hill to merge with our course). I'm certainly willing to trek back out again for it.

Afterwards, on my way back home, I met up with my godson (who is a student at Pitt) for lunch. Talk about a series of snafus, though. After I arrived and we started walking over to the restaurant I had picked out, it turns out we were too late for the first place -- we arrived about 20 minutes before closing (since they are breakfast and lunch only, and it was nearly 2pm by that time) and they had already run out of a long list of items, apparently. (sigh -- I was hoping to get breakfast for lunch; that was not going to be possible now.) 

Where next? I asked if he was ok with Primanti Bros. (just the next block over) and he said he was about to suggest it. Great -- off we go. 45 minute wait for food. We figure out if there is somewhere else to go, rather than waiting that long to get food. 

OK, we land on another place just down the block. He heard that it was going to be closing soon (as in out of business), and the website was confusing (talking about how it "closed in May 2026" -- ummm... past tense for a future date? Hmm...), so we gave it a shot. Open the door, walk inside, and all of the lights are off, all of the chairs are upside down on top of the tables and bar, and there are a couple of loaves of bread on the side (with some sort of catering order, maybe?). Looks like they're closed already, despite the door being unlocked. Batting 1.000 here!

One more place -- Melt'd. An unsurprising choice for my godson, given the cheese-centric nature of the menu. It's open! It has a table available. Sold! My cheesesteak was quite good. While it might not have been what I wanted when I first got into Pittsburgh, I was quite content with the final choice. And we had a good, long conversation.

On the walk back to his building (where I had managed to snag the last parking spot without any hassle -- shockingly) we passed by Dippy the Dinosaur and a triceratops. Both cute in their own respective ways.

Somehow the drive back home was MUCH faster than the same portion of the drive coming out in the first place. Odd. See y'all again in about 5 weeks when I return to pace the 4:30 group for the Pittsburgh Marathon! (My first time doing so.) Now to get some better hill training under my belt to get accustomed to what I'm in for!

Minor Training Respite to Celebrate

Last weekend, I traveled up to Rhode Island to support my friend Jess who was very anxiously awaiting hearing about which hospital she matched with for her residency program in Family Medicine.

After dropping her off at work for a half day on Friday morning and "holding hostage" her cell phone (prior to the big reveal at noon), I took a nice run around Providence. Given I didn't have a pre-planned route (the network of roads are worse than Boston, in my opinion -- and I  don't know these at all), my pace was certainly affected by trying to figure out where I was going to get to my main sightseeing objective.

Here it is in the distance, near the end of the first five miles down:

What, you can't tell from that shot what it is? At the turnoff to the pier that is next to is a clue that it's nearby:

Yep, you read that correctly. In this case, it's a troll named "Mrs. Skipper."

Thomas Dambo is the artist who has created a large number of these wooden trolls all around the world. And, as luck would have it, there are five of them in Rhode Island.

After my first troll found, it was time to return in time to pick up my friend from work, but there was sufficient time for me to swing by Brown University first. I had a couple of high school friends who attended Brown, and this was the very first time I ever set foot on campus. (!) It's pretty much what I expected.

But the sidewalks on the roads immediately surrounding campus were HORRIBLE to walk on (let alone attempt to run at all) -- they are so warped because of tree roots deforming the brickwork or cobblestones, I'd be amazed if there weren't a large number of injuries every year because of it.

Finally back to pick up Jess and drive to her mom's hotel room to await the e-mail that would reveal where Jess would be for the next three years, at least. Once the clock hit 11:55am, the hostage phone was returned to Jess for her to repeatedly refresh her e-mail, hoping the big news would arrive early. It didn't -- it was precisely on time.

After a tasty lunch at a really hoppin' diner, we hung out for a few hours (including going on a nice long walk near the beach with her hound, Lady) before we headed out for a celebratory dinner, meeting up with her sister and brother-in-law. Fogo de Chao is always an overwhelmingly filling but delicious meal -- great for celebrations. (And one of the reasons why I did as long a run that morning as I did -- a little forgiving on the diet.)

The next day, Saturday, was a relaxing, lazy day. After a slow morning (no run), we went to a nearby breakfast place which was wonderful and, again, packed to the gills. (We had really good fortune all weekend long with our choices of restaurant.) We then met up with her mom and sister and hung out for a while before grabbing lunch and then seeing them off to return to their respective homes. Shortly thereafter, it was time to head out to the theatre, as I had serendipitously ran past the marquee that announced the show playing until Sunday:

Wicked really is a great show (I was dismayed when they split it into two parts for the movie adaptation), and this performance was quite good, though some of the changes in the orchestration that leapt out at me throughout the show were a bit distracting. (That's the curse of knowing the soundtrack inside and out -- you'll spot the smallest of differences.) And I was amazed at just how huge the theatre was -- over 2600 seats, and over 99% of them were filled. (It happened to be the same night as PPAC's annual gala.)

The next morning arrived like the whirlwind of a weekend this was coming to an end. On my drive back down to Virginia, I took a few minor detours to finish my troll hunting from two days previous.

After parking, it took me a couple of minutes to find the path that would actually take me down towards the pond and approach Young Boulder.

While the first look is impressive, it's really rather remarkable more close up.

And his view of the pond:

My second stop of the day took a little extra time to zero in on, as the road indicated on the map was really a trail on the other side of a gate at the end of a small parking lot. Satisfied I was in the correct location, I walked the half mile to what turned out to be an auxiliary sculpture -- seemingly by the same artist -- but definitely not the main event.

Barely 100 feet further along is where my 2nd troll of the day would be sitting, waiting for me to approach.

Iver Mudslider seemed a happy sort:

Next was my last pair of trolls, situated relatively near each other in the same park.

First up was Erik Rock.

Just past Erik, you can see a small white sign. It turns out, that sign is pointing to the other troll in the park.

Continuing up the path a relatively short distance is the final stop of the day, before heading out on the long, traffic-laden drive home.

Some of the pathway on the approach to Greta Granite was adorned with strands of her necklace:

First sighting was slightly obscured.

But standing right next to this particular sculpture was even more impressive than the others.

I wonder if the artist ate all of the mollusks that comprise this necklace. That would've been a scrumptious several meals.

The troll hunt concluded, it was time to head back. Alas, with some of the accidents that were on the road, what should have taken me another 6 hours or so to return home took closer to 8. C'est la vie. It was a fun, though dizzyingly fast, weekend.

Now, it was time to get back into my training routine. After all, Just a Short Race is fast approaching less than a week away.