Independence Half Marathon Series: Bear, Delaware

 

Having arrived in Elkton, Maryland, a day and a half before, I had the chance to find the race site the day before. Elkton is only a few miles away from Delaware, you see, and I would be staying in one place for three nights, which felt like luxury (even in a La Quinta)...

Race morning I drove across state lines and into the park. This would be my first Mainly Marathons race is YEARS, and my first with the new owners. I hadn't realized that they had owned the company for EIGHT YEARS. 

I picked up my bib and my shirt and was thrilled to see that not much had changed. Handsome bling? Check. Quality shirts? Check. RUBBER BANDS? Check!

After a little while we gathered for the race talk. Nice to see a good-sized crowd. 

The usual chat about cones (green means you're on the right path, there's a yellow cone for the second 5K loop, there's a purple cone for the 50K folks, and everyone has the friendly red cone at the main turnaround. And today the half marathoners would be running 8 laps. 

There was a special call out for Jim, who was hitting the North American record for number of marathons. 

He and his adorable partner run almost ALL the races now. There was chatter all day about Jim's record, and that he is something like third on the all-time list, but one of those people is no longer active, and the other is -- and I quote -- "only runs like 5 a year, so Jim will catch up with her soon."

Promptly at 6am we set out across the lawn and into the woods. 

The trail through the woods had a lot of "trail snakes" (tree roots) and I saw a couple of people trip and go down. It was a little alarming, but I kept my feet. And then after a couple of hundred yards, you would emerge onto this paved (but closed) park road: 

A couple of rolling hills, and then ... HELLO RED CONE!!!

Back and forth we went -- and of course those out-and-backs mean you get to see other runners multiple times. Two of my favorites were Steve, the friendliest, most positive person I have ever met:

 

and Wanda, who was cheery every time I saw her:

It was also great to see the volunteers every time I came in to finish a lap and pick up a rubber band: 

One change was that all the snacks were pre-baggied. Probably makes sense in a post-COVID world.

At the end of the race I ran up to the timing table and rang the Loony bell. Hooray!

I picked up my medal, the "Delaware" dangle, and a big glass of chocolate milk and headed back to the hotel. 

Once there I went for a swim (tiny pool!) and, of course, updated my running jacket with STATE 45!

Independence Half Marathon Series, Day 1: Bear Delaware

3:17:28

State 45!