State 1 of 50
September 21, 2019
We were excited to kick off our 50-state half marathon challenge in the beautiful state of Maine at the start of fall. This was our first race outside of Kansas City and our first race that went through a national park. We trained for this race during the hot and humid Kansas City summer and were relieved when we arrived in Maine and felt the crisp autumn air.
The day before the race, we made a short jog into Bar Harbor for breakfast to see if it would be feasible to jog into the race the next morning and avoid the stress of traffic and parking. Our hotel was about a mile and a quarter outside of town, but there was a great running path along the main road that we used both mornings. We had a fantastic breakfast at Café this Way in Bar Harbor (blueberry pancakes and an omelet which we shared) before jogging back to our hotel.
We walked back into town to pick up our race packets and noticed a couple picking up a packet for the woman who was also running the half. The man was wearing a K-State t-shirt (our alma mater) and we struck up a conversation because you don’t always run into Wildcats so far from home! Through a bit of conversation, we also realized we had a mutual friend and took a quick picture together to share with her. It was so encouraging to meet them and encouraged us to sport a K-State logo when we travel for our upcoming races!
The morning of the race, we woke up at 5 a.m. to hydrate and fuel before we jogged into town for the 7 a.m. start. Our goal was to finish with a time of 2:15:00 (10:18 pace), and we felt optimistic about hitting our targets throughout the race. As we lined up, we realized how few people were running. They limit the number of people who can run each year to minimize the traffic through Acadia National Park. It made us feel as though we were about to embark on a fun, long run with a few friends.
The race coordinator yelled “Ready, set, go!” and we were off! The first part of the race was through the charming town of Bar Harbor before we entered the park. The sun was rising along the harbor as we ran down Main Street and was a beautiful start to the race. After the first mile and a half, we entered the national park and it felt as though we were in a world all our own. Trees lined both sides of the old carriage roads and there were granite bridges every few miles that were constructed under the direction of John Rockefeller Jr. in the early 1900’s. The trail followed the outside of a (rather large) lake and it was stunning when the trees would clear enough to catch glimpses of the water.
Unfortunately, our bodies did not feel quite as magical as the scenery. There were rolling hills, gradual inclines, and a very steep incline from miles 6 to 7. Around every bend, we expected the incline to end, but it just kept going! We made it up the biggest hill without stopping, but when the next hill came soon afterwards, our bodies were not up to the task and we took a few short walking breaks. Our hill training in KC did not adequately prepare us for the race. When we made it out of the park around mile 10, there were yet again rolling hills. The inclines felt so steep after we had just spent the first 10 miles running through tough terrain. At about mile 11, Delilah encouraged MaryLynn to pull ahead without her. MaryLynn finished with a time of 2:17:08 and Delilah finished just a few minutes behind her with a time of 2:21:03.
We were disappointed that we didn’t meet our goal of finishing with a time of 2:15, but it was a good lesson in the importance of hill training. The scenery was so gorgeous that it made up for the tough run, and we are already excited to go back to Maine when the trees have fully changed colors for the fall.
