Cleveland Marathon 2009

The Cleveland Marathon was my first 26.2 mile journey back in 2002. I ran it again in ’03, but this past Sunday marked my return to the race after a six year absence. Since moving back a year ago, I’ve realized how much I really love Cleveland. I know some people may not understand why, but it truly is a great city. We have the Cavs, a great subway system, fabulous weather and thriving industries... Okay, well we do have the Cavs. Anyway, it was a great and nostalgic feeling to be at the starting line downtown once again.

The Cleveland Marathon has noticeably changed since I last participated. The most obvious change is the course itself. It starts (and finishes) at the same location near the Galleria Mall on St. Clair near East 13th. Then instead of routing south of Browns Stadium, the course heads north and around the stadium, and then also passes Progressive Field and (thankfully) the Q. I often run this path myself while training so it was a familiar stretch.

The new course then heads west through Ohio City. From mile 7 to 16 for the full marathon, the course headed west to east along the Lake Erie shoreline with winds to runners’ backs. This part of the race was pleasant. I always enjoy touring the shoreline during runs and I liked going past the airport. Before returning downtown, the course spent about 4 miles on the east side, going through Rockefeller Park. Overall I thought the course was okay. There were some parts of the course that I thoroughly enjoyed, although I would have enjoyed going by Playhouse Square and through some of Cleveland’s neighborhoods like Little Italy.

Another big change since I last did the Cleveland Marathon is the disappointing fact that it doesn’t create as much hype as it used to. This is largely due to Northeast Ohio’s competing marathons, The Akron and The Towpath, that have grown rapidly over the past few years. I did both of these races last fall and was very impressed with both of them. Both were better organized than this year’s Cleveland Marathon and brought a much more enthusiastic crowd. The crowd is a big factor for me in a race; spectators bringing support definitely give me extra energy.

Now to my own Cleveland Marathon performance: I wasn’t looking to set any personal records as this was my first marathon of the year. I wanted to finish at 4:15:00, which was about where I was at the end of last season. My plan has been to try to break 4 hours this fall, hopefully at the Akron or Towpath.

I started the race feeling very good. I started towards the back of the pack with the 5 hour marathoners. It’s always better for me mentally to be passing people throughout the race instead of others passing me. This worked out well. The first several miles went by surprisingly quickly. At mile 9 I still felt completely fresh. I was relieved when I still felt good at the halfway point.

As expected, my legs started to hurt around mile 17. I did a twenty mile run the weekend before and this was where I had started to feel a bit of fatigue. I also felt my blood sugar start to bottom out a bit. I started getting irritated that the PowerAde was watered down and that there were no energy gel stations to be seen. There finally was one at mile 20; getting some calories gave me a big boost that carried me to the end. The last 5 miles actually were some of the quickest. I was excited that I was still feeling so good and keeping my pace. I finished in 4:06:50, eight minutes faster than I had planned. I also still felt pretty good at the end and sprinted the last quarter mile. Spectators cheering at the end made me forget about my aches and pains.

Overall, I would give this race a B-, although it pains me a bit to do so. It really just isn’t up to par with competing races. The surrounding energy isn’t there and it is not the best organized event I have attended. The after race celebration offered little. I couldn’t even find where the beer was, and I had a free drink ticket. On a positive note though, the medal is pretty sweet. It has a spinning guitar and is very colorful.

I unfortunately do not have any pictures of my marathon run. As in all action photos ever taken of me, my expression in the 2009 Cleveland Marathon pictures makes me look wasted or mentally retarded. From the neck down I look like I am rockin’ the race, but it’s obvious that the photographer has purposely used digital technology to distort my face. I would have posted these pictures to mock myself, but they are insanely expensive (probably due to the digital changes that were done). Just to download my eight pictures it would cost over fifty dollars. If you really want to see them I’m sure you can find them on the Cleveland Marathon website.