Roxbury Marathon and taconic relays -12/12 and 12/13

lots of snow on the ground!!!

The course went through the town of Roxbury


I had never done the free Sat.a.m. Roxbury road race series as the town is north of Danbury and just too far to drive for a training run, however scenic and low-cost (this I reserve for Westport and Norwalk!). The Roxbury marathon is the culmination of the year-long series, and my friend Rob has done the marathon several times and raved about the event --tough workout,well organized, $5 cost,2aid stations anda hilly 3.5 mile loop,plus a big dirt road (up and down a big climb) to start. So, I figured that running the marathon was worth the drive -plus, I have never run that far in Dec.!
Big problem -- the weather wassupposed to be 18degrees at the start with a wind chill of 10 --lovely...
Frank, Rob and I planned to meet our other friend Eliot at the start. Frank became very sick with a nasty cold and had to stay home, and Rob decided he'd do the accompanying 1/2 marathon as he had to be somewhere by 1 p.m. soooo I left my house at 7:15 for an 8:30 start, thinking it was about an hour -well, got to start with 5 minutes to spare.
Runners were lining up at the start --1/3 of a mile down the road!!! I barely had to time to ign n, get my gloves and hat on, and go to the bathroom. It was bitter cold but the sun was shining. The race had about 100 people line up..and 57 of them ended up finishing the marathon. The rest did the 1/2or even more (Eliot ran 16 miles as had to leave). I used the first 8 mile out and back as a warm up.I was way in the back, and planned to stay at a 10 minute pace for awhile --the course was just beautiful --picture perfect new england and at 8 miles, we went by my car --I shed some layers and out on warmer gloves as hands were completely numb. The volunteers were great --breaking the water cups which had frozen,and even offering runners beer!
I had brought food and put it on top of my car. By the second loop most of the runners had finished the 1/2 and I saw Rob as he was leaving -again, I stopped at my car to change layers. I plodded on on the next loop --we had to run 5 more for the marathon. I got lapped by faster runners,but this was actually good as I liked seeing them go by. I ended up finishing in 4:13 and was happy with this effort considering I finished the last loop in sub 9 min miles. I finished with a woman from Illinois (used to the cold) who was running her 50 states marathons. Bruce Golart finished right behind me. After getting some post race food, I changed and jumed into my warm car....brrrr --I was never so happy to be inside. I missed talking to Rob and Eliot, and I missed Frank and wished he cold have run such a nice course-
however, 3:45outside in 20 degree weather would've done him in:(
next post -Taconic relays..