Marathon #61: Jacksonville Marathon, FL

3:56 finish, 220/698 place overall.  Warm and very humid, but flat. Okay course - nothing spectacular - running mostly through residential areas of Jacksonville. Heat and humidity made this one a struggle, especially late, but still managed to break four hours - fourth sub-four in a row in under three months.

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Marathon #60 (second round state #4): Rehoboth Seashore Marathon, DE

3:50 finish, 250/877 place overall. Cloudy and 50ish, very flat, ideal for fast time. Second time doing this race, running from Rehoboth Beach to Lewes and back through scenic Cape Henlopen State Park. Beat Detroit time by about a minute; best since July 2012.

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Marathon #59 (state #45): Indianapolis Marathon, IN

3:58 finish, 1496/3725 place overall. Cold and windy, but very flat. Okay course starting downtown, through nice residential and park areas, and finishing back at Indiana State Capitol. I never expect much after a two week turnaround, so pleasantly surprised to have extra energy in later miles and finish under four - first time doing so after such a short gap.

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Marathon #58 (state #44): Detroit Marathon, MI

3:51 finish, 837/3999 place overall.  Sunny and very cool, ideal conditions. Very flat. Fairly scenic course running from downtown Detroit, over bridge into Windsor, Canada, and through tunnel back to U.S. Nice waterfront and skyline views; avoids worst areas of city. Cool weather and flat course made for 14 minute improvement over Nebraska last month and best finish time in over two years.

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Marathon #57 (state #43): Monument Marathon, Scottsbluff, NE

4:05 finish, 23/101 finish overall. Sunny and very warm, almost no shade. Nice course though; runs through Scotts Bluff National Monument - more scenic area than most of Nebraska. Heat and minor altitude (4,000ish feet) made for slower pace, 8 minutes off Alaska last month. No complaints though given the conditions.

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Marathon #56 (state #42): Moose's Tooth Marathon, Anchorage, AK

3:57 finish, 69/293 place overall. Cloudy and cool, ideal for running. Mostly flat and scenic course along Anchorage's Coastal Trail. Started strong, slowed down late as usual, but managed to get back under four hours for first time since May. Good race overall.

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Photos

Marathon #55 (state #41): Loonies Midnight Marathon, Livingston, TN

4:11 finish, 74/233 place overall. Midnight start, cool temps with on and off rain. Course has five fairly flat loops within a small town - kind of monotonous, but it's dark so it doesn't matter much. Enthusiastic support from local volunteers, many of them kids, who stayed out all night in the rain. I'm not used to running any long distance in the middle of the night, so I expected to be slow. Sleep deprivation didn't affect pace too much early on, but later miles were much slower and more painful than normal. Unique experience overall.

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Marathon #54 (state #40): Run4Troops Marathon, Dyersville, IA

4:07 finish, 32/121 place overall. Warm and very humid but luckily stayed cloudy; nice low key course along rural rail-trail supporting local military families; more scenic than expected for Iowa. Went in expecting to be slow considering weather and short turnaround (3+ weeks is ideal), but ended up being about a minute faster than KY two weeks ago. No complaints.

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Marathon #53 (state #39): Hatfield McCoy Marathon, South Williamson, KY

4:08 finish, 75/513 place overall.  Hilly but scenic course along KY/WV border, passing through famous Hatfield-McCoy feud territory. No complaints about my time given the hills and warm weather.

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Marathon #52 (state #38): Cleveland Marathon, OH

3:53 finish, 589/1898 place overall.  Relatively flat, sunny and cool - ideal running conditions. Best time in almost two years; nice bounceback from Vienna last month. Average course for the most part, but nice scenery in last few miles with views of Lake Erie and downtown Cleveland.

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Marathon #51 (country #2): Vienna City Marathon, Austria

4:18 finish, 4720/6348 place overall.  Relatively flat, cloudy and cool with a little light rain - ideal for a fast time (in theory). Worst time since last August, and that one was up and down mountains at over 6,000 feet of altitude. This one? Only thing I can blame it on is red-eye flight and six hour jet lag. Felt sluggish all the way through, and early crowds on narrow streets didn't help. Cool course though for first international marathon - runs through nice parks and historic areas of Vienna.

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Photos - Vienna, Prague, Budapest

Marathon #50 (state #37): Georgia Marathon, Atlanta, GA

3:57 finish, 367/1628 place overall. Constant hills but nice course, 50s and cloudy with a little light rain late. Course runs through various neighborhoods and college campuses in Atlanta and its eastern suburbs. Nicely supported, relatively scenic, and well-organized. Hills were comparable to Austin last month, but cooler weather and more energy got me back under four.

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Marathon #49 (state #36): Austin Marathon, TX

4:04 finish, 1084/3628 place overall. Constant hills, warm and humid - big change from training weather in NY probably contributed to slowdown as compared to last couple of races. Okay course - nothing spectacular - but nice crowd support and local Austin live music.

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Marathon #48 (state #35): Mississippi Blues Marathon, Jackson, MS

3:55 finish, 160/827 place overall.  Late arriving flight plus three hour drive from New Orleans meant only three hours of sleep the night before. This is less than my previous "record" of fours hours the night before Charlottesville in 2011, and that was a PR at the time. Once again, ironically, sleep deprivation and strong performance went together. No PR this time, but best since July 2012, and this in spite of a somewhat hilly course. Great friendly support from spectators and volunteers throughout the race with a nice finish in downtown Jackson.

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