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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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.

Garmin map and performance details