Marathon #35 (state #23): Rock 'n' Roll New Orleans Marathon, LA

4:07 finish, 891/2610 place overall. Great course, good organization, and nice weather should have made for a good day, but with my body acclimated to cold weather running, the warm sun and lack of shade got to me late. Still a nice race and a good chance to see the many bright sides of New Orleans despite its recent challenges.

Garmin map and performance details

Marathon #34 (state #22): Charleston Marathon, SC

3:58 finish, 230/820 place overall. Some good things about this race - nice mild weather but not too warm, good scenery in early miles through historic downtown Charleston, and flat course made for my best time (and first sub-four) since toe injury over the summer. If only the later miles were not so dull - running through boring industrial areas in an otherwise beautiful city - this would have been a great race overall.

Garmin map and performance details

Marathon #33 (state #21): Hoover Dam Marathon, Boulder City, NV

4:14 finish, 50/173 place overall.  Challenging but very scenic course in the mountains alongside Lake Mead, briefly overlooking Hoover Dam. Double out-and-backs are generally not my favorite, but the views here made up for it. Perfect running weather - cloudy and cool. Took the hills too fast early on and paid for it later with significant slowdown, but not disappointed with time considering difficulty of the course.

Garmin map and performance details

Marathon #32 (state #20): Manchester City Marathon, NH

4:07 finish, 392/705 place overall. This was a last minute sign-up due to Hurricane Sandy. I was registered for NYC the same day, but in the aftermath of the storm, there was much uncertainty about whether the race would happen. Despite repeated media statements that the race would go on, I became skeptical due to increasing protests coming from people who claimed the marathon would be insensitive to the victims or would take critical city services away from the relief effort. Even if the race were to happen, I wanted no part in an event with so much negativity surrounding it, so I signed up for Manchester as an alternative. I would be able to check off another state and have a good excuse to travel somewhere with electricity that didn't have debris all over the streets. The course itself was unremarkable, with numerous hills and not much in the way of scenery, but with NYC ultimately being canceled (the announcement came as I was driving up), it ended up working out.

Garmin map and performance details

Marathon #31 (state #19): Amica Marathon, Newport, RI

4:10 finish, 383/1008 place overall. Nice, scenic and well-organized course past many historic mansions of Newport, RI.  Coastal location made for great scenery, but it also made the wind more of a factor. Later miles were less scenic - and more hilly - than the early portion along the shore, but even with the hills and wind it was a nice bounce back from Utah a month earlier.

Garmin map and performance details