Oxford Echoes   adventures of a physician-engineer

The latest of my running escapades was the Baltimore Marathon. Part of the huge Baltimore Running Festival, the race is 26.2 miles through downtown Baltimore, beginning and ending at Camden Yards. The festival draws quite a crowd: about 3,100 finished the marathon, 9,700 finished the half-marathon, 3,400 finished the 5k race, and 1,100 teams finished the marathon relay. The city is supportive as well; several neighborhoods come out in full force to cheer on the runners, and local schools and businesses organize cheering sections and displays.

My goal for the race was to finish in under 4 hours, get comfortable with the distance, and try not to injure myself before the upcoming Richmond Marathon. I’m very happy with the result — I finished in 3:48:56 and was still able to walk the next day. I went out a bit too fast and was slowed after the first third — especially by a bathroom break at 13.5 miles and the long uphill segment from miles 14 to 19. But the sub-4 result gives me confidence that I can do a little better at Richmond, where a flatter course will be on my side.

The spectators were fantastic, with signs that said “Run like you stole something” (appropriate for Baltimore), “Chuck Norris never ran a marathon” (though the Internet disagrees), “Run like a Kenyan, Drink like an Irishman” (there is no political correctness after 16 miles), “Smile if you peed a little” (cruel trick!), and of course “You’re running better than our government.”

The official results were:

The very unofficial, tracked-by-my-phone results are on RunKeeper.

A couple of race photos by MarathonFoto:

And some general Baltimore marathon photos, courtesy of the Baltimore Sun: