Here is Holly's report from the Rehoboth Marathon:
In my quest to do a marathon in every state there are a few races that I want to do but are a scheduling challenge. The Rehoboth one is always early December right after we get back from our usual Thanksgiving vacation. This year was even worse because we were just getting back from our Namibia vacation on Sunday night and would have to head to Delaware on Friday night. I also would be doing zero running for the 2 and half weeks we were in Namibia. This should work out really well ??!?!?
We landed into Philadelphia a little late but made our way to visit our friends the Weeks at their home for a fantastic homemade Italian dinner. It was great to catch up with Joe, Maria, and Olivia and we can’t thank them enough for the great hospitality! Unfortunately we still needed to drive the rest of the way to Rehoboth that night because the race was the next morning. Another dear friend, Helen, was kind enough to pick up my bib so that took care of that worry. We finally went to bed around 11 that night.
The good news is that I was still jet lagged so had no issue with getting up early the next morning. I met Helen in the lobby and we walked over to the start. Dave and Joe were going to be race chasing, and Helen’s husband, Brian was doing the half. It was a very chilly morning and I was one of the only idiots wearing a skirt/shorts. I was freezing. Thankfully it did warm up a bit, but the temperature continued to change throughout the day and I was never comfortable.
Neither Helen nor I were excited to run 26.2 this morning and we both agreed to take it slow and just finish it. We decided to do slower intervals than normal and I know that helped me feel pretty good throughout the day. The course was beautiful in parts and really boring in other parts. We had the longest out and back I have ever had (and it was straight out and back so you could see how far you had to go before you could turn around). It reminded me of the long hallways in The Shining. It was also towards the end of the race when you really just want to be done running. Overall the boys did a great job of following us and brought us the best race snack, a philly soft pretzel. It was delicious! We finally managed to make it through the boring parts, the vultures circling, and running past some really large chairs.
We finished the race, which was all we wanted. The medal was very cute, but we were disappointed that they had run out of beer in the post race area. They told us to go to a nearby restaurant, which would also have the free beer and food, but it was up several flights of stairs, not the best solution but we did it. The race organization was good with the exception of the post race area and I wouldn’t do it again because the course was not the best, but I can’t complain about the location. Thanks to Helen for keeping me company for all the miles and to Dave and Joe for doing a stellar job of race chasing
Dave's Comments
I was so happy to have Joe as a Race Chase partner. Not only was he great company, but he also drove! His familiarity with the area helped to fill in some of the gaps of the course map and get us to places I thought were inaccessible. I had a very fun morning filled with silliness and coffee. At one point we were able to film a conversation with Holly and Helen while doing a drive-along. I couldn't accomplish that alone. I also enjoyed showing Joe the joys of standing on a course in a bright orange shirt with a big camera. Everyone thinks you are a race photographer and they start to mug it up, or get really mad when you are not holding up your camera and taking their photo. Hilarious! Overall the course itself was boring to spectate with little scenery.
Holly's comments about the post-race were spot-on. We arrived at the tented area early enough to see the half marathon runners having a dance party. I managed one beer from the truck, but towards the end of the race the tent beer was gone and we all crammed into a Chinese restaurant. At least there was still beer.
Post-race we enjoyed lunch at The Pig + Fish and then wandered town for a few hours. The next day Holly and I detoured into downtown Philly to do the famous Pat's/Gino's cheesesteak face-off. Our decision was Pat's had the better sandwich.
Check out our race day video below:
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