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Louisville Marathon
October 22, 2006
Race Report by Bob Dolphin
Every year when it's time for me to run the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, DC, in late October, Lenore and I fly east a week early so that I can add a new state to my 50 States list. In the past four years I've added Virginia, Maryland, Connecticut and Rhode Island with this procedure. This time Kentucky was on the list for State #32, and the Louisville Marathon was the race I would run on October 22, 2006.
This marathon was chosen so that we could join three friends from the 100 Marathon Club United Kingdom who are also "50 Staters." Roger Biggs, Jack Brooks and Warren D'Rozario planned to add Rhode Island by running the Breakers Marathon at Newport, RI, on Saturday, October 21, and then run in Louisville the next day. All of us stayed at the race headquarters Louisville Ramada Inn Hotel that was located near the start/finish area.
On Saturday we picked up my race packet and the packets for the Brits before a local 100 Marathon Club North America member, Carol Westerman, and her husband Bob Green met us there to give us a tour of Louisville. Highlights of this drive were seeing Churchill Downs (site of the Kentucky Derby thoroughbred race classic), University of Louisville, Mohammed Ali Museum Building and Avenue and the Louisville Slugger baseball bat manufacturer's headquarters with a 100-200 foot replica of a baseball bat in front of the building. Later in the day, the four of us joined many others for a great pasta feed at the hotel.
On the morning of the race, Lenore started her volunteer work at the hotel early as she assisted with day-of-race packet and T-shirt pickup. I walked the half-mile from the hotel to the interesting start/finish area near the Ohio River at a historic water tower that was unlike any I'd ever seen before. The tank was a tall, metallic, white, ornate cylinder.
At 8:00 a.m. race director Steve Dutton started the combined field of 300+ marathoners and 500+ half-marathoners. The air temperature was 45 degrees, and the sky was overcast. It was good running weather, except for the constant wind that accompanied us. There were some windbreaks along the way, and I welcomed the tailwind in the second half of this out-and-back course.
We started out by running in a nearby park for a two-mile loop and then began a three-mile run into the wind on River Road toward Louisville city center. The temperature peaked in the mid fifties for the day, so I wore my TyVek jacket and gloves for the entire 26.2 miles.
We ran through the city and beyond on a paved riverside pedestrian trail known as the "River Walk." While running on a levee trail in the 8th mile, we came to the half marathon turn-around cone. I expected some of the group that I had been running with to turn back, but they all did! The only runner whom I could see was a marathoner about 200 yards in front of me.
From then on I ran mostly alone through fields and river swamp enjoying the natural beauty and the river sights. The course was mostly flat with only a few minor hills. While running in the riverside woods, it was nice to see the lead man and woman running in the opposite direction. They were Robert Adams, 25+, who won the race with an eleven-minute lead in 2:44:34 and Cheryl Richards, 40+, who won the women's race with a 3:31:04.
The biggest surprise of the day was seeing Doug MacLean, a Marathon Maniac from Mercer Island, WA. As the owner of Talking Rain, he is a major sponsor of the Yakima River Canyon Marathon that Lenore and I direct. His finish time was 3:16:38. Next I saw my three Brit friends, Warren, Roger and Jack. In Shawnee Park near the half-way mark it was time to exchange greetings with my friend Carol.
In the 14th mile in Chicasaw Park I was logged in by bib number at the course turning point. I reversed course and headed for the finish line with the wind at my back. The runners were spread out by then, but I managed to improve my position by twelve places on the way back to the finish line that I crossed in 5:18:13, 252nd of 280 overall and first 75-79 Male.
Along the way I had enjoyed seeing the docked Belle of Louisville paddleboat, tugs pushing coal-laden barges and flora & fauna of fall colored foliage, white flowered Heath Aster, green wrinkled Osage Orange, Northern Harrier Hawks, Blue Jays, and a Mockingbird.
Congratulations to Warren D'Rozario from Birmingham, United Kingdom, for completing his SEVENTH October Marathon in 3:30:50. His schedule includes three more marathons in Europe to give him a total of TEN October Marathons! He definitely is a candidate for the Marathon Maniacs Club.
Kudos to Marathon Maniac Roger Biggs, of Stevenage, UK, for finishing marathon/ultra #402 in 3:48:05 as he completed Kentucky and reduced his list of states to less than ten before he becomes a finisher. Kudos, also, to Jack Brooks of St. Albans, UK, for finishing with a sore knee. His time was 3:59:38.
Congratulations to Ashley Adams, sister of winner Robert Adams, for completing her first marathon in a time of 4:37:23 and taking home the third place trophy in the 20-24 Women's Division.
On the day after the race, Lenore and I drove across scenic southern Indiana to Browns, a town in southeastern Illinois, where we enjoyed a visit with my daughter Bobbie, her husband Don and their sons and families. The highlight of this reunion was getting acquainted with our two, four and six year old great grandsons!
When we returned to Louisville, we enjoyed the hospitality of Carol Westerman and Bob Green as we stayed with them and had dinner with them and 100 Marathon Club North America member Eugene Barker and his wife Cathy. As directors of the 100 Marathon Club NA, it's always great to meet and to visit with members on our marathon trips.
Carol is a remarkable runner who is a 50 States & DC FINISHER. She ran her first marathon in her hometown of Louisville in 1981 and completed her 50 states goal on June 20, 1998. The "States" T-shirt quilt that she made and her "States" finishers medals and other running awards are attractively displayed in her home.
We thank Carol & Bob, race director Steve Dutton & his wife Nancy, the committee and volunteers for making our Louisville trip so memorable. Special thanks go to our UK friends for including time with us on another of their U.S. visits as they work toward their goal to become 50 States Finishers.
Written by Bob Dolphin
Edited, Typed and Distributed by Lenore Dolphin
PARTIAL RESULTS - Louisville Marathon, October 22, 2006
2:44:34 Robert Adams, 25-29, First Overall, First in Age Division
2:55:40 Matthew Curtner-Smith, 45-49, Second Overall, 1st
2:56:40 Tim Lee, 40-44, Third Overall, 1st
3:16:38 Doug MacLean, 50-54, Mercer Island, WA,
Marathon Maniac (MM), 3rd
3:30:50 Warren D'Rozario, 45-49, Birmingham, UK,
100 Marathon Club United Kingdom (UK)
3:31:04 Cheryl Richards, 40-44, First Woman Overall, 1st
3:33:38 Joanne Fenninger, 40-44, Second Woman Overall, 2nd
3:35:49 Holly Grant, 20-24, Third Woman Overall, 1st
3:48:05 Roger Biggs, 58, Stevenage, UK, MM,
100 Marathon Club UK & NA, 2nd
3:59:38 (Arthur) Jack Brooks, 54, St. Albans, UK,
100 Marathon Club UK & NA
4:14:47 Blaine Philips, 45-49, Utah, MM
4:42:22 Kathy Ryan, 65-69, Portland, Oregon, 1st
4:55:56 Raef Guirges, 50-54, Torrance, California
4:57:05 Angela Ivory, 35-39, Tennessee, MM
5:14:23 John Connor, 50-54, Newport, Kentucky
5:18:13 Bob Dolphin, Renton/Yakima, Washington, 77, MM,
100 Marathon Club UK & NA
5:51:15 Carol Westerman, 68, Louisville, Kentucky,
100 Marathon Club NA
6:47:09 Douglas Roscoe, 55-59
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