OWL-DRAGON

Bar Harbor Half Marathon

I ran this race on Saturday, 18 September 2004 but am only now getting to publish a report since we were visiting and exploring Maine and Canada.

This is a very low key race (especially compared to the race I might have been doing that weekend - the Philadelphia Distance Run). There were about four hundred runners. Pick your number and shirt up at the YMCA. Paper bag with the race shirt and number. That's it. No expo. No freebies.

Race day greeted us with the a driving rain. It rained about 80% of the race (I joked thatit was my longest swim ever).

The course begins on Bar Harbor's Main Street. I love resort towns. Kind of nice to think that whole towns exist just so we can go and spend money. I don't mean this in a sarcastic way. It just seems great that as a society we can create that much leisure.

Despite the fact that the summer season is over the place is still quite busy, but this rainy Saturday morning all is quiet as we thunder down Main Street past tourist shops and eateries. Down to the harbor and then a hard left on the road out of town.

Second mile is up a long black top where you eventually enter the park. Acadia National Park is just magical. Hard to believe it belonged to one family. The paths thru the park are a packed gravel of some sort(crushed granite I believe). The trick is to stay off the cinders and still cut the tangents as much of possible since the paths curve quite a bit.

There seemed to be long gradual uphills and then dramatic downhills. Mile six is almost entirely uphill but seven is almost entirely downhill so I guess it evens out. I may have been too conservative on the downhills. A woman running near me would open these huge leads on the downhills and then I would reel her in on the level and uphills. I was afraid going too hard on the downhills would result in poor performance later.

The vistas even in the misty rain are spectacular and when there are man made objects like the stone bridges they seem to fit quite naturally.

About mile eight I hear someone say "Didn't I wait on you last night?" It's my waitress from dinner. It must be tough running after serving all night. we
chat only briefly because I am moving quite well and want to keep it up. The next couple of miles seem to fly by.

Mile 11 is a shock as you leave the park and come out onto a highway. You must run on the shoulder as it is not closed to traffic. I tried hitching
a ride but no one stopped. There is one last hill not long but steep and then a mile plus of almost all downhill. In fact one drop seems almost too precipitous and I wonder how fast should I go for.

One giant puddle (is this a steeplechase)swin jokes a volunteer and then a couple hundred years in the park. It seemed easy.

My goal 1:50; my finish 1:50:15.

I saw the clock but just couldn't get 1:49. If I had known how close I was I would have pushed some of those downhills just a little.

Great race despite the rain which does ruin afterward more then the race itself. The Y does allow you to shower which is nice since you can go home clean, dry
and warm.

I enjoy the half marathon distance. A hard run but not a destroyer like a marathon.

The next day I returned to Bar Harbor to take a ferry. The CAT to Nova Scotia. The seas were choppy but I survived the three hour trip without getting seasick. (Fortifide by some Dramamine.)

We enjoyed a two hour guided tour of Yarmouth and then explore the town. It's a hardscrabble kind of place. Tourism helps but fishing and some industry are probably more important since the tourism season is short.

Sunday morning I ran for about an hour and saw the town from one end to the other. They have recently improved the waterfront and the town does have a number of victorian houses but it is really the vistas out to sea that grab you.

The ride back on the Ferry provided an unexpected highlight - whales. About an hour out we entered an area where we seemed to be surrounded by dozens of whales. Mostly you just saw their spouts. But a couple of times some were close enough to boat that you could glimpse their fins and bodies. Quick a stroke of luck especially since according to the local paper whale sightings have been rare this year.

Chad Brooks