The Waffle

So far so good. No injuries to speak of. I might have got away with my 10k "sprint".

The Gobbler Grind people emailed me a map of the course yesterday. Looks pretty flat, except for a few hills around the 6-8 mile mark. Most of it is on asphalt running trails, which is good. Asphalt is slightly easier on the legs than the concrete sidewalks I usually run on, plus there shouldn't be too much of a slant or camber.

In 2008, a little over 1,300 people competed in the Gobbler Grind, with about 700 doing the Half-Marathon, 300 the full, and about another 300 the 5k. It's actually a decent size then, although not on a level with Arizona of course, or even Kansas City. I'd imagine, given the terrain that the crowds will be fairly sparse too.

On that, I watched Haile Gebrselassie set the world record in the Berlin Marathon yesterday (A rerun of course; the race itself was a couple of months ago). Great course, and of course, the first ever sub-2:04 marathon time. My goal in the half-marathon is 2:00 if that gives any perspective. What struck me most though (and the commentators) was the amazing level of crowd support over the entire course. It occurred to me that although the Kansas City marathon was well supported, I ran by next to no spectators. My leg was mostly residential, and although extremely pretty and relatively flat, was definitely missing that element.

So then the question presents itself... what's the most essential element to a first-marathon experience? Crowd support? A flat course? Pretty scenery? Good organization? Simply being well trained? I don't know. In fact, there's a lot I still don't know. I did purposely pick a big marathon for the experience, but time will tell as to whether that's a good decision or whether I should have picked something like the Gobbler Grind where I don't have to worry about other runners getting in my way, finding parking on time and having to take a flight to get there (and I hate flying).

Just some waffly thoughts on a Wednesday evening. Sweet dreams.