I’ve been traveling a lot for my marathons, but my most recent marathon — the NCR Marathon — was only a few hours from where I live now and less than 30 minutes from where I grew up.
I’d been interested in this race — which is organized by the Baltimore Road Runners Club — before, but this was my first year running it. Not only did I want to run a flat race that didn’t require much travel, it was also my fourth race of the Maryland/DC RRCA Grand Prix for 2024. And, while awards have not yet been presented, I was the only one in the female 30-34 age group who completed the required four-plus races, so I won my age group!
While I was a Grand Prix winner, I cut it awfully close to the six-hour time limit at the NCR Marathon, which is almost entirely on the Northern Central Railroad Trail, officially known as the Torrey C. Brown Rail Trail. I’ve run on this trail many times, from some of my early 5Ks as a teen to plenty of runs while visiting my family (who now live less than 10 minutes away), including a run of the entire trail in 2019.
I also joined the Baltimore Road Runners Club as a member for a second time and got a discount on this event; I also enjoy supporting the club as I like to participate in club events when I’m in the area. I’m the president of the Eastern Shore Running Club, another Road Runners Club of America club.
I didn’t realize this right away, but at some point, I thought it would be fun to run, for example, a 30th anniversary race when I was 30 or a 40th anniversary race when I was 40. Although this was the 35th running of the NCR Marathon, we are the same “age” — the race started in 1990 and I was born in 1990.
My training went OK. In the 16 weeks leading up to race day, I ran 385.58 miles. In the month-and-a-half or so before the race, I was struggling with some plantar fasciitis issues and did some different things to try to deal with it.
I got a muscle scraper, ordered new plantar-fasciitis-specific socks, made sure to wear supportive shoes around the house and even stopped during a training run to massage my feet. I did think this improved as I got closer to marathon race day, but this also decreased the amount of miles I may have run, as well my long run training pace.
I ran more mileage than I did for my last marathon training block, for the REVEL White Mountains Marathon (361.73 miles). I know that I need to do more strength training, something I have not been great at making time for but I think is becoming more important as I get older.
Race day, Nov. 30, was exceptionally cold. It had been a pretty mild season until this point, and most of my runs had been in shorts. However, it was in the 20s at the start, and I wore pants, a warm top, a vest, gloves and a hat. I also wore my hydration pack, as I knew the water stops would not be as frequent as they would be at a road marathon (about every three to three-and-a-half miles). After having issues with my hydration pack tubes freezing in the past, I wrapped each in a neck gaiter, which may have looked dumb — but they did not freeze.
My mom and stepdad picked up my packet the day before and also dropped me off at the start (thank you!!). Other options were parking close to the start for those who carpooled or taking a bus from a nearby parking lot. Although I’d gone to the bathroom before we left, there’s just something about being at a race start that makes you have to go again. Around the time I got there, more porta-potties were being allocated to the marathoners, as the marathon started at 8:30 a.m. and the half marathon started at 9 a.m.
I was able to see my friend Phil, another Eastern Shore Running Club board member, before the start. When the race began, it was nice to get going because it was so cold.
When I saw my bib the night before, I was impressed that somehow I ended up with bib 22 — a low number!
The first mile was mostly a downhill stretch from the start at the Oldfields School to an entrance of the NCR Trail. Thankfully, the race also ended on the trail, so we didn’t have to go back up the hill for the last mile.
I did most of my long-run training and various other runs with run-walk intervals, and I decided I wanted to do run-walk intervals for the marathon. I’m not the fastest walker, so while I often do three-minute run/one-minute walk intervals, I decided on four-minute run/one-minute walk intervals for the race. Because the first mile was downhill, I skipped the first few walk breaks and completed that mile in 11:13, my fastest of the day.
I’d expected my pace to be closer to a 12:30/mile pace, preferably slightly under. I kept pretty much on track for the first seven miles. I took a bathroom stop during Mile 8 and started slowing down after that. I never really felt that bad, and my feet didn’t bother me as much as they had been prior to that, but I just felt like I didn’t have more energy. I definitely think running in the cold had an impact. The rail trail surface probably helped my feet.
This is a smaller race — there were 274 marathon finishers this year — and because it’s a trail, I also figured there wouldn’t be too many spectators along the way as it’s not easy to get to all parts of the course. There were a few at the road crossings!
So, while I don’t usually listen to anything during races, I did decide to run with my Shokz headphones (I can still hear my surroundings), and I was glad I did, as podcasts and music kept me company after the first three miles. I also had my run-walk interval app on, which would tell me when to run and walk — though sometimes I walked a little extra. There were also a few of us who went back and forth with each other during the race, and we were able to support each other with encouraging words.
The course is mostly an out-and-back, but because there is close to a mile from the school to the start of the trail, the turnaround was a little past 13.5 miles. The course seems pretty flat, but in running the trail before and looking at the map, I knew there was a slight incline on the way out. The “NCR Marathon – outbound” Strava segment tracks a grade of 0.5 percent.
I was passed by some of the half marathoners early on, and then I saw the marathoners on the out-and-back; there were very few behind me but plenty in front of me, including Phil.
There were a couple cutoffs to meet along the way, and I even looked it up on my phone during the race because I started getting a little worried that I was getting close. Runners had to make it to Mile 12, at the Bentley Springs water stop, in two hours and 45 minutes, and to Mile 15, at the same water stop, by three hours and 25 minutes.
In between, around Mile 14, a spectator said something like, “You’re in danger of not making the cutoff.” I responded, “What?” I’d run 14.5 miles in three hours and nine minutes, so I knew I was doing well. I think the person was probably trying to be encouraging, but I figured I was already a little ahead and the slight decline would help me on the way back. However, I still slowed down during the second half. I came through the Mile 15 cutoff about 10 minutes ahead of the time I needed to be there.
The rail trail has trees on both sides, along with some large rocks and views of a waterway (I looked it up and it’s called Little Falls). Along the way are some road crossings, a train station building in Monkton and a bit of the town of White Hall, along with a large gnome village at someone’s house. There are also yellow mile markers at each mile. At the road crossings, there are signs at the entrance to the trail that show how many miles it is to the next couple locations. (This post from 2019 shows the gnome village and trail markers, and this post from 2016 shows the mileage signs.)
Since I brought my own water, I didn’t stop at every water stop, but in the second half of the race, I think I stopped at all, if not most, of them, to refill or get water or Gatorade. I also brought my own UCAN gels. I made sure to thank the volunteers, as I knew it must be freezing for them out there. I think it only got up to about 35 degrees.
I listened to two episodes of the Ali on the Run Show, and at some point in the second half, I decided I wanted to listen to music, so I did that for a bit. I listened to a mix on Spotify, then listened to an album and was ready to put on another album when I had no service for non-downloaded media. So, I then listened to part of a third episode of the Ali on the Run Show.
I usually paused whatever I was listening to when I went through the water stops/road crossings, as that’s where volunteers and spectators were. There were police at the road crossings on my way up, but by the time I made it to Monkton on the way back, I needed to check for cars.
I was doing a lot of mental math during the race, as I knew I needed to beat the 6:00 cutoff. I also had in mind that my slowest marathon was 5:56, and I wanted to beat that.
Originally, I’d wanted to run faster than my fastest time of the past five years, 5:29:15, which I ran at the Atlanta Marathon in early 2020 (I did run faster in April 2019 and before that). I started out pretty well at NCR, but I ran the first half of this race in 2:51, and I didn’t think it was likely I’d speed up by that much in the second half.
I ended up taking a second bathroom stop in the second half, and was dealing with some chafing as well. I was mostly focusing on keeping my miles below 15:00 to ensure I met the cutoff. My only miles that started with a “15” during the race were my two bathroom stops.
I had a weird feeling of feeling like I was weak and potentially under-fueled, which I think might have had something to do with the cold and/or my eating over the prior couple days. I had oatmeal and some water with Nuun that morning and had water, a little Gatorade and five UCAN gels during the race.
It also felt like the wind was against us during the first half, but somehow, it was still there in the second half. I didn’t feel overly cold while I was running because I was wearing warm clothing, but my body wasn’t used to it. I kept pushing along, trying to keep up a consistent pace, even though it was slower.
Once I was nearing the finish, I wanted to give it whatever I had left. I knew I would be cutting it very close to my slowest marathon time. This was my 18th marathon, and unfortunately, my first one is still my fastest — and I’m nowhere near that now. I ran the last bit of this one (.36 miles on my watch) in a 10:53 pace. I ended up with a time of 5:55:55, which was 22 seconds ahead of my slowest marathon time. My watch logged 26.36 miles, which is great, as I usually end up with more on my watch.
Once I crossed the finish line, I was exhausted. I knew I was one of the last finishers, and I was ready to get inside. I later saw I was marathon finisher number 265 of 274; 267 had made it to the finish line in under 6:00.
I received my finisher medal and blanket and didn’t even get a photo at the finish, which is rare for me! I got on a bus that would take me back to the post-race party. Most people had cleared out from the party, but there were still volunteers inside, along with some of the later runners. This included Amanda, who I’d gone back and forth with a few times, and Dan. One of the other runners I spoke with had run his 32nd marathon and first since covid, and someone else there had run her first marathon.
I had some soup and chatted with a few people, including them, afterward, and learned Amanda and Dan would also be at Rehoboth the following weekend. I paced the half there; after this run, I was ready for at least a few months off from marathons. I did get a photo afterward, and Amanda took a photo for me, too.
This was a well-organized, fun and nice race with great volunteers. It was also awesome to get a hoodie and blanket as race swag. It can be a bit of a solo run, at least for someone at my pace, and there are not spectators lining the course (though there were some at the road crossings/towns along the trail). I do think if I’d have had better training — including much more strength training — and hadn’t been dealing with the plantar fasciitis leading up to the race, this would have been an ideal course for me to hit a time goal. I’ve also always loved running on this trail, and it’s scenic and feels pretty flat.
Another marathon completed!
Splits
Mile 1: 11:13
Mile 2: 12:41
Mile 3: 12:13
Mile 4: 12:21
Mile 5: 12:14
Mile 6: 12:43
Mile 7: 12:07
Mile 8: 15:01 (bathroom stop)
Mile 9: 13:18
Mile 10: 14:13
Mile 11: 12:44
Mile 12: 13:50
Mile 13: 14:57
Mile 14: 12:55
Mile 15: 12:42
Mile 16: 13:41
Mile 17: 13:46
Mile 18: 14:34
Mile 19: 15:57 (bathroom stop)
Mile 20: 13:40
Mile 21: 14:08
Mile 22: 14:39
Mile 23: 14:21
Mile 24: 14:37
Mile 25: 13:52
Mile 26: 13:26
Last bit (watch had .36): 3:55 (10:53/mile pace)
Final time: 5:55:55 / 13:35 pace; time on watch: 5:55:58 / 13:30 pace
She Runs by the Seashore 