Cape Cod Marathon
Falmouth, Massachusetts
Sunday, October 26, 2008

The quest to do a marathon in each of the 50 states plus DC ended successfully when I race walked the Cape Cod Marathon in Falmouth, Massachusetts on Sunday, October 26, 2008. At 3:30 AM on the day of the race, the rain began falling and the wind was blowing between 20 and 30 mph with gusts near 40 mph. The storm was predicted to last for the first two hours of the marathon. I was mentally preparing for a miserable two hours of race walking as I approached the staging area and, then, miraculously, the rain stopped as did the wind. The temperature was in the low 60’s which was as warm as I experienced during my New England trip. It stayed in the low 60’s throughout the race and went from misty to sunny with a gentle breeze, a wonderful day for a marathon.
The race was very well organized with 1200 participants in the marathon and 200 marathon relays of five people each. There were plenty of enthusiastic volunteers with water/electrolyte stations spaced approximately every 2.5 miles. Traffic was controlled at the major intersections by police and volunteers; however, most of the roads were open to traffic. Participants were required to remain on the right side of the road which was usually littered with debris from the storm. Thus, the wet leaves were slippery in places and the small branches required careful steps. Miles 2 to 4 and 23 to 25 had sand and ocean debris from where waves had over-washed the road before the race.
The Cap Cod Marathon is very scenic, going along the ocean, through the woods, across the cranberry bogs, and through the communities of Falmouth and Woods Hole. The first 11 miles and last 3 miles were fairly flat and the other part of the course was continuously hilly, having no big changes of elevation but enough climbing and dropping to be somewhat challenging.
When I crossed the finish line, the announcer told the crowd that I had just completed marathon 104 and had done a marathon in all 50 states plus DC. That was extremely nice of him and made for extra cheering for me along with many spectators coming over to me while I was cooling down to individual offer congratulations. It was a wonderful ending to a long memorable journey.