International Marathon Chasing

Lubec, ME to Campobello Island, Canada and back.  Repeat as necessary.

How do you get a bike, camping gear, and 2 people 500 miles with only 12.5 gallons of gas?  Stuff a Sonic of course.

This is my wife's third marathon and her first away marathon.  Since it was just the two of us and she would be busy for about 4-5 hours I brought my bike for company and to offer course support. I'm glad I did, driving was discouraged on the course and the bike offered a great way to get to different course locations.   

The marathon ran from:

West Quoddy Head Lighthouse,
Note I color coordinated my bike and windbreaker to match the regional lighthouses.

to:

East Quoddy Head Lighthouse

"Downtown" Lubec

 I dropped my wife off to be bussed about 4 miles from the parking lot to the start and my ride began.

Excited!

In about a mile the bus had to stop because the roads were only running one way.  After a few minutes I decided to take my chances with all the "traffic" and passed the bus.  I saw about 3 cars in 4 miles and pretty much had both lanes to myself.  The bus and I pulled in to the start at about the same time.  After milling around the starting area for a while the race went off just about on time.  

Gratuitous Starting Line Photo

Once the runners were on their way...

Runners are on their way

I milled around the lighthouse a little longer to wait until the pack spread out.  Throughout the whole day I was very mindful of letting the runners own the road and staying out of their way.

Milling around.  There are about 500 fewer people here than 10 minutes ago.

From here I spent the day following the course and snapping pictures. 

About 7 miles into the race.

Typical Scenery on the run.

Out of all the things on the island, the tides were the most amazing.  At peak flow they can change over 5' per hour.  Here is a time lapse of the access to the island that East Quoddy Head Lighthouse is on.  One of the attendants that was leaving warned us" Do not go over there, it may look like you have plenty of time and you'll think I'm crazy, but you don't.  If you get stuck on the island you will be there for 8 hours."  I personally think we could have made it but not with a lot to spare.

Sandbar to Island

About 15 Minutes Later

High Tide

Kelly Crossing Into Maine for the Last Time

Yes, it's Really Her

From the lighthouse which was the furthers point out the runners had a grueling run back to town repeating the hilly terrain in reverse order. 

"Yay, I'm done"

After finishing the runners get their reward for punishing themselves for 26.2 miles.

A tinfoil blanket, a cup of yogurt and an orange juice.

We're already planning on going back.  One of the best things about this race were the the people both in Lubec and Campobello.  They were all genuinely friendly and glad to have us there.  Nobody seemed irritated that we were clogging up their roads and disrupting schedules.  I got to stop and talk to quite a few people on my bike and all of them were pleasant!

Oh, and one final note:

I Should Have Brought My Fat Bike!