Run4Troops Marathon

Date: 2016-06-25
Location: Dyersville, IA
Finish Time: 4:18:06
Race Website
Official Results
Local Brewery

Highlights:

• Post flight, Dylan-led, hike through the Crabtree Nature Center and standard dip in the hotel pool
• Visiting the Blacksmith Shop in Galena before jumping into a game and living out my baseball fantasy with Luke at the Field of Dreams (while Dylan napped and ate ice cream)
• Fossil Hike, Tractor Museum, swimming in Lake Michigan and checking out dinosaur bones in Chicago

Low-lights:

• The midwest is still very hot and very humid and it took me a long time to run a marathon, the kids were not super pumped about the wait
• Repeatedly warned Luke not to poke his Field of Dreams Commemorative Mini-Bat through that sewer grate. Field of Dreams Commemorative Mini-Bat currently located at the bottom of that sewer
• “I pooped in my pants!” – Dylan, in the O’hare food court 15 minutes before boarding our return flight

Thanks:

• To Shannon for managing another lengthy road trip across the midwest with two small children and to Luke and Dylan for putting up with a lengthy road trip across the midwest to the best of their 5-year old and 3-year old abilities
• To Blair for all the kid-friendly Iowa related recommendations
• To John and Peg for transporting the Moran clan to / from Newark Airport and watching our pup while we were gone

Gallery:

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Superhero Half Marathon (2016)

Date: 2016-05-15
Location: Morris Township, NJ
Finish Time: 1:36:32
Official Results
Race Website

Highlights:

• Pre-race introduction of the newest family member
• Post-race bbq with the Newton and Hutton kids
• Shannon’s birthday provided the perfect excuse for a post-race cookie cake binge

Low-lights:

• Participation of Optimity Advisors runners not named Mike Bertolotti
• Post-race hail storm
• Luke, utterly terrified of the vicious new family member

Thanks:

• To Mike for making the trip down from CT
• To Jim for making the trip up from ‘down the shore’
• To Shannon for allowing me to run a half marathon on her birthday

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Hogeye Marathon

Date: 2016-04-10
Location: Fayetteville, AR
Finish Time: 3:38:03
Race Website
Official Results
Local Brewery

Highlights:

• Completed Phase II (Log appropriate training miles, run a 3:30-ish marathon, remain pain-free) of my Plantar Fasciitis Recovery Plan
• Sobering history lessons
• Visited music nerd heaven and picked up some interesting interior decorating ideas

Low-lights:

• In addition to running a marathon, also added Arkansas to the list of states in which I’ve been ticketed for speeding
• Had ideal searching conditions, found zero diamonds
• Random thing you can climb to the top of closed for renovations

Thanks:

• To Shannon for agreeing to spend a long weekend in Arkansas and only requesting a morning at a hot springs powered spa in exchange
• To John and Peg for allowing us to off-load our human and canine responsibilities for the duration of our trip
• To the running weather gods who pushed the thunder and torrential downpours to the morning after the marathon

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New York City Marathon (2015)

Date: 2015-11-01
Location: New York, NY
Finish Time: 3:52:49
Race Website

Highlights:

• Finally experienced running across the Verrazano, being part of the mass of runners moving through the outer boroughs, the wall of sound from the crowd on First Avenue and the fantastic finish at the site of my weekly training run in Central Park; can now answer in the affirmative to all those people who keep asking if I’ve done NYC
• Managed to successfully find my family of spectators at mile 26 and after the race
• Didn’t limp, didn’t walk, managed to cut a whole hour off the disaster that was Omaha and woke up the following morning without any foot pain

Low-lights:

• Overweight, under-trained, just getting over a bout of Plantar Faciitis and consequently, not looking so hot at the end
• Also, perhaps, not the greatest form coming down the stretch
• That post-race, 1.2 mile, poncho-zombie walk to the family reunion area

Thanks:

• To Shannon for volunteering to bring the kids into NYC to watch the finish and to John, Peg, Leigh and Andrew for making it possible for Shannon to bring the kids into NYC to watch the finish
• To Dave Pugh for allowing me to talk myself into running NYC
• To honorary enablers, Dave & Kate Monahan for their “support”

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Heartland Marathon

Date: 2015-09-06
Location: Omaha, NE
Finish Time: 4:59:23
Official Results
Race Website
Local Brewery

Highlights:

• Kansas City fun: meeting the creatures at the aquarium, checking out the Royals at Kauffman Stadium and getting our master builder’s certification at LEGOLAND
• St. Joseph’s fun: learning about frontier life at the Jesse James’ house and Pony Express Museum, riding the carousel and scooting into Nebraska to explore the Lewis and Clark museum
• Omaha fun: beating the heat in the pool, standing in two states at once and checking out the animals at the zoo

Low-lights:

• The heat, the humidity, my fitness, my right foot, my marathon performance in general
• None of the hotels accepted my $100, $1 Million or $25 Million dollar bills
• Arguing with your brother all day is tiring

Thanks:

• To Marge and Bill for taking on the challenge of a flying to the midwest for a five day road trip with Shannon, myself and our two small children
• To Shannon for taking on the challenge of flying to the midwest for a five day road trip with my parents and our two small children
• To Luke and Dylan for letting me put them on a plane and then drive them around the midwest for five days

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River to Sea Relay (2015)

Date: 2015-08-01
Location: Milford, NJ to Manasquan, NJ
Finish Time: 11:01:30
Official Results
Race Website

Highlights:

• First relay experience much more fun that expected
• Managed to ignore foot pain / lack of training and run respectable splits
• The 77.3 miles that I didn’t have to run

Low-lights:

• Plantar Fasciitis, my general lack of fitness and temperatures over 95
• Stubbornly running at an aggressive pace, not being able to move on Sunday
• Missing a sub-11 hour run by 1 minute and 30 seconds

Thanks:

• To Shannon for kicking me out of the house while she hosted Leigh’s shower, providing the perfect excuse for a Saturday run across NJ
• To Marge and Bill for watching Luke, Dylan and Eli for the day while I indulged my running compulsion
• To Paul for making me aware that this event even exists and getting me a spot on the 2014 squad

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Superhero Half Marathon (2015)

Date: 2015-05-17
Location: Morris Township, NJ
Finish Time: 1:34:27
Official Results
Race Website

Highlights:

• Successfully talked several co-workers into waking up early on a Sunday morning, traveling from NYC/CT, running a half-marathon and then hanging out in the suburbs of New Jersey
• Found yet another event at which it was socially acceptable for the boys to wear capes
• BBQ not rained on

Low-lights:

• Realizing that no, I’m not going to be able to keep up with that 24 year old who ran competitively in college
• The heat
• Luke Wallace’s race day experience

Thanks:

• To Shannon for hosting a post-race Optimtiy BBQ
• To John, Peg, Marge and Bill for supporting the post-race Optimity BBQ
• To the elite group of Optimity runners who didn’t bail on the event

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New Jersey Half Marathon (2015)

Date: 2015-04-26
Location: Long Branch, NJ
Finish Time: 1:28:26
Official Results
Race Website

Highlights:

• Race provided a solid excuse to get the Newton & Moran children together
• Carrying a little extra weight, managing some planter faciitis in my right foot, still got it in under 1:30:00
• Two Newton PRs

Low-lights:

• Definitely did not hold off the guy in the red shirt down the stretch
• My right foot during the 24 hrs following the race

Thanks:

• To the Newton Foundation for hosting the Morans for the weekend

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If you are going to drive back and fourth along the Route 78 corridor, you might as well run some marathons:
 
1. Blue Marsh Trail Marathon
2. Lehigh Valley Marathon
3. Harrisburg Marathon
4. Run for the Red Marathon
5. Steamtown Marathon
6. Philadelphia Marathon

For some reason I’ve run two marathons in the state of South Carolina.

While enjoyable and definitely warmer than running winter marathons in New Jersey, this is probably a pretty inefficient approach to reaching my goal.

Anyway, here they are:

1. Charleston Marathon
2. Hilton Head Marathon