A cool and humid start quickly warmed up at the Clarence DeMar Marathon in Keene, New Hampshire. A flat (by New England standards) race that was well supported by both volunteers and locals. Nothing makes me love a marathon like locals who care. Add to that great views, and the companionship of friends at the 50 state marathon club reunion and we have a winner. The only dark cloud on the horizon: several other races this weekend cancelled or threatened to cancel due to unseasonably warm temperatures.
Quick diversion: the Clarence DeMar Marathon was named after a local, diagnosed with a heart murmur and encouraged to not run anymore marathons. Instead he chose to run anyway and listen to his body. So he ran the Boston Marathon. Did I say run? I meant win. Seven times. End diversion.
Anyway, perhaps in the spirit of Clarence, the RD decided rather than make a rash decision to cancel when an arbitrary temperature was reached, let the runners do their thing and only cancel if the medical staff were to get overwhelmed. And viola, it turns out a run in 80 degree weather falls into the same category as my job’s thrice weekly staff meeting: unpleasant, but unlikely to lead to serious harm.
Fun fact: The exterior scenes for the film “Jumanji” were filmed in Keene, New Hampshire. A mural for a fictitious Parrish Shoes in downtown Keene became a sort of memorial for the the actor Robin Williams following his suicide in August of 2014.
