Burlington, VT May 24, 2026
5:42:56 – 1390/1555 Overall – 1/2 in 75-79
Jodi and I got up at 2:30AM on
Friday to catch our cross-country flight to Burlington, VT. We got in about
3:30PM EDT and were able to go to the expo and pick up our packets.
Interestingly, eager-beaver, Jodi had volunteered to help out at the start line
for the race since she was running the 2nd half as part of a
marathon relay team. The race organizers hooked her up with another runner
named Ann whom Jodi had corresponded with to set things up. My cousins, John
and Linda Duncan, who used to live in Connecticut and with whom I stayed many
times when I ran the Boston Marathon, now live in New Hampshire and were
planning to meet up with us while we were in Burlington. Well, purely by
accident we ended up staying at the same hotel on Friday night. That made it
easy to eat breakfast with them Saturday and then tour some of Burlington
before they went home after we had lunch together. It was a great time catching
up! In the afternoon, Jodi and I toured the famous Vermont Teddy Bear Factory
located just outside Burlington.
Saturday morning dawned with the
sound of raindrops on the roof. It was indeed going to be a rainy and chilly
marathon with temps in the mid-40s. Jodi needed to get the start fairly early,
so we got there at 5:50 for the 7:15 start. Thankfully we had anticipated the
rain and had umbrellas and rain gear. When Jodi went to get ready for her start
line duties, I sat in the car and wondered about all these crazy people braving
the elements. Indeed, why was I doing this? But then I thought how the
conditions were actually pretty good for running. They were way better than too
hot as it was at Lincoln, NE 3 weeks before had been. And it was a light rain and
warmer than many marathons I’d run in driving rain and temps in the 30s.
Sitting in the car not far from the start, I was able to wait until near the
start time to get in the porta-potty line and drop my gear bag where I put my
umbrella in its own plastic bag so it didn’t get my sweats and dry clothes wet.
(That was a great idea from Jodi!)
As you can see from the pictures, I
wore shorts and the old standby plastic bag with arm and head holes over my
short sleeve shirt and arm warmers. The rain lightened up about an hour into
the race, and I threw away the garbage bag and took off the arm warmers. “Once
you’re wet, you’re wet and it doesn’t really matter anymore” is my motto and I
felt fine the rest of the race dressed that way and the rain mostly stopped.
We had also made arrangements to see
our friends, Farshad and Donna Oreizi, who had moved from Fresno to Burlington.
I have known them since 2000 when they became a part of Team in Training (part
of Leukemia and Lymphoma Society) first with one of their three sons as an
honoree (an 8-year-old leukemia patient who is doing great now) and then as
marathoners themselves and then as coach and LLS employee. I saw them early in
the race as I climbed a long hill in downtown and got a “lift”. The marathon is
a two-loop course that has a figure-8 shape. As I approached mile 6 (near the
start area(, Jodi took my picture and my arm warmers. She then got ready to run
her leg of the relay.
I did a 3-minute run/:30second walk for most of
the race but did vary it on the numerous hills. My running pace was in the
11:00-11:30 pace for much of the race but slowed as I tired in the later miles.
I finished the first half-marathon loop and then less than a mile later saw
Farshad who started running with me. I figured he’d run maybe a mile, but no,
he ended up running almost all of the second half of the marathon with me. (He
had planned to run with his son, Tieve who was running the marathon; however, Tieve
got injured and had to drop.) That was a big help to me because Farshad entertained
me by updating me on so many things related to what the boys had done over the
years and how he and Donna ended up in Burlington. It was so great to listen to
his stories and just run and not think about my running. Looking out on Lake
Champlin, Farshad told me how the whole lake freezes over in the winter and
they can skate out to the island nearby. Very different than Fresno😊
Meanwhile, Jodi’s teammate ran a
quick 1:50 for her half and then Jodi ran a strong 2:32. We both enjoyed the
views of the lake (the border with New York state), all the green trees and
lawns, lots of friendly folks in the many neighborhoods we traversed, and the
variety in terrain.
After resting and cleaning up
following the race, Jodi and I went to dinner with Farshad, Donna, and Tieve
and had a great time remembering some past times and finding out about many
other goings-on in our families. Monday was Memorial Day so we had a day to
explore the area. We drove out toward the town of Stowe and on the way took the
tour of the Ben and Jerry factory and got donuts and cider at Cold Hollow Cider
Mill. We then visited the now-lodge that the Von Trapp family of “Sound of
Music” fame settled in after they came to America. It very much has an Austrian
Alps’ feel to it. We had fun walking around and eating lunch in Stowe and then
going back to Burlington and walking around the University of Vermont campus.
The university was founded in 1792, and its teams are called the Catamounts.
We had an afternoon flight home so had time to walk out on the causeway going out into Lake Champlain. It’s about 11 miles long and is a path used by walkers, runners and bikers and would be a great place for an out and back long run. Our plane was delayed in Denver due to mechanical issues, so we didn’t get back into our own beds until 11:00PDT (2:00AM EDT). It was a memory and action-packed long weekend.
This was Marathon #193; 48 states+DC on 2nd go-round; All 10 Canadian provinces.
Next marathon: Atlantic City, NJ Oct 18, 2026
Pictures with captions can be seen on my Facebook post.
Or go to Shutterfly: https://linkit.shutterfly.com/aSyiUz
