Eight runners from Community Running Association of Boston completed the Mount Desert Island Marathon in Bar Harbor, Maine. The final instruction sheet said “treat this as a mini ultra-marathon”. Truer words were never spoken!

The CRew drove for 5 hours to get to Bar Harbor from Boston. It is always surprising how much father Bar Harbor is than we think. Maine is indeed a big state, bigger than all the other New England states combined! It is also a shame that we had to stick to the highway because of the time constraint. It would have been a much more beautiful drive to take the coastal route and stop at many of the quaint seaside towns like Kennebunkport, Booth Bay Harbor etc.

We got together for dinner the night before the race at Rupununis and got some great pasta. Carmen’s Verandah, a great sports pub was conveniently located in the same building so that we could watch game three of the Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Indians American League Series Championship. We were wise enough not to stay up all night to watch the ball game.

Marcelo and Clare's friend Jen worked on encouragement posters (I am Clare R, I can do anything!; IMCR; Go Clare Bear; Run Dude Run etc.) all night watching the game and killing a bottle of wine.

Race day was just a tad chilly in the morning, but I was glad I decided to just wear a long sleeve shirt and shorts. Most of us had picked hotels close to the start line. Unfortunately, the folks staying at the host hotels had a mile walk to get to the start by the village green. Note to self - do not assume that the host hotels are the closest to the start line.

Christian, Barbara, Clare and I pretty much ran in lock-step arm-in-arm for the first 10 miles. Cecilia was ahead of us and pounding away. Vanessa was way ahead of everyone and Janie was way behind (a little more about that later). Jay was doing some Faltrek routines, sprinting ahead of the pack to take some pictures - good man!

At mile 6, we got a glimpse of the sea and knew from that point on we would be running along the ocean for many miles. At mile 8, Marcelo and rest of our cheerleaders (husbands, boyfriends, significant others, parents, friends) were in full force. I finally saw Scotty at mile 8 and he was stuffing a bagel into his mouth. He was still working off the jet-lag from his trip to Japan and not feeling all that great.

At mile 10, Clare fell behind just a little bit. Christian, Barbara and I ran together to the half way point in 2:08. We were constantly pointing out pretty scenery to each other.

Barbara accelerated and left us behind and I noticed Christian was breathing pretty hard and I was thinking we were going too fast for her. She slowed down a little at mile 15 and so had Cecilia. As we were running along Somes Sound, the most beautiful stretch in the race, I saw Barbara running the opposite direction. I figured she needed a bathroom break and that was going to affect her time :-(

No rest for the weary and we kept up the pace all along. It felt like Marcelo and Clare's family and friends were everywhere cheering us on very loudly.

The cramps hit at 18, rather early (I never got the cramps doing the long training runs) and took a couple of Tylenols. The dreaded mile 20-25 uphill was just absolutely nasty. It didn't help that this was the only stretch in the marathon that was not scenic. It was along a main road with tons of traffic. But Jen, Clare's friend was there with a smile and loud cheers at every mile.

Finished in 4:25 and got my space blanket. Soon afterwards, I saw Clare coming with Marcelo. He had run the last 6 miles (5 of them uphill, mind you) with

Clare to pace her. Jill followed right behind. And then came Cecilia and Christian within a minute of each other. Scotty and Barbara also finished within a

minute of each other.

Because it was chilly, I cramped up pretty bad and had to sit in the medical tent with Christian with a blanket wrapped around our legs.

Back to Janie - she was originally planning on just running the final 6 miles to pace Christian, the way Marcelo paced Clare. But she got caught up in the

excitement and signed up for the race last minute and decided to walk the entire distance. She walked with a couple that had just gotten married the previous day and were doing this for their honeymoon - obviously they knew what they were getting into.

And there was another couple from St. Louis, walking, the guy dressed in a tux-like outfit and the woman with a bridal veil. They got married at the end at a little chapel right at the finish. Marcelo and Janie attended the wedding and got great pictures of a very romantic wedding.

Marcelo again paced Janie for the last 6 miles, effectively doing a half marathon, all of it up hill! The results were particularly satisfying with Barbara placing second (despite the bathroom break) and Vanessa placing fourth in their respective age groups!

We got together for lobster rolls and beer afterwards in town, swapping stories and commiserating with each other's pain. A great experience made better with good friends.

A t-shirt that I couldn’t resist buying said it all “Caution! Hills next 26.2 miles.”