I love this Steamtown Marathon!!
Of 30 or so marathons I have run, by far this was the best one.

It was about "Volunteers", "Volunteers", "Easy Logistics", "Beautiful & fast course", and "Volunteers".

You are greeted with hundreds of high school student volunteers and cheer leaders as soon as you are unloaded from 45 min bus ride to the start. The start in "Forest City, PA" is hosted by a local high school where literary countless volunteers offer you from directions to the bag check, bath room, warm gym to change and stretch, and even coffee. "Free coffee" and it is even hot!! I was very impressed and already decided to return next year even before I started.

Start to 6 miles (fast downhill):
It was cold at the start, 35F and frost everywhere. It was unusual I decided to put on two layers of long sleeve under my Van Cortlandt singlet along with gloves since typically I like it to be very cold. Real canon goes off and 2,200 of us started Steamtown Marathon '09.

Despite my information from the race director "First 23 miles are downhill", the first two miles were busy, steep downhill and some relatively long ascent mixed. Once I reached 3 Mile point, a long 3 mile decent started. This is where you tend to start going too fast and I tried control my pace not to go faster than 7:30/mile.

By around Mile 4, I warmed up enough and started sweating. Because my goal for this marathon was "Just to finish 20 miles at my NYCM race pace of 8 min/mile", I decided to stop and take off one layer, wrap it around of my waist. Since I had take of my hat, gloves, singlet, fluid belt before getting to the layer, it took me more than a few seconds and not to mention putting all them back on in order. Then I saw a few toilets with no line that tempted me to go in. I still don't know why I did that but this was the first time ever I used bathroom during the race. Due to the fact I tend to sweat a lot while running, it typically offsets my need to go to bathroom. And little did I know this would have some impact at the end.

Mile 7 to 13 (flat or slight decent):
These 6 miles to Mile 13 flew by me, trying to stick to sub 8 min/mile pace with not too much effort. Another unusual accident happened, my fully charged Garmin stopped telling me my pace due to "Data FULL" error. After 10 mile, I had no way of knowing how fast or slow I was going. That made me decide to latch on to the two men group with Boston Marathon shirt on who said they target to finish at 8 min/mile pace.

Mile 14 to 20 (some up and downs, mostly flat):
I felt mile markers just come and go very quickly during those miles. That meant I was feeling well and not pushing too much. My usual tactic during those miles is to countdown "6 Miles to Go" from Mile 14 to get to the Mile 20. At 18 mile point however, I started to lag behind the two guys and getting a little tired. I tried to keep up by increasing my efforts saying to myself "I only have two more mile to get my goal 20 miles done for the day". I was still hanging on to the pace.

Miles 21 to 23 (flat and ups):
Now my biggest worry is when I am going to have my usual Mile 20 leg cramp. I could have slowed down at mile 20 since I accomplished my goal for the day but was feeling great. I could maintain the 8 min/mile pace without increasing effort level and actually I started to feel better and stronger. Still very much concerned if I get a cramp since without a fail it happened at all of my marathons in the past when I ran at this fast pace. My countermeasure was to take electrolyte tablet at Mile 10 and 18. Despite some conflicting clinical study, I believe I get cramp all the time because I sweat a lot thus resulting in loss of electrolyte to cause my muscles to cramp. It seemed to be working today but still not sure maybe at Mile 23. take it easy, I said to myself.

Mile 24 to the Finish (A lot of steep hills with a quarter mile downhill to the finish):
As I passed Mile 23 mark, I was confident I can get to the finish with no cramp today. And 3 miles to the finish made me pumped up, almost guaranteed PR, and potential Boston Qualifying time of 3:30:59. The uphills everyone had talked about didn't seem as bad to me and I decided to show what I've got left. I built up the pace for the last 3 miles and passing many others made me go faster. Even the last half mile long big hill didn't destroy my motivation to finish strong. The last quarter mile was ecstatic sprinting to the finish with hundreds of people cheering us on.

Finish 3:31:52 (Gun Time):
I felt like I just had a Saturday morning run at VCTC. No fatigue, no pain, just excitement and great feeling. Because my Garmin stopped working I had no way of knowing my net time, which I believe close enough to my BQ time of 3:30:59. Later it turned out however I was 25 seconds short, I ran at 3:31:24. I almost laughed myself so funny three unusual things happened to me and I am 25 seconds short. Now I still have NYCM to entertain myself.

Afterthoughts:
After I finished I looked for my friend that had clocked at 3:24. I just stayed there much longer than normal, sat on grass under abundant October sunshine, and stretched for long. I was trying to digest what happened in the past three and half hours or so: incredible volunteers all along the course, countless, countless, countless of willing and enthusiastic volunteers. I will be back again next year. This is one marathon I want to run every year for a long time.

And did I BQ? I didn't have a way to find out until late when I get back that night.

I was happy because:

For the first time in my marathon career, I could actually race the last 6 miles. That was very big to me and made me very confident. I used to be
always cramped after Mile 20 and the last six was just to finish. All I have to do now is to get to the start line of NYC Marathon and the rest will just follow. I am counting on Mike's VCTC van!!