I took a week off to climb Mt Katahdin and to run a marathon in Maine. Katahdin was my 39th state highpoint and the Mount Desert Island Marathon was my 30th marathon state. After it had stormed the first day, the week turned out to be glorious with startling crisp fall colors and mostly sunny days.

In the days between the climb and the race I meandered through the back roads of Maine. As I drove along the road towards Bar Harbor I saw the stately Lucerne Inn overlooking a lake. Being the off season I thought I drop in to see what their rates were. I was surprised when they offered me their best suite for $99/night so I made this my base of operations for the next two days.

I spent the days leading up to the marathon exploring the coast and listening to the Blue Hill public radio station. I enjoyed that station so much that I have it bookmarked in my "favorites" on Real Audio player and I often listen to it on the Internet.

Friday I moved to the spartan but clean room I had reserved near Bar Harbor and drove and hiked around Acadia National Park. I had been here once before in 1997 with my son, Joseph. At the time we did a tour of New England from where I was stationed as an exchange officer with the Canadian military in Ottawa, Canada.

The race started in downtown Bar Harbor and followed the coast along the shores of Mount Desert Island, through Seal Harbor, Northeast Harbor before finally reaching the end in the town of Southwest Harbor. It poured down rain complete with thunder and lightning for an hour right up until 15 minutes before the start, then miraculously it stopped and it didn't rain the rest of the day.

I fell in with Dick Beardsley, of Boston Marathon fame, now just a year younger than I, and a couple other first time marathoners, clicking off 6:30 miles. After the halfway point I fell off the pace and settled in for the duration. By mile 20 I came on the two aspiring youngsters who had hopes of qualifying for Boston with this race. They were walking. I admonished them, "Don't walk. If you keep running and don't stop you can qualify for Boston. If you walk, I can assure you that you won't." When I encountered them after the race they both thanked me. They had succeeded in qualifying for Boston.