As mentioned in my Love Run race review, I may have gotten a little over zealous upon completing my first half marathon in 2015, and immediately signed up for ALL the races upon returning home from California.

I still had no clue that a challenge to run a half marathon in every state existed at this point, but knew of the Baltimore Marathon from when my parents lived aboard their sailboat there. 

Many of my weekends were spent visiting them at the marina in Inner Harbor East, which has a running/walking trail that follows the waters edge for miles. I had absolutely no excuses to skip my runs, with it being one step outside the marina gate, and who would want to with the views.

The walk up and down the dock was quite lengthy, so there was no hiding the fact that I was out running from all of our friends along the way. At least one or two people would stop me every run, to ask if I was going to run the Baltimore Marathon that was held in the fall every year. Pft! No, thanks! Running a marathon is crazy talk, and at this point I still hadn’t cracked the 10 mile mark yet. 

Fast forward a year and a half later though and my mindset had changed. I had now run two other half marathons, just started running regularly with a local running club, and made the bold decision to sign up for the Philadelphia Marathon (yes, all 26.2 miles). More about that at a later date.

The training plan I was following from Hal Hidgon, suggested racing a half marathon a couple of months out from your full marathon, just to gauge where you are in your training. I quickly remembered the Baltimore race everyone kept asking me about, and now knowing they had a half marathon distance, it seemed like a fun option, so I signed up. 

The majority of my time spent in Baltimore was in or around the Inner Harbor area. Because of this, I was greatly misinformed or uneducated if you will, about just how hilly the city of Baltimore really is. Don’t mind the fact that I drove through “Brewers Hill” to get in and out every time I visited, or ate in areas called “Federal Hill” or “Mount Vernon”. Seriously, you think I would have caught on to this at some point. But nope.