Published: November 30, 2008 11:19 pm      

Hoping to be marathon man again

58-year-old hasn’t run 26.2-mile distance since 1980

CUMBERLAND — Douglas Kalbaugh finished 101st among 185 runners to cross the finish line Thursday at the Turkey Day 5K in Westernport. In the middle of the pack, right where Kalbaugh figured he was supposed to be.

In April, the 58-year-old Keyser, W.Va., resident hopes to be in about the same place for the Mountain Maryland Marathon — his first 26.2-mile effort in more than 28 years.

The marathon, presented by Life Fitness Management, is scheduled for April 19. The planned route takes runners from Canal Place Heritage Area in downtown Cumberland to the Narrows and up National Highway, or the historic National Road, to Frostburg. After leveling out in the Mountain City, runners will take Depot Street to the Great Allegheny Passage.

The final 15-plus miles of the race are on crushed limestone parallel to the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad tracks at an average 3 percent grade downhill back to Cumberland. That part comes after the first 11.5 miles up — literally — National Highway. Runners taking on the marathon distance first will face a net gain in elevation of approximately 1,900 feet.

Kalbaugh last entered the Honolulu Marathon in 1980 in his early 30s while working as a defense contractor. He might have completed another marathon in Hawaii but his temporary duty ended. Mainland marathons, he said, were too few then. In addition, he was injury-prone.

“I had so many injury problems in my late 30s and early 40s, I thought I was washed up at road racing,” said Kalbaugh, raised in Luke and Westernport.

He didn’t run a single race after a 10K (6.2-mile) run in Loudon County, Va., in June 1990 until the Keyser Tornado Masters 5K in July 2005.

“I was a runner all my 30s, a very avid runner,” Kalbaugh said. “I got very injury-prone. I didn’t want to slow down at all. I ran my peak 10K at age 35, which thrilled me to my toes. I thought I was going to keep getting better forever. I set new personal bests at age 36, 37. By 38, my hip was giving me terrible trouble. I thought I’d never run again.”

Fifteen years worth of racing went by without Kalbaugh at a single starting line. After suffering an upper body injury while working out, he “slowly wound up the nerve” to try running again and stuck to the shorter distances. Then the Mountain Maryland Marathon Club stepped forward to offer a marathon too close to ignore.

The club “laid one right at my doorstep,” he said. “I immediately started dreaming of it, that wonderful backstretch down the Great Allegheny Passage. I immediately realized there was no way I wasn’t going to do it.”

While looking forward to the downhill portion of the race, Kalbaugh said the challenge in the first 11 miles is to be patient.

“Basically, try not to conquer the mountain,” Kalbaugh said. “I’ll just try not to let it add too much time. I’ll just try to wrestle the mountain to a draw and float the rest of the way.”

It’s an approach Robert “Nut” Hall, vice president of the Mountain Maryland Marathon Club and course designer, strongly recommends.

“It’s designed to be a challenging marathon,” Hall said. “If you run reasonable in the first half, you will be fine.”

In order to best prepare, Hall said “just find some long hills and work those a little bit.”

Kalbaugh already has run the most difficult portion of the marathon up National Highway to Frostburg two weeks ago in a training run. Even in a mild headwind, Kalbaugh said he didn’t feel totally depleted of energy and used a mix of running and walking to complete the training run.

For details on the marathon, call (240) 522-0276, e-mail run @mountainMDmarathon.org or visit www.mountainMDmarathon.org.