One view of the Bar Harbor Half-Marathon course

For a course that everyone expects to be challenging, the first mile goes out quite fast -- surprisingly so, considering that the first half mile or so is in fact the gentle rise of Main Street which then constricts at its peak downtown. The only notable downhill at the east end of Main St. ends quickly with a 90 degree left and from there on West St. you're already looking at the first mile's second rise. Despite the two rises, each time I've run this, the first mile split (up near the Seacoast Mission) has shocked me by being 20-30 seconds under my goal pace. Generally of course, it's good to be conservative for the first part of a race like this, but if you find yourself, as I always have, feeling way too quick after the first mile I think all you can do is shrug it off and acknowledge that the hill on the second mile will steal all your momentum back.

This second mile, with its hill that just keeps winding around out of sight to the right, will remind you directly that the front part of this course is demanding. Also at some point here everyone will cross from the left side of the road to the right. The major part of this rise is done when you enter the park although the hill doesn't completely crest until part way down the Duck Brook Road near the stone bridge and the 2-mile mark.

From here up to the carriage trail is fresh smooth blacktop, downhill to flat, and entirely shaded . Enjoy it. By this point, those who went out at the wrong pace will have sorted themselves out and you, along with the people around you, will be settling into your real pace.

At a little over 2.5 miles, you reach the first water stop at the Duck Brook Bridge, cross over and turn left onto the first carriage trail. The first half mile of road generally winds, climbs, and ultimately curves right. After the top of this series, with its vista to the south, there is a long straight downhill to the turn toward Eagle Lake.

This seems to be the pattern for this course. Uphills which keep curving slowly out of sight are followed by straight fast downhills. Once you know the uphills and aren't fooled into expecting them to end prematurely, they're really not too bad and their following downhills can be downright exhilarating. Perhaps surprisingly, I find that the parts of the course that are toughest are the more level sections following the downhills. After feeling like you're flying for several minutes, settling back down to ordinary pace can feel similar to fatigue.

The first place you might notice this is after the long downhill part of the Witch Hole loop ends. Here, at about 3.7 miles into the race, you pass the second carriage road intersection and head south toward Eagle Lake. This next 1.1 mile stretch is a little deceiving as it appears generally level. But, in fact, it's really a steady rise up to Eagle Lake. As a result, you may have your first feelings of fatigue here. If so, remind yourself that you're just continuing on a gentle uphill and that's to be expected. As you near the lake you'll hear people cheering form the stone bridge. The second water stop is here as well. Drink up, because it's nearly four miles to the next one.

The run down the west side of Eagle Lake is a series of minor rises and dips. You can keep your focus along here by tracking your tangents around the little curves as they appear. On the carriage roads, there are typically two highly-traveled tracks, roughly an automobile's width apart, which are clear of loose stone. While the left side on the counterclockwise loop will, of course, end up the shortest, anyone who runs the Eagle Lake loop frequently develops his or her own strategy toward the tradeoffs between traction on the hills and quickest line through curves. No matter where you put your mind and feet for this section, you'll be aware of the mile 6 hill approaching.

Lasting over 3/4 of a mile, it's true that this is the course's big one. And, if you weren't expecting it, it could easily be a killer. But, as with the other hills, it's really not all that bad. You just put your head down and run it. It's not painfully steep, just steady. It's got two wide curves to the left, and the second one is the one you're looking for.

The top of this hill is the race's approximate midpoint and many people mark this by taking energy gel here. It would also be the perfect place for a water stop. But, because it's nowhere near an access road, there's no way for the volunteers to get the big jugs of Mount Desert Island bottled water out here. If fluid's important to you at this point, you should consider placing some here beforehand.

The long uphill has its reward in an equivalently long and fast downhill. While your split at mile 7 after the uphill can be 30 seconds or more off your goal pace, your next split at mile 8 will give back everything you lost. You'll feel great again and the only thing to guard against is that of the false feeling of fatigue which can set in when your pace settles back down at the bottom.

Around mile 8, there another rise which is just large enough to be memorable. It crests just after a bend to the right and is followed by a series of gentle steady downhills At about 8.5 miles you come to a water stop where the carriage trail branches toward Bubble Pond.

Mile 9 marks another small hill. But to me that, counter-intuitively, seems a relief compared to the fairly ordinary quarter mile before it. This straight slight rise, between the water stop and the hill, is often the first place that I notice real fatigue. I just note it, and look forward to the little hill because it requires just enough extra effort that it regathers all the focus the fatigue seems to sap.

While you may start to feel fatigue at this point, you are now really hitting the fast part of the race. It won't feel like it, but this is an entirely negative split course and you've already done the worst of the work. You'll come fast down the backside of the 9 mile hill and enter the dead flat curves at the south end of the lake at the 10 mile mark, where someone will usually be calling your split.

Along the south end of the Lake, you may have to face down an unruly psychological protest which arises as you head briefly west, away from town, knowing that shortly you will be turning around and heading back east on the Eagle Lake Road. Instead you should be enjoying the remaining shade of the trails and any pleasant breeze off the lake. You'll take water again at the Eagle Lake boat ramp, after which you emerge back onto the highway.

In comparison to the trails, this will seem harsh. If it's sunny, the light for the first half mile will be glaring, there's traffic, and the first rise adds another insult. Here's where you start to bear down with some effort. There's a little dip before the 11 mile mark and then the right shoulder of the road reenters shade.

The major part of the next mile up toward 12 is the part of the race you'll run on guts. This last hill isn't as long as the hills at either mile 2 or mile 6, but it's almost guaranteed to seem worse. By the time you see the Park Loop Road's bridge at the top of it, this is the one that'll make your head light and your legs rubbery. For maybe two minutes, you'll have gotten a taste of mile 24 in the marathon.

...And then it's over. The last mile and a quarter are almost unbelievably fast. Without having realized how quickly you've recovered, you'll fly down the last stretch of the Eagle Lake Road. You'll find water for the last time at the 12 mile mark at the turn onto the Cromwell Harbor Road. From here, with shade overhead and pastoral greens to either side, a good incline continues to support your increasing speed.

In the last mile, you'll be so focused you probably won't even notice the little rise on the far side of the golf course. You'll dip down again, cross Kebo St. and wind out into the last straight level stretch before Spring St. and the cemetery. Note well that here is where the guy in front of you -- whom you've been reeling in for the past mile and who doesn't know the course -- is going to hesitate. As he goes around the curve below Kebo St. and comes out on that straight stretch, he's going to see nothing but the wild hedge on the left, the long pruned one ahead to the right, and a blank wall of trees at the end just past the rise. As there's not a house in sight, just for a moment he's going to feel he's on some distant rural lane and he's going to wonder if he misread a mile marker more distance remains before the finish line than he was hoping.

You, on the other hand, are going to welcome that straight stretch to line him up. Then you're going to drop a major surge on him on that little hill, recommend his attention to the line of gravestones to the right, and disappear around the corner soundly ahead -- all before he realizes that what's left is only the steep downhill curve above Glen Mary and that from here on you're limited only by how quickly you can get your legs to turn over.

Your guts may be in your hands at the end, but after that nobody's going to get by you before the finish line.

--Brian Hubbell