Article: First Mount Desert Island marathon slated Scenic, challenging course from Bar Harbor to Southwest Harbor awaiting Oct. 20 runners

Gary Allen proudly refers to himself as an old-school marathoner. He remembers his first attempt at the 26.2-mile distance fondly, if a bit masochistically.

It was July 14, 1977. The race started at noon. In Bangor. And the temperature was in the high 90s before he arrived in Orono.

Along the way, he recalls, things got a bit ... interesting.

"As we passed by the current intersection of Hogan Road and Stillwater Avenue, a huge bull from one of the neighboring farms came out onto the race course and chased us skinny, sweaty runners for a couple hundred meters," Allen said in an e-mail this week. "Our surge rivaled the best Kenyans at the top of Heartbreak Hill."

In a nutshell, here's his ...

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