State: 8 of 50
After a fairly disappointing Rocket City Marathon in December, I was planning on making a huge come-back for this first marathon of 2020. Unfortunately, the winter weather had other plans in store for me. I don't remember seeing a rainier winter since I started running in 2012. The pattern was rain, rain, rain, then bitterly cold. Repeat for two months. The Greenway where I usually run stayed flooded constantly, and the treadmill was just not calling to me for those longer runs I needed. My motivation started to wane. As time grew closer, I started to panic, thinking about how a marathon is just not fun when you don't get the mileage done, and especially those long runs.
My dreams of finally breaking 3:30 faded away and I just accepted that I was going to need to adjust expectations. At least then the monkey was off my back. I did my best to get in a few miles here and there. Then, the week before the marathon, I ran the Publix Atlanta Half. I knew this would give me some sort of idea of what to count on for the marathon. Those of you from Atlanta probably understand the hilliness of this course. Knowing what I was facing, I kept a moderate pace and let the chips fall where they may. My time was 1:53:54 (8:42 pace). Very uninspiring. Those hills were tough!
Based on that information, I decided I would be lucky to break 4 hours at Myrtle Beach. But I did hold out a tiny bit of hope that maybe I could pull off a BQ time of 3:55 if I worked hard, played it smart, and got extremely lucky. After all, the course was very flat and the weather forecast was looking good.
I arrived in Myrtle Beach (a 5-hour drive from Atlanta) around 3pm Friday and headed to the expo after grabbing a late lunch/early dinner. They held it at Dave and Busters, which was in a fun area called Boardwalk at the Beach. I just wanted to get in and out fairly quickly. I thought the expo was a bit small for that size race. They were expecting over 5,000 between the full, the half, the 5K, and the fun run. But they had Gu, so I picked some up and got my number and shirt.The location was very close to the race start, and I could tell that there would be plenty of convenient pre-race parking.
After the expo, I checked in to the hotel and laid out my gear for the next day. It was a challenge trying to decide what to wear. The start temperature was going to be 38, but it was a full-sun day and it would be warming up 10 degrees throughout the race. Normally I would wear a tank top and an extra layer to shed after the first couple of miles. But the bitterly cold high winds during my pre-race walk that afternoon convinced me I was going to need to wear more. I kept the shorts, but decided to wear a long-sleeved shirt, light jacket, hat, and gloves.
I slept fairly decently for a night before the marathon, and I woke up optimistic. Running my 19th marathon, I generally have my pre-race routine down to a fine science. I got up at 5:20 and was ready to head out the door by 5:50. Overnight oats and a banana are my go-to pre-race foods.
The drive was only 15 minutes, so I had plenty of time to hit up the porta-potties and (shiveringly) drop off my extra layer. On my way to line up, I ran into my friend, Christine, who lives in Myrtle Beach and was pacing the 3:45 group. In retrospect, I should have lined up with her. Maybe I would have come in even faster.
Once in the starting area, I focused on making sure my watch found satellites and my music was queued up and ready to go. Last marathon I accidentally tossed my headphones away, so I was very glad to be able to run with the comfort of music this time. This was the first race where I experimented by taking a Gu right at the start of the race.
As the gun went off, I felt the shot of adrenaline I inevitably feel at the start of each race, but I was very careful to keep the feeling that I "was just jogging" because I know how awful a fast start can come back to bite you. I didn't even look at my watch the whole first mile because I just wanted it to feel nice and easy. But as my watch alerted me, I was pleasantly shocked and surprised to see an 8:44. Wow, I thought, that sure felt easy for anything under 9:00!
The same thing happened a miles 2, 3, and 4. After that, we headed into a cool area called Market Common. There were a lot of buildings, spectators, and restaurants to look at. It was also and out-and-back, so I watched the lead runners and enjoyed seeing them fly by.
The wind started picking up, but so did the heat of the sun. Warm won out, though, and I took off headband and gloves. The sun was so cheery and I was still amazed that very consistent miles were falling away so easily.
The out and back I just described is at the black dot on the map below. That was the end of the first 10K. After that, we headed toward the beach. At mile 7 I took my second Gu. The plan was to have Gu at miles 0, 7, 13.1, and 19. I have a very hard time getting them down after that.
The long, straight, flat stretch of road closest to the beach lasted from mile 8 to about mile 17. As soon as we hit mile 8, the wind picked up significantly and kept getting stronger. Although it felt a bit cooler, I never did put back on my headband or gloves.
I stayed focused on all the race signs posted that echoed that of the race shirt: You can. You will. At mile 11, the half marathoners got to turn off for the completion of their shorter loop. My mind said: Sane people to the left; crazies to the right. LOL! And about that time, a huge gust of wind came along and almost knocked me off my feet. Around mile 14, I passed my hotel and had a secret thought of slipping away and taking a nap. Then I saw the sign again: You can. You will. And looking back on the splits from my first half, I see that indeed: I did.
When I got to mile 16, I had memories of having to already break into a walk while running Rocket City. I was determined to hold on to a solid pace this time for as long as I possibly could. The wind became increasingly more challenging, though. Sometimes it was head on. Other times it attacked from the side. I don't remember any tail wind, but maybe there was some. It got up to 20mph.
During the whole second half of the race I kept focusing on two thoughts: 1) Claw out each mile, and 2) Throttle it back before giving into a walk. Using these as mantras, I made it to 17, then to 18 with consistent splits. Miles 18-19 were an out-and-back. The wind was at its worst at 18, but mile 19 felt so sweet. At that point, I started to fish around in my shorts pocket for my last Gu. I could feel it, but it was still between a layer. After digging and digging, I finally came to a full stop, dug in violently, and grabbed it. GRRR! Technical difficulties.
Armed with my last small burst of caloric intake, I aimed for mile 20. There at the mile marker was a lady on stilts giving high fives. For some reason, that made me chuckle and it was a pleasant distraction. Then I did a double-take. I looked to my right and spotted Kevin, a classmate from way back in 2nd grade! It's amazing who you might see out running!! We chatted for a bit and wished each other well. Then I pressed on for mile 21.
Each mile gets harder at this point. But hey, I was still running, and was still maintaining the same pace! We turned on a scenic little side path and I hit what my numbed mind thought was mile 23. I looked over at the guy beside me and smiled and said: Just a 5K to go! He didn't respond. A tenth of a mile later I saw why. Oops. Damn. I was only at 22. But I was still running.
Finally, just before an aid station I hit mile 23 and walked through it. At that point, I figured even if I could walk/run at a 9:00 pace, I'd still be on track for a decent finish. But although I walked a little here and there, mile 24 was still an 8:36. My one mile over 9 was mile 25 at 9:07. At that point, my left quad was feeling pretty sore and I was drained. But I was so pleased to have gotten so far at a much better than expected pace that I pushed on for a big finish.
It was a nice sunny day and there were decent crowds gathered to cheer us in. My finish smile reflects my happiness in confirming my time. Marathon #19 done. Bam! Almost even splits for the first and second halfs.
My legs look pretty shredded at this point
Race bling!
My hair was blown to smithereens!
I was slightly disappointed to be 6th in my age group. But I did discover two things later. One was that 1st place was a transgender girl. 5th place was the pacer for the 3:45 group, my friend, Christine! Still, without those two in the running I would only have been 4th unless they had included a master's category which they didn't.
I love this finishers tank top they handed out. I imagine I will put this to good use this summer.
After a very long hot shower and a few snacks, I met up with some folks from the marathon maniacs group. We had a great time sharing stories and drinking away our post-race aches at a place called RipTydz.
My new friend, Angela, insisted we go down to the beach and catch a few photos. I'm so glad we did!
After hanging out on the beach, we headed back to a place called Oz at Boardwalk at the Beach near the race start so I could meet up with my Atlanta friends, Michael and Kelli. We had a couple beers and then got some more yummy food.
It was a fun weekend and a great race experience! I loved the nice flat course at the beach and would not hesitate to run this one again.
No comments:
Post a Comment