Myrtle Beach Marathon

I can't believe I finally qualified for Boston. After hoping for years to make this dream a reality, Valentines Day is when it actually happened.

Allow me to back up a bit. Last August, my family was hanging out at our family reunion when m cousin, Dan, mentioned that he planned to run the Myrtle Beach Marathon, held on Valentines Day, also his 35th birthday. Quite impulsively, I said "I'll run it with you."

Two months later, I ran the Marine Corps Marathon and finished in 3:56. Three weeks later, I started training for the Myrtle Beach Marathon. Training in November and December went pretty well. I ran a 16, 18 and 21 miler by the time 2008 finished.

But then it all started to fall apart in the month of January, which should have been my highest mileage month. I came down with bronchitis, only I didn't know it for a couple of weeks. It went like this... go out to run, come back, cough badly, take two days off and feel better, then go out to run , cough badly, take two days off feel better. You get the idea. I ended up missing a good bit of training as a result. I went to the doctor to get antibiotics and she told me to take 10 days off from running. This was happening at the worst possible time. But I didn't want to get sicker, so I took 5 days off... hey, I'm happy I took any time off... then slowly came back on the treadmill for another week.

A lovely snowstorm prevented me from getting the last long run in. I didn't run more than 14 miles in that entire month and my longest run was 7 weeks prior to the marathon. That's not the way you train for a marathon. I still decided that I was going to shoot for the Boston qualifying time of 3:50 for my age group. I figured that I might crash and burn, but I just had to go for it.

My family drove down to Myrtle Beach on Thursday and just had a blast Thursday and Friday. I was a little worried because on Friday I had a very bad sinus headache. But I just popped Airborne and tried to stay calm.

Race morning: 5:55 a.m. my cousin Dan knocks on my door... the weather was good. low 50s and cloudy. We get to the start at 6:15 and I feel the urgent need to visit the porta potty- no time. We wished each other luck and the race started. Dan ran with his friend Jeff and was hoping for a 4:45.

I knew that if I was going to run a 3:50, that every mile needed to be dead on or close to it. My new marathon strategy was to find someone to chit chat with in the beginning in order to stay relaxed. Some people like to talk in marathons, some people don't. I very rarely talk in shorter races, but I've now realized that this is what I need in a marathon to keep me from running too fast in the beginning. I struck up a conversation with Joel and Kerry. They were running the half and Kerry was struggling at mile 3, that's not good.

Mile splits: 1-8:44 2-8:25 3-8:25

I need to be maintaining an 8:48... a little too fast in the beginning.

My next victim, uh.. I mean running partner, was a man named James, who had Flat Stanley pinned to his back. If you're not familiar with Flat Stanley, read this http://www.flatstanley.com/ Turned out to be a perfect conversation starter. We ran miles 4-12 talking about the pancake houses, beach stores, and funny things we observed.

Mile splits: 4-8:24 5- 7:46 (I don't know why this mile was so fast) 6-8:34 7-8:32 8- 8:31
9- 8:30 10-8:38 11-8:46 12-8:39

And then disaster struck, my shoe came untied and yes, I double knotted it. OK, maybe your shoe coming untied is not a disaster, but I felt like I had no time to give up. After I stopped to tie it, I decided now would be the time to VERY QUICKLY go in to the porta potty with no line (yay! small marathons) Mile 13- 9:20.... ok, not too bad.

I lost Flat Stanley guy and told myself not to try to catch up... Nice and steady. After this, began the countdown in my head to see my family at mile 18.
Mile 14- 8:36 Mile 15- 8:45 Mile 16- 8:58 Mile 17- 8:44

I knew I was about a minute ahead of pace for a 3:50. Side note: One thing that saved me was a piece of paper on which I wrote what my elapsed time should be for every mile. Usually, people wear a pace band. I didn't have one and I thought I could get one at the EXPO, but they didn't have them. I talked to Greg the night before and said " I can just do the math." He said- " no just write it down, put in a ziploc and take it out every so often. " totally saved me. I cannot do math when I'm at mile 18 of a marathon.

Mile 18 is approaching and I could see our hotel up ahead and I was so excited because I was fairly sure that I was going to make the 3:50. I still felt strong and I was 1 minute ahead of pace. I saw Greg and the girls in their bright tie dyed jackets. :) I didn't slow down AT ALL... (which i now feel a little guilty about) I started yelling to them as I approached that I was 1 minute ahead, that I loved them and that I needed to see them at mile 21 and the finish. I think my girls were a little stunned. I tossed my fuel belt to Greg to refill and they were going to go 2 blocks over and see me at mile 21. I yelled back as I passed them that I loved them... Ok, I do love them, but I was also a little delirious.
Mile 18-8:34

Seeing them charged me up and I decided to put my IPOD on for a little while. Around mile 19, I passed Flat Stanley guy and waved to him. The weather is still nice and cool and we've seen the beach a few times.

Mile 19- 8:34 Mile 20- 8:48

Mile 21, I can see my family up ahead. I'm still about one minute ahead of pace. I thought I just needed to hold on. I'm starting to get a little tired and running harder just to maintain pace. Greg had refilled my fuel belt and Piper was holding it. Again, I didn't feel like I could slow down AT ALL, I swiped the belt out of Piper's hands and looked at Greg and started to tear up. I told myself to hold it together... I said, "Please, please, please go to the finish.... I'm going to do it!" Greg yelled "We will!"

I went to put my fuel belt back on and it felt like it weighed a ton. I have worn my fuel belt for most of my marathons because I've never figured out the run and drink thing... fuel belts have squirt bottles and I think that the extra weight of the belt is off set by time gained on not having to walk through the water stations. Well, I couldn't even make myself wear it at this point... plus, it was falling off and leaking on me. So, I tossed it underneath a beach store sign. I spent the next two minutes wondering if it would be there when the race was over. Weird what you obsess about when you're getting tired.

Mile 22- 9:12 (fuel belt fiasco) then, my family drives by and yells and cheers out the window to me. I knew they were headed to the finish and I put my head down and ran.

Mile 23- 8:51 I see my cousin's wife and their kids cheering for me here. another huge boost that lasts about half a mile. :)

Mile 24- 9:12- getting tired... it's raining now... must keep moving as fast as possible. I know it's going to be close. There is a song playing on my IPOD.... "Let it Rock" the lyrics are "When I arrive, I bring the fire..." Oh my gosh, I was running to the max of my ability and willing the finish line to show up.

Mile 25- 8:55 My watch says 3:42... oh my goodness, I don't think I can do this. I am making lovely noises now as I try to keep speeding up. People are cheering in the rain. I'm sure I'm making quite a spectacle. It seemed surreal to me... almost slow motion-like.
My chest is exploding... where is the finish??? My watch says 26 miles at this point..

Mile 26- 8:43... with the last half mile at an 8 minute pace.

We FINALLY turn a corner and there is the finish... I see the clock ticking... 3:50... push, push, push.... My family is there screaming for me... and I sprint across the line and stumble a bit. 3:50:45 gun time... 3:50:27 chip time... made it by 30 seconds.

I was spent... totally and completely... and it was raining and I started crying... hard crying for about one minute and then I was done. People asked me if I was ok... I just smiled and nodded...

What an unbelievable day.

We hung out a little... did the massage thing and then waited around for my cousin and didn't see him. Turns out, he had some bad cramps and finished in 5:14, which is a huge bummer.

We ended up staying in Myrtle Beach for 2 more days. I'm so thankful for my family and friends who are always so supportive and listen to my endless running stories.