Kiawah Island Marathon - RunMarathon

I was 250th out of 389 women.

Doug ran with me after his knee decided there would be no pacing Joe for his BQ. He made me run the tangents and kept running ahead to fill up my water bottle for me. He didn't complain when I said we were going too fast (any pace faster than 10 mins/mile) or when I wanted to speed up in mile 15 or the bazillion times I stopped for the potties. I think my slow pace is what made his legs cramp up later.

Miles 1-13 were uneventful. We started at the back of the first third of runners and got passed like we were standing still for miles 1-5. That was upsetting but we didn't let it push us out of the box. We just stayed to the right except for the tangents and did our thing. Amy and Jerry came by doing the half, so that was neat. We saw a Hansons/Brooks team person in about mile 7, and saw Joe at about the same time and they looked great speeding by on the path. It was warmer than we thought it would be so we took off the gloves, armwarmers and hats and unzipped our vest/jackets. It got colder for loop #2 but never cold enough to need the armwarmers, which is too bad because they were awesome if I do say so myself.

Doug had told me that mile 13 would be the best I'd ever felt, but I didn't feel that way. I didn't hurt but I wasn't $1,000,000. Possibly this was because we saw a guy being trollied to the ambulance at mile 13, while people did CPR on him. That was very upsetting. I picked up a lot of Gu wrappers as distraction until Doug made me stop. Seriously, people are pigs. They wouldn't even have finished eating the whole Gu, but they would just throw it down in the road or on the path. At mile 14-15, my left IT band got angry. I was very worried that I'd have to run/walk it in. I tried varying my gait to make it ease (higher kicking and more of a forefoot strike) and even stopped to stretch it. None of these helped, but running faster with a quicker cadence did help, so we picked up the pace until about mile 20. Then we met up with Glenn from Charleston. He's a martial arts instructor and was running backwards every 3 miles and doing foot drills. He'd never run more than 13 miles, so he and I were in uncharted waters. He and Doug ran on when I stopped for the 4th potty break (stupid GI) in mile 22/23 but I eventually caught back up to them. A little sit-down will help your legs feel fresher, don't you know. Doug said his legs were cramping and that I should go on, so I did. I kept thinking he'd surge and meet up with me because I wasn't going very fast. So, I ran it in while singing along with the i-pod and picking up the Gu wrappers. Did I mention that Doug let me carry his i-pod after I forgot mine in the car? He did. I didn't listen for the first 14 miles, but turned it on in one ear at mile 14 to distract from my IT. I got choked up in the last mile when I realized that I was really going to do it. Me, the girl with the fat ass, who couldn't even run a mile for the physical fitness test, was running a marathon. Holy cow! I thanked all of the cops and volunteers and soaked in the finish. As I came down the chute and the guy announced my name, Joe's girlfriend Linda yelled for me and then there were Amy and Jerry. It was great. I got one of those weird space blankets (they really work!) and the catchers let me wait there for Doug who was only 5 minutes behind me. He looked great. He didn't hear us yelling for him, so I had to grab his arm so we could all celebrate and take photos.

I never got to see Tommy (Pop), but Neal was able to tell me about his race when he called to check on me later. Thanks for calling me, Neal!

Not get plantar fasciitis? Get a new GI that doesn't require multiple potty stops?

Nothing! Finishing was awesome, I only had to stop a normal amount of times for the potty, I was able to run the whole race AND I beat my secret goal time of under 5 hrs. I am thrilled and can't ask for any better.

Photos with Jerry, Amy, Joe and Linda.

Joe and Linda let me use the shower in their condo. It was awesome. Then, we donned the comfy clothes and went to hang out at Jerry and Amy's condo for some beers and snacks with their other buddies. Only later did I realize how rough I looked in my fuzzy long-johns, race shirt and short hoodie. Ridiculous.

Several conference calls with my work to iron out a deal while I drank my beers.


Not running from October-March of last year. GI issues. These are my limiters, though, so I performed to the best of my ability on this day. It was perfect.


Great race. I think it would have been easier to stay on the island, but it worked out great with my folks because we had a good visit with them.

All of the events were exactly as advertised and on time. Top notch event.