Shamrock Marathon - RunMarathon


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Virginia Beach, Virginia
United States
J&A Racing
40F / 4C
Overcast
 		Total Time = 4h 19m 7s
Overall Rank = 1418/2994
Age Group = 30-34
Age Group Rank = 88/245
Pre-race routine:

Stayed at the Doubletree by Hilton in Va Beach (nice hotel, walking distance to the expo, short drive to the start), got up made coffee, ate a banana and a cliff bar. Drank a big smart water and sipped gatorade.

Event warmup:

It was very windy and cold, I stayed in the car until about 15 min before the start. Ran over to start, stopped off at a porta potty (no line!) and did some light stretching.

Run
  • 4h 19m
  • 26.2 miles
  • 09m 53s  min/mile
Comments:

I had a wonderful race despite being very cold, windy (like blow your hat off windy) and misty rain at times. I had a surprising 19 min PR! Marathon's have everything to do with staying positive. Mantra for the day was 1 mile at a time.

What would you do differently?:

Nadda :)
Post race
Warm down:

None, I was so cold at the finish I wrapped my finishers blanket around me, found the husband and pooch and made my way back to the car to blast the heat.


What limited your ability to perform faster:

Maybe the cold and wind?

Event comments:

Great race, well organized. We received a nice long sleeved tech tee at packet pickup and at the finish a hat and really cool finishers blanket. All the aid stations were properly staffed, never ran out of anything. Some bands and DJ's with lots of energy along the way and funny signs with silly jokes during the isolated parts.

Would fo' sho' race again.





Last updated: 2012-11-06 12:00 AM
Running
04:19:00 | 26.2 miles | 09m 53s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/245
Overall: 0/2994
Performance: Good
Course: Very flat course, mostly close to the shoreline so this made for one windy race. I personally really enjoyed the course, spectator friendly for the most part, the military bases were very neat. The first one had a few groups of military guys cheering and sounding off - they created the most amazing energy. "MOTIVATION (motivation), DEDICATION (dedication), OORAH (oorah)!!" The second base had this feeling of quiet respectfulness. The isolated stretch about miles 16-19, served as a welcomed relief from the harsh wind and it was so peaceful with the forest and trees and smooth as buttah paved road. I settled in here and kept on hammering away at miles. This is not the most challenging of marathon courses, it has long stretches of straight away's, but you can settle in and focus on pace. This would make for a great first marathon.
Keeping cool Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 5
Physical exertion [1-5] 5
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? No
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities:
Race evaluation [1-5] 4