BI-LO Myrtle Beach Marathon - RunMarathon

MY FIRST MARATHON IN MY LIFE!!!!

25 F no wind at start which got up to around 40ish with light wind.

Plan was to go out at a 9 min pace and gradually drop down into the 8:15-8:20 range. Goal was to be on pace at mile 10. Big problems with both the garmin picking up signals and with the mile marker placement. This lead to me making crazy ass adjustments to my race. Splits starting with lap 5 were when I hit my lap button on the garmin, but the distance is what the Garmin recorded and the pace is based on the garmin distance and time.

miles 1-3: 3.04 mi 8:44 pace 165bpm
mile 4: 0.98 mi 8:36 pace 166
mile 5: 0.98 mi 10:22 167 (I call bullshit on this one)
mile 6: 0.53 mi 14:08 169
mile 7: 1.09 mi 8:14 170
mile 8: 0.90 mi 8:02 171
mile 9: 1.04 mi 8:10 170
mile10: 1.11 mi 8:15 169
mile11: 0.90 mi 8:16 171
mile12: 1.01 mi 8:21 170
mile13: 1.02 mi 8:23 170
mile14: 1.01 mi 8:13 171
mile15: 1.01 mi 8:20 172
mile16: 1.02 mi 8:18 173
mile17: 1.22 mi 8:27 173
mile18: 0.80 mi 8:14 175
mile19: 1.00 mi 8:33 177
mile20: 1.04 mi 8:23 176
mile21: 1.02 mi 8:23 177
mile22: 1.01 mi 8:31 180
mile23: 1.01 mi 8:45 178
mile24: 1.01 mi 9:09 178
mile25: 0.86 mi 9:00 178
mile26: 1.17 mi 9:08 178
last.2 0.25 mi 7:51 182

MB official splits:
13.1 split: 1.53.51
20 mile: 2.52.16
Chip 3.45.43

Drank water every aid station - which was every 2 miles.
Gelled every 4 miles
Enduralytes every hour.

The first time I saw a 10 min mile I nearly shit myself. I figured that I had totally screwed myself for the whole race unless I did something...so I banged out a faster pace than what I wanted to do the following mile to get the time back. Even when hitting the lap button for each mile marker I saw, my times sometimes said 7:15 min miles. It was totally screwed up in that regard.

The race was pretty cool though. I had a blast though throughout the race I didn't see one person I knew until mile 26ish when I saw runnergirl cheering which was an awesome boost for me.

Wow - those last two miles were tough. Around mile 21 we started a slow uphill into a slight wind. The effort level went up at 21, but I was really hurting for 25 and 26. Reallly hurting!

I ran mile 18 for G84SAX....and I even said so during the race. It got me a few funny looks. I ran 25 and 26 for Mike Barrett (a coworker fighting cancer), and all the rest for my awesome family....though pretty much everyone from BT crossed my mind at some point in the race.

I think I screwed up my end game race nutrition. You know that gatorade commerical where the dude staggers around and falls down crawling around on the ground? That was how I felt - very shaky and wobbly. I never really recovered until I wolfed down about 18 orange slices. There was some kind guy (Steve Davis...my former boss) who brought me a bunch more. He also bought me that pace band which is an awesome investement. It will be nice to buy a few more different times for future races. :)

What a race. I can't believe I did it. I felt absolutely flawless though 15. And when I hit 20, I remembered back to my brutal 20 mile training run that I screwed up and was so happy that I finally conquored 20 at race pace.

And one last thing....Myrtle Beach is NOT flat. There were no really big hills but the freaking course is rolling in sections.

Try some solid food around mile 20....or chicken broth.....or something...

I wouldn't do much more different. Everything was so brand new and I didn't know what to expect - especially from miles 20+.

Stay on the outside lanes during the start.

Stagger around. Watch people watch me wondering if this dude is going to go down.

I got a massage - which was so painful. I thought that post race you don't want to be pressing on things too hard. OMG! I think I cracked a tooth gritting my teeth it hurt so bad.

Ice bath back at the house. These things are amazing. I felt great afterwards. Must always do this in the future. Its painful to get in, but worth every bit of it.


My long distance running began in Oct. I think that if I had more of a base for a longer period of time, I think I could have done much better.


Thanks to Rizzo and Runnergirl for putting up with me this weekend and giving me a place to sleep. :) They are both awesome company.

(I need a nap)