BI-LO Myrtle Beach Marathon - RunMarathon

The run went well. I felt strong through the entire race. It was very cold at the beginning. But I think I dressed well for it. I had tights, 2 long sleeve shirts, gloves, ear warmers, and a hat. I was comfortable once I began to run. About mile 15 it started to warm up a bit. So I took off the ear warmers, gloves and one of the shirts.

The only time I stopped running was around mile 15 when I had to stop to pee. I had to go since about mile 6 but didn't want to stop running. At mile 15 I couldn't wait any longer.

I wouldn't do anything different. This was my first marathon. My main goal was to finish, my good day goal was to finish under 4 hours, my greatest day goal was to BQ. I achieved most of those goals (and if my Garmin is correct, I actually achieved them all). I couldn't ask for a better race.

I felt fine as long as I was running (except for occassional pain in my right knee). But as soon as I stopped running, my legs hurt like hell!! I walked around and stretch them a bit. I somehow missed the food tent and didn't get anything to eat. When my family caught up to me, they told me they had free massages. So I walked over to the massage tent and got a massage. It was the best thing I ever did. My legs stopped hurting and didn't bother me the rest of the day (the blisters on my toes are another story though). While I was getting a massage, my husband got me some food. Since he didn't race, he had to buy the food at a tent that was selling to spectators. He brought me a bagel, gatorade, and a snickers bar. I ate them while we walked back to the hotel so I could take a hot shower.


The race was well run and there were lots of volunteers. One odd thing I noted was that they filled the cups with Powerade, but the water cups were only half full (why were they rationing water)? I wasn't happy with the placement of the mile markers though. They weren't accurate and I don't believe the overall race length was accurate either. According to my Garmin, my average pace was 8:48 (which is what I needed to BQ). But when I figure my pace from the total time (based on a 26.2 mile marathon) it figures an average pace of 8:53. Could my Garmin Forerunner 305 have been that far off (it never has been before).