Kiawah Island Marathon - RunMarathon

Things started off great. For the first loop (13.1), I was under my intended 7:30/mile pace by a little. I maintained that pace for another few miles. At around mile 16, I started to feel the knee, and to a lesser extent the ITBS on the right side. I played with the pace from mile 16-18, but by mile 18, things were getting bad. At one point, the pain was bad enough that I was grimacing and I considered quitting. But for better or worse, I vowed to keep going as long as a sub 3:30 was still in the cards. Of course, this meant continuing to run instead of walk (and I was pretty sure that walking would lead to severe pain and subsequent quitting anyway), so I kept running, albeit slower.

At around mile 20, two things went south. First, I accidentally stopped my watch instead of lapping. I noticed around a minute later, but then managed to forget that I had done this, and so, later on, utterly miscalculated what I needed to do to get sub 3:21 (BQ). Second, I picked up the pace again when the knee was feeling a little better (mile 20), and the knee suffered mightily for it. However, at that point, I could still smell sub 3:21 and so was calculating at each mile what I needed to do to get there. Unfortunately, I was calculating based on my incorrect watch-time, and ended up slightly over. Oh well. I wasn't actually going to do Boston anyway. Still, it would have been nice. Next time.

Yes, there will be a next time. Despite the pain, I was thrilled to be able to run this marathon. Next time, I imagine (hope, predict, will!) that the knee will be better throughout training, and I'll be able to get my mileage up in a more reasonable and consistent way. When that happens, watch out! I might still have a sub-3:00 left in me. Until then, I'll see what I can do about my aching quads...


Other than not screw up my watch, nothing, really. I think I did the best I could under the circumstances.

Well, I could barely move. I walked/hobbled around a bit, then stretched, then ate. After the 1 hour trip back to the house, I took a 2 hour nap.


Knee limited both training and racing. But I have no real complaints. I'm getting better, and I can't wait for the next one... I can't help thinking that I could have pushed myself harder. I think that I let my concentration slip a few times. And the idiotic mistake with the watch won't soon be forgotten.


I like this race quite a lot. It is small enough to feel 'local' but big enough to have sufficient facilities and volunteers to meet everyone's needs. I'll probably do it again.