Shamrock Sportsfest Marathon - RunMarathon

The race was a fabulous experience, from which I learned alot about myself.
When the run went off, I was running with the 4:15 pace group. The pace was excellent. It was effortless and we headed out of town to the south side and went over the first bridge crossing. I soon found myself running with a woman from Omaha about 50-100 yards ahead of the pace group. We made it out to the first turnaround and started heading back into the hotel row.
Unfortunately, I was starting to have some GI issues, and we hadn't seen any porta potties for a long time. I knew we had woods around us at the present time, and the issue was starting to press, if you know what I mean. So I told the girl that I had to duck into the woods and take care of some business. I ran into the woods, dropped trow and took care of business. Then I came back onto the race course. I lost maybe 3 1/2 minutes. (Luckily, this was a one time event).
When I got back on the course, I started running at a pace maybe 10-15 seconds per mile faster than before. Not necessarily a good move looking back on it. We headed into a Marine base and the Marines were all out cheering for us. I was extremely humbled that these men and women who are protecting my freedom are out there cheering us on. Aside from the finish, this was my favorite part of the race and I gave high fives to probably 300 Marines.
We headed into the beach area and ran for awhile on the boardwalk. I was starting to feel the effects of the faster pace but kept on going right through the half marathon mark.
The second half started with a long run down the main beachfront road. I switched to walking about 1 minute at the start of each mile. I also walked a little longer through the drink stations. I was starting to get really tired, and the course got a little boring as we headed around Fort Story. The crowd dropped way off, and the people were stringing out a bit more. I really could have used my ipod for this stretch. During this section, my pace dropped some, but when I was running, I was still running at the 9:45 pace. The walking was bringing my pace up.
CaptanTony had warned me that this stretch through the trees would appear uphill, but it really wasn't. That bit of knowledge helped, as I could keep the hill demons out of my mind during that part of the race.
Then around mile 22, as we were leaving Fort Story, I hit the wall. I started walking about a minut at the start of each mile and at the start of the second half of each mile. When I was running, I was running slowly, around 11 minute pace. When I walked, I was getting a little dizzy, then to top it off, when I started running after walking, my left hip and knee were really screaming at me for about 30 seconds to a minute of running. I told myself if I could just keep running, I wouldn't have to go through the pain each time I stopped. But I couldn't keep running. I started picturing my kids running alongside me cheering me on. I don't know how or why, but I just kept trodding along.
The last .4 miles or so are along the boardwalk and it was really awesome, as there were prople all around cheering you on to the finish. It just seemed like the finish line kept getting further away, the harder you ran. It was like those movies where you are runnning down the hallway and the door at the end keeps getting further away. Well I finally hit the finish line, and I was really happy to be there.
My time was about 21 minutes off my goal, but it was my first Marathon, so I wasn't too concerned.

There are two things I would have liked to do differently. First is keep my training going throughout the entire training cycle. I was doing very well prior to my injury and the subsequent failing motivation.
Second, I should have not worried about running faster after my stop. It wasn't like I was even running with someone I knew. I had only met her during the first six miles. It was nice talking with someone since I had no music, and the pace was great and seemingly effortless, but I should have known that I couldn't make up 3 1/2 minutes.

I walked around, had some Irish Stew, a beer and some conversation with some random people.
Then I walked back to my car and drove 3 1/2 hours back to NC.


I think I ran the second quarter of the race too fast, trying to make up for my stop. This came back to haunt me in the end. The girl I was running with before my stop was 3 minutes ahead of me after 7 miles, 2 minutes ahead of me at the half, 3 minutes ahead of me after 18.1 miles, and 16 minutes ahead of me at the finish. I burned out at the end.


This was a great race, held at a great town at the perfect time of the year, weatherwise. There is a lot of St. Patty Day spirit, and the crowds were awesome.