We drove to Virginia Beach on Saturday for packet pickup and the expo. Left home at about 9:30. Arrived in Virginia Beach at about 12:30 and had lunch before heading to the expo. Not much to write home about in terms of vendors but I like my shirt and the volunteers were super helpful and pleasant. Checked into the hotel and walked to the finish area and along the boardwalk a bit. We went to Salvatore's for dinner where we split a calzone. Then we watched some NCAA tournament basketball.

Up at 6:30. Bagel with peanut butter, banana, water for breakfast. The marathon started at 8:30 and the start was less than a block from my hotel (the finish a little farther away but not by much).

Unlike other marathons that I've done, the half marathon and marathon started at separate times from different locations. This was helpful because it meant more space for the runners and it meant that all of the people that I was running with were participating in the same event.

Just as I was about to leave the room for the starting area, I saw the lead biker for the half marathon go by our room so I went over to the balcony and watched the winners of the half marathon finish before heading down to the start area.

All week the weather forecast was all over the place -- 35-45 at the start with a high of 50-60. Sunny or maybe cloudy. It turned out to be 50 degrees at thestart and just a tad higher at the finish with a little more of a breeze that I would have liked but nothing too serious.

Stretching in the room and a short run and dynamic warmup before entering the corral.

At 8:15, the 2000+ marathon runners started to line up. The announcer asked people who were doing their first marathon to raise their hands. LOTS of hands went up. He pointed out that they were guaranteed a PR and offered the advice to not go out too hard so that they can PR again :-) The race had a corral start. I lined up with the 3:45 pace group. I was in the second corral. National anthem, wheelchair racers, corral 1 and I was off...

I liked up with the 3:45 pace group. There were two pacers and they were aiming for 8:30 minute miles rather than 8:35. They said they were planning on GPS coming in at about 26.8 and they were watching both the mile markers on the course and their GPS watches. I decided not to worry about it and leave the higher math to them. I focused on relaxing into the pace.

The first part of the route went south on Atlantic. Then we did a funny loop and went over a bridge and followed General Booth, did a turnaround and came back on General Booth to run through Camp Pendleton. As we entered the base, soldiers cheered for the runners and the runners cheered for the soldiers. We looped through the base for about 2.5 miles. (6.5-9)

After looping over the bridge again, we headed towards the boardwalk. At the expo, I was warned that this would likely be a windy section and advised to be with a group through there. I channeled my inner cyclist and kept to the inside of the boardwalk during this section (10.5-12).

We got back onto Atlantic, heading northwest now, and past the start area. This section was lined with people. Very motivating. One of the pacers got a little over enthusiastic through here and the other pacer called him back once we were on jogged over a block onto 60. Soon we were passing the halfway point and we started to see half marathoners continue to straggle in.

We continued in this way until about mile 19 when we turned into Fort Story (19-21.5). I was looking forward to seeing the lighthouses there. One of the pacers had mentioned that the whole time on 60 was a very slight uphill grade and that after the lighthouses, we got a very slight downhill grade. I kept on telling myself that and telling myself we'd have a tailwind in.

Several years ago, I did a duathlon in Fort Story. I was familiar with sections from the bike route. I had forgotten about the hill from the entrance to the lighthouses. I lost the my group in that section.

I was feeling good until mile 20 or so. I stayed with my group until mile 21 and then started to fall back. I was still within sight of them at 22 and then gave myself a mental toughness pep talk. I was able to pick off people until mile 24 or so. 23.5 or 24 on it was really ragged. I started to feel about queasy but didn’t want food (I had a Gu with me and I was offered jelly beans). Anyway, I did bring it in and pretty much had nothing left in the tank so it must have been a pretty good race ;-)

I had water at mile 25.something and then did my best to finish strong. I was so happy to be back on the boardwalk for the finish, passing the Neptune statue, entering the finish area, finding Kevin and telling him that I BQed.

During the race, I had a Gu at 5, 10, 15 and 20 and water whenever it was offered.

Nothing. Continue training

I got my Shamrock finisher's blanket, finishers hat and snacks they were handing out and found Kevin while I was still in the chute (well, he found me actually). I sat down for a second and lost the water the gave me. I didn't notice until I exited the chute and really really wanted it. We took some pictures of the Shamrock sand sculpture and then began a quest to find water. I was starting to get chilled so we wandered back to the hotel. I felt a lot better once we got water and gatorade for me.

I cleaned up at the hotel and then we went for a late brunch at Mary's on Virginia Beach Blvd. Afterward, we went to the aquarium.