Myrtle Beach- A Marathon to Remember

This may be the best race report for me since I've joined this blog! I kept quiet about my training leading up to the race,...mostly because if the race didn't go well, I didn't want to be embarrassed by my inability to put together a good marathon.

Since I am on sabbatical I had no reasons to not train appropriately. So, during the month of January I averaged about 60 miles per week (or 96km/week for Craig if he still reads this). I reached a high week of 70 miles and an 8 day total of 83 at one point.

And,......it paid off. I ran the whole marathon without walking a step (which I haven't done in a while). I didn't have to take any bathroom breaks during race either. I ended up running my 4th best marathon ever and my fastest since I was 25. I can't even begin to remember what else was happening in the world in 1995!!  Well, other than the point that I was running fast.

Got to the race at a decent time, it was 44 degrees. The port-a-pot lines were moving at a snail's pace. I thought people magazines to read in the stalls or that they had fallen asleep. Fortunately, I got through with about 4 minutes to spare. On my way to the start I ran into a friend from Indianapolis. We talked for about 2 of the 4 minutes I had left.

With only 2000-2500 marathoners, you'd think the start would be easy. But when you added over 4,000 half marathoners starting at the same time it was hard to get to the pace I wanted. However,I was patient. It took 30 seconds to get to the starting line and I ran an 8:02 first mile which was my slowest.
I tried not to look at my watch and just run by feel and by the knowledge I had from my training.  would glance at the clock at 5, 10, 13.1, 15, 20 and 25 miles.

I went through the 1/2 marathon in 1:38:30 and felt great. At that point I knew I had the potential for a good marathon. At 16 and 18 miles , I thought to myself,... "My legs do not even feel like I've started running yet!" My mind was saying if you feel this good at 20, maybe you can put the hammer down. However, my 40+ year old voice of reason, said let's wait and see how 20 , 22 and 24 miles feel. I ran my fastest mile between 18.5 and 19.5 ( I had my gps set up to give me 1/2 splits so  could look at them after the race) at 7:18. By 20 and 22 I still felt really good,  but the thoughts of trying to run the last few miles harder were not entering my mind. I was maintaining my pace but it took a little effort. At 24, my goal was just keep pushing at whatever pace I am at. I was passing a lot of people late in the race. I couldn't help but to empathize with them on when hand because that has been me ,..MANY TIMES. On the other hand,  I couldn't help but have a smile on my face as I was doing the passing for once. I thought I pushed moderately hard the last mile, and I was pleased as it was a 7:34 and my average for the entire marathon was 7:33. The temp was 62 degrees at the finish,... oh how nice!!

I finished in 3:17:42 chip time. Missing the 2013 Boston qualifying by 2:40, but that doesn't bother me a bit.
Now a couple of weeks of rest/active recovery and then start a 24 week IM Wisconsin training!!