So as much as I enjoy journaling my race experiences, I’ve come to the conclusion that if I don’t make these a little shorter, I’m never going to keep up with it long term. So here is my attempt at shorter…
Myrtle Beach was my first repeat marathon. I did this race the same time the year prior by ‘accident’ and really enjoyed it. This year there were a couple of really cool things about this race weekend. The first was that it was Valentines Day weekend and Allyson was with me (and there were about a half dozen finish line proposals. All yeses, from what I hear.) The second was a chance to reunite with childhood friend, Brian Kiper, and his family.
Brian and I grew up together in Wooster, OH. For many years, we were in the same church and lived not even two miles apart. We moved to the street right behind him and lived there six years before moving to North Carolina. My freshman year at Carolina, Brian came down from Kent State on his spring break to hang out. That was the last time I had seen him – spring 1993. Let’s hear it for Facebook.
We met Brian and his son Hunter at Broadway at the Beach where Hunter just finished the kids mile run. We headed back to the house for a pasta dinner with some of their friends that were running the half. As was Brian’s wife, Jen. We ate, caught up on old times a bit then headed off to bed as it was going to be an early morning (this race always starts in the dark at 6:30 so runners can watch the sunrise as they approach the beach.)
After the ‘morning routine’ (see previous entries) we loaded up the van and headed to the race site. I had to make one last pitstop in a nearby wooded area and it was off to the start line. Kisses to Allyson and toward the front of the pack. I was stretching out when a guy decided he would save me some serious strife and embarrassment. I had put my fuel belt on upside down. That would have been real great when the bottles came flying out at some point shortly after he start…
My approach to this race was a little different. I had talked with a couple of guys I’ve trained with or trained under in the previous months and decided to go with a progressive approach, which was to start slower and progressively pick up pace the entire way before settling into a faster pace around miles 18-20. This worked pretty good until around, go figure, mile 20. My first 13 mile splits were give or take +/- 5 to 7 seconds off the pace plan, and I crossed at the half way point within 45 seconds of the pace chart and feeling really good.
I don’t recall a ton of specifics between miles 13-20. I just remembered being really comfortable and on cruise control. I saw Allyson around mile 14 or so I think. Around 18 the course takes you out to the beachside, which is really great. When I turned to head back inland, the legs started not firing quite as good and I was incredibly thirsty.
I thought I had been taking in enough fluids. And I was running with a race belt, but at that mile 20 stop, it might as well have been an oasis in the middle of the Sahara. They were handing out full water bottles, which I downed the entire thing and kept pressing forward, though slower at this point. I was supposed to be settling into a 7:10-7:15ish pace and was instead cresting 8:00 with six to go.
I ran for a couple of miles with a young guy that had went flying by me a little past half way. We talked and passed the time, but I was squarely running into the wall hard. I saw Allyson around mile 22, walked through the water stop, walked a little with her and talked, handed off the fuel belt (which was really starting to bother me for whatever reason. I think everything was bothering me.) Just a few miles to go.
Around 24 the adrenaline was kicking in and carrying me to the finished. I was well aware at this point I was, again, going to come up short for Boston, but well on track for a PR. The finish chute at Myrtle is really cool. And long. Lots of folks cheering. I crossed the line at 3:24:36, a PR by several minutes.
Usually I like to hang around a bit at the finish, but it was just Allyson and I and I was pretty much spent, so we headed out speedy like. We saw our friend Leigh-Ann who ran the half (and placed in her age group, go figure.) and hobbled off to the van. The second we got to the van, the skies unleashed. Hatin’ it for those folks still out on course, but a pretty much perfect day for a marathon.
We headed back to the Kipers, then off to some friends of theirs for a brunch. Later that evening, we headed to the House of Blues for a really great after race party. It was jam packed, but lots of good energy and food. We hung out a while, then back to the house to turn in. We visited the Kiper’s church with them the following morning. They have a fantastic church right down the road.
So that was a little shorter. Still need to work on it. Big takeaways – My wife is a rockstar super fan. Seeing Brian was the highlight of the trip. Progressive pace plans (at least one with that much variance) is probably not the best approach for me. 9 minutes is still a really, really long way to go to reach Boston. Back to the drawing board.
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