Myrtle Beach Marathon

This past weekend I ventured down to Myrtle Beach (road trip!) with 3 of my Team Z teammates- Jen, Holly, & Susan. Susan & Jen planned to run the 1/2 marathon, whereas Holly and I planned for the full.

I was rather relaxed about the entire idea. Myrtle Beach was to be my 9th marathon. In many ways, I knew what I was getting into, yet on the other hand, it was sort of a new beginning. It was to be my first marathon giving heart rate monitor training a try.

To make a long story short, I was long skeptical of using a HRM in my training or racing. After a few heated debates with Coach Ed and a kick in the head recognizing that I seemed to routinely bonk during endurance events, I decided it was time to give the heart rate monitor a try.

Regardless, I approached Myrtle Beach as sort of a long training run in pursuit of the grand prize this summer. I wanted to see how the heart rate monitor would work for me, especially since I knew my marathon preps were not quite textbook, as my longest training run was only 16 miles.

Upon our arrival in Myrtle Beach, we were giddy with a sort of cabin fever after the long drive. We zipped around the race expo, taking full advantage of the free local microbrew to calm the nerves. Did some shopping, took advantage of the pasta dinner, and soon it was time to crash for the night.

Race day started at 4:00 in anticipation of 6:30 start.

Turned out to be an absolutely perfect race day: 50 degrees, no rain despite the forecast, and little wind. I bid temporary farewell to Holly, Jen, and Susan, and was on my way. I kept a comfortable 10:00 minute/mile pace, staying in zone on my heart rate monitor. The course was pleasant, flat, and fast, along Ocean Blvd.

I faded out about mile 16, where my lack of training began to show. I elected to take it easy for a while, walking a bit and chatting with some fellow runners. I played cat & mouse with a fellow TriCAT (who recognized me from my TriCAT shirt), chatted up with an Ironman Florida finisher, and gave high 5s to spectators along the course.

The rest paid off. My second wind came about mile 19. I knew I wanted to break 5 hours and possibly finish the day with my second best marathon time ever. As fellow runners hit the notorious "wall", I began to run almost as though my day had just started. As I approached the finish line, my eyes welled up as I saw Jen, Holly, and Susan there to greet me at the finish line.

And so, I finished in 4:52 by my watch. (Chip time was 4:54.... I stopped the watch for a much needed pee break at mile 9.) And I succeeded by beating my previous 2nd best time of 4:55 from Marine Corps Marathon a few years back. (Best time is 4:12 at Vermont in 2004, where I had an amazing 1/2 marathon split time but wound up paying for it by nearly crawling to the finish.)

I loved traveling with Holly, Jen, and Susan to race. All 4 of us had a great race. What I love about our team is the fact that we share each others' victories. And from afar, we cheered on our teammates that elected to race locally in the GW Birthday Marathon.

So, now what? My race strategy has paid off by rewarding me with a speedy recovery. Nevertheless, giving the legs (and mind) a break this week before my training season truly starts next week.