The planning for this marathon started months before in booking the hotel. The host hotel was full. But I wanted something near the start line. So I used the feature of the travel sites that allowed me to sort the hotels based on distance from an address. I used the address of the host hotel. This worked great. I got a room at the Knights Inn which turned out to be only three blocks from the start line, and one block from the finish line.
We arrived in Virginia Beach, VA the day before the race and settled in. The night before the race we walked along the street looking for a place to get some pasta for dinner. I didn’t want to eat anywhere fancy or expensive. We ended up choosing a small place that sold ice cream, but also had a deli. I got the spaghetti with meatballs, and Helen got the lasagna. My spaghetti was pretty good, but basic spaghetti. Helen said her lasagna was only fair. I also bought a sub sandwich to eat in the morning before the race which I stuck in the fridge.
I didn’t sleep very well, I tossed and turned a lot. Helen also snored quite bit which helped keep me awake. I had the alarm set for 6am, but got out of bed before it went off.
The race didn’t start till 8am, so I had some time to relax and just veg. I had my stuff all set out the night before.
I ate a quarter of the sub which turned out not to be very good. I also drank a Pepsi. Not a Diet Pepsi like I normally drink these days, but a regular Pepsi. I wanted the sugar. I was going to need it.
I wore my long sleeve tux shirt, and leggings. I wore a compression shirt and shorts underneath. The temperature was around 50 degrees and this seemed about right. I had planned to bring my mp3 player attached to my hat. The rules on the website said no headphones. But this mp3 player had a speaker. But the rules in the race program said no mp3 players. I didn’t want to risk a possible BQ by wearing my mp3 player. So I didn’t take the mp3 player. Turned out many people wore mp3 players with headphones.
We left the hotel about 7:20 and were at the start line before 7:30. I didn’t see any porta potties. I found later they were down on the beach near the finish line. But I got in the line for a restroom at a hotel. I was out lined up for the start with 10 minutes to spare.
I met the 3:30 pacers. We actually had two of them, Stason and Dan. These guys were great!
I planned to take walk breaks each mile. But I wasn’t sure exactly what strategy I was going to use for them. What I have done in my recent races was to run about 7:40 minute/mile pace, then walk for 45 seconds to a minute. It would average out to 8:00 minute/miles.
The race started, and I just followed Stason and Dan. When I came to the first mile marker, I walked for about 25-30 seconds, then ran fast to catch up with the pacers. Then I just settled back into the 8:00ish pace. I say 8:00ish, since in the early miles, they ran slightly faster. We had a tail wind at this point. The course is very flat with only one hill, actually a bridge. But we crossed the bridge twice. It was near mile 3 and again near mile 10.
The tail wind was nice while it lasted. But between mile 5 and 6 we turn north, and were now running into a head wind. I ducked into a group of runners and was somewhat protected from the wind.
At the 6th mile marker I saw something that I hope was not what I think it was. The south bound runners were running next to the north bound runner separated by cones. I saw a guy come from the south bound lane, go around a cone, and run north crossing the timing mat at the 6th mile. This short cut would have cut almost a mile off the course. But maybe the guy had been running north and passed someone using the south bound lane and missed the mat. Then he ducked back around to be sure to cross the mat. I am hoping he didn’t cheat.
My training has helped my breathing quite a bit. I found I was now able to run this pace, and actually hold a conversation. I was not able to do this very well even as recently as December in Las Vegas.
I stayed tucked in the group of runners to avoid the headwind. Around each hour, I kept an eye for water stop which were spaced out every couple miles. I would drink a little Gatorade each stop. But each hour I would down some of the CarbBoom gel, and chase it with some water. The Vanilla Orange CarbBoom gels worked great.
I saw Helen briefly around mile 12 as I passed near our hotel.
There was a 3 mile section between miles 16 and 19 where we were out of town running on a road through a forest. There were these signs spaced out long the sides of the road with cheesy jokes written on them. These were a great distraction. The 3:30 group was starting the spread out at this point. Stason took the front, and Dan ran towards the back. I was still running fairly strong, but my legs were starting to feel fatigued. In Las Vegas I had held an 8:00 average pace up to about mile 17 when I started slowing down. But here my legs were still going and not slowing down.
Around mile 21 I got a side stitch. Stason had apparently dropped out of the group with stomach problems. So Dan was leading the group alone. He suggested I do a crunch on that side and hold it for 10 seconds. I tried this (while still running) and it seemed to help some. Dan headed up towards the front of the group, and I held on to the back as best I could.
I think it was about mile 22.5 where a girl had a box of orange slices. I tried to grab one, but didn’t quite manage it. I kept going. Next thing I know, the girl is running to catch up to me to get me an orange slice. I am running at an 8:00 pace, maybe slightly faster, and she is running beside me with the box of orange slices!!! The volunteers in this race were great! That orange slice was good. Thank you!
At around mile 23, the side stitch came back with a vengeance, and I was forced to stop. I was extremely frustrated at this point. I was only 3 miles from the finish and had been on pace to qualify for Boston. Now it looked like this side stitch was going to prevent me from achieving my goal. I tried to run, but my side felt like I was being stabbed by a knife. I stopped again. I quickly did some stretches, and this seemed to ease the pain some. With my left hand, I grabbed a handful of flesh where the stitch was and just squeezed. I ran like this for another mile. I also tried to focus on taking deep breathes. The pain subsided more.
I kept an eye on my watch and saw that I might still be able to qualify for Boston. It would be close. I kept running, and kept looking at my watch. I think I skipped my walk break at mile 25, but I am not sure. I kept telling myself that I only had to run for another 15 minutes or 10 minutes, or whatever. I was fearing the thought of crossing the finish line and missing a BQ by some amount of time like seconds.
Soon I was in the final stretch. I could see the finish line in the distance, and I had 4 minutes left. I wasn’t sure if I could reach it in 4 minutes. I kept running. When I crossed the line, my watch said 3:30:15. I QUALIFIED FOR BOSTON!!!! I needed to finish under 3:30:59 and I did it. Barely, but I did it. My official time was actually 3:30:14.
I got my medal, then plopped down on a bench and sat for about 5 minutes. I was talking to a guy wearing a Superman cape who it turns out was also ran in Las Vegas and was also one of the 208 running Elvises.
I got up, turned in my timing chip. They gave me a great running hat with the Shamrock Marathon logo on the front and 26.2 Finisher on the back. I also got a bag with some food stuff in it. I got a couple bananas. Helen met me as I left the finishers area. She had a cold Pepsi (non-diet) for me which I drank. That was very refreshing.
We headed to the finishers tent where I got some Irish Stew. I could have gotten a bunch of free beer, but I passed on that as I don’t really like beer. Dan found me and asked how I did. I told him I BQ’d and I thanked him for his help. He was great.
Soon we head back to our hotel where I took a hot bath and a nap.
Here are pictures I took along the way during my 30 second walk breaks. They were taken with a $30 Aiptek Pocket Cam X digital camera.
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=63s6442n.5z6terlj&x=0&y=rd44zd

Posted by Rob in Running on March 17th, 2008 |