Myrtle Beach Marathon Report 2/16/08 Long but worth the read! (Read 662 times)

So we drove down to Myrtle the day before. My wife’s parents were keeping the kids for 1 day before they headed off to India. Our friends graciously agreed to look after them after that. We had an uneventful drive down to the beach and we quickly tried to get the bags up to the room before we headed off to go pick up our race packets. We got to the hotel and my wife said “Let me get one of those cars to get the stuff up stairs while you check in”. I said good idea and we headed up to the room. As we were walking up to the building we saw one of the bellmen come flying around one of the pillars to the building. He looked like he was trying to save a baby from a burning building! Then all of a sudden he took a header into one of the fountains in front of the hotel. We couldn’t believe it! He was soaked from the chest down! We thought what in the world could have been so important that he basically dove into a frozen pond for? We just kind of chuckled on the inside and proceeded up to the room. When we got to the room I decided to go down to the car and grab the rest of our stuff. When I got to the car I discovered that a shoe was hanging on the sign in front of my car. The bellman that had swan dived off of the front stoop was there exclaiming “you dropped your shoe”! I thought “That is not my shoe”? Then I realized “That is my wife’s shoe and that must have been the reason that the Bellman joined the “Polar Bear Club” in front of the building. He was trying to tell us that my wife had dropped her only pair of running shoes when he fell in the frigid water. Needless to say “We felt really bad that we had laughed at him when he fell in”! As it turns out my wife had also lost her other shoe on the way up to the room. She was able to locate that shoe after numerous calls to the front desk! So the day was upon us. I had trained for nearly two months for this race and I was feeling great. I had done a 3:20:47 at the previous marathon and I was dead set on reaching my Boston Marathon qualifying time of 3:10! However, my right knee had really been giving me trouble on the last few runs that I had done. We started off and I was feeling great. I was only about 100 yards behind my good friend who was shooting for a 3:10 or below. I kept checking my watch and everything was going perfectly. I crossed the 13 mile mark in 1:34:33. However, I realized that I was not going to be able to maintain that pace the rest of the way. My knee had already started to hurt badly. I knew that if I continued at that pace I was going to do some serious damage to it. My high school Baseball coach used to ask “Are you hurt or are you injured”. I always answered “I am hurt coach but I can still go” even when I dislocated one of my lower vertebrae. I knew that if I answered that I was injured he would take me out of the game instantly. Today, I would have answered “I am injured coach and I think it would be best if you brought in the closer”. However, there really is not a closer in running, now is there? I felt great endurance wise at the half marathon point. However, me knee was just killing me. I knew that that my knee would not hold out any longer, and it didn’t! The 3:10 pace group passed me as I walked shortly after the halfway point. They all pleaded with me to continue on but I knew my chance to Qualify for Boston was done. I just could not bear the pounding of my right knee. No matter what I did I just could not convince my self to pick up the pace to what I had been running. I walked, and walked, and walked! Several times I tried to break into at least a trot. It just was not going to happen. My knee was hurting and now I was starting to cramp up. I struggled to mile 22 when both my legs went into full cramps. The pain was unbearable. I screamed in agony! I was absolutely spent. I actually thought about quitting for the first time in my life. However, I just could not do that. I had signed up for the “FULL” marathon and that was the distance I was going to complete. I plodded on with no concern for what my time was. It seemed like it took forever, but I finally hit the 25 mile mark. I was toast! I really thought I was not going to make that last mile. My legs had cramped for the last 11 miles and I just could not bear the pain anymore. Then out of no where I noticed a lady struggling to keep her stride. I asked her if she was ok and she said “Yes my name is Peggy and I am trying to qualify for Boston at age 59 with a 4:15 or below”. I glanced at my watch and saw that we were close to that time but we could still make it if we picked up the pace considerably. I just started to run. My cramps had not cleared and the pain was still unbearable. However, I was going to make sure that this lady qualified for Boston! She asked how far is it? I lied a little and told her it was only half mile to go. We actually had almost a full mile to go but I knew she had a half mile left in her. We picked up the pace and we were going strong. Several times I was afraid she was going to cramp up solid on me. I could tell she really was hurting. However, she just kept going! She would not give up on her goal so I was not going to give up on her. I got her to within sight of the finish line and her husband picked up from there. I stopped just after the finish line in absolute and total agony. I had run through the cramps and the knee injury and my body was wrecked. I waited for Peggy though. One of the race officials told me to move on. I told him that I could not move because of the cramps. The truth was that I could have found a way to move. However, I wanted to see Peggy finish. In the end she turned the corner right at 4:13 which was well within the 4:15 time limit. I congratulated her and helped her to the bench to take her chip off. I had totally missed my BQ time. However, I felt like I had accomplished more that that. I felt like I had given it my all and helped someone else achieve their goal in the process. It was really humbling to run the first half in 1:35 and then crawl my way through the last half in 2:36 minutes. However, I actually cried for the first time since my daughter was born 6 weeks premature when Peggy crossed the line. I saw someone give it there absolute “ALL”. She had nothing left after that but she had done it! I really didn’t care that I had not met my goal. I felt like I had helped someone else accomplish theirs. It wasn’t my day but you have good days and bad days and you live to run another day. In the end I had a terrific time at the race. My good friend ended up finishing in under 3:08 with a BQ and 2nd place in his age group, My wife finished in 2:08 for her first half ever, and our NCRC racing team “Shower Time” finished in a very impressive time of 2:58. I would definitely recommend the Myrtle Beach Marathon and Half marathon to anyone. It is a very well run race and the after parties are second to none! Here is my Garmin report in case you are into epic crashes! http://tinyurl.com/2oqar2

Great race report. That I think is what running is all about.... the community, and truly being happy for Penny even though you did not make your goal.. Awesome job! Sorry about your knee..

Well done for finishing, I bet Penny is v grateful to you!

I just checked the results and realized that her name was actually Peggy. Hopefully, she will forgive me for getting that one wrong. I was hurting a bit when she told me her name so you can understand why I got it mixed up. I was surprised to see that I passed 12 people after her husband took over the pacing(That was less than .1 miles to go). Peggy still beat me by almost a minute of chip-time though. http://www.rmssports.com/results/08mb.txt

Hi JDF! I was so surprised to see you walking shortly after halfway. I figured it was a cramp or something hurting, but I hoped it was something you could walk off. Sounds like it was more complicated than that. : ( Congrats on sticking it out and finishing the race! How are you feeling now?

Tough break. Way to stick it out and finish.

26.2 is tough enough under ideal conditions, starting behind the 8-ball like that and finishing is very impressive. Helping a fellow runner achieve her goal makes it even better. Well done, hope you heal quickly and well.

Glad you have a recovery plan! Do you ever run on the ATT? Nice soft surface and very flat.

Man, that 26.2 is just a killer on your body!

So funny that you said that! I was just telling someone that Myrtle Beach is easy on the body. lol