Notes
Myrtle Beach Marathon
A good course. Lots of aid stations. FLATish gentle climbs here and there. Half and full started together. Candace dropped me off about 6am for 6:35 start. The Porta John line was crazy long. No way I was waiting in that. Found a tree. Took a CAFpH gel 10mins from start. Gentle drizzle before the start. Lots of runners around my pace (610-6:15 was the goal). through the start and up to 10k. A little rain to cool off but ended quickly. Found a decent group to hang with and work with through 5mi than it thinned out quickly. Connected with another runner just before 10mi where the half split off. Gel at 5k, another at 8mi, another at 11mi. After the split it was just me and another guy through 14mi together. He had lofty goals to negative split hard. At halfway I was right on pace with a 1:21;30 or 40ish but the legs felt tight and the pro 3's were slipping just enough on the wet pavement to be a real pain and nag.. The crown of the road was also a bugger from 14-16mi(ish). Another gel somewhere in there (4?) another around 19 (5?). About 18mi in I passed the first woman who was running by effort. I kept my effort and pace the same and she soon fell behind. At this point I was in no man's land approaching 20mi (another gel 6?) all by myself but the first woman wasn't far behind cause the motorcycles were hovering around me. So annoying. Miles 21 and 22 were hard by myself. Just before 23 the first woman and a man passed me and I was falling apart just trying to hold it together somewhat. Last gel at 23.5(7?) Finished and happy I did without major cramps or issues but disappointed that I couldn't hold it together over the last 7. Didn't hit my goal of 2:42:30 but I certainly made an effort to with the first 16mi right on pace.
So what went wrong? Flew in last night and didn't put my head on a pillow till 11:45pm. Didn't worry about sleep too much. Missed about a week and half including a key long run at pace, and two workouts. Probably not a huge factor but a contributor. I think an extra day here would have helped given how tight my legs were but maybe wouldn't have made a difference. Was I not ready for such a flat course? Did I need someone to run with to push me after 19mi?! I don't know. Live to fight another day.
1st in Age group (30-34).
7th overall
6th Gender
Chip time - 2:45:14
Gun time 2:45:19