Myrtle Beach Mini Marathon, My First 13.1!

Myrtle Beach Mini Marathon 10-23-11, My First 13.1! I had to state that again, I'm pretty jazzed I did it.

Well, all this started a year ago when the sign up was at a special price of $45. I was running a decent amount and even did a 10 mile race (lots of walking) but I thought in a year, running 13.1 would be okay. The Myrtle Beach Mini Marathon was a go, I just had to make sure I would be a go.

A couple of months out I started to train loosely on a schedule I downloaded from the internet. The schedule was pretty standard but I wasn't geared to go 4 miles three times a week then a long run on the weekend. So what did I do? I decided to go a few miles in the morning and few more after work. This worked out great. Also, I mixed in calorie counting, going 13.1 isn't easy at 250lb. As the race was about a month out this really started to come together. With calorie counting I lost 25lbs, and my speed and ease of running longer distances improved greatly. I knew I had this, plus, I did my own 13.1 a few weeks before in the hilly Umstead State Park.

Soon it was race weekend. I took a few days off of work so I could chill and just do my race. The Thursday before I had my last run, an easy 4 miles with my doggie over at Umstead State Park. On Friday, I swung by may ladies house to get her, and it was off to Myrtle Beach. We stayed and the Marina Inn @ Grand Dunes, that place is nice, I would recommend it to anyone. http://marinainnatgrandedun4-px.trvlclick.com/index.aspx

My Lady and I in the Lobby

Me at the Expo

My Bib

Soon it was race day, I woke up early as I was scheduled to take the 5:45 bus ride to the start line. I was anxious so I caught the 5:30 bus with about 5 other people. Once there, it was hang out time for the start. Medievil Times did cool little sword fight thing before the start and then a quick line up then bang, we are off.

Now that we all were running, about 3000 of us I was feeling good. It must of been the steak I for dinner the night before. Could of been training, or my new Brooks Pure shoes too. The Brooks Pure shoes are awesome by the way, I'll do a full review when I get a 100 miles on them. Back to the race. We ran around one mall, and rounded a business park and soon I was 3 miles in, 27 minutes, man was I flying for me. Well lets see how long I can hold it. Now we are at the Boardwalk Mall, 6 miles in and I'm still killing it, 55 minutes but I'm starting to feel it. My mojo was about to leave me.

Since my mojo was leaving, I figured a swig of gatorade and a GU would do the job. Well a little late but I figured I would be okay if I mixed in a few 30 second periods of walking. This was all I needed and soon it was 5K to go, 1:38 minutes. I asked the person next to me to pace me for a 22 minute 5K, that sucker just laughed at me. Well it was a slow last 5K and I finished up 2:11:35 which was 20 minutes faster than my goal. I was one happy camper!

Once the race was over I grabbed my medal, very nice surfboard shaped one. I was handed a water and then stood in line to get my picture taken. A quick trip to a the porto, I had to go at the start but but the line was to long. It probably helped me keep a good pace lol.

Once I found my lady it was time fore a few more pictures, grab my free beer (9AM on a Sunday) and eventually head back to the car and then drive home.

Overall, the Myrtle Beach Mini Marathon is an excellent run event on a course that was flat as flat could be, my GPS had a 0 feet elevation change for the race. If your trying to lay down your fastest 13.1 ever, run this one.

http://www.runmyrtlebeach.com/

RIP Steve Jobs 1955-2011

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Magnificent Mile

The Magnificent Mile is my kind of race, it's short! It went down September 18, 2011 on Hillsborough St in downtown Raleigh, NC.

Leading up to this race I had done zero speed work. See, I have been training for the Myrtle Beach Half Marathon. This helped endurance but my leg turnover just isn't fast. So when the race day came I wasn't to confident that I could beat my time of 8:34 last year. Yes, I know, I'm slow.

A little before the race went down I jogged around and realized my legs were rubber. I thought to myself this isn't gonna be to good. Well anyway, the gun went off after announcing all the names of the elite runners and I bolted away. Well for me, I had a fast pace going and even though my legs were rubber my breathing was okay. Soon, I made it to the halfway point and the clock was reading 3:36. At this point I knew I had my fastest time so I relaxed a little so I would have a bit of a kick at the end. Soon I could see the finish and a few hundred yards out, I picked it back up and finished in 7:48.

I felt good with the result but realized I can get this into the 6's if I work at it. We'll working will have to wait, I have an official 13.1 miles to run in a few weeks. I've done one practice run of 13.1 miles and did better than I thought.

A quick note, Stephanie's kids, Lacey and Nathan both rocked the mile to. Nathan beat me and Lacey finished 4th in her age group. Great Job!