Myrtle Beach half/Marathon

February 19, 2011

Myrtle Beach BI-LO Marathon / Dasani Half Marathon

6:30 am Race time

before the race:

Dad, Mom, me and Nate

start of the race

theres me the bottom right in the stripes

I am not going to lie this was probably the hardest marathon for me and the funny part was, the weather was perfect, 50 degrees, the course was flat, a little bit of wind since it was right by the ocean, running along the ocean what more could you ask for. Nothing about this race was fun except for the finish! I started out fine, I was running around an 8 min pace and never let myself go over that. Around mile 10 my knee started to hurt and I totally gave up, I thought there was no way I would reach my goal and I began to doubt. (running is mostly a mental game) All other marathons I had ran I usually meet someone along the way and it makes me not think about the race. Finally about 11.5  I met Kristen from New York, she was trying to qualify for Boston as well so we kept a good pace for each other and I soon forgot about my knee troubles and enjoyed some small talk. Well around mile 16 Kristen felt a little better than me so she ran ahead, there I was  close to giving up again.  My pace slowed down, and I was running between a 9 and 10 min mile I had figured it out to where I could do this for a few miles and then go back to my fast pace. Well this mental game of quitting and not quitting went on until about mile 23, I had 3.2 miles to go and I knew I could run a 7.5 min mile I had done this time and time again. So I stepped it up and finished with a 3:37:07 (Boston Qualifying time 3:40:00) I did it!!!!! I was greeted at the finish line by Nate and my Mom and dad. They all ran the Half.  I was exhausted, happy to see my family and so happy to be done with the race!

My Support through it all !!! Thanks babe you are amazing, he even had a great time for the half and he didn't even train.  It was so fun to have Nate and my parents at the finish line cheering me on, it just gave me that extra boost!