Race Recap: Myrtle Beach Mini Marathon

This past Sunday, I competed in the Myrtle Beach Mini Marathon. I am currently following my training plan for the Disney Marathon in January and this half marathon fell right in line with my scheduled long run. Many events were planned over the course of the weekend. Overall, this is a great weekend to celebrate running. Just take a look at all of the activities.

Expo
Coastal 5K
High Heel Run
Doggie Dash
Mini Marathon

On Friday we traveled down to Myrtle Beach and arrived in time to head over to the expo for packet pickup. My wife was running the 5K on Saturday and our original plan was to get the packet on race morning. Getting there in time on Friday made things easier. We both checked in and got our race bibs for the 5K and the half marathon. We then headed over to get our race shirts where the rest of the vendor booths were located. The expo is smaller than the big events, but there still are some great booths/vendors in attendance. You get to see more local vendors and races to the South Carolina area. After leaving the expo it was time to get some dinner and then rest for the evening.

Leigh with the final kick to the finish line.

Wake up time on Saturday was 6:00 am. MaKayla, Isabella and I were ready to cheer for mom/Leigh. I brought a cow bell along so they could make as much noise as possible during the race. We wished mom/Leigh good luck and she headed over to the starting corral. We were positioned about 100 yards from the start/finish line. Shortly before the start, the starter comes over the PA to let everyone know he was standing next to a 72-year old lady and this was her first race ever. How awesome is that! Everyone gave her a round of applause. As the race begins, Isabella is ringing the cow bell, MaKayla is taking video and I am taking pictures. We were like our own paparazzi. Leigh goes by and gives us all a wave and she is off. Leigh is currently in training for the Disney Princess Half Marathon in February and has been building a good base for the past few weeks. Her goal was to break 45 min and set a new PR. I see her in the distance and tell the girls to get ready as mom is almost here. She puts in a great kick to the finish and crosses the line with a new PR of 44:13! So proud of her as she did an outstanding job.

Leigh showing her 5K finisher medal.

After the 5K there were two more races that are must sees events. The first is the High Heel Run. The race is a sprint of approximately 100 m and there were about 10-15 participants. If you are wondering, yes, there was 1 man in the race. He was wearing overalls along with his 5K finisher medal. Impressive to see everyone in these 3-4” heels sprinting. As they make the turn for home, who is in the lead? You guessed it, the guy is leading the pack. He is giving it all he has and gets beaten right at the finish line. So much fun to watch. The final event was the 1.5 mile doggie dash. There were so many dogs and their owners in the race. Again lots of fun to watch. The rest of the day involved some shopping and then a good dinner in prep for the half marathon.

Set the alarm to wake up at 4:45 am on Sunday.  I wanted to make sure my system was awake.  I got dressed, had some caffeine and then it was time to head to the start at Coastal Grand Mall.  My wife dropped me off right at the starting line an hour before the start.  She and the girls then headed to get some breakfast and then to get a spot around the halfway point to see me pass by.  I headed straight to the port-a-potty before any lines formed and I am glad I did.  It was not long before the lines were 30-40 deep.  To warm-up, I walked around in the mall parking lot, sipped on a G2 and stretched a lot.  At 15 minutes prior to the start, I had a Gatorade Perform.  Next thing I hear is runners take your mark….GO!  We are off!  I crossed the starting line about a minute after the super-human speedsters left.  At first, both of my feet were sore.  I could not figure out why, but once I warmed up that soreness went away.  I guess my feet were cold.  The first mile was a loop around the mall and then we made our way down some side streets.  At about the 2 mile mark, the course was taking a right to do a small 1 mile loop.  As I got to that corner, the lead runner was coming by and he was moving.  I also noticed there were some bathrooms on the other side of the course.  I had to go and made a decision to stop then as opposed to when I came by them a mile later.  I am so glad I stopped as there was no line and then when I came by them again, people were waiting.



Approaching Leigh and the girls at mile 7.



My nutrition plan for the race was to take 3 vanilla flavored Powerbar Gels at miles 4, 8 and 11.  Then at the first 3 aid stations I would drink water and then switch to Gatorade for the remaining aid stations.  I was able to get into a great rhythm from the start of the race.  Around mile 3, I noticed a lady in front of me had the M-Dot tattoo on her calf.  So I asked her what Ironman she finished.  She completed Ironman Lake Placid and Ironman Canada a couple years ago.  Impressive.  She asked me if I had done an Ironman and I let her know that Louisville in 2013 will be my first.  We are both competing in the 70.3 Ironman Raleigh next June.  I wished her well and continued on my journey down the Grissom Parkway.  Approaching Broadway at the Beach at the halfway point the crowds began to pickup.  Always great to get that encouragement and motivation from the spectators.  There were also some creative signs that help take your mind off of the running.  I hit the 10K mark in 1:02:27 and I was feeling great.  Average pace was right around 9:45/mile.  As I left Broadway at the Beach I began looking for my wife and daughters as I knew they were somewhere just ahead.  I spotted my wife and began to wave so the girls would be able to see me coming.  I rounded the corner and stuck my hand out to give the girls high-5’s.  Brought a big smile to my face to see them and I was feeling really good at this point 7 miles into the race. 

Mile 12

Beginning at mile 7.5 is a ½ mile stretch of the course where you run side-by-side by the runners that are 1.5 miles ahead of you.  Always tough to run in a section of a course like that.  You can’t help but think about what point in the race they are compared to you.  No worries though, there was nothing I could do about it other than focus on my race.  One of the things I have always struggled with in races is drinking at the aid stations.  I have always had to walk the aid stations to avoid spilling everything I needed to drink.  I finally figured out how to squeeze the cups, drink the fluid through the corner of my mouth and keep running at the same time.  It took many races and practice to get it, but it paid off.  I was able to keep my pace through the aid stations by doing this.  Just after mile 10, we cross over Highway 17.  I took a look down both directions to see how many cars were waiting.  Those folks picked the wrong time to be out with 20-30 cars waiting in both directions.  After crossing Highway 17, we made a right onto Ocean Boulevard inching closer and closer to the finish line.  Many people were out along the streets give us support.  As I approached mile 12, I could see my wife and daughters and that gave me another lift.  The final aid station was next and I could hear them calling out Gatorade and then water.  That was odd as all of the other aid stations were water first then Gatorade.  Guess they realized at that point in the race everyone wanted Gatorade.  I took some Gatorade and looked to my left and I see the finish line.  I still had a mile to go. 

The final mile is where I had to battle with myself.  My brain was telling me to take a walk break.  Then I kind of snapped out of and thought, now you have run all 12 miles without walking, don’t start walking now when you have less than a mile to go.  Dig deep and push on….you can do this!  I make the final two left hand turns to run back towards the finish line.  The final ½ mile is down a winding concrete sidewalk.  You are going left, then right, then left, then right, etc.  Drives you a little crazy, but you can’t beat the view.  You look to the right and there is the beach and the ocean.  I can hear the guy on the PA getting louder and louder and the concrete turns into the wood of the boardwalk and there is the finish line just ahead.  I see the clock and see it shows 2:08:37.  Why do I remember that time exactly, because I did a double-take and realized that I was going to run a sub-2:10 half.  I pushed the final 100 yards and crossed the line with an official time of 2:08:26.  This was almost 9 minutes faster than my previous PR.  Such an amazing feeling and a great weekend!

Next up is the Color Me Rad 5K in Raleigh on October 27, then a Thanksgiving Day 5K and then the Disney Marathon!

New PR!