Yuengling Shamrock Marathon

This was my second trip to Virginia Beach to run the Shamrock Marathon. I did it in 2008 as what I thought was an attempt to see how fit I was before Boston. This year it was more to see how much my training had paid off. I was primed for a BIG personal best!

I flew into Norfolk on Friday night and got to the hotel around 11pm. I decided to try to stay by the finish line so I didn’t have to worry about parking or getting to and from the race. My room faced the ocean and while it wasn’t the best room ever, it certainly was pretty cool to see the boardwalk and the waves from the room!

The race day temps were supposed to be in the low 30’s at the start and warming to the mid-50’s by noon. As I was walking to the start line I realized it was a little warmer (upper 30’s). Fortunately I had layered so I switched layers knowing the long sleeved shirt I had on would be discarded when I warmed up enough.

It was an absolutely gorgeous day for a run with 2,600 people out doing the full. I had a plan in place for hitting each 5 mile split in a prescribed time. At the start I felt average but realized I was probably going a little harder than I should. Miles 2 and 3 were more controlling but I was starting to get really warm! By the 4 mile mark I lost the long sleeved shirt and eased into the 5 mile mark 8 seconds ahead of my goal. I really found my rhythm by mile 6 and was able to knock off the next 8 miles with mile times within 10 seconds of one another. I was 52 seconds ahead of goal at mile 10 and by mile 15, I’d picked up almost another minute and was 1:45 ahead of goal. I was beginning to get tired and had the start of quad cramps. I realized I should probably take 10-15 second walking breaks to allow my legs a small chance to recover. I realized I’d probably save time in the long run by doing this. Fortunately I was right and by mile 20 I was nearly 4 minutes ahead of goal time. The wheels began to wobble at around 21 and while I wasn’t completely spent, I was pretty close! I was determined to maintain my goal pace and actually did a few seconds better from 21-24.

At mile 24 I lost focus. I think it was the realization I was going to set a personal best so long as I remained standing. Regardless of the reason, I was absolutely gassed and miles 25 and 26 were the slowest of the day. Despite that I had picked up 8 seconds from 20-25 from my goal. Unfortunately I gave back a minute of that at 26! I hit the boardwalk at 25 ½ and could see the finish line. By the 26 mile marker I was sure I could run to the finish but two huge cramps in my legs and arms (believe it or not) had me stop for a second to work it out. I hit the line nearly 31 minutes faster than I’d ever run a marathon before. As I grabbed my banana, water and space blanket I nearly cried from the emotion of what I’d done and how much my training had gotten me to the finish line sooner than everyone, including me, had anticipated!

All in all, it was a great day and one which will live with me for quite awhile. For the record, I set new personal bests at every race distance from 15k to marathon. Yeah, it was good!!

Thanks Jay for your coaching help! I know I did the work but you put the plan together. I just did the best I could!

Up next, Athens, Ohio half marathon THEN the Flora London Marathon!