The weather was warm, but the ocean/sound wind was very cool. I never really felt hot the whole time. But the wind was something of an issue, coming mostly from the west and gusting pretty hard. If it had been from the north, blowing us south on our way from Kitty Hawk to Manteo, it might have been better. Then we'd have had a cross wind running west along the bridge (4% grade past Mile 23!). Would that have been ok? I have no idea.
I don't think I'm doing something right. Maybe I'm starting the 20 milers too soon? I dunno. At any rate, my hip decided to be an issue starting around Mile 6 or 7. I could feel it tightening up, something that had never been a problem during training. I was more worried about my fussy Achilles tendon. I got to see C and her dad cheering at the Wright Brothers' Memorial around Mile 8. The trail portion of the marathon, Miles 10ish to 13ish were hilly and as usual, the downhills were fun. My hip would stop hurting on the hillier sections, so this may have been an issue of not being accustomed to extremely flat running routes. It was kind of dark on the trail section because we were running through Nags Head Woods. Running around two sides of Jockey's Ridge State Park was fun. We'd walked there the day before to see the giant sand dunes, but I got to run on the south side of the park which let me see another side of the dunes. I got to see C and her dad again around Mile 17 and C passed me some very-much-appreciated potato chips. I told them that things were going slow. I didn't know how slow...
After that, we ran through a golf course community (not particularly interesting). The spectator support was really very good, especially since only about 1100 people ran the full marathon. There were almost always people cheering and the water stop volunteers were very friendly and helpful. The "good job" you always hear in Minnesota races was replaced by, "Oh honey, you look good! Keep it up!" Just about as I turned west to head across the bridge to Manteo, my phone/tunes/GPS crapped out on me. The rest of the race was run in relative silence, but for the spectator support. One of the last water stops was pirate themed, with all the volunteers in costume. They were pretty awesome. By Mile 23, my hip hurt so bad that I had to make an effort not to wince with each step. The bridge to Manteo went on forever. The hill part of it was actually toward the end of the bridge. I ran up the entire thing. I was afraid that if I started walking, I would never run again. I was likely doing a 13:something mile pace at that point. Once I was done with the bridge, I really just wanted it to be over. I was also feeling guilty that I was making C and her dad wait so long for me.I wanted to quit many times during the last 7 or so miles. But after having traveled so far and making so many people change their plans for me to run my silly marathon, I wasn't going to indulge myself further by quitting. Plus, I wasn't in an ambulance, like a guy I saw about Mile 24. I figured as long as I wasn't in the ambulance, I could still finish. That said, the last 2 miles of this race were probably the longest 2 miles I've ever run.
C and her dad took excellent care of me both before & after the race. I don't think you could hire better running sherpas. The Outer Banks are beautiful and quirky. I can't wait to go back. But next time, I think I might skip the run.
Mile 1- 9:20
Mile 2- 8:29
Mile 3- 8:27
Mile 4- 8:33
Mile 5- 8:51
Mile 6- 8:56
Mile 7- 8:50
Mile 8- 9:04
Mile 9- 8:56
Mile 10- 9:14
Mile 11- 9:25
Mile 12- 9:22
Mile 13- 9:37
Mile 14- 9:30
Mile 15- 9:18
Mile 16- 9:51
Mile 17- 9:49
Mile 18- 10:11
Mile 19- 10:03
Mile 20- 10:34
Mile 21- 11:05
Mile 22- 12:11
Mile 23- 12:54
Chip time- 4:28:24
