View Workout (Jeffrey Boatner)

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Myrtle Beach Marathon

February 19, 2011 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Weather: Sun and Wind 50s to high 60s

Comments:
What a race. Not sure where to begin. Forgot shoes and so bought new ones on the day before the race. Only one minor blister, although my feet were very sore from the pounding--maybe just 26 miles on asphalt. The course was very flat although a significant headwind from miles 8 through 18 provided a challenge.

Thoughts and details on specific parts of the race/experience.

Prerace:
Slept well in hotel and got up by 4:30 for 6am start. Got a ride over with a guy from the hotel who turned out be a great guy and a Christian. We had a chance to pray before the race and caught up with each other on the course. Ate two pieces of bread with jam a banana and some gatorade. Nervous bladder had me peeing a couple times before the start.

Race:
Had to pee in first couple of miles, but that faded after about mile 3. Tried to just settle into a good pace and get some easy miles. With the crowd, my first 2 miles were in the 9:20 range. I ran miles 3-8 around 8:45 and brought the pace as low as 8:55 before it started to climb slowly in the late teens and 20s.

I wore my hydration belt with two 10oz bottles (one water and one gatorade). Skipped the first water station and picked up some water at the 2nd (4 miles in). Overall, the bottles worked out well. Through the first 15-18 miles I typically drained most of a bottle between 2 mile aid stations and would have bottle(s) in hand ready to refill from dixie cups. This didn't slow me down much at all and kept me able to sip on water rather than drain a cup every 18 minutes. Toward the later miles I was draining most of both bottles between stations and refilling them. Dropped a bottle twice due to carelessness but didn't lose much time in retrieving. Took Gel at 4.5, 9, 13, 16 and 20. This went ok, but I had some stomach upset and didn't try for another gel once this started (around mile 19). From that point I had difficulty with gatorade and tried to stick with water. After some gatorade at mile 21 I threw up a bit but kept running.

The mental game was really important. I tried and mostly succeeded with looking at the first half as preliminary. From 13 on things got harder. I settled in behind a little group which was keeping a good pace and just followed from about 13-18. At that point, I had strong doubts about keeping on as the wind was really tiring me out and I was feeling pretty sore. At that point, I came upon my ride from the morning who was walking after a fast start. He ran along with me for about 5 minutes and was a great encouragement. He stated "its all mental from here." I tried to believe that and did push through that first bout of wanting to quit.

The last miles, from 20 on, were tough. This section of the course was very sunny and temps were getting into the 60s. I started just running from mile to mile. Somewhere around marker 22 I heard a spectator say "keep up a 9:30 pace from here and you are under 4 hours." At that point my Garmin pace was still about 9 and the possibility of actually reaching my goal started to seem possible. I took 2 walking breaks in the last 2-3 miles-each of no more than about 30-45 seconds. I wonder now whether I needed these, but as I gained confidence about the sub 4, I knew that I had a bit of a cushion to work with. Basically, I knew that I would be ok if I could keep Garmin under a 9:09 pace. Things crept up to 9:07 in the last mile as I really had to struggle from one point on the course to another. My legs were sore, but I didn't have any cramping. My couple of short walking sections were insurance against cramping, but I think that it was the hills in my previous marathon that were the cause. As I hit the 26 mile point, a spectator yelled that we would have to sprint to get under 4. Not true as it turned out, but it set some panic in and I did my best to put my head back and run hard through the end. According to family, I looked very white and beat up in this last section. At the finish, the clock time was 28 seconds over 4 which was not nice to see, but I knew that that was gun time and I started a couple minutes back.

Postrace:
Euphoria. I felt very emotional once this was all done. I found it to be a profoundly spiritual experience. I prayed through the early miles and tried to focus on the Jesus Well project and Jesus himself when I was struggling through the late miles. Barbara was clearly very proud of me and this helped me to own the achievement in a way that I don't often do. I had to leave the family and pray/cry for a couple minutes when all was done.

Got some chicken soup at the finish which was awesome. Didn't feel like eating much else, but forced down some bagel and banana. With the massive perspiration, I was shocked that I didn't get any headache after the race. I got around pretty well the rest of the day, but was extremely still and sore for the next day. By Monday I was feeling pretty good.

In 10 days postrace I have only run a couple of times. This whole effort really started 8 or so months ago with the train up for my November marathon in Richmond which was somewhat disappointing. I feel that this result vindicates the extra miles and long runs that I forced into the last months.

Final notes: Didn't miss having an mp3 at all. For this race, the experience was enough--I didn't need any distraction and genuinely enjoyed taking in the scene and focusing on some prayer and my very real dependence on God. I wonder if the course wasn't the biggest difference maker. The total lack of hills provided little variety, but was interesting nonetheless.

I have written way too much, but this may be the race that I come back to as one that was well run and most satisfactorily completed. Got under 4 hours and helped be a part of a Jesus Well in India. Awesome.