My 9th Marathon

On January 14th, the Shingleton's and the Ghiloni's headed to Charleston, SC for the weekend.  Jon has been dealing with a mild ankle sprain for weeks now and has been sidelined.  He has been miserable!  But missing a scheduled race or two while he heals is certainly necessary.  And we have plenty more scheduled!

Anyway...  Friday afternoon, we arrive in Charleston and go straight to the Expo, which is being held in a tent, set up on a dirt lot.  Talk about dusty...  and dark.  Not a good expo at all, though we did run across a cool line of reflective gear called "R U Seen" (website here), and I bought a nice half-zip pull-over.  I never properly dress in layers.  In the colder months, I'm always either cold or hot based on the single layer shirt I choose to wear.  So this will provide an extra layer, but it's thin, and I can easily tie it around my waist if it needs to come off.  (I should have worn this on race day...  more on that later!)

Next, we arrive at our lovely condo in Folly Beach...  so peaceful and relaxing.  Already wishing we had more time to stay.  Saturday morning, we head out early to drive to the finish and park, then three of us catch a shuttle bus into downtown Charleston to the race start.  (Poor Jon starts his long wait.)  The temps are in the low 40's and it's VERY windy!  Ugh.

I'd decided against a long-sleeved tech shirt...  not factoring any wind into the predicted temperatures for the day.  I did have a long-sleeved throw-away cotton shirt on, over top my short-sleeved tech shirt.  So we have about a 30 minute wait in the freezing cold before the race starts.  Three miles in, I'm still wearing this cotton shirt...  and though the arms feel good, my core is burning up.  It has to come off.  Oh, but I wish I hadn't tossed it!  For the next 5 miles, my arms were so cold, they were numb.  It wasn't just windy...  it was a head wind.  And it was pretty constant, with some gusts.  And when it wasn't in your face, it was coming at you from the side.  I've never run a race in anything like that before. 

Luckily, around mile 8, I started seeing clothes on the ground...  it seems everyone started dropping along here.  So I pick up a "souvenir" of a black half-zip.  Too bad it was a Men's XL, but I so didn't care!  I put that thing on and it kept me warm...  the front was a thin material, but the arms and back were fleece...  so it was actually too warm, but because it was so big, I was getting a nice air flow through it.  I ended up wearing it from mile 8 to 16.  Then again from 23 to finish.

Around mile 6 in the race, my lingering hip issue started to rear it's ugly head.  So I started working in some walks.  My buddy Eric wasn't far behind, so I knew with my walking he'd catch up.  We finally met up around mile 12.  Come to find out, Eric's back had gone out at mile 10, so he too was walking regularly and running at a slower pace.  We decided to hang together for the rest of the race.  Especially with everything I have upcoming, I took Frank's advice and treated this like a training run.

Like any race course, this one had nice spots and some not-so-nice.  The worst offense, however, was running out of fluid cups.  I do not carry fluids when I run, especially at a supported race.  They had fluid stops approx. every two miles.  Three in a row had pitchers of fluid and people standing around, looking dumbfounded, but no cups.  None!  People were picking up cups off the ground...  and in some cases, drinking from the serving pitchers.  NOT good!  So for about 6 miles, I went with no fluids.  This is unacceptable and I simply don't understand how this happens.  Not for three stops in a row.

After the half marathon split off, fluid stops were no longer an issue.  This is the point where Eric and I met up.  It was so nice having someone to run with and talk to.  I had my earbuds, and music is always nice, but sometimes you just get tired of running alone.  And this wind was wearing on me, so it was nice to have another focus. 

We kept plugging away, and did pretty good from miles 12 - 20, at which time we were within sight of the finish line area...  oh, but we had another 6.2 miles to go.  I hate courses like this!

So here we turn left, away from the finishing area, and follow a line of cones into empty nothingness.  I've never seen a more boring stretch of race course.  Literally...  no cars, no scenery, no buildings that I remember, it was like an abandoned road!  During the part of a race that is usually the most difficult, this was a killer. 

To know you had to run through nothing for 3 miles, then turn around (head wind again!) and come 3 miles back...  it just broke my spirits.  I was so over this wind and SO ready to finish.  That was certainly our slowest 6 miles. 

Finally, we were almost done!  Around mile marker 26, Eric starts hacking up a lung...  to which he responds "go ahead, I think I'm gonna puke!"  I got a little giggle from that, and I headed on in.  Finished in 5:22:42.  Eric was right behind at 5:23:25.  Jon and Brandie were waiting at the finish.

No fluids at the finish either...  and apparently, they'd run out of half marathon medals, so Brandie missed out on that.  Hopefully, one will be mailed. 

We headed straight for the car.  It was so nice to be out of the wind.  I told Jon he was lucky to have missed this one!  He didn't agree.  :o)