Race Report: Virginia Beach Marathon (with pictures)

Sorry this race report is a week late, but better late than never! Hubs and I arrived in Virginia Beach late Thursday after a looonnngg (11 hours!) drive from Nashville Tennessee. It was a beautiful drive, as we passed through the heart of the Appalachian Mountains and Smokey Park in North Carolina.

We stayed at the Marriott Springhill Suites, and we had an ocean front room. I highly recommend this hotel. It was really nice, colourful modern decor, large rooms with plasma televisions, and beautiful ocean views. Incredibly, we only paid $124 per night. Wow!

Our Hotel Room

View from Balcony

I had trained hard for this marathon, and the week before I ran a personal best half marathon of 1:53, that felt easy. I was hoping for a PB, but unfortunately I caught a cold a few days before, and although I never completely gave up (I wanted to stay positive), I knew a PB was unlikely. I made just crossing Virginia off of my 50 state list, my "rock bottom-must-do" goal, and hoped for the best.

Hubs and I took it easy for the few days leading up to the marathon. The ocean views at Virginia Beach were beautiful, but I did find the "beach strip" a little tacky-ish, basically all little novelty/surfboard/wax museum type stores. I am sure some love this, but its just not my cup of tea.

Race morning I woke up very congested, coughing up green chunks (sorry if this is too much information). Other than the cough, I felt fine and wanted to give the race a try.

Hubs and I (as usual) were a little late leaving our hotel room, and had difficulty finding parking, we rushed to the start and arrived at the bag drop just as the gun went off. Here is a picture of us starting off. My first time ever sporting my Marathon Maniacs singlet!

The weather on race day was perfect. In fact, we were expecting cooler weather, but it was about mid 40's at the start, and high 50's at the end. A beautiful, sunny day. I overdressed a little, but one thing I didn't want to be was cold with a cold.

The race started fine. I felt a little hesitant, I knew my energy was not 100%, but really I felt OK. The one thing that was frustrating me was my Garmin. Rushing to the start I had forgotten to turn it on, and it wasn't picking up my location. Hubs (the non-watch runner) kept telling me not to worry about it. I couldn't help it. I really needed to know my pace, I tried to run by feel, but its hard when you are used to running by a watch pace. This threw me off. We eventually passed the 4:15 bunny, and could see the 4:00 hour bunny, so I relaxed a little. At least I had some idea of our pace.

The course more or less has two out and back loops. There a TON of people dressed in green, and the enthusiasm from spectators was nothing short of AMAZING!! We ran through the Army base camp area, and the soldiers were cheering us on. I kind of teared up a little, so many of them were SO YOUNG, and I thought of how many soldiers have been lost to senseless wars recently, and that they all have parents that worry about them. Their ENTHUSIASM was nothing short of amazing! Bless you all!!

The other thing that was cool was how many times, we heard "Go Maniacs", and how many people shouted out my name on my bib. Of my 12 marathons, Virginia Beach wins the award for crowd support.

The other benefit of this course is that it really is PANCAKE flat! The only hill (and that's a stretch) was a small overpass on the out and back in the first loop.

I started to feel tired around the 10 mile mark. I knew that it wasn't going to be a PB, but I was worried then I wouldn't finish. I tried to slow and just focus on finishing. One great thing that happened past mile 11 was that we were routed to the boardwalk. Again tons of crowd support and absolutely stunning ocean views. I kept reminding myself how truly fortunate I was to be there, to be running, to be sharing this experience with the thousands of other marathoners on the coarse. I knew then I would finish.

After the halfway mark, we ran up the second loop. We could see the half marathoners (mostly walkers at this point) making their way to the finish- they had started an hour earlier and ran the second half of the course.

The second half of the course took us to some rural roads, I struggled a bit between miles 14-18, taking walking breaks, but I was enjoying the race. I was eating and drinking well, and aside from coughing every now and then, I felt OK.

Around mile 18, I kind of got my second wind, and starting running really strong (thank you pfitz), and passed a ton of people. We ran through another army base, and past some beautiful lighthouses.

We eventually ended up back on the strip, heading back to the finish line. This is one part of this marathon I didn't like. Long boring stretches on roads with little scenery. I couldn't wait until we could run on the boardwalk oceanfront again. The amazing crowd support made this parts better. Hubs had some beer that was offered by spectators.

Finally we curved left back towards the ocean. The finish was amazing. A stretch of boardwalk lined with people cheering. I tried to take it all in. Don't you just love marathon finishes? They are all special, and this one, was one of the most memorable. It was awesome and nice to share with Hubs.

We ended up finishing in 4 hours 32 minutes and change. Certainly not a PB, but I was proud of how I ran the race. I can honestly say I did my best under the conditions. I am not disappointed, I have many more marathons in my future! And of course, the best part is the medal:

Some of you asked about how many States/Provinces I have run a marathon in. Here is where I have completed marathons to date:

States

-Ohio (Last Chance for Boston)

-Pennsylvania (Philadelphia x2)

-Tennessee (Nashville)

-Virginia Beach (Shamrock)

Provinces

-Ontario (Hamilton, Ottawa(x3), Scotiabank, Niagara Falls)

-Quebec (Quebec City Marathon)

So only four states and two provinces so far, but I am not in any hurry. I will have a few more by the end of the spring (yes I am plotting another few marathons for the spring, as I still want to try to run sub 4 hour before the spring is up!)

Unfortunately for me this cold is hanging on. I tried a few little recovery runs this week that ended in coughing fits. I was planning on running the historic Around the Bay 30K (oldest race in North American -even Boston) race today, but I have reluctantly decided to sit it out. Drat I love this race. Congrats to Mel, and Vava, Sonia and Hubs. Can't wait for race reports! You all did amazing.

Thanks for reading!