The race was being held in Virginia Beach. I choose the Yuengling Shamrock marathon last October. I had decided earlier in the year that 2012 would be the year I would run my first full marathon. I was focusing on Marine Corp in DC in Oct. 2012 but while training for the Hershey Half in the heat of summer, I decided there was no way I could handle marathon training. The search began shortly after that and I decided a spring race was the answer. I was coming off half training in Oct and I could simply jump right into full training. I picked VA Beach because #1 - It's Flat and #2 - we love that beach and area. The downfall was the race was ON my husband's birthday. He happily agreed to let me run on his birthday and I signed up. Uh oh, guess I was doing it now :)
The training went well. I wasn't focusing on speed, just finishing so there wasn't a lot of pressure. Leading up to the race I was obsessed with the weather. Remember, I picked this race because it's in MARCH and it's supposed to be cool. Not 70 or 80! Each day the forecast fluctuated until it settled on 60 and cloudy. Whew, I can handle that.
We arrive in VA Beach on Friday and checked into a hotel at 31st street. I had picked a hotel as close as I could get to the finish and start lines. My husband was running his first 8k on Saturday. We went to the Expo, which was packed, and then grabbed some dinner before heading off to bed early. There was a passing rain storm Friday evening and my husband was a bit worried about running in the rain but it cleared out in no time. The next morning we woke up, grabbed some breakfast at the hotel and headed out to the starting line - directly in front of our hotel. My husband was a bit nervous but I dropped him off at his corral and moved down from the start to take pictures. It was really odd to not be the one racing. I wanted to a wear a big sign saying "I am a runner too!". I saw numerous folks watching the 8k wearing full and half race shirts, I think they felt the same way. The race was awesome to watch and the wheelchair division made me tear up each time I saw them. It was awesome to watch them race by either in hand crank cycles or with someone pushing them. My husband did awesome in his race and NAILED his time. He had just run his farthest race at his fastest pace.
We spent the race of the day lounging around, doing a bit of shopping, went back to the expo, and grabbed some awesome BBQ. Off to bed early again - I had a huge day in front of me.
To be continued.....
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