Myrtle Beach Marathon~ Race RUNdown (SC#24)

We're seen some serious drama here at Steph's 50 Marathon Challenge since my January Frozen Double Marathon Weekend. I nearly froze to death in both races, fell in the second marathon banging my knee, and then purposely ran with an extremely overpronated right foot because that was the only position my knee felt good in. Well that turned into tendentious on the tendon that runs under your foot and keeps you from overpronating (yeah, ok). Since then, I've felt better-- but I went for a 17-miler this past weekend in the snow and ice and I think FROZE my achilles on the same foot. It's been a little crazy, but I'm hoping for that "bad practice makes a great performance" kind of situation... or at least not getting hurt and finishing able to run my 25th-state marathon next week!!!!



Inspiration Points...
1. Warmth!!! I will finally be running in warmer weather-- high 40's with SUN! I've been hurting myself in the cold, so I'm hoping the warmth keeps my muscles loose and warm!
2. Kyle will be joinging me since it's Valentines Day Weekend :) He's been to 2 marathons and is an exceptional marathon spectator! We'll be taking a vacation day and be making a trip out of Myrtle Beach!!
3. NEW SHOES!!! If you've been reading along, I've had quite the little jaunt with new sneakers, throwing myself into "barefoot running." I won't be going all out and using the vibrams, but I will be using the next step up-- Nike Free 5.0's!
4. FINALLY excited. It's so hard to be excited for a marathon when you're full of nerves about being/getting hurt. I'm feeling better and hoping to keep up a positive attitude about the race! OOH maybe I should read "Born to Run" again-- that gets my blood pumpin!

SC Race RUNdown...
Bi-Lo Myrtle Beach Marathon ~ Saturday Feb 13, 2010 (#24)
Myrtle Beach, SC
Registration Fees: $70 early ($90 late, $110)--SOLD OUT before Feb!!!
Year Running: 10+
2010 Expected Field: 2,750 was max and it's been sold out. There will be another 3.8K in the half!
2009 Field: 1825 Finishers
... Females: 684 ... Age Group: 61
2008 Avg. Finish Time: 4:25:54
Weather:

Well I WAS excited about warm weather but now it looks like it's going to be a litttttle chilly. NOT as bad as the last 2. WHY can't we have Sundays weather on Saturday??? It would be PERFECT! Let's all pray to the weather gods and hope that it warms up in the am and we get rain showers instead or no showers at all! At least I know it won't be hot and sunny :)

Course:

MarathonGuide Rating:

Garmin Distance: I try and look at what people measure the course as. I've seen about a +.16 to +.25 extra mileage for this race. That's a big gap compared to what I've seen in the past!

FLAT! I'm not a pancake flat runner, but maybe this will be good considering all the achilles problems I've been having! The course looks to wrap around the hotels, small neighborhoods and the OCEAN!!! Yay.

This is one comment I found on MarathonGuide:

"As flat as you could want, and not congested at all; there's no excuse for not hitting a PB here" -- wow, no pressure there!

Race 411: This is definitely an EVENT-- not just a marathon. They've been sending an endless number of emails for pre and post race events. There are fireworks the night after as well as 2 different post race parties- one for adults only!

~ Gone Green! As of 2009 this is a "green" marathon.

~ Swag has been kicked up a notch! Due to prior year complaints, there was a resounding response from the race directors with great new swag. Can't wait to see what they have in store for 2010.

~ Port-O-Pots ~ every 2 miles! yesssss

~ Spectators, I've heard, are far and few between but I can't imagine you need them when you're running on the BEACH!!!!!

~ Chip Issues??? Say it ain't so!!! Last year there were some timing chip issues. People had finished and their splits counted, but they had DNFs when they had finished. Yikes-- no thanks! I will kill somebody if that happens. If you read their news articles before the race this is what they had to say...

"The Myrtle Beach Marathon and RMS Sports are proud to announce the use of a new timing system. We will be using the Chronotrack system, which promises 99.8% accuracy." - MB Marathon Site. Maybe they should have stuck with the OLD timing system.

Race Plan: I have a 3 step plan for this race...

1) DON'T Get hurt... or further hurt!

2) Enjoy the race and the weekend

3) Go for time! This is my first of 5 in 7 weeks, so I'll be too tired to push it toward the end. If I can make a good time here without getting hurt, I'll go for it!

Give-a-ways:
Athlete's Spa Pack!