Virginia Beach Rock n' Roll 1/2 Marathon
The race itself was spectaculor, my performance on tthe other hand, left me wanting more. My wife and I drove down on Friday to stay at the beach with my niece's family who live on the beach. They have a two-year old boy who is a bundle of energy and occupied about all of my pre-race time. We went to the expo on Saturday at the Convention Center to pick up my packet and to determine where I was going to park. Luckily they have a friend who works at an architectural firm about two blocks away from the start line. We spent a lot of time at the expo, since it's biggest I've ever been too. I bought a visor which turned out to be great at repelling sweat. After we left the expo, they tried to give me the directions from their place to the start, but I must of looked so confused, my niece's husband (Rick) decided to drop me off since he had naval duty the next morning and it wasn't too far out his way.
By the way, this is a lonnnng post....
So Saturday night, I laid out all my stuff. I put the tracker (disposable) on my shoe. I filled out the medical info on the back of my bib. This was my first mistake. I used a blue marker. More about this later. After setting two alarms I went to sleep. Sunday morning at 4:45a I awoke (race start at 7am). Grabbed a quick shower, dressed, had a cup of protein oatmeal, and grabbed a ride with Rick to the Convention Center. Rick drove me down to within two blocks of the Center and I proceeded to get out of the car, and was told by a police officer, I couldn't disembark from the car. So we drove about 4 blocks away. I headed toward the lights of the Convention Center, and as I got closer I realized that this was a big race. The music was blaring. At 5:40am when I arrived there were alreay thousands of people minging around trying to get loose, stay calm, and prepare for the start. I walked around for awhile, and ran into John Bingham (The Penguin). He is awesome and so easy to talk with. Since I was wearing my RNY 340 shirt with pre-surgical picture he was intrigued by my story. We might see a section on us post-surgery runnners in his next book. There were 24,000 runners signed up to run!
So next stop was my customary three stops to the relieve my stress. Then I headed into my wave corral. It was already started to get humid. I drank the last of my ice water and entered my corraI. I was placed in corral 16 (total of 27). There were a great group of people in the corral and we exhanged horror stories. At 6:45am the elite women runners took off. At 7:00am the Elite Men took off followed closely by Corral 1. I figured we would be off in about five minutes. No way. Our corral didn't take off till 29 minutes had expired on the start clock.
So as usual, my adrenaline was kicked in, and forced myself to slow down a little and run the first 3 miles in just over thirty minutes. Although I was in front of my wave for the start, I spent the first part of the race dodging walkers from the earlier waves.
At the mile mark there was little overpass, and probably the only hill on the whole course. There were a ton of spectator cheering. People were really backed up on the up part of the hill so I had play a lot of dodge. I decided to forego the firs****er stop at the 1 1/2 mile mark, since I felt fairly hydrated. The bands were really rocking along the way, but I only got to hear spurts of the music as I ran by the booths. Just before the 3 mile mark I got to see the Elite women on the return stretch of the race. That was both elating and deflating. I couldn't believe how they were gliding along the road.
So at the 3-mile mark I decided to plan my strategy, grab the Cytomax and drink about 2 oz, and then grab some water at the end table to chase it down. At this point, I met two women who couldn't believe my t-shirt picture and decided they wanted to run with me for awhile. They both worked for the Navy, and unlike me, actually looked like runners. They accompanied me for the next four miles. I struggle a little bit after mile 4, because I experience a blister on two of my toes. Painful and it really slowed me down. At mile 5 we turned and headed back to the beach. The course criss-crossed on through Camp Pendleton for the next four miles. I grabbed a PowerBar gel at mile 61/2 but didn't really like it much, so I grabbed a couple waters to wa**** down. The roads on the campl were out in the open, and it was gettng hot and humid. It was at this point that I realized that the pen I had used to write the medical info on the inside of my bid had totally bled into a blob and my right arm was covered in blue. I was able to use my running towel to wipe most of it away but it was a pain the rest of the run.
My toes continued to get worse. But at least it helped me to overlook the pain in my right knee which wasn't too bad for this race. At mile nine I was struggling, But every time I was ready to break down, someone would pass me and congratulate me on my surgery, and it was give me a burst of energy. I plugged along, going slower, and slower, but knowing that I was going to finish this race. It was great to run through the misters set up all along the race, and get hosed by neighbors who were out cheering.
At mile 10 I was hoping to see my wife and niece but since we hadn't coordinated where they would be, I just tried to keep my eyes open for them. It was back up and over the overpass to mile 11, and it was getting so much harder to tell the difference between walking and joggng at this point. At 14th street we hit the las****er station, which was just after the 11 mile mark. Little did I know that my spectator family was there at the last turn. My calves were started to sting at this poing but I wanted to finish so I continued. I had already passed at four guys on stretchers. I figured the humidity was taking it's toll on a lot people. My family didn't see me go by either. I jogged even slower down the last blocks of Atlantic Ave to complete mile 12, and then headed down the boardwalk for the last mile. I actually got a little pep in a jog and passed at least a hundred people on the boardwalk. I saw the finish line, and was really happy. But I didn't see anyone I knew.
The problem is when you cross the finish line, everything comes to a complete stop. I walked four blocks, getting a cold water, two ice cold wash clothes (which were great on the back of the neck), my finishers medal, a gift bag, and a pineapple popsicle. When I got to the spectator meeting place, I couldn't find my wife so I pulled out my cell phone. They were at 14th Street looking for me to go by and getting really worried. This is the first time my wife has attended an event and she really wanted to see me running.
So I hopped over to meet them and proceeded home. Unlike my first half-marathon, other than my toes, I was not in much pain. So I finished this race, about ten minutes slower than I had wanted, but on the other hand I did finish and I'm looking forward to the next half soon. The next race I'll be in a new age bracket, and I'm going to practice pacing myself early on for the first five to seven miles, so that I've got more in the tank for the finish.
Rob
| Bib: | 16623 |
| Gender: | M |
| Age: | 54 |
| Hometown: | Wilmington DE |
| Place Overall: | 11013 | out of 16336 |
| Men: | 5586 | out of 7096 |
| M 50-54: | 402 | out of 557 |
| AgeGrade: | 42.74% | Place: 9779 |
| FINISH: | 2:42:12 | pace: 12:23 |
| 5 Km: | 30:33 | pace: 9:50 |
| 10 Km: | 1:09:48 | pace: 11:14 |
| 10 Mi: | 2:00:46 | pace: 12:05 |
| 11.3 Mi: | 2:19:31 | pace: 12:21 |
| 20 Km: | 2:31:52 | pace: 12:14 |
| Chip Time: | 2:42:12 | ||
| Gun Time: | 3:10:52 | ||
You did an excellent job, and I can't believe the pain you endured. There were a lot of people on stretchers and in the EMS areas suffering from hydration problems. I felt real sorry for those people at the last EMS area 1/2 mile from the finish. Get healthy quick and get back in the game. Too bad my niece is moving to Califronia, I would love to come down next year to run again, but it would be expensive to just come down for the race.
Rob
You know - I didn't see anyone on stretchers. I was so focused on myself and finishing I hardly noticed the bands. Maybe I didnt want to see them! hahaha! I saw the ambulances and the medical tents though - I stopped in there for tylenol & ice as needed. Do keep in mind that by the time I got to the end, it was all walkers and the humidty didn't affect them as much.
As each day goes by my knees are feeling better - not pain free yet but getting there. I think I am going for a massage in teh next day or so and I'm heading abck to pilates to stretch out the tightness & strenghten again before I get back to running. Next half marathon will be Shamrock in March in Virginia Beach again. However, I am hoping to run the Marine Corps 10k on Oct 26.
.jpg)
Tara
I also like the Rock and Roll races because there is always a good turnout and the atmosphere is very positive. The half in Phoenix generally has about 35,000 or more, and the full has over 10,000 participants.
It ALWAYS takes a while to get to the start, but since they started using a wave start, it seems to be smoother (I think so anyway).
It's funny that you never can tell what's going to happen in a race, but being well trained and prepared makes it possible to finish even under poor cir****tances.
Way to keep going through it, and congrats on your finish!
Linn
