Folly Beach Save the Lighthouse Half Marathon

What better venue for a run then the beach!  I had some friends who had done this race last year and loved it, so I decided to slum it w/them and head to the beach for some fun.  The two negatives were Addison and I got sick the week of, and I had to work Friday so no getting off and heading down early.  Heath, Addison, and I headed out about 6pm and arrived in Folly Beach, SC around 9pm.  The house we were staying in was AWESOME and everyone managed to stay up until we got there.  I tried to sleep that night but was unsuccessful, atleast we had a late start.  The good news was the course went by our house 2x so Heath and AJ wouldn’t have to leave at all to spectate.

Forrest is much like me, so he demanded we be at the race site by 7:30 (hour early) which led to goofing off and taking ridiculous pics trying to kill time.  We even saw someone w/a mullet wig, only in the south…

My original plan for the day was to do a 1:45.  A girl can dream right?  I reassessed the situation when I got up and still felt crummy but decided to still go out w/those hopes and just see how I feel.  Susan, a friend of mine, and I both had the same goal so we were going to hang together until one of us died off.  Once the gun went off we started running, and the 8 minute pace didn’t seem so bad…really.  Even Regina and Scottie who had slower goals hung w/us the first two miles just chatting away.  I’d hoped to see Jeff around mile 3 or 4 and kind of “hang on” to him as he gets faster the longer he goes, but even his start was much faster than normal and he caught us around mile 2.5.  It was hard to pace off anyone around us as everyone was being very inconsistent, so I just tried to base my pace off feel as that normally works very well for me and I can normally “feel” my pace and stay consistent.  Around mile 4 Jeff became just a speck in front of me. 

I was still keeping pace, even did under 8 mins. on one of those miles but mile 6 I started to feel like I was going uphill.  The time was getting a little slower, and I couldn’t figure it out.  I felt like I was working just as hard, if not harder, but the time was slowly getting worse mile by mile.  Mile 9 actually was a few seconds better, but I felt HORRIBLE.  I literally thought I was going to pass out, I even dry heaved a couple times.  I even asked Susan if it was worth all this effort when I knew I’d no longer make goal. Mile 10 approached, and I had to stop and walk.  I told Susan to go on, I just had to rest for a few.  I walked fast for probably 15-20 seconds  when another girl passed me and my ego got in the wayJ. 

About the time she passed me, I had a realization that I’d forgotten what I ALWAYS say…NEVER EVER give up.  Even if you think you are defeated.  I sucked it up and decided to HTFU for 3 more miles.  Every mile was a goal, just make it to the next one and the next one.  Mile 12 I passed Heath, and it was great seeing him out there spectating.  He knew I was hurting.  I could still see Susan in the distance, and just hoped I could stay steady behind her.  I put my head down and just ran, I didn’t look behind me, I didn’t look in front of me, I just gave it what last bit I had.  My watch went off indicating I was at mile 13, and I finally looked up hoping this last .10 of a mile would go quickly.  It didn’t, but I kept running as if it was.  I crossed the finish line at 1:49:22, 20th overall female, and 3rd in my age group.  I was proud of what I did even though it wasn’t the time I’d hoped for.  The never give up attitude paid off, especially after I realized that 9 seconds behind me was 4th place in my age group.  Talk about proving a point. 

Everyone except Jeff suffered that day.  I’m not sure if it was the unusual 70 degree muggy weather, or if it was just one of those days.  Jeff managed to PR by breaking 1:45 barrier for the first time.  Susan also may have PR’d doing a 1:48:35.  While we all suffered, we all persevered and Regina, Scottie, Cherry, and I all placed in our age groups. 

The rest of the weekend was a blast.  I couldn’t ask for better friends, food, weather or accommodations.  We had 8 people, 5 dogs, and a baby all in one house and didn’t manage to kill eachother.  Poker was played, Regina’s birthday was celebrated, and cupcakes were eaten.  I think that was the best part of the race weekend, enjoying time relaxing and laughing.  My abs are still sore. 

 

Written by

Vivamus vel sem at sapien interdum pretium. Sed porttitor, odio in blandit ornare, arcu risus pulvinar ante, a gravida augue justo sagittis ante. Sed mattis consectetur metus quis rutrum. Phasellus ultrices nisi a orci dignissim nec rutrum turpis semper.

No Comments Yet.

Leave a Reply

Message