The Yuengling Shamrock Marathon is part of a series of races held St. Patrick's Day weekend in Virginia Beach. The running festival hosts ~28,000 including the marathon, half marathon, 8k, and various shorter distance "fun runs". Of the 28,000 runners ~10,000 register for the half marathon and ~4000 for the marathon.
The course is pancake flat making for a fast course. Another plus.
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| Example of support (not actual daughter) |
It was still dark outside as I approached the race staging area. As I got closer I was joined by thousands of runners heading toward the start, many of who were dressed in "over the top", St. Patty's day themed, green outfits. The half marathon started ninety minutes prior to the marathon and most of the crowd was headed for the half start.
With an hour plus to kill I walked to the marathon starting area in order to find a quiet spot to relax. On the way I managed to catch a beautiful sunrise over the ocean. I wasn't expecting this since the forecast was for overcast skies. Luckily the clouds moved in shortly after.
About fifteen minutes before the start I headed out to the corrals to warm up and
Before the marathon I was debating whether to go out with the 3:05 or 3:15 pacer. My tune up runs, specifically a 39:35 10K time trial, indicated I might be able to run a 3:05-3:06. That would be almost a twenty minute PR and seemed a little ambitious. Once I got to the corral and felt the wind my decision was made easy. I knew 3:05 was out of the question and lined up with the 3:15 pacer.
During mile nine is where I had to take my first "nature break". Twenty seconds later I was back running, but the pace group had decided to continue without me (how rude of them). This was my first big decision of the race...do I catch up with them immediately or do I reel them in over a few miles. After doing some quick calculations in my head I decided that catching them over the next three miles was the way to go.
Split
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Avg Pace
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|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7:38 | ||
| 2 | 7:19 | ||
| 3 | 7:22 | ||
| 4 | 7:17 | ||
| 5 | 7:25 | ||
| 6 | 7:22 | ||
| 7 | 7:23 | ||
| 8 | 7:24 | ||
| 9 | (25s rest stop) | 7:52 |
Up to this point the wind had been at our back or we were in a protected area. After mile nine this changed as we were turned directly into the wind. To make things worse I no longer had the pace group to draft off. And miles 10 and 11 were on the boardwalk with absolutely no protection from the wind. Despite this "adversity" I managed to close in on the pace group. I also saw wife and daughter
| 10 | 7:21 | ||
| 11 | 7:29 | ||
| 12 | 7:28 | ||
| 13 | 7:16 | ||
| 14 | 7:12 |
Half split 1:37:51
The next three miles continued into the wind and took us through the north end of the resort. Miles 16-19 turned west into a protected area and out of the wind. Up until this point there had always been some crowd support. But once we left town that changed. The next few miles were pretty quiet, only interrupted by the sounds of shoes hitting the pavement.
Around mile 17-18 I was feeling really strong and knew I could pick up the pace. I also knew I needed another "nature break" soon. But I dreaded having to play catch up with the group again. So I made my next "big decision" and decided to pull away from the pace group. I figured that over the next mile or two I could get far enough ahead, take that quick break, and still not lose ground to the group.
| 15 | 7:22 | ||
| 16 | 7:23 | ||
| 17 | 7:13 | ||
| 18 | 7:20 | ||
| 19 | 7:28 |
| 20 | 7:18 |
As I stepped back onto the course the group was just passing and I quickly rejoined the back of the pack. We were now at the 20 mile mark and I was still feeling strong. Only 10K to go which meant one thing...start opening it up. Which is exactly what I was about to do until....BAM...two things happened.
The first was that our pacer, a 2:40 marathoner, informed us that he was going to have to drop out. Not the end of the world as the group was still surprisingly intact. One of the other runners in the group had paced halves in the past and took over from the pacer when he dropped out.
The second was that as soon as we hit mile 20 we hit twenty plus mph winds dead into our faces. We were now on the cape with the unprotected winds coming directly off of the Atlantic.
At this point the group started to slow down a little. Part of it was from the wind, but part was from fatigue. I could see some of the runners struggling and slowing down. I wanted to speed up and not slow down, but I knew that drafting the group, even though slightly slower than the pace I wanted, would be preferable to running alone. I also knew that we would be on the cape for only about two miles more and decided that drafting the group was a better choice.
| 21 | dead into 20 mph wind | 7:33 | |||
| 22 |
| 7:32 |
As we neared the end of the cape and turned out of the wind I finally decided to "shift gears" and pulled away from the group. From here to the end of the race I still felt strong, though definitely tired. I was able to find another gear and speed up, although an "impending" hamstring cramp kept creeping up every time I tried dropping below 7min/mile pace.
Over this part of the course I passed at least thirty runners including the runners in the group. I was only passed by one runner during this time (the fifty year old woman who took over as the pacer when the original pacer dropped out).
This stage of the race was also the part where I passed the slower marathoners running in the opposite directions. The ones at mile 13-16 on the "out" part of the course. This is the part of the race where I always say to myself I'm so glad that I'm not going to be on the course for another three hours!
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| I'm the old guy in the blue about to pass the kid in the red |
| 23 | 7:12 | ||
| 24 | 6:49 | ||
| 25 | 7:17 | ||
| 26 | 7:17 | ||
| 27 | 0.35 | 6:44 |
Official result an almost 11 minute PR with an almost 2 minute negative split and 114th place overall!
Epilogue
Did I mention that Yuengling was the sponsor and post race celebration was beer and Irish stew :-)
CHIP TIME
3:13:52
PLACE
114
Results
- Chip Time: 3:13:52
- Gun Time: 3:14:02
- Total Pace: 7:24/M
- 7mi Time: 52:28
- 13.1mi Time: 1:37:51
- 18.1mi Time: 2:14:16
Standings
- Group: Men 50 to 54
- Group Place: 10
- Group Finishers: 170
- Gender Place: 101
- Gender Finishers: 1528
- Total Finishers: 2791
