Tybee Island Half-Marathon

I realize that I am not very good at keeping up with my blog. I'll try to do better, but I make no promises.

A little over a year ago, I ran my first half-marathon. Since then, I've run three more. The first was in Travelers Rest, SC. The second was my DC half-marathon. I dedicated blog posts to those two races. On Halloween, I ran my third half-marathon, the Spinx Half-Marathon in downtown Greenville. I did not do a post on that race for two reasons. First, because I did so terrible. Even though my time was faster, it was really just a bad experience over all. I won't get into it now beyond saying that I walked A LOT of the last 4 miles and I had 4 huge blisters on my feet when I was done. The other reason I never posted was because my sister Emily posted pictures on her blog. You can see it here. All that being said...here's a post for my latest half-marathon.

Emily found this half-marathon and I think I've got her hooked after her first, so we decided to do this one. It was only $28 which is super cheap for a half-marathon. I laugh because every time I finish one, I say it will be my last. Inevitably, though, I sign up for the next one pretty soon. Anyway, my training for this race has been kind of weird. I have no idea why; it's just felt different. After my last race, I knew I needed some new shoes because of all the blisters, so I started my training on a new pair of shoes. The biggest "problem," however, has been that almost all of my 2-mile runs on Monday have been on the treadmill in our gym at work (due to the days being too short to run outside). These treadmills are murder on my shins. By the end of mile 1 I feel like I'm dying. Every time, without fail. I'm so glad the days are getting longer and I can get my runs in outside. Anyway, getting shin splits every Monday is a real downer for me. Luckily my long runs on Saturday are fine. Usually. Last Saturday I had my longest run; just 8 miles. Around mile 3 my right ankle started to bother me. Half a mile later I was hobbling. Literally limping along. I took 4 ibuprofens around mile 4 and miraculously was able to finish. I really don't think I could have finished if I hadn't taken the drugs. By mile 6 it had gone from a sharp shooting pain to a dull throbbing. A little nerve wracking a week before the half-marathon. Aside from shin splits on Monday, that run was fine. Wednesday I had a 5 mile run outside, so I didn't have any shin splits and my ankle didn't bother me at all.

Which brings me to the Tybee Half Marathon. Mom and Dad picked me up from work at 2:00 on Friday to drive down to Georgia. (I read and/or slept the entire way to keep my sanity with Dad's driving). Before going to the hotel, we first went to Tybee Island to pick up our race packets. It was RAINY, as in torrential downpours. The rain was forecasted to stop by Saturday morning, though. After picking up our race packets, we started back to the hotel in Savannah. Google gave completely wrong directions for that, though, so it took awhile to find it. We stopped at Piggly Wiggly on the way to get some frozen spaghetti dinners. We arrived at the hotel the same time as Emily and Dan, around 8:30. We visited with them, ate dinner, and I was in bed by 10:45.

RACE Day! I got up at 6:20 on Saturday and we left a little after 7:00 to go to Tybee Island. It was my dad, Emily, her friend Jennie, and myself. It was my dad and Jennie's first half-marathon. The race started at 8:30 and the weather was PERFECT. Aside from a good bit of wind in the first three or four miles, I couldn't ask for better running conditions. I had taken four ibuprofen the night before and four more that morning. I think it was a BIG help. I felt great the whole race. It was FLAT which was great. My toes bothered me a little bit in the last 3 miles, but it wasn't a big deal.

Here are the results:

My dad: 2:04:42

Emily: 2:08:36

Jennie: 2:10:17

Me: 2:22:30

The course itself went right by the Tybee Island Lighthouse and from many parts we could see the ocean. Very cool. We never actually went out to the beach, though. After the race we had to go back to the hotel so we could shower and check out by 1:00. Fun race. I don't suppose I'd mind doing it again sometime. I'm a fan of no hills.

Today I sit here with ice on my ankle, though, because it hurts again like after my 8 mile run last week. I truly believe that the only reason it didn't bother me during the race was because of all the ibuprofen.

Before leaving for the race...note how chipper we are!

After the race...

Emily and Dan's "family" picture with the ocean behind us...Caitlyn didn't want to be put down, so I joined in.

Just for information...here are all four of my half-marathon times:

1st: Jan 3, 2009...Travelers Rest, SC...2:35:10

2nd: Mar 21, 2009...Washington DC...2:25:18

3rd: Oct 31, 2009...Greenville, SC...2:24:53

4th: Feb 6, 2010...Tybee Island, GA...2:22:30