Myrtle Beach Marathon - WE DID IT!!!

Ninon, Debra, Lisa and I have all been anxiously awaiting the Myrtle Beach Marathon. This was the first marathon for all but Lisa (who actually runs and has done 4 before). We decided to break into this easy and signed up to walk the half-marathon. We drove 8 hours on Friday to get there....great company and it was a nice drive. Got there just in time to get registered and pick up our packets, have a really late dinner and get to bed.

Just to give you a little background of why this is a big deal for me, Ninon and I were walking last week, the day of the "melting ice" and I somehow hurt my knee only 3 miles into the walk, probably not the smartest thing, but I continued to walk another 6 miles on this hurt knee because I wanted to get that longer walk in before the half-marathon. I let the knee heal the rest of the week and it felt pretty good the day of the marathon. I took my knee brace but felt that I could probably do it without it....big mistake!

The marathon started at 6:30 a.m. on February 14, Valentine's Day, and we were all excited for the race. The crowds were huge, I think I heard around 6,000 people and we all started at the same time, the runners and walkers, the half-marathoners and the marathoners, so it was a bit of a bottle neck at the beginning. We decided that we would at least run across the starting line and the finish line....just to say we ran a little :). We get about 3 miles into it and Lisa and Debra get the itch to pick up the pace. I didn't want to put more stress on my knee so I stayed back and Ninon, being the good friend that she is, decided to stay behind with me. It was soon after that that my knee gave out. I had to walk another 2 miles before I could find a first aid station to wrap my knee. The Dr. told me the wrap probably wouldn't help but I was determined to continue. We walked about 1/2 mile and I had to call Cliff to bring me my knee brace...by the time he found where we were (we didn't stop walking) it was another 2miles. The knee brace helped alot so we continued but not at the fastest pace. It was fun to have everyone on the sidelines cheer us on and I certainly wasn't going to stop after coming all that way. Since we had our cell phones, we found out that Lisa decided to run after about mile 4 and Debra continued her fast pace walk and found a nice family to walk with. Lisa made it in 2:46 hours, Debra in 3:20 and Ninon and I in 3:46 with still around 100 people behind us. I feel pretty good that 1, I finished and 2, I wasn't last!!! YEAH!!!! It started raining the last 3/4 of a mile so we were soaking wet, cold and by the time the race ended, my knee was killing me but I was still smiling and glad I could mark one more thing off my Bucket List.

Our husbands took us out for breakfast, shopping at the outlet mall and to a nice restaurant for dinner then we went back to the condo to play games. We had a wonderful Valentine's Day and one we will never forget! After we all went to church on Sunday, we drove the 8 hours back home. Next time, we will have to go a day or two early so we can see Myrtle Beach!

I can see how people get addicted to the marathons. We are already planning our next one!