Race Result

Racer:	Brad Payne
Race:	OBX Marathon
Date:	Sunday, November 8, 2009
Location:	Kill Devil Hills, NC
Race Type:	Run - Marathon
Age Group:	Male 40 - 44
Time:	4:18:41
Overall Place:	692 / 1816
Age Group Place:	71 / 154
Comment:	41 Minute PR!

Race Report:

Since I�m writing the first race report for this race I�ll devote a little extra space to describe the overall event. Folks looking for a fall marathon that is flat and with some local color should seriously consider this race.

Goal: Having finished a marathon six years ago, I�ve been trying to �race� a marathon. I wanted a PR I could be proud of, and I wanted to atone for my DNF in 2005. When training started back in July, my initial goal was sub 4:00, but I did have to re-evaluate that as my performance on 18-20 mile training runs told me that it wasn�t going to happen. Still every chart that extrapolates performance in shorter distances (5K, Yasso 800s, half marathon) says that I can go 3:50 or better�its just a matter of endurance. More on this later�

Race Selection: Sadly enough the primary driver was the UVa football schedule. There were home games scheduled the weekends of the Marine Corps and Richmond marathons so I decided to check out OBX. Plus, we have family down there so we could turn the trip into a mini-vacation. Virginia football is no longer good enough to affect my race decisions in the immediate future, but at least my pre-season optimism gave me an opportunity to try a new race.

There were a series of races down there that weekend. On Saturday, there was an 8K, and on Sunday they ran the full and half marathons. A minor criticism I had of their website was that it was a little confusing to figure out what date the race I wanted to do actually was. I initially entered the wrong date on the RATS race calendar and had to enlist the expertise of our webmaster to help me untangle the mess. (Thanks Aaron!) There were 6500 runners in total but most of them were there for the half.

Race Expo: The building was probably a little too small, the parking was a mess on Saturday, and the music was too loud, but what I liked about this expo was that it had more booths for local merchants than most expos I�ve seen. Basically this race gives the local economy a little off-season boost. They were especially playing up the up the pirate motif. There was a lot of �Aaargh� that weekend. I love the race t-shirt. Long sleeve polyester and not covered with sponsors. If I can train in Reston more regularly, you�ll be likely to see me in it.

Pre-Race: It was supposed to be a long four-day weekend, but I ended up taking off a few extra days. I was simply worn out and needed some down time before the race. I had been surrounded by sick people for two weeks and how I came through my taper without catching anything is a minor miracle.

Weather: I lurked on weather.com daily in the week leading up to race. I couldn�t ask for a better forecast, 55/65 with no chance of rain. My in-laws who live down there commented that this race had been lucky in previous years, and despite the rosy forecast, I packed all my racing gear�just in case. Sure enough it was actually warmer than expected, not a cloud in the sky, and I�m glad I stuck with short sleeves. (And by Tuesday after the race, the edge of Ida arrived, and the rainfall was torrential.) So you could sign up for this race and it could be beautiful, you could find yourself in a chilly tropical storm, or more likely, somewhere in between.

Nutrition: We made spaghetti the night before, and I had two bagels with peanut butter, a cup of coffee, and a bottle of Gatorade before the race. I planned on having Accel gel after the first and second hour, Power Gel at the third hour, and enduralytes as needed. I brought my own water belt and drank Gatorade on the course, particularly in the last miles, as it got hotter.

The Course: Point to Point from Kitty Hawk to Manteo. Mostly flat.

Miles 1-10: It begins in Kitty Hawk just south of the first stoplight you hit after crossing the bridge into the Outer Banks. It�s a residential area and very flat. There was just enough tree cover to keep my Garmin 405 from giving me accurate pace data. After a few miles I realized I was running a little faster than I had planned and eventually backed off to a comfortable 9:15 pace.

Miles 10-13: Just after the Wright Brothers Memorial I got an unexpected �surprise,� the course turned into a wooded trail. Normally I like wooded trails, but my objective today was to go fast, and the change of terrain slowed me down a bit. There was just enough sand and loose rocks that I had to run more conservatively which made me a little antsy. Since we were running south, we were chasing the sun, which occasionally peeked through the canopy to give us temporary blindness. I was glad to emerge from the woods at the midpoint of the race. My split was 2:01. Time to make up for some lost time!

Miles 13-20: I decided to dial it up a notch and see if I could bank a few minutes before the last push, but there was no extra gear for me at this point. It was significantly warmer than the start of the race, and I could feel the tops of my quads tightening up. At this point the course was now taking up a southbound lane of the Bypass. My fan support passed me on their way to the finish line for a little morale boost. But I wasn�t going to be going any faster, in fact, if my long training runs taught me anything, it was only going to get harder.

Miles 20-26: Right on schedule, my body began to rebel at the three-hour mark. It wasn�t anything specific, like the quad cramps that plagued me in MCM or the hamstring I pulled in Richmond�it was a general fatigue. Some folks started pulling over and were cramping. I think I was spared thanks to the Enduralytes. I didn�t feel like I had slowed down that much, but now my splits were mid 10:00. At mile 21, we turned west to head to Manteo, and there it is, the bridge. The course would be �flat� if it weren�t for the bridge so I say �mostly flat.� You can see the bridge for a long time before you actually get to it. It mocks you in its own little way. But then you start climbing, and the mockery escalates to full taunting. I muscled my way up the 4% climb without stopping. By now it was pure determination. My pace was affected by the climb, down to the 11:00s. At least at the top of the bridge I could see the final turn a mile away. Throughout the course, there had been a series of signs offering up OBX trivia such as Blackbeard�s real name and Lost Colony facts. Now they were just telling goofy knock knock jokes hoping to keep us smiling in the homestretch. At this point I knew I was going to make it, and I just had to suffer for another 15 minutes. They went by in a blur, and my pace actually picked back up. I ran the final 0.2 at 9:56 pace. And I felt great as I approached the finish line. I wanted to go faster than 4:18, but I was still very happy to have run a 4:18. The final half was 2:17�which was also my split in the first half of my 2003 MCM run. I�d say that�s a pretty healthy improvement.

Recovery: They had a nice party (free beer!)set up for us, but unfortunately I cannot comment on it since we couldn't stay long. My kids needed their nap so we walked back to the car, bypassing the shuttles due to long lines. I celebrated with a pulled pork platter from Pigman�s, beer, and some football. I didn�t feel that bad at all, and when we went out to dinner I was moving pretty well. I actually felt worse after the half marathons I did earlier this year. Since it was off-season, it was a good guess that the crowded restaurants were full of recovering runners. It was like everyone in town knew each other. I dreaded the next day, but I didn�t feel any worse than I would after an ordinary ten mile run. Heck, I�m already looking for my next race! And would I do this race again? Yep, sure would.

Splits
1 9:28 14 9:40
2 9:00 15 9:15
3 9:00 16 9:36
4 9:09 17 9:41
5 9:15 18: 9:50
6 9:08 19 9:48
7 9:17 20 10:34
8 9:17 21 10:27
9 9:13 22 10:39
10 9:19 23 11:26
11 9:42 24 11:54
12 9:19 25 11:18
13 10:11 26 11:02