Things I learned at the Kiawah Island Marathon (sort of a race report)

Apparently there's a little known breed of alligator, indigenous to the Kiawah Island area. Now I'm familiar with normal alligators, and consider them dangerous, but it seems there is a whole separate breed called the Danger Alligator. I know this because many of the ponds around Kiawah Island had signs that said they existed there (Danger Alligators). Weird.

Another thing I learned was a hidden and previously unrealized pocked in my running shorts. This is where I was forced to put my pride as I began to get passed and then "chicked" about 5 times in the second half of the marathon. Not the last girl, however; somehow I found a sprint (or what felt like a sprint) in the last .2 of the 26.2, proving to me that it took me 26 miles to really warm up and get in the zone!


Speaking of the second half of the run, it became quite clear to me that you either need an incredible base of real distance runs (8-15 miles) or a proper and complete training plan that will get the athlete up to the 26 mile point gradually and while retaining some semblance of limb health. That keeps the aforementioned athlete from wishing a danger alligator would leap out and rip his leg off so that his knee would stop hurting like a thousand knives were embedded in it. Of course, had this athlete taken his time training, his hamstring wouldn't have been weakened, causing it to be tight, causing a favoring that led to some shin pain, which led to a tight calf, which caused the knee to try desperately to leap from my body during every step.


On the wardrobe front, I have to say that for me the smaller and lighter shorts are always better for really long runs. This becomes doubly important when the humidity is near 328%, and perspiration does not evaporate. At all. Long baggy shorts (with long liners!) weigh up to 47 pounds (that's a lot of kilos for Lily and Nikki) when soaked with sweat, and tend to droop on the old caboose while running.

There are some flippin weirdos out there. After the race, G-Man and I decided to geek with our medals while walking around the shops with our ladiez and getting some lunch. After some cavorting with large copper frogs, we went to the market shop (snooty grocery store) to get some stuff for the party later on. We round a corner toward the check out, and a lady stops us, asking if the medals meant we won. I said, "Yes, I won twice!" Then I followed that we were actually wearing them to explain why we were walking this way, and she said, "Like you're hot?" Then she nervously laughed and went around the corner, congratulating us. She wasn't mocking at all, but none of us were sure what she really meant, other than alluding to me walking like someone attractive. Either she's into 60 year old retired football players with bad hips, or she is junkie with a fist full of cash. Speaking of weirdos...



It was a well done event, and besides my own lack of training, the only complaint was that the full marathon was nothing more than 2 laps of the half marathon course. My split at the half was only about 1 minute off my PR for a half marathon, which I was happy with, and my overall time (3:27:19) was only about 7 minutes off my goal time, and equates to a sub-8 pace, netting me a 124th place out of over 800 finishers. Okay, so that last stat isn't too impressive. Whatever! I gotz me a sweet medal, so shut it!

Thanks for the encouragement. This may be my last ever marathon. And I'm okay with that.