On Saturday January 17 2015, I ran the Charleston Marathon in Charleston,
SC. South Carolina became my 30th state in my quest to run a marathon
in all 50 states.
This marathon was a bit of a "comeback" marathon for me. Soon after my last marathon in Olathe KS
all the way back in April 2014, I had surgery on my sinuses. It wasn't
anything serious, but I was told not to exercise at all for a few
weeks. When I started running again, I noticed that I had lost quite a
bit of fitness. And soon thereafter, I woke up in the middle of the
night one night with terrible back pain that turned out to be diagnosed
as sciatica. I had thought sciatica was an "old person's problem". But
I guess I learned that either it isn't, or otherwise I am officially
old. Either way, it was not pleasant. I was sidelined for quite a
while, and once I was able to start running again, I felt that I had
lost all my fitness that I had built up over nearly 10 years of
consistent running. I had lost both my stamina and my speed, and it was
the beginning of a long road back.
Although I was able to run again in August, I was nowhere close to being
able to complete a marathon. I basically decided that I was starting
marathon training from scratch, and I would need an appropriate amount
of time before I could schedule my next marathon. I had been signed up
to run the Mesa Falls Marathon in Ashton, Idaho in late August, but that
wasn't going to happen. So that just became the latest marathon that
was a DNS for me.
So as to not push myself too hard, I opted not to attempt another
marathon in 2014 and I focused on early 2015. And thus my choice for
Charleston in mid-January. My training progressed throughout the Fall,
and I slowly built my stamina back up. But I noticed that my speed was
still lagging well behind where I used to be. Maybe it was partly
because I still had lingering affects from the sciatica, or maybe
because I'm just getting older. Or maybe because I didn't put in enough
miles during training in the Fall. Or some combination of all of that.
In my last few marathons before this hiatus, I had already been
getting slower and slower. After my first 29 marathons, my first one in
Chicago in 2005 was still my slowest, and I wanted it to remain that
way for as long as possible. But I was clearly flirting with the
possibility of a new Personal Worst here in Charleston. While I wanted
to avoid that, just finishing it and checking another state off the list
was the most important thing.
I flew into Charleston on Friday afternoon. I went to the expo to get
my race packet, and then went to my hotel downtown. I was traveling
alone and wasn't meeting up with anybody, but I've gotten used to
spending weekends in new places by myself for these marathon trips. I
found a place to have dinner, and since I was tired, I went back to my
room and went to sleep rediculously early.
So at least I got a good night's sleep before the race. Basically, I
was facing ideal conditions for a comeback marathon. It was a flat
course at sea level, and it was beautiful weather. (Sunny and upper 30s
at the start of the race, moving to the mid-50s by afternoon). If I
needed any help to avoid a new PW, I was getting that help.
On race morning, I drove my rental car from my hotel in downtown
Charleston to the start line at a high school a couple miles north.
There was plenty of parking, and everything went smoothly. It was a
little chilly, but I'll always take a chilly start to a marathon, since
that typically means it won't get too hot as the day wears on.
After the race began, we headed south down the peninsula on which
Charleston is located. It was about 3 miles down to the southern tip. I
started off slowly, intending to save my energy, knowing that I'll
definitely be running out of it sooner or later. My first mile was a
pokey 9:50, which is one of the slowest first miles I've ever had in a
marathon. After the runner traffic cleared up a bit, I responded with a
9:25 in the second mile, which turns out to have been my fastest mile
of the day. Earlier in my marathon career, I had entire marathons where
I had no miles slower than 9:25. Now here's a marathon where no mile
is faster than 9:25. Times have changed for me.
I didn't notice the mile marker for the first mile, but I did notice it
for Mile 2. And the sign appeared at about 2.25 miles on my Garmin.
And I'm not the only one. A bunch of runners in the crowd commented on
how the sign seems to have been placed poorly. Back when my watch hit 2
miles, I heard a bunch of other watches beeping at almost the exact
same time. So it definitely seems as though the sign was misplaced.
After we reached the southern tip of the peninsula, we headed up King
Street through downtown Charleston. This was a nice scenic portion of
the race. Unfortunately, it was about the last scenic portion of the
race. After we headed north out of town, the scenery turned rather
bland. And it remained bland for about the entire rest of the race.
There was one point where we ran out to the end of a pier that extended
into the Cooper River before turning around and retracing our route, and
I suppose that was somewhat interesting. But still, the scenery was
not terribly exciting.
I fell in with a couple other 50 Staters, and chatting with them really
helped pass the time. However, soon before the halfway mark, I had to
do something that I had never done in a race or any length before -- I
had to stop to take a pee. Among all distances, I have completed over
100 races, and I had never stopped for a bathroom break before. I have
done it a few times during training runs, but never during a race. I
have no idea what I did differently this time that made this necessary.
I went very soon before the race began, like I always do, so it's a
mystery to me. About 12.5 miles into the race, I found a section of
thick trees at the side of the road and jumped in to do what I had to
do. I suppose I cost myself 1/2 to 3/4 of a minute. Not too terrible.
I just found it strange that it was necessary at all.
There was no official marking for the halfway point, but based on where
the Mile 13 sign was, I estimate that I passed the halfway point in
about 2:09. Of course, the mile markers continued to disagree with my
own GPS, ever since Mile 2. So the 13.1 mile point on my watch was not
the 13.1 mile point on the course. Each marker was at least 0.25 miles
off according to my GPS, and that gap slowly increased as the race wore
on. It's natural for a runner's GPS to show slightly more than the
total race distance if the runner doesn't take perfect tangents. So
this slight increase of the gap would make sense, if it wasn't already a
quarter mile by Mile 2. Something was definitely fishy with those mile
markers.
My pace continued to slow. I made it to Mile 20 without a mile over
10:00, save for the one mile during which I had to pee. At this point, I
knew I was running out of gas and would need to walk a bit. But I
liked my chances of avoiding a PW, albeit not by much.
I figured I could take a short walk break about once per mile and still
avoid a PW. During the 22nd mile, I found myself walking with a few
other runners. Apparently we got a bit chattier than I intended,
because I seem to have spent a bit too much time walking during that
mile. I clocked Mile 22 in 11:40, which now put me in danger of being
too slow. I resumed running, and tried to go longer between walk
breaks.
I took another walk break at Mile 24, and then decided I would only be
able to afford one more after that. However, as I progressed and ran
the math in my head, I decided that one more walk break would put me
dangerously close to my PW time of 4:27:48. I decided that I would
continue running for as long as I could, even if it was slow. Slow it
was, but I was able to chug on through the rest of the way to the finish
at a school in the town of North Charleston. The clock showed a time
worse than my PW, but my watch time (and chip time) we both under.
Officially, I finished in 4:27:04. Thus I avoided a PW by 44 seconds.
Considering the ideal running conditions, this was clearly not a banner
performance for me. But as my first marathon back after a long hiatus, I
will take it. Most importantly, of course, was checking state #30 off
my list.
All in all, my watch measured 26.61 miles for the course. I spoke with a
bunch of other runners who had similar measurements. One woman
measured 26.9 miles. Again, it's natural to be a little high because of
missed tangents, but this is unusually high. So I think the course was
definitely a little long. Thankfully it wasn't another 0.1 miles long
or I would have a new official PW.
After the race, I had to take a shuttle back to the start line in
Charleston, where I then picked up my rental car and drove back to my
hotel. I napped for a bit, then showered and went out to a few places
downtown to grab some food and local South Carolina micro brews.
Charleston seems like a town with good nightlife, but by nighttime I was
too tired to enjoy it, and I went back to my hotel for another early
night's sleep. I was up early on Sunday and went back to the airport
for my flight back home.
As for my review of the Charleston Marathon, I'd say it was a mixed bag.
As I mentioned before, the scenery was not very interesting. Most of
it was bland, non-descript trees and lots. The course had a bunch of
odd loops and out-and-backs, which seemingly could have had the
potential for confusion. But everything was well marked and I had no
problem navigating the course. I've done other point-to-point courses
before that required a shuttle ride. But I think this is the first time
I've had to be shuttled after the race. Typically I've been shuttled
out to the start line, and then we had to run back to the finish.
Frankly, I prefer it that way. After running 26.2 miles, nobody wants
to wait around for a bus, and then climb on board with a bunch of other
stinky, sore runners for a 20 minute ride. But the running conditions
were ideal for a fast race. Any other course with any other weather,
and I might very well have had a new PW.
In the end, I'm just happy to have South Carolina checked off my list.
Epilogue: In the time since I wrote the above Race Report, I learned that the Race Director acknowledged that the course was too long.
Apparently the pace car went two blocks too far before making a turn
(which required an additional two blocks back before meeting back up
with the correct course) right before Mile 2. So indeed, the course was
long by 4 blocks, or more specifically, 0.1918 miles as announced by
the race. All the runners' times were adjusted downward, I assume by a
pro-rated amount. In the end, my "official time" ended up being
4:24:53, which is 2:11 faster than I originally thought. It still rates
as one of my slowest marathons, but not quite as close to a PW as I
previously thought. While it's too bad that this error happened, it's
nice that they adjusted the runners' times to make up for it.
And now the photos. Click any image to enlarge.
At the start line, before the race
The crowd right before the start
Just getting underway
A pack of runners
Rolling down the highway
Palmetto trees
Running on King Street in downtown Charleston
Running past the first time check point
Typical boring scenery
Lots of out-and-backs on the course
We ran out to the end of this pier. And back
Running by the water
A Southern belle running along
As always, other 50 Staters were among the crowd
Spectators on a bridge
Lovely scenery. And potholes
Video from about Mile 14
A shot showing how my GPS differed from the mile markers
Lots of spectators had signs along this course. I tried to take pictures, but none of them came out too clearly
Another video, around Mile 17
More "scenery"
Hey, a lake! That's almost nice scenery
More scenery
Video around Mile 20
One of the few residential neighborhoods
This guy's sign says "Only 303,136 inches left." And it was actually
the third time I saw him with the sign. Each time had an updated
number. I wonder how close his calculations were..
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