My OBX Full... And She Ran How Many Marathons?

Sitting on the bus on the way to Kitty Hawk, NC, the start of the OBX Marathon, I over heard a women talking about a race coming up in the near future where she had requested the bib number 100. She was a little frustrated since she was told those bib numbers are reserved for the Kenyans. She replied I don't think the Kenyans would mind. I jumped in the conversation suggesting that maybe she just make her own or email Road ID and see if they would help.. then just pull that sucker off at the last minute revealing the "real" bib as she runs though the finish line. She seemed to think that was a good idea. I could not help but wonder so I asked what was the importance of the bib number? She told me it was going to be her one hundredth marathon!! Holy Crap, that is awesome I said. ..And what marathon would this be? She replied this one is number 90. I had to learn more so I continued to question her, asking when did she start running marathons and she told me in the year 2000. "I was going to be turning 26 years old so I wanted to run 26 miles!" she exclaimed. That was 12 years ago and roughly 7 - 8 marathons a year!! She also completed a marathon in all 50 states last year. Wow, now that is an awesome achievement! I cannot imagine having run that many marathons.

For me this was my 3rd in twelve months, less than half of that of my new friend on the bus! I also have completed a 50k trail run, 3 half marathons and several smaller running races in this same time frame. I feel like this has been a very productive year in running for me and the 2013 calender (right hand sidebar) is filling up... but only 1 marathon. I guess I need to get two more on the schedule. Registration opens up for Chicago on February 1st and sells out fast, but we do have our sites set on that one, and then I can  run OBX again a month later or look for something in between.. or if I am really feeling crazy, run 4 in twelve months or maybe even try to squeeze them into a calendar year. Either way, it's going to another year full of running!

From Left: Jessica, Matt, Shane and Vicki at the 2012 OBX Marathon 

So the results for my 2nd OBX Marathon is as follows: The official time has come out as 3:48:43. Last year I came in at an official time of 3:49:13. So 30 seconds.. 30 seconds!! To be quite honest, I am lucky to have even beat last year at all. The first part of my race was great. My time was on the mark and better. I do not know if I was gelling to much or maybe I was lacking in water consumption but around mile 17 I was starting to slow and my stomach was feeling very unsettled. I pushed through the next few miles and up the bridge marking the 23rd mile. As I came down the bridge, I decided to stop and drink some water and some Gatorade  This proved to be an almost fatal blow in my time goal. For me... and my body, I know one thing and it is general policy in a race. DON'T EVER STOP!! My muscles tighten and it's that much harder for me to keep moving. I ended up walk / running the next three miles which in all likelihood cost me about 3 - 4 minutes in my over all time. But that's fine. In this case I did not want to find myself on the side of the road puking and costing myself even more time. My body was giving me cues, and I was listening. Anyway. It is what is and I will try to continue to learn from my experiences. One thing I have learned; marathons are hard! 26.2 miles is long way and the fact that I can sit here write about the fact that I completed not only one but three (so far) is amazing. I still remember when I ran my first mile and it was every bit as exciting! The final stats on my placement are 25th out of 106 in my age group and 194 out of 1,189 runners over all!

From Left: Pete, Amanda and Ed at the 2012 OBX Marathon

I want to congratulate everyone who ran at the OBX marathon and half marathon this year! Each one of you has a story to inspire and I encourage you to share it. My Wife, Victoria completed her third half marathon yesterday in 7 months. This absolutely amazing coming from someone who never had any intention of running 13.1 miles She ran her fastest race 2:31:57. She has her site on 26.2 in late 2013, quite possibly in Chicago! My friend Amanda  ran her fastest half coming in almost 7 minutes faster than her previous half, coming in at 1:53:32 with two other great friends of ours by her side to share her experience. My good friend Matt, upgraded from the half at the last minute while at the expo to the full. He had been contemplating this for at least a week. I knew he could do it, he had been training hard, running 18 and 20 mile long runs leading up to the race, but he had never run 26.2 miles before. I am happy to report that Matt did an awesome job and finished strong as I was there at the finish line waiting for him and I would not have missed it for the world! Great job Matt! These are just a few of the stories and accomplishments that inspire me and those around us.
With each of them I am little more encouraged, and with any luck, at some point with all of inspiration, I may find myself running my 100th marathon!