Myrtle Beach Marathon 2009

By: Hazel Tapp

After a bit of arm twisting I thought I’d share a few thoughts on our  UCRR Myrtle Beach race weekend..

Our University City Road Runners “team” consisted of Mark Cox and Holly Townsend  running the half; Denise Derkowski, Tim Friederichs, Mike Hamm (aka Diane Derkowski), Dave Harris, Michelle Larson, Jonathan Savage and myself running the full. Mike and Jonathan were our most noble of runners, the pacers. Huge thanks also to Diane, our team UCRR one woman support crew extraordinaire.

For me, the week preceding the race was the usual misery of weather forecast obsession from 10 days out (went from high of 65 to major rains all race) the last week of 4 and 2 mile taper runs that seemed impossibly difficult (thanks Diane for reminding me this was the usual deal..). and general “what am I doing this for” malaise..

Craig and the boys wanted to come along which was great, but I was sorry to miss out on the “fun” van for the drive down (Michelle, Dee, Dave, Diane, Mark), even sorrier when I got pulled over for speeding in SC (48 in a 25). I’d name the town preceded with the words “godforsaken speed trap”, except that I just know someone will reply all that their favorite uncle was born and raised there, and was now working for his brother, the judge in traffic court.  I told the cop we were off for the weekend to Myrtle Beach and luckily caught myself from adding “for the race”.

When we arrived, Myrtle Beach was a balmy 70 degrees with lots of crazy runner traffic. We hit the expo just as the “fun” van crowd was heading off. The Expo is now held at the Convention Center which is a big improvement on last year in terms of size. Without the guidance of Dee and Diane I was unable to spot the bargains I had been assured existed. Luckily Diane had nailed me a $1 hat which was vital for the race with mid race rain as the latest forecast.

Holly and I carpooled in on race morning to join the more sensibly located “Broadway at the Beach” crowd for an easy pre-race set up. Tons of parking and bathrooms etc make Myrtle Beach a really good race venue, plus the cap of 2500 in the marathon and 3500 in the half put it in a “not to crowded but never lonely” race category. The half and full starts were side by side and you had to listen carefully to your placement on the road for either start.

I was running with Jonathan, Our UCRR unofficial coach, who was the official race day 4 hour pacer. As I have said about my several previous near miss sub-4 efforts, the planets really need to align for me on race-day.  Having Jonathan landing this Pacer spot was an unbelievable stroke of luck for me. We all set off sort of together and took about a minute to cross the start. Then began a pace I can only describe as glacial. The first few miles felt like we were doing 11 minute pace and I have to thank Jonathan for his constant reminders to “slow down Hazel, slow down Hazel, hazel would you slow down?”. I don’t think he had quite bargained for what a handful I would be. About mile three saw the trusty fun van crowd (Dee, Michelle, Dave and Mike) cruise past looking effortless in their endeavors.

In the early miles we all did more ducking and weaving than anticipated around the 3-abreast twelve minute mile crowd, any feedback on the perfect spot to start a race would be appreciated to avoid this. Running with a pacer was a little trickier than I had anticipated. Many people were attached to Jonathan: he had his pacer T-shirt, set of balloons, and witty running repartee, so finding just the right spot to run with him was challenging. Running next to or close by felt like being crowded, behind involved getting bonked on the head by balloons and in front meant a lot of head swiveling to know where he was. Luckily for me, his conversations with many were ongoing, so I settled for running ahead while listening to the chatter. This tactic had its pitfalls as I did drift ahead a couple of times only to be reeled back in by Jonathan, who probably ran an ultra with all the back and forth of trying to keep us all together. He gave some great directions and I was very sorry to lose him when I did…

The half way mark was a high point as I started to relax and got my first sight of my gu laden support peeps (Thank you Diane, Craig and my boys). About mile 14 I started to make some mistakes. I had pulled ahead of Jonathan and was starting to obsess about the “hill” at mile 18 I remembered from last year. I was feeling good on the downs and going too fast and before I knew it I was out of earshot of Jonathan. It was quiet and a bit lonely but I felt relatively good. Next thing I thought I was coming up on 18 and was horrified to read 16.

I spent the next two miles mentally regrouping, slowing down a bit, doing another gu and trying to assess my energy levels. The hill just after 18 turned out to be an absolutely tame, really not more than 1/4 small incline followed by a downhill. It was here I believe the pacing paid off bigtime along with all the training on the Mark Cox hill.  Mile 20 came along at exactly 3 hours which was where I was last year but feeling a whole lot better this time around. This left me with a 1 hour 10K. I was quietly confident.

At mile 22 Jonathan drew level with me and I was starting to suffer. He passed me a double espresso gu which I sucked down with desperation beginning to seep in. By 23 I knew I could not continue the 9 minute pace with Jonathan and I slacked off much to Jonathan’s consternation. I had no idea if I could pull things off at this point. I knew I had a few minutes in the bag but I had no idea if I could keep the pace. Somewhere about 24 mile mark the espresso kicked and my legs seemed to go. At this point heavy rain was cooling things nicely. I could see Jonathan ahead in the distance almost right to 25.5 so I was staying fairly upbeat at this point..

Just when it seemed to never be 26, Diane, Holly Craig and the boys appeared from nowhere.. god knows what my fellow runners thought as ”my crowd” literally yelled their heads off at me for the next 0.3 miles. As I turned the corner at 26.1 Jonathan appeared back at my side and joined in the shouting with no one letting up support until I crossed the line with the 3.59 showing. Together with the minute at the start I knew I had done it.. a 3.58.20. In the blur that followed I will never forget the camaraderie of the finish;  Denise, Michelle, Mike and Tim joining Holly, Diane, Jonathan and myself for a finish line blocking joint celebration. I quickly found out that Dee, Michelle and Dave with the help of Mike had run an AMAZING, truly amazing, 3.46.. A 10 minute PR for Dee, who, with the support of Diane running her in from 20 had SPED up during the last 6 miles to finish in awesome style and qualify for Boston. The four BQers were Dee, Michelle, Tim and myself, with PR’s for Dave and Mark Cox, who sped past Zola Budd (this is true) to get a 1.19.56 1/2 finish with a 2nd place age group award and 11th overall finish (I guess him and Tim are our elite-extraordinaire). Holly did an amazing 1.51 half, her second fastest time, well done Holly.

Worthy of mention here is that Mike ran the whole way wearing a seriously pink hat while by all accounts chatting to all the cute guys during the race… I think he was taking his role as Diane very seriously..

I called my dear friend Pam who was happy to know she will have company for her own well earned trip to Boston next year. She’s a 3.45 qualifier so I hope that  Dee and Michelle will join with her and set the Boston 2010 standard for us.

After a quick cleanup we all settled into a giant car seating 11 at the mellow mushroom for a few hours of beer and pizza, and of course no marathon is complete without a quick trip to the local pit bull tattoo parlor for a “Boston 26.2″ inscription. Has to be the most fetching tattoo I have ever seen… I wish you’d all been there for the sight of cute little Dee quietly explaining her tattoo vision to a bunch of 300 lb totally tattooed super-beefed out Guys.

To sum up for those of you looking for PR’s next year, Myrtle Beach is a really flat course (if you dont go out too fast) and a fun destination. I was astonished to see that pacing really does work. My last few miles had only faded to a 9.20 pace as opposed to the not so pretty 10+s I have run in the past.

Lets hope UCRR continues to turn out in good numbers for this fun event.

Big, big thank you to Mike, Jonathan and Diane. We are all so grateful for all you Guys did.

So cheers to us all and by the way Dee, I am sure I am not alone in dedicating this race to YOU!