Running with Little T: Marathon #31: Outer Banks Marathon, North Carolina, 2011

The journey to the Outer Banks Post Race Pirate's Jamboree began in Kitty Hawk, traveling southward through Kill Devil Hills, Nag's Head, and finally, to the town of Manteo on Roanoke Island. It was a beautiful morning, mostly sunny, 50° and slightly breezy. The starting line was the perfect size with about 600 marathoners, so there was no frenzy or hoopla--nice and calm. (Except for Toby who was still in the porta-potty at the 60 seconds to go mark...He made it with 30 seconds to spare). Toby, Jamie, and I were ready to get our pirate on!

The first 10 miles were along a quiet, tree lined road, with occasional views of the sound, and some friendly locals who said, “Thanks for coming to visit”. Though we didn’t see any damage along the course, Hurricane Irene did hit the Outer Banks pretty hard and I think they were really happy just to see visitors! We had nice view/tour around the Wright Brothers Memorial, and except for one tiny hill, this part of the course was completely flat.

Wright Brothers Memorial in background

Jamie and I remained within eye-sight of each other and re-grouped at the woods entrance. At this moment the race changed its profile entirely. Suddenly we were trail running! The terrain was gently rolling, along a dirt path, but not really technical. We were really enjoying this, even though we didn't hold our marathon paces through here at all. After a couple of miles in the woods we ran into some crazy volunteers with their snack table, typical of what you would see at a trail running event, with signs pointing upwards. To our left was a huge ascent into the single track portion. Here the footing changed to hard sand and pine needles, and the terrain was much more undulating. It was surreal to be running through this and come upon the mile 13 marker deep in the woods. It was like, "Oh yeah, I am supposed to be in the middle of a marathon". Very, very strange!! Shortly afterwards we exited the woods, and the shift of the legs back to flat asphalt was a little unsettling. It took me about a mile to get my pace back to where it was "pre-woods".

Miles 14 through 21 were good miles for us. The scenery of the second half of the course was not the greatest, but we were making the best of it, running strong, and laughing or shouting out when we'd see the Washington-Baum Bridge to Manteo in the horizon across the sound. (our singlemost giant hill). After mile 21 though, things got ugly, as they sometimes do, as we turned right, heading towards the bridge. We knew the bridge would be before us, but it seemed like forever until we actually got there. It was also starting to get “warm” (~65°), no clouds, and a bit of a headwind. It was starting to become a real struggle for me at that point.

Jamie would not leave my side after my many attempts to unhinge her, like a barnacle from a pirate ship. I watched my pace slipping and tried my, "If you leave me now you can still break 4 hours" tactic, followed with, "You will really be mad at yourself for not breaking 4 hours" tactic. When we finally hit the base of the bridge I threw out my one successful trick. I said, "You make that bridge your bitch". And off she went! About halfway up the bridge I did it, I stopped and walked. And it felt good. Man it felt good. Walking is the devil! You are ruined after walking!

The dreaded bridge

At the base of the bridge there was Jamie, waiting on me, DAMMIT! I found myself lingering at the water stops and she'd get me going again. Around mile 24 we came across this guy lying in the middle of the road. He tried to stand up, but fell back down, so he just sort of sat up and looked around. He appeared to be lucid. We asked him if he wanted help getting up and he said no, and just stayed seated right there in the road!

We finally turned off that stinking road right at the mile 25 marker, which I was hoping would rally me home, because finally there were spectators and noise and only 1.2 miles to go, but I found myself having to stop and walk. I was hot and dizzy and just done. I mean DONE. Jamie got me going again though. She'd do this little start up jog beside me, like let's go, and that seemed to work. There was a kid yelling, "You came this far. You can't quit now". I cried a little inside because I had no energy left to punch him in the stomach. Once more I stopped, but Jamie and a fellow runner got me going again, with just one turn left to go there was the finish line! Finish time: 4:06.

This was the first time I finished a marathon and didn't care about putting the medal on. I didn't care about taking a picture with the pirates. I didn't even care where the beer was. That's when I knew I was in trouble. All I wanted to do was lie down. Toby found us and led us to his “grassy knoll” spot. I immediately lied down, repeating, "Oh my God, thank you Jamie, Oh my God, Jamie I owe you..."... Jamie was feeling great, so she went off to get our bags, and Toby proceeded to lie down again, as he was not feeling good either. I stopped sweating and started feeling normal again, so when Jamie returned we tucked Toby in and went off on a beer search. It was a great post race party--lots of fun in a giant blocked off area of the town, so it wasn't overly crowded. Free beer and live music, hey!

He missed out on the jamboree

Stats and info:

Toby's time was a 3:23. His race had parallels to mine in some extent. I'll let him elaborate.

I got 3rd in my age group with the 4:06. 4th place was 4:07 so I really do owe Jamie big-time! The finisher's medal is hands down one of my favorites. It's shaped like a pirate's map with a little sword charm dangling off it. My 3rd place award was a treasure chest pin, which I attached to the ribbon.

When the race organizers asked me to fill out an on-line survey, I could not come up with a single suggestion for improvement. It was truly one of my favorite marathons, and one of our favorite trips.

The Outer Banks itself is worth visiting, but things were shutting down at this time of year. Kill Devil Hills (where we stayed), Nag's Head, Kitty Hawk and Manteo were all still somewhat alive, but driving to Cape Hatteras was somewhat a disappointment, as everything was dead down there. Still, we did see some of the damage from hurricane Irene down there and visited Cape Hatteras lighthouse. And just our luck the 228 steps / 208 ft lighthouse climb was closed, oh darn. We didn't have time to take the ferry over to Ocracoke Island, which I really wanted to do, but we just ran out of time.

Thanks to my mateys for a fun trip. It was fun pillaging the Outer Banks with ya!