Marathon #52: Skidaway Island Marathon, Savannah, GA, March 2019

I didn't think I was going to make it to this one. I pulled a hamstring about six weeks into training, which left me hobbling and rehabbing for another 5 weeks. My only goal was to get well, which is what a normal person's goal should be, but then I saw that damn Nike commercial with a message that spoke to me. "It's only crazy until you do it". I guess it was in the back of my mind that if  I could ramp back up and get a few long runs in I could actually run the thing,so when I saw the commercial I found myself saying, "f*ck yeah!!". Well, folks, it's only crazy until you do it...then it's just plain stupid....

Ok so onward to the race blog. In summary it wasn't the worst marathon experience ever, far from it, and I did manage to run an ok race in spite of myself, but I wouldn't recommend cramming for a marathon. Just don't do it. (you see what I did there?)

I've always wanted to travel to Savannah, so this marathon was one of my top choices for the state of Georgia. The marathon runs entirely on Skidaway Island, 20 minutes outside of town. In addition to a state park, there's a gated residential community with six golf courses, over 40 miles of trails and walking paths winding along the marshlands and lagoons of the island. Many of the streets are lined with mansions and moss covered trees. Other than the pine tree lined stretch in and out of the Ocean Science Center we would be doing a sort of clockwise loop along the island with the exception of a few out and backs here and there. The full marathon count was around 200, with twice that for the half marathon. We would all start together until the split at roughly 8 miles. There is only one hill on the entire course!

My only recruits for this trip were my trusty husband Toby and sister wife Jamie. Toby would run the half and spend the rest of his energy taking care of us, ha! We got into town with just enough time to eat a big (and late) lunch, head to Dick's Sporting Goods to get our "packets" (bib and cotton shirt only), load up on Gatorade and other "necessary items", and hit up DQ (some rituals never die) before retiring for the evening. 

don't ask

Long before sunrise we were up and  on our way to the 7:00 AM race start. We really lucked out with the weather. It was going to be a relatively cool day, with unseasonably DRY air, YES! The sun would come out in full force, but it would never get out of the 60's by race end. We were warned there wouldn't be many water stops on the course, so I carried my water bottle. As the sun began to rise we were off without a lot of fanfare down along the tree lined road.

Right away I could feel the "not quite fresh and rested" feeling in my legs. The pace I found myself settling into was slower than I had hoped. Sigh...So the initial goal was set; just try to finish under 4:30. At least now I had my answer as to what effect the lack of training would have on the race and accepted my fate.

After the tree lined road we entered "The Landings" and began our ever changing twists and turns from road to path to road again, along a residential street, out onto a wide open path with a lagoon view, back onto a residential street, onto a path along a golf course, this way, that way, on and on. I was trying to focus on the beauty of the course (It really was pretty and the houses were amazing), but was annoyed by some things. After 51 marathons you start getting picky. First of all, at what few water stops they had they were using PLASTIC cups. Noooooo!!! Why? Every stop had them. Additionally, they handed out plastic water bottles to runners, which of course littered the roads and trails along the course. If I lived at "The Landings" I would not be happy to see that. Also, restrooms...quite scarce! Occasionally I'd come across one porta potty, but they'd always have a group waiting, so I fended off stopping until I came across a somewhat hidden park restroom around mile 12 that was unoccupied. Standing in front of the mirror at the sink, messing around, I'm like "get out of here and run already"! I used to be so fast at these things!

I guess the thing that ate at me most was the lack of people once the half marathoners split off. Not only were there few runners, but there were few people AT ALL. I did see residents out walking their dogs, but other than that very few of them were outside cheering on the runners. Some of the turns were manned, and the people there were always nice, but a lot of times there would simply be an arrow. More than once I freaked out, thinking I had missed a turn because I'd find myself running quite awhile without seeing anyone else. I was very grateful to have my music with me!

Mile 16. Hey look a photographer!

I was SO happy to see Toby around mile 19! I was asking him a lot of questions about his race, how's Jamie doing, etc etc, taking every opportunity to pretend I wasn't in a race myself while I strolled beside him, until he finally prodded me to get moving again. I was still able to do math and determine I was cutting the 4:30 mark really close, so I didn't fight him on this.

There was an out and back from around miles 20-23 or so, which I welcomed. Finally, people! Right away I saw Jamie! She said she was having stomach "issues", and I knew what that meant. Ugh. She still looked strong though. Along this stretch I saw some of the "pacers" with their pace signs, and every single one of them were running alone! What's the point? Around mile 22 the 4:30 pacer flew past me at a pace I couldn't even think of matching, which really confused me and made me question my ability to add. In no time she became a speck in the horizon. At this point my spirits were good anyhow. I wasn't feeling the urge to walk at all and my music was really helping me. Especially a song I added to my playlist and doubted, "Road to Nowhere" by the Talking Heads. It ended up being so fitting!

I thought I would dread the return to the long straight tree lined road to the finish, but at this point I was sick of the paths and growing interactions with golf carts. Toby joined me near the end and asked if he could take my water bottle and I said "no, I may need it later", which made him laugh because I was literally less than a minute away from the finish line. He said it seemed like I was going to finish around 4:31, to which I argued that I had at least 5 more minutes to go.  The mind is a funny thing on mile 26...or during the .2...wherever I was...Indeed I finished at 4:31.

...just 5 more minutes to go...100 yards...

Jamie ran a 4:03 and got 4th in her age group (by 18 seconds)! Yes, that was at least one visit to the woods!!

Toby ran a 1:30 half and came in second in his age group!

I managed to get 3rd in my age group. We were awarded pins to place on the race lanyards, which was nice, and all marathon finishers got really nice towels.

There was not a lot going on at the finish line (ie no beer), so before too long we headed back to Savannah to enjoy the rest of the week-end! Savannah was a blast! So much to see and do! Would I recommend this marathon? If it had been a typically warm and humid day it would have been brutal. We haven't had time to acclimate to that kind of weather by March. Even so, the trip to Savannah was so worth it, so yes, knowing that it's a small race with very few water stops, I say yes. Just do it!

Yet another great race with these two!!