OBX, Take 4

Back to the OBX, and the Saturday night pasta feed for 50 of my favorite runners!! The group decided that it would be more fun to eat together in our beautiful beach house ...

than in a noisy restaurant where we most likely wouldn't all be able to sit together. So I gathered a couple of willing and able helpers, and we set to work.

It wasn't long before we had way more than enough pasta, bread and salad for all the carbo-loading runners.

Dave and Pam Phillips and Dave's brothers joined us as well!

After we will all filled to overflowing, it was time for a River Runner Rendevous on the couch ... and a big group photo before race day dawned early on Sunday morning.

What a fun bunch!!

Race day started early. The marathon began at 7:20 and we left the house at 6. The forecast was favorable: light winds from the north, 50'ish for a low and 60's for a high. Some of us even donned costumes ... including pirate Donnie.

Thanks to a friend of Nikki's and some of our group who weren't running, we were shuttled right to the start without having to ride a bus.

The marathon. All things considered, it went OK. Not my best, but not my worst either. My hammie behaved well enough, but I just have no speed and it hurts when I try to run fast, so slow it had to be. And my usual leg cramps started at 16.43 miles. There were a few middle miles that were on gravel, then dirt/pine needle trails. I knew we'd be off-road for a little while but didn't think it would be for as many miles as it was. My hammie hurt on the hills in the woods, and I had to slow down. My finish time was 3:55:30, a BQ as a 49-year old :-) even though I turned 50 2 days post-marathon. I enjoyed the course and the beautiful weather. Here are my splits:   8:51 8:32 7:59 7:52 8:15 8:12 8:23 8:45 8:18 8:25 ( in the woods for maybe 4 miles coming up) 8:47 9:33 9:38 9:01 8:40 8:57 9:12 9:32 (stopped to fill water bottle) 8:44 9:27 (stopped to fill water bottle) 8:50 9:20 (stopped to fill water bottle ... I drank A LOT on this one) 9:00 9:12 9:36 (cramping really BADLY by now) 9:40. The finish area was very nice and there was plenty of time to sit around and recap our morning on a beautiful sunny North Carolina November day.





On the walk back to the van, Lisa handed me a DC (Diet Coke). Oh. My. Goodness. I could have kissed her!!! It tasted sooooooooo good. What a gem!!

Our return trip took us over the long bridge we'd run across at mile 23.

After cleaning up, we gathered on the lovely beach for a post-race, shirt- and medal-wearing photo. What a beautiful day!!

Another marathon finish in the books. That makes it a very good day. Fast or slow. A good day.

Monday brought a trip to a lighthouse and the beautiful grounds. We even climbed all those steps to the top to enjoy the view.

Then it was up to Norfolk, VA to visit the Wisconsin. Which we discovered after some running around and feeding much loose change in a parking meter ... was closed on Mondays!!

Then off to the airport ... for it was time for our super-fun road trip to come to an end.

But ... with the River Runners, there is no end to the fun!!

Thanks River Runners!!