Race Report Yuengling Shamrock 8K & Marathon - Virginia Beach

[Fast Eddie]

Trip began Thursday to the Yuengling Shamrock Marathon in Virginia Beach. I like to get an early start to these road trips, so I got on the road out of Toronto just after 6am, with the first night’s stop in Harrisonburg VA in just about 10 hours’ travel. From there, Virginia Beach was 3 ½ hours away, but I made a stop at Appomattox Court House National Historical Park, where the American Civil War came to an end with General Lee surrendering to General Grant. I had visited the start of the Civil War at Fort Sumter after finishing the Myrtle Beach Marathon a few years ago.

Packet pick up and modest race expo was nice and efficient at the local convention centre. Check in was at the very basic Travelodge. Advantage is that is was a 200 meters from the finish line. Disadvantage was I got a third floor room with no elevator, which meant an interesting climb up and down the stairs post marathon.

I had opted to do the Whale Challenge, which consist of an 8K on Saturday, and marathon on Sunday. Some rain was forecasted for Saturday morning, but fortunately it blew by early, and the skies were cloudy, 50F, but dry. Good enough for the short sleeved green shirt I recently bought. Race start was practically beside the motel. Had to keep things in check and not blow out my legs for Sunday’s marathon. Winds on the boardwalk were a good 20mph, so I tried to tuck behind some big guys to break the wind for me. I’ve run a 37 and 38 minute 8Ks last November and January. My finish time was 43:09 for this race. It was nice that the final 3 miles on the course would be the same as the marathon course, so I got a preview.

Both races had a 7:30 am start. Marathon morning was colder than yesterday. I had arrived Friday in 75F temps, so a bit of a shock with 40F temps that would actually drop through the morning despite sunny weather. Plus, the wind from the north had kicked up to 30mph (hello wind chill). A lot of people were wearing the race shirt I believe because it was the only technical long sleeve shirt they had, as most people were expecting short sleeve weather. I wore a light greenish Nike ¼ zip top that had some thermal warmth to it, 7” long shorts, light gloves, and a running cap with a head band, since my ears hate cold wind. Wide variety of clothing choices by all the runners, from the usual tank top and split shorts from the speedsters, to tights and quilted jackets. Lots of discarded clothing the first few miles. One guy I thought was wearing a long sleeved shirt, was actually topless but had a full body tattoo suit.
Start line was about a mile away from my motel, so I joined in the throng of other runners making their way out of Atlantic Ave hotel row to the start. Kind of reminded me of the walk from the Athlete Village to the start of the Boston Marathon start. Race course was like a dumbbell design, heading north first and through Fort Story Naval Base and the Cape Henry Lighthouse. Since you were running through military bases, race restricted you from carrying backpacks or even huge Camelbacks. 8K had 6,000 runners, half marathon 5,200 and marathon 1,700. Half and full started together on Sunday, and I was in Corral 6 with a projected 4:20 finish time. Made the 10 split in 59:23 and the half split in 2:05:27. Three porty potty stops, so keeping the old man bladder well hydrated. Had one Gu gel to start and grabbed two more at the 8 and 18-mile aid stations.

After the halfers split from us we carried onto the boardwalk for a couple of miles. First place finisher came by me just before the 15-mile mark, he was just past the 23-mile mark. It almost the same place I saw the last finisher on my way back. Only hill of note was the Rudee Inlet bridge at the 16 & 23-mile marks. Passed the Virginia Aquarium and looped through another military base for the National Guard and Army. Wind coming back on the boardwalk was awful, along with the concrete surface. Race stats has me passing 73 people from the 10K to finish, while only getting pass by 2 guys in the last mile. Finish time 4:18:08. So just about as predicted

Overall: 835/ 1689
Men: 589/ 1030
Male 60 - 64: 19/ 38

Medals for the 8K, Half, Marathon were basically the same design of the Neptune statue they have at the beach. The Whale Challenge for doing both 8K & Marathon had a whale tail design. I expect the Dolphin Challenge for the 8K & Half had a dolphin design. 

After a quick shower at the motel, drove to just outside DC to catch the Cherry Blossom Festival in DC on Monday.

[Fast Eddie]

Pics

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[Arrojo]

Awesome Fast Eddie! You are a bad ass. I’m impressed that you actually raced that 8K the day before a marathon. I’d be jogging it. Nice picture too.

[glwestcott]

Awesome Fast Eddie! You are a bad ass. I’m impressed that you actually waste that a.k.a. the day before a marathon. I’d be jogging it. Nice picture too.

+1


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