Friday morning at 5AM, driving to Jacksonville -- it was raining. When my plane to Cincinnati was cancelled, and when I eventually flew into Philadelphia, it was raining. Flying into Norfolk-Virginia Beach and picking up my race packet for the 25th Shamrock Sportsfest Marathon, I was glad that I'd brought my screaming-yellow waterproof bike suit, because it was raining heavily. 6AM Saturday March 15th -- race day -- the sky was overcast and it was a cool 42 degrees when I went out for a warmup run wearing a full-length warmup suit. Hal Rothman and I ran together and I learned from him some of the complex mechanics of coordinating the film crews that would film the 8:30 Masters' 8K, followed by the Marathon at 9:00 and the 8K Open run at 9:30. Then back to the hotel for my traditional marathon day breakfast and stretching routine. 7AM. The sky is now cloudless and it is a bright sunny day. I expect that it will warm up, so I revise my clothing plans and put on a T-shirt and shorts. Hal Rothman sees me in the lobby and says "You're not going to run in THAT". He explains that I'll freeze in the cold wind along the beachfront boardwalk. I go back up to the room and revise my plan for the third time, settling on tights and a long-sleeved shirt. After watching the start of the Masters' 8K, I ducked into the Convention Center to wait for the Marathon start. Among the runners was a 67-year-old Arizona man with a "50 + DC" T-shirt who is now running in his 39th state. He says that you can join the group after you've run marathons in 20 states. A quick calculation shows that with today's race I will have 10 of the 20, and that I've made a big mistake by running 3 Boston's, 3 in Florida and 2 in Minnesota.The Shamrock Marathon is one of those races in which you don't have to worry about how much time it will take to get to the starting line. I lined up right behind the elite runners, a few feet from the start. Race adrenaline does its job again and my planned 8 minute pace is 7:20 for the first two miles. After finally establishing the 8 min pace I remember another reason why going out faster than you can maintain is a bad idea -- for psychological rather than physical reasons, since a large number of the runners whom you have passed are now going to pass YOU. The Shamrock course has a number of out-and-back segments and we get to see the front runners at an early stage. Then there is the stretch that Hal warned me about -- the boardwalk (which is actually concrete) along the beach. A cold 25 mph wind hits you in the face and saps your energy. This actually makes it a lot easier to do negative splits on this course, going out more slowly and coming back wind-aided. Soon the high-rise tourist hotels are behind us and we are running along a tree-lined road to Fort Story. One of the country's oldest lighthouses looms up before us. This is a flat out-and-back section and we see the first woman, Roxi Erickson, on her way back.
I run most of the way with a tall lanky fellow from Roanoke. He is an ear-nose-and-throat specialist who has a hard time getting in workouts. We spend the time trading workout schedules and discussing crosstraining, and the miles roll by quickly. At mile 20 I am feeling surprisingly good, so I pick up the pace and find a different running companion -- a 45-year old fellow with a gray pony-tail who drove down from Cleveland with his friends in a conversion van. I noticed that he was wearing a white race number rather than the green Marathon number. He told me that people he met kept saying "You drove all the way from Cleveland for just an 8K?", so that on race morning he changed his mind and decided to run the Marathon.
The finish of the Shamrock Marathon is unique. You run INTO the Convention Center. There are bleachers on one side of the finish line and the announcer booms out the names of the finishers in the cavernous interior. I come in at 3:28 which I later find out is 7th in my age group (they only go 5 deep for the awards). FTC veteran Charlie George is working the computer, just as he has done for our own Great Gainesville Road Race.
Runners stand around eating bananas and apples, drinking cup after cup of Gatorade. I avoid the free Bud Lite (a sponsor!) figuring that I need to hydrate. One of the runners is from Nashville, and works with juvenile delinquents; there is a couple from near Washington who manage to run in spite of (or because of) 3 small children. A middle-aged runner from Atlanta says that he ran his first marathon last October (Marine Corps) and has done one-a-month ever since. And there is another guy who is running one marathon a week for the rest of this year. After standing around, my previously flexible leg muscles are starting to set up and I barely shuffle the hundred or so yards between the Convention Center and the hotel.
Daniel Verrington, 34, from Massachusetts, overtook a Virginia Beach runner to take first in the Marathon. And Roxi Erickson, 34, of Nebraska, was the frontrunner throughout, and won the women's Marathon. This was the 17th career marathon win for Roxi, who holds the American record for the most lifetime marathon victories. The races were kind to people with Gainesville connections. Former UF runner Mike Mykytok took second in the 8K Open, missing first by a whisker. Tatiania Pozoniakova, who trains in the area, took first in the 8K Masters, and Tamara Karlioukova and Alla Doudaeva took 2nd and 3rd in the 8K Open.
The next morning, racers were lining up at the newstand for the morning paper and bidding goodbye to friends fleeing to the airport. See you at Vermont; see you in Maine. I didn't find anyone who is expecting to see me in Vancouver in May.