Sixteen weeks and 26.2 miles

The day has finally come for the Outer Banks Marathon. An event that we have been training for what seems like an eternity. Its hard to believe that its over... well at least this one. There were friends of ours running several of the races this weekend. A few of them ran multiple races. But what's a 8K one day followed by a Half Marathon the next? My hats off to them! Fayetteville Running Club and the Fort Bragg Chapter of Team RWB were in full force. We did run into another Team RWB runner from the DC Chapter.

The morning air was a bit chilly but at only 48 degrees is seemed worse than it was. Maybe it was the cool breeze coming off the ocean. Either way the skies were clear and we were ready to run. The course started off in Kitty Hawk, NC heading south along the Inter-Coastal Waterway side of the Outer Banks. The locals were out in full force cheering us on as we ran through their neighborhoods. From there we ran down to Kill Devil Hills, NC and around the Wright Brothers Memorial. So after that the adventure began. We found ourselves running on a dirt trail through the woods for about the next 3 miles or so. It felt like an eternity. I'm not sure if it was the hills and dirt or that I just wasn't expecting it. Either way we made it and found ourselves back on pavement.

The rest of the course was a mix of residential and open road. Other than the miles and the wind the next challenge would be the "Bridge". To make matters worse the bridge is strategically located at mile 22 of the course.

If I hadn't been so tired from the previous miles it really wouldn't be that big of a deal. Between the hills several of the races in Fayetteville and the hills in our Wednesday night run I would like to think I don't do to bad on hills. I feel no shame is saying I walked a step or two on that bridge. Once the decent from the bridge was done it was only a few short miles to the finish. Kelly made it to the finish at a smoking 4:01:47!!!

I'm glad we had some friends there to capture forever the look on her face. I know I am proud of her. I came in about 21 minutes later at 4:22:10. My only small complaint is that according to Garmin the course was a quarter mile long. It's hard to believe that its actually over. We have spent the good part of the last four months training and preparing for this day. Our first Marathon is in the bag. Guess it's time to start planning the next adventure. Maybe a Ultra Marathon?!?! After all it's all about the miles!!!!!

We have arrived in OBX!

After a short four hour drive from Raeford to Kill Devil Hill, NC we are here and all checked in at the hotel. This is one day that being a Gold Hilton Honors member came in handy. They upgraded our room to one that faces the ocean.

We still have two days till the race so there is plenty of time to cause some trouble. Tomorrow we are supposed to run two miles. This will be our last training run before the big race. We drove part of the course today on the way to packet pick-up.

The Expo for the race was full of different vendors just waiting to share their goods with us for a slight fee. There was one running shoe store that had some killer prices. We picked up a pair of Merrell Running shoes for Kelly for over 50% off. Now starts the waiting game... I so ready to get this going!!!!

Time to taper!

First off I'd like to give a big congratulations to all the runners who completed their first Half and Full Marathons over the weekend. As fall is finally in full swing so is the race season. Kelly and I had the privilege to help at the City of Oaks Marathon in Raleigh, NC yesterday. Team Red, White, and Blue were out in full force manning one of the water stations on the course. I'm sure Kelly was more helpful than me since she handed out water and I just offered a few words of encouragement. FRC was also in full force out on the course both with runners and supporters. It was inspiring to see they people give everything to push their bodies across that finish line. I can only hope that next week my first Marathon is more on the inspiring side and less on the going to make it on YouTube video of funny marathon finishes side.

Today starts week 16 of our journey to OBX. Last night we ran 8 miles in the neighborhood to finish off the previous 15 weeks of training. This week we have three shorter distance run before we tackle the training run of all training runs. Well that is until I get a wild hair somewhere and attempt a longer distance. I'm sure after next Sunday, Kelly and I will have plenty of lessons learned and things we would do differently next time. As of right now I hope I can take full advantage of this taper and physically and mentally prepare for OBX.