Marathon Training and Discussions


First marathon: Outer Banks 2007 (Read 228 times)

    OBX is a well-organized small marathon/half-marathon. No display clocks every mile, slightly sporadic water stops. But water, gatorade, medical and gel support were there. Mile markers were sign post mile markers, but weren't always highly visible. 50-ish at the start. The Sound was beautiful. Nags Head Woods--mud/sand covered road for miles 8-12. "Quick" trail run for 1/2 mile. Somewhat brutal on the ankles. Good spectator support through mile 20. Picked up some Biofreeze for my legs at that point. The most brutal hill was at miles 22-24--the Washington-Baum bridge. I'm guessing 150 ft rise in 3/4 mile? I walked a lot of the uphill--but the scenery made the loss of time worth it. Spectator transport was a little erratic, shuttles were a little confused--but we pretty easily got where we were going. I would highly recommend this marathon, but I'd recommend treating it like a small marathon.

    "You can't untrain for Monkey" - bdub

    Needs more cowbell!

      That sounds really nice--gotta love that weather! How many folks ran this? The first year Grand Rapids was run I think it was a pretty small turnout. Last year was year #2, I think, and there were around 1k runners--this year it was ~2k runners doing the full. I plan to run it next year...I hope they cap it at 2k, as parking was not nearly so easy this year. k

      Kirsten - aka "Auntie Kirsten"

      '14 Goals:


      • 130#s (and stay there, gotdammit!)

        It sounds like a really fun event. Congrats! I know a girl from another forum who works at a restaurant that feeds the pre-race carb loaders. I guess they were super busy. She watched the marathon the next day and had such a great time she wants to run it next year! Big grin
        Jennifer mm#1231

        Go Pre!

          Biofreeze rocks. The only decen topical ointment. got me through many runs incuding my last marathon! Dave
            what does biofreeze do?
            Jennifer mm#1231


              It's like Ben Gay - but not as stinky.




                From the official results: low 44'F, high 53'F. NW wind 8 mph, 18 mph gusts. 948 finishers in the marathon division (at least 1250 registered) I'm thinking that the half was near 2000 people, but they started near the 13 mile mark at a separate starting point and joined the marathon course just past halfway. They also started at 7am vs 7:20 for the marathon. One other thing that makes me classify this as a small marathon: the food immediately at the finish was peanut butter bagels and gatorade. There was a public marathon festival that had mostly pay vendors with music... I believe Coors Light and Bud were providing their product "samples" for free. I didn't partake of anything other than some gatorade and the shuttle back to the car. Of course, this time of year is great at the Outer Banks for tourists b/c even during the marathon weekend, restaurants were just barely full. We've had zero wait for restaurants since.

                "You can't untrain for Monkey" - bdub