Introduction

A couple years after getting into long distance running, I decided to try to run a half-marathon or marathon in each state. After crossing off my fifth state, I recounted the race to my sister. As I described the hills, puddles, cows, lightning, thunder, and cornfields, she suggested that I begin a blog about my experiences and races. While it’s hard to imagine the many different races running together, I could see how it might happen. So, I looked back in my mind (and with the help of my t-shirt drawer) am going to document my runs through all 50 states. End of 2015 update: 16 states done!

12/14/2013

Kiawah (half) Marathon (SC), December 14th, 2013


A week and a half before Kiawah Marathon, things were great.  After the Tobacco Trail and Nashville I could feel one of my best marathons coming soon.  One week before race day, I put on my shoes and headed out for an easy 13 miles.  100 yards in my knee started screaming and I knew exactly what it was, my IT band.  I stopped, stretched, rested, iced, and foam rolled for the next few days.  When things had not improved, I gave in and went to the doctor, ready to hear that I needed to sideline myself for the race, travel to Kiawah with my friends, and enjoy a bike ride around the island cheering them on (biking, no pain; walking, no pain; elliptical, no pain; stair climber, no pain; running, I felt like a knife was stabbing me in the knee).

The doctor agreed with my diagnosis but surprisingly gave me the okay to run the full marathon after taking the rest of the week off.  Two days before the race I decided 26.2 miles after 10 days off and unsure of how much pain I would be in made me more than a little nervous, so I dropped to the half.  This proved to be a wise decision.  I spent the first six and half miles in pain (there were tears, a lot of walking, and a spectator might have asked if I needed a medic).  After a gentle uphill around mile 7, the pain disappeared completely and I was able to run to the end (the Kiawah marathon/half have a really cool tracking system, it tells you how many people you passed within a certain stretch…in the 2nd half of the race, I was passed by none and passed 813, not to mention the tears stopped).

It wasn’t a PR for me, but an awesome weekend nonetheless.  After dropping out of the full I decided to focus on the fun part of the weekend, traveling to Kiawah with friends (one of whom ran their first of many half marathons to come).

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