Shamrock Marathon, 19 March 2006, Virginia Beach, VA

Pictures taken by daughter Heather

 

 
  Neptune gets ready to resist the invasion of runners
     
  Outside the Thunderbird Motor Lodge at 7 a.m.  I'm ready to go.  The weather is clear but cold, in the 30s, with a brisk wind from the north.   As the morning progressed we got into the 40s. 
     

 

   The race begins.  Several thousand participated in the marathon, and several thousand more in the half-marathon.  . 
  This guy carried a flag on his back the whole way.  Another guy carried a flag pole with a flag.  The wind from the north made the flag flap, and I can't imagine the effort it must have taken these guys to carry their flags the whole 26.2 miles.   
Heather made this neat poster and held it up as I went by.  
     
  The final leg of the run was down this walk next to the beach.  Here the wind was at our backs and I made good time.  This point is the 26 mile mark; only 0.2 more to go.   
     
  All who finished got a medal like this one. 

My time was a little under four hours, and I felt good about that for an old guy running one of these for the first time. 

     
After the finish line, we could go into a tent to warm up.  One of the sponsors was Killian's Irish Red.  We were entitled to four large cups of beer each, but I drank only a third of one cup.  They also had hot Irish stew, bagels, pretzels, water, and fruit.  I wasn't very hungry so didn't stay long. 

In all, I thought the race organizers did a fine job.  I don't have an ambition to run any more marathons, but I do feel glad about doing this one. 
 
Addendum
 
In March 2007 I ran the Shamrock Marathon a second time, and did well enough to qualify for the Boston Marathon in April, 2008.  
The Boston Marathon was too much to resist, so I ran it  in April, 2008.  
My time in Boston in 2008 qualified me for Boston in 2009, so I ran it again.  
In 2010 I decided to run the Charlottesville Marathon.  I qualified for Boston again, but it was a tough course because of the hills.  
Louisville has a marathon, so in 2011 I ran that one because it gave me a chance to visit with daughter Alison and her family.  The weather was hot but I did qualify for Boston again.