RR Tybee Island

Race Report:

Marathon #220
Tybee Island Marathon
Tybee Island, GA
Feb 7/04


The weather was half - nice: sunny and a pleasant 49F as we lined up for the 8am start on the main street. The only negative factor was a brisk, cool wind blowing from the north-east at 15 to 20mph. And as usual it always seemed to be blowing in our faces no matter which direction we ran? Tybee Is is a very small island so the course had to wind up and down the residential streets to make a loop of 13 miles. We lucky marathoners got to run the loop twice! About 300 in the marathon and 700 in the half.

I ran smooth and easy at an 8:10 to 8:15 min pace and felt good throughout the whole race. Managed to finish strong with sub 8s over the last 2 miles to cross the finish line in 3:34:37. That was a surprising 34 minutes faster than my previous marathon thanks to Maddog's training program. Now I am concerned that Maddog will make the program tougher and more intense - but I am pleased and encouraged with the remarkable improvement in just 2 weeks so I will do whatever he says! I think I will run another marathon in a few weeks as another test/evaluation?

Tybee is a very small island and is a summer beach resort for Savannah and other parts of GA. Not much development and very few multi-million dollar mansions as expected?
Savannah is a neat and interesting city. Lots of history. The historical district and riverfront on the Savannah River have been restored and are very nice. The streets are lined with old colonial mansions and canopied with hundred(s)-year old live oak trees and moss. The riverfront has many pubs, restaurants and shops and makes a neat place to tour over the cobblestone streets.
I would definitely like to spend a long weekend in Savannah to explore and enjoy the city and history in more detail.