On Saturday I ran the Myrtle Beach Half Marathon and beat my old half marathon PR by about 3 minutes! And on top of that, I traveled to the race with two new friends I met through the Raleigh Trail Runners and had a fun weekend.

The night before the race, we ate at a restaurant called Villa Romana that had a very entertaining fellow playing accordion. He played a wide and eclectic range of tunes, up to and including a rendition of Pink Floyd's "Shine On You Crazy Diamond." I complimented the guy on his audacity. He actually played a recording of Pink Floyd's original in the background while he played lead on top of it. I know this sounds like it should be awful, but it was actually quite good. And the guy seemed to have a good sense of humor as well. I guess you have to, when you play accordion in a restaurant.

As for the race itself, it started off uneventfully enough. I ran the first mile in about 7:30. At mile 8 my stopwatch said 57 minutes and change, which made me think my pace was starting to slow down a bit. So I consciously started picking up my pace.

By mile 10, my stopwatch showed that I was on track to beat my old PR, so I tried to lift my pace even more. My chip finish time ended up being 01:34:11. Not good enough for me to win an award, but I was very pleased nonetheless.

I spent the afternoon relaxing, hanging out in the hotel hot tub, and even took a very brief headfirst plunge into the 55-degree ocean water. Then my traveling companions and I went to the post-race party at the House of Blues, and then back at the hotel met a charming lady on the elevator who invited us to a party hosted by the Road Runners of NC club. Now it looks like we have added yet another running club to our social circle.

It would be difficult for me to come up with a more enjoyable way to spend a weekend.