Dare County

Back in March 2009, I decided to sign up for the Outer Banks Marathon, my first marathon, partly for the location. I'd been to the Outer Banks as a junior high school student, so needless to say, it had been a while since I'd been to Dare County, North Carolina. I trained in between injuries, and arrived on the Outer Banks with George on November 7, the day before the marathon.

We spent the night in Kitty Hawk, though we didn't get there in time to look around much. On the morning of the marathon, November 8, we drove to Manteo High School to park the car, and caught the shuttle back to the starting line in Kitty Hawk. We saw a few people from the Raleigh area in the starting area before the race, which was fun!

Although I ended up having to stop the race at the halfway point due to injury, it was great to see sections of Dare County on foot! One of the highlights for me was running around the Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills! It was great! George and I commented that we'd both like to return to Dare County sometime. The whole county is full of history, and includes the Fort Raleigh National Historic Sight, which preserves the sight of the Roanoke Colony (the first English settlement in what became the United States) and is the site of the outdoor drama, "The Lost Colony."

Dare County was formed in 1870, and was named after Virginia Dare, the first child born to English parents in the Americas.