Vac & Dash group increasingly kicking up dust in Myrtle Beach Marathon

When Jennifer Hatley of Albemarle, N.C., and two friends ran their first marathon in 2014 in Myrtle Beach, she was struggling over the final few miles.

The sight of friendly faces in familiar garb and their encouraging shouts helped her continue trudging forward, and energized her when her small pack passed a group of enthusiastic well-wishers within a few tenths of a mile of the finish line at Pelicans Ballpark.

Hatley and her friends were running as members of the Vac & Dash Racing Team, which has had an increasing presence at the Myrtle Beach Marathon since 2005.

“It was amazing because at that point you’re questioning yourself and whether you can make it, and to make that final turn and see all the Vac & Dash [members] cheering people in, that was wonderful,” said Hatley, an environmental health specialist for the Cabarrus Health Alliance. “We looked up and they were all standing there cheering. It was a feeling that we have done this accomplishment and made it. It was a wonderful feeling.”

Vac & Dash runners in the Myrtle Beach Marathon are identified by a common T-shirt. The color and design change every year, though the sun is represented in some form. Non-running supporters along the course also wear identifiable clothing.

So what is Vac & Dash?

It’s a store in Albemarle that sells the unique combination of vacuum cleaners and running apparel and is owned by Peter Asciutto, who has mobilized the community to run, particularly road races.

Becoming a member of the running team isn’t very complicated. It requires about $15. “Buy a shirt and you’re on the team, that’s our qualification,” Asciutto said.

Most members are from the surrounding North Carolina counties of Stanly, Rowan, Montgomery and Anson. “We all come from the area and it helps identify the local people,” Asciutto said.

Myrtle Beach is the group’s biggest event each year.

Asciutto opened the store in 2004 and came to the marathon in 2005 with a group of about 10 people wearing his store’s emblem.

Last year, Asciutto counted 193 runners representing Vac & Dash. There were seven area relay teams for a total of 35 runners, 42 participants in the 5K, 87 in the half marathon and 29 in the full marathon.

This year he expects the group to be at least 200 strong.

“We try to make running fun,” Asciutto said. “As strong a running community we have, we don’t have many fast runners. We just get people up and moving.”

As personal and lonely running the marathon or affiliated races can be, the Vac & Dash kinship provides support that lasts nearly the entirety of the race because of the group’s large numbers.

“It helps break the monotony of the marathon,” Asciutto said. “When they get tired, if they can find someone from the area to run with, they have a common bond and it will help them get down the road. It picks them up mentally. Families will wear the hoodies and people running can see them on the side of the road and they get a lot of shout-outs. It kind of pumps people up during the running of the race.”

Runners who have finished will often stick around to provide encouragement to those lagging behind them.

“At the beginning maybe the slowest in group was 4  1/2 hours,” Asciutto said, “now some are 5  1/2 to 6 hours, and we stay out there until the last one comes in to root them on.”

David McKay of Rockingham, N.C., is one of the few people who have run the Myrtle Beach Marathon every year since its creation – though the 2010 race was canceled because of a snow storm – and joined the Vac & Dash team in 2009. The experience has changed for him since then.

“Running it with the group, even though you might not know all the participants down there with you, when you see that shirt it kind of gives you a boost of energy,” McKay said. “As you run you’ve got all the supporters down there with them and they’re cheering the Vac & Dash on. If you’re just down there on your own you’re a nobody. It’s an inspiration to be part of the group.”

Asciutto, 57, who is a Stanly County commissioner, ran the Myrtle Beach Marathon prior to opening his store. He worked for Eureka vacuums and was promoted and transferred to North Carolina, settling in Albemarle in 1998 while working in Charlotte, which is about 30 minutes away.

Vac & Dash opened with vacuums, running shoes and apparel, and UPS shipping. Asciutto added screen printing when he started selling Albemarle native Kelly Pickler shirts in 2006 as she gained fame while competing on American Idol. He now also has a race timing business used for about 40 races per year.

Last March, Asciutto moved to a 7,500 square-foot building from his initial 2,000-square-foot store, with screen printing and running equipment accounting for the bulk of his sales. But he’s not eschewing vacuums.

“We have to keep selling vacuum cleaners to keep the Vac part of our name,” said Asciutto, who has 10 employees.

The Vac & Dash crew attending the Myrtle Beach Marathon increased to about 20 in 2006 and 30 in 2007, and grew quickly thereafter. Asciutto contributes running articles in a local newspaper and would write about the Myrtle Beach trips, helping them grow.

His promotion has undoubtedly helped sales. “Who would go to a place called Vac & Dash to buy running apparel?” McKay said.

There are now a pair of runs in Albemarle leading up to the Myrtle Beach Marathon. Three weeks prior is the 19.7-mile Fellowship of the Idiots run from the town’s YMCA to the top of Morrow Mountain and back. Participants get a free T-shirt upon completion. Approximately 160 people from throughout N.C. participated this year. “It’s done to gather for one last long run before the Myrtle Beach Marathon,” Asciutto said.

A week before the marathon is the Waffle House 10k-Plus Run, which is nearly 7 miles and is run from one Waffle House in Albemarle to the other. More than 100 locals generally participate. Asciutto also stages a series of two-mile runs over 17 consecutive weeks in the summer.

“He has brought running in that area from nonexistent to something people want to do,” said McKay, who cited Asciutto’s promotion of running and printing of hundreds of shirts for area middle and high school cross country teams. “It’s unbelievable what one man has done on his own.”

Asciutto has run in several marathons and half marathons in Myrtle Beach, and will run an opening four-mile leg of the relay on Saturday after missing last year’s race following a health scare.

The Vac & Dash group almost lost its leader in June 2014 when Asciutto passed out in the midst of a run. Another runner called 911 and within 10 minutes he was in an ambulance on his way to the hospital for an eight-hour quintuple bypass heart surgery.

He trained for the 2015 Myrtle Beach race but had a bad cold and didn’t want to risk running without being fully healthy. “I’m looking forward to this because this will be my comeback run to Myrtle,” Asciutto said.

This year’s Vac & Dash group has grown to include the Stanly County Convention and Visitors Bureau, which has purchased a booth at the HTC Runner’s Expo on Thursday and Friday to promote the county’s running opportunities, which are largely Asciutto’s creations.

“For about 200 people to leave this area to travel to Myrtle Beach for a marathon, 5k or half marathon, that’s a pretty significant number,” said Stanly County C&VB director Chris Lambert. “We thought it would be good to get on the shirt and help out any way we can.”

This story was originally published March 1, 2016 at 8:57 PM with the headline "Vac & Dash group increasingly kicking up dust in Myrtle Beach Marathon."