Marine Corps Marathon: Race Report

I made it! Marine Corps Marathon was wonderful, so I’m going to get straight to it!

Friday night we landed and headed straight to the Expo. Here I am picking up my number from one of the countless Marines hosting the race.

After picking up my number, it was time to shop!

We headed back to the hotel and stayed up late watching our hometown Cardinals with the World Series. Great way to end the day.

Saturday,  it was miserable outside. The snowstorm that covered areas just north of the capital dumped rain and snow flakes on us. We stayed close to our hotel in Old Town, grabbed our umbrellas, walked around the shops and had lunch. After a nice afternoon nap, it was back to the room to get gear sorted for the race. It was going to be a cold morning, so I laid out all of my clothes and we worked out a game plan for the next day. Making the trip with us to D.C. were my friends and training partners, Deb and Beth, who were both running the marathon and Deb’s husband, Brad, who was running the 10K. The 10K was at the same time but at a different starting area. We decided to leave for the metro station at 5:30 a.m., giving us plenty of time to get to the start. Snug in bed by 9:00, I actually slept pretty well.

Mike nicely agreed to go to the start line with us. This was an amazing gift as it was absolutely freezing outside. I knew it was going to be cold, so I had brought 4 throw away shirts plus a long sleeve to keep and tie around my waist. I had figured that would be enough to keep me warm while we waited, but I had not anticipated exactly how cold it would be to stand in the dark for 2 hours. Since Mike was there, we were able to wear our sweat pants and coats up until 10 minutes before the start. He took all three of our drop bags for us. Love this guy.

After Drew Carey, guest starter and former Marine, welcomed us and made a joke about being cold, we were off. Apparently some Marines parachuted into the staring area, but I guess I was in the porta-potty and missed it. I did see the two osprey helicopters that flew over head right before the start and that was amazing. It took about 13 minutes of slow walking before it was finally our turn to cross the starting line and then we were off.

I’ve never been to D.C. before, so I can’t really tell you a lot about where we were at what time. I do know that we went through Georgetown during the first 8 miles or so and that was the hilliest part of the course. The leaves were beautiful and the hills weren’t too bad. I’ve been suffering from a really nasty cold all week and I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel on race day. In the first few miles, I was getting a pretty bad side stitch and realized that my nose was really stuffy. Luckily I had packed along a lot of Kleenex, and after blowing my nose the cramp went away. I guess the stuffy nose was changing my breathing. Other than the nose blowing, I didn’t feel effected by the cold which was a huge relief. In addition to Georgetown, we saw the Washington Monument, the Pentagon, the new MLK monument, the Smithsonian, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Capital building. There may have more sights along the way that I didn’t recognize, but seeing the ones I did recognize was surreal.

My plan was to run conservatively through the first 8 miles, then pick it up a little through the middle miles if I felt okay. To say that the race course was crowded would be an understatement. It was packed. The whole way. We had no choice but to do a lot of passing, and we were running pretty slow. It got a little better after mile 8, but just a little. There wasn’t any part of the race that I could just zone out and run my own pace. We were constantly looking for a spot to run in and trying not to trip each other. This is the first really big race I have run and I wasn’t mentally prepared for that. I felt like I was constantly stopping and starting, loosing my momentum and then getting it going again. All three of us ran together, hitting the half marathon point at 2:15 and putting us on track for a finish around 4:30.

I felt really strong with the exception of a bathroom issue. I won’t go into graphic detail, but I fertilized a couple of bushes. I was able to catch up with my friends and we hung together until mile 19 or so. Beth had been running right behind Deb and I, and we had all been keeping an eye on each other. I was getting tired and I was worried that when I turned around to spot her that I would biff someone around me. Deb and I lost her around the bridge but managed to stay together. By mile 22, I could tell that I was slowing down but it really didn’t feel like I was going slower. In my other three marathons, I had desperately wanted to walk and had to force myself to keep going. This time, I just felt out of gas and was frustrated that I couldn’t go faster. I was shocked that my legs actually felt fine. Mile 24 was my slowest mile at 10:46. Mile 25 was a little better at 10:35 and then finally I was able to pick it up a little to run mile 26 in 10:06. The last .2 is up a steep little climb to the Iwo Jima Memorial. Deb and I scurried up the hill and headed for the arches. I was tired. She grabbed my hand and drug me across the finish line. Chip time was 4:31:59. It was a couple minutes slower than we had secretly hoped, but I was thrilled given the crowd on the course and my visits to the bushes. Here are some pictures from the race. In the first one, we had passed Mike and then he was suddenly in front of us taking our picture. I was asking how he got in front. Duh, he had run ahead and I didn’t notice. This is around mile 9 and we are all still pretty happy.

This is mile 16, after one of my stops. At this point I had lost my buddies but I caught back up pretty quickly. I’m still happy!

I had heard that the finish line area after the race was one of the drawbacks of the race and it was. We were able to physically get across the timing mat but then had to immediately stop. Standing still right after a marathon is really difficult. I started to feel nauseous and really wanted to either get moving or sit down. Marines draped us with warming sheets and we slowly moved in lines to get our medals. While standing there was miserable, getting the medal was very moving. A Marine looks at you in the eye, congratulates you on your accomplishment, puts the medal over your head and shakes your hand. Here is someone that is devoting their life to protecting me, saying that I did something significant. What I did seems so trivial compared to their sacrifice. It was humbling but wonderful. To be able to shake a Marine’s hand and thank them for their service was worth running 26.2 miles.

Here are some more pictures after the finish. I was getting cold and was glad to get my coat back out of my drop bag. Beth came in just about 6 minutes after Deb and I. Pretty amazing that it was her first marathon! Read about her experience here. We quickly found her and were able to celebrate together.

Here I am back at the hotel showing off the medal. The medal is one of the nicest I have seen. It has a spinner in the middle and is beautiful. Again, worth running 26.2.

Here we are after getting cleaned up:

I wish I was eloquent enough to put into words how moved I was at various points during the race. We saw platoons marching with huge packs. We saw Marines wearing shirts honoring those that had fallen. There were countless runners wearing shirts and signs honoring those afflicted with cancer and other diseases. Being with that group of people made me proud to be a runner. We are people that care about others and put our pain and compassion into action. It may be an action that tries to heal ourselves or helps another, but it is our way of taking control of the uncontrollable. These are my people and I was proud to run with them. I was appreciative of all of the people standing on the sidelines that were there to cheer us on and to let us know that, while they may think we are a little crazy, they get what we are trying to do and care about us. I remembered all of the “good lucks” bestowed on me by my family and friends over the past months of training, and I appreciate every one. The presence of the Marines both facilitating the race and running made the race unique from other marathons. Finishing the race with friends and Mike there cheering me on was wonderful, and in every way this was my favorite marathon so far. So far… can’t wait for another one.