Marine Corps Race Report (Read 611 times)

I'll try to keep this short... (Good luck with that one!)

Just a few of my goals: 

** Dedicate my first marathon to my buddy Mike. You can read about him here.

** Finish in 3:30 or less.

** Enjoy the heck out of my first.

So it was cold - about 35 or so at Runner's Village. I love the cold, so I was looking forward to it. Anything beats the day we had on Saturday - cold, windy, snowy, rainy... Sunday there wasn't a cloud in the sky. There was only a light breeze.

I made my way to the starting corral tagged at 3:20-3:39 and lined up with the 3:35 pace group. I figured I'd start conservatively and see how I felt at the halfway point.

I say a prayer, thanking God for the opportunity. Asking Him for strength, asking for safety for the runners around me.

The cannon goes off, and so do we.

It's pretty congested...I guess the walkers didn't quite know what the corral markings were for. There were way too many of them up front! But we find our way through the first two miles, a tad on the slower side, but nothing to worry about. I found out quickly that my Garmin isn't calibrated correctly - I'll figure that out later.

By mile 7 it really opened up and we were moving along just fine. 

While the entire race was dedicated to Mike, I decided to really dial in on him during Mile 8 - that was the last mile we ran together on August 20. So that whole mile was a smile. I was laughing a bit, just recalling great memories, stupid jokes, and just loving the legacy he's left behind for his wife and 2 kids.

Mile 11 I got to see a whole slew of people that made the trek from PA to support me. That was awesome.

Mile 16 I saw them again. And man - I'm feeling good!

At mile 20 I'm joined by an old friend who jumps in to run with me. That was awesome! 

By mile 22 I had enough minutes in the bank that if I began to hurt and slow down, it might not cost me. Good thing....

Because at mile 24 I hit it hard.  In my previous long runs of 20, 22, and 23, I hadn't hit the wall. I ran those and felt great! I guess I found out what my break point is...man that sucked. It was all I could do to keep running.

Mile 26 came and we rounded the corner to face a frikkin' wall of a hill. Marines are screaming, the crowd is screaming, and my legs were screaming. But I kicked it in gear and sprinted (at least that's what it felt like to me) to the finish.

3:29:58 official time.

I'd say that was a success!

I was greeted by my family and friends at the end of the race and it was an amazing and emotional reunion. 
Especially when Mike's wife came to hug me. She and I were crying with each other...

I took my medal off my neck and put it on hers. This race was dedicated to him.

I couldn't help but think of the Apostle Paul's words in 2 Timothy 4:7:

"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."

What a great day.
Thank you ALL for the support you showed me, the words of encouragement, the prayers.... 

I can't wait for my next one!  

Mark

response to previous post (now cast as spam) removed.

Replaced with: WOW, what a good report.  thanks.

Okay . . . you made me cry!  Congratulations on a great race and a day that you will never forget!

Congrats to you.  A very solid race in memory of Mike.  My hat is off to you sir.

Good job Mark.  Thanks for the report.

Very touching, thank you so much for sharing!

 I found out quickly that my Garmin isn't calibrated correctly - I'll figure that out later.

 On a more pragmatic and less teary level....this is from all the swerving around people and not running tangents.  There is nothing to be done about it except run the best tangents you can, turn off auto-lap, and know the distance is going to be long by 1/4 to 3/4 mile.