The LONGEST MCM race report- 1st marathon (Read 723 times)

This story stars back at the end of March after I finished the National Half Marathon in DC. I’d met my half marathon goal, so now what to do next? For some reason, running a full marathon seemed like a good idea. I’d need a few months to build up mileage and the Marine Corps Marathon was at the end of October, plus it was local. I knew it usually filled up pretty fast, so I made it a point to sign up on April 30, the first day of registration. There it was. I was committed. In just under six months, I’d be running a marathon. Well, the summer came and went and fall is already nearly half done. Training was pretty tough in southern Maryland over the summer. Running 8 miles after work in 90°F heat with no clouds was certainly a test of commitment. But, I managed to persevere. Overall, my training went ok. I think I peaked around 58 mpw, all easy miles. The last four weeks didn’t go exactly as I had planned, but so it goes. Of course I’d have liked to get in more long runs and gotten more weeks in the 55-65 mpw range, but sometimes you have to take what you can get. For a first marathon, not too bad I think. I went to packet pick-up on Saturday. I was a little leery of this because I figured that Saturday would be the busiest day and there were a lot (30,000) people registered for this thing. Plus, I’d read bad things about going on Saturday. At any rate, all my fears proved to be unfounded. Those Marines run a tight ship! I literally walked in and went right over to pick up my bib, no line! Then over to get my shirt and goodie bag, also no line! Sure, the expo itself was a bit crowded, but they did a great job of keeping the crowd moving where it mattered. I took the metro up there and there were signs clearly marking where to go from the Stadium/Armory stop. Very convenient. Sunday morning came early. I woke up at 4:30am. The plan was to leave the house by 6, drive to the Huntington station and take the yellow train to the Pentagon, then walk from the Pentagon to the start line. Things initially went smoothly. My dad and stepmom came out to watch the race and keep my wife company during the incredibly long time it would surely take me to complete such a distance. My dad offered to drive and we all left right about at 6. Unfortunately, after about 15 minutes of driving, I remember that my sunglasses were in my car. Dammit! What can I say? It was still dark outside. I wasn’t thinking about the sun. Anyway, turn around, drive back, get my sunglasses, depart again, penalize 30 minutes. Dammit! The rest of the drive to the station and the train ride to the Pentagon were pretty uneventful. The train wasn’t that crowded. Pentagon station was a bit crowded, but not too bad, plus the crowd was moving pretty steadily. Of course I recognize that the crowds were light probably because I was running late, but no matter. As it turns out, it is a bit of a hike from the Pentagon to the starting line. Or, more of a hike than I thought it was going to be. On the bright side, by the time we made it over to the bank of port-o-lets, I only had to wait in line behind one guy, so that was quick. On the down side, I heard the start Howitzer go off while in said port-o-let. So, I wasn’t going to be lining up in my desired starting corral. I resigned myself to starting at the very back and began walking toward the start line. I didn’t cross the start until about ten and a half minutes after the official start. And off I went. It was pretty slow goings for a while. It was very crowded, which I suppose you should expect with ~18,000 runners. I was also near the back with a lot of run-walkers. I couldn’t get too frustrated since it was my fault that I arrived late and didn’t line up ahead in the corral. On the bright side, it did physically prevent me from going out too fast. At any rate, I just decided to chug along and enjoy myself. There were so many people that trying to pass would have been exhausting and futile. Better to just settle in and go with the crowd. Dist. Time Split pace Overall pace 5K 0:32:39 10:32 10:32 Yep, like I said, slow goings. The first 5K was in Virginia and was mostly up a gradual hill. This hill was really only a hill by DC standards. Very modest slope and it came very early in the race. It was very pretty. I’d never been that far north in Arlington before. Dist. Time Split pace Overall pace 10K 1:04:14 10:11 10:22 Second leg, a little quicker. This leg was mostly downhill. We came out of Virginia, crossed the Key Bridge into DC and started the out and back loop into Georgetown. Though I had been here before, it was still very pretty. Spectators were a little sparse heading up Canal Road. Understandable because there really wasn’t anywhere to stand. Dist. Time Split pace Overall pace 15K 1:35:15 10:00 10:14 Third leg, getting better. Coming out of Georgetown we came to the second “hill” of the race. While this one seemed a little more significant, it really wasn’t bad. It was still early after all. The course expanded a bit somewhere in here, easing congestion. Was still pretty crowded though. Dist. Time Split pace Overall pace 20K 2:05:34 9:47 10:08 There was a pretty steep downhill after mile 9. It didn’t last too long. Mile 9.5 brought orange wedges. Mental note: Spent orange wedges can be freakin’ slippery! Always best to watch where you’re going. After dodging oranges, a more gradual downhill to mile 10. Came down from Georgetown toward the Mall (Lincoln Memorial to be precise). After mile 10, everything was pretty flat until mile 26. Looked for my support crew at mile 10 with no luck. Never looked up though, they were up on Memorial Bridge. Anyway, we passed behind the Lincoln Memorial and went down into Potomac Park. The first water station I stopped at was at mile 12. I carried a water bottle with me, but by then I wanted some Gatorade. Correction: blue Powerade. Blech! As I was walking with my drink, someone ran into me from behind, spilling most of his/her Powerade down my back/right arm. It made me sticky. I hate sticky. No apology, must have been a local. Dist. Time Split pace Overall pace Half 2:12:06 9:20 10:05 Halfway there, Hains Point. The course expansions/contractions are starting to get a little old. I’m getting a bit tired of being able to cruise along only to run into a bottleneck whenever the course loses a lane. Dist. Time Split pace Overall pace 25K 2:35:28 9:44 10:02 Coming out of Potomac Park along the “eastern shore”. Finally see my people just before the 25K mark. Hooray! Keep on chuggin’, mile 16 is just ahead. Dist. Time Split pace Overall pace 30K 3:07:32 10:21 10:05 Back around the Lincoln Memorial again and around the National Mall toward the Capitol building. Starting to slow down here, in spite of all the spectators. I think I was just getting tired. Probably should have done more long runs in the 16-20 mile range. Dist. Time Split pace Overall pace 35K 3:41:25 10:55 10:12 Yep, really started to slow down here. This leg includes the turnaround at the Capitol Building, back westward down Independence and across the 14th Street Bridge back into Virginia. This was rough because I had it in my head that the bridge was only one mile, when including on/off ramps it’s much closer to two. Damn thing seemed to drag on forever. Although, crossing mile 21 on the bridge, it did help a little to think “only 5 more miles”. Somewhere in here I really had to psych myself up for running tired. I wanted to stop, but I had to keep going. I seem to remember terribly butchering the following quote, but focusing on the body=weak, mind=strong thing. "Now if you are going to win any battle you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do. The body will always give up. It is always tired morning,noon,and night. But the body is never tired if the mind is not tired. When you were younger the mind could make you dance all night, and the body was never tired. You've always got to make the mind take over and keep going." Goeorge S. Patton. U.S. Army General and 1912 Olympian. Dist. Time Split pace Overall pace 40K 4:19:38 12:20 10:28 Definitely the toughest part of the race. After the bridge, we went south for an out and back loop in Crystal City. Flat, but I was tired. Also knowing it was an out and back, I focused on finding the turnaround. Course that meant knowing that every step south was one I was going to have to do again going north to the finish. The turnaround itself was a small pick-me-up, since then I knew I was at least heading in the direction of the finish. After Crystal City, we looped back around the Pentagon on Route 27 to 110. This bit was very boring. Very few spectators. I was just waiting for mile 25. I took a few walk breaks in here. Never for more than a minute though. I still dropped 1:25 per mile from the previous split pace. At this point, I was just trying to keep going forward. Dist. Time Split pace Overall pace Finish 4:36:51 12:18 10:34 Starting around mile 25, the spectators came back in force. Saw my people again around 25.5. That was a huge boost. I was almost there. Just keep moving forward. I was glad that, if I had to walk, I did it back by the Pentagon when no one was looking. I’ll be damned if I was gonna walk now. Then, there it was, mile 26. Beautiful. I knew the last 0.2 miles were up an average 5% grade. Most people were walking up toward the finish. Not me, I sprinted with everything I had left, if for no other reason than to make the hill end sooner. If that hill was going to kick me, I was gonna kick it back! I have no idea what my pace was for that last 0.2 since I don’t have a Garmin, but I’m just gonna assume it was super fast. And there it was. I’d finished a marathon. The finish area was kind of a drag. The finishers were overwhelming the guys handing out the medals, so there was a lot of standing and waiting. That kind of hurt. Usually after my long runs, I didn’t just stand still. I could feel my legs starting to tighten up. I tried to stretch some, but there’s not much you can do surrounded by so many people. Oh well, what are you gonna do? I must admit that the marathon is quite the interesting puzzle. I’m eager to do more. Next up is the National Marathon, March 21, 2009 in Washington DC. Well, this was long, as advertised. Thanks for readin’ all dat. Look at it this way, more bang for your buck.

Thanks Paul!

Great recount of your day. Congratulations! From reading your one report, it is easy to tell you are a very easy going guy, good for you! If I was that relaxed I'd be a much better runner. Thanks for the lesson.

woohoo! And double woohoo for the longest report! I like long reports. I am super double secret probation extra interested in how you'll compare National with MCM. Please let us know how the two races compare. Sorry about the whole "starting in the back" thing; you seemed to keep a pretty good attitude about it. Which helps.

Congrats

woohoo! And double woohoo for the longest report! I like long reports. I am super double secret probation extra interested in how you'll compare National with MCM. Please let us know how the two races compare. Sorry about the whole "starting in the back" thing; you seemed to keep a pretty good attitude about it. Which helps.

What do you want to know? I've run both National races and the last three MCMs. I like running in DC. MCM is a spectacle/event with much nicer goodies, crowd support, and recognition. National is a nice little race. I preferred the first year course to the second. It's disproportionately made up of half-marathoners but I love to run through DC and National offers more of that. Last year, the final 5 or 6 miles were on the other side of the Anacostia (i think that's what it's called) through neighborhoods where the residents just looked confused as the runners trickled past. I will run it again. Oh, I should add that I usually run nearer to the front of the pack so I'm a little oblivious to the crowd issues that create so many complaints. I ran National last year as a training run, so I was in the middle of the pack (ran with Mayor Fenty for about 5 miles) and didn't have any issues with crowds. One last edit. You can see finish line video athttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/interactives/marinemarathon08/index.html?sid=ST2008102601721 It looks to me like the "unofficial time" is about a minute fast, so if you finished at 3:30, look for 3:29.

way to go! congrats! I too like the long reports

Great job, Ben. Nice even pace and you held together really well. See you at the National. There may be a pretty good group of RA'ers there this time around.

Thanks Dave!

Great recount of your day. Congratulations! From reading your one report, it is easy to tell you are a very easy going guy, good for you! If I was that relaxed I'd be a much better runner. Thanks for the lesson.

Well, I did get a little frustrated toward the beginning, but then I thought about it. I mean, seriously, was I going to be mad at the slower people who started at the back? Isn't that supposed to happen? Besides, it was my own damn fault I was back there. If I'd had my shit together and shown up on time, I could have corralled anywhere I'd wanted.

Wow, that's awesome! I ran the 10k while you guys were doing the marathon. We got to do the last part of your course, the part under the bridge and up to the finish. Congrats on finishing! Sounded awesome!

It was pretty awesome. If you're still considering a marathon for next year, you might want to think about this one. If you liked the 10K course, you'd probably dig the full course too.

woohoo! And double woohoo for the longest report! I like long reports.

I know, I've read your blog.

I will run this one (haven't ran one yet- my first will be in Akron in 2010) Hopefully in 2011 I will run the MCM. My bro is a Marine and has run it. I love the greatest Capital in the world. Have visited it twice ( was there for Reagan funeral and again this past summer) Do they actually have Marines barking encouragement to you along the course?

Ah, Akron. I was part of a 5 man relay team this year. I'll probably do the full or the half next year. That's a really well put together race. Plus, register for the full, get a free pair of shoes. Can't beat that! As for the Marines, yes there are quite of few of them about. As for encouragement...that would depend on how you define encouragement. At most of the water stops, they just yelled stuff like "keep it moving!" Some were creative. One Marine pointed out that we were only at mile 23 and there was no need to start breathing yet. Another one at mile 20 shouted something like "Only 12 more miles, then we do push-ups!". So yeah, I guess you could call that encouragement.