Marine Marathon Race Report (Read 589 times)

Perfect day--low to mid 50s, clear skies, slight breeze The start was well organized:just a short walk from the Metro, inspiring music and crowd, not too crowded. I crossed the starting line 2 minutes after the gun. Despite 22k runners the first few miles were pretty decent. I did not have to do too muck weaving. My goal was to improve on my pb fo 4:15, but if all went well I ws hoping to go sub 4. I hit the five mile mark right at 45 minutes even though there are some hills. Running through G'town was great. Beautiful area, lots of crowds, and a glimpse of the elites as they were coming back. Man are they fast. As a fellow runner said "we are all hoyas today." As we turned to run toward the monuments I caught up to Stan the Music man. He had speakers attached to his bike and was blasting awsome running musci as he rode along. I think it is a great idea to have mobile music at other races--since headphones are usually not allowed. After 5 miles I figured I better drop my pace a bit. I hit the 10 mile mark at 1:32 and was feeling great. This is when you enter the Mall and get to run by the monuments, white house and smithsonian. It is an awsome feeling. I hit the half at just under 2:01 still feeling great knowing that most of the hills were behind me. I fugured that if I could run just over 9 minute miles for the duration, I could break 4 hours. I kept on pace as we continued through the monument area and went onto the most isolated part of the course, a loop around a park. There were no spectators, no music, and very few support staff except around the one water stop that was there. By 16 miles there isn't alot of converstion going on, so all you could hear was feet hitting the ground and runner's breathing. As we hit 19 miles the crowd was fantastic. Just when you needed the support after a hard stretch there were tons of people cheering. I hit 19 miles right on pace and was still feeling good. Then we had to cross back into Virginia via a highway overpass. This killed me. It was only a mile or so but was such a hard section. However coming off the overpass you run through Crystal City packed with cheering spectators. Getting energy from the crowd I was to keep pace through mile 22 (3:22:25). Ok 4.2 miles in 37 minutes-I can due this. All of a sudden the wind in my sails was gone. I was struggling. Even passing the Pentagon could not motivate me. I shuffled onto mile 25 where you can see the finsh area but have to run half a mile past it and cirlce back (by far the worst part of the course). I finally made it to the final hill, ran as hard as I could up and crossed the line in 4:03:44. By far a new pb and just short of my ideal. Overall a great race. One that I would run again. Thanks for all the great info on the forums. Neal

Nice improvement Neal, congrats!!!

Neal, sounds like a great race...and you made it beyond the 20 mile wall that most people seem to hit. That's a great time for a first marathon! k

...some things never change...the awful 19 mile bridge, the last few grueling miles. I would recommend the MCM to anyone.

LOL, only from the mouth of a runner.

Congratulations on the PB. Nice running and great report! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the feedback.