Out RunningMCM 2011 Race Report
I am writing this with the benefit of hindsight and a touch of euphoria since I finished so my view may be flawed. I am also just writing from memory so I might be leaving quite a bit out. Good thing I can edit as things come back to me!
0430 comes pretty early, even if you are anxiously awaiting your first marathon. For every long run I did during training for this event, I had a routine that I followed without fail. I did not follow the routine for the morning of the marathon. It didn’t hurt me by any stretch, it just felt different. Lesson1: stick with your regular routine.
The weather was C O L D. I did purchase a pair of 3/4 length running tights at the expo the day before the race. I am so glad I did. They made all the difference in the world. Most of my running shorts are pretty loose fitting and having that extra layer proved to be invaluable. Lesson 2: make sure you are dressed for the weather.
We stood around for the better part of 2.5 hours before heading over the starting corrals. That is something I will not do again. My legs felt really tired after standing that long and the muscles were shivering. I could just have easily sat down on a throw away towel or trash bag. Lesson 3: sit down if you can before the race, don’t stand for extended periods.
The race was long, I know what you are thinking “no kidding, it is 26.2 miles, dummy.” Seriously though, it felt long, the last 7 miles felt just as long as the first 19.2. I wasn’t prepared for that at all. I think the longest long run should be in the neighborhood of 23-25 miles to adequately prepare for a marathon both mentally and physically. Lesson 4:
run long in training.
Miles 1-6 – the start
There is great crowd support at the beginning of the race and then you are treated to some nice scenery as you travel through the Roslyn part of the run. The first hill you get to is leading up to the Key Bridge that takes you into DC about mile 4. It is early enough in the race that I had plenty of energy and felt strong here.
Miles 7-20 – the meat:
After the bridge into Georgetown (or NW DC, I think) there is a short out & back loop that treats you get to see the stairs from the movie “The Exorcist.” You know, where the priest rolls down them? Sorry, off track a bit. About mile 6.5 or so starts the only big hill on the course. It seems to never end and even has a switchback in it that makes it seem steeper and longer than it probably is. Just before mile 9 was a construction site that had 2 porta potties…these seemed to be pretty popular with most of the runners. I didn’t use them since they were behind a fence but thought it notable to point out that you might find it useful and/or necessary to use what is available in a time of need. Lesson 5: take any opportunity to get relief.
Coming out of Georgetown you run past the Kennedy Center on Rock Creek Parkway and head to Haynes Point and the halfway point of the run. This goes around the East Potomac Golf Course and is a peninsula that is surrounded by the Potomac River. It seems pretty lonely as you venture south towards the southern end of Haynes Point but there was a huge crowd right at the halfway point that was very motivating.
As you head back north towards the long loop around the National Mall and the monuments the crowd support grows. This is where I saw my favorite signs; there were many variations of “Worst Parade Ever” which I found to be hysterical and laughed at every one of them for some reason.
At mile 16 my sister and I parted company. We had been doing a Galloway style run-walk up to this point. The problem was that my knees started to hurt whenever we would walk and hers hurt when we would run. Rather than both of us suffer in pain we agreed to meet up at the finish. We wished each other well and went on. Even with the crowds of cheering people chanting my name (I had “CHUCK” on a bib pinned to the front of my shirt for extra motivation), I still felt alone. I almost went back for her and stuck it out with the pain…almost. Lesson 6: if you want to feel like a champ, pin your name to your shirt, it helps!
I think the hardest part for me was leading up to the bridge at mile 20. You see, if you don’t make it to the 14th street bridge by a certain time, you are removed from the course and forced to take a bus across the bridge since they open it back to traffic. For people of my speed, this is a major concern. Fortunately, I made it with plenty of time to spare, well, I really don’t know how much time, it just sounds better when put that way.
Miles 21 – 26 – the second half (at least if felt like it):
Once I got on the bridge I had the most unusual feeling I have ever experienced. My legs stopped working. There was no real pain, they just stopped. I, literally, could not take another step. I told myself that if I could just make it to where the paramedic was standing, I would have her take me to the end, I was done. The problem was that I could not make it over to her. She was only about 50 feet away from me and it seemed like several light-years. After several seconds that lasted years, I was able to take one step, then two; then I could walk – not run. I decided to go to the far end of the bridge and see how I felt then.
I met up with a man, a Patriots fan, with whom I talked about sitting down with a cold beverage after the marathon. The thought of a comfortable couch and a cold beer seemed to be all the motivation I needed to pick up the pace again and before I knew it, I was running again. After crossing the bridge and hitting mile 22 and 23 in Crystal City I had a surge of confidence and by the time I went back past the Pentagon, I had the emotional realization that I was going to finish this thing! I started thinking about all of the setbacks that we, as a family, had experienced over the past couple of years while I tried
to train for this moment and I could feel the tears rolling down my face.
At mile 25 I set one final goal: I would run, no, sprint the last .2 miles. I jogged slowly for the first half of mile 25 and walked from 25.5 to 26 to make sure I had plenty of energy for this last burst effort.
The last two tenths:
Going from a very painful and slow walking pace to an all-out sprint is not an easy task when you have no fuel left in your body. I remember crossing mile 26 and thinking that I had to run so I began the painful transition from walk to jog. There is a slight downhill at this point on the course which helped me to convince myself that gravity was helping me to build up momentum. By the time I reached
the base of the hill leading to the finish and the last 200 yards I was in a dead sprint on numb jelly legs. My mantra was playing over and over in my head, thundering so loud that I could not hear the screams from my body “MOVE FORWARD, DON’T QUIT!”
The crowd at the finish was huge. Isn’t it interesting that I know they were yelling and cheering for each runner yet, looking back, I don’t remember any sound at all…just dead silence. All I see in my mind is a clear, yet blurry vision of people on either side of the road and the strip across the pavement where my chip would register that I had finished.
I should point out that when I hooked up my Garmin to my computer and looked at the speed with which I ran that last .2 miles, it wasn’t that fast. In fact, it was little more than a
quick jogging pace.
No matter, I know that I left it all out there and I am now one of a select few that can call themselves a Marathoner. That is something that I will have for the rest of my life.