Marine Corps Marathon Race Report
3:28:27 …PR by 32 seconds
7:58/mi pace (7:54/mi based on actual’ish 26.4 miles?)
3rd of 446 in AG …517 of 18,513 overall (top 2.8%) and 418 of 10,014 male (top 4.2%)
Training: As noted, it was a tremendous, injury-free training cycle - hills, intervals, tempo, quality long runs. I did worry about having overexerted myself on a 5K a week ago.
Friday: I flew in Friday afternoon and went straight to the expo, which was at a big hotel complex outside of DC. Expo was non-eventful. I just got my stuff, bought a new running cap hat, and headed back to my hotel. As I checked in, I saw that they were offering rides over to the race site. Sweet! I got the last slot for a 6:10 am shuttle (only a 10 minute drive), but later started to question if that was too early for the 7:55 am race (hint: definitely not). The hotel had an “order in” menu, so got some spaghetti and meatballs with garlic bread. While waiting for the food, I walked to a local CVS and picked up a bottle of wine.
Saturday: I ate a big breakfast at the hotel, relaxed for a couple of hours, then went for a shakeout run, having not run on Thu/Fri to rest some slightly sore knees. The run ended up at about 4 miles and it felt good. It included a stop by the Marine Corps Memorial, which is right near the finish line of the race. While at the Memorial, a large group of vets from Colorado were there taking pictures. I learned that one of the old vets in the group was actually on the beach at Iwo Jima while the flag was being raised! Also, his granddaughter is now a Marine, and she surprised him by meeting the group. Awesome stuff. Before heading back, since I was right near an entrance to the cemetery, I decided to go in (walking, not running, around). Visited the JFK site and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which included a changing of the guard. I began to worry about being on my feet too much.
Saturday afternoon was a reception for The Elk Institute, hosted by a Republican Congressman (Neal Dunn) from Florida. The small reception was wonderful. I got to meet Carrie Elk () as well as a few featured veterans. They gave a gift to the top two fundraisers of the much smaller than planned fundraising team. The minimum goal had been set at $600. The #2 fundraiser raised $1,410. I was the #1 fundraiser ..at $2,670. Sadly, the other nine did very little. My ( - our- ) total exceed the other nine combined. The gift I received was a limited edition bottle of bourbon, ‘Horse Soldier,’ presented to me by CWO Bob Pennington. He was the one in the film 12 Strong, and he now produces some bourbon. The plate used to form the label for the bottle was made from metal taken from the World Trade Center. Yeah …very cool stuff. But again, I was worrying about time-on-feet. We had food at the reception, so I relaxed in the hotel watching Michigan-ND (Go Blue!) and the World Series.
Sunday morning: I had a good six hours of sleep, getting up at 4:45 am. Had a bagel with peanut butter, and stored a banana in my bag for an hour later. Took care of business, then took some Imodium to be safe. Packed up a bag for after the race, though in hindsight, that wasn’t necessary, other than my room key and my Metro card. The hotel shuttle dropped us near the Pentagon Metro stop, and the journey began.
So the weather was just a mess. We were caught in the perfectly terrible timing of an overnight/through-the-morning deluge (“torrential,” as the local news said). As we exited the bus and joined the masses for the long (1/2 mile+) walk to the staging area, the rain came down hard. As most others, I had myself covered (long black garbage bag). However, over the course of the pre-race, my feet were unavoidably soaked. I caught a porta-potty along the way to clear out my system one last time, and I had no issues through the rest of the day.
Upon arriving at the staging area at a little before 7 am (comfortable timing), I screwed things up big time. To avoid the heavy, wind-driven rain, I sought shelter in a big tent being used for morning religious services. I’m sure most people were in the crowded tent only to escape the rain, though many might have been praying for the rain to end. Their prayers went unanswered. I found a sliver of space and sat down for ten minutes to relax and chill. However, I soon needed to pee, so I headed to the staging areas porta-potties and the incredibly long lines. I couldn’t just skip the portos as I still needed to change into my Vaporflys but needed to pee first . I finally got to the front of the line at 7:30 am. But then I had to rush back to the tent to change shoes (in a crowded space and wet ground) and then drop my bag with the UPS trucks. Oops! Long lines there, too. #$@)$(% I got my bag dropped off at 7:50 am …but was about a half-mile from the starting line. I took off. Needing one last pee, I saw lots of guys standing along the roadway behind the trucks, and I joined them. Why didn’t I just do that thirty minutes ago?!? Anyway, I needed to scoot to get positioned properly for the crowded start to a big race. I cut into the corral area, but got stopped up too far back. Like others, I climbed the barrier, ran fast on the grass along the road, and cut into the corral around the 3:15-3:30 crowd just as the race started. Not ideal at all. Plus, in all the rushing, I hit a lot of water and my feet were now already soaked. They would stay that way for the next 3 ½ hours. I also didn’t identify the pacing groups as a benchmark. Lotta stupid in all my prerace, race site logistics.
I viewed the race as having six segments with some transitions between them. But two notes before going into the race detail: First, my watch was clearly off on mile 2 as it beeped a 2 mile point well before the official mile mark. I attribute this to a corridor of tall buildings and a lot of runners tracking time. I believe the same issue occurred for miles 23 and 24 (in Crystal City). I’ve adjusted the times for those three miles to give a more realistic portrayal of where I was at. Second, I didn’t run the 27.04 miles my Garmin showed. Some is probably tied to the above (half a mile or more of poor readings?) but the rest can be attributed to the difficulty of running tangents in a big race (2/10ths?). I actually did end up running tangents quite well while most runners ignored them. But I probably did run 26.4 miles.
Segment 1, the hill: miles 1-5
The hassle of big races. The first mile+ was a lot of weaving through traffic. Mile1 showed
8:03, which is about what I anticipated, given a crowded start, so that was good. The rain was moderate at this point and would stay that way until about mile 12, though puddles were everywhere (and the damage was already done). I did come across a man running barefoot – probably the smart move for the day. Mile 2, as mentioned, was off on my Garmin, and it messed with my mind for a while. Given the 5K split, this was probably
8:15 as we moved uphill. I was aware my legs didn’t feel very good, though my breathing was easy. Mile 3 was an
8:11 pace, as we finished the uphill and started back down. Early in this mile, the 3:30 pace group passed me. Dammit. I wanted a 3:2x, and here I was with blah legs and the 3:30 crowd moving past me. I decided to just go with the flow and wait for segment two. Mile 4 was mostly downhill, so the
7:21 pace (and a bit of effort to hang behind the 3:30s) reflects that. Mile 5 (
7:53) crossed a bridge and headed into Georgetown for a bit (and quite a number of turns). I kept an eye out for
@bushdocda, but anticipated he was smart enough not to come out in the rain.
Segment 2, the parkway: miles 6-11
I was very much looking forward to this segment as it rolled along with few opportunities for crowd support. In general, I much preferred these quiet miles (also 11-15; 20-21) where I could just run and feel/hear the rhythm of the race. Boisterous crowds did nothing for me. (But a great sign in mile 5: “What do you call a group of unicorns?”). In mile 6 I knew it was time to BMF. If I was going to run sub-3:30, I needed to be in front of that pace group. So off I went for the start of a glorious stretch of miles. I’ll admit to wondering if I could sustain the pace, yet it felt comfortable and I really enjoyed the next 12 miles or so. Mile 6 (
7:19), mile 7 (
7:32), mile 8 (
7:41), mile 9 (
7:31) mile 10 (
7:26), and then mile 11 (
7:31) as we exited the parkway and cut behind the Lincoln Memorial. HR moved into the 160s midway through this stretch, which is earlier than desirable, but I let it flow. Mile 10 was dedicated to the grandfather of a student of mine, whom he called “papa.” But as I repeated “papa,” I also had great thoughts of my own grandsons. This was good. Around mile 10, as tends to happen in marathons, I fell in stride with another runner, Damien, a 35-year-old from the D.C. area who had a similar goal as mine. We ended up running almost eight miles together ..some chatting, some checking paces, generally supporting each other.
Segment 3, the peninsula: miles 12-17
This segment was on a thin peninsula south of the Jefferson Memorial and then a cut-back toward the Lincoln Memorial before reversing course and heading to the National Mall. Once again, it rather isolated. We did get hit with winds quite hard on the first half of this stretch. Mile 13 is the Blue Mile that honors those who have passed away, and this was my primary dedication during the race (brother of the co-pastor at my church; he was a fighter pilot who died in a civilian accident three years ago). Toward the end of the mile is a couple hundred yards lined with volunteers on both sides holding large American flags. This was an emotional moment. It was also a very wet moment: I’d removed my hat for this mile, and just as we arrived at the gauntlet of flags, the drenching rains began again and stayed with us for several miles. Around mile 14, the road was essentially flooded with a few inches of water for 10-15 yards. But the miles stayed strong: Mile 12 (
7:35), mile 13 (
7:49), mile 14 (
7:52), mile 15 (
7:39), mile 16 (
7:44), and mile (
7:41).
Segment 4, the National Mall: miles 18-20
In good weather, this would be awesome as the course passes close to the Washington Monument, up to the Capitol Building, and back again. In our weather, it was just wet, sloppy miles in the back half of the marathon. The water was flooding down the sidewalks and into the streets at the intersections, so the feet kept getting a fresh soaking. Around mile 18, I saw the barefoot runner again, so I pushed to catch up and check his pace, knowing he’d started near me. His time was about 6 seconds/mile slower, which confirmed my watch was off. We made a pass right in front of the U.S. Capitol building …but I don’t remember even looking up. It was not a day for sightseeing and I was very focused. I was feeling the miles, now, but the pace was holding: Mile 18 (
7:35), mile 19 (
7:37), and mile 20 (
7:51). HR got into the 170s by mile 18, which is again earlier than desired. It felt encouraging to know the remaining miles had dropped to single digits, then a 10K, etc.
Transition: miles 20-21
As we ducked behind the Jefferson Memorial, we moved onto a long bridge segment taking us back toward Crystal City, the Pentagon, and the finish in Arlington. I’d heard that these are difficult, lonely miles with no crowd support. But, again, I liked that. Just run. As happened steadily during much of the race, I was passing quite a few runners, a number of walkers, and the occasional leg-cramper dealing with the agony. More and more, I was keeping an eye on my average pace (accurate or not) to see how long I could hold it steady before the likely creep upwards. So far, so good, with mile 20 (
7:51) and mile 21 (
7:44).
Segment 5, Crystal City: miles 22-24
We looped back into an urban area, which I believe messed with my mileage and splits some more. One table was offering Fireball shots; another was offering beer. Both were tempting. I thought the up-and-back here was again supposed to be hilly, but actually it wasn’t. Just lots more water on the roads. I was aware that I had lost the lift and reach of my stride, which was bound to slow my pace. Using some estimates of true readings: Mile 22 (
8:11), mile 23 (
8:24?), and mile 24 (
8:29?). HR hit a high peak of 178 (yikes!) at mile 23. It then slid lower as the limitation became legs, not lungs.
Segment 6, to the finish: miles 25, 26
Mile 25 moves away from the village and circles behind the race’s staging error before moving back onto the main road (where we’d started) for the straight push to the finish. More lonely miles, but they actually clicked along at an OK pace. Mile 25 (
8:05) and mile 26 (
8:15). Several other runners were passing me, though. Knowing I didn’t have any leg lift, I tried to focus on running on the balls of my feet so the Vaporflys could give me their natural boost. Not sure if it worked at all, but these weren’t overly bad miles for the end of a tough marathon. I don’t feel like I was strong enough mentally, though. I think I was too mentally exhausted to roll out any of my mantras or use any of my other tricks of the trade. It was more about putting one foot in front of the other and BMFing to the finish line.
Final push: 0.4 miles?
The finish turns off the main road, rises up a tough incline, then turns with a little more rise to the finish. I started up the incline rather well, but near the top, my legs basically died. I was almost laughing at the comical attempt to keep a running stride after the last turn. I can usually push final slopes quite well, but the end of this race was getting toward the territory of an Ironman crawl. Pace was
8:49/mi. After crossing, two volunteers had to walk me along for 50 yards or so.
Post-race
A rather long progression to get a medal, a towel, Gatorade, other goodies …then more walking to head to the post-race activities several hundred yards ahead. I wasn’t feeling well. I was going to sit down, but the legs declared their intention to cramp if I did. A primary medical tent was ahead, and upon being asked, I said I could use some help, and therefore spent 15 minutes in the med tent. A reasonable recovery led to more walking through the post-race activities to retrieve my bag, limp to the Metro, and head back to my hotel.
All-in-all, I’m very happy. PRs are always great, and this one was very satisfying under the conditions. I will wonder, though, how different it might have been if I wasn’t lugging all that water around in my shoes and socks. I’m also not very pleased that my mind kind of drifted over the last handful of miles. But then again, I was very happy with holding 16 miles in the middle at a 7:38/mi pace. And really, the extra mileage (.2?) added a couple of minutes to my overall time. And of course, I’m a successful medal monger in one of the country’s largest marathons. So now I join
@xulf in a stretch of post-race nothingness. Boston training won’t get serious until a year from now. Apparently, my family has already discussed a family trip to Boston for 2021!
My finishing comment is to again thank you guys for the incredible support during my training and more importantly, for The Elk Institute. We all bailed out the fundraising effort, and the strong showing meant a great deal to Dr. Elk and to the veterans.
