Marine Corp Marathon Recap

I did it. I ran a Marathon and it was hard. But you know what? It’s supposed to be hard.

I am having a hard time writing this recap. My mind was going in a million directions during the marathon. Sit back and grab some popcorn because this is going to be LONG.

My daughter and I arrived in Baltimore Friday morning. My dad picked us up and we headed straight to the expo. The Jon Stewart Rally was going on Saturday so we knew it would be absolute chaos trying to get into DC on Saturday. The expo was huge – much like the Disney Princess ½ Marathon but instead of Princesses there were Marines. I was a little disappointed in the shirt. It was a heavy black long sleeve crew neck cotton shirt. The logo was beautiful embroidered but it’s a men’s shirt and looks like it was designed for Marines ;) I decided before I got there that I was going to purchase something from the expo. Brooks was the sponsor and there were so many great items to choose from. I debated on a couple running tops but ended up buying a red brooks jacket. It cost me $80 but it’s beautiful! I can’t wait to run in it!

 

Saturday was spent relaxing. We watched a bunch of horror movies & I rested my legs. I ate the obligatory bowl of pasta (which I think I ate too late which resulted in my issues that you will read later on). Everyone told me that I would not be able to sleep the night before the marathon. Well, let me tell you I slept like a rock. I woke up at 4:30 and it was time to get ready! My dad drove me into crystal city and I hopped on the shuttle bus to take me to the runner’s village. The line for the shuttle was insane! It took me a full 35 minutes to get on a bus. I was surprisingly calm. Don’t get me wrong I was nervous but I never doubted my ability. I knew I was going to finish the marathon come hell or high water.

While I was online for the bus I was texting with my friend Becky. I met Becky 2 years ago on the WW message board. She has lost 120lbs and MCM was her 2^nd marathon. We had never met in person until Sunday morning! What a story – 2 people from opposite sides of the country, meet online, both have lost over 100lbs end up in DC to run 26.2 miles! Even with the 30,000 people around Becky and I were able to find each other. We jumped on the line for the bathroom and pretty much decided that we would run together. I felt such relief knowing that I was going to be with someone especially someone that has already run a marathon. After the bathrooms we headed to the start and lined up by the 5 hour marker. The cannons went off at 8am and nothing happened. It took us 24 minutes to get across the start. I was amazed with the number of people!

Finally it was time to run my first marathon!! Immediately something didn’t feel right. My IT Band on my right leg had shooting pain. I freaked out a little bit. We weren’t even half mile into the race and I was hurting. I kept on running and it finally loosened up around the 2^nd mile (thank god!). Many people describe MCM as a flat course. I’m not really sure if those people ran the same marathon as I did? Personally the hills didn’t bother me since I trained on them. The biggest hill was between mile 2 & 3. It went on for quite awhile. It certainly was a killer hill and I feel bad for those that don’t train on hills. The majority of the course is flat and the 2 big hills are in the beginning which I think is a good thing. I feel that I started way to fast. I told myself I was going to average 11:30-11:45 pace and all of my early miles are around 11:00-11:20. I guess the excitement plus running with someone else got the best of me.

There was another hill around mile 7. At this point I felt like I had to use the bathroom. I was unable to umm “go” before the race started and by “go” I mean poop (sorry if this is TMI but this is a story about running a marathon). Becky & I stopped right at the mile 7 marker to use the portapotty. There were about 10 portapotties and we waited what felt like an eternity. I get in the potty and nothing. I can’t go. 5 minutes earlier I felt like I was going to crap my pants. WTF! Nothing I can do but keep on running and hope I don’t crap on myself. We continued on and there was another hill around mile 8. I believe this was the hill that brought us into Georgetown. I became overwhelmed with emotions. The local running store had a huge sign that draped the building that read ‘Run like you stole your shoes’. There were so many people cheering, music was blasting and my eyes filled with tears.

I remember an awesome downhill shortly after Georgetown. We ran along the river for awhile and around mile 11 or 12 I felt the need to use the bathroom. There was an actual bathroom on the path and a good 15 people on line ahead of us. We stood there for awhile and found out there wasn’t any toilet paper. SERIOUSLY?! Luckily Becky had some tissue in her pocket. We waited approx 10 minutes to use the bathroom. I watched the 5:30 pace group pass by while we were in line and I felt really upset. This time I was able to go!! I never felt so happy to poop in my life. At this point the sun was out. The temperature was relatively cool; mid 50’s – low 60’s. I prefer low 50’s and no sun. The sun drains my energy and I knew that the sun was going to get to me. It was hard getting back into a groove after stopping so long at the stupid bathroom. Getting to the half marathon point felt like it was taking forever.

Half marathon done and another to go. Have I ever mentioned how much I love the half marathon distance? Things were going relatively smooth at this point. We even passed the 5:30 pace group! We got off the path by the river and headed to the mall. There were so many people cheering. I loved having my name on my shirt. Every time I heard my name it made me smile. I’ll be perfectly honest and say that I didn’t really take in the sights of DC. Yea I saw the white house, Lincoln memorial etc… but I was focusing on putting one foot in front of the next.

Here comes the most aggravating part of the race for me. Becky had to use the bathroom and we finally came up on 3 portapotties. Yes, THREE! As in 1, 2, 3. A race of 30,000 people and they actually put out only 3 portatpotties. It gets better. 1 porta-tpotty had a lock on it and 1 was FULL (yuck!). So we waited a good 10+ minutes in line for the bathroom. There was no way she could have made it to another bathroom so we had no choice but to wait. I feel that with the number of people doing this race there should have been a minimum of at least 10 portapotties at each section (if not more).

Around mile 18 my left foot really started to hurt. Remember the pain I mentioned on the ball of my foot when I was training? Yea, it came back with a vengeance. Every step was like I was being stabbed. Becky stopped to walk and it hurt more to walk so I told her I was going to keep jogging. Unfortunately we got separated. I felt horrible. I had no intentions of leaving her. The pain was so intense. I continued running because I knew I had to get to the bridge at mile 20. Before the race started I didn’t even think I would have an issue beating the bridge and here I was worrying. All because of the freaking lines at the bathrooms.

I finally reached the bridge and it felt like a huge weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. Running on the bridge sucked. There weren’t any spectators. Everyone around me looked like the life had been sucked out of them (including myself). I stopped to walk a few times. I kept telling myself that my dad has 2 artificial hips and he wishes he could be running so I need to deal with the pain and just run. When we exited the bridge I kept reminding myself only 5 more miles to go. Little did I know it would be the longest 5 miles of my life.

I wasn’t tired. My breathing was perfect. My legs felt good. My stupid foot was holding me back. If I tried to speed up the pain intensified. I was quickly falling apart and doubted that I would finish. All I wanted to do was sit down on the curb and cry. I was allowing myself to walk even though it hurt more. Then out of nowhere I felt a hand on my shoulder and it was BECKY!!! I broke down into tears and apologized for leaving her. She was like an angel sent to me at mile 23. She told me that she was hurting pretty bad and was doing a 1:1 and I joined right along. The last 3 miles were brutal. We ran as fast as we could for just 1 minute at a time. Finally mile 25 was in sight! We ran through where we started the race and I knew the finish was getting close.

I had been warned about the brutal incline at the finish. I said from day one that I would not walk up that hill. I don’t care how slow I had to go I was not going to stop and I didn’t! I rounded the corner and saw the finish line. I immediately felt a wave of emotions and started to cry. I was practically hyperventilating! I FINISHED MY FIRST MARATHON.

My official time is 5:47:11 (13:15 pace). My garmin time is 5:16 (I stopped it at every bathroom break). 30 freaking minutes wasted on line for the bathroom. I won’t lie – I was very disappointed. Now that a few days have passed and I’ve had time to think I am over the disappointed. How could I be disappointed that I ran 26.2 (actually 26.43) miles? 5:47 is just as good as 5:16. I know that I am capable of a 5:16 marathon and that is my goal for the next one. Yes, I said the next one :)

Garmin Splits: 

1-11:16 
2-11:15
3-11:04
4-10:44
5-11:38
6-11:01
7-11:41
8-11:36
9-11:17
10-12:01
11-11:45
12-11:24
13-11:11
14-11:54
15-11:26
16-12:03
17-12:41
18-11:38
19-12:18
20-11:50
21-12:31
22-13:37
23-12:18
24-13:51
25-13:16
26-12:58
.43-13:03