Distance Run

(I’ll have photo’s soon!)

This past Sunday, October 28 was the 32nd annual Marine Corps Marathon.

Here are some stats:

Chip Time:	3:22:45 (former PR: 3:28:31 at 2007 Charlottesville).
Finishers, total:	20679
Finishers, male:	12621
Finishers, female:	8058*
Finishers, division:	2266
My Place, overall:	827 (top 4%)
My Place, males:	733 (top 6%)
My Place, division:	140 (top 6%)

NOTE, the winning woman was first-time marathoner Kristen Henehan. Way to go!

About the race…

Though I am not a fan of the bigger races I’ve done, I must say that I had the time of my life at this race.

What I don’t like about the big races is I feel confined by the volume of runners. I mostly run solo, or in a small group on the rare occasions when I run with my club.

I also don’t particularly like cramped courses, down-town areas, fighting to pass a pod of slower runners who are monopolizing the course… I can extend this list, but I think you get the idea.

I signed up for this race because I though, “What the heck, it can’t be worse than Richmond.” I’m not trying to knock the Richmond race, but it is a big city race :/

Boy was I surprised by the MCM.

First, and unfortunately, the race committee couldn’t have influenced this, was the weather. For much of the summer, DC got no rain, and very few cloudy days. Those who suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder must have been in hog-heaven!

But for the 5 days leading up to the race it was raining… not cloudy, raining. It was horrible for my attitude!

Imagine my excitement when the long range forecast called for clearing up on Saturday afternoon, and sunny on Sunday!

Stepping off the metro at the Pentagon I was greeted by one of my favorite sights. The night sky slowly giving way to the morning. The deep blues, stars, and glow of the new day on the horizon inspire me deeply. Sunrise is a very special time for me. I think it appeals to the animal that lies deep inside each of us that evolved rising with the sun.

Second, was the commute. I had a blast on the short train ride to the Pentagon. The stations and trains were packed with runners! Man it as motivating. I meet some people in from Kentucky to run the race. How fun!

Third, how about the enormous staging area. Much of one of the Pentagon’s enormous parking lots was set up as the pre-race staging area. Huge rows of port-a-johns, tents for information and warming up, and UPS trucks to shuttle gear to the finish area. Everything you could want in the 2 hours before a race (except Starbucks (though they were at the finish area)).

I found the area fascinating. It made me think of a friend of mine Adrienne who just got a degree in urban planning. I wonder is she’d have fun observing something like this.

The camaraderie in the starting area was awesome.

Fourth was the course itself. Some have complained about hills, wind, whatever. But my thinking is you don’t sign up for a marathon and complain about the weather. It’s a damn marathon, get over it.

That said, the course for the most part was excellent. Early in the race there were many wide open areas to allow me to fight my way to my race pace groups. There were a few bottlenecks where there were the road narrowed AND they had a water stop. Ah, most of the people I nearly mowed over were pretty forgiving :)

There were a few hills early in the course, and I love hills. Not only are they great for waking up all my leg muscles, but I tend to gain a lot of time on the downhills.

Many runners slow considerably on both up and downhills. This led to very quick thinning out of the crowd by the 8 or 9 mile mark.

After that, I felt like I was in a small race again. Sweet.

Finally, but not lastly, being in my hometown my family could come. How sweet it was to see them twice in the race! My dad has been trying to come see a race of mine for years now, and I’m so happy he was there! It made my heart leap. Perseverance was a gift from my father. I felt like the student being cheered by his teacher during the big rehearsal. It was moving, and helped get me through the mid-race blahs.

All-in-all, I had an awesome time at the race, and would definitely run it again.

A few final thoughts…

I tend to set several goals for race day. I don’t strictly adhere to these, but they would be nice to achieve. I run how I feel, and if I meet my goal, so be it.

My goals for this race were:

1. Finish in 3:20
2. Finish in the top 10%, overall
3. At a minimum, to beat my very first race time, 3:43 at Charlottesville, 2005.
4. Finish

Fortunately I met all but my first goal. Not bad :) All things considered, on any race day I’m grateful just to get across the finish line. So many things can go wrong during a marathon.

Sunday I was feeling strong. I started out very quick. I’m thankful that the early race was fairly congested or I may have bonked. Early in the race I was running 7 minute miles, and would have preferred to be running around 7:30. Later in the race I slowed down to well over 8 minutes per mile as the result, but had gained enough time early on to PR.

Though I was running fewer days per week than any other race I have run (except the first), I was running more speed and strength work outs. I think this had a lot to do with my performance.

I have also been bike riding a lot, though I tapered off of that about 5 weeks from race day.

This winter I hope to get back to 4 days running, with a 20+ mile run every third week, and with some speed/strength workouts in the mix. I’ll also be biking and swimming preparing for the 2008 season.

I predict more triathlons in ‘08 :)

Bill