Marine Corps Marathon 2009 - Race Report

Yay! I finished my very first marathon! (05:31:18)

To tell you the truth, I had no idea how big a deal it seemed to be to other people for me to finish. I went out to D.C. because I had a very personal goal and it was very surprising to me that so many friends and colleagues were interested in supporting me and cheering me on. So thanks friends! :)

The Marines run such a fantastic and organized race, and it's very evident why it's so popular. I think it took less than 5 minutes to pick up my race packet. For such a huge race, that was incredible to me. When I ran Long Beach last year it took 20 minutes easily, and I've had to wait in packet pick-up lines for many 5Ks as well. So to basically show up and have the Marines there almost immediately produce my bib, race packet goodie bag, and shirt was incredibly impressive.

Very funny side story: As my friend who I was staying with and I were approaching the queue for bib pick-up, I realized I had forgotten what size shirt I stated on my registration that I should get. It wasn't listed on my e-Confirmation either. My friend said, "Oh, don't worry. I'm sure they'll have some young strapping Marine size you up and say, 'oh, I think you're a size C!'"

I go pick up my bib and head over to the table to get my goodie bag and shirt. The Lance Corporal handing out shirts asked me what size I needed and I said, "You know, honestly I don't know!" He blatantly looked me over and said, "It's just me, but I think a size small would fit you best" and laid out a shirt for me to compare myself to. Just wow. He totally lined himself up for volunteering for this job, and he is having an awesome day. :)

The weather on Race Day was absolutely perfect. It started off pretty chilly in the morning but it turned into such a gorgeous day. It was nice to be running the start of the race in the neighborhoods around Georgetown and see the trees whose leaves had started to turn.

Watching the 2 Osprey V-22s fly by overhead in both helicopter and airplane mode before the race was pretty awesome to witness. It was also nice feeling followed by the black Army helicopter throughout the race.

A big "Ooh Rah" to the Marine Captain who ran the marathon in full cammies and boots, carrying his unit's guidon. I saw him around mile 2, and thought if I kept up with him there was definitely no way he would be put onto the stragglers bus if we didn't beat the bridge. At this point in the race I was very worried I wouldn't be able to keep up my pace. I did eventually pass this Marine around mile 4 and I hope he made it OK.

The amount of support this race has is absolutely astonishing. Not only do you have Marines along the course cheering you on you also have A LOT of spectators. The sidewalks are literally lined with spectators and at times it feels there isn't enough room to get past them.

I did see the White House when I was running around the Mall. I'm not familiar enough with Washington geography to really know any of the museums or memorials I saw, and my eyes were more focused on the road than they were on the monuments.

Beating the bridge at mile 20 was a great feeling. It was something I was worried about and to know I had made it was such a relief. There was a runner who caught up with me around mile 18 and said that he must have seen me 100 times that day; he commented that our strategies were different but we had the exact same pace. I was run-walking and he was running the whole thing. He said he might try my strategy some other time. I'm pretty sure he passed me for good by the end of the race though; I was pretty worn out by the end.

Those last six miles were absolutely brutal. After beating the bridge, my feet swelled up around mile 22 and made it very painful to run (on top of my legs feeling very tired). I walked most of the last six miles. The leg of the race down into Crystal City was also fairly demoralizing, despite the spectators. The course is such that you run down one side of the street and come back up the other, but there's no real clue as to *how far* you need to go.

I was lucky to not really hit the wall. I can't imagine how difficult it would have been to just finish if that had happened to me. So I'm glad that I was careful in pacing out my calorie intake during the race. Those oranges they had at mile 9 were soooo yummy and satisfying! I wouldn't have minded taking a Gu from all the Marines calling out that they had Mocha flavored Gu, but I've *tried* Mocha flavored Gu and it's truly nasty. So I skipped that. The sport jelly beans were a god send as I had run out of my own fuel by that point and I was starting to get ravenous.

I only had the urge to sit down once. But I knew if I did I wouldn't finish.

It's a cruel joke to tell people "they're almost there" when they have 5 more miles to go. I thought the Grim Reaper hanging out around mile 24 with the sign "The End is Near" was hilarious.

The last two miles, but most especially the last mile are really tough. The course runs you through the starting area, which looks to be a bit of a ghost town by the time I made it there. Then the course winds down a ramp before finishing at the top of a really steep hill. I tried running up the hill but had to walk part of it.

The post-race organization was also very impressive. Lines of congratulations from all the Marines is truly humbling. There's a line of Marines who are handing out space blankets; the Marine who gave me mine made me turn around and wrapped the space blanket around me. You get herded into chutes where 2nd Lts give you your finisher's medal; the Lieutenant who gave me mine must have seen how I was hurting and pointed out where I could get my finisher's photo at the Iwo Jima War Memorial, Powerade, and food packet. Immediately after getting your medal there are photographers taking candid finisher photos. I headed over to get Powerade before I got my photo taken; the Gunny who gave me a bottle of Powerade looked at me with kind blue eyes and said, "There you go dear." After getting used to being called "ma'am" by Marines all day, it was kind of nice to see this guy who was old enough to be my uncle or dad say something compassionate.

I thanked each and every Marine who helped me out that day, and they all said "You're welcome" back to me. I sort of feel like there's a Hemingway/Donne-esque "No Man is an Island" thing going on. It's very humbling.

Actually finishing the race was anti-climatic for me. Even now I have mixed feelings about it. I don't feel triumphant, I don't feel instantly more special or more unique than I did the day before. I don't even feel like I've accomplished anything extraordinary and I'm not even sure I gained what I set out to gain by doing this. I'm surprised at how many people have commented on how big of an accomplishment it was for me. I honestly wasn't looking for recognition from my friends and loved ones, so to be getting so much of it was a real surprise. It was such a relief just to trot across the finish line. I started weeping and kept thinking to myself, "I did it! I did it!" When I called my parents my dad asked me what was wrong because he could hear me crying over the phone.

I recommend skipping the shuttle buses and just taking the Rosslyn metro back to wherever you started from. I waited about an hour for a shuttle before I decided my bladder couldn't wait any more and I dropped out of the line to use a port-o-potty. Then I tried the metro line which went *much* faster.

At any rate, I want to run it next year. It's on Halloween, so I guess I'll be chasing more than my own personal ghosts. I'm pretty sure I can beat my time.