Marine Corps Marathon 2007 Report

The following was written a couple of weeks ago...

Marine Corps Marathon
October 28, 2007

Well, last Sunday sure was a wonderful day for a marathon! I met up with fellow runner Crista Horn, Crista’s cousin Jenny and her friend Kristin just beforehand at the UPS baggage check. We joined the masses at the starting line and Crista, Jenny and I merged in near the 4-hour pace group – that was the goal time for all 3 of us. Just a couple minutes later and we were off!

The race was fantastic! The course was historic and beautiful, the fans and Marines were ubiquitous (token SAT word) and awesome, and the run itself was great! The three of us stayed together almost the entire race which made it so much more fun! Jenny had a knack for wriggling ahead through the other racers (it helps to be petite sometimes!) so she often lead the way and set our pace.

The course starts by the Pentagon and runs north into Rosalyn, where the first significant hill goes up along Lee Highway to a turnaround that points you back down Spout Run and to GW Parkway. Then it was across the bridge and into Georgetown! Heading north we entered one of my favorite parts of the course leading up to and around the Georgetown Reservoir. Plenty of knotty old trees lined the streets, providing ample shade. At this point my legs were feeling good and the early-morning chill was fading. Heading down from the reservoir we clocked a blistering 8:24 for mile 7!

After passing a few more landmarks like the Watergate Hotel and the Kennedy Center, we suddenly found ourselves running alongside the Lincoln Memorial and were entering the National Mall! As monuments passed by on our right and the White House on our left, throngs of people cheered us on from both sides! We heard applause, shouts of encouragement, kids pounding on small hand-held drums or tambourines, and cowbells – lots of cowbells! We joked that what we really needed was “More Cowbell!” In the midst of all this clamor we’d try to identify familiar faces passing by in the crowd – No easy task! Crista and I were both hoping to find family around mile 12. Although my wife and kids spotted me, I missed them completely! Crista’s entourage, however, suddenly materialized on our right and she got to say hi to her fans and grab a quick kiss from her daughter, Lucy, riding atop her husband Dave’s shoulders.

And in a blink they were gone and we were again following the human luge run to turn right in front of Capitol Hill. Fans crowded in on the left; fans crowded in on the right. We were in the zone and continued on! Our half marathon split: 1:59:58.

The course led back down the opposite side of the Mall. We passed the Washington Monument again, then the World War II Memorial although I missed it completely (but a must see if you’ve never visited it before, especially at night!), then the Tidal Basin. One last monument, the Jefferson Memorial, and we began the infamous, zen-inducing run down to Hains Point and back. Now we were starting to work harder and deal with more pain. Crista began to feel a bit queasy. But we kept up the pace and admired that freaky, inground statue at the point for half a moment. After leaving Hains Point we headed up a short ramp and suddenly I heard my name! There were my wife and oldest kids, Raeann and Lincoln! I called back to them and waved. It was so great to see them at that point!

Next up, the 14th street bridge. The very long 14th street bridge! Eventually we made it to Crystal City and the crowds there were again fantastic! We continued to follow Jenny’s lead southward, and I could have sworn she had picked up the pace for us again. We reached the 22nd mile marker at the Crystal City turnaround. As I hit the lap button on my Ironman watch I was really expecting to see something like another 8:40 split, but to my dismay it was 9:09. What felt like a fast mile was dead on our required pace. Not a good sign. The pain in my muscles and legs was increasing…

We ran on, and the pain increased. It didn’t seem to me like they were fading (any more than me) but somewhere between 22 and 23 miles, Crista and Jenny told me I could go on ahead. I didn’t really have the energy to say, “You gotta be kidding!” On so many of our Sunday long training runs I felt great at the end and could really finish strong, but I knew I didn’t have that kind of kick left in me anymore. For about a minute I wasn’t sure what to do, and I’m not sure if I said anything. At first I thought I’d just shoulder the lead for a change – Jenny had really done a lot of work by taking the lead for much of the race. After a short while like that I decided that, dammit, if I’m gonna have any sort of finishing kick, I need to do it now! I picked up the pace a tiny bit – as much as my legs could. I recall hearing Crista’s voice maybe a minute or two later, behind me a bit, but that was it. I felt bad that I hadn’t said good bye or wished them good luck for the finish, but I was too spent to even turn and wave.

As I returned to the Pentagon, I was reminded of the book Into Thin Air, by Jon Krakauer, which is about a couple of Mt. Everest climbing expeditions that ended in tragedy. Krakauer was a member of one of those expeditions and an experienced mountain climber (unlike some of the rich expedition clients). At 30,000 and some odd feet, climbers were getting split up and dropping like flies. Altitude-induced dysphoria made basic reasoning difficult for some, impossible for others. I felt just a bit like Krakauer as I ran through a little loop in the Pentagon parking lot, tired, trying to think straight, and in pain (on top of everything else my right groin was strangely starting to cramp up on me), but still functioning well enough to know that I’d finish. But around me, oh man, it was getting ugly! Walking wounded everywhere! Some runners merely walked, while many others were along the side of the road trying to stretch out cramped muscles or doubled over facing the ground. Some looked like they’d collapsed or just plain given up. Some bodies weren’t going to make it down off this mountain! Getting back up onto route 110 near mile 25, it seemed like very few runners were still running!

With a mile or so to go I knew my shot at going sub 4 was fading away. I still felt good cardio-wise and breathing-wise, but no matter how much I implored my leg muscles to go faster, they refused. I maintained pace as well as I possibly could, i.e., not very well!

Well, I eventually rounded that final corner and kicked up the last hill leading to Iwo Jima. I lunged across the finish at 4:00:50 and tried to stand upright while waiting for Crista and Jenny to come across the finish maybe 2 minutes later. We had finally made it!!!