Marine Corps Marathon - RunMarathon

This race was my only A marathon (I wanted to break 4:00 for the first time) of the season and just another training run for Andrew. Since he's such a faster runner than me, we decided that he would pace me for a 3:45-4:00 finish up until mile 20. Then he would take off on his own and finish ahead of me and I would do what I could to hold on to my goal time. I liked the idea of having someone to keep me on track and then abandoning me just when the marthon is really getting hard. Great mental training. Well, things didn't turn out exactly like that.

It was impossible to run at a full pace for the first two miles. There were just too many people to do anything about it. Less than a mile in we passed a guy who had walked up to the spectator fence, looked around and yelled, "GOD DAMN! THERE'S ALOT OF YA'LL!" Cracked me the hell up! I wish I had him on tape. I needed a good laugh to start my race off. Of course while I was laughing and trying to dodge people I wasn't looking where I was going and stepped on the side of the road and nearly twisted my ankle. It hurt for a minute but it worked itself out and everything was fine.

Just after mile 1 Jen(jldicarlo) caught up to us. I knew she was running (she's done a handfull of MCMs now) but I assumed it would be impossilbe to find her in this many people. Luckily that whole flag thing makes me easy to spot. So we talked for a minute or two and tried to dodge people. I had my 4:00 pace band on and could see that I was falling behind quickly. 2 miles in and I'm 3 minutes off pace. Not because I couldn't run fast enough, but because there were too many people in my way and no end in sight. Something had to change.

I abandoned by bob-and-weave strategy when I looked over and saw people running on the sidewalks and in the grass. I followed along and found that things moved much faster. I was so focused on moving up to find room to run that I hadn't even noticed that Andrew wasn't with me anymore. I figured he'd catch me in short order and went back about my business. First water stop was just past mile 2 and I blew past it to get around more people.

Mile 3 went much better than the first two. I was making up time pretty quick and was only 1:30 behind my required pace. Crowds were really good! I got used to small triathlon crowds over the summer so it was a big rush to have people lining the whole course. I had gotten past the worst part of the crowd and it was easier to find room to run now as I started to find my stride.

Hit the George Washington Memorial Pkwy, took a shot from my Hammer Gel flask and jumped up on the grass in the median. I was flying past people now. I could hear comments coming from behind me about my flag as I flew past people. That really got me pumped up and I could just feel how good of a run it was going to be. I ended up cranking out mile 4 in 7:00 flat. That's the fastest mile I've ever ran. Ever. I was a little shocked when I saw that on my watch and thought I had made a mistake somehow.

We crossed the Potomac and up a small hill onto M street. A good straight shot with a slight downhill slope. People were lined on both sides of the street and it was enough lanes wide to give everyone room to run. This might have been my favorite mile of the race. The second water stop was at the beginning of the street and I was glad to see it since I'm not used to skipping water stations. I felt great and decided that one of my goals now would be to do the whole race without walking a step. Hit the mile 5 marker in 7:11 and knew that my 7:00 mile was legit. Passed up the guy dreseed as Captain America as we rounded the corner on to 30th.

Coming around the next corner I grabbed an orange from the aid station. Just after that I hit Rock Creek Park; 1.5 miles out and back on each side of the highway. First time I got to really get a look at the crowd that started ahead of me. Just a huge wave of people. Up until then I hadn't really thought about looking at the color of the bibs on the people around me. Most were yellow but a good chuck was also red. My area of runners had thinned out nicely and I could run with plenty of space around me, but on the other side it was packed. I had gotten to the BOFOP! There were a few yellow runners going the other way already, but they were flying. As I came towards mile 7 and the turn around I was surrounded more and more by runners from the first wave. About a 1/2 mile back down I saw Andrew trailing behind. He didn't look bad at all so I was curious why he hadn't caught me yet, but he also didn't look like he was really pushing to catch me. I had a mile on him and still felt good so why not hold him off as long as possible. By this point I had gotten into my nutrition rhythm of taking apple cinnamon Hammer Gel every 3.5 miles or so and a mouthfull of gatorade and water at each aid station. By now I could see the part of the yellow wave that was still a huge wave of people. It was definitely the meat of the MOP and it looked just like it did at the start. Saw Jen just after the mile 8 marker and she looked like she was having a ton of fun! Her knees must have been holding up nicely.

After the mile 9 marker was the first time I had any discomfort during the race. It was just a quick shot of pain through my right hip flexor. It was gone quickly but something had to hurt before I was done today. But this was the first time I was thrown off my mental game. I had felt great so far but I was still pushing 7:30 miles and knew I couldn't hold this pace forever. I needed a carrot to chase. Liz(ChipmunkHeart) and Jess(Tri Take Me Away) were supposed to be waiting just a few miles up the road, so my new goal was to just make it to them. I'd worry about the rest of the race after that. Past the Lincoln Memorial and mile 10... just a 5K until I see the girls. Past the Washington Monument and Mile 11... just two more miles and I'll hear someone I know yelling my name instead of strangers saying, "GO TEXAS!" Then suddenly I heard my name, but this was a few miles earlier than where Liz and Jess were going to be. I turn and look and there's a cute girl in a cowboy hat waving at me! I point at her as I went by to acknowledge that my name was Aaron as well, but it seems that she was actually talking to me! I have no idea who this person is! Oh well, I've got no problems with cute cowgirls who somehow know me.

Down the National Mall, past mile 12 and I can see the Capital building. One more mile and I'll get to see the sign Jess made for me! Back down the other side of the mall and hit the 13.1 mile mark. Half way and I'm 15 minutes ahead of schedule! If I could keep this up I could do a 3:30 marathon! I knew that woudn't happen and I would need to slow to keep from bonking, but it gave me alot of hope. This was the exact moment that I realized I could actually start to think about qualifying for Boston next season. But right now I needed to see someone I knew. It was a lonely race since I didn't have Andrew pacing me, and my pace was starting to hurt my feet. Told myself that when I get to the girls I'll stop to give them each a disgusting sweaty hug and then keep going. That idea kept my feet moving so that's what I focused on.

By mile 14 I had consciously slowed down my pace. I had built up a good reserve of time and was still adding to it by running sub-9:00 miles. The cute cowgirl was cheering for me on this side of the course now. Who the hell is this?!? As I made the turn and headed along the Potomac I knew that I would see Liz and Jess soon. Mile 15... they must have set up a little further down than planned. I remember them saying mile 13 or 14, 21 and something about a bridge. Passed mile 16 and the Jefferson Memorial. Now my feet were hurting. I tried to block out the pain but couldn't keep it at bay entirely. Just had to adjust and run through it.

I could see a bridge up ahead and knew that would be where the girls were at. Down through Potomac Park and past mile 17; they're right around the corner. Instead it was the mile 18 marker. This is the point where I finally had to admit that I can't run an entire marathon yet and had to walk for a minute and a half. I could see another flag ahead in the distance so I picked that as my goal. I wanted to be the first flag to cross the finish line. I had already passed 7 or 8 so there can't be too many more ahead. There weren't many spectators through this whole stretch so the course had gotten kind of quiet and I flet much more alone with my thoughts than before. At mile 19 I met a nice retarded man named Rick who was with the Clif pace team. He seemed to love my flag and I was glad to have someone talk to for a second. Mile 20 and I passed the 'beat the bridge' marker where there were tons of spectators. Just one more mile and I'll finally see Liz and Jess! The bridge was kind of desolate and I caught myself falling off of my pace a few times here. I had to pick up my cadence but my stride was much shorter now. Got to the other end and grabbed my Subway cookie. Damn oatmeal raisin. I like oatmeal raisin cookies but I had my heart set on chocolate chip. Nothing I could do about it now though. So I enjoyed the next quarter mile of cookie goodness and could just feel the sugar rejuvinating me. Mile 22 and I knew Jess would be just around the corner. Stopped to walk for the second time when I hit the guys handing out beer. I still had 15 minutes in the bank to break 4:00 so I think I earned the second beer I had.

There were fans all up and down this stretch and I was scanning both sides of the road to find the girls. Made the turn-around and hit mile 23. I was looking for Andrew coming the other direction, but he wasn't in sight. All the way down to the cookie stop and I didn't see him. That meant I had at least 2 miles on him by now. He must not have been having a very good day. Well, back to looking for a sign with my name on it or at least some cute girls jumping and screaming as I went past. Hit mile 24 as we rounded the Pentagon. I had to walk for a minute. I knew I'd break 4:00 now. I could walk the rest and break 4:00. But could I break 3:45? The girls must have gone ahead to the finish so I wanted to hurry up and get there. My feet hurt, my calves hurt, my quads were burning, but my back was killing me. I was tired of swining my arm and had developed a good sized knot below my left shoulder blade. I'm sure I could talk one of the girls into giving me a massage after I was done. They both have tiny little girl feet so they could walk on my back! That would be perfect right now! I got back into my rhythm and made the turn past the runner's village at mile 25.

Now I was on ground that I had seen before. Familiar territory felt nice. Only one mile to the hill! I was going to make it! Heading down 110 I saw the paramedics bringing a stretcher to a runner on the side of the road. He already had several people helping him so something must have gone seriously wrong if he was so close to the finish. I went back through the tunnel from the start and could feel the finish line nearing. I looked at my watch once I could see the 26 mile marker and 3:45 would be tough. Then I turned the corner and found out just how bad this last hill really is. Two tenths of a mile and it felt like I was running up a wall. I was sprinting and could feel my heart jumping out of my chest. Started to pass the grand stands and the crowds were so loud! I knew that Jess and Liz were in there somewhere but I just wanted to bask in the cheers and enjoy these last few steps before I stopped. I held my flag up as high as I could and tried to raise my other arm as well but I don't think I actually had the strength at that point. Crossed the finish line just over 3:45. Couldn't have asked for anymore today.

Results: I beat my 4:00 goal by nearly 15 minutes. Broke my marathon PR by just over an hour! I was top 20% in my age group, top 13% among the males, and top 10% overall! By far the best race of my life.

Oh, and the mysterious cowgirl? Turned out to be Cindy(cdcouture)! I had no idea she would even be there!

Probably went a little bit too fast those first few miles where I had running room. I felt good though and wanted to push myself while I could, so I don't regret doing it, but I bet that I could have kept all my miles under 10:00 if I would have slowed down a bit.

Got my mylar blanket and wrapped myself up good and tight. Had my picture taken in front of the Iwa Jima memorial, slammed a Powerade that was handed to me, had my chip taken off, slammed another Powerade and got in line for the food. There was a huge crowd at the finish and we were all herding along like cattle. There wasn't anywhere else to move so you just had to stand and wait. After a few minutes I felt the Powerade hit my stomach and I knew that was a bad idea. The guy standing beside me turned towards the truck next to him and started puking. That didn't really make me feel any better. It had been about 10 minutes now and I was starting to feel light headed. I sat down along the fence and closed my eyes while I waited for the room to stop spinning. Leaning against the chain link fence I could feel the knot in my back more than ever. I would have to do something about this. So after a few minutes I got up and herded myself towards the food. I ate a banana while I was in line and grabbed a handfull of mini-Netstle Crunch bars. That was about all the food I thought I could keep down at that moment.

I picked out a spot in the sun and laid down on my blanket. It felt nice in the sun and I took my shoes and race belt and etc. off and just ate my chocolate and relaxed. I must have laid there for 10 or 15 minute before I decided to get up and stretch and try to massage some of the lactic acid out of my legs. I knew Andrew would be coming in soon so I got up and walked around to help keep me from cramping up. I went and found our UPS truck and knew that he would have to come by there soon. I wanted to keep moving though and the flags for the link up area were at the bottom of the hill where the trucks were. So I started walking in a loop from the flags with our last initials to the flags with our first initials and back to the truck. Well, after about two hours of this I realized something wasn't right. I could see that the truck was nearly empty and I described what was in the bag to the UPS girl and she looked and it wasn't there. So Andrew had already picked it up. Great. Now where the hell was he. He had the bag with all of my stuff. I have no money, no phone and no pants! After 3 hours of waiting I had to just catch a cab back to the hotel and when I got there I found out Andrew had just gotten back as well. We were incredibly late for our flight and didn't have time to shower, let alone meet all the BTers for a drink like we had planned. I was really looking forward to that beer and to find out where Liz and Jess were today since I never saw them on the course. Just how things go sometimes.


Not much. I could have broken 3:45 if I ran a little smarter, but I had fun and smashed my 4:00 goal so I have no regrets.


This was my 3rd marathon and possibly my favorite thus far. Austin has great crowds, Sunburst finishes on the 50 yard line of Notre Dame's football stadium, but I think MCM will be the marthon I come back to year after year.