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Comments: Lou, Jeff and I ran together for the first 10 miles or so. Hills were tough for me but I got through them ran them all. My best guess is around mile 12 I was feeling the effects of the hills or not enough salt. Not exactly sure but I was not feeling right. By this point Jeff was out of sight in front and Lou was just staying back with me. I told Lou to go ahead but he had planned to run with me no matter what happened. Lou could have easily ran a sub 5 hour if he wanted to but he stayed back. That was awesome for me. As you can see from my pace I was slowing here. We walked a little and then I stopped to stretch some. This helped some and we were back running (jogging). Around mile 14-15 we saw Jeff ahead and he was slowed to a walk. I tried to get him to run with us but he said he couldn't run at that moment. Oh did I mention that at this point my nipples were a bloody mess? Forgot to lube them up and I wore a new shirt for the race. As the race went on we walked more and more. Looking back I now know it was more mental then physical tired. I really wish I would have just H.T.F.U and just ran more. We did get to run through the finish line and got to give a high five to my Aunt and Uncle who happened to be at the race watching a friend run. What would you do differently?: Not walk 7-8 miles the day before. Take salt tablets. Lube the nips. And mostly HTFU. That being said, I am extremely happy I finished this race.  Post race
Warm down: Got medal, got picture taken and meet up with family. Talked to Lou and his family. Then just took short walk to car, changed my shirt and went home. Really wanted K.F.C fried chicken but saw a McDonald's and got a Big Mac. Two miles down the road was a K.F.C, no I didn't stop. got home and think I may have slept with the medal that night. What limited your ability to perform faster: My training. Although Lou and I did all our long runs together. I didn't do the mid week training correctly. I did no hill workouts and no speed workouts. And my weight. 2005 I weighted 330, 2007 I weight 217, and now I am back to 255. Have to get the weight back down for good. In 2007 I ran a 2:10:00 half marathon. I really want to get back to that shape. Event comments: I went into this thinking I would run only 1 - 2 marathons in my life. But after this experience I know I want to do more. I have guaranteed entry to NYC in 2010 but after that I want to come back to DC and do this race again. Last updated: 2009-04-15 12:00 AM
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United States
USMC
60F / 16C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 19303/21405
Age Group = 40-45 Male
Age Group Rank = 1926/2048
I am writing this report a month after the race so some details may be sketchy.
**Disclaimer** This was my first marathon. I am a back of the packer (way back of the packer). I don't race I try to finish. After spending too many years on the couch being morbidly obese I am just happy to be out there (technically still obese according to the charts). **Disclaimer over**
I drove down to DC with wife and 3 kids the Friday before the race. We stayed at the Virginian Suites. Hotel was OK but you couldn't beat the location. I have to think it was the closest hotel to the start/finish lines.
Saturday before the race went with the family to see some sites. We definitely walked way too much that day. I am not kidding when I say we probably walked about 7-8 miles that day. If I could do it over I would have avoided all that walking the day before the race. My friend Lou meet me later in the day and we went to packet pickup together. Got back to the room ate some Italian food and went to bed at a decent hour.
Could not believe how great I slept that night. Usually for a local 5K I even have trouble sleeping. So I was thrilled to get the nights sleep that I did. Lou was staying in our room so he and I got ready ate some and headed out. I kissed the wife and kids before I headed out. Wife was awake kids were still sleeping.
Just walked to the start and took in the marathon experience. We were probably there a good hour before the race start so had plenty of time. I should have brought something to drink with me not thinking how long it was until the start. Only good thing was I didn't need to stand in the porta potty line.
We meet up with Jeff (he is from Baltimore)at the start. Jeff is a guy I meet through our weight loss/fitness blogs. This was the 3rd time meeting Jeff and running with him. We ran The Philly Distance run in 2007 (Jeff was injured so he walked most of it), and we were on the same relay team this past spring. Jeff and I communicated through email that we would like to be around 5 hours. I knew this was probably a long shot for me but you have to have a goal right? So we were going to try and run together. We chatted and before you know it we were off.