Marine Corp. Marathon - RunMarathon

This run was weird. I was tired from the get go -- I'd been tired all weekend.. I was sleeping, but I wasn't feeling rested. The minute we started running, I knew I was in a bit of trouble -- my legs felt dead. During my long runs, it normally takes me about 7 miles to warm up, so I figured I'd get into a groove around that time.

Around mile 3ish, someone stepped on the back of my shoe and it came off. Being a good lil marathoner, I tried to move to the side of the road to stop and put it back on. Rick held me back so I didn't get int he way of a group of people bombing down the hill on the side of the road -- literally off the course -- and after that group went by I stepped off. Whoops -- there was a guy drafting that group and I stepped right into him. He yelled at me and went on his way. I was sorry I ran into him, but you know ... off the side of the road is where I suppose to go to stop. This was made worse when we saw him at the bottom of the hill STOPPED and panting and all "Wow, good hill." and then he yelled at me again for stopping on the course. Dude -- I was OFF the course, and you're a jackass. Anyway, that annoyed me but on we went. Aaron was doing a great job pacing me, and Team Chippy was being very nice about the 8:2 run walk I was asking them to all do.

Around mile 11, we saw 3558, sporting the coolest shirt of all: "Go Chippy, She's all Heart". I almost started crying -- that was so totally awesome!
Potty break for fit and trix at mile 12, saw some of my friends along the way (who were great to come out and support what they no doubt think is an insane endeavour), and at mile 13 my brother hopped in the race. He originally wanted to run the last 5 with me, he started goal inflating and wondering if he could do the whole last half :) It was great to see him. He's great company and fits in perfectly with the crew, which is either a compliment or an insult depending on how you choose to take it :) By this point, I was feeling the familiar creak in my knees that indicated impending ITB trouble. And sure enough, mile 16 came and misery struck. It hurt to bend my knees and it hurt to land on my foot. Damnit!

This was a real low point for me, miles 16, 17 and 18. We were still doing 8:2 run walk, but at one of the intervals, I just couldn't start running again, and started walking, and thats when I knew it was over. I wanted to cry -- I had these great friends there who all wanted to run with me, but it hurt to run! We stopped and stretched a few times, and finally I just got mad. It hurt to run, it hurt to walk, and Haines Point sucks anyway. Running fast hurt the least out of all of these, and so off I went. Whatever pace I was at felt great -- aerobically it felt comfortable, and it was the lesser of all evils for my legs, so I held it for as long as I could. As we got out of Haines Pointe and up to the bridge, I was getting so annoyed at the crowd of people .. it hurt to slow down, and they were in my way! Grrrrr. Eventually I slowed to another walk and then I was done. There was no water on the bridge, and I was dying, and from that point on, it was pure survival mode, just tring to finish. Mile 21 brought Lane and his awesome awesome Subway cookies -- god bless that man-- and Crystal City, and almost done.

I look back and I'm bummed about how this went down, but I can't forget how much fun it really was. I mean, don't get me wrong, I was hurting -- at one point, stake asked me how I was doing, and the conversation went like this:
Me:"Well, I pretty much want to kill myself"
Stake: "Nooo, no you don't. You're fine"
Me: "Fuck you! I DO want to kill myself"
Stake: "Noooo, no you don't"
Me: "Don't get semantical on me! I'll kill myself if I want to kill myself!"

(Poor guy. Thanks for putting up with me babe! :))
But, in the middle of all this misery, it was fun. We were randomly springing into renditions of Baby Got Back, singing any song we could think of, filling in our new found friend, Green Guy (G2) on our inside jokes, and basically just hanging out. I am so touched and overwhelmed at what good friends my running partners are... Team Chippy started as a joke by Trix one day a few months ago... she asked me if Aaron was pacing me and I said yeah, and she was like "oh, wow, it's kinda like a 'Team Chippy'" and it steamrolled from there. I wish I could have put forth a better performance for them, but at the end of the day I will never forget this great group of people, who came along for a leisurely Sunday run, helping me achieve something I once thought was impossible.


My life was all over the place this spring and summer, and as a result so was my training. I need more time on my legs. Aerobically I wasn't suffering, but I was haveing mechanical meltdowns right and left. Need to get more time on the legs to make sure that doesn't happen again.

Hobble hobble. Ice. Hobble. Beer. Hobble.


Mechanical shut down. Aerobically I KNOW I can hold a faster pace, but if your knees don't bend and you can't use one foot, it's really hard to run.


This race is very well done. I'll be back.