National Marathon - Suntrust - RunMarathon


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Washingon, D.C., Washington, D.C.
United States
Sports Alliance
35F / 2C
Sunny
 		Total Time = 3h 50m 43s
Overall Rank = 714/2094
Age Group = F25-29
Age Group Rank = 38/167
Pre-race routine:

friday:
I had court in the morning, so I finished up with that and headed south to the district to pick up my race packet. I, of course, spent a good hour at the expo... got a free seated massage, bought Body Glide and two signed copies of Bart Lasso's new book, tried the PowerAde that would be served on the course --- oh, and got my race bib, chip, and tshirt.

J. and I slept at my parent's house [they live in Silver Spring]. my mom made dinner [pasta, bread] and we watched some of the tourney. fell asleep around 10:00.

saturday morning:
up early. up REALLY early. up at 4:30.
it took me a while to figure out what to wear. accuweather.com said 33*f at the start, 41*f at the finish. I ended up with my UA tights, running skirt [to hold GU], and long sleeved UA compression shirt. Red, of course, to support the Terps [... which turned out not to matter. sa-la-haughtered by memphis. ouch].
ate breakfast - oatmeal w. brown sugar - and drove to the Metro.

Metro'd into the city without a hiccup and headed into the runner's village.
Event warmup:

jump around and try to stay warm !
Run
  • 3h 50m 43s
  • 26.2 miles
  • 08m 49s  min/mile
Comments:

Found the 3:50 group and decided to stick with them. gun went off AT 7:00a. -- nice amount of runners -- 5k for the half and 3k for the full.

I ended up running with two guys - Lin and Steve [someone I knew from college. random.] the full and half run together for the first, well, 13 mi. it was a teeny bit crowded for the first 5 mi, but then everyone spread out and the streets got wider.

The course was v. nice - went through the 'typical' d.c. parts: the capitol, monument, etc. - and also through some of the lesser seen neighborhoods. the crowd support was pretty good - what you would expect from a medium sized race.

I felt REALLY GOOD for the first 15-16 mi --- strong, smooth, comfortable pace.

after we split from the halfsies we re ran the first 5ish miles, then headed south toward Anacostia. we ran along the river for a bit, and then there was a hellish out and back around mile 22-23.

and then, in my head: the wheels on the bus are falling off, falling off, falling off.

I started feeling panic-y around then. I was really starting to hurt and the thought of another 5 mi was freaking me out .. I just kept saying to myself: 5 then 4 then 3 then 2 then 1 then .2

Icandothis, Icandothis, Icandothis.

  • .. my goal of sub 3:50:00, which seemed so possible, so likely, even, was starting to slip away.

    • 24-26: ouch ouch ouch.

    the wheels on the bus are falling off, falling off, falling off.

    then: the strangest thing happened. I got about 200 feet from the finsish line -- and stopped. I litereally Could Not Run Anymore. everyone was yelling GO! You can do it ! but I couldn't. I only stopped for maybe 10 seconds and then I just went. I crossed the finish line with a watch time of 3:50:46.

    missed by goal by under 50 sec. but PR'd by 2 1/2 minutes.
    What would you do differently?:

    Run more.

    I cut out 1 day of running/ week to focus on swimming + biking more.
    Post race
    Warm down:

    Banana, soft pretzel, powerade, shuffle around.

    What limited your ability to perform faster:

    Short legs ;)

    Event comments:

    Very nicely run race.


    Profile Album


    Last updated: 2008-12-02 12:00 AM
    Running
    03:50:43 | 26.2 miles | 08m 49s  min/mile
    Age Group: 38/167
    Overall: 167/2094
    Performance: Average
    Course: Through the district, lovely course. Fairly flat, some rolling hills.
    Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
    Post race
    Weight change: %
    Overall: Average
    Mental exertion [1-5] 4
    Physical exertion [1-5] 4
    Good race? Ok
    Evaluation
    Course challenge Just right
    Organized? Yes
    Events on-time? Yes
    Lots of volunteers? Yes
    Plenty of drinks? Yes
    Post race activities: Average
    Race evaluation [1-5] 5