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Marine Corp Historic Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon


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Fredericksburg, Virginia
United States
Marine Corp Marathon office
Total Time = 2h 10m 41s
Overall Rank = 1904/3824
Age Group =
Age Group Rank = 65/132
Pre-race routine:

Drove to Fredericksburg from DC Saturday. Got to packet pick-up around 5pm, then headed to dinner at an Italian restaurant in the Old Town neighborhood. Rigatoni, garlic bread and lots of water! Drove back to the hotel and went to bed around 10pm.

Woke up at 4:30am and got ready to go. Ate a bagel on the shuttle from the parking area to the race start.
Event warmup:

Hung out inside the Expo center since it was a little chilly in the morning, and hit the bathroom lines multiple times.
Run
  • 2h 10m 41s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 09m 59s  min/mile
Comments:

I started out very strong in this race. Miles 1-5 went by quickly, with one vicious hill in mile 3. I hit the 5 mile mark in about 45 minutes and was feeling very good at the 9-minute mile pace.

Mile 6 I started feeling kind of hungry and listless, but I had never used food in my training (which included several runs beyond 10 miles) and I didn't want to try anything new. At this point I switched to Powerade at the water stations and it seemed to help a little. I kept strong with a 9-9:30 minute per mile pace up until mile 10.

I fell apart in mile 10. I had looked at the elevation chart and realized that there was a huge hill from mile 10-11 and had successfully trained on hills, but I guess DC hills just aren't steep enough because I was NOT ready for this sucker. Everyone around me seemed to be struggling as well - there were only a few people in my sight who were able to run through this whole part. I walked a good portion of miles 10 and 11 and I NEVER stop and walk. Not sure what my mile split was as I stopped paying attention, but I'm sure they were pretty slow.

Miles 12 was a little flatter so I was able to crank the pace back up to a 9:30/mile. I felt much better once I hit mile 13 and the end was in sight, and was able to run the last 1.1 in around 9 minutes.
What would you do differently?:

Train on steeper hills...but I think a lot of it was mental. I saw that huge hill and was automatically like, "No way can I get up that thing."

I plan on experimenting with nutrition as well...I may not always need it, but it was fairly warm and humid this morning and I think some gel may have helped with my mile 10 crash.
Post race
Warm down:

I crossed the finish line and started walking through the chute. Stopped to get my medal, finisher's coin, a towel and a bottle of water and to let someone remove my chip. Met up with my husband and went in to hospitality, and ate about 3 bites of bagel (not feeling great at that point).

We went back to the hotel so I could shower, then we went to Cracker Barrel for a feast once I felt up to eating!

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Hills and my mental barriers!




Last updated: 2008-04-29 12:00 AM
Running
02:10:41 | 13.1 miles | 09m 59s  min/mile
Age Group: 65/132
Overall: 1904/3824
Performance:
Course: I thought this course was extremely challenging. I had been training on hills, but DC is much flatter overall so I thought the hills on this course were killer. However, there was a lot of crowd support - lots of residents out on their driveways cheering for everyone, little kids giving high fives and choirs and bands. My favorite was a minister who had clearly just finished church who was standing on the steps of the church blessing us a we went by, haha. There were lots of great volunteers and Marines out on the course and they were absolutely wonderful.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall:
Mental exertion [1-5]
Physical exertion [1-5]
Good race?
Evaluation
Course challenge
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 4

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2008-05-18 6:31 PM

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Regular
477
100100100100252525
Washington, DC
Subject: Marine Corp Historic Half Marathon


2008-05-18 7:02 PM
in reply to: #1409600

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Master
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Olney, MD
Subject: RE: Marine Corp Historic Half Marathon

Nice job with the run today

Miles 10 and 11 were rough!!

2008-05-19 9:00 AM
in reply to: #1409600

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Veteran
149
10025
King George, VA
Subject: RE: Marine Corp Historic Half Marathon

It may be all in your head, but the hill at the hospital and the overpass ARE fairly steep.

Nice race! 

2008-05-19 9:30 AM
in reply to: #1409600

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Extreme Veteran
543
50025
Subject: RE: Marine Corp Historic Half Marathon

Good job on that hill... It was a B!tch.

I'm not sure what your running experience is, but I don't know how you can make it any longer than a 1/2 without food; even the half is pushing it.

Again good job on the hill and good overall time.

2008-05-19 11:18 AM
in reply to: #1410539

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Regular
477
100100100100252525
Washington, DC
Subject: RE: Marine Corp Historic Half Marathon
bikeinthemud - 2008-05-19 9:30 AM

Good job on that hill... It was a B!tch.

I'm not sure what your running experience is, but I don't know how you can make it any longer than a 1/2 without food; even the half is pushing it.

Again good job on the hill and good overall time.

I've used gels and Clif shot blocks in the past during tris, and they cause me GI issues every time without fail. I have a finicky stomach to begin with. This was my first 1/2, but I've been running shorter distances for about 9 years.

My training log is fairly up to date (at least on the weekends, looks like I failed to log during the week a lot). I think I did 3 or 4 10-mile runs, one 11-mile run and two 12-mile runs leading up to the 1/2, and I was fine with a little bit of Powerade on each of those, so I figured I'd be fine.

My next 1/2 is in September, so I have a while to figure out a nutrition plan that works for me. I'm hoping to go sub-2 hours at that point since it's a flatter course.

 

2008-05-20 9:15 AM
in reply to: #1409600

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Extreme Veteran
393
100100100252525
Columbia, South Carolina
Subject: RE: Marine Corp Historic Half Marathon
Good job out there!  It was quite a tough course (and was on the humid side - good thing the sun never really did come out or we all would've been toast!).  Definitely a good idea to try working on some other nutrition ideas for your next long races - I'm amazed you were able to get through 13.1 without anything other than Powerade!


2008-05-20 2:46 PM
in reply to: #1409600

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Master
2201
2000100100
Elgin,
Subject: RE: Marine Corp Historic Half Marathon
Congrates and good job on what was a difficult route. 
2008-05-20 3:00 PM
in reply to: #1409600

Subject: ...
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2008-05-20 9:00 PM
in reply to: #1409600

Expert
660
5001002525
Central New York
Subject: RE: Marine Corp Historic Half Marathon
Just have to keep experimenting with nutrition.

I was like you with gels for a while. Major gut burn within 10 minutes of ingestion. That stopped for me when I found Hammer gel.

Hammer also makes a couple carb/protein combo drinks (perpetuem and suatained energy) that have worked very well for me.

It sounds like I'm hawking Hammer products (I'm not), but my point is only this: keep trying different stuff and you're bound to find something that works for you.
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