This was my first full marathon and I was extremely nervous about it. I caught swine flu in September and was out for two and a half weeks -- missed one of my planned 20-milers and all of my weekly mileage those weeks. My goal had always been to finish in 4:30, but I knew it would be a stretch with my derailed training.

I'm really glad the first few miles were hilly -- I was having a hard time holding my pace back with all of the adrenaline. I kept looking at my watch and catching myself running sub-9 minute miles. Once I hit Georgetown, I had locked in my pace and was averaging 10:16 per mile.

I was feeling fantastic and passed my husband, mom, dad and grandmother standing on the steps behind the Lincoln Memorial just past mile 10, so that was even more of a boost. I do most of my long runs around Hains Point, so I wasn't as bored as a lot of people were during that section. Saw my family again around mile 15 and realized they were looking intently at another runner -- one of my dad's former employees had been running close to me the whole race and I didn't recognize him. :)

I continued to feel great and was thinking that I could totally finish in under 4:30 until I hit the bridge at mile 20. I hate that stupid bridge. It goes on forever at a slight uphill and it's very draining. Also, a lot of people around me had started walking. I was feeling ok physically but started to get beat up mentally.

Once I hit Crystal City my back started hurting pretty badly and I could tell my toe was bleeding inside my shoe. At mile 24 I let myself walk for a minute because I was feeling so beat up. It took everything I had to start running again. It was hard to tell how far away the finish was, because I had zig-zagged around so much that my watch was about a half mile ahead of the course.

I finally pushed up the final hill and finished a few minutes past my goal, but still pretty happy with my performance.

Do more than one 20-miler, and possibly a 22-miler in training. I think a lot of my issues were mental, and it may have been easier if I had a few more under my belt.

I took a gel every 45 minutes, which worked really well. My hydration is still a little off. I usually drink every two miles or so, but I knew I would have to pee if I did that in a longer race. So I decided the morning of the marathon to only drink while taking gels, and I was pretty dehydrated by the end. So I need to figure out a balance.

Hobbled through the finish, got my medal and a Powerade (OMG YUM -- Powerade never tasted so good). Took me forever to get out of the finish area. Spotted my mom immediately in the Family Link-Up area. Crashed the nearest hotel to change into a dry shirt and bandage my poor bloody toe. Grabbed a cab to the Crystal City Sports Pub with my family to watch the Colts game and eat eat eat.


I think I might have been a bit faster if I hadn't lost so much training to illness. But on the whole, I'm pretty have with how I did.