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Marine Corps Marathon - RunMarathon


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Washington, D.C, Washington, D.C.
United States
35F / 2C
Sunny
Total Time = 5h 33m 57s
Overall Rank = /
Age Group =
Age Group Rank = 0/
Pre-race routine:

Three weeks prior to the race I retore my L calf. Not the best thing to do as part of one's marathon training. After intense therapy & visits with my sports med doc, I was able to run 3 miles (very slowly) a few days prior to the race.

As for the trip, my wife & daughter (we left our 2 young boys behind) left for DC on Wednesday. We walked all over the city for the days prior to the race itself until Saturday afternoon is when I started "resting" up by hanging out in the hotel.

Race morning consisted of the usual: multiple potty trips, gels & PBJ prior to the race. That and the trip to the race site from the hotel: walk to Crystal City Metro, shuttles to start line, then wander around.
Event warmup:

Consisted of walking up parkway to start line and huddling together in the mid-20s wind chills.
Run
  • 5h 33m 57s
  • 26.2 miles
  • 12m 45s  min/mile
Comments:

As noted, my training came to a screeching halt with my calf tear 3 weeks prior. So the run was totally uncharted territory. My calf never really hurt during the race but it caused me to totally change my stride from mid-foot to heel striking and I couldn't push off at all with my L leg. That, in turn, changed my entire stride for both legs as well as stride rate. It became clear real soon that the race was going to be one of just hanging on for a finish in my first marathon. My knees started hurting at mile 7 while my hips/ITB began aching at mile 9 - this NEVER happened at all in any of my training runs. I hit halfway at 2:25:17 so I had a hope for sub-5 (my initial race goal was 4:30-4:45) but realized pretty quickly that was a pipe dream. I started off with a run/walk every mile which devolved into a walk/jog. Saw my wife & daughter at in Crystal City at around mile 22 and told them I was pretty much toast but still having fun. Not more than 1/4 mile later my R calf "tweaked" as a warning that it was about to tear just like my L. I immediately shut it down and began a slow saunter the rest of the way ii as I didn't think it was wise to try and push it considering how slow I was already going and what the long-term consequences would be. Sort of self-preservation I guess. But I did my best to keep smiling and not get too depressed about the state of things.
What would you do differently?:

First off not tear my calf 3 weeks before. However, I was also undertrained for the race and I needed to put in more miles.
Post race
Warm down:

Shivered my way through the medal reception, food handout, bag pick-up and then on to the shuttle for the return ride towards the hotel.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Injury and lack of training.

Event comments:

This is a great race for fan & course support, the scenery is great and Marines are awesome for on course support. I totally didn't run like I had hoped but can't complain as to the journey to finishing a marathon was fun. Definitely will do another and hope MCM is one of them.




Last updated: 2011-07-07 12:00 AM
Running
05:33:57 | 26.2 miles | 12m 45s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/
Overall: 0/
Performance: Bad
Course:
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall:
Mental exertion [1-5]
Physical exertion [1-5]
Good race?
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 5

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2011-11-06 10:29 AM

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Subject: Marine Corps Marathon
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