2010 Marine Corp Marathon

15. Marine Corp Marathon – Washington D.C. – Oct. 31, 2010
What a strange weekend for this race. It coincided with a giant rally by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, bringing hundreds of thousands of people to the Mall the day before the race. I loaded onto a jam-packed Metro and headed to the Expo. After picking up my packet, I decided to take a walk to the Mall and see what was going on. I didn’t want to get into the crowd, so I headed into a museum and looked out the back door. There were so many people out there, and it was a rally about pretty much nothing. What a strange place that Washington D.C. can be. I walked back toward the Convention Center but decided to check out the National Portrait Gallery. I love that all the museums in Washington are free. Chances are I would have otherwise skipped the museums, but I really enjoyed it. In addition to the portraits, there was an exhibit by a photographer who was with Elvis Presley for the months as he was becoming really popular. There is so much to do in that town. Unfortunately, all the walking around would come back to haunt me the following day.

I met up with my friend Allison Porcella, who I had only seen once since 1993 when we were both studying abroad in New Zealand. I fought the Facebook craze for a long time, but reconnecting with people like Allison makes me so happy that I finally gave in. Allison cooked a pasta dinner for three of us at her place. I love running marathons in different cities because it’s a great way to see towns. However, it also gives me a chance to see friends in some of these cities.

I was ready for this race. I was in the best shape of my life, and my training had gone great. I knew better than to get overconfident, but I was going to see how I felt after taking a conservative approach on the first five miles and go from there. Like most marathons, the wakeup call came early. I met some friends from Runner’s Edge of the Rockies in the hotel lobby, and we headed to the Metro to get to the Pentagon, where the starting line is. I was in the ridiculously long port-a-potty line, when I overheard someone mention how far the actual starting line was from the gathering area. I thought it was close, but it was actually about half a mile away, and I had to jog briskly to get to my corral – not recommended before a marathon.

It would be hard to find a race with more sights along the course

I was in a pretty early corral, which allowed me to get into my rhythm early. After a couple miles, I ran into more friends from Runner’s Edge, including Clif Miskell. It’s always strange seeing people you know in the middle of a huge race (there were about 30,000 in this one). I ran with Clif for a couple of miles, and I felt great. I wished them luck and increased my speed. I was going for 3:10. I wanted Boston.

I'm so glad I beat Super Mario

I knew I need an average pace of 7:15, so I settled into a pace between 7-7:30 through Georgetown and up around the Mall, staying on pace through the first 18 miles. When the wall hit, though, it hit HARD. I felt my calves cramping around Mile 16, so I popped some electrolyte tablets hoping to alleviate the problem. No such luck. The cramps expanded to my hamstrings, my groin and up to my hips. By Mile 22, I had side stitches, and my shoulders were completely locked up with cramps. A mile later, I realized my jaw was cramped up. I had no choice but to start walking. A drill sergeant got in my face and started yelling at me, trying to get me through the toughest miles, which I thought was pretty awesome. Unfortunately, my body would not respond to his encouragement. The cramping had been so bad that I actually tore a muscle in my shoulder.

I went for 3:10 and ended up coming in at 3:37. But I was happy that I had tried. I believe that if you don’t try to push yourself to the limit, you’ll never know what you can do. I discovered that I didn’t have a Boston qualifier in me that day. Perhaps it was all the walking from the day before, or maybe I just wasn’t prepared enough to run that pace. Whatever it was, I got to see one of the coolest cities in the world during the 26.2-mile tour.