A Dogged Good Day at the MCM

Diane Sherrer, Phyllis Radke, Sally Rusby and I traveled to the Marine Corps marathon together. We left 8:30 am Friday morning and took a one hour detour to stop at the Hershey Park Chocolate factory to take the free tour and stock up on chocolate. We had our typical experience of making several wrong turns to the point of arriving in DC from the back side. We searched for Crystal City to pick up our race packets and do the expo thing that evening. This is when I found out that they were planning on having a wave start. Each wave would start about 8 minutes after the previous wave. I discovered I was to start in the third and final wave. Diane suggested that I go to the trouble desk to ask to be switched. I managed to talk my way into a first wave position by explaining to the very kind, overworked and overwhelmed woman working that I had intended to run a good time and that having 16000+ people ahead of me would be a problem. We arrived at our hotel around 8:30pm. Fortunately there was a Chinese take out across the street which we took advantage of!

Our hotel was only about a mile and a half from the start of the marathon so Sally, Phyllis and I decided to run to the start area Saturday morning to check it out. What we planned as a three mile run turned more into a 5 or 6 because we somehow managed to get into Fort Myers and could not find a way out. There was a massive gate around the entire complex with only one entrance on each end that was open.

Sally and Phyllis were ready for a nap by this time but Diane and I had other plans. We did the tourist thing: stopping to see the Lincoln Memorial, the Korean Memorial and the Vietnam Wall while the others slept. We went back to the hotel to get Sally and Phyllis only to do the tourist thing again. It was Phyllis's first time in Washington and I told her there were some things she just had to see.

We had a good start for the marathon. Waking up early, showering, eating and drinking lots of fluid. We knew it would be hot. We arrived at the start with about 40 minutes to spare. The race start was uneventful. Several speeches by people you never heard of and off we went. It took me 5 seconds to get to the start. Much better than the 19 minutes it took Diane and Phyllis. I managed to run a 7:11 first mile and then settled into a good pace. One of the first things I noticed was that this is not a flat course. There are several bridges and road ramps that you have to go up. The crowd support was excellent in the first several miles. I ran steady and on target for my sub 3:20 goal. I enjoyed the views of the monuments and all the old historical buildings. I hit the 1/2 in 1:39:03: on target but I was a little worried about keeping up the momentum.

It was hot! I wore a singlet and shorts and felt overdressed. I traded places with several people when I would come to a dead stop to drink water they would pass me and I would pass them back once I started running again. I carry a squeeze water bottle with me for the first 10 miles to help with this problem. (I have never managed to master drinking on the run.) I stayed focused and on task, mentally noting every mile split. The section out on Haines point (miles 17 - 21) did not seem as bad as I remembered from last year. I hit the 20 mile marker in 2:30. A mental calculation told me I was still on target. They played some great music at the awakening which really perked me up. Hitting the 14th Street bridge was hard. This is where I passed many people walking or doing what resembled a want to be run. At this point I knew that I would achieve my goal if I could just hang on the last 3 miles. Each mile seemed to last forever. They were handling out jelly beans at the Pentagon with less than three miles to go. I wondered why they did not do this earlier (assistant editor's note: yet another of the Pentagon's baffling policy decisions!) I was thirsty. The Ultima they offer for a sports drink substitute did nothing for me. Thank god I drank a quart of Gatorade prior to running the marathon. The water stations were two miles apart but temps were in the 70's. The last water on the course was at the 24 mile mark. This was definitely not enough for those last miles. The last mile stretch along the return seemed to last forever. I hit the base of the hill to the finish and switched gears. I took the hill hard and kept on passing people. I could see the clock with 100 meters or so to go. It was going to be close. I found a third gear. One that I was surprised I still had. The crowds went wild when they saw my kick. I hit the finish in 3:19:55, happy and proud.

I felt good enough to gather my drop bag, get food, walk over to the finish area and watch others finish before meeting the others at our designated meeting spot. Sally had a problem with her hand swelling so we went over to the medical tent to have it checked out. Otherwise we all finished feeling well considering. Diane and Sally both ran their worst marathon finishing times to date but were happy that they finished and both loved the experience. The heat caused problems for many and the crowded unseeded wave start threw many off. Phyllis was happy to finish her first marathon in almost 6 years. She trained hard and remained focused. One of the first things she asked me when we found each other was what should she do to make her run the marathon faster. You go, girlfriend!

We decided to walk back to our hotel after waiting 20 minutes for the shuttle to arrive. All of us agreed that our legs felt better from the walk. We left DC at 4:11pm and our ride home was uneventful (we didn't get lost). Phyllis drove much of the way. I managed to get about an hour nap. I arrived home somewhere around 2am but followed my usual fashion could not sleep, post marathon night.

I enjoyed this race. The crowd support was good. Watching other runners was interesting. You can see other people run at many points on the course because of the way it winds and twists. But the best part was achieving the goal I set for myself and running my best marathon time since March of 97. I think I'll shoot for a sub 3:17 next time.

-- Lorrie Marnell