Just Completely Off Topic

Normally this blog is for posts on my electric car. But today I'm going to use if for a race report for 2013 Marine Corps Marathon. I apologize in advance to those who follow this blog expecting electric car stuff...all two of you (thanks kids).

The Marine Corps Marathon is the third largest in the country (30,000 participants). Even at this size it is so popular that it sells out very quickly (just over two hours this year). I decided ahead of time that I would register through the Runner's World Challenge, in order not to have to worry about registration closing.

Along with the guaranteed registration the Runner's World Challenge came with extras that were well worth the slight premium added to the race registration fee. The best of the extras were:

1. Heated tent at the race start with pre-race food/coffee/Gatorade.
2. Private porta-potties at the race start (no lines)!
3. Bag transport from the start to the finish without waiting in line at the UPS trucks.
4. Reception one block from finish to meet family, pick up gear, change.
5. A really nice, post run, buffet meal including Jamba Juice smoothies.
6. Massages, massages, massages!!!!

One other big extra was a meet and greet strategy session that included the race director. This ended up being huge because he shared with us the fact that in the process of marking the new course the mile marker for mile eight was marked wrong. This subsequently threw off all of the markers up until about mile eighteen. The timing mats were in the right places and the course was the correct length. But about ten miles of “informational” markers were not where they should be. More on this in the race report.

The forecast for race day was perfect marathoning weather. The temperature at the start was about 40 degrees and never got out of the 40's during my entire race. The sky was clear at the start, but later in the morning some clouds rolled in, which was perfect cover for holding back the sun. Except for the first fifteen minutes of the race I never needed my sunglasses.

Woke up around 4:30AM, had an Auntie Anne's pretzel for breakfast, and headed out to the nearest metro. By 5:45 AM I was getting off at the Pentagon metro, part of the mass of lemmings headed to the runner's village. It was a good mile walk to the security screening point and from there only a couple hundred yards to the pre-race waiting area. Did I mention heated tent, hot coffee and private porta-potties :-)

Around 7:10 AM I headed out to the starting corrals for the opening ceremonies at 7:20 AM and race start at 7:55 AM. The corrals were well marked, starting with the slower ones in the back and the fastest at the front. As I'm looking for my corral I have to walk through all of the slower corrals since the runner's village is at the back of the corrals. So I start walking...and walking...and walking...and walking. When I finally get to my corral I've probably walked about a half mile through the corrals and I'm almost near the start line.

I was really surprised at being so close to the start because I think of myself as a slow runner. This is because most of the runners I “hang out with” are way faster then I am. I need to start hanging out with much slower runners for my self confidence ;-)

The corrals were well marked with twenty foot tall signs indicating the pace for that corral. This way the faster runners are not slowed down by the slower runners and the slower runners are not trampled by the faster runners at the start of the race. Usually before the start I talk to other runners around me to find out what pace they plan on running. This way I can find a group to run with.

I was planning on running a pace for about a 3:23-3:25 to start and expected most of the runners around me to be about the same. Big mistake. I asked several people around me what their planned times were and got answers anywhere from four to five hours. Additionally I saw lots of people who looked to be in “less than marathon shape” moving to the faster corrals in the front because they were less crowded!

Opening ceremonies for most marathons consist of a local singing the national anthem, followed by the gun to signal the race start. The Marine Corps Marathon national anthem was sung by a wonderful acapella group, accompanied by paratroopers and trailing American flags! The starting gun was a 105mm Howitzer cannon!

My race plan was to start a little slow the first few miles, then increase my pace and hold a 7:42-45/mile pace till about mile eighteen. After that if I was having a good race I would open up the pace as much as I could. I was looking for a 1:41:30 -1:42:00 for the first half. My “A” goal for the race was 3:17-3:22. “B” goal was 3:25.  "C" goal was BQ (3:30:00).

It took me about ninety seconds after the cannon fired to cross the start line. It takes about twenty three minutes for all of the runners to cross the start line. The first three miles of the course are in downtown Roslyn and were spent passing and weaving through all of the runners who started in the wrong corral, as well as a few zealous spectators who felt that the viewing area extended beyond the curb and onto the road. The only prolonged hill on the course was in the first three miles so the combination of all of these guaranteed the slower first few miles I wanted.

1 8:05/mile

2 7:59/mile

3 7:36/mile

5K 24:29 (7:52/mile)

By mile four the runners had spread out enough that it was possible to find room to run. Miles five through eight were a gentle uphill and pleasant run into Rock Creek park followed by an equivalent downhill from eight to eleven. From there it was fairly flat through Georgetown, along the river, past the Lincoln Memorial, and out to Hayne's Point.

4 7:47/mile

5 7:43/mile

6 7:29/mile

7 7:43/mile

8 7:44/mile

9 7:55/mile

10 7:30/mile

11 7:33/mile

12 7:42/mile

13 7:42/mile

GPS half 1:40:38 (7:41/mile)

Actual Half 1:43:18 (7:53/mile)

At the half I felt pretty good. Unfortunately I was about ninety seconds slower than where I wanted to be and two and a half minutes slower than where I thought I was. In order to get to the “real” 13.1 point on the course I had run about 13.43 “GPS” miles. That's a third of a mile difference or about a 2:30 minute difference! This difference came from a combination of weaving through the crowds at the beginning, not being able to run the shortest route on the course because of the crowds, the inexactness of GPS, and a few quick trips to the side of the road when nature called...

Now I've run enough miles to know that there will be drift between “real” course miles and “GPS” course miles. And I usually will compare my GPS with the course markers every few miles to estimate this drift and adjust for it. The problem was that the mile markers were also “drifting” as I mentioned earlier, per the race director. So I had no accurate markers to compare, other than the timing mats.

At this point I decided I would have to ramp up the speed earlier than I had planned in order to meet my time goal. The next seven miles back from Hayne's point and through downtown DC were fairly flat which helped a lot. This was also where I started reeling in and passing runners in front of me.

14 7:55/mile (nature calling)

15 7:33/mile

16 7:28/mile

17 7:25/mile

18 7:27/mile

19 7:39/mile

20 7:47/mile

Crossing the bridge into Virginia I knew I had only 10K more to go and still felt strong. My focus at this point was to pick a runner ahead of me, reel them in, and keep repeating this process. This is also the point in the race that I spotted the 3:25 pacer. The 3:25 pacer crossed the start line about a minute before me and I hadn't seen the him since about mile three.

The next miles consisted of a climb through Crystal City and a gentle decent out.

21 7:29/mile

22 7:38/mile

23 7:49/mile

It took about three miles to get within about ten yards of the pacer. At this point I was not letting him out of my sight under any circumstances. I even thought about trying to pass him, but this thought was short lived. For in the twenty fourth mile both hamstrings decided to simultaneously lock up and spasm. :-(

I could have stopped right there but I decided to “choose the pain”, hoping it would go away. After a few “choice words” aloud (I apologize to any small children in the crowd) and a minute of agony I was able to slow down and shorten my stride just enough to not have to stop.

The last few miles were basically a combination of pushing my pace as hard as I could, waiting for my hamstrings to spasm, uttering a few more "choice words", backing off my pace, then repeating this process over and over till the end.

The final miles came out of Crystal city, toward the Pentagon, into Arlington Cemetery, and the cruelest last .2 miles of uphill that you will ever see!

24 8:04/mile

25 7:46/mile

26 8:06/mile

27 8:14/mile

Official 3:24:48 26.2 miles 7:48/mile

(GPS 3:24:49 26.59 miles 7:42/mile)

BQ minus 5!!!!