The Marine Corps Marathon would satisfy the “last” of many
things. It would be my 6th
and final marathon of 2012. It would also be the last of my “must do” marathon
list – when I started this journey I knew there would be a fair chance of my
not finishing all 50 so I tried to front load my list with the marathons I *knew*
I wanted to run someday. It would be the
last marathon in a city where I or my husband had a family member...I’ll miss having an excuse to visit family.
I knew I was running on fumes. The two marathons (Flagstaff and Findlay) in
the previous five weeks were about the only work I had done. Factor in the three week taper going into
those and it had been quite a while since I had seriously trained. I can’t
remember the last time I lifted a weight, maybe mid-September? I could see it
in my body - my core muscles non-existent, my quads not as cut – I was not feeling particularly confident.
After Findlay I knew I had to do a little speed work if I
wanted to have any chance of posting a decent time at MCM. I attempted a couple of short tempo runs that
were not particularly successful. I wasn’t sure if it was due to my lack of
fitness or the fact that it is so dark in the mornings now. One day I went out
to do 3 x 1 mile repeats at 6:45 pace. I
really wanted to bump up my turnover. I
did these on a dark and crappy dirt track in my neighborhood and although I hit
the pace (6:43, 6:41, 6:43) it was a struggle.
Again, I was not particularly confident but during brief conversation with
Michelle she talked some sense/confidence into me by pointing out that my workouts were "fast enough." We discussed my plan for the race which would be to go out
with the 3:25 (7:49/mile) pace group, stick with them for as long as
possible then hold on for a sub 3:28 finish which would get me a personal
best. I felt I was in low 3:30s
shape and I could sneak in just under 3:30 if I had a good day. I had no idea
what would happen if I went out faster than that. This was a new tactic for me
as I like to finish strong and just hoped I could keep my head
together when things started falling apart.
A little stress to start the day, I now know the D.C. metro
system is pretty crappy. They claimed it would be open at 5:00 for marathoners,
which it was, however the train did not arrive until 7:00. Start time is 7:55
and we needed to change trains en route! I tried to remain calm and figured if
I missed getting into my spot with the pace at the start line, I would just have to figure
out how to roll with it. We got to Pentagon City at about 7:30. It
was a long walk to the athlete village then to the start line and I needed to
check my bag. I eventually got there,
got the bag stored and ran up the side of the start corrals until I found the
pace group. I was even able to get a
last bathroom break in and get in the corral with about 5 minutes to spare.
Adrenaline pumping, I even broke a sweat. Whew!
The Howitzer blew at exactly 7:55 and off we went. There was only one pacer and he was going to
be leading the whole race. I later found
out that he’s mid 2:40 marathoner, so this was a piece of cake for him. He took it out a little fast, but I put all
my trust in him to pull us for the distance.
The early miles clicked by quickly, as they always do. The pace felt
challenging, but I remained calm and tried to use easy patches as opportunities
for recovery. There were timing mats
every 5K which I love. I always think that someone (hopefully Ty) is out
there watching my splits and I always feel like I can sense their energy and
confidence every time I clear another mat.
Around mile 12 we headed out for the most quiet part of the
course, the run around Haines point. It
was really windy in here, but having the pace group around me helped mitigate
that. Everyone tucked in tight and like
a freight train we kept rolling. Through
halfway it was still feeling hard and I was starting to feel tired and I told
myself to just hang on until just after 16. I felt I needed to get to the
single digits then assess my situation. In here I was feeling the fatigue of
the early miles and the wind and every so often I’d lose a few steps on the
group, but I’d charge back. Coming
through 16 I knew that if I let the group go there was a strong chance I would
miss my PR. 10 miles is a little too long for a blow up so I told myself I
needed to hang on longer - I needed more time in the bank. I pulled out my ipod
and ironically Maroon 5’s “Harder to Breath” was the first song to play. I had a little
chuckle about that. As always, with
races this long, there’s plenty of ups and downs and a little after mile 16, I
came out of my “down” and felt pretty good.
I had eaten a gel with caffeine and no doubt it had me feeling much better. I was feeling confident and miles 17 and 18
flew by. My plan was evolving and I even
started thinking about the possibility of breaking 3:25. I pushed aside that stupid idea,
but I did start thinking about maybe inching away from the group at mile 22 or
23.
It’s a good thing I held back because by mile 20, I was
slipping off the back of the group. The
group was much smaller now and spreading out and I couldn’t get back on. I spent the next mile focusing on getting
back, but it was useless. I hadn’t been
paying attention to my watch but knew I would have to start focus on the time so
I could figure out how to tackle these last few miles. At mile 22 I looked down and saw 2:51:51.
That was 9 seconds under pace for a 3:25 finish assuming I was going at 7:49
pace, which I wasn’t. I started doing
the math on what I needed to go 3:28. I
kept pressing on, occasionally looking at my watch, but mostly just checking at
the mile markers to make sure it was still within reach. At this point the wind
was very stiff, and I was simply running as fast as I could. There wasn’t much I could do about pace. It was a tough mentally and I lamented the
wind and not having a bunch of people around to block it, but I stayed engaged
and on top of the situation, even while wishing it was all over.
At mile 24 the wind was like running into a brick wall and
people were dropping like flies. I would be running and a person just up ahead
would just stop, defeated. So tempting to just stop and end the pain. I
pressed on and tried not to look at my watch, but I was certainly counting down
the tenths. I knew I should be able to break 3:28, but was also getting had no
idea how long I could keep charging. I
shortened my stride, lengthened my stride, heel-striked, anything to change
things up and keep my legs churning. I
can’t believe I didn’t think of skipping.
Finally I passed 25 and right at about a mile to go there was a curved
descent off an overpass. I charged down like a crazy person hoping to gain a
few seconds. We were back at
the start area and would go past what had earlier been the start line. I didn’t
know where the finish was and I tried not to look too far
ahead. It always seems so futile looking for the finish arch. The ipod was driving me crazy so I stuffed that away. Along this straight-away we finally hit mile
26 and the turn for the infamous MCM finish line hill. The Marines did not
disappoint, the hill was short, maybe a tenth of a mile, but steep enough that
there would be no charging it. I jogged
/shuffled up and charged the last little bit until we came around a curve and I could see
the finish line. I saw 3:26 low and knew
that I would be just fine for my PR.
I am now in a situation I haven’t been in quite a while. I’ve got no marathons planned and I don’t have anything even on my radar screen. I am looking forward to sitting down and planning my 2013 schedule.
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