2023 Marine Corps Marathon
Pre-Race:
We lucked out with the weather! At some point yesterday the forecast changed from 78F and sunny to 73F with cloudcover and light sprinkles. Upon waking up this morning it looked like the TD would be around 123 at race start, and warm to "only" 128-129 by noon. The dew points were still 60-61, which is the real limiting factor - it was humid out there. But! Very little sun and mostly cloudy.
The entire week I had been turning over in my head what I wanted to do. Which would I regret more - going too hard, blowing up, and finishing much more slowly than I wanted? Or, running a reasonable pace and finishing potentially a few minutes over 4 hours, but never trying for sub-4?
Through it all, I had to know. Good weather or bad - I was going for it.
I ate my usual pre-race breakfast and finished by 6 AM - bagel, banana, peanut butter, and coffee. I brought a disposable water bottle with my Maurten 320 drink mix for pre-race, and did something new to me today - I brought another disposable bottle of water to supplement between the water tables due to the humidity. Spoiler: this was a very good idea.
I arrived at the Pentagon metro station around 7:30 AM. The walk to the race start was almost a mile. It's like WDW! I stopped to use the port-o-potties, and by the time I made it near the starting line the chair athletes were already starting at 7:52 AM. I was in the 3rd corral, but I never made it that far up. As soon as the elites started at 7:55 AM, they kept the line moving and everyone started the race as soon as they made it to the line. No mini-waves or anything like that. That was super nice - one thing that always gets me about WDW races is how much standing around you do. Of course, this also means there were people
everywhere for the first 5-10k, but I totally preferred this way of doing things.
I ended up starting just ahead of the 4:30 pacers because of how far I had to walk and unexpectedly being short on time.
It also was so hot, I counted 6 runners lying on the course throughout the race. I'm sure there were many more. Two gauntlets were also cut short. MCM uses gauntlets to describe when you must be past a certain point, much like sweeping at Disney races. Why do they call them gauntlets? Because DoD, I guess.
Race:
As an aside, this race was a blur. I know I was focused on continuing to move because of the heat, plus it didn't help that the course is a sort of "greatest hits" of all the DC-area races, so my memory is not super great already.
5k - 30:55 - 9:58/mile
This ended up slower than I expected mostly due to the density of runners. I just couldn't keep a consistent pace. It was also mostly uphill, so the slow pace makes sense. However, given my goal was to simply give myself a chance at the end, I was definitely a little concerned about how slowly this turned out.
Also, I was already drenched.
10k - 59:27 - 9:11/mile
I don't remember any of this, haha. I do remember being focused on trying to make up some time and it was easier as the pack of runners thinned out. I think this marker was in Georgetown or shortly thereafter.
15k - 1:27:18 - 8:58/mile
This marker was at the end of the out-and-back of Potomac Parkway, which is another one of those DC race staples. Pretty much every big DC race has this. The section from 10k to 15k was hilly but mostly downhill, which helped. Also - I was getting a little concerned about my pace at this point. Clearly I was making up time, but I wasn't even halfway through yet.
Half Marathon Split:
2:00:14 elapsed
8:42/mile
This I remember very clearly. It was a little more than halfway around Hains Point, past the Blue Mile. I wish I could tell you the Blue Mile was very moving, but Hains Point lulls me to sleep as a runner. I was also focused on hitting that half marathon split around 2:01-2:02, but this ended up even faster than I planned. This was all mostly flat, so it's not like I was using elevation to my advantage either.
Anyway! At the halfway point I was at least giving myself a chance at my goal. Just needed to stay as consistent as possible the rest of the way.
25k - 2:21:32 - 8:48/mile
This is another section I don't remember at all, but I do remember thinking I desperately needed to slow down. I was trying to give myself a cushion for sub-4 at the end, but every mile was coming at under 9 minutes and I had a long way to go.
30k - 2:49:53 - 9:08/mile
I focused on slowing down to conserve energy for the end, so I was happy with where I was. This is also where we turned on to the National Mall, so plenty of crowd support kept me going. I also spotted my partner cheering for the first time. This was the first time I've had a partner cheer me on during a race - quite a special feeling, and a good boost!
Around mile 16-17 is where I finished the water bottle I brought with me, so I got rid of it. That was a mistake.
I had also been taking in gels every 30 minutes. I took my last gel at the 3 hour mark. Couldn't get any more down after that.
40k - 3:46:03 - 9:03/mile
I very vividly remember passing the 20 mile maker. I don't recall exactly what the time elapsed was on my watch, but it was no more than a couple minutes beyond 3 hours. I remember thinking I just needed about a 57-minute 10k and I'd have the sub-4. I felt pretty good at that point, and focused on trying to keep my miles around 9 minutes.
I had done exactly what I set out to do - on a hot, humid day, I was giving myself a chance at the end.
The bridge going south into Crystal City is the one pain point everyone talks about in this race. It's about half a mile with no shade and no crowd support. We got lucky, because it was still cloudy, therefore I didn't find it that bad. But on a hot, sunny day I could totally see this killing me. There were several huge containers for water and people were so thirsty, they were simply positioning their mouths under the spigots. I wish I had kept my bottle!
Running through Crystal City I could feel the fatigue building in, but I still felt like I could hold my pace. The miles were peeling away - mile 21, mile 22, mile 23. There was a guy handing out Fireball shots (!). I couldn't even imagine doing that late in a race, much less such a humid marathon. The smell of the Fireball got to me a bit, but thankfully it didn't last long.
Mile 24, I still feel surprisingly good. I mean, I'm certainly not thriving, but for being 24 miles into a miserably humid marathon, I'm doing okay. Also, weirdly, at this point I caught the 4:00 pacers! Felt like that had to be a good sign. They'd started ahead of me, so I figured I was doing well by passing them - it meant I had time banked.
And then things fell completely apart.
The first thing I noticed was my right calf started getting shooting cramps at random. They caught me so off gaurd, I stumbled a few times and nearly fell once or twice.
The second thing, and worse than the calf, was the heat and humidity were finally taking their toll on me. I noticed somewhere around mile 24.5 that I wasn't sweating much anymore. I knew I was getting very close to the danger zone, and I wished I had kept and refilled my water bottle. The effects of dehydration were quickly wearing me down. There was one last water stop near here, and I dunked myself and drank as much as I could.
Mile 25 and I'm in trouble. My mouth is bone-dry, I'm not sweating, I'm drenched, it's humid, and I was almost done. I stopped and walked to gather my thoughts.
I couldn't keep running. My calf continued to flare. I wasn't lightheaded, but I felt like that could be coming. I switched to run-walk intervals.
According to my watch, I'm around 3:49. I needed to cover 1.2 miles in 10 minutes. I had no idea if I could do it.
I spent the rest of the race hobbling, run-walk as fast as I could. I remember seeing the mile 26 marker and feeling like it was an eternity away.
The 4:00 pacers caught back up to me, passed me, and I totally lost sight of them.
Did I mention the end of the race is mostly uphill? Yeah, it's uphill.
There's one final insanely steep uphill leading to the finish line. I jog it, slowly, barely. There are Marines lining the course cheering us on. I have to stop and walk again.
Top of the hill. Garmin says 3:59:50. I have 9 seconds.
I hear my name. My partner spotted me from the bleachers! I couldn't hold it in anymore and began to cry.
With every ounce I have left, I run one final burst. I cross the finish line, and I'm very worried- because Garmin says 3:59:58.
3:59:58.
2 seconds. That's so close, it's within the margin of error of my timing chip. I could've started my watch too late or stopped it too early and be over 4 hours.
I have no idea if I made it.
I work my way, slowly, through the finisher's area. When presented with my medal, I burst into tears again.
I still don't know if I made it. I never carry my phone during runs or races.
Agonizingly, with every aching step, I get through the finisher's area and to the family link-up to find my partner. She's there a few minutes later.
I cry again.
I asked her if I made it. She raised her eyebrows and said "You don't know?" I shook my head no.
She showed me her phone, and I completely lost my composure. All the sweat, the tears, the broken elbow, the heat and humidity of the DC summers:
View attachment 806393
Thoughts:
- Sub-4! With time to spare!
- Under 4 hours, on a hot, humid day when I had lost almost all of my heat adaptation.
- That water bottle almost certainly saved the day.
- Even with a total fade at the end (I averaged slower than a 10-minute mile for the final 2k), I still had enough time banked earlier in the race to withstand it.
- 28 second negative split!
Things I'm Curious About:
- I do wonder if I could've held off the fade by refilling my water bottle. I was moving very well and on pace for about a 3:56-57 finish even in miserable conditions.
- Er... crazy to think what this could have been if the weather had matched all of October?
And now, with my sub-4 marathon done, I'm feeling a lot of things. I teared up writing this, feeling the emotion wash over me again.
In the name of all that is holy, my body
hurts. Two days later and I'm finishing this post at 2:30 AM because I still can't really sleep.
An 18-week training plan where I ran more miles than I had ever run and pushed my body to the limit. On those days when I was slogging through a long run with a TD of 140+ and thought this day would never come - I ran the marathon under 4 hours. It's all over. It's a strange feeling.
While I do feel proud of what I accomplished, it's a very different feeling than a PR on any other race. I feel much more
relieved that I did it and it's over.
I'm not doing one of these again for a while.
Thanks for reading my rambling race report. I had tried to hold out for the course photos, but they still haven't arrived. I'll post those later!
And now, no running for at least a week. Not like I could, even if I'd wanted.
a hard earned accomplishment. Now go enjoy some rest. You definitely deserve it.
