Marine Corps Marathon (Oct. 28th, 2007)

Sunday Oct. 28th Washington DC
temps 56 to 60 degrees, winds 21mph

I had troubling recovering from a right strained calf and compensating muscles injuries. I went up to DC anyway without committing to run the Marine Corps Marathon. I didn't take any painkillers all week.

We followed the signs for RFK Stadium and drove past several do not enter signs and arrived at packet pickup rather quickly. At the pasta tent, I met a few runners from Dean's blog. It seems that MCM is always short on safely pins for the bib. I circled back to get some.

By Saturday night I was finally able to walk using both legs. I decided to go to the race. I got up at 5:20am race morning and noticed that I pinned my number on the back side of the shorts instead of the front. In earlier races, I had on my shorts on backwards. We left 25 minutes late and arrived at the 5:00 hour pace sign 5 minutes before the race start. Jim and the Orlando runners spotted me. As I jogged across the start line, I knew immediately that I was limping and dragging my right leg. I should have stopped. I kept going and patiently waited out the miles to pass for what I expected to be a six hour marathon. I didn't wear a watch and there was no clock at the start but I couldn't help re-forecasting my finish time whenever the official time was announced. I proceeded slowly and steadily.

The weather was near perfect for my pace. I haven't run in the back of the pack in several years. It used to be more fun. But a lot of runners are using IPods and zoning out. Some guy ran with a cow bell; I found that extremely annoying but could only run at one speed. Also, runners in the back would take walk breaks together in packs of 2, 3 or 4 across. It was a pain to weave around them.

Some power walkers passed me while I was running. I tried walking too but couldn't keep up with the walkers. So I ran again.

I didn't see many characters on the course. I saw Super Girl and a Bee. In previous years, I saw Jesus and the jump rope guy.

I wore the Northface Endurance Challenge t-shirt with Dean's quote on the back about never quitting and crawling to the finish if you have to. That got some favorable comments from several runners.

6 hours is a long time and past my lunch hour. I happily partook offerings from spectators - including sugar wafers, cheese crackers and mini bagels. I had money for pizza but wanted to make the 14th St Bridge cutoff first.

Being in the back, I saw some of the early water tables being swamped. I felt my foot slipping on a banana peel and saw colorfuly squished Jelly Bellies on the asphalt.

I sprinted up the hill to the finish dodging a bunch of walkers and finished in 5hrs 51 minutes. It was my slowest marathon. In some ways, it's kind of boring since I was not exploring a new distance or place. The most interesting part of my weekend was spending time with friends and family. I averaged a 13:25 pace. My pace in the last 26 miles of my 117 miler last week was at a 15:00 pace. So I guess I am making progress recovering.

The wait for the Metro was over 90 minutes. I limped across the Key Bridge and met a friend for coffee and compared notes on the marathon. He ran with the mayor of DC and started at the front; at the VIP stand, he could see the finishers come in. We got some stares at Starbucks when we took our off shoes - I had my toesocks on; he had a blister.

This year's Marine Corps medal is twice the size and weight of medals in previous years. I whacked myself on the head with it while taking it off to show my sister. I found a small cut on my eyebrow from the sharp point of naval anchor on the medal.

btw-It's interesting that the website reports the runners body weight as well as the splits.