MARINE CORPS MARATHON 10.31.10 REVIEW - from a CLYDESDALE perspective :)
So it's the day after MCM, and I have a vaca day to recoup (which means shuttling the kids around, cleaning up around the house, etc.). But have some thoughts re the MCM which I again want to get down. This is a combination message to my family/friends, FB peeps, and an official Race Report on www.endurancenation.us which is my team.
For those who don't know, I ran the 35th anniversary Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, DC yesterday (Halloween). Apparently, this is the 4th largest marathon in the country; so big in fact that there is a lottery to register much like NYC. Also Oprah ran it several years back, which has motivated many a person to train to kick her ass. But I digress. 
I have always said two things: #1) Fall is a horrible time to run a Fall marathon, what with it colder, darker, flu season, kids back to school=germs gone wild, etc. - and the corollary #2) The biggest obstacle to running a marathon is not getting to the finish line - it's getting to the starting line.
So the fact that it's a HUGE metropolitan marathon has its semantics issues. The fact that it's on Halloween adds to that, given I have kids of trick-or-treating age. The fact that my oldest son's 7th birthday was the day before and my day's 70th birthday was the day after also compounded things. I knew all of these things over 7 months ago when I ran their "Run To Register 10K" race on the base in Quantico, VA in March to guarantee registration, and planned accordingly. Knew it when I booked a room at the Ritz which seemed tantalizingly close to both the start and the finish. Knew it when I had planned several backup plans to pick up my race chip the night before, all because of a bad experience I had a decade earlier in DC (I was 20 min late to packet pickup the night before the Army Ten Miler and they refused to let me race).
So needless to say, the last 36 hours have been very long indeed. Some observations about the race:
1) Traffic into DC the night before was fine. The Ritz-Carlton is, well, the Ritz-Carlton - and for MCM rate of $200 split between a few people it was a good call. The early am Metro ride to the Pentagon was a piece of cake. The 2 mile walk to the start, however, left a little to be desired. That being said, despite there being 25000 or so runners it was surprisingly easy to seed myself wherever I wanted at the start.
The weather was GORGEOUS - perfect running weather, like 50 or so, clear, no wind at the start, and no rain throughout.
2) This was my 7th marathon, and I must say the military spectacle and emotion of this race is unmatched, from the bombers flying in formation overhead at the start, to the thousands of marines staffing the aid stations, to the several "battalion" groups each running with a physically challenged runner - and each of these soldiers were running with full combat gear and rucksacks which must have weighed over 50 lbs, and they were pacing strong! The handcycle competitors were also amazing people and great to see around the course.
3) The course was well-stocked with fluid/aid stations. It would have been nice to have had race clocks at certain mile markers instead of at weird kilometer benchmarks.
4) This course is CROWDED. There are very few sections where you aren't drafting off of someone and vice versa. Very easy to get bottlenecked and/or tripped over. Especially when people made mad last-minute dashes for the last water table and cut you off. People had told me this beforehand but I didn't quite fully appreciate it. Also, there were several bottlenecks that involved at least 1/4 to a 1/2 mile stretch of a rocky sidewalk only about 10 feet wide which definitely slowed me down. Then the only choice is to take the wide-out track to keep your pace, forcing you to run farther over the course. No excuses - but just sayin'.
5) The course spectators were great and lined much of the course.
6) The short but steep hill at the end right at the finish line may just as well be called Heartbreak Ridge; it is cruel and unusual punishment even for the military. Especially for someone like me who likes to see the finish line 1/4 out and sprint for it.
7) I missed my target time by a few minutes, despite pacing with my Garmin throughout at 9:09 final avg, as well as with the Pace Team guy holding the 4:00:00 balloon for the last 7 miles. Apparently my weaving made me run 4/10 of a mile extra, which turned out to be a significant difference.
8) This was the first marathon that I ran the ENTIRE thing, no walking whatsoever. Not at hills, not at aid stations, nothing. I did have 3 short stops to refill my Infinit Nutrition bottle every 6 miles, and one to pee (which is miraculous for me); however, in the end these stops also cost me precious minutes.
9) So after running UP this crazy hill to the finish, you are shuttled through like sheep. Except that there's nowhere to go! It reminded me of NYC Marathon finish in Central Park in '02. The 27th mile. That's when things are REALLY hard because you want to just sit down but they won't let you - the Marines kept coming over to people making them get up and move (for their own good, but still). And it took about 30 minutes until the crowd moved through, of us just standing there shivering under our solar blankets. I think I walked almost 2 miles from the finish just to get to the metro station (I was a bit disoriented at the end), only to find that it was completely overrun with a huge line. So I pulled up my GPS on my iphone, and started walking back to hotel figuring I'd hail a cab. No luck. So just kept walking with other runners. Turned out the extra 3-4 miles was good for my legs as I felt better for the (FOUR HOUR!) drive home. I made it home JUST in time to go trick or treating with the brood, and today I feel great except for coughing up brown smurfs as I have the past 5 days, which also may have hindered me.
But WHAT A DAY!
SO, my plan for the last race of the season - Philly Marathon - in 3 weeks:
-Philly = local, less crowded, easy to park by finish line, familiar to me as I've run it x 4 times before, all = assets.
-Hopefully I won't be sick again.
-Repeat Univ Western Australia carb load protocol which seemed to work, although admittedly it is hard to get down that many grams of carbs in 24 h. Ended up drinking a lot of them, sucking on candies, etc.
-Adjust pace band to include fudge factor for stops to pee/refill, as well as include on it race-specific mile/kilo-marker benchmark times.
-Along those lines, I still will run 30 secs slower per mile x first 5 miles a la Coach P's advice, but I think I can run faster during the body of the race evidenced by the fact that I negative-split and ran the last 5 miles sub-9's. That should take the pressure off at the end.
-It will be my last race of the season, I WANT 3:XX:XX guntime!!!!!!!!
Any advice or comments, I'm all ears. Well, most of me. Hope this helps, informs, or otherwise entertains some folks.
Liebs
Comments
Good luck! This MCM sounds incredible -- definitely one for the bucket list.
Congrats!
And Beth, if you come to DC for MCM, you have a place to stay and a sherpa at your beck and call! I've done it once and that's enough for me... in part bc I'm hoping to join the 50 state club, but mostly bc I'm not a fan of the race... but that's mostly from a logistical point of view.
The crowd support is fabulous and the views are spectacular... but tripping over people at mile 1 and at mile 25 is just not right... and the finish is an admin clusterf@!% -- not so much the cruel hill, which was just not cool, but the wall of people that come to a dead stop immediately through the finishing shoot and the impossibility of getting out of Rosslyn in under a few hours was more than I could bear.
But the weather the last few years has been the same - cool, sunny, and windy...
Ran it too myself this year. First marathon. I agree with all those observations. The most pain I had was the standing in the crowd for 30 mins trying to exit the finish area! Still had a great time, and may do it again next year.
It taught me a lot about my hydration strategy, or lack thereof. Yes, there were plenty of water stations, but I really need to slow down at them and drink, as opposed to splashing most of the contents out of the cups. That started to catch up w/me the last 3 miles. As for that hill at the, I just try to pretend it's not!
jb