Marine Corps Marathon

Time: 114:47
Distance: ~16 miles

The day arrived and normally I might have been a little disappointed that I wasn't competing competitively, but I took solace knowing that I'd be helping Meagan and Jilane run a great race. I didn't sleep great the night before because I was on duty to let Jeff into the apartment upon his arrival from Charlotte. He got in around 1 am and I promptly went back to sleep for another 4 hours. The alarm went off at 5 am and it was time to get things rolling. I had to head over to Colin's house to pick up a hungover Owen and bring him back to Jilane's before the crew made up of Owen, Jeff, Jilane, KP, Aja, Meagan and myself were to leave for the metro.

Outside the air was cold, a little humid but there was no wind which made the weather ideal for marathoning. We boarded the metro in ideal fashion as trains were pulling up just as we were walking onto the platform. The metro was bustling with all the marathoners, friends and family heading to the start of the race. Some people were visibly nervous, others relaxed and joking (Owen and I), others shivered while some fidgeted. We got off the train at the Pentagon and proceeded to make our way near the front of the race.

The howitzer sounded at 8 am and the race was off with our group (injured Team OJ and Team MJ) was only about 6-8 seconds behind the actual start line. It was a little difficult to navigate our way through the mass of people out in front without wasting too much energy. I would say that by a half mile we were into a decent rhythm and despite comments to get me to slow the pace down we went through the first mile right on pace in 7:02.

Our splits for the first 8 miles looked something like this:
7:02, 7:06, 6:29, 6:25,
6:34, 6:43, 6:56, 6:32...

Meagan made a comment around mile four that her stomach was hurting and by mile eight we needed to stop. She and I bombed down the hill and to the facilities while Owen and Jilane continued on with the race. When we reentered the race I could see that the new Team OJ was about 80-100 meters ahead of us and I wanted to use the next mile or two to catch up with them. I actually didn't split the 8th mile (I stole that split from Jilane's log) and the two miles between 7 and 9 were a combined 13:40. And that includes the bathroom break. I don't have a split from 8 to 9 as a result but I bet it was another 6:30 if you consider a pit stop takes 40 seconds.

Meagan and I got to mile 9 and I urged her to take a Gu but she wanted to let her stomach settle. Around this point a Mizuno sales rep from Florida whom I met the day before at the expo caught us and we ran together for about a half mile. Meagan still looked good and we were clipping along but Owen and Jilane were not coming back. Our splits from 8 to 11 look something like this:
13:40 (includes stop), 6:35, 6:32

Meagan still looked good and neither her breathing nor turnover had changed much from the start of the race. After the fast mile on 11, we backed things off for the next couple miles.
6:47, 6:48

Just after half-way which we went through in 1:28:xx, Meagan had to go to the bathroom. Again. At this point I was getting a little frustrated and I knew she was even more frustrated by having to stop. At this juncture I stopped my watch and just waited. Meagan made the comment upon resuming that her legs felt fine but her stomach was still killing her. At some point I basically forced her to eat a Gu in hopes that she would have something for later in the race and considering we were still on sub-3 hour pace with a couple stops, things weren't looking all that bad.

My remaining splits were:
6:29 (coming off a break), 6:48, 6:41, :30.

I jumped out of the race around 16 miles when I spotted Owen. We left Meagan about 15 meters behind two women who were looking strong and I hoped that she was going to be able to use them to her advantage. I was a little upset at this point and vented to Owen about my frustration and hoped for the best as Meagan was going to do a loop around the Mall.

Owen and I made our way across the Arlington bridge to the Arlington National Cemetery and then on to the finish. What a cruel race director or course designer! The finish basically sent the marathoners up a hill for 200m, a hill that you would choose to run hill intervals on, a hill not meant for a finish of a 'thon. Anyway, it was painful to watch the wheelchair participants inch themselves up ever so gradually. The leaders of the race managed the hill a bit better but still some had trouble getting their knees to lift after 26 miles of running.

Owen and I sat in the bleachers at the finish line for about 20 minutes before the first woman started coming in. Actually, there were two women at the finish that were only separated by 11 seconds. The tally got to 5, 6, 7 and then 8. Finally we could see Jilane at the bottom of the hill and one woman was not too far in front of her. Jilane managed to pull off a 10th place finish with a time of 2:58:10. Big ups.

I stood around and waited to see if Meagan was going to break 3 hours. She didn't. I kept waiting and by the time the 3:15 people were coming in I decided to get the eff out of there and I wanted to congratulate Jilane. I walked up the hill and Meagan was one of the first people I saw. She ended up dropping out at 20 miles and curled up into a ball. At least she wasn't the girl who tried to console her and was later seen clutching her hand with a broken finger.

Despite there only being a finish by Team J, the girls raced great. Jilane ran well the entire race even though she felt terrible the first two miles of the race. Overall, the race experience was great and I need to get fit and stay healthy so I can partake in one of these marathon things that people end up getting addicted to. Rumor has it that Team OJ (the original one) might be making a debut in Austin.