Life 'n Legos: Marine Corps Marathon

On Sunday, I completed my first ever marathon. I could not have run in a better race for my first one, the experience was absolutely amazing! Back in March I decided to sign up for Team in Training with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The deal is that you raise money for blood cancer research and in return you get t-shirts, training, and good friends. You pick a race and that race determines what your fundraising goal is. This season, the races to pick form were the Nike Women's Marathon, the Marine Corps Marathon, the Dublin Marathon, and the Raleigh City of Oaks Marathon. I am slightly intimidated by fundraising so I picked the race with the lowest goal, being City of Oaks. Its a local race that I have run before (the half marathon, not the full) so I figured it would be good to not have to travel. As our training progressed and I heard more about the Marine Corps Marathon I started thinking about signing up for that one just because it sounded like so much fun. I thought it would be pretty crazy to run the MCM the weekend before COO, but I figured I would try anyways, I could always drop to the half in COO if need be. We had just passed our recommittment date with TNT, so it was too late for me to switch races and much to my disappointment, MCM sold out in like 4 hours. There was no way for me to run MCM this year and I doubted that I would train for another marathon on my own so I was kind of bummed. When an organization that I have been getting involved with, Wear Blue: Run to Remember, announced that they were doing a drawing for free entry into MCM I decided to enter just for the hell of it. I never win anything, so I didn't think I would win...but guess what! I WON! I began getting really excited and nervous at the same time. My marathon date moved up a week and I would really be putting my body through the ringer in a weeks time. I didn't care, I couldn't say no to either race...so I set my mind to it!

About a week out from the race we started watching the weather closely, as Hurricane Sandy was approaching the Northeast. Two days before the race it was looking like the Hurricane was going to hit on Sunday and I started to get really nervous about if I would be able to finish in the 7 hour time limit. Not running was not an option. I was just worried about how long it would take me to run 26.2 miles into a headwind in the rain. I prepared with extra gels, extra shoes and socks, extra clothing, and snacks that I left with Maddi at Mile 12. Mile 12 was where the Blue Mile was, so I knew I wouldn't miss her.

Maddi and I woke up at 4:20 on race day to catch the metro into D.C.. I wanted to meet the TNT team at the hotel before they headed over to the race, so we got off and stopped in at the Marriott to see them. From there, Maddi and I parted ways, she headed over to the Smithsonian and I headed to the Pentagon, both of us meeting with the Circle of Remembrance. Maddi made it on time, but I got caught in the insanity that was the metro. Runners were packed in like sardines and it took forever to get out and up the stairs. It was worse than Disney World on New Years 2000. I was sad to miss the circle, but still had the names of the guys I was running for in my heart and on my mind, so I suppose it was ok. I ran into a few other WBR2R in the bathroom line and they said they were stuck in the metro too. I started feeling a little better about missing the circle, but there was nothing I could do about it at that point. The bathroom line wasn't too long, but it was painfully slow. I had very little time to get over to the start line with the other 49,999 runners. Once I made it over there though the energy was out of control. I kept finding it difficult not to burst into tears just from all the emotions I was experiencing.

The Howitzer first sounded at 7:40 to send off the wheelchair and hand bike participants. Fifteen minutes later it sounded again to signal the start of the 37th Marine Corps Marathon! It was crazy, absolute madness, but so much fun. It took me close to 15 minutes to approach and cross the start line. Once I finally crossed it was a slow and zig zaggy run before I was able to find a little breathing room and set my own pace. I ran my first few miles at a pretty solid pace, maintaining between a 9:30 and 10:30 min/mile pace. Just a little faster than what I wanted to run. I was able to maintain that until about mile 10, where I slowed to between a 10:30 and 11:30 pace for the next 6 miles. I ran into Maddi at mile 12 where I was still feeling really strong. We were lucky that weather held out, it was perfect temperature for me to wear my singlet and overcast so there was no intense sun. The rain held off until we got back to Maddi's apartment later that afternoon and it was only windy in certain areas.

When I hit 16 miles I hit a bit of a wall. I was tired and ready to be done. The only person I saw that I knew the entire time (up to that point) was Maddi at mile 12. I really needed the energy and encouragement from someone and I started wishing that I had worn my purple TNT shirt. As I slowed to a walk at the water station, feeling a bit sorry for myself because I still had 10 miles left, I heard a familiar voice say "how are you feelin'?" It was exactly what I needed, one of my TNT coaches saw me and came over to offer some encouragement. I told her that my hamstrings were starting to get really tight and that I was ready to be done. She told me that I was only 1.5 miles from my first time checkpoint and I was WELL ahead of the time. With that, I thanked her for her encouragement and took off running again. I decided to not let myself walk until after I "beat the gauntlet". From there I decided that I would run to mile 18 then walk for 2 minutes. I hit 18 and walked, it felt awesome. When I started running again I planned on running until mile 19 then walking again for 2 minutes. This put me at a 12 min/mile pace...much slower than I would have liked, but still ahead of the pace limit (and I was beating the time limit by a little over 2 hours anyways). After my 2 minute walk I ran to mile 20, the second time check point. This checkpoint is called "Beating the Bridge". When I beat the bridge I almost burst into tears, I knew that I would finish this race, I knew that I would not be picked up by the straggler bus and even if I walked the last 6 miles I was going to finish. I was so happy and so proud of myself. As I spent my 2 minutes walking I realized that I still had over an hour of running left...crap. With that I took off. I continued walking for a few minutes and then running the rest of the mile for almost the rest of the race. I walked when I took a gel and I walked when I refilled my water. This was mainly because it was easier for me to breathe this way. When I approached mile 25 I decided that I would continue and run until 25.2 miles, this way I only had 1 mile of the race left when I started my 2 minutes of walking. I walked my 2 minutes and then got going again at my slow pace. As I got closer to the finish I started speeding up. I was so excited that I was about to be finished that some adrenaline came over me. I was passing lots of people and then I saw the rather large hill that took me straight to the finish. As other runners slowed to a walk I had to start shouting "on your left" so that I could maintain my run...I was not about to start walking. I pushed hard up the hill and spotted my sister about 1/10 of a mile before the finish line. I smiled for her to get a couple pictures and gave it everything I had left. I sprinted with everything that was inside of me, flying by other runners. Random people on the sidelines started screaming for me as I flew by them, the Marines standing on the other side of the finish line cheered me on, it was amazing. When I crossed I was greeted with high fives all around and several of the Marines told me "great finish, ma'am". Another runner caught up to me, put his hand on my shoulder and told me "now THAT is how you finish a marathon!". I was on top of the world, it was amazing!

After we crossed the finish line we were sent over to gates where we received our medals. Two Marines were handing out each medal along with a handshake and a salute. The finish line was in front of the Iwo Jima Memorial, so we then got in a line to have our photos taken in front of the memorial. Next we were shuffled through lines where we received Gatorade, a recovery box full of food, and a recovery jacket. When I got out of that I immediately removed my shoes and made my way towards the finish festival. Then came the fun part of trying to find Maddi. I hobbled over to the UPS trucks where we checked our bags so that I could put on warm clothing, as the temperature had dropped quite a bit. I also had my phone in the bag, so as long as it had battery power left I could call her. Thankfully I had about 5% battery left (I think Maddi had maybe 7%), just enough to get in touch and let her know where I was. Once we found eachother we went over to the Metro to fight the crowds to get back. Maddi navigated because I was a total zombie at this point, I even fell asleep on her in the Metro...something we DO NOT do ;-) Once we got back she waited on me and called into me in the shower every few minutes to make sure I hadn't died. She took a much needed nap before we all headed down to the bar below her apartment for some celebratory drinks and food. At dinner I almost fell over in my food, so we decided it was time to go to bed. I crashed quickly and she wasn't far behind. The next morning the hurricane weather started...how is that for timing?

The scenery and crowd was incredible at the race. We ran by all of the major monuments, across the major bridges, through Georgetown, and a bunch of other places...I'll see if I can find a picture of the route to post for those of you familiar with the DC area. I am hoping to be able to run this again next year, it was an absolutely phenomenal race!

Wear Blue: Run to Remember photoshoot

The expo. Maddi went and picked up my packet for me, she said it was complete madness

The guy in orange is a scientist that is working on designing a suit for service members to wear in combat. Its full body protection and it weighs less than their body armor. He ran the marathon in it to prove that its not too bulky for them to wear in combat.