RACE MORNING
It was cold. It was windy. I had heard from the experts the night before, "standing there shivering for an hour before the start will make mile 15 seem like it's mile 21, it takes a lot out of you". Lovely. Also, I know from running all year that wind, a head wind can make running a certain pace much more difficult. So, I wore many layers the morning of, waited in the Metro station beforehand for as long as possible, did whatever I could. I won't bore you with all of what I had on :-) It was a long, cold walk to the baggage drop-off / runner's village. I took off a few layers and checked them with my phone, keys, etc. They would drive them in UPS trucks to the finish line for me/us. We (I ran with my friend and running partner Addie and my friend John) then proceeded to wait in the Port-O-John lines. While waiting in line, off in the distance we heard the National Anthem playing and we were like "Uhh... we better hustle". We were still a half mile from the start line. Needless to say, I felt rushed and my bathroom stop wasn't all I had hoped for, so a little worriesome. We got to the starting corrals with 5 minutes to spare. We lined up in the 3:20-3:40 corral, one ahead of where we were planning on finishing. Lots of people do it. It helps a little with not running up on slower runners but inevitably you still catch people who had no business starting in front of you, whatever!
MILES 1-12
Not much to say really. The first few miles are hilly, ups and downs. We felt pretty good for these miles. We were hitting our splits for the most part. The uphills were a touch slow but I wasn't stressing since I didn't want to overdo it, "save it for the end" I was thinking. It was thick at the beginning as well so running a fast pace was impossible, again I wasn't stressing. Our cheering section was waiting for us at mile 11. It was great to see some familiar faces and it gave us a much needed boost. It was also an opportunity to ditch my hat and gloves since I was warming up a bit. Mile 12 was where the trouble began for me. Just like in 2009 my foot started hurting. It never bothered me during training so I was slightly annoyed. My attention was quickly diverted away from that when "someone" elbowed my arm for the fourth time and my watch went flying. It broke off from the band and went sliding into some spectators. It only took a few seconds to find it and get going again but it kind of killed my momentum and now I was fully annoyed. From there on out I was holding my gel flask in one hand and my watch in the other. Oh joy! Not exactly ideal for relaxing your arms, hands and such to keep your heart rate down.
MILES 13-20
The miles went well. The foot discomfort came and went, until about mile 17 when it really started bothering me. It got to the point that it was trying to protect itself. When I'd land on it, the toes would clench. It was really annoying! I had no power pushing off my left side. No matter, I wasn't going to stop unless it fell off. Problem number two was that I finally ran out of gel in my gel flask around mile 20. No worries, I had another. I pulled it out and proceeded to get nothing out of it. It was so cold that it wouldn't fall fast enough before I passed the water station. In a panic, I pulled out a spare gel I had in my pocket and swallowed it quickly and then grabbed the last cup of water I saw. The water station took some time and led to a 9:09 pace for that mile. Of course as I'd find out later, my watch lies. It was probably more like a 9:20 mile. John was hurting and stayed with me. Addie was off and gained some good time on us at that point, probably a minute.
MILES 21-26.2
Mile 21, this is my least favorite part of the course because it seems so long and like it's uphill the whole way. I looked back for John early on and he was about 3 feet back. The next time I looked back he was gone. I felt bad but everyone's got to run their own race. There was a girl running a touch faster than me so I moved in near her. She looked to be running effortlessly. After a bit I dropped her because either she slowed or I picked it up. Upon entering Crystal City a water station was coming up, this time I was prepared! Or so I thought, you see after I had trouble with my gel flask at the previous water station I had flipped it over so that it was upside down. Gravity would naturally bring the gel to the bottom or now the opening. This had worked for my previous gel flask so I had no reason to think that it wouldn't work now. Well, it didn't. As I went to take in my calories nothing came out. I was sucking so hard that the flask was collapsing. This was not good at all. (I wanted to throw it down violently but I figured out that it has no feelings so it wouldn't care what I did to it and it would take energy from me so I just shook my head.) It was time to eat and there was nothing I could do. I took in water at the station and kept moving, stressing the whole time. By mile 23, I saw a few packs of Sport Beans, which are like jelly beans. Some runners use them for fuel instead of gels. I stopped and picked up a full pack and ate them. Normally, you take fuel and then wash it down. Oh well no water stations for another mile or two. The crowd was thick throughout Crystal City and it was giving us a much needed kick to get through the final few miles. I was shocked to see and hear my old running partner and his daughter cheering me on, loudly and enthusiastically. I picked it up to look strong for them. The reality was that I was already running strongly, the mile averages were getting lower and lower. I was getting faster and faster, I was cutting every corner and running the tangents like you're supposed to. I was tucking in behind other runners when the wind would gust. I used everything I had heard and read about to aid me. Not many, if any people were passing me at this point in the race, most were holding on or slowing down. However, two people slowly passed me. One was a woman, my age or slightly older with a Camelbak on her back for hydration. She was easy to spot and keep track of. I latched onto the other guy since he was bigger and was eating the headwind that we were running into during this final leg. It worked out nicely for about a half mile until he decided to pull off and walk. I ran up next to the woman and said "I'm feeding off you!". She was hurting and said "Ok, I'll feed off you too!". She left me a bit on the ramp at mile 25.1, kept looking back for me but I was hung up behind slower runners and to be honest, the downhill corners weren't feeling that great to me or my legs. I caught her as we both passed the final water station. I knew we were close and hammered, she got dropped. Mile 25.5, the crowd is thick, the adrenalyn is high, along with my heart rate. I see and hear my old running partner and his daughter again. The are running with me, easily. I pick it up because I should at least make this hard for them. They keep up easily. I'm almost home... one last hill, a steep uphill. The crowd is going nuts, no not for me, for everyone! I cross the finish line and my legs are like jello. I'm still searching for Addie wondering if she waited close to the line. I'm pretty sure I met my goal time and I start to get a touch emotional but with nobody there to share it with I suppress it :-) The clock showed 3:52:36 but we started some 2:40 after the "clock time" so my time was lower. Without being able to do the math after running 26.2 miles I just figured I had it. This is where my final problem reared it's ugly head... my watch was showing that I ran 26.8 miles and averaged 8:37 whereas I was shooting for an 8:45 average pace. So, I thought I was killing it. My watch lied and I finished in 2:49:53 and averaged an 8:47 mile. I barely made it! As silly as it might seem, if I had run a 2:50:?? I would have been VERY disappointed. Stupid, I know. I owe thanks to a great many people. There was a sign that we saw a few times during the race, "All it takes is all you got!" That's true of running a PR. I said a lot of things to myself during the last few miles and when my foot was bothering me. Things like "everyone is hurting" and "suck it up", haha. This is where I think running without music has helped me, I'm good with positive self talk. Anyway, onto the next challenge...
Sorry, I got a little wordy at the end. Thanks for reading or skimming!
