I DID IT!!!!!!!!!!! *cue the club music and imagine dancing*
Yesterday was the big day. To say I was nervous would be an understatement. All I've been able to think about since the marathon was officially ON, is the marathon. Last week I was even having trouble eating and sleeping because I was so nervous. There were a couple of times where I had dreams that I missed the entire marathon somehow. Trust me when I tell you this last week has not been easy in terms of nerves.
For a quick rundown of the days leading up to the marathon: on Saturday Ryan and I drove down to Washington D.C.. It took us just over 8 hours, which wasn't terrible. Once we arrived, I had him drop me off at the Expo to check out the free swag and see what it was all about. At the Expo I tried a Pumpkin Spice Clif Bar that tasted amazingly like pumpkin pie. Totally delicious. Jelly Belly has a new sport bean out, except it's not a bean, it's more like a malted milk ball, which they were giving away as well. More on that later. After the Expo, I went to dinner with Ryan and ate properly, the way you should before you run a marathon. Seriously. I had a lovely salmon dinner, on a bed of peppers and spinach, among other vegetables. Then we went to bed at 8 p.m., because we both had to get up early the next day. (There was no way I was riding the Metro alone at 5 a.m. in a strange city, so I begged Ryan to tag along until I could meet up with Cynthia and Murdock.
Suddenly it was Sunday. You know how some days, it's really hard to get out of bed, for whatever reason? Today was not one of those days. I was up and going as soon as my alarm went off. After doing my morning getting read routine, getting dressed, and putting on my layer of throw away clothes, I was ready to go. Outside, it was cold (45 degrees!) and still dark, as one would expect at 5:30 a.m.. Ryan and I walked to the Metro and unexpectedly found no waiting or lines. We were able to quickly purchase cards and ride to the Pentagon station. As I had been expecting a least a small wait, we ended up arriving much earlier than I anticipated. Once at the Pentagon, there was nothing to do but wait for Cynthia and Murdock. I debated going to find coffee, but ended up just staying put, eating a Snickers Marathon bar and drinking water for my breakfast. Eventually Cynthia and Murdock arrived and I left Ryan, knowing the next time I saw him, I would either be able to call myself a marathoner or a failure. Strangely, as we walked towards Runner's Village, I wasn't nervous anymore. There was some excitement, but I was actually fairly calm. Of course we stopped at the Porta-pottys for a pre-run potty break. While we were in line there, we saw the Marines parachuting down carrying American flags. It was pretty amazing. After our potty break we made our way to the start line and joined our corral, the one with an expected finish time of 4:15 - 4:30. All too soon, the howitzer was firing for the hand-cycles and wheelchairs. Five minutes after that, it was our turn. Everything we had been working for, training for all these months, was suddenly here. Of course we weren't right at the start (after all, we're no elites), we had a bit of walk after the howitzer before we crossed the start line. I think in all it took us about 10 minutes to actually cross once the race started.
As soon as the race started though, it was just like every other training run, except a lot more crowded and a bit more fun. Now, almost every account I had read about this course talked a lot about the incline at the beginning, between miles 1 - 3. However, I can honestly say I didn't even notice it. Around mile 3 I realized that we had run the entire incline without a problem. So, if you're planning on doing this marathon, don't let the incline scare you away, it's really not bad at all!
Miles 1 - 10 all but flew by. Since miles 6 - 9 follow an out and back straightaway, it was tough to see some of the faster runners coming back down, just as we were turning up. But after the initial surprise of seeing them, it wasn't a terrible straight away. Miles 11 - 13 weren't bad either, but I was starting to feel a little discouraged. I had an, OMG I'm only half-way there moment, which wasn't the best feeling. Along mile 12 though, we found an actual bathroom - NOT a porta-potty! Against all my instincts, I decided to stop and use it. Cynthia and Murdock were nice enough to wait, even though it ended up adding a good 5 minutes or so to our time. After the bathroom break though, I felt revived again and ready to go. I think the worst miles were 15 - 18. Weirdly, those miles had a lot of the crowd support and water breaks, so I think it was all just mental. That was when I really started feeling like I just couldn't do it. I'd already been running for over 2 hours and I couldn't imagine going another 2. My legs hurt, my back hurt, and my feet seemed to be moving slower than ever. (In reality, my pace only slowed by a few seconds, but it seemed like much longer.) When we got to mile 17, the gauntlet as it's called in MCM, I thought I would feel a little better, but I really didn't. It wasn't until mile 20 that I kind of revived. Unfortunately, then the bridge came and dragged out mile 20 - 21. People aren't kidding when they say the bridge is no fun. For me, it was better than miles 15 - 18, but I can see why others would hate it. There really is no crowd support, it seems to go on forever, and a lot of other people around you have started walking. If you were ever going to throw in the towel, I think the bridge would be the spot where most people did. At least through most of the other miles, there's a huge crowd cheering you on, and that sort of keeps you going. On the bridge it might just be you, and that can be dangerous, if you're in a bad state of mind at that point in the marathon. The downhill after the bridge was amazing, especially the water stop around the corner. From there we ran through Crystal City and looped around back the way we came over the bridge. The difference was, this time, it was mile 24. Only 2.2 to go. By that point, everything was numb and I had eaten literally any food I could get my hands on. I had started the race with gu's, and I used the food and water stops on the course, but it wasn't enough. My original plan had been to run with a bottle of water, but I threw it away at the start, in a last minute moment of insanity. I had managed to make it through the first 18 miles solely on water and Gatorade stops, but right before the bridge I found myself wishing I had brought a bottle to refill, like Cynthia and Murdock had been doing at the stops. Along the way, the crowd had been offering food, mostly Halloween candy. At first I ran right past, thinking about how I didn't need that, and the orange slices, sports beans, and gus would be enough to get me through. By mile 18, I was grabbing anything I could from the crowd. Luckily for me that included one amazing group of people handing out mini bottles of water. I have no idea who these people are or where they came from, but that water bottle was actually what I think put me back in the race. It got me over the bridge, I was able to take my last gu, and I finally felt hydrated again.
Now, I had started counting out my distances in 5K terms back at mile 14, when I first started to feel a little sluggish. Just 3 miles til the gauntlet, I would tell myself. Once there it was, just three miles to 20. After 20, I just went mile by mile. 6 more. 5 more. 4 more. Only 3 left. 2 little miles left. 1 to go, easy as pie, only 10 more minutes of running, 14 if you really bomb out now. And suddenly there it was. The 26 mile marker. The incline up to the finish line. All you could hear was people yelling, but all I could see were the Marines lining the sides of the hill, and the giant inflatable red arch. As I was powering up the hill, I almost didn't even see Ryan, who managed to find me just before the finish and watch me cross, in a crowd of 1000s of people. It was amazing to cross that finish line, and there were a few tears from all of us. I can honestly say it was the hardest thing I've ever done in my entire life, solely for the mental strength it took to keep going even when I didn't want to anymore. By the way, that last .2 was the easiest hill I've ever run. A lot of people complain that the marathon ends on an incline, but I think if you're like me, once the adrenaline and sense of relief that the finish is so close, takes over, you don't even notice that you're going uphill. You just go towards that finish line like there's nothing else important in the world at that moment.
Once we got through, we got our medals from the Marines, got some finisher photos at the Iwo Jima statue, and went to the Finisher's Village. That's where I was finally able to meet up with Ryan and buy my official MCM FINISHER shirt. Sadly, Ryan and I had to make the long drive back home, so we didn't hang out very long. Just long enough to get some free watermelon, say goodbye, and walk back to the Arlington Cemetery Metro stop. A word of advice, if you ever go for this, do NOT take the Rosslyn metro stop. When we were trying to leave, the line was so long it was backed up into Finisher's Village and probably would've taken us at least 2 hours just to get into the station. We walked the extra mile or so backwards into Arlington and hopped on that Metro, where there was no wait whatsoever. Then we ate lunch and drove home.
I can honestly say, today was not at all what I expected. It's weird that the marathon is over, after I've spent so long working towards it and thinking about it. On top of that, my legs were barely sore at all, which really surprised me. I'm crediting that to the watermelon juice, the Jelly Belly chocolate milk balls, and my heated seats. Sure the car ride home was a little bit uncomfortable, but today I was able to walk around and function, so overall, I'd consider the whole affair a huge success. And even though it was probably a little bit lame, I wore that medal the entire car ride home, and if I could have, I would've worn it to work today too.
Expo
All ready for the big day.
My trusty marathon shoes, on their last hurrah.
Bed time - amped for the A.M.
Ready to go!
Getting on my throw away clothes (I left the sweatshirt and the head band, I kept the pants...)
Cynthia and Murdock
Runner's village
Porta-potty lines
Eeeek
parachuting flags
At the start!
Waiting for Murdock to take his layers off.
Sunrise behind us
We are ready!
The start arches!
A small showing of all the throw away's. They get donated to local homeless shelters. Do something nice for somebody else, just because you can.
Comcast Sports Net...so close to crossing the start
The Armed Forces helicopters were constantly out and circling, it was amazing to see. This is not zoomed, this is really how close to us it was.
Running selfie (this is not the bridge to beat)
The miserable mile 16
The Capitol. The only monument I really remember seeing, besides the Washington Monument, which seemed to be in view constantly.
This is the bridge we were beating...and beat it we did.
The last .2....look at the crowd!
OMG THE FINISH
Cynthia getting her medal
Murdock getting his medal.
Finisher selfie!
Iwo Jima
Finally found Ryan!
Two thumbs up! I did it. Way to go me!
Did I mention that my garmin died just as I passed mile 26? That was a bummer. Luckily it saved, and recorded a little bit ahead, so it still had a full marathon on it. And I almost forgot the most important part....the TIME! We finished in 4:34 if you go by our Garmin's and 4:43 if you go by their timing mat, due to the bathroom break. I'll be honest, I expected to be a little bit faster, but I'm happy with it. Of course, there's always the next one to improve my time......
