I’ve returned from my experience at the Marine Corps Marathon to report that my day was certainly a rough one. I kind of knew going in that it was going to be a hard run, mainly because after completing my 3 mile refresher run on Saturday, I just didn’t feel great. My chip time was 4:03, yep, 4:03 .. I didn’t even come in under 4 hours, so i’m quite disappointed… so lets come up with excuses why I didn’t do well (lol)..

First, I know that I am slightly undertrained .. as I wrote during Steamtown, my focus over the last 3-4 weeks has not been training, so in addition to that, I think mentally I wasn’t there either. It was hard to travel in the rain on Saturday (long ride), the hotel experience wasn’t the best, lots of hustle and bustle at the beginning, that I just didn’t get into it like I probably should have, and I think that hurt me…

Second, I know I went out way too fast, again running the first few miles at around an 8:15 pace, which is too fast for me at this stage however at such a huge event its hard to not get caught up in the hoopla.. I told myself at around mile 5 that I need to get control of my pace and struggled from miles 5-10 getting into a comfortable pace, but it was hard because there were some hills I had to deal with .. finally at around mile 12 or so, I started to think that this race was going to be difficult to finish.. I had a hollow feeling in my solo flexes from mile 2 to at least mile 18 when I really slowed down, so that really bothered me, i’m not sure if its because I went out too fast or not, but I really felt ‘out of breath’ and like someone punched me in the stomach (maybe you know the feeling)…

I got to mile 19 and felt myself dying out .. it was quite warm believe it or not, and although I hydrated pretty good, I took in too much Powerade instead of water because the water stops were not marked real good (plus they were crowded) .. I hit the wall at mile 20 and did what I should not have done and started to walk for a few seconds in each mile .. and slowly as I went on, I started walking more. It was sad, and difficult with the amount of people cheering in Crystal City to just ‘walk through’ .. it was demoralizing ..

Regardless, I finished, and thats the important thing … i’m wrapping up the season here as I focus on some other things .. I should be able to get to the Diamond Run without issue, but no more marathons until I can focus again on training, I once again write (like I did after the Ocean Drive marathon), that being trained properly is critical in the success of running marathons, and I just wasn’t ready and I won’t be ready for anymore this season ..

I’ve thought about next year and am not sure what the plan is, however I know one thing for sure, i’m going to stick with the smaller marathons .. 30000 people is ALOT of people and alot of confusion. What sucked the most was the mile walk from the Runners Village to the start line, running 26.2 miles, then walking another mile after the race through the finish area (to get your medal, coin, meal, etc)…

One thing to note though, that out of 30000 people, only 18000 or so finished, so over 1/3 of the field did not finish, that’s weird! I also finished around 4500th or so, which puts my in the top 25-30% of finishers, even with a bad time, not sure how that works out, but makes me feel better …

The last comment I have to make thats bugged me to no end is that I generally like to get a polo shirt from every race i run … however the cost was $99 for a polo with the MCM logo on it .. SORRY! Thats too much for me .. I felt bad in Delaware spending $42 on a polo shirt, but it was at least manageable I guess …

So its on to rest and to start the next chapter in the big book of life … not sure how running will fit in, but we’ll figure it out ..