Marine Corps Marathon!

25 October 2009

Today I did the Marine Corps Marathon (MCM). It was 26.2 miles around and through Washington DC. It was about as fun as a marathon can be while still hurting a lot. The weather this morning was perfect, a little brisk but not really cold and it warmed up but never got too hot. There were close to 30,000 people so body heat helped in the morning. We started just outside Arlington Cemetery just north of the Pentagon on the freeway. The race started at 8 am but I didn't actually reach the starting line until after 8:10 there were so many people. After 5 minutes before I had even moved from my little piece of asphalt over 6,000 people had already started. I'm pretty sure though that our times are still based off when we physically crossed the start line because we had electronic tags.

The beginning of the race takes you north through Virginia then across the Key Bridge. We ran by Gerogetown University and then headed towards down town. We passed behind the Lincoln Memorial at mile 10 and continued heading south passed the Jefferson Memorial and all the way around the Gulf Course. We went in front of the Jefferson Memorial then headed west back towards the Lincoln Memorial then east up the Mall. Mile 18 was just before we went around the round about type thing at the capital before heading back down the mall to the 14th Street Bridge and then across the Rochambeau Memorial Bridge back into Virgina. We made a little loop through the Crystal City shopping area and then back past the Pentagon (mile 24) and finished at the Marine War Memorial (the statue of the picture taken at Iwa Jima during World War II).

All in all the course was pretty fun. The entire course was on roads which killed my legs, but since it was in down town DC there were spectators everywhere. It made it a little hard to wimp out and walk every ten feet, but on the positive side I didn't take all day to finish. My 'running' time was just under 5 hours, but I had to stop and wait for a port-o-potty at mile 11.5 which added about 15 minutes. I will just say this about port-o-potties, boys are not efficient quick users. Any boy in line for the port-o-potty is there to do a number 2, so by default they'll be slower but we knocked out about 15 girls in the amount of time it took for 3 boys to do their business. Most of the boys just pee along the course into the trees or bushes which is why unless they're just shy, the boys are there for more than just a quick pee.

I was a little disappointed with the 'feed' stations. Along the course there are tables with various energy type foods since it's 26.2 miles and most people need some type of nourishment. I personally eat about every mile because I'm afraid of getting hungry and it helps pass the miles. The first 'feed' station had 'oranges' and I say 'feed' in quotes because that was hardly nourishing and I say 'oranges' in quotes because they were more like lemons. Discarded oranges are also very slippery, I'm surprised no one fell down, myself included because I skidded a couple feed on the peel of one. Then we all had sticky shoes for about half a mile from the juice and we squeaked along. The second 'feed' station had Cliff shots which is gu made by Cliff bar. The only flavors they had left when I went through was mocha and I didn't eat it so that 'feed' station was also not nourishing. The final feed station had Sport Beans which I ate all of either because I was really hungry or they just really were that good, so that one was nourishing.

There are also water stations at just about every mile. And when you say water there is also usually some type of sports drink. The type depends on the sponsor for the race so today we had Power Aid. It smelled like fruit roll ups about 100 feet before hand and it always made me really excited so I drank a lot of blue Power Aid today. All the water/Power Aid stations and the feed stations were manned by Marines and then other volunteers. There were hundreds of Marines throughout the course helping out and acting as security. At the finish line we got our finishers medals dawned by a Second Lieutenant. I haven't seen so many Second Lieutenants since I was at the officer's basic course in Ft. Sam before going to Korea, it was funny. There were a lot of young enlisted Soldiers, Captains, Majors and Senior enlisted as well.

The finish was chaotic to say the least. Since I'm a little bit slower than average, especially after gimping along for about 18 miles of it, I finished with a lot of people and after a lot of people had finished. You can probably imagine that close to 30,000 finishers in a relatively small area will get a little crowded. It wasn't too inefficient though and it's not like any of us were moving fast at that point so it was okay. We received our aluminum blankets, which I didn't get because I was hot, finishers medal, which I did get and it's cool, a photo in front of the Memorial, which is probably great since we were all covered in the salt that dries when you sweat that much, and then we had to wander through the finishing festival which spanned for blocks. I hobbled my way right through the finishers festival and headed back to the hotel, I was salty and not that interested in the beer tent which is just about all I could find.

Today was also fun because of all the things that go along with a huge race. The announcer at the beginning told us that this years MCM was the 5th largest marathon in the US this year and the 9th in the world. Pretty neat. Marathons are also good for fun outfits, weather they're shirts with something funny written on them, a whole get up, or a costume. There were a lot of people with pictures and tributes to Marines on their shirts. There were also a lot of people wearing camo, both regular color and pink. The spectators also had some original signs, there were a lot of 'your feet hurt because you're kicking so much ass (or asphalt)' but I think the best one was 'that's not sweat, that's your fat cells crying' that one made me giggle. Just a giggle though because it was mile 20 and I was tired.

If you remember I ran with a charity, Homes for our Troops. They build or remodel homes for severely wounded Troops coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan. They usually build houses for Soldiers or Marines who are double amputees or have sever head injuries or other injuries that leave them in a wheel chair or severely handicapped. If you never got a chance you can still donate, the links are on the side of the blog under the Marine Corps Marathon tab. For everyone who did donate thank you again. We met some of the Soldiers yesterday so that was fun. Also thank you all for supporting me in the run. It was something to look forward to during those last couple months in Iraq and Kuwait. The MCM is over, but don't worry, I have more marathons in my legs.