Marthoned -- With Pics!

4:30 AM yesterday, my alarm went off.  I made me some oatmeal, and B was at the backdoor.  We drove around the beltway to RFK, drove around RFK several times trying to find the parking lot where we were supposed to be, and then parked the car at 5:20.  Only 100 minutes before the starting gun.  That would have been about right for a triathlon . . . as B observed, while we were waiting in the car for the sun to rise, there are less logistics for a marathon.  

So, we wander over to the Armory, where people are stretching, and getting geared up, and standing in long lines for the bathrooms.  We did some of that ourselves, and about 6:45 ran back to the car to ditch our jackets.  It was ~32f at the start - the last time we raced when it was that cold I wore my fleece through the race and was too warm by mile 2.  So, back to the start in time to hear the national anthem, and B and I went out seperate ways -- he to the front of the pack, I to the "7:45 - 8:30" corrall, where approximately 8,000 people were waiting.  Ok, there were 8k people in the race, and all of them in the same queue, but it was packed -- I wasn't cold waiting for the gun.  Which went off -- and two minutes later, I trotted past the starting line.

The race went very well for me for the first half; I passed 13.1 at 1:45:47, right on pace to bring it in at 3 hours, 30 minutes or so, my goal for the race.   Here were my early splits:

Mile 1:  8:15  - thats from the starting line, not the gun.

Mile 2:  7:53

Mile 3:  8:03 -- This was 

the pace I was looking for. 

Mile 4: 8:08

Mile 5:  8:06

Mile 6:  8:17  -- Big Hill from Dupont Circle to Harvard ave

Mile 7:  8:04

Mile 8: 8:04

Mile 9:  7:59  - -Down North Cap to the Mall

Mile 10:  7:46 -- More Downhill here

Mile 11:  8:05

Mile 12:  8:12

Mile 13.1:  8:49 -- One extra .1 to get to the halfway point.  My official race time at this point was 1:45:49, pace of 8:05.  This was right where I wanted to be -- not too fast, leaving some room to bring it down in the second half.   M, J, and J's cousin A were there at the halfway point, so a boost of energy from seeing them took me into the second half of the race.

Here I am running over to get high fives at the halfway mark.

And the first half of the second half went well.  However, I stopped to pee at mile 14, and when I came out of the portaloo my right knee went "twinge."  It wasn't painful, exactly, more just tight.  In hindsight I should have stopped and stretched out my legs right there, but I didn't -- I just ran on.

Part of what I try to do when I run long distances is focus on the race, on how my body feels, on hitting the tangents (instead of running the long way around the curves).  That's why there's not much travelogue here -- it was the Mall in DC, parts of the run were really pretty, but I didn't really SEE them, or look at them with the intent of keeping in my head about where I was on the course.  (Though they were demolishing a building on North Cap, just north of I, with a crane and big concrete wrecking ball.  That was cool.)  So, I was keeping my mind on my knee, and it kept telling me that it was ok.  It also promised me that it was going to give me belgium, after it got a build, which should have tipped me off that something wasn't on the level.

I passed the Large Land Mammal right after Mile 18, and he said I was doing great!  That was good, but right after that, in the waterfront area, I turned a corner and the  status report on my knee went from orange to red.  Then, going over the bridge into Anacostia (metal grates!  So much fun to run on) and into the park, the downhill really brought the pain.  Something about 4x pressure on your knees when running down hill?  At about this point I started setting targets for myself -- run to that tree.  Run to that bridge.  Run to that mile marker.  Doing this, I made it to Mile 21, having passed maybe a dozen people who were walking, before my knee said, "Nope.  No more running."

That was heartbreaking.  It hurt like hell, I wasn't out of breath, I felt ok otherwise, but I couldn't manage more than a fast limp.  If there had been an aid station with a stretcher there, I would have gotten off the course.  But there wasn't.  A good samaritan offered me some advil, but I was afraid that I had really hurt my knee, and I didn't want to dull the pain as I tried to work through it.  I started counting steps, and when I got to 100 I tried to run again.  No.  Ok, count to 200.  No.  500?  No.  I passed mile marker 22, with all the people I had passed from 13.1 - 20 flying by me.  

I kept counting my steps, this time trying to increase my walking pace every 100 steps, until I was doing something approaching a speed-walk.  I also stopped and stretched my hamstrings for a minute.  In my head, I was doing the math -- If I could bring in 12 minute miles for the last 4 miles, I could still get in under 4 hours . . . 

At mile 23 one of the navy pace teams - this one running 3:55 -- passed me.  Fine, I said.  Lets try to run one more time, and bring it in hard.  And, shuffling along, I did manage to stumble back into something like a run.  The last 3.2 miles sucked increasingly less, as I tried to get into a rhythm that I could sustain.  I was helped in the last 2 miles by another runner who would walk until I got abreast of him, and then break into a fast run for 100 yards, then walk until I caught him again.  He did this, literally, for 15 minutes.  This behavior gave me the motivation to pass him on the bridge to RFK, and finish strong.  Well.  Stronger than miles 21-23.

Final splits:

Mile 14:  7.23 - this was the mile -.1, and everyone picking up the pace a bit.  I am shooting for just under 8 flat.

Mile 15:  8:08 -- potty break

Mile 16:  7:48

Mile 17:  8:05

Mile 18:  8:08

Mile 19:  8:16

Mile 20:  8:52

Mile 21:  8:53

Mile 22:  12:44

Mile 23:  16:05

Mile 24:  11:01

Mile 25:  9:55

Mile 26:  9:06

Final time:  3:52:43.  Pace over the whole course, 8:52. 

10k split:  50:41, Pace 8:10

20m split: 2:43:26, Pace 8:11

756 of 2041 Finishers.  

103/225 in my age group.

At the end of the race, I came around the corner, knowing I was a good 20 minutes "late."  B and LLM were ahead of the finish, cheering me in.  M&J&A were just on the other side of the finish, and the look on J's face nearly killed me.  He said, "Dad, you missed your goal."  We've talked about it, since, and I know he was cold and wasn't expecting to have to wait an extra 20 minutes.  But still.  That was a bad moment.

The worst part of the whole thing, though, was trying to get back to the car.  My body really, really, really didn't want to move.  23 hours later, I feel %5000 better, and I still feel bad.   But if I look like I felt bad, consider B. 

He ran his personal best -- But look at his splits:

10k:  40:58 - Pace 6:36

13.1m: 1:27:42 - Pace 6:42

20m:  2:13:42 - Pace 6:42

Finish:  3:10:35 - Pace 7:11  

The same thing happened to him -- it wasn't his knee, but he also walked mile 22/23, was passed by the navy pace team (his was the 3:10 people), and brought it in.  Considering that we trained together, I think this is a pretty strong indication that, for the NEXT time we do this, we're going to want to work out why we both cracked at the same point on the course.

Also running for the PT&KS marathon squad was Blue, who ran in 5:21:23, Pace 12:17.  Blue doesn't train with us, but he's a Pitkisser, and major props to him!  He tells me that the Shamrock Marathon is in VA beach this morning, and while he isn't running it, dozens of other people who ran yesterday are.  Crazy.