I ran my 3rd Marine Corps Marathon and 4th big city marathon on October 25th, 2009. I got to the start line in plenty of time this year and was able to m
eet up with the 3:10 pace group, who if I could manage to keep up with through to the finish would qualify me for Boston. The gun went off at 8:00 a.m. on schedule and I crossed the start line just a few seconds later feeling pretty well trained and confident that I could actually do it this year."The route starts in Arlington, VA, and winds its way through Rosslyn along Lee Highway before turning on Spout Run and the George Washington Parkway. After crossing the Key Bridge into Georgetown, runners turn toward the Palisades when the course follows Canal Road, up to the reservoir and down MacArthur Boulevard. The course guides runners down popular M Street in Georgetown. Runners will turn on Wisconsin Avenue and then K Street.
The course passes the Kennedy Center and takes runners into Hains Point at approximately the halfway point of the race. Outside Potomac Park, runners pass the Jefferson Memorial before entering the National Mall and running by the Lincoln memorial, Washington Monument, and the U.S. Capitol. Runners continue along Jefferson Drive and then cross the 14th Street Bridge back into Virginia at mile 20. For the last 10K runners venture through Crystal City, pass the Pentagon, and charge the hill to the finish at the Marine Corps War Memorial."The 3:10 pace group turned out to be a large group of maybe 60-70 runners
or so who for the large part had similar hopes for the day as me. It was rather uncomfortable running on the heels of such a large group and always maintaining their subtle shifts in pace so by mile 5 or 6 I broke away and got a few hundred yards ahead of them. John and the parents were out to cheer me on when I came over the Key Bridge into Georgetown around mile 4 and again when I came down MacArthur Blvd past my new apartment around mile 8. I was feeling strong running down such familiar stomping ground but still had some doubt about my ability to maintain the current pace over the length of the course. The 3:10:59 time to qualify for Boston translates into 7:17 min/mile pace and 22:37 per 5k. My splits from the race are below:5k - 22:35
10k - 22:34 (45:09)
15k - 22:24 (1:07:33)
20k - 21:56 (1:29:29)
25k - 22:21 (1:51:50)
30k - 22:49 (2:14:39)
35k - 25:59 (2:40:38)
40k - 28:07 (3:08:45)
42.195k - finished 3:20:25
As you can see, I was right on track through the 30k mark with a half marathon split of 1:34:22. Somewhere around mile 16 or 17 I started to slow up a little bit and the 3:10 pace group caught up to me. I ran with them for a while but they started pushing past me. I was determined to keep them in sight and catch back up as soon as I got a surge of energy. But that surge never came. I really don't even remember at what point I lost sight of the pace group, and it was defini
tely not a conscious decision to let them go. Looking back now I can clearly see that I ran out of energy about mile 19 or 20 and should have been getting more calories throughout the race so as not to have bonked so hard so close to the finish. I wound up fighting my way through the last few miles, ran up the final hill to cheers from the family, and crossed the finish line at the Iwo Jima Memorial at 3 hrs 20 min 25 sec in 740th place out of 21,405 finishers. I know it is a great feat to have run the 26.2 miles on this beautiful day in 3:20 but I was overwhelmingly disappointed that I didn't keep it together for the last few miles and finish just 9 min 26 sec faster. But I know there will be many more chances, such as next year's race on October 31, 2010.
