I arrived at the national mall at about 6:20. There was no line at the port a potties yet so I took advantage and then met my running group, Mom's Run This Town for a group picture.
We finally reached our corral (the race has a staggered start) at 7:20.
The national anthem played and at 7:30, 1 by 1 the corrals were released. I believe we began running at about 7:38 (we were in corral 8.)
I felt really good running, though I usually don't warm up until mile 3 at which time my pace increases. Because I was running with my running buddy, I ended up starting a bit faster than usual and quickly began to have doubts that I would be able to keep up. A couple times I said that I would probably be running alone shortly, but I kept making goals for myself : " just finish this mile," then: "make it to mile 5 where girls from "Mom's Run This Town will be cheering."
Sure enough, after about 3 miles I felt good and the doubts went away. I was running!!! We made it to mile 5 and there were our friend cheering us on. It was wonderful to see them there and it gave me a boost of energy for the giant hill I saw looming up ahead!
I actually had no problem with the hill. I didn't feel out of breath and felt recovered right afterwards. I hadn't trained on steep hills but I had been running smaller rolling hills with my jogging stroller for 15 months and it seemed that was enough . . . but wait!
Now there was a long downhill. Easy, right?
Not so much!
I really wasn't used to the stress that the downhill motion and constant breaking put on my quads and I found myself slowing down more than I would expect.
But, soon I was past the downhill and kept on going!
The route took us through tree lined streets, DC city neighborhoods, across bridges, and past monuments. There was crowd support along the entire route. People with signs cheered us on, as well as local bands set up every few miles.
At one point I think we were passing Frat Houses because groups of guys were outside cheering us on. One group had a table with cups on it and a sign that read: "This is not water!"
And speaking of water, there were plenty of water stations along the route. I brought my Amphipod water belt with 2 8 oz bottles. I used them as we'll as drinking a cup a every station, but I feel that I would have been all right even if I didn't have my own water.
To fuel, I also took a PowerGel every 5 miles for a total of 5 gels at mile 5,10,15,20, and 25.
I also had been carb loading for 3 days which I plan to write about in a future post.
Up to, maybe, mile17, I was still having some doubts. I felt a bit dizzy if I looked down and had to make myself keep looking forward. That had never happened before and I was worried it would get worse, but it didn't and by mile 18 I was feeling great!
About mile 20, my running buddy felt she needed to walk and I started to walk with her. I didn't have a time goal, after all. Strangely, as I started walking, I started to feel dizzy and see spots.
I said, "I don't think I can walk right now."
An she said, "Go, run."
I felt a bit bad leaving her, but we talked later and she pointed out that I had to run my own race. All was well.
I ran and immediately felt better. I looked back a few times but soon I couldn't see her anymore, and I kept going. 6 miles to go.
I started trying to set up my earphones and iPhone to play music and realized that my Life-proof case had failed and there was water (sweat) inside of it. After two miles of messing with it, I gave up, realizing it wasn't going to play with the moisture damage. (It is better now after a night in rice).
Happily, that distracted me until I realized there were only 4 miles to go. I felt great! My Garmin had hiccoughed at one point, claiming a 7:14 mile- not likely in my opinion, and was now about 1/2 mile faster than the markers. I stopped paying attention to the mileage on the watch and focused on the total elapsed time.
According to my calculations, even if I ran a 10 min mile from here on out, I could beat 4 hours- and I was averaging 9:30 at this point!
Finally, I hit mile 25. I put on a burst of speed, feeling great! My last mile ended up under 9 minutes as I saw RFK stadium up ahead. I passed cheering crowds as I sprinted to the finish!
I crossed the finish line and there was Deborah, one of the chapter leaders of Mom's Run This Town, with my medal!
I gave her a big hug, grinning ear to ear, I was so happy and feeling so good!
Then I got a space blanket, some water and some chocolate milk and waited for my running buddy to finish.
She crossed the finish line shortly after.
I went to meet my family and friend waiting for me.
Finally, FINALLY, we headed for food!!!
I had eaten a protein bar, chocolate milk, pretzels, and an orange post race but I was still starving!
We went to BGR: The Burger Joint and I ordered a Wellington Burger, Sweet Potato Fries, and a Vanilla Milkshake. My friend told the cashier that I had just run a marathon and he gave me a giant chocolate chip cookie for free!
I started eating it in line, as soon as I could get the wrapper off and ate a 3rd of it before I stopped myself. What I really wanted was protein and I didn't want to completely fill up on cookie.
That night I went to bed at 8:30 and had the soundest sleep of my life!
How do I feel now? My quads are really sore- like, walk down the stairs backwards, sore. I'm too sore to really go for a walk even, so I'm resting.
It's all muscle aches though! Nothing concerning at all- no joint pain, bone pain, tendon pain at all! And only one small blister that looks bad but doesn't even hurt.
What a great experience! I can't WAIT to do it again!
I swore I would take a break until Marine Corps Marathon training began in July but . . . there is a great 50K coming up on June 7th . . .
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