Hopefully you’re not sick of me talking about the Marine Corps Marathon, yet. Today I’ve got a collection of little details from the race that you would typically share with your running buddy during a long run. They’re the kind of details you forget about until you’re an hour into a run and your mind wanders. But for whatever reason, I remembered a bunch of them this time. In fact, I remembered enough to split them into two parts. Here’s part 1!

Stand up or sit down?

I observed something that I found pretty funny while in line at the VIP porta potties. They had separate lines for women and men. The women’s restrooms were your standard 3 stall restrooms with 3 toilets. But for the men, they had one restroom that was urinals only, while the others were stall-type restrooms. So as the men each got to the front of the line, a Brooks employee would ask them “Stand up or sit down?”

How funny would it be to be the one having to ask everyone that all morning!?

MCM Groundpounders

As I was running up the hill to the Key Bridge between miles 4 and 5, I met one of the MCM “Groundpounders.” It turned out to be Al Richmond, as he was wearing bib 38 and I looked him up. As of last year, Richmond was one of four men who have completed all 38 previous Marine Corps Marathons, which began in 1976. The group became a group of four in 2004. I recently read that only two were able to finish this year’s race, so the group is now down to two. The other Groundpounder* to finish this year was Will Brown. They are all amazing, and all are in the MCM Hall of Fame.

In April 1990, Richmond was shot three times by a mugger, an incident he refers to as “lead poisoning.” Six months later, he completed the marathon in 4:40. This year he finished in 5:43. We spoke briefly on the race course, high fived, and then parted ways as we crossed the Key Bridge. I had heard of the elite group about a month before the race, and I was hoping I might see them along the course. It was really neat and such an honor to actually get to meet him!

*‘Groundpounder’ is a slang term used for a Marine infantryman. MCM gave the group the nickname in 2006.

Things happen during races that never happened in training

Between miles 5 and 6, I became aware that the seam on the toe of my right sock was rubbing my pinkie toe. It was mildly painful, but not awful. I knew this was a bad sign, as I had a very long way yet to go. But I also made the decision right there that I was not going to do anything about it. I was just going to keep running and deal with the pain, because I did not want to stop. At this point, I was still hoping that I might be able to run every step of the marathon from start to finish.

My toe continued to rub, and sometimes I was keenly aware of it. Other times it got pushed to the back of my mind and I didn’t notice it much. Once I got past mile 20 it had become much more painful and I was really feeling it. And then at mile 24 I felt it burst, which gave me a sick feeling in my stomach. By the time I got to the finish a new blister had formed on top of the raw skin. Once I met back up with my dad and Barry, I told them “something terrible has happened to my right pinkie toe.”

Luckily, my imagination was picturing it much worse than it ended up being. My pinkie toe was one giant blister for a few days, but it has healed up now.

Isn’t it crazy how things happen during a race that never happened during training!?

Happy Birthday to me!

No, it wasn’t my birthday the day of the race. My birthday is in July. I don’t know if I ever mentioned it, but my dad’s birthday gift to me this year was my entry into the Marine Corps Marathon.

He gave that to me as an early birthday gift after I ran the 17.75K to get guaranteed entry.

Do you remember little details from a race?
Have you ever had someone give you a race entry as a gift?

Last Monday, we finally got to the point of being ready to help our injured chicken, Lady, assimilate back into the flock. As a refresher, she hurt her leg at the end of July and had to be separated from the flock while she recouped. It took about 2 months before she was finally strong enough to get around and to be able to get up on the regular roosting poles in the coop (which are about 5 feet off of the ground).

It can sometimes be tough to reintroduce a chicken back into the flock. The other chickens are often prone to attacking what they deem a weakling or an outsider. Our plan was to put Lady with the other chickens on the roosting pole at night, and spray all of the birds with a vinegar water solution. Chickens are calmer and more accepting at night. The vinegar water helps mask individual smells, so that it’s more difficult for the birds to tell each other apart.

So on the first night, we put Lady up on the poles and sprayed all of the chickens with vinegar water. Things went well that night, and all six chickens slept together.

Day 1 (Tuesday)

The next morning things went well for half the morning. Then Lady started getting attacked by one other chicken so I had to rescue her. I put her back in her crate inside the chicken coop for the rest of the day. That night, after the other chickens had gotten up on the roosting pole for the night we put her back with them and repeated the vinegar water spray. Things went well overnight again.

Day two (Wednesday)

Everyone seemed to be getting along better than on day one. I didn’t see anyone attacking her. However, I did notice the other five chickens were often out in the chicken run while Lady mostly stayed separate from them and inside the coop.

When the other chicken was attacking her the first day, it was while they were all out in the chicken run. I’m not sure if she was afraid to go out there or if they weren’t letting her or what. But they at least weren’t attacking her. All six got up on the roosting poles together for bed without any issues that night. Things were looking good.

Day three (Thursday)

I had a long day at work. I left before sunrise (chickens were still asleep) and got home after the sun had set (chickens had already gone to bed). Again, all six were sleeping together so I thought maybe we were good to go. We didn’t do any vinegar water that night.

Day four (Friday)

As far as I know things went well throughout the day while I was at work. Then in the afternoon all six chickens were in the run and three started attacking Lady simultaneously. I had to rescue her and once again separate her from the group.

Once again, we put her back with the chickens that evening and did the vinegar water trick. We had to turn on their heat lamp in the coop, since it was below freezing outside.

I had also read that you can put apple cider vinegar in their water, which will help everyone smell the same all of the time. So Barry put apple cider vinegar in the chickens’ waterer as well**.

Day five (Saturday)

Another day where things went smoothly all day. Occasionally I would see one chicken pick on Lady, but she always got away from them and they didn’t continue to chase her. I noticed she would be out in the chicken run (instead of isolating herself in the coop) but would typically stay separate from the other chickens. They seemed to be more accepting of her, though.

Day six (Sunday)

Finally, it seemed like she was part of the group again. For the most part she is coexisting with the group. Every once in awhile I would see one of the chickens run after her, but no one was actually attacking (i.e. pecking) her.

Overall, it wasn’t easy getting Lady reintroduced back into the group. It took nearly a week of perseverance on our part and several rescue missions during that time. We had to keep trying and trying to get Lady back in with the other chickens. But they finally seem to have accepted her. I’m so glad, because chickens aren’t meant to be on their own and do much better in a group, especially with winter on the way.

Moving forward, we will continue to keep an eye on them to make sure she is doing alright. We will also continue to give them apple cider vinegar mixed with water (1 Tbsp / gallon of water) to make everyone smell relatively the same. Bonus: apple cider vinegar also acts as a natural de-wormer and prevents algae growth in the waterer.

**A few days after we put the apple cider vinegar in the water, I read an article about not combining ACV with galvanized metal, due to the acidity (duh!). If you’re going to use ACV in the water, you need to have a glass or plastic waterer. So instead we will now be giving the chickens the apple cider vinegar/water mixture in a plastic bucket a few times a week, in addition to their regular water. If you’re wondering why we use a metal waterer, read HERE.

Happy Halloween! The one night a year when it’s socially acceptable for children to come to your door and beg for candy.

This is the final installment for my Marine Corps Marathon recap. I’m not saying it’s my final post about the Marine Corps Marathon, but it does complete the day. In case you missed it, you can find my full race recap HERE and the events leading up the start line HERE.

So I had just crossed the finish line in 5:10:37, which was a 24 minute PR from my first marathon (Thunder Road) in Charlotte last year. Immediately after crossing the finish line they kept us moving, as a line of Marines shook our hands and congratulated us. We continued walking towards Iwo Jima, and then got in one of several lines to receive the coveted finisher’s medal.

It wasn’t too long a wait in the line I chose. Before I knew it, a Marine was placing the medal around my neck. He didn’t salute me, but he did say “congratulations, ma’am.” Immediately after him was an official race photographer. I saw a lot of people asking their Marine to turn around and pose with them, but mine seemed very businesslike so I left him be. I wish I had asked him to be in my picture, though!

Once I received my medal I made my way up to the Marine Corps War Memorial to get an official photo. I stood in another line, although it wasn’t that long since they had numerous spots set up.

From there I followed the masses towards what appeared to be the way out. I was ready to get off my feet and sit down. The only way out was through the food/water lines so I got in line there – I wanted some water and food anyway! They were efficiently run, but it still took a while to get through the lines. I felt alright when I was moving but anytime we stopped everything ached so much and I just wanted to sit down.

I acquired a bottle of water and a banana and a ‘snack box.’ At MCM they don’t have your typical post-race food (bagels, multiple types of fruit, pretzels, etc.). The snack box had a granola bar, a small bag of corn chips, a sample cup of white cheddar cheese, some almond snack things, fruit snacks, and a fruit cup. One thing I really appreciated was they gave us each a plastic bag for our post-race goodies. It’s really convenient to have something to put everything in, and I think it makes the line move faster. Once I got through the crowd, I had another walk (probably a bit less than half a mile) down to a predetermined meeting spot in Rosslyn to hook up with Barry and my Dad.

Can you see the massive number of people in the road behind me? It was really important for us to have a designated spot to meet, or we never would have found each other! The first thing I did when I got back was give hugs all around and show off my medal.

Next we took a few pictures together, because I knew once I sat down it was going to be awhile before I got back up.

Then I finally, finally sat down. A brick sidewalk with a metal pole to lean against never felt so good!

I sat there for a long time, and Barry and my Dad were happy to sit with me. They did over 20 miles of biking all over DC and in Virginia during the race. I picked through my snack box, eating most of it, and watched other runners shuffle by and reunite with their friends and loved ones. I think we actually sat there close to 45 minutes. And then I decided to put on my official race jacket. I was so excited to put it on. I earned that thing!

Okay, enough pictures of me. After that, we I finally decided it was time to move. So we walked through the rest of the finish festival area on our way towards the Metro (DC’s subway system). There was an awesome band playing covers of popular rock songs. I also found free samples of pumpkin spice iced coffee and a mixed berry fruit smoothie.

The line for the Metro wrapped out of the lobby and around the side of a building. Surprisingly, it moved quickly and it didn’t take long before we were headed down to catch a train back to where we parked.

On the way home, I got a hankering for some mac and cheese from a local restaurant in the area. We stopped to pick some up and I brought it home to eat, along with a post-race “recovery beverage” in my new tumbler!

By then, it was getting later in the evening. Once we all got cleaned up we just hung out, telling old war stories from the Marine Corps Marathon around the fire.

My Dad got a kick out of how I go down stairs post-marathon (which would be backwards) because he hadn’t seen that before. The next day (Monday) I got to go out to lunch at Chipotle with my little sister for a “sister’s lunch.” I hadn’t ever eaten there before, and it was really good! Plus I had a buy one get one free coupon that I got when I picked up my bib at MCM. After that it was time to hit the road and head home.

My whole body was sore on Monday and Tuesday, but by Wednesday it was mainly just my legs that were still sore. I’m taking the whole week off from exercise this week, and I’ll start easing back into things next week.

Overall, I think recovery is going pretty well. It’s a good thing I’m taking time off this week, or I wouldn’t have had the time to write these recaps! Kudos to you if you made it through all of them!

How do you like to celebrate after a big race?

Where to begin. I always find race reports daunting, and especially so for the marathon distance. How do you capture all the high and lows, feelings and emotions that take place over 26.2 miles? Luckily I have a lot of pictures to help me tell the story from Sunday. If you missed it, I wrote about my journey to the start line yesterday.

I’ve got a lot to share with you, but here’s the short and sweet version: It was a bit hectic getting to the start, as can be expected with any large race. I ran well, albeit slower than I had hoped, through mile 20. During those first 20 miles I got to see Barry and my Dad several times. It gave me a boost every single time and gave me something to look forward to along the way. When I hit mile 20 I fell apart. I started taking walk breaks, and finished in 5:10:37, which was a 24 minute PR.

Now we can get down to the nitty gritty (you should probably grab a snack or something). Yesterday I left off with crossing the start line. I had a decent amount of elbow room from the beginning thanks to starting pretty far back. Luckily, I had crossed the median to the left side of the road and was able to start over there. The right side was very crowded and I was able to bypass a lot of people before the course merged together. I never felt like I had to do much weaving the entire race.

The first few miles were hilly. And I knew they were going to be. My plan going into the race was to run conservatively, which I guesstimated would be about 20 seconds per mile slower than my goal pace. I wanted to run at a good effort, but keep my heart rate from getting too high early on. And that’s what I did, as the first few miles quickly ticked by. Between miles 2 and 3, I got to see Barry and my Dad for the first time after climbing what was probably the longest and steepest hill of the race.

After the long climb, we were rewarded with a 2 mile descent on Spout Run, which was a great opportunity to relax and slow my breathing. I let gravity carry me and allowed myself to just glide down the hill. The very last part of Spout Run took us up a short, steep hill toward the Key Bridge. As I turned left onto the bridge, I got to see my support crew again, just before mile 5.

After a brief stint in Georgetown, we made our way to an out and back along Rock Creek Parkway where it was shady and breezy. I was still running a bit conservatively here, as I had planned do through mile 8. Rock Creek Parkway was a gradual uphill on the way out so I focused on staying relaxed, as I cruised through miles 6 and 7.

It felt great to hit the turnaround and head back, thanks to the slight downhill. My legs were still feeling fresh, which encouraged me. During my first marathon, I started feeling a lot of fatigue around mile 8. Just past the mile 8 marker I saw my Dad and Barry cheering for me!

After Rock Creek Parkway, we ran under the Kennedy Center as we made our way through miles 9 and 10. I don’t know why, but I really like running under the Kennedy Center along the water. I’ve only done it once before, during the Army Ten Miler, but I was looking forward to doing it again. Ironically, this was also the only spot on the race course where my watch lost satellite reception.

From there, the course took us down Ohio Drive, along the Potomac River, as we made our way to Hains Point. I saw Barry and my Dad again just before mile 11. It really gave me a boost to see them, as I was beginning to feel a bit rocky. That didn’t stop me from giving them two thumbs up, though!

On to Hains Point I went. Leading up to the race, I read as many race reports on the Internet as I could find. So I knew what to expect on Hains Point. Although I hit a rough patch, I don’t think it had to do with the course suddenly becoming quiet. I’m not sure what it was, really, but I pushed through it and told myself there was no way I was stopping to walk before I hit the halfway point. This section was a bit sunny and hot, because the trees did not provide much shade.

There was about a mile along this stretch before the halfway point that honored the service and sacrifice of the American military. It was very moving, because every few feet there was a sign with a picture of a fallen soldier. The signs also included each soldier’s name, age, and the date he/she was killed. I managed not to cry, but I definitely wasn’t far from it. After all of the signs, there was a long line of people, each holding an American flag and giving high fives.

Finally, I made it to the halfway point! This was the first goal I was aiming for, when I started getting tired between miles 10 and 11. Naturally, making it to this point gave me a boost. It helped that it also happened to be farthest point on Hains Point before we started heading back in the other direction.

On the way back from Hains Point, there were a lot of really entertaining signs. Some of the ones I can remember are: Smile if you peed a little, laugh if you peed a lot!; Toenails are overrated; This seems like a lot of work for a free banana; 26.3 miles!? Ain’t nobody got time for that!; and the Soft kitty, warm kitty song from Big Bang Theory. There were a lot of other great spectator signs along the rest of the course, too. One of the perks of a big race.

The next part of the course was my least favorite for some reason. I just did not like the stretch from mile 14 to mile 16. It felt long and I hit another rough patch during this stretch. But I kept trucking, because I was going to see Barry and my Dad again between miles 16 and 17, just before the Mall. Plus, I told myself: You ran 16 miles in training and you can do it now. No walking!

Just before mile 17 I saw my crew again! In that moment, it didn’t matter how I was feeling physically. I was really excited to see them! Seeing them was one of the things that kept me going. And now I was headed towards the National Mall, which I hoped would be another boost.

As I ran by Barry and my Dad at mile 17, Dad yelled “see you at mile 22!.” I already knew we had planned that as a spectating spot, but I filed it away as another mini-goal. Then I focused on the National Mall, which covered miles 17 through 20. This is where most of the museums and the U.S. Capitol are located. I had heard the crowd along this section of the race course was crazy, with an amazing amount of energy and spectators as much as 10 deep. But unfortunately, I found it a bit lackluster and underwhelming. Maybe it was just because it was later in the day and spectators were worn out. There was some cheering, but mostly people were just kind of standing and watching.

I continued to fight and focus on making it to mile 20. The stretch from mile 19 to 20 was really tough for me. When I finally hit mile 20, I slowed to a walk almost immediately. And it. felt. terrible. One good thing was that I had just “Beat the Bridge” (made it past a cutoff point on the course). But boy I wish I hadn’t felt that feeling of slowing to a walk until I had crossed the finish line. Everything hurt from the waist down. It wasn’t just my muscles it was my joints, too. I train mostly on crushed gravel and the treadmill because it allows me to arrive at the start line healthy, but it means I take a beating on the pavement during races.

My walk break didn’t last long. Out of the blue, my old friend Chris (whom I hadn’t seen for about 7 years) appeared and started running with me. He was out on the course as a coach for Team in Training, and the 14th street bridge was his last post of the day. I ran along, talking and catching up with him. It was really windy crossing the bridge, but finally we made it mile 21 and were nearly done with the darn bridge. Chris said goodbye and headed back onto the bridge to coach TNT participants, and I thanked him for running with me. As I made my way off of the bridge and into Crystal City I found myself walking again.

Crystal City was a big party, with people cheering and yelling their heads off and music blasting along the streets. But I was so done and having such a tough internal struggle to keep moving. I convinced myself to run from mile 21.5 to 22.5, with the incentive of seeing my Dad and Barry along the way. I was happy to see them, but I was too tired to do much more than slap a weak high five as I kept moving forward.

The crazy thing is, walking didn’t feel any better than running. Yet I kept taking walk breaks. I would try and run at least half a mile between each break, and then limit my break to one tenth of a mile. Another thing that was tough was the gradual uphill from mile 22 to 24. It wasn’t much, but you could definitely feel it so late in the race.

When I passed the mile 24 marker, I wanted to run the rest of the way. I made it to mile 24.5 before that goal was squashed. But by mile 24.75 I started running again and didn’t stop until I got to the finish. Now I will say, my running was more of a shuffle at this point. The final stretch down Route 110 was really tough. It was so straight and felt never ending. I could hear the finish but couldn’t see it. Finally, I saw the left turn off of Route 110 that would take us up to the finish.

It’s hard to see in the above picture, but that’s the hill up to the Marine Corps War Memorial and the finish line. It’s steep and short and torturous after 26 miles. A lot of marathons advertise flat or downhill finishes, but the Marine Corps Marathon is having none of that. They are the Marines, and they are going to make you work for the finish! So up the hill I went, hung a right, and then acquired tunnel vision to the finish.

There were probably hundreds of spectators in the stands, but I didn’t hear them. However, I did see the Marines lining the finish chute and I high fived all of them on my way to the finish. It was awesome!

And just like that it was done. I crossed the finish line in 5:10:37. Maybe a bit of a far cry from my ‘A’ goal of 4:30, but still a 24 minute PR! The last 10K certainly didn’t go as planned, but I was still really happy at the finish line.

From the finish line, I began marathon #3 of the day – making it from the finish area to my meet up spot with my Dad and Barry. But you’ll have to wait until tomorrow for that part! Also, if you made it all the way through that, you are a champion. I hope I did the day justice, because it was an amazing day!

Do you prefer big races or small? I mostly prefer small ones, but this was an amazing experience that I would love to do again.
How do you dig deep and keep going when things get tough while running, walking, or biking?

P.S. In case you were wondering, my shoes held up throughout the whole race. The shoe surgery was a success and I actually never thought about it or worried about it the entire race. It literally never crossed my mind. Barry had my spare shoes, but I never needed them. Thank y’all again for your great advice! I will still be getting a replacement pair of shoes from customer service, since the super glue is probably going to eat through the foam in the heel at some point.

P.P.S. You can see a video of me crossing the finish line HERE. I cross the finish line between 0:21 and 0:31. I’m in the green shirt and ran right down the middle, with a weak fist pump as I crossed the line. 🙂 

When I sat down to write my recap of the 39th Marine Corps Marathon, it was with the goal of keeping it all in one post. I don’t like splitting race reports up into multiple posts. But by the time I got halfway through the race, the post was entirely too long. So I’m going to split up my recap into three parts: pre-race, race, and post-race. This ensures everything that happened between the start and finish line is all in one post. So today you get my journey to the start line. Tomorrow I’ll have a complete recap of the race itself from start to finish all in one post, and Friday I’ll recap everything that happened after I crossed the finish line. As you can imagine, there was a lot of this getting to the start….

On race morning I woke up a little after 4 AM and had my coffee and peanut butter pancake. I left the house with my Dad and Barry and we drove down to Crystal City and parked in a parking garage about an hour and a half before the start. I wore my throwaway clothes even though it wasn’t too chilly outside. I didn’t want to end up shivering since I knew it was going to be a long walk to the start.

From the garage, I walked about two blocks in Crystal City to catch the shuttle that would take me to the race start. Meanwhile my Dad and Barry headed off on their bikes to our first pre-arranged meeting spot. My Dad and I had driven the course the day before and picked out spectating spots. Dad had to do a lot of work in advance studying DC bike maps to make a plan for how he and Barry would get from one point to the next during the race. I got to see them six different times along the race course, which was awesome!

I had to stand in the first of many lines to catch the shuttle. It was a Disney World-esque line that serpentined in and out of a parking garage. The line moved well, but I probably waited close to 30 minutes to finally board a bus to the start line. While in line, I met a man who was from Ireland who had flown here to run the race. After the race he and his family planned to continue on their ‘holiday’ and were going to spend a week driving from the East Coast to California. Pretty neat!

Finally, I boarded a bus and was on my way to the start. But wait! Our bus got held up for 15 minutes on the way to the start. It was rumored that it went the wrong way, but I don’t know for sure. I do know that it was a long walk from where our bus dropped us off to the start line area with 55 minutes to go until the start of the race. I walked down a road and through security (metal detectors).

Once through security, I continued walking until I arrived at a large parking lot (the North Parking Lot at the Pentagon) where bag check and porta potties were located. I didn’t need to check a bag so I continued across the large parking lot, under an overpass, and finally onto route 110 where the race starts.

When I finally made it, my first stop was the VIP porta potties (remember, I bought too much stuff at the expo). Thankfully the line was not too long for these.

While waiting in line, I had a good view of the skydivers as they made a parachute jump from a plane to route 110. There were eleven skydivers, and one had a 7,800 square foot American flag. Immediately following the parachute jump, there was a flyover by two V-22 Osprey planes. Then I heard the Howitzer fire, signaling the start of the race, just as I made it to the front of the porta potty line.

From the porta potties, I headed for the start. I was still a fair distance from the start, and couldn’t even see the large arches for a few minutes. Why not pose for an official photographer along the way?

It was a long walk, but the starting arches kept getting closer and closer. The race starts on both side of route 110, which is divided by a median. The right side was very crowded, but luckily I was able to hop the median and guardrails, and walk up the left side of the road. This allowed me to bypass a large number of people.

Finally I got up there and without much fanfare, I took off and started running. I hate ending this here, but as you can see it was practically a marathon to get to the start line. Don’t worry, though, because tomorrow I’ve got all the dirty details from the actual race!

What’s the coolest pre-race ceremony you have seen? The parachute jump and flyover were so exciting!
Are you good at planning for race logistics? Things went pretty well the morning of MCM, but I probably could have done with a bit more time at the start. Lesson learned for next time.