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.

The final week! This week was all easy running leading up to race day – the thing I had been waiting for, for 18 weeks!

Monday- Easy 4 miles. I had 5 on the schedule, and I really only felt like running 3. So I compromised and ran four. This run was done on the treadmill because I got home late from work (a theme for the week, unfortunately).

Tuesday- I got home even later from work than Monday (it had already been dark for close to an hour when I finally made it home). I was feeling tired and not up for running, and decided it was best to listen to my body and just rest.

Wednesday- Rest day. Took a trip to invest in some throw away clothes for Sunday morning.

Thursday- Easy 5 miles on the treadmill after work and before traveling to the DC area. Also encountered a minor shoe crisis less than 3 days out from the Marine Corps Marathon. Eek! If you missed it, you can find all the details HERE.

Friday- Easy 3 miles in the neighborhood area around my Dad’s house. I had 5 miles on the schedule, but 3 felt right after walking around at the Marine Corps Marathon expo earlier in the day.

It was a gorgeous afternoon to be out for a run, and I really enjoyed myself as I thought about how excited I was for Sunday’s race. After so many weeks of training! During my run I also got to see an elusive black squirrel. Have any of y’all ever seen one? Do you have them where you live? I also saw a snake – right after I narrowly avoided stepping on it!

Saturday- A little over 2 miles easy after my Dad and I drove most of the Marine Corps Marathon course that morning. He parked at the Marine Corps War Memorial (Iwo Jima, the location of the finish line) and I got to run around the memorial and in the Rosslyn area.

I also got to catch a glimpse of the Arlington National Cemetery during my run.

Sunday- Marine Corps Marathon!!! Finally, the day arrived and I got to run the race I had been training for since the beginning of summer. It was an amazing experience and I really loved the race. I didn’t quite run the race I had hoped to run, but I still had a great time and I think it’s safe to say MCM is my favorite race that I’ve done so far.

I’ll have a full race recap up sometime later this week, but for now: Mission Accomplished, baby!

Total Miles: 40 miles

Last night after work Barry and I traveled up to the DC area for the Marine Corps Marathon weekend. It’s finally here!! I’m like a kid at Christmas.

When I got to the Marine Corps Marathon Expo, I was like a kid turned loose in a toy store at Christmastime. Except my toy store was the Brooks Official Merchandise shop….

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

This morning I trekked into DC with Barry and my dad to pick up my bib at the race expo. I have read nightmarish accounts of people’s experiences while attending the expo in years past. So we decided the best game plan was to arrive close to opening (10 AM) this morning. We ended up getting there a little after 11 AM and found street parking next to the DC Armory.

There was a line to get through security and inside the Armory, but we didn’t actually have to wait in it. We were able to tag along with my dad through the military ID entrance, which had a separate security check. So no line! Once inside, we were directed downstairs to pick up my bib.

They had numerous booths that were each specific to a range of bibs. Again, I encountered no lines as I picked up my bib. With bib and packet in hand, we headed back upstairs to pick up my shirt and tackle the rest of the expo.

Getting my shirt and official check bag (a clear Brooks bag) was also a breeze. Then we headed into the Brooks official merchandise section, where I left with my wallet considerably lighter. The checkout line looked intimidating, but it moved quickly. All in all, I’d say it took 30 minutes total from the time we parked at the Armory to the time I checked out with my new official race loot.

Once all of the important things were acquired, we began wandering through the expo. We didn’t stop at every booth, but we did walk through the whole thing. I picked up a few freebies (water bottle, stress reliever ball, a pen, etc.) and even won a box of brown rice! That’s a first for me at an expo. It was pretty crowded, but it wasn’t awful to walk through.

By far my favorite spot at the expo was the Northwest Battle Buddies booth, a non-profit organization that provides service dogs for veterans with PTSD. They had a bunch of service dogs with them at the expo. The dogs were amazingly well-trained, of course. The lady we spoke with at the booth offered to let me get my picture with the dogs. The only caveat was that I couldn’t touch or pet them, since they were technically working. My favorite was the Rottweiler pictured on the right below!

As we were heading out of the expo, a group of Marines walking around with instruments started playing. That was really neat to see, too!

Later on in the afternoon I went for a test run after my dad helped me perform “surgery” on my Hokas to glue the heel back on**. Thank y’all for all of your input yesterday! We went with the super glue option and the good news is they seemed to be just fine. I think I’ll still give Barry or my Dad my older pair of shoes to carry, just in case.

I had an easy 5 miles on the schedule, but I chose to just do an easy 3 miles. It just felt right, and I felt like it balanced out well after walking around for a bit at the expo earlier in the day. My legs felt great, and I finished the run feeling like I hadn’t even run.

Tomorrow morning my Dad and I are going to go drive most of the course. Then I’ll probably do a short run somewhere in the vicinity of the finish line. One more day!!!

What type of race expo is your favorite? I prefer a smaller expo, because they’re not as overwhelming. But a large one like MCM is fun every now and then.

**Hoka Update: I actually spoke with a Hoka rep at the MCM expo today. At first he offered me a replacement pair of shoes on the spot but I didn’t want new shoes for race day. So he gave me a free hat instead and told me to contact customer service! 

So I don’t typically post on Thursdays, but when I sat down to write the Thursday section of my weekly training recap it became long enough to be it’s own post. And then I encountered a minor crisis this afternoon that definitely warranted a Thursday post. More on the crisis in a minute.

We are going to be traveling up to my Dad’s house, outside the DC area, this evening for the Marine Corps Marathon this weekend. Woohoo!! So exciting. So my plan today was to get off work by Noon. Then I would come home, go for a run at the Dora Trail, and have 3 to 4 hours to pack until it was time to go. Because I haven’t actually packed, yet, except for setting out my race day clothes and throw away clothes.

I should have known better than to make plans. With my job, you never make plans because that’s when the unexpected happens and your plans fall to pieces. So I didn’t end up getting off of work until 4:00. Bummer. I decided to forgo running on the trail, because it would add an extra 30 minutes of driving to and from the run and instead ran on the treadmill to save time.

Side note: You may have noticed that I haven’t been running on the roads around our house much at all lately. That used to be my timesaver option if I was short on time and didn’t want to drive to the trail. But there are a lot of new loose dogs in our area, and I haven’t felt like figuring out if they are friendly or not, yet. Guess I’ll tackle that at some point.

Instead of running outside, it was an easy 5 miles with Sven. The good news is my legs felt great and I feel ready to race on Sunday! The bad news is I discovered something that made my heart drop to the pit of my stomach as I was lacing up my shoes for my run….

If you can’t quite tell what that is, I’ll explain. That is the heel of my left shoe, which has become detached from the sole of the shoe!! What bad timing. I have been running in these shoes for about a month now, and have them perfectly broken in for my race. I have no idea how long they have been like this but I just noticed it today. I paid close attention while running, and the heel does pull up a bit and then plop back into the sole/base of the shoe as I run. I’ve already been through one pair of these shoes and I never had this issue! Ack.

So now I’m not sure what to do. Here are my options, as I see them:

1. Run in the shoes and pretend I don’t know it’s there.
2. Try and super glue the heel back on.
3. Run in my older worn out pair.

The first option worries me, because what if they fall completely apart during the race!? As for option two, it seems like a good one as long as I’m careful not to get any under the shoe, creating a bump that could aggravate my leg over 4+ hours of running. Option three is also tempting. My old pair fit really well, but they are definitely old and broken down. I’m sure I could make it through the marathon in them, but I don’t know what kind of damage that could do. Thank goodness I have a blog and I can ask for y’alls advice!

I’m off to pack in the hopes that we can get on the road by 7 PM or so. I’ll be packing both pairs of shoes so that I will have all of my above listed options.

Which option do you think is best? Do you have any other suggestions?
Make me feel better! What types of crises have you faced leading up to race day?

I would have liked to do more trail running this fall (although I realize fall is not over yet). But since I have been training for the Marine Corps Marathon since the summer, I have shied away from trails. I did not want to increase the risk of rolling an ankle, since I’m already pretty good at doing that on a flat, paved trail. But this past Saturday I couldn’t resist, since the leaves seem to be at their peak. So I headed down to Marion for a 6 mile run at Hungry Mother State Park.

I took a lot of photos during this run since the trail and surrounding views were so pretty! Some parts of the trail were fairly dark due to the cloudy day and the abundance of mountain laurels:

There were a lot of nice views of the lake and surrounding mountains along the way:

Most of the trail was covered in a thick coating of fallen leaves. It made the hidden roots and rocks a bit more precarious, so I had to be cautious. But I also enjoyed the sound of the leaves crunching under my feet the whole way.

Other sections of the trail hadn’t been covered with leaves, yet.

During the second half of my run I ran past a campground that was packed full of people. I also ran past the beach/swimming area which was not packed full of people. In fact, the beach is closed for the year now. It definitely wasn’t a good day for swimming, as the wind was blustery and the “feels like” temperature was around 47 degrees.

The last part of the trail took me back through some tree lined areas before dropping me back off at my starting point.

I’m really glad I took the time to drive down to Hungry Mother this weekend. It was really enjoyable being out on the trail in the woods, and taking in all of the fall foliage. The fallen leaves add an extra challenge, but I think fall may be my favorite trail running season. Summer is a very close second.

What’s your favorite season?
If you run trails, what is your favorite trail running season?
Are you seeing lots of colors on the trees lately?