Marine Corps Marathon 2015 Recap: Mission…(Mostly) Accomplished

First, and most importantly, I really want to thank the Marines who run the marathon. Period. No ifs, ands, or buts. It’s a tremendous effort to manage that many people and much appreciated.

I think about 35,000 people get entries for the Marine Corps Marathon (MCM), about 30,000 start and about 25,000 finish–give or take every year.  That’s an insane amount of people, and when you count in the spectators, well, wow.

So I realize that things can’t always go as planned. And go as planned they did not.

I don’t talk that much about running, here, except in passing, seeing as this is primarily a travel blog. But, seeing how many people travel for marathons, I don’t think there is any harm…plus, I’m on my post-race induced endless running chatter. Which dear husband endures but has had enough of…so this should be a good outlet.

First, let’s talk about what went well.

I held it together and ran over that stupid, stupid bridge from mile 20-22 that I hate so dearly. I h.a.t.e. that bridge. But, you know what? I sucked it up and kept running. I’m proud that I didn’t have another mental “I can’t do this” fest.

While I felt sick (was sick) most of the day, I held it together while running. Shocking, I know, considering 2 years ago I still couldn’t figure out why I was vomiting like a crazy person after every run. Apparently I’m super sensitive when I get low on electrolytes. Thanks to those wonderful Honey Stingers that I can somehow choke down when I can’t eat anything else, I held it together the entire course. And Gatorade. I never was big on sports drinks until I realized my body liked them. And I like not throwing up.

Finally, while I wasn’t happy with my time, it was a significant PR, even though it was significantly slower than I’d been training. I need to remember that. Four years ago, when I started running in 2011, I couldn’t run 5 miles in <10:10 pace. I am NOT a natural runner, which pains me greatly because I don’t usually take to things I’m not naturally at least reasonably good at. So to run 26.2 (actually 26.65, with all the ridiculous zig zagging I had to do), at 9:51 pace…really at 9:42 if you take into account my extra mileage) is definite improvement.

Oh, and my knees/joints/IT bands did NOT hurt at the end. That alone is SO exciting.

Now, let’s talk about the disaster that was the start.

We got to the start (I mean the line for the start) at just about 6:35, which is exactly 1:20 before the start. No problem, right?

Utter, utter disaster. The security line was SO backed up (and I had a bag to check) that I was still in line when the race started. This is the third time I’ve run the MCM, and while the line was slow last year, we got in with about 15 minutes to spare. Not sure what happened this year, but it was a mess.

It’s not that I was worried I wouldn’t get to start, but I started with the 6:00 hour pacer (and 20 minutes late). Everyone was walking up the hills, even at mile .5. And I spent a tremendous amount of energy running around people, on wet grass (it was raining), and avoiding the walkers who stopped in the middle of the road to look around for their friends. I get it. Not everyone has a time goal. But why, oh why, can’t the rules of the highway apply? Slower cars to the right…faster cars to the left. I was pretty frustrated by the time I got to mile 5. And my legs were way more spent than they should have been.

I also got elbowed in the head by a tall guy who was speed walking, which pretty much sucked and added to my frustration. I had some choice words for him–you can NOT swing your elbows like that in a crowd of 30,000! (No, that’s obviously not what I said to him. Cough.)

Oh, and they were out of water and struggling to find jugs and fill cups at one of the early water stations. I waiting for exactly 45 seconds for someone to find water. Cause I was thirsty. And had avoided the earlier aid stations so I could try to get ahead of some of the crowd. Sigh…as I watched my watch tick away.

Will I run the MCM again?

I will definitely be running another marathon, because I’m determined to do better. And I guess I should admit I like to run. But will it be the MCM?

There are a lot of really wonderful things about the MCM. The Marines and the atmosphere are fantastic. But this year’s fiasco at the start + the move of packet pick up to National Harbor next year makes me dread the process of actually getting to the start line. National Harbor has no parking. Traffic to get there is bad on a great day. And there is absolutely no public transportation.  I don’t know anyone happy about this decision (just look at their Facebook page), and I think it could make local runners really think twice before entering. Including me.

Plus, it would be fun to run a destination marathon, right? I haven’t traveled just to race before…but…why not?

Have you done a destination marathon? Where did you go? Any suggestions for flat, fun, well-run courses?