Yesterday was the 32nd running of the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington D.C., and also marked the first time that I’d attempted to run a full marathon (I’d completed 2 – 1/2 marathons in the month of September, but they were 2 weeks apart). Part of the registration fee covers an online training program, where you could pick the program based on your goals. I decided to go for the ‘I want to finish’ program, which is designed to get you over the line in less than 7 -1/2 hours. I followed that plan as closely as I could, listening to my knees when they told me that I should hold off for a day or three.

The Marine Corps Marathon itself has a few built in goals. Firstly, you have to finish the race in 7-1/2 hours. Secondly, you have to ‘beat the bridge’, which means that you have to be at the bridge leading from DC back into Virginia (the 19 mile marker) before 5 hours, otherwise they open the bridge up to traffic. Then there’s an unofficial goal, that I heard a lot of people talking about; they wanted to finish in less than 4 hours, 29 minutes, and 20 seconds. Why? Because they wanted to “Beat Oprah”, who ran the marathon back in 1994. Believe me, Oprah wasn’t on my radar.

After 5 months of training, Sunday finally came, and there I was at the start line. Based on my past performances in the 1/2 marathons, and in my training, my estimation of my finish time had risen. I figured that I could do the 1/2 marathon in just over 2 hours, then if needs be walk the rest and still finish in plenty of time. My ideal would be to make it to 18 miles in 3 hours, and go from there.

So I lined up with the 4 hour pace group, hoping to keep up with them until the 1/2 way mark, and I almost did. Just after the 12 mile marker I felt that it was time to let them pull away, but still, I made it to the 13.1 mile marker in 2 hours 1 minute and 30 seconds, nicely on track. Continuing on, I started to slow some more, and even walked for a while, yet when I hit the 18 mile marker it was at 2 hours and 59 minutes. After that I slowed down some more, speeding up only when I hit a Tylenol station, which removed some of the pain. Finally I crossed the finish line 4 hours 48 minutes and 5 seconds after I started, which is actually good enough to qualify me into some other local marathons, should I decide to do so…

So, I matched my starting goals, and exceeded my finishing expectations. I’m really happy with my time, and it’s also good to know that because of my race, RedBoots will be sending a check to the Exceeding Expectations Foundation to help them encourage at-risk kids to move their lives in a positive direction, using the sport of triathalon as a vehicle.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off for a well deserved massage.

Filed under: Off Topic on Monday, October 29th, 2007 by Simon Heseltine | 1 Comment
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