Oh my gosh. I had such an amazing time at this race. Jim and I drove down on Friday after both taking half days for work. We went to dinner with Rebecca and Rae on Friday too! Rebecca picked up my packet for me on Friday so I wouldn’t have to worry about rushing down there. Thank goodness for that! I loved the shirts we got though. The front said “Access Granted” and the back looked like this:
Saturday morning, I got up around 6:45. I was glad I laid all of my stuff out because I was just a little tired!
We drove to the commuter lot and were on our way on the bus to the start line. Rebecca stayed super close to the start line so we met up for a picture before the race started. I also got to meet Christy but we didn’t get a picture :( sad day!
My goal was 1:55. I knew the course would be hard and that definitely didn’t disappoint! It was also pretty cold.. around 30 degrees when we started.I ended up just wearing my running tights, under armor top, shirt, and the light hoodie. I actually got pretty warm on my upper half.. probably just should have ditched the hoodie at the start. Oh well. Soon after this picture was taken, we were off!
I started off way too fast (like normal). The first three miles were all on road and slightly uphill. I felt pretty good with the pace (even though after looking at my watch it was probably too fast). Mile 1- 9:04, Mile 2- 9:26, Mile 3- 9:37. Not bad for the first 3 miles!
Then we turned off into the park. Oh look, there’s trail. Trail!? I wasn’t expecting it to be trail. I was hoping that it wasn’t like this the rest of the way. I am klutzy and was pretty sure I was going to fall on my face. We went a little uphill and then it was pretty straight downhill (still on trail). I was trying to pass people and having a hard time because the path was so narrow. Mile 4- 9:48. I almost attribute that to the fact I couldn’t pass people and was forced to go slower down the hill.
Thank goodness about .75 mile later we were back on road. The elevation gradually increased from miles 4-7 but it was all road so I was happy. Mile 5-9:31, Mile 6-9:34, Mile 7-9:05. I’m not exactly sure where that speedy mile 7 came from, but I was happy!
Mile 8 was pretty straight (9:12). I was feeling really good through this point. Mile 9 started off being straight downhill and my pace got to 7:52! However, after the straight downhill came the straight uphill. There was a sign like “Tackle this hill” and I tried so hard, but ended up walking up it. My thighs hurt from just walking! Mile 9- 9:32. I was actually really surprised I was keeping a solid pace through this point.
Mile 10 and 11 were TOUGH. They were not joking when they said rolling hills. Mile 10 I ran up most of the hills (and there were several downhills as well) so I ran that mile in 9:25. Mile 11 was just a whole different story.
We were back on the trail. And not only was it completely uneven, it was completely uphill. I know the MCM series is known to have finishes uphill, but uphill and trail? Ugh. I powerwalked up the hill (and was still afraid of falling!) and could hear the cheering and music from the finish line. I looked down at my watch and saw that I was still under 1:50! Mile 11:-10:11. Ouch. Although I shouldn’t really be complaining because that’s a normal mile for me. Or maybe I’m just getting faster :)
I finished in 1:47:20. Almost 8 minutes faster than my goal and with a pace of 9:44/mile! My watch said that the course was 11.26 miles instead of the 11.03 it was supposed to be, so I’m not positive what is right. I know some other people I asked had more distance on their watches so who knows. My watch did say that I had 9:31/mile so I’m just going to go with that :) I ended up being 333rd in women and 25/61 in my age group!
At the finish line, there was a huge line to get into the “finishers village”. There was water, hummus, pretzels, and bananas. And they had a coupon for free beer and muscle milk! I opted to stand in line for the massage hoping it would help with my soreness (in fact it did! I feel great today). Oh, and the reward wasn’t a medal or anything like that. It was an access code to the 38th Marine Corp Marathon this fall!
Rebecca and I with our Access Granted cards!
Rebecca and I (and Jim) waited in line for the shuttles that took us back to the start line. The line was ridiculously long and it took almost a half hour to get through. And then there were those people that cut in front of everyone else by just walking up to the buses. Ugh. I went back and promptly registered for the MCM with my access code! I can’t wait to start training!
I loved the signs along the path. Some of them were like “MOVE, Barbie”, “Come on, twinkle toes!”, and “My baby sister is faster than you”. Those made me laugh along the way. I also loved the Marines at every mile giving people high fives and encouraging runners. The course wasn’t spectator friendly so I only got to see Jim at the start and at the end. That was unfortunate, but I can definitely see why it’s like that. I can’t wait for the marathon where there’s people all over the place! The water stops were really random too. One was at mile 2, mile 4 and then not again til like mile 8. I definitely didn’t hydrate enough the day before, so I know before the half in May to do that better. I feel great knowing I can keep a steady pace on longer races.
I had such a great time. I got to meet some Twitter friends, ran my fastest pace ever, and got to register for my first marathon! It was totally worth driving in a car for almost 12 hours for this!
