Race Information

Goals

Goal Description Completed?
A Finish Yes
B PR, sub-4:36 Yes
C Sub 4 No
D No Walking No

Splits

Distance Time
5K 29:33 - Pace 9:31
15K 1:22:11 - Pace 8:29
HALF 1:54:28 - Pace 8:32
25K 2:15:34 - Pace 8:42
30K 2:44:28 - Pace 9:19
40K 3:51:39 - Pace 10:49
FINISH 4:07:01 - Pace 11:17
Full Avg Pace - 9:26

Training

I’ve been running on the regular for just over 2 years. For about the past year I’ve been averaging about 40ish miles per week, with occasionally hitting 50 miles when I was able to get a good long run in (16 miles was the longest).

I had also thought this Race would complete the Semper Fidelis Challenge, as I had run the 17.75K Marine run as well as the Devil Dog Double (Historic Half+Semper 5ive), but I realized in the last couple weeks that because I’d done the DDD and not just the Historic Half, I was not eligible for the bonus awards. I ran 18 miles instead of 13, so I lose out. Rather frustrating :( .

Training took a bit of a hit over the summer, as there was some vacation stuff where I couldn’t find time to run. But I had a good 7 weeks of 40+ weeks, with a training high of 57 before starting a 3-week taper. And prior to the vacation-low, I had another 7-week block of 45+ weeks. So I felt pretty confident in my base.

I also ran a 50K in March (trail run, that was actually 33.9 miles). My marathon-split from that was 4:36 according to Strava. So my initial goal was to better that.

Pre-race

Slept OK. Got up at 4am in order to get to the Metro when it opened at 5am. Metro ride was like an hour, and it was very lonely until I got into the city and other runners started getting on.

Dropped off my bag (change of shoes and clothes), used the bathroom twice, and made my way to the start line.

Race

Miles 1-3 : This was kind of a crowded mess. 23 thousand runners is a lot of runners, so it took a little while for things to thin out enough to get up to my pace.

Miles 4-13: Cruised along here, enjoying the run. The scenery, the crowds, the signs, all awesome. I passed the 4:00 pacer at around 10K and was super happy with myself. The run along Ohio Drive down to Hains Point, with all the fallen hero stuff was very somber. I had to stop reading all the memorial signs, as it was making me sad :( . It was around here that my stomach started making noises, #2 type noises. But I was determined to not do that, so I basically ran the 2nd Half in a “no pooping allowed!” state.

Miles 14-20: Really enjoyed the funny signs on the eastern side of Ohio Drive. A bit of a pick me up after the somber Blue Mile memorial thing on the other side. There’s a tunnel right before the turn to head into DC, it was blasting Lil John, and was right at the “Turn Down for What?!?” line, and I had a bit of a moment waving my arms with a paramedic off on the side.

Right around mile 20 I finally threw in the towel and started walking. My quads were lead, and it felt like my shoes were made of concrete. I marked this as the farthest I had every run without walking (20 miles), an improvement over my 18 miles from the Devil Dog Double in May.

Miles 21 to Finish: This was basically agony. I’d run a little, walk a little, run a little. Any incline basically required walking. I also ran out of water around mile 24. My hydration plan failed, as I’d only refilled once. And, because I’m dumb I had “rationed” my water for the first Half. The heat and humidity started getting to me. I did not see the 4:00 pacer pass me, but I was in serious tunnel vision at this point. I did manage to run across the finish line, after running up the slope to get to the finish line (several runners, including me, cursed that slope as we ran up it).

Post-race

My wife and kids surprised me by being at the finish. I had thought they weren’t going to be able to make it, due to kids soccer games that morning and afternoon. But I was beyond grateful they were there. Really, really good chance that if they weren’t there I would’ve ended up in the medical tent after collapsing on the walk to the Finishers Village place. As it was, I laid down in a grassy spot for a good 10 minutes.

There were several Watermelon Queen women handing out watermelon as we walked to the car. Really, really gross watermelon. I tried two containers and both had turned and gone yucky. Blech.

Found the PR Bell and rang that thing entirely too loudly. Almost 30min improvement over that time from March. Ooorah!

Looking at my Strava map it became apparent that my GPS had some serious hiccups during the race. It was off by over .5 of a mile. Pretty much every tunnel we ran through caused a serious hink in the GPS. The worst was the Georgetown harbor area. GPS was really, really off there. So all of my Strava times are wayyy off. It has my finish being 4:00:52. Almost a 7min difference. Kind of glad that was just over 4h. I would’ve felt bad to have a sub-4 time in Strava, but have it not be real.

But I went home, took a hot bath, and then went to my son’s soccer game.

I’m disappointed I didn’t meet all my goals (I’d originally thought I could go sub-3:45, haha), but I came reallllly close. And that gives me a big goal for the next one. I might need to change up my training though. I have not used any sort of Plan previously, but maybe I should look into those :) .

Made with a new race report generator created by /u/herumph.

EDIT: fixed the formatting :) .