For the 2013 Marine Corps Marathon I had really high hopes. I had trained hard. I had run a great 20 miler just weeks before. The weather was perfect. Although a little nervous, I was in a terrific mood after an exciting Navy win over Pitt the day before.
I got up early went for a quick jog at home just to get things moving
and we made our way to DC. Then had an uneventful trip on the Metro to the
Pentagon Station and a short walk to the corrals. Hit the port-a-john before
the start and lined up just in front of the 4:00 hour corral.
As usual, exciting Hollister blast off to start and me and 30,000 of my closest friend start of our 26.2 mile journey…”Life’s a Journey not a Destination” (Ralph Waldo Emerson or Aerosmith)
So I am running smooth easy pace… the first seven miles in 59:12, right
on schedule! Then I made the turn around in Rock Creek Park and I was hit with
severe stomach cramps….
Ok, I’ll find a port-a- john…just past mile 8 marker …mission
accomplished in an out minimal time lost and back on track…in fact despite the
stop mile 9 was a 9min/mi pace…I can do this.
Mile 10 8:50/mi , ok settle down …nice pace you got this Kevin….then Irun
behind the Lincoln Memorial between 10 and 11 miles and cramps come again…ok I’ll
walk run till I get then end of Haines point…at the half way point I’m still
under 2:00 I can do this…it the port-a-johns at the end of the point…eat the
cliff bar and sports beans and keep going….
I struggle with some more cramps as I head back toward the Mall and
find another pit stop near the Smithsonian at mile 19.5…now I’m completely
toast…I can’t eat…I can’t seem to get enough fluids and the 4:00 pace guy goes screaming
by…
The last 10K is just a slug fest and I get beat up pretty good…it would
be easy to just quit but the thousands of other running and even more spectators
keep you going….
Then I am reminded why I was running when one of the athletes on a hand
crank bike goes by me on the 14th street bridge…this one is not
about me….this race and race season has been about people like Corey Petersen
who overcome more than a stomach cramp to finish their journey.
It was when the 4:30 pacer went by at mile 25 that a song popped into
my head “I bought a cheap watch from
a crazy man floating down canal, it doesn't use numbers or moving hands, it
always just says NOW, Now you may be thinking that I was had, but this watch is
never wrong. And If I have trouble the warranty said, Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On” (Jimmy Buffett)
So I shuffle up Marine Hill to the finish (4:39:55), where Bobbi and
the girls (thank you ladies and congrats to Bobbi and GR on a great MCM 10K)
are cheering me on. The hundreds of Marines cheer me to finish as if I had just
won. The Marines lining the finishing chute
heartily congratulate me and one young 2nd LT put the medal over my
head and adds a perfect salute.
No sub 4, no PR and another lack luster MCM performance. However, reality hits me square in the face as
we head thru the free food and stuff to the Charity Hill tent for the Team Semper
Fi Fund…there parked outside the hospitality tent were a dozen hand crank
wheelchairs and inside the athletes were on the massage table getting rubbed
down from their long journeys…stomach cramp v. no legs…shut up Kevin…you
finished.
I’ll do MCM again. I love the atmosphere and the support you get the entire 26.2 miles and beyond. And I will continue to run and raise funds and awareness for the Semper Fi Fund.
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