Marine Corps Marathon 2014
MCM #5 is in the books. It officially puts me in the MCM
Runner Club. I do not seem to have the best of luck with the marathon distance
though.
It was a really nice morning. It was 57 degrees when I started
and only 66 when I finished. A little windy but all-in-all it was good weather
for the race. Bobbi and I parked on Ft Myer and walked off the post back gate
right behind where I would finish. As usual the start was full of pageantry and
it is one of the cool things about how MCM puts on events. I had trained well
and I had my nutrient and liquid intake was spot on. Despite the fact we had a
Navy football game and tailgate the day before.
I only drank water for 48 hours prior to the race and carb loaded on
Friday. I did have a baked potato 12 hours
prior to the start. I think I got the food thing figured out.
I started off well and was clocking a very nice 9:00 min/mile
pace for the first 10 plus miles. My time at Mile 10 was 1:30:14 perfect pace
for sub 4:30 marathon. I saw Bobbi at Mile 5 and 10 and I was feeling fine.
Then some weird thing happened heading down Hains Point…
First my GPS seemed to my clocking me further than I had
actually gone. By mile 12 on my GPS I just past the 11 mile mark on the course
and by mile 14 on the GPS I had not hit the halfway point. There is something
strange about the little peninsula. So I spotted a bathroom took a quick second
to pee, okay maybe it :39 seconds to be exact, and started to hit the pavement
again.
As I started back to the run, I had what I only can guess now
was a panic attack. I started to hyper-ventilate. Shipmate, something is really wrong. Think, Kevin. I slowed down the running pace. That was it I had started too fast and then
tried to start again. Instantly I started to hyper-ventilate again and then I
could not figure out where I was or what I was doing despite the fact that
thousands of runner are going past me.
Still not cognitive of what was going on I just started to follow the
crowd. They seemed to being somewhere? Maybe I should go that way too?
At 10:09 am, I remember looking at my watch why is it 10:09
and why and I am now just a lemming where is the cliff…as luck would have it I
then received a message from Bobbi via the Cyclemeter App, “Hains Point sucks,
but you got this. I’ll see you between 16 ½ and 17. Run baby run.” I thought to
myself damn I am in a some kind of race and I need to keep going. I ran the two
next miles, mile 15 in 9:02 pace and mile 16 in 9:24, I was back on track.
I saw Bobbi at MCM 16 mile marker even though my GPS had me
a close to 17.5 miles and I still was never able to completely catch my breath.
Or should I say I was never able to take a full breath. Everyone breath I took
for the next 2 hours was very shallow. Bobbi asked if I was OK I told I was
having trouble breathing, I really thought about quitting but I knew that was not
going to happen, I finished this.
I trudged to the next water stop (Mile 19 by GPS but only 17
by the course markers) where the Semper Fi Fund ladies were volunteering. To see
Elizabeth and Michelle was great and once again I snapped out of my funk and
ran 9:03 mile on mile 19.
But it was not long before I was again not taking full
breaths. I was worried. I did remember that Bobbi was going to meet me again
one last time before the finish at the 20 mile marker. By then my GPS had me
over two miles off and I turned down the my music( I should have turned off GPS
voice) I then lowered my head and just plodded along. Bobbi was there smiling
and cheering and it helped me knocked out another 9:05 mile for one mile only because
I knew she was watching me run away toward the 14th Street Bridge.
When it should be 21 when you cross that bridge the GPS had
me at 24 and I lost any motivation at all. Especially when the GPS “Announced
that I completed 26.2 with I time 4:14:35. And I looked up and the MCM mile
marker is only 22 miles.
I shuffled my feet in the same direction as everyone else
seemed to going, with the exception of one guy who ran the entire marathon
running backwards, for the next 3 miles. I got the last water stop. I remember grabbing
a cup and a Gunner Sergeant looked me straight in the eye and said, “You have
one mile left, you will run the last mile, you will run the last mile.” I
believe I gave him my best “Ooh Rah” and I did run. I ran the last mile with a purpose
a 9:02/mi pace for mile 30 by GPS and 26 on the course. I turn the corner up
the hill to the Marine Corps War Memorial , better known as the Iwo Jima Memorial,
and finished. I saw and heard Bobbi at
the finish and cross the line. Official time 4:54:55 or 11:15 pace but my GPS
had me running 30.24 miles at a 9:41/mile pace.
Even though, now that I have done 5 MCMs, I’m in the MCM Runners Club, and I get an automatic entry into the MCM, I think I going to take a couple years off from Marathon running. That might change four or five month from now.
There were a couple of good things that came out of it. I discovered a great new product called RaceDots (Racedots.com #RaceDots). They are super strong magnets that hold your race bib to your shirt. The worked great and didn’t move an inch over course of the day.
Secondly and more importantly, I totally believe it the amazing
connection that Bobbi and I have had and especially had that day. I really
believe I would have stopped and quit without the fortuitous post on Hains
Point.
