National Marathon, Washington D.C.

I was laying in bed the evening before the race and I hear my phone buzz. “I’m gonna go out with you tmrrw” was what Seebo had texted, adding a little more to the positive vibe I had building for the race. It was marathon number 7, the lucky number, I had eaten a big Thai meal the night before with Heather, Ian and Nora, my pre-race meal before a great performance at Chicago and now I had a friend to run with for the beginning of the marathon. Things were going to be good.

In the morning I met an equally excited Ian in the lobby of our hotel and we hopped a ride on the metro to RFK stadium, the race start. It was cold, cold enough to frost the grass and freeze my feet as I anxiously paced around waiting for the sun to come up and the starting gun to fire. I at first was not able to find Seebo in the starting corral but as the announcer blasted “1 minute to race start” I eyed him a few rows ahead and sidled up.

The gun went off and we were on our way. The sun was rising, the wind was light and my hopes were high. We planned a slow first mile and at 7:37 it was even slower than I was shooting for but that was fine. I could see the dome of the Capitol building ahead with the Washington Monument poking behind, an up lifting sight early in the race. We cruised by the Capitol building and along the mall for the next couple miles, there was some decent downhill along this portion and it made the going easy. 2 - 6:50, 3 - 6:42, and 13:39 for miles 4 and 5.

By this point we had turned off the mall and were heading north into the uphill portion of the course that would take us through mile 8. I wasn’t feeling perfect but good. Seebo and I exchanged some complaints about how the hills were more than we expected but definitely manageable. Crowd support to this point had been non existent and that continued for almost the entire race with the exception of the guys from Howard University in mile 7 that had hip-hop music blasting and party going on. 6 – 6:54, 7- 6:57, 8 – 6:38.

I was behind schedule with the slow start and the early hills. I had planned for this looking at the course profile before the run but I was still itching to make up some ground on the downhill that had started at mile 8 and continued through 10. We were on our way back to RFK to drop off the half-marathoners and we took advantage of the grade to hit a couple quick miles with minimal added effort. 9 – 6:39, 10 – 6:30, 11 – 6:41, 12 - 6:40.

An uneventful race to this point, just how you want it but now things got interesting. I knew we were soon going to have to break off from the half-marathoners and I kept my eyes open for the break. There was a large highway sign reading “Marathoners Left - Halfmarathoners Right”. Seebo and I began easing to the left of the road and continued on. Mile 13 – 6:40.

Seebo and I were both looking for our turn away from the half marathon finish but it never materialized. Now we are running down the long chute to finish line and it is obvious something is wrong. I am scanning for white marathon bibs but none are to be found only the yellow half marathon bibs. Across the finish line I see a pile of people but no route on the left for us and the rest of the marathoners to run through. We cross the line and I brush off the guy trying to hang a half marathon finishers medal on me. I am screaming at anybody who will listen “Where is the full marathon?! Where is the full!!!!!!!!!” The first woman has no idea and I am in total panic mode. A few seconds later another volunteer tells us we missed the turn which is back up the finishing chute, and over the hill. Seebo and I retrace our steps back up the hill and then cut across a long grassy downhill to join the marathon again.

What the fuck. I was in shock that this had happened. I was pissed at myself for missing the turn and pissed at the race organizers for not making it more obvious. Seebo was trying to calm me down and keep me focused and it did work. The actual half split for the marathon went by in 1:31 something and I knew we had lost around 2 minutes. Damn.

I hit the gas a little and hoped I could make some time up. Mile 14 split 9:17. I was averaging 6:40’s and now I drop a 9:17 so I am guessing I threw 2:37 out the window with the bad turn. I am fuming, my mind is racing about what to do, I keep running and try to think things through. Do I shoot for 2:59 despite the lost time or count anything under a 3:02 on the marathon clock as a sub 3:00 marathon? I decided to run harder for a few miles and see how I felt. 15 – 6:36, 16 – 6:36, 17 -6:32.

My spirits were buoyed by these splits and through mile 18 I really thought I had a shot. Maybe I was in better shape than I imagined, maybe I could really run a 2:56 and that lost time was the impetus to push myself harder. Mile 18 – 7:04.

Whoa. What happened? I didn’t slow down, the mile must have been long. Mile 19 7:07. Here we go again, the slow horrible decline through the last 6 miles. I keep pushing and just hope it is a bad patch but I can feel in my legs that it probably is not. Mile 20 – 7:33. I was able to dig and push very hard to pull off a 7:02 for mile 21 but that was it. The remainder of the way was just trying to hold on and not let the decline get to bad. I won’t go through the detail but here are the splits, they can tell the story. 22 – 7:55, 23 – 8:32, 24 – 9:27, 25 – 10:16, 26 – 9:25, 0.2 1:51. Finished in 3:13:52 (or 3:11:XX when you subtract the mistake)

You train for these things in hopes of hitting your goals and as it starts to unravel on those long miles at the end you have plenty of time think through the reality that all the work you put in is not going to even get you across the line with a BQ. I finished angry, sad, upset. Heather met me not long after I crossed the line, she knows what the race meant to me and gave me a huge hug. I was feeling very emotional and needed a few minutes to calm down.

I eventually hobbled through the food line and met up with the support crew; Ian, Nora, Allison, Steve, Reba and soon Seebo who finished a few minutes behind me. So I didn’t hit my goal, but was all the training really a waste? No way. I was standing there with my beautiful (pregnant) wife Heather and six friends all because I have this damn running bug. For me this will always outweigh a bad marathon no matter how those last miles feel.