Kristin Harvey : 2009 Marine Corp Marathon Race Report

Kristin trained with the Endurance Base Camp group for the 2008 Chicago Marathon and just missed her goal of qualifying for Boston.  After training with us this past summer to complete her first Half Ironman Distance Race (Muncie Endurathon), she decided to get back to that Boston Marathon goal.

Below is her race report discussing how it feels to run her 10th marathon, set a personal best by almost 7 minutes and qualify for Boston!  Congrats Kristin.

Race Report – Marine Corps Marathon – 10/25/2009

The Chaotic Morning

We woke up three hours before the race, to consume our bagels with peanut butter and honey and have plenty of time to prepare for the big race.  We were planning on heading to the start a little before 7:00, since it was only a little over a mile away – the perfect little warm-up… until Jill went downstairs for coffee and when returning to the room at 5:45 informed me that all of the runners were catching a shuttle because the start was actually over three miles away!  I am very frustrated by this misinformation.  I specifically picked this hotel because it was so close to the start!  We scramble to get ready.  We walk about half a mile to the shuttle pick up and wait and wait.  In the meantime, I realize I forgot to take ibuprofen and put sunscreen on.  I decide the shuttle isn’t coming any time soon, so I can head back to the hotel to grab these items.  As I go back all the employees are questioning why we are all taking the shuttle.  “The start is only a mile away!” they say, “Why don’t you just jog there as your warm up?”  I get even more frazzled now, and head back to the shuttle stop to tell Jill the news.  When I arrive she is at the front of the line, so we hop on the shuttle anyway.  It dropped us off a couple blocks from the hotel – and we still had to walk most of the way to the start!! We got there around 7:30.  The race started at 8:00.

Once arriving, we wait in line for a very VERY long time for a port-a-potty.  We listen to the national anthem in line.  We see the fly over in line.  As a matter of fact, just as we are leaving the line, we hear the gun go off for the start of the race.  (Thank goodness for chip starts!  My pre-race nightmare has come true!) We run to the start and push through the crowd to reach our pace groups and give up when it is wall to wall people and we’re stuck in the 5:00 pace group.  “Okay,” I tell myself, “This is okay.  You’ll be passing people the entire race.  That’s a great strategy.  Just keep picking them off.”  We crossed the starting line over 13 minutes into the race.

Fighting the Crowd

Given the situation, I can honestly say the first five miles were probably the hardest and most frustrating miles during the race.  There were 21,000+ runners in this race, so space was a limited commodity.  I spent much time on the un-even brick side walks, the grass, and pushing through weeds to pass runners and stay on track.  It didn’t help that the first section of the race was the hilliest.  This made it even harder to pass runners pacing themselves for a 4:30+ race.  The pace was much slower than I needed it to be and I couldn’t use the down hills to coast, because of the crowd.  I wasted a lot of energy in the beginning of the race, and am not sure it was worth it.  I was able to keep my pace down this way, but almost acquired an additional half mile of distance, which threw my average pace off between my Garmin and the reality of the race.  A lesson learned on future situations like this is to just take it easy and make up the time once the crowd opens up.  I could have just relaxed and gotten the first few miles in at a lower heart rate and not have the stress and extra mileage as extra baggage.

The Fun Begins

After about mile eight, we head from Georgetown into the national mall area.  The fans are fabulous.  The weather is perfect (high in the low 60s, sunny, 8 mph winds).  There atmosphere is completely moving.  Every mile or so, I pass a runner carrying a huge American flag.  There are fly bys from more military aircraft and helicopters than I’ve ever seen.  The service men and women are stationed at practically every block supporting us the entire race.

Although miles 12 – 15 along the Potomac Golf Course were the loneliest, they helped give me a chance to focus.  The crowd was no longer an issue and I was able to concentrate on how I was feeling and evaluate my energy at half way.  The frustrating part again, was that my pace on my garmin was right on for a 1:47 half, but since I ran the extra half mile, the pace my garmin told me didn’t matter.  I crossed the half at 1:38:30.  I didn’t let this bother me though.  I felt great and knew I had the energy reserves to make up the time.  At mile 15 we left the golf course and entered the national mall.  The fans were everywhere.  The monuments were incredible.  I actually got emotional (first time I’ve ever cried during a race) because the atmosphere was so moving.   I was going to qualify for Boston.  I had no doubt.  I had God, the fans, the marines, the weather, my family, and my friends at home watching their computers on my side.  We were going to do it together!

The Energy Reserve

When I passed mile 17.5, I made a point to re-evaluate my energy.  With the White House to my left and the Washington Monument to my right, I had no trouble maintaining my energy level and motivation.

Mile 20 was over the bridge.  This could have been a lonely bridge, but I wouldn’t let it.  It was a fabulous bridge and I was running the strongest I had all day over it.  At mile 21 I could tell “the wall” was headed for me soon, but not just yet. In honor of the marines, I remembered Corporal Nich Dieruf (http://www.corporalnich.org/), my dear friend Emily’s past husband who was killed during combat in Iraq when he was 21.  He helped push me through every step of this mile.

The Wall

Mile 23…ahh…mile 23.  Well, I was beginning to lose focus at this point.  There was an out and back, and I apparently saw the wrong sign or was becoming delusional. I was pretty disappointed when I got to 23, because I thought it was time for mile 24.  In this instant, the wall hit me.  Hard. (Looking at the data from my garmin is pretty entertaining.  You can clearly see when this moment happened.  I switch instantly from an 8:00/mile pace to a 10:00+/mile pace). I looked at my watch. I was tired and ready to be done, but I was still on track. I had 35 minutes left to still qualify for Boston.  I knew that I could continue the pace I was at and break 3:35, or, I could kick back, relax, walk through the rest of the water breaks and still qualify for Boston.  I picked option 2.

It was such a great feeling knowing that I had the energy and the time reserve to meet my goal.  I felt better after this marathon than any in my past (this is my 10^th one!)  My tendonitis or IT bands are usually inflamed and throbbing at the end of the race.  I had no pain.  No chaffing (I think this is because of better posture).  I had three blisters on each foot.  That was it.

The funny part about all of this is that going into this race, I was ready for the pain of running fast to be over.  I wanted to hurry up and qualify for Boston so racing could be fun again.  The ironic part is that this race was probably the easiest and most fun marathon I have ever run.  And now I’m wondering to myself what’s next and how fast could I go?

Lessons Learned:

• No matter what kind of shape you are in, the wall is going to hit.  It’s a matter of how prepared you are for it from a mental, physical, health and nutrition standpoint.
  • Mentally, I was ready for anything.  At mile 23, I had an energy and time reserve.  I knew I could have broken 3:35, but I also knew I could coast the rest of the race and not have to worry to qualify for Boston.
  • Physically, I trained for a 3:30.  I knew there was no reason not to run a 3:40.
  • I was very healthy entering this race.  I was healthy through the entire race.  I didn’t have irritated IT bands or tendonitis.  Besides the bottom of my feet being sore, I felt great!
  • My nutrition is usually off somehow.  I think it helped that the water stops were about 2 – 2.5 miles away from each other.  I think this kept me from drinking too much.  Generally, I have a stomach ache by mile 20.  I didn’t have any stomach issues at all or feel like I ate or drank too much.  Many times I’ll start to get really cold and my hands will get swollen and I’ll lose feeling in them.  That didn’t happen at all this time.  I took 5 gus total.  One before the start, then one about every 5 miles.  I took poweraide at the stations when I didn’t take a gu.
• Find the start the day before the race.  This will save a lot of energy and confusion on the morning of your race!

Remaining Thoughts

I did leave something at the end.  I left probably five minutes at the last three miles of the race.  Why did my strategy change?  Although I still qualified for Boston and I still PRed by almost seven minutes, why didn’t I just go for it at the end?  At the time, it seemed like a great idea. And I don’t regret my decision. But looking back it makes me wonder what is left and if I should go back for more.  And when should I go back for it?  Do I take some time off from “competitive” running or do I continue with the base I have acquired and move on to 3:35 or 3:30..  What’s next?  And what is fast enough?