Saturday flight, Saturday Expo – landed hour-half before bib pick-up end. Lyft from Reagan, 20-minute drive ‘cross the Potomac. Marine Corps Marathon. Oorah! I’m in!
Registration lottery, May drawing & my lot was pulled. 30 THOUSAND participants, nicknamed ‘the People’s Marathon’. After New York [Nov 2015], never thought I’d run another MEGA-marathon. Feel caged in with BIG crowds. Gotta/hafta/must run Marine!
Hotel check-in, convenient digs two DC stops from tomorrow’s Start. Left outta the Americana, 3 blocks to the Marriott/left inside the lobby, long underground shopping corridor to the Metro entrance. Ticket pre-purchased. I got this.
Food, sleeps, predawn alarm – marathon morn. Indian caretaker downstairs asked if I was walking to the Pentagon. Right outta the hotel – talk, talk talk – let his words drift/thanked him for the banana. Never deviate on race day, not my first rodeo.
Crystal City-Pentagon City-Pentagon. Tens of runners Blue Line bunched. Quick trek, mere minutes. ‘The Pentagon’ – words we generally only TV-hear, today run reality. Long walk/multiple security stops. 2 MILE trek. No worry ‘bout the distance, time concern. Sea of marathoners stopped at bag security. Focus, push through. I’ve got nothing. Push, push. Corral start, 7 minutes to spare. Elites made their way, my wave advanced forward. Sooooooo many flags, military craft overhead – Oorah, I’m here!
PERFECT cool morning START. Sunshine, lite breeze & a whole lotta company. Mylar-unwrapped even before I tapped on the Garmin. Out quick/caught the 4-hour bunny, then slowed & just enjoyed the ride. No PR plan, too many runners for an amazing finish – photo journaling today’s adventure.
Blue mile, mile 12. Pics of fallen soldiers, both sides of our path. Every 10 feet a photo, another soldier – FOR AN ENTIRE MILE. Female runner stopped ahead, talking to a placard. Husband, brother? Haven’t teared/outwardly lost it since St Jude’s. Important to remember, be thankful for our freedom.
Regrouped at the Half (meds, hydration). Goodbye Virginia, hello DC. And the tour began…
Washington Monument. On my right, thru the trees, straight ahead, then ran the field surrounding. Museum of Natural History. U.S. Capitol Building. Senate, House of Representatives. Sooooo many selfies. LOL> Never realized we would pass so close.
My run, my day. Same medal whether I four-hour finish or 4:30 end 🙂
Revolutionary Washington on horseback stared across the National Mall – at HIS Monument/pillar of remembrance. Few minutes outside Smithsonian Castle. Another selfie. More water.
Skies greyed, wind gusted, insta-chilled from early marathon moisture. East Coast humid. Marker 25: one last selfie, one last Marine Corps ‘Oorah’ – military FINISH 15 minutes later.
Marathon 133, 28th FINISH of 2018. THANKFUL, prayerful, USA PROUD 🇺🇸
Results from the 43rd Marine Corps Marathon
K R Haga BIB 15357 Louisville, CO 04:35:16
HALF 02:04:05
30K 03:11:52
FINISH 04:35:16
START TIME 07:57:29 AM
TEMPERATURE 59 °F | 15 °C
HUMIDITY 91%
-
- Saturday Expo
-
- DC run tour 🙂
-
- Museum of Natural History
-
- Capitol selfie
-
- Smithsonian Castle
-
- OORAH!
-
- military FINISH
-
- Marine Corps War Memorial
-
- PROUD American
Marine Corps Marathon
Overcast & cool, low morning temps. FANTASTIC marathon morn! Late sleep-in too. Downtown Minneapolis Start super close to my Westin overnight digs.
8am Start, Corral 2. No longer hung up on starting in an early corral. If I could break 5 hours again, that’d be a victory. Diet on point. Training miles met. Morning acid blocker taken, pain pill safely stored for marathon 2nd Half. 4:45 goal today. Never been a runner who’s super time consumed. Ultimately wanna bring my finish under 4 hours again.
Point-to-point course, Minneapolis to St Paul. Started 7 minutes after the Elites.
Minnesota’s known as the Land of 10,000 Lakes. Majority were represented today. First 13 miles, LAKE scenic. Lake of the Isles, Lake Harriet, Lake Nokomis, Lake Hiawatha. 1:58 Half, first sub-2 since Spring. Porta-potty, refueled. Nothing extra ‘til mile 15. Skies stayed overcast, wind blew cold. Thankful for gloves – GREAT conditions.
So what makes the Twin Cities Marathon so popular? CROWD SUPPORT. Not just Aid Station volunteers, city residents line this course. Mile 1 thru mile 26. Absolutely serious. Spectators even on the abandoned miles, like mile 17 – past the Half, well before the Finish. NEVER do you see folks miles 15 thru 21. 40’s/overcast/slight wind – near PERFECT when you’re running, but standing/cheering on participants, WOW! Bundled in coats, had to be cold. Top 10 marathon of my life. AMAZING crowds.
130 marathons, all unique, no repeats. Warm ❤️ for Minnesota. Same kinda crowds at Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, my first ever sub-4 (June 2014). Think I’ve found a 2nd run home. Easy airport travel, cool Spring/Autumn weather. Tag.
Quarter-mile walk at 18, another quarter-mile break at marker 23. Crossed the mighty Mississippi at mile 19. Breezy, cold & BEAUTIFUL. Marathon’s only actual incline (mile 21), killed it. Saw the approach early. Head down, arms pumping, pushed thru the top. 9:36/min pace. Best pace of 2nd Half. I run HILLS at home 😊
Big fade at 23, then an unexpected second wind. What? 10/min pace last two marathon miles. Not earth-shattering for most – but 24 miles into a marathon, HUGE success.
STRONG FINISH at Minnesota’s State Capitol dome. 4-hour pacer started a Corral ahead, 4:30 runners never caught me. He’s baaaaack. Minnesota x2 SUCCESS! Diet, meds or result from tens & tens of pre-dawn training miles. Good to feel good again! ALL IN. CHANGING NOTHING rest of October.
Theatre at the Guthrie. Front row seat, benefit of travelling solo. Work day Monday…but tonite, Frankenstein – he’s ALIVE!
Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon
K R Haga Louisville, CO
TIME 4:20:39
24M 3:57:12
30K 2:58:50
13.1M 1:57:59
-
- marathon FINISH
-
- Minnesota State Capitol
-
- St Paul MN
-
- SKOL! Viking PROUD!
-
- Frankenstein – he’s ALIVE!
Twin Cities Marathon
DNS, did not START. Travel, lodging, meal planning – even bib pickup, but failed to START on race day. GUTTED.
nicknamed ‘the Equality State’
Autumn hike on the Divide, late breakfast in Georgetown. Barreled home, swapped out backpacks, dropped Ro at the kennel. Hour-15 drive to Cheyenne, bib pickup deadline 5pm. SUPER Saturday 😊Haven’t spent lotta time in Wyoming’s capitol city, never stayed overnight. Hotel-splurged this trek, opting for a good nite’s sleep before Sunday’s inaugural Cheyenne Marathon. Early 6am start.
‘though just a short drive from Colorado, Wyoming stands on its own. Cowboy culture. Cowboy boots, cowboy statues, cowboy museums, even a cowboy-ridden Bronc dons the state’s license plate. Snapped Downtown shots of Cheyenne’s Wild West past. State capitol though was a bust – under construction, who knew? All signs pointed to a successful Wyoming x2 finish.
Alarm rang early. Feverish all nite, not great sleeps – elevated temp would linger thru Tuesday. Just PUSH through? ARGH. Run/not run, what to do? Not STARTING, soooo much worse than DQ’ing/trying, coming up short. Today: big MISS, runner FAIL.
Hotel check-out, early Colorado return. Traffic-delayed downtown. Street blocked, two runners slowly made their way across – shorts, headphones, eyes forward/focused/in the zone – that should’ve been ME. STINGS, still stings — core of my soul 😡
Back-of-mind questions next race – after DQ’ing: will I finish or late-in-race drop again? after DNS’ing: will I even show up? Am I healthy enough to keep marathoning? Should I skip my next flight & just stay home? Have I aged out? Do I now drop to Halves? HEAD demons.
Week following, notta lotta running. I’m a sore loser – or in this case, a sore ‘non-Starter’.
Maine next weekend. Stephen just an hour-half away, will be good to see a friendly face 😊 Positive note? New Denver doc/gastro specialist provided a full bag of meds, guidance/diet instructions. Step closer. Discovery, diagnosis, resolution.
-
- Cowboy culture
-
- big BOOT to fill
-
- State Capitol (under construction) & historic Governor’s Mansion
-
- new doc, new meds
