Marine Corps Marathon race report

So Sunday I did the Marine Corps Marathon.  It was a good race overall, but not a super favorite like SavageMan.  I'll address the pros and cons of the race itself, some details of my pacing strategy, and give some updates to my nutrition strategy.  I really wrote this to help me plan my next race better, but perhaps it will help someone else.  I did come into this race with an ankle injury, but I don't think it was an issue. 

The biggest problem is that it's a big race with many participants and therefore has the problems that all such races have, sometimes more so however. Our first race issue came at the expo.  We read on the race website that free parking was available, but it was a bit tricky to find.  My family came into town for the race, and they love going to expo's for some reason.  As such I waited until Saturday to pick up my number.  It seems a huge number of other folks had a similar plan and we had to wait for over an hour to get into a tent to pick up the number where we learned they were out of printed programs.  My parents like the program so they can read it all and plan where they're going to spectate and such.  We then had to wait for another hour to get into the DC Armory to pick up the T-Shirt.  This was way worse than my experience at Boston, Chicago, or any other race I've run.  The volume of runners also caused problems on race day.  Again parking took a while, as there was quite a line of cars.  The shuttle was totally reasonable.  However there was a bit of a line to get into the runner's village due to security screening, but it wasn't so bad.  Bathroom lines were quite long and obnoxious.  If one purchased $200 worth of brooks gear at the expo one could get vip bathroom access, however it seems that one would have needed to wait in a ~2 hour line to purchase said gear.  Then there were start seeding issues.  I couldn't really see the signs, but I know I was in front of the 3:40 estimated finish sign.  Sadly I couldn't make it any further up.  I had to waste quite a bit of energy zig zagging around seriously slow people walking the course who really had no business starting as far forward as they did.  An earlier start or better choice of bathroom line could have mitigated this problem, as would a starting corral system.  Once I got clear at about 5 miles in, my complaints end, and I'd say the race experience is as good as any.  The bottom line is for me, I prefer smaller races. 

The cool thing about the Marine Corps Marathon, is the Marine presence.  Marines are cool, and they're everywhere at the race.  Many are working, but quite a few are just there to cheer.  Most of the cheering Marines acted like typically spectators, however one group adopted a bit more of a drill sargent tone.  Nothing too extreme, but a little fun.  There's something sort of motivating about someone who one day may need to run faster to save his life telling you to run faster without regard to the fact that you've just ran 23 miles or that your ankle hurts or whatever.  Bullets and bombs don't care about that stuff and I guess neither did he.  The coolest part was probably the finish however.  

There is a nice short but steep hill there at the finish and plenty of spectators.  All the cheering really drove me up the hill and to the finish, and it hurt in a really good way.  They gave out finisher's jackets at the finish, which was a nice perk, and the medal was hefty with moving parts. I normally don't care about medals, and this one will suffer the same fate as the rest, but it was interesting for a little while.  The massage group they had there was really good too.  They had a mini expo there at the finish, and we got lots of food and trinkets like flashlights and such.  

As for my pacing, I was immediately thrown off by the crowds.  I couldn't really start running race pace until I got to the 3rd or 4th mile. It still wasn't easy to go race pace at that point but it was practical.  I tried to remain calm, and I did for the most part.  From mile 5 to the half, I thought I was staying close enough to my goal pace, maybe just a few seconds faster to make up what I lost at the start.  At the half way point I figured I should try and make up time as I was feeling good.  My Garmin suggested I was turning in mile splits right around 6:35.  Around say mile 23, things got harder.  I was able to hold on without too much time hemorrhaging however.  I surely should have waited longer.  Looking at my results it's clear there was an error somewhere as I was never going that fast.  One might chalk that up to the crowds again as they prevent you from taking the shortest route, but I'm just not certain. 

As for nutrition, I replaced the honey packets with fruit snacks from Aldi.  I got ones that are fortified with vitamin C as that adds sodium.  The calories come from corn syrup, and each snack has about 10 calories. The plan was to eat 2 per mile, but I forgot in the first few miles to eat.  I did eventually eat 36 snacks.  I followed the mantra that if you feel good eat, so when I saw my pace was better than intended I took an extra fruit snack.  I never really had any GI distress, and I don't suppose I bonked.  I took 3 salt tablets, and I think that either that wasn't enough, or I should have taken the last one earlier.  Part of what caused me to slow down was mild muscle cramping in the legs, I think.  I took a tablet and felt a little better.  One explanation is that I was feeling fatigued and the tablet was an effective placebo.  I do intend to get a more convenient dispenser for next time (I was using a plastic bag with a hole torn in it).  

My muscles are sore, but I've gotten over the fact that I didn't break 3 hours, again.  I might have been able to if I had lined up better, but who knows.  I enjoyed the atmosphere of the race, but not the lines and crowds.  Next time I train for months just to decimate myself like this, I'm going to choose a smaller race where my result will be less dependent upon my crowd navigation ability and more on my effort and preparation.