Post-Race Thoughts

We did it! First of all, I'll say that running a formal race is much different than I thought it would be. I'm used to training pretty much alone, just running by myself around the neighborhood or on base. Needless to say, during the race you're surrounded by other runners. There are a lot of people who are just doing their own thing, but a lot of people are very friendly, and you end up in a lot of little conversations. For about the first 5 miles I ran and talked with a guy named John Frassinelli (but his friends call him "Frans") from Nashville. I also ran on and off with a guy named Greg and another guy whose name I never learned, but his relay team's name was "We put the 'run' in 'drunk'!" (ours was "PC Load letter"). I never figured that a marathon would be the place to chat, but I guess if you're both running at a similar speed, and you're next to each other for 20 minutes, why not see what's up? I learned a lot of stuff from people- for instance, this race was a qualifier for the Boston marathon and some other big ones. It's supposedly the flattest and course and fewest people of all qualifiers. So people come from all over to do this marathon in dinky little southern Maryland. For a little perspective, this year the Lower Potomac River Marathon had 133 runners. The Marine Corp marathon in D.C. has 5,000 every year, but since last year was the 30th anniversary they let in 30,000. So if you're looking for a thinner field, this is it.

Oddly, that makes it a more competitive race, because mostly serious runners do it. I only ran into a few people from the area, so I guess only hard-core people are willing to come all the way down here. My buddy Josh said that he finished in the top 25% of the Marine Corp marathon, because most of the runners were D.C. are people who weren't serious about it. But he doubted he would even crack the top half of this smaller crowd. He didn't run it this year, so I guess we'll never know.

So as for my personal experience, it was fun. The furthest I've ever run before is 12 miles. My portion today was 14.6, and I never stopped (unless you count the one 30 second trip into the bushes). My official time was 2:13.13, but they had a clock set up at 13.1 miles so you could see your actual half marathon time. I passed it right as it clicked over to 2:00.00 with a precision worthy of Marty McFly- that means I was on pace for a 4-hour marathon, but that would never have happened, because I would've had to rest eventually. I passed the sign that said "0.25 miles to relay handoff point" and I decided to sprint the rest (which is what I sometimes do while running). I was running as fast as I could, I could see Kate waiting for the handoff, and with about 100 feet left I was done. It was like all sudden, all energy was gone. I managed to maintain a jog until the handoff, and then just kind of stood there for about 15 minutes drinking water and eating a free banana. Anyway, for those keeping score at home I averaged 6.58 mph or 9.1 minute miles. Not too shabby for my first race of any kind!

After the handoff, I went back to my buddy Chris's house, which is one the route to wait for Kate to pass. The aforementioned Josh (Chris's roommate) had set up his own water stand for runners, so I gave him a hand with it. Josh was offering orange slices, banana pieces, water and beer. That's right, disposable cups of Bud Light- and a lot more people chose that than I would have ever predicted. I guess their house is only 1.75 miles from the finish line, so people figure what the heck. Believe it or not handing out water to runners was a lot more fun than I would have thought it would be. Everybody's so happy to get free water, and it's fun to cheer people on. You can yell the same thing over and over, because everyone was pretty spread out by that point, and who's going to know if it's a repeat? Josh's other friend Mark (not me) always said "All downhill from here!" and I went with the informative "1.75 miles to go!" This gets back to the point that marathon runners are a generally friendly group. If we don't end up running it again next year, we should at least set up a water booth.

After Kate ran past Chris's house I drove back to the finish line to await her triumphant crossing. I couldn't have been more proud of her when she came around that last corner! I gave her a hug and we immediately headed in for the free food and awards ceremony. Another interesting note: The relay teams were officially 2 people, but Booze-Allen Hamilton (the main sponsor) had an unofficial team of like 18 people, and their last guy finished maybe 2 minutes before Kate. I'm sure they weren't really trying either, but we've decided to be proud about it anyway. After crossing the finish line marathoners got a finisher's medal, but they told us that relay teams got some certificate or something, but didn't know where we picked it up. After the awards ceremony we went up to talk to the race co-ordinator about it. We stood in line while she talked to some other runners, and when she got to us Kate asked something to the effect of "We were a relay team, so I guess we don't get a medal, but is there some sort of a finisher's certificate, or can we buy a medal?" The lady replied (very dismisively) "Run a marathon and you'll get a medal" and then went on to the next person in line. What the hell?

This race was a great experience, but this was sort of a down note to end on. I'm going to look a little too deep into this, but it wasn't "Oh sorry, those were just for full marathoners" or "This year there's no take home for relay runners." Our answer was "Stop wasting my time and come back when you've accomplished something." It's not like we approached them and asked if we could split up the race- they advertise it at a marathon/marathon relay! Don't blow us off like that while we were all proud of ourselves! Again, it was a great day, and it will take a lot more than a surly race co-ordinator to detract from it.

At this point I guess I'll show the course map. Chris's house is right across the road from the water treatment plant (shown on the map as 4 dots). My portion was the southern half with the 3 turnarounds, and Kate had the one big turnaround on the north portion. My route was 3 miles longer, but I would say that we broke even on account that her part was way hilly-er, and right after the handoff the sun came out and it shot up to 80 degrees (I could see my breath for most of my half). Kate did a fantastic job, but rather than try to sum up her experience I'll let you read her account here. Everything else you wanted to know about the race is on the official website.

One thing I was totally unprepared for was how quickly I fell to the back of the pack. Within the first 10 minutes I was definitely in the bottom 25%. Now, I've started to (falsely) fancy myself a pretty good runner. I really like running and the treadmills at the drill hall, when high-school athletes and marines come in all decked out in their under armor and run next to me, and they go like 4 miles then walk away all tired while I keep going. Contrast that with a group of competitive runners, and I'm definitely bringing up the rear. Again, I just wanted to finish. And this just in: the 2006 Lower Potomac River Marathon Results! You can find Kate and I near the bottom with the co-ed relay teams, of which we were 8th of 10 (22 of 24 overall), in otherwords not last. I would like to give a heartfelt thanks to Dawn Bryan, Thomas Kromis, and Katrina & Ryan Wyman for a token bit of pride. Last year's results broke it our person by person, and I would like to see where I stood among first leggers, but oh well.

After the race we sat around for a few hours before we went to eat. Now, we've been eating pretty healthy for the last several months, but we decided that we had earned a trip to the Cici's all you can eat pizza buffet. I ate more pizza than I've eaten in one sitting since high school. Even more amazing was that I didn't even feel bad about it! Man, I so used to that little guilty feeling while eating junk food but I gotta tell you, it was not there.

So what's next? I'd like to use this as a springboard into a full marathon at some point. Not to give credibility to the medal nazi, but as I was watching people cross the finish line I started thinking "Wow, that's impressive! A half-marathon is nothing!" We don't have a full marathon picked out yet, but we'll start looking. I want to keep running a part of our lifestyle, but my knees can't take these long distances forever, so I'm going to do a couple more long races then settle into a more comfortable routine. It just feels so great to know you've accomplished something. I can't wait for the next one!