WashingtonDC: Marine Corps Marathon

How is everyone's training going for the MCM?  I have my 20 miler this weekend, longest I've ever done (current longest is my 18 miler from 2 weeks ago).  Needless to say this is my first marathon and I'm getting excited!  Any one catching any snags in their training or need some motivation?  I can't wait for the 28th!

I am a new runner, but I saw that the Marine Corps Marathon also has a 10K race.  Can anyone give me information about this?  Can I still sign up for the 10K?  If so, how/where/by when?  Is it a serious race or more of a fun run? (I "run" about 5 mile/hour on average currently)

hey  Mikeyg83!

Seems you are doing very well with your training! Congrats ! I am going to run the MCM, but I am not sure I will be able to finish due to complete lack of training. That is an extremely bad example but I ran the army 10 miler few weeks ago without any traning since May of this year. It was a painful experience.

Today I ran 10 miles and felt ok. This weekend I will try 18 miles....

I am pretty nervous about MCM because it is actually my first time. Well, if I could not make this year, it will be part of the training for next year's marathon!! lol

let's keep in touch !

 

It's amazing what 30000 people can do to your spirits!  I'm very excited!  I was supposed to visit my friend in grad school at Yale and do the Hartford Half Marathon up there, but he canceled on me, so I just did a boring 15 mile training run. 

 That's so cool you're all flying cross country for this!  What made you choose MCM and not a closer marathon?  Quite a trip!  I live here, so I just have to fall out the front door.  I wish I could do some of those CA marathons, like San Diego or San Jose.  

I've also heard that the MCM is a good first marathon, from Runner's World.  I haven't done it yet, but I can let you know how it is in about 10 days :-D  I've done 3 half marathons to this point (unless you count all the training runs over 13 miles for this!) 

 Speaking of that, when I was training for my half marathons, I thought it was ludicrous to run a full marathon.  When I finished each half marathon I thought it would be impossible to run the distance again!  But here I am almost at the point of doing it, and I'm excited, and I am looking forward to doing the once-thought-impossible.  

Hello all,

 I am also running the MCM as my first ever marathon. I'm flying over to DC from the United Kingdom on Wednesday, so hopefully my body will have adjusted to the time difference enough for the big day. I'm getting quite excited now!

 I've done an 18 and a 20 miler, the latter was alot tougher than the first, but I did fell at the end that I could have done more if I'd had too - although proabably a run/walk combo if I'm honest. But I am relying on the other runners and the crowds to keep me going.

I'm just off for my last 10 miler before the race, then its a easy 4 miles tomorrow then rest, rest, rest.

I've never been to DC before, so I'm hoping all the new sites will keep my mind off the fact that I'll be running for so long. What times is everyone aiming for? If my day goes well I'm hoping for 4:30, but who knows what that last 6.2 will do to me. Having never hit the wall it's hard to judge how I'll cope when I do!

Good luck everyone.....just one week to go.

Ali

So the MCM was awesome!  I finished in 3:53:42, which was great for my first and I can't wait for the next race on my calendar!  Currently it's the 2008 Austin Marathon in February, but might do a half in between now and then. 

As for MCM, some points I did not like:

1) They recommend you take the metro (subway) to the Pentagon station, and other than the enormous crowds of runners, which was semi-expected, there was a long (maybe 10-15 minute) walk from the station just to the runners area.  Then from there the walk to the start was another 5-10 minutes.  Although walking that far is no big deal, mentally all you're thinking is "uh oh, am I using up unnecessary energy right now?".  A good point to the runners area was the large number of facilities to cut down on long lines.

2) At the end of the race, all finishers are funneled into a narrow (2 people wide) chute with subpar food on both sides.  After running for 4 hours, my body was not happy having to inch along this uphill chute with food options such as pretzels and raisins.  They had bananas, which is what I was most concerned with, but the oranges and pineapple / orange juice in an aluminum can didn't cut it.  The Powerade was sufficient as well, just overall the food after the race was weak and the slow moving runners chute was awful.

3) Adding on to the finishers chute, once you get out of the finishers area, there were thousands of spectators wandering around aimlessly trying to figure out where to meet their runner.  Well apparently the meeting area (where they have tall signs with letters to meet under) where about 1/2 mile away and around a bend, along with the UPS trucks holding all of the runners' things that were dropped off in the morning.  The lack of crowd control and unfortunate placement of the finishers area were disappointing.

 However, between the starting line and finish line, the race was great!  The crowd support was amazing, the marines were inspirational, and the course was well designed.  Overall I was very happy with the race and will do it in the future, just not this coming as I'd like to try maybe Baltimore, Chicago, or NY.  

How'd everyone else do? 

Yes, it was definitely eerie, especially when I got the feeling I was just following the person in front of me cause I had no idea where to go, I could be walking the wrong way!

I liked the temp as it was, I thought it kept everything cool and prevented any overheating or exhaustion issues.  I know what you mean about the 20 mile mark and still have a lengthy run left in front of you.  

As for marathonfoto, I'm also going to order some, but I emailed them on the day of the race complaining about the small thumbnails and graininess and this is what they replied with:

"Thank you for your e-mail. I am sorry unfortunately at this time, our website is not set up to view the photos in a larger size. You can try to use the "zoom and crop" feature located within the photo to better see the facial expressions. Sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused. This is something the company has discussed several times and looking at changing in the future, but they have not changed anything yet. Remember we do have a money back guarantee so if you are at all not satisfied with your order, call customer service and we are more than willing to exchange or return for a refund. If you have any other questions, please call 800-424-3686 or respond to this e-mail."

 So basically they said "we're not changing it, deal with it", but at least they have the money-back guarantee.  But yes, they are very expensive... oh well.

What's next on people's plates?  I just signed up for the MCM Half in May.   

Welcome to the group!  3:02 is like lightning!  Good luck getting back up to speed and getting that BQ. 

Hi everybody !

I also enjoyed running the MCM, and I can't wait for the next year!