MCM - First Full marathon
Posted: Tue Oct 29, 2013 7:17 pm
Well I ran my first full marathon. Guess I should do a race report. Go grab a coffee and settle in for a long read LOL
Short version. Despite an injury in August I managed to finish training and get to the race. It was hard and the injury made me slow and forced me to run / walk the last 10K but I did it.
Long version:
My first full was Nike Womens in 2010. Six weeks before I missed a basement step and that was the end of that. Then I tore 2 tendons in my shoulder and between the 2 did not run for almost four months.
My second full was New York 2012. Hurricane Sandy had other ideas.
My third full was MCM 2013. When it was announced that the gov't shutdown might cancel it I decided to never ever train for a full again
But that didn't happen! I entered via the Runners World Challenge and used their training plan. I started off well and training was going quite well through July. Then in August I had a freak run in with a dog - it rammed into the back of my legs. I had my legs / knees locked and did not see the dog. I ended up with back spasms and could barely walk for a week. I did miss one long run and the next week had to be shorter but that was all. It was early enough not to worry. But now when I ran it felt like a rod was ramming the back of my leg. MT/ART found adhesions on the hamstring but after working on it the pain did not ease. So off to physio. Assessment was a strain to the tendon at the head of the hamstring. I had to totally change my running / training program going to a much lower mileage and to a run / walk. In fact at the end of August I was run 2 minutes, walk 1 minute. I gradually built to run 5 walk 1 and held. I also had to go slow. It was end of September before physio felt I would be ok to do the race. The hamstring did gradually heal with treatment and the change in training. However I developed shin splints and an irritation to the tendon of my ankle from compensating and not striding like normal. Sigh. Still physio felt if I kept it slow and easy, like 5 steps ahead of the sweeper, I'd be ok. So off we went. My goal was a slow 7:50 - 8min per KM (yes turtles pass me and laugh)
Life in marathon world for me is not easy. My mother got a call saying she was booked for hip replacement surgery the Wednesday before the race. She is 83. I am the only child living in town. Oh my. Between my brothers they all arranged to come down and help her and my 88 year old aunt (who lives with her) so I could go. So I went. Surgery seemed to go well. The day after was a bit rough but seemed ok. Then sitting in the airport in Toronto my brother facetimes me to let me know my mother has no use of either of her legs and her blood pressure is totally out of whack, she is dizzy, can't stand up, can't eat, etc. They are now talking weeks in rehab, but nothings wrong have a nice trip. I called her physiotherapist at the hospital as I was one step from going home. The physio assured me it was ok, go race. So we did (my friend came with me)
We got to Washington and the airport shuttle didn't know how to find our hotel. The ride was 3 hours (it is actually 45 minutes). We arrived at 6PM and the expo closed at 7PM. We decided to go anyway. Thank heavens as most race merchandise was already sold out! I got my jacket after a 30 minute line up to pay (after the expo closed and my friend was locked outside that whole time as she had to get her 10K bib in the tent, I got to go directly to the expo).
We found an italian restaurant that served gluten free so I was set for the night before meal.
So the race. I kind of enjoy the whole pre dawn walking in the dark to the race thing. It's pretty neat. Loved getting close to the runners village and hearing the marines yelling at you to encourage you! I really enjoyed the RW heated tent in the cold morning! Marg found me a few minutes before it was time to line up for the chute but otherwise I just had a few minutes to sit and collect my thoughts and mentally prepare for the run. Standing in the chutes was cold that morning! I kept on my throwaway pants to keep my legs and hamstring warm right up to gun time. I was near the back so it was over 20 minutes from gun time to actually starting. This is a long time ...
The first few KM's were ... well UP hill.
Almost 3 miles of uphill. My hamstring started griping 2 miles in so I gave up and walked where I had to figuring it had to go down somewhere and I'd make up time. It did and I did. For a long time I was running just under 8 min / km as planned and holding steady . My ankle tendon started to hurt at mile 10 but was ok. Between miles 19 - 20 though both the hamstring and ankle were really hurting. I knew I was in trouble. So it was either give up, keep pushing and hope to not further injure, or back off. My physio had talked to me about this and the plan was run 2 walk 1 or even run 1 walk 1, just do what I had to to keep the tendon from straining or tearing and finishing strong and injury free. If pain increased I needed to decrease so I did. I walked every incline and did run 1 walk 1 to the end. It was freakin' hard to keep on at that pace especially after a strong and well paced start (and my body did not feel tired or like it had to slow down other than the pain which was horrid and growing every time I pushed the pace). The beginning and end of this race has a lot of hills though the end is more rolling hills (like the parkway in Ottawa if you have run Army half). Hills were not my friend at this point. But I got to the end that way, walk, run, walk, run, then walked the last killer hill, and ran the finish. I high fived every single marine at the finish line and a lot on the route.
Runners World should give an additional medal to their runners for walking the hill to their end of race reception. Seriously. Worst hill on the course. But the massage post race was wonderful! She worked my hamstring and foot extra. Ahhhh a post race foot massage. Thank you runners world!
MCM has a lot going for it. The marines on route are great. They are amazing at cheering you on! Every mile they are there. The crowd support is great. It's not everywhere but you don't go too long without someone or a clump of people cropping up to cheer you on. Between miles 12 and 13 though is what I think makes this race unique. There is a line of photos of marines killed in action. Each photo has a name, age, date of birth and date of death. After this long line of signs beside the road way was a long line of people. Each person held an American flag. These were large display flags with a black tag at the top. The black tag had the name of someone on it. I recognized the names from some of the signs. So there were relatives of the marines killed in action. Some stood alone. Others had other family behind them. The mother with the baby in her arms (and flag) and tears running down her face ... if that didn't push you to the end then the little boy (5 or 6 years of age I think) standing alone with a black tag that said 'dad' would have. What a humbling moment to run by these families who had lost a marine and then around the bend to have marines cheering you on to reach a goal / dream of your own. Trouble is it makes it hard to breath for a bit.
Then there are the local people handing out snickers bars, starburst candy, licorace, and kleenex all along the route. Even to us back of the packers they had them there waiting to give us. Kleenex is really nice to have offered on a race route! I made a note of that for future cheering myself!
The other thing that stands out is that at the end you are presented with your medal by a marine. They place it on you, congratulate you, step back and salute you. Class act finish!
So I finally ran my first race. It hurt ... a lot. More then it should have. There were a lot more hills then I'd have liked (or then my hamstring would have liked). I was way off pace, even for the slow pace I knew I had to do. In peak form I should have been a slow 5 - 5:15. In injured form around 5:40 - 5:45. In reality 6:06 but I played a mental game with the pain and discouragement of the injury coming in to haunt me and pushed through to the end strong and I"m proud of my effort. For someone who could not walk outside just 8 years ago due to illness I am pretty damn pleased to have run for 6 hours, outside! The change from then to now is amazing!
MCM is not an easy run but it is a classy affair and a really good first marathon! As for the next ... well first up is to let this hamstring finish healing, then I'll think about it ...
Short version. Despite an injury in August I managed to finish training and get to the race. It was hard and the injury made me slow and forced me to run / walk the last 10K but I did it.
Long version:
My first full was Nike Womens in 2010. Six weeks before I missed a basement step and that was the end of that. Then I tore 2 tendons in my shoulder and between the 2 did not run for almost four months.
My second full was New York 2012. Hurricane Sandy had other ideas.
My third full was MCM 2013. When it was announced that the gov't shutdown might cancel it I decided to never ever train for a full again
But that didn't happen! I entered via the Runners World Challenge and used their training plan. I started off well and training was going quite well through July. Then in August I had a freak run in with a dog - it rammed into the back of my legs. I had my legs / knees locked and did not see the dog. I ended up with back spasms and could barely walk for a week. I did miss one long run and the next week had to be shorter but that was all. It was early enough not to worry. But now when I ran it felt like a rod was ramming the back of my leg. MT/ART found adhesions on the hamstring but after working on it the pain did not ease. So off to physio. Assessment was a strain to the tendon at the head of the hamstring. I had to totally change my running / training program going to a much lower mileage and to a run / walk. In fact at the end of August I was run 2 minutes, walk 1 minute. I gradually built to run 5 walk 1 and held. I also had to go slow. It was end of September before physio felt I would be ok to do the race. The hamstring did gradually heal with treatment and the change in training. However I developed shin splints and an irritation to the tendon of my ankle from compensating and not striding like normal. Sigh. Still physio felt if I kept it slow and easy, like 5 steps ahead of the sweeper, I'd be ok. So off we went. My goal was a slow 7:50 - 8min per KM (yes turtles pass me and laugh) Life in marathon world for me is not easy. My mother got a call saying she was booked for hip replacement surgery the Wednesday before the race. She is 83. I am the only child living in town. Oh my. Between my brothers they all arranged to come down and help her and my 88 year old aunt (who lives with her) so I could go. So I went. Surgery seemed to go well. The day after was a bit rough but seemed ok. Then sitting in the airport in Toronto my brother facetimes me to let me know my mother has no use of either of her legs and her blood pressure is totally out of whack, she is dizzy, can't stand up, can't eat, etc. They are now talking weeks in rehab, but nothings wrong have a nice trip. I called her physiotherapist at the hospital as I was one step from going home. The physio assured me it was ok, go race. So we did (my friend came with me)
We got to Washington and the airport shuttle didn't know how to find our hotel. The ride was 3 hours (it is actually 45 minutes). We arrived at 6PM and the expo closed at 7PM. We decided to go anyway. Thank heavens as most race merchandise was already sold out! I got my jacket after a 30 minute line up to pay (after the expo closed and my friend was locked outside that whole time as she had to get her 10K bib in the tent, I got to go directly to the expo).
We found an italian restaurant that served gluten free so I was set for the night before meal.
So the race. I kind of enjoy the whole pre dawn walking in the dark to the race thing. It's pretty neat. Loved getting close to the runners village and hearing the marines yelling at you to encourage you! I really enjoyed the RW heated tent in the cold morning! Marg found me a few minutes before it was time to line up for the chute but otherwise I just had a few minutes to sit and collect my thoughts and mentally prepare for the run. Standing in the chutes was cold that morning! I kept on my throwaway pants to keep my legs and hamstring warm right up to gun time. I was near the back so it was over 20 minutes from gun time to actually starting. This is a long time ...
The first few KM's were ... well UP hill.
Almost 3 miles of uphill. My hamstring started griping 2 miles in so I gave up and walked where I had to figuring it had to go down somewhere and I'd make up time. It did and I did. For a long time I was running just under 8 min / km as planned and holding steady . My ankle tendon started to hurt at mile 10 but was ok. Between miles 19 - 20 though both the hamstring and ankle were really hurting. I knew I was in trouble. So it was either give up, keep pushing and hope to not further injure, or back off. My physio had talked to me about this and the plan was run 2 walk 1 or even run 1 walk 1, just do what I had to to keep the tendon from straining or tearing and finishing strong and injury free. If pain increased I needed to decrease so I did. I walked every incline and did run 1 walk 1 to the end. It was freakin' hard to keep on at that pace especially after a strong and well paced start (and my body did not feel tired or like it had to slow down other than the pain which was horrid and growing every time I pushed the pace). The beginning and end of this race has a lot of hills though the end is more rolling hills (like the parkway in Ottawa if you have run Army half). Hills were not my friend at this point. But I got to the end that way, walk, run, walk, run, then walked the last killer hill, and ran the finish. I high fived every single marine at the finish line and a lot on the route.Runners World should give an additional medal to their runners for walking the hill to their end of race reception. Seriously. Worst hill on the course. But the massage post race was wonderful! She worked my hamstring and foot extra. Ahhhh a post race foot massage. Thank you runners world!
MCM has a lot going for it. The marines on route are great. They are amazing at cheering you on! Every mile they are there. The crowd support is great. It's not everywhere but you don't go too long without someone or a clump of people cropping up to cheer you on. Between miles 12 and 13 though is what I think makes this race unique. There is a line of photos of marines killed in action. Each photo has a name, age, date of birth and date of death. After this long line of signs beside the road way was a long line of people. Each person held an American flag. These were large display flags with a black tag at the top. The black tag had the name of someone on it. I recognized the names from some of the signs. So there were relatives of the marines killed in action. Some stood alone. Others had other family behind them. The mother with the baby in her arms (and flag) and tears running down her face ... if that didn't push you to the end then the little boy (5 or 6 years of age I think) standing alone with a black tag that said 'dad' would have. What a humbling moment to run by these families who had lost a marine and then around the bend to have marines cheering you on to reach a goal / dream of your own. Trouble is it makes it hard to breath for a bit.
Then there are the local people handing out snickers bars, starburst candy, licorace, and kleenex all along the route. Even to us back of the packers they had them there waiting to give us. Kleenex is really nice to have offered on a race route! I made a note of that for future cheering myself!
The other thing that stands out is that at the end you are presented with your medal by a marine. They place it on you, congratulate you, step back and salute you. Class act finish!
So I finally ran my first race. It hurt ... a lot. More then it should have. There were a lot more hills then I'd have liked (or then my hamstring would have liked). I was way off pace, even for the slow pace I knew I had to do. In peak form I should have been a slow 5 - 5:15. In injured form around 5:40 - 5:45. In reality 6:06 but I played a mental game with the pain and discouragement of the injury coming in to haunt me and pushed through to the end strong and I"m proud of my effort. For someone who could not walk outside just 8 years ago due to illness I am pretty damn pleased to have run for 6 hours, outside! The change from then to now is amazing!
MCM is not an easy run but it is a classy affair and a really good first marathon! As for the next ... well first up is to let this hamstring finish healing, then I'll think about it ...
