Marine Corps Marathon 10k 2015!

I love the Marine Corps Marathon 10k.  I love everything about it.  I already wrote about the expo, but the race is worth all the hype that you may (or may not) have heard about it.  Yes, even "just" the 10k.  

The meteorologists had been warning us about rain all week.  I packed an extra outfit in case of rain.  First thing this morning, I looked at the radar and it was all clear.  Yes!  I didn't need my rain jacket and it was warm enough (57°F or about 14°C) that I didn't even need anything on my arms and wore a pair of leggings.  Perfect.  Right?  Wrong.  Somehow in the time between checking the weather and arriving at the Smithsonian metro station a rain storm materialized.  It started out as a couple big drops on my head...then my nose...then my arms.  In that walk over to the starting area, my Dad and I stopped off at some portajohns that were on the course, but without the crazy lines!  Marking that up as a win, we continued on and the rain just continually got heavier turning into a heavy drizzle.

We got through security with about an hour to go before the race was due to start.  The rain was still tolerable at this point, so I stopped and took a selfie in front of the U.S. capitol building.

It was about 6:50 in the morning and it was still pretty dark out!

My Dad and I looked around a little bit and soon the rain began to pick up quickly.  We looked around and settled on spending some time under the overhang at the National Gallery of Art to at least attempt to stay dry for just a little while longer.  I kept checking the radar on my phone and there was no sign of it letting up before gun time.  We went ahead and told my Mom and husband to not bother coming out to meet us at the finish.  At 7:40 we accepted our fate and lined up at the 1:00:00-1:09:59 corral.  Usually they have sky divers with a big American flag jump out by the marathon starters, but due to the weather they didn't even jump.  (I'm a little disappointed by that--it's truly an amazing sight!)

Once the race began, the rain started to let up.  I helped pace my Dad who hasn't raced since July and seemed to be fighting some serious race anxiety, as a lot of people do during the first race of the season.  I had already run 2 longish distance races this season--the Charles Street 12 and Hokie Half Marathon, so this one felt like nothing.  Not only that, but we have done this course twice before and I've PR'd every time.  I was confident that we had this race in the bag, but admittedly I was prepared to be a little slower due to the rain.  

After giving a Marine a high five, I looked down at my Garmin only to see the time.  I had started it like normal, and it was showing me that we were doing awesome and on track to beat last year's time.  Somehow, my Garmin managed to not only end the run, but DISCARD it!  I honestly have no idea how it happened, but I started it over again.

When we rounded the corner to go up the hill to the Iwo Jima memorial, I said to my Dad "Let's make this hill our bitch!" and he took off like a shot up the hill...meanwhile I made it about halfway up the hill running which is still awesome for me.  I remembered though that my Dad and I started about 3 minutes after the gun went off, so when I saw the clock said 1:14:34 I got excited but tried to hold it back just in case.  Soon afterwards my Dad and I made it through the long line for medals, took pictures of ourselves in front of the Iwo Jima Memorial and went through the lines of snacks, water and red finisher jackets in lieu of foil blankets.  (My personal favorite snack?  The watermelon just beyond the bridge.  I don't know what it is, but it always tastes amazing.)  We also got more samples of sunscreen, trail mix and coupons from Wegmans before rounding the corner to hop back on the metro to get home.

On the bridge, just before the watermelon!

While on the metro ride home, my Dad managed to bring up the results page on the MCM app and he said I finished in 1:11:26.  When I got home I brought up my finishing times spreadsheet, and saw that my time in the previous year was 1:11:31.  I had only shaved 5 seconds off my previous time, but I'll take it!  

My bib and finisher medal