Rock n Roll DC marathon race report

On March 12th I ran my 7th marathon, the Rock n Roll DC marathon in 4:48:18.  I had a great time seeing some parts of DC that I've never really seen before. Here is the link to the course map. http://cdn.runrocknroll.com/wp-content/sites/13/2016/02/DC_16_CourseMap_CE_Final.pdf.
I never knew DC had as many rolling and even steep hills.

The race starts on Constitution Avenue with both the marathoners and half marathoners starting at the same time.  As a marathoner in this race that makes it a little difficult to run my pace as half marathoners will go out faster having to run half the distance of the full.  We head out towards the Washington Monument and White House before crossing the Arlington Memorial Bridge circling around and coming back on to Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway.  We stayed on Rock Creek Parkway for about 3 miles or so, culminating with a long steep hill from 6-7 miles.  The course then weaves through the outskirts of Northern DC before heading south on N. Capitol Street, heading towards RFK Stadium.  The half marathoners and marathoners split at around the 12.5 mile mark.  The half marathoners head towards RFK while the marathoners have another 13.7 miles to go.  Marathoners head west and then south towards Nationals Park. I'd never been to Nationals Park, it looks beautiful from the outside.  We then head towards an industrial park and weave our way around the park before heading out and crossing the Anacostia River at 18 miles.  The marathon course then goes through Anacostia Park and some of the roads around the park.  It's at this point the course makers decided to put some nasty steep hills, where you get a lot of up hill and not so much downhill.  After we leave the park marathoners head west back towards RFK by crossing the Anacostia again on E. Capitol Street and up the hill to the finish line.

After I finished the race and received my medal, heet sheet, and grabbed some food and drink, I headed for the gear check trucks to pick up my bag.  After receiving the bag I got the worst calf cramp I can ever remember.  Luckily it went away pretty quickly.  After regaining my composure I headed over to the jacket pick-up where I got my marathon finisher jacket.  Wary of getting another cramp, I headed towards the metro ad headed towards home.

The weather was great for the marathon, except for the last 4 miles or so where it got a little more humid.  It was nice and cloudy with low to mid 50's at the start and probably just got to 60 as I finished.  However, somewhere around 10 miles in, I noticed I wasn't able to absorb fluids, whether water or Gatorade.  It wasn't sitting in me, I was just excreting it as fast as I was taking it in.  Around 15 miles, I decided it wasn't worth it to keep drinking which was a mistake and the cramp proved it.  For my next marathon (RnR DC marathon 2017) I will try taking some salt before and during the race, which should help me keep water in and not excrete it out.  I also stopped taking gels since I couldn't hold water either. 

The marathon is always a learning experience and I learned a lot.  I pushed through and finished with my 2nd best marathon time on a pretty hilly course.  My training went well and I only dealt with some minor knee pain during training and nothing during the race which was nice.  I'll keep on trying to move forward with the marathon but it takes so much out of you that sometimes you just need a break.  I will be training and running more half marathons, 10Ks and 5Ks to try and add some speed.  In November I'll start training for the 2017 DC marathon.

Now for Taper Madness

After peak week last week, it's now time to taper down for the marathon.  This is one of the most difficult things that many marathoners have to do.  You've spent months working your way up to the 20 milers and now you quickly dial it down so that your legs feel fresh for the marathon.  The reality is your mind starts to wander.  When you've been running 40-50 mile weeks or more for a few weeks and you suddenly find yourself running 30 miles and then 20 miles for the weeks leading up you get a little stir crazy and taper madness has set in. 

I'm in the middle of taper madness now.  My mind is starting to not trust the training I've run so far.  I haven't gotten too cranky yet since I'm cutting down my mileage and slowing myself down a bit more.  It's now Wednesday and I've only run 7 miles.  Two weeks ago on Wednesday I was over 20 miles.

I feel like I'm ready but I'm already checking the weather forecasts for DC, could be a chance for some rain but looks like decent weather right now.  I have a plan which is to not worry about time and just go out a run comfortable for the first 13.1 and then see how I feel and look to pick up the pace from 22 miles on.  The adage for the marathon is start slow and when you feel good stay slow.  A 20 mile warm up and a 10K race.

Before DC though I have the Tim Kennard River Run in Salisbury, MD at Salisbury University.  I'm running the 10 mile race, although I will do my best not to run it like a race.  I'm going to try to run it like an easy longish run.    My daughter goes to SU and she will be running the 5K race the same day.  It's a great course and relatively flat.  Last year the race was in snow, sleet, freezing rain and rain in the course of 10 miles.  Driving home was a bit sketchy going over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, the Bay was frozen and the bridge was slippery.  This year it looks like it will be decent weather, so I'm hopeful that I can control my speed and not push the pace.

Yes I'm nervous, yes I'm going a bit stir crazy keeping the pace and mileage down, but in the end I know it's worth it.

Happy running..