Yesterday Becca, Buzz and I found ourselves with a free day in Washington DC. What could three girls possibly do during a girls day out? Pick one of the following:
a) Go shopping at all the hip and trendy DC shops.
b) Get manicures and pedicures and generally pampered.
c) Go to the new hangar of the Air and Space Museum and see lots of cool airplanes and spaceships!!!
If you have to ask, you obviously don’t know us.
We all ran our races and had a lovely time this morning. Becca and I did the 8K (4.97 miles) which ran around the Pentagon and finished next to Arlington Cemetary and the Iwo Jima memorial. I finished in 53:06 and was very excited about my ~10:40/mile pace. My split times were:
Mile 1 – 9:30 (too fast!)
Mile 2 – 11:00
Mile 3 – 10:45
Mile 4 – 12:00
Mile 5 – 10:00
Obviously those splits are slightly approximated, and I know for a fact that the Mile 3 marker was almost 0.2 miles off; since we ran the last 3+ miles of the marathon course, the 8K mile markers should have been 0.2 miles after each marathon marker, but the 3 mile marker was only about 200 feet past the 24 mile marker. So, in reality, mile 3 was probably more like 12:00 for me, since I walked for a minute during that mile, and mile 4 was probably more like 10:45.
Overall I felt pretty good. I again had a lot of leg, and even some heel, pain — burning, tightness and the general feeling of not being entirely in control of my feet — but sadly I’m starting to get used to it. (I do need to go back to the doc about my knee.) But I was able to push through it by concentrating on various runners in front of me, and trying to stay with them. It also didn’t hurt that moving forward meant seeing more of (and keeping moving meant looking good for) the hundreds of incredibly cute Marines! I love the Marines.
Becca rocked her 8K, the farthest she’d gone in almost two years, in ~1:20, and Buzz rocked the full marathon in ~5:10 (she ran with a friend and was an hour off her marathon PR, but had a great time). The course was awesome — I’d love to run this marathon someday. Miles and miles of pretty fall trees and white marble monuments. The only complaint is the steep hill at the end. The course finishes at the Iwo Jima monument which is about 100 feet above the road below, and having to run up that hill after 4.8 miles was brutal enough. I can’t imagine facing it after 26 miles!
Up next for me running-wise is the Run Through the Brooks 10K next weekend…
The Marine Corp marathon is supposedly really cool! Sounds like a fun trip!