Getting the Job Done in D.C.

This weekend, Peter, Tim and I went to D.C. for the National Marathon. That's right, a road trip, a boys weekend.

The common time goal was 3:50, which would be a PR for both Peter and Tim. I was the pacer. My goal, aside from helping my friends as best I could, was to go the distance without getting beat up. It was to be a training run in preparation for Boston, which is 4 weeks out. If I ran myself into the ground, it would defeat the purpose.

We took the train down on Friday, and when we arrived in D.C. we were greeted by a gorgeous Spring day. We decided to walk from Union Station to the expo, which was really nice, but was a bit longer than we had planned. After picking up our numbers, we took a subway to the mall, and did a little sight-seeing.

We then met up with Peter's parents, who took us to their place, fed us well, and sent us to bed early. When we got up at 4:15AM, breakfast was cooking.

I'm big on eating a lot before a marathon, but usually it's bagels and peanut butter etc that I set aside the night before. Here it was eggs, toast, oatmeal and on and on. I was in heaven.

When we got to the staging area, we were all struck with the how different it was from the NYCMarathon (none of the three of us had every run a marathon but NYCM). The staging area was INSIDE (!), and the wait was a fraction of what it is in NY. Of course, the number of participants was also a fraction of the NYCM number. I woke up at about the same time that I would for the NYCM, but the race started 3.5 or 4 hours earlier.

The start was a little rough. They don't have corrals, just pace signs for people to ignore when they line up. Also, there are more than twice as many half marathoners as there are full marathoners in the mix.

In the corral, we saw a 3:50 pace group and agreed to follow them, at least for a while. During the crowded early miles, we couldn't really run together, so we just tried to keep an eye on each other, and watch the pace group as a reference. By mile 4, I had lost both Peter and Tim. I kept close to the pace group, and thought I would see them at any minute, but as the miles passed, the hope faded. I ran ahead, dropped back and did everything I could think of, but they were gone.

At mile 13, the halfers split off to finish, and the field suddenly dropped to a fraction of what it had been. One effect of this was that my field of vision was greatly increased, and at around mile 14, I spotted Tim way ahead. I picked up my pace and caught him -- in time to be there to support him for the tough miles. He told me that Peter even further ahead, which I was glad to hear. At around mile 23, there was a big out-and-back, and we saw Peter coming back, ahead of the 3:45 pace group, and looking very strong. We all cheered each other, and braced ourselves for the tough final miles.

As Tim and I approached the finish, I could see it was going to be down to the wire. I did everything I could to encourage him, but talking to a marathoner at mile 26, you can never tell if you are helping or just irritating him. When the finish line came into sight, Tim kicked, and we flew across the line at 3:49:55. I love it when a plan comes together.

Peter finished in 3:48:13, so both of them came away with big PRs.

As for me, I was tired, but not beat up. My legs felt really solid. I think I can count it as a run that will build my strength, rather than tear it down.

We went back to Peter's folks', got showered and fed, and Peter's father drove us to the train station. It was a fun ride back -- we return victorious!

(More photos of the trip)