Marine Corps and Richmond
Back in January or February, however, when I contemplated trying to break 3 hours in a marathon this year, I didn't think I had enough time to do it in a spring race. I thought I would get somewhere around 3:05, and then try to maintain my consistency over the summer and break 3 at a fall race, either Steamtown or Marine Corps. But then I did end up breaking 3 at Virginia Beach. I signed up for Marine Corps anyway. I figured I should run every big city marathon while I live there at least once (though I never did Oakland or SF.) But then in September I contemplated doing hill repeats for Euchre Bar or speed work for Marine Corps, and I ended up doing mostly neither. Still, I was signed up, and so were 30,000 other people, so I figured it would be fun. My buddy L flew into town to go to a World Series game with his cousin, and he said he'd join me, so it should definitely be a fun time.
Except for the weather, as it was supposed to rain a lot. But it was still just a Metro ride away, so no big deal.
I put on my happy face and rode to the start. If I'd been one train cycle earlier, I would have been fine, but I was pretty late. I didn't get to poop at the start, and by the time I dropped off my gear, I was way at the back of the pack and still moving towards the corral when the gun went off. My gun-chip differential was about 5 minutes, and the first several miles was packed, with serious effort expended getting around and between other people to get up to desired pace.
When it's that crowded, I'll brush people on the elbow with the back of my hand to let them know I'm passing. I did that to one person, and then I felt them push me in the back. Again. A third time. Are they mad that I passed them? What is going on? Oh, hey! It's Lucas! We hadn't been able to meet up before the start, but then in a sea of 30,000 people I ran right into him. He hung with me for a mile or two.
Overall it was extremely windy and rainy, with several intersections full of three to six inches of water. The DC section of the course was fine, though I thought there were too many turns and an unnecessarily circuitous course. Check out this weird salamander of a course:
Then once you cross back into Arlington, the course is again turn-y, and pretty dumpy, and then at miles 23.5 to 25.5 or so, right when you're barely hanging on, you're running through the Pentagon parking lot and surrounding areas that are just dead. No fans, nothing. An empty giant parking lot with all sorts of security around it and nothing else. Then the last few hundred yards to the finish is an uphill to get to the base of the Iwo Jima Marine Corps War Memorial. The climb is an enjoyable sharp slap in the face right at the end, but the finish line was barely marked. There was no arch, just timing mats and a marine pointing at the ground. Hopefully that's just because of the windy conditions, since having an obvious and visible finish line is good.
For bad weather and a lack of training, I was pretty happy with my performance. I did slow down over the course, going from 7:20 to 7:30 to 7:40 with three miles in there closer to 8:00, but I was pretty happy with my performance. I didn't wear my Nike Vapor Flys, because I didn't want to put extra wear on them in the wet conditions, and I wasn't sure how their grip would perform. I wore Adidas Adizero instead, and my legs were completely shot when I was done.
So I had a good day in DC, and a local runner friend told me about Richmond too. I don't remember if we signed up before or after Marine Corps, but the races are only three weeks apart. GF and I booked a private room at the hostel, I took the train down Thursday night, and we picked our bibs up Friday. The hostel was only a quarter mile from the start, and the place was entirely booked up with runners, and a cool place generally, I'd recommend it--hotels in downtown Richmond seem weirdly expensive for a second-tier city, but both GF and I really like the city. It's walkable, with some cool neighborhoods, A+ urban whitewater, very good murals, a mix of cool old buildings, and bus-rabid transit for this urbanist to nerd out on.
After my mistake at Marine Corps, I got to Richmond in plenty of time. But there wasn't much reason to use the drop bags, so I was just cold until other people started taking off their warm-up clothing and I picked up some discards until right before the gun. I started off just a few yards shy of the 3:00 pace group, but even right off the bat I could never really hang with them. I felt a really good strategy at Virginia Beach was to start about 25 seconds after the 3:00 pace group, with a 25-30 second gun-chip differential. You can catch up to the 3:00 pace group with your initial go-out-too fast, and then you've got a little tiny cushion for mile 22 when you can't hang with them anymore.
Anyway, I tried that, but I could never really catch up to the group, and I felt right away that 6:50's weren't happening. But 7:00 was good. That I could do. My watch shows I did miles 2 through 5 around 6:50, and also 7 through 10, but the race clock shows me doing 7:00. I remember going through the halfway point around 1:32 and thinking I might be able to hang on for a 3:05.
I heard a guy near me talking about ultras and David Horton (who I saw riding his bike around the course), so I chatted him up, and warned me about the Lee Bridge at mile 16. Holy balls that was hard. I tried to draft off two bigger guys, and I did manage to keep up a good pace, but I'm sure it didn't cut the wind at all. It felt like we were thousands of feet in the air, and the bridge was so wide (in both directions) and cold. And then once you're off the bridge, there's a final bad climb up to mile 18, and the rest is flat or downhill. I slowed to between 7:20 to 7:40 from mile 20 through 25, but the very last section is a pretty fast runnable downhill, so I did a 7:00 mile 26, and finished in 3:08.
I was definitely happy with that. GF came really close to breaking two hours in the half, so we both did well. I think we both liked the course, and had a good time in the city, so we might run it again next year.
The next day we walked around Richmond. I brought my packraft, but I was too cold and my muscles were sore, so I didn't have it in me to try the pipeline rapids, unfortunately.
Except for the weather, as it was supposed to rain a lot. But it was still just a Metro ride away, so no big deal.
 |
| Morning Happy Face |
Overall it was extremely windy and rainy, with several intersections full of three to six inches of water. The DC section of the course was fine, though I thought there were too many turns and an unnecessarily circuitous course. Check out this weird salamander of a course:
Then once you cross back into Arlington, the course is again turn-y, and pretty dumpy, and then at miles 23.5 to 25.5 or so, right when you're barely hanging on, you're running through the Pentagon parking lot and surrounding areas that are just dead. No fans, nothing. An empty giant parking lot with all sorts of security around it and nothing else. Then the last few hundred yards to the finish is an uphill to get to the base of the Iwo Jima Marine Corps War Memorial. The climb is an enjoyable sharp slap in the face right at the end, but the finish line was barely marked. There was no arch, just timing mats and a marine pointing at the ground. Hopefully that's just because of the windy conditions, since having an obvious and visible finish line is good.
 |
| The Watermelon Lobby handing out samples |
So I had a good day in DC, and a local runner friend told me about Richmond too. I don't remember if we signed up before or after Marine Corps, but the races are only three weeks apart. GF and I booked a private room at the hostel, I took the train down Thursday night, and we picked our bibs up Friday. The hostel was only a quarter mile from the start, and the place was entirely booked up with runners, and a cool place generally, I'd recommend it--hotels in downtown Richmond seem weirdly expensive for a second-tier city, but both GF and I really like the city. It's walkable, with some cool neighborhoods, A+ urban whitewater, very good murals, a mix of cool old buildings, and bus-rabid transit for this urbanist to nerd out on.
After my mistake at Marine Corps, I got to Richmond in plenty of time. But there wasn't much reason to use the drop bags, so I was just cold until other people started taking off their warm-up clothing and I picked up some discards until right before the gun. I started off just a few yards shy of the 3:00 pace group, but even right off the bat I could never really hang with them. I felt a really good strategy at Virginia Beach was to start about 25 seconds after the 3:00 pace group, with a 25-30 second gun-chip differential. You can catch up to the 3:00 pace group with your initial go-out-too fast, and then you've got a little tiny cushion for mile 22 when you can't hang with them anymore.
Anyway, I tried that, but I could never really catch up to the group, and I felt right away that 6:50's weren't happening. But 7:00 was good. That I could do. My watch shows I did miles 2 through 5 around 6:50, and also 7 through 10, but the race clock shows me doing 7:00. I remember going through the halfway point around 1:32 and thinking I might be able to hang on for a 3:05.
I heard a guy near me talking about ultras and David Horton (who I saw riding his bike around the course), so I chatted him up, and warned me about the Lee Bridge at mile 16. Holy balls that was hard. I tried to draft off two bigger guys, and I did manage to keep up a good pace, but I'm sure it didn't cut the wind at all. It felt like we were thousands of feet in the air, and the bridge was so wide (in both directions) and cold. And then once you're off the bridge, there's a final bad climb up to mile 18, and the rest is flat or downhill. I slowed to between 7:20 to 7:40 from mile 20 through 25, but the very last section is a pretty fast runnable downhill, so I did a 7:00 mile 26, and finished in 3:08.
I was definitely happy with that. GF came really close to breaking two hours in the half, so we both did well. I think we both liked the course, and had a good time in the city, so we might run it again next year.
 |
| Pipeline Walk |
 |
| Next Time |
Comments
Post a Comment