Marine Corps Marathon Completed - 3 Hours 58 Minutes!

The Marine who saluted and put my medal on me -the medal is BEAUTIFUL!!! The selfie camera on my phone was water logged  (from the rain) so that is why the picture is so cloudy.

Right after crossing finish line walking to get my medal!

Night before at the past dinner!

40th Marine Corps Marathon - Marathon

RUNNER

27575

YVONNE MARQUEZ

SILVER SPRING, MD

Female / 36

Placed 173rd in FEMALES 35-39

 

 

 

 

 

 

Division
173

Gender
938

Overall
3634

FINISH Time
FINISH Net	3:58:37
FINISH Gun	4:05:35

Location	Net Time	Clock Time	Pace	Pace Between
START	00:00	6:59
5K	27:26	34:25	8:49 /mi
				8:26 /mi
10K	53:40	1:00:39	8:38 /mi
				8:33 /mi
20K	1:47:20	1:54:18	8:38 /mi
				8:55 /mi
13.1	1:53:24	2:00:23	8:39 /mi
				9:01 /mi
25K	2:15:17	2:22:15	8:42 /mi
				9:23 /mi
30K	2:44:27	2:51:26	8:49 /mi
				9:24 /mi
35K	3:13:42	3:20:40	8:54 /mi
				10:07 /mi
40K	3:45:10	3:52:08	9:03 /mi
				9:51 /mi
FINISH	3:58:37	4:05:35	9:05 /mi

I completed the 40th Marine Corps Marathon in 3 hours and 58 minutes. A Personal Best Record for me on a course that was not super hard yet also not easy. With hills in the beginning and a hill at the last part of the run, it took physical and mental perseverance to finish this course. I am so happy I did and though it ended on a hill I was so glad to see that hill because I knew it would be over in minutes.

I did not Boston Qualify by finishing the course under 3 hours and 40 minutes, yet I can work with an 18 minute gap! That is going to take a bit more effort on my part yet it is totally DOABLE! I already have the next marathon I would like to run to qualify in mind! 

My goal of BQ'ing is merging into a new goal which is to run a marathon in all 50 states! So far I have run a marathon in 3 states - New York (New York), California (Santa Rosa), Virginia/DC (Marine Corp)! I would also like to run marathons internationally as well. On my immediate wish list are Pennsylvania, (Philadelphia), Illinois (Chicago) , Utah (St. George) , Florida (Miami), Canada (Ottawa), France (Paris), Great Britain (London), South Africa (Cape Town) and Ghana (Accra)! 

So the Marine Corps Marathon started of a bit hectic. Getting to the start was rough as it was very disorganized and after waiting from about 7:00am to about 7:40am in a gaggle of runners and spectators to go through security - we runners realized that if we continued to wait to go through metal detectors we would not make the 7:55am start. So most of us jumped the barrier and sprinted into the runner's village where we held up our bags to show the officers that we were runners and had to get to the start! After, I dashed to the UPS truck to drop of my bag and headed to the bathroom one last time. I then ran into the moving start line as the Marathon had started and I dipped into the line near to runners I believe where about the 8:30min/mile pace group and just started running to the start line at bit after 8am! I was lucky as some runners did not start until almost half an hour after the race had started.

It was raining.....I know....thank goodness for that one time I trained in the rain!  From the start until about mile 16 or 17 we had drizzly cool weather. Besides stepping in some puddles I was pretty comfortable.

At about mile 18 though my right then my left quadriceps started to cramp!!!! I was fueling, drinking and even took the salt at the beginning of the run to get in more sodium so I was not sure why, yet now I attribute it my sneakers being to small...yeah, at expo I found out I probably should be in size 9 sneaker instead of 8.5 (will sort out my sizing in the next couple weeks) and just shocking my body by not probably warming up due to the chaos before the start. With the first 8 miles being up hills with few downhills my quads where shocked. I did not properly stretch which definitely caused this cramping. I don't believe I would have BQ'd even with the stretching yet I probably would have been a lot more comfortable during the run and finished about 5 minutes earlier than I did as the cramping slowed me down a bit, yet happy that I was able to run through it. 

There were a lot of runners on the course and there was some bottle necking at times. With a field close to about 30,000 runners on some pretty narrow sections I found myself stuck between slower runners and having to weave through just to get back to my pace.

At mile 23 I saw my husband and my son, the highlight of my run! It truly gave me the strength to finish the last grueling 3.2 miles! WOW where they HARD. I believe that because I hydrated well and fueled well, the cramping did  not get to the state to paralyze me! That last stretch literally right at the finish was a good size hill, yet I was never more happier to climb a hill and finishing this Marathon!

I MADE IT AND WAS HAPPY TO DO SO! 

So my journey ends here for now at will start up again in 2016! With an 18 minute gap I know the BQ time is getting closer and closer! Especially earning a Sub-4 (doing a marathon under 4 hours) on this course I know that I can definitely earn my BQ time on another course with a higher percentage of BQ qualifiers (translation - slighter flatter course :) ). Yet I definitely will run this course again in the future! 

Here's to BQ'ing VERY SOON!

Yvonne

Week 32 - Recap, Storm Joaquin, and 3 MORE WEEKS TO M DAY!!!!!!!!

Storm Joaquin rolled through my area starting Thursday of last week. Maryland and DC did not get it too bad with the rains and winds yet Virginia got it pretty bad. Unfortunately, the Stonewall Jackson 20 miler I was going to do in Virginia was cancelled :(

Yet luckily City Sports conducted a 20 mile training run on Saturday! I was able to join the group. The weather held up for our run and the rain actually stopped as we headed out. It was a great run and I was able to run with 2 other runners who kept me at about a 8:35 min/mile pace up until mile 15. I then dropped to a 9 to 10 min/mile as my pacers went ahead of me and I had to manage the route on my own and find my way back to City Sports (new route for me so had to ask for directions.) I am so happy that I was able to complete my last long run and I completed the 20 miles in 2 hours and 59 minutes - my fastest time this training cycle for a 20 miler!

Below is the 20 mile route map that was given to me at City Sports, great to have as this was a great route and would love to run it again on another training cycle in the future.

My fast mile was at mile 12 a 7:47 min/mile and my slowest mile was at mile 20 at 10:47 min/mile. I averaged 8:58 min/mile for the 20 miles. 

Last week Monday's 5 miler on Treadmill

My game face in the weight room, I believe I was doing arms!

Wednesday's 5 miles on treadmill

So Thursday's 40 minute tempo run did not happen yet I did celebrate my Son's 2nd birthday! It seems we are starting a tradition with having cake and singing the birthday song for Enzo first thing in the morning as we want to be the first to celebrate with him! My tempo run was the last thing on my mind yet I did give Enzo tempo kisses when I was with him and I believe for 40 minutes so hope that counts...okay I know it doesn't, so yeah workout missed :( but for a great cause :) !

At this point in the week I still believed my 20 mile run in VA was going to happen so instead of resting on Friday I decided to do the 10 mile pace run that my scheduled call for before my 20 mile run the next day. These back to back runs are essential and really build up my endurance. I normally have a tendency not to do the pace run designated for Saturday which is usually half the mileage of the Sunday long run yet I really wanted to get this done as it should be. Since I was not able to get out on Friday early morning my only option was to do the 10 mile pace run on the treadmill.

I decided I would break up the run into two 5 mile workouts with the first 5 miles done at a reasonable effort and the second 5 miles done at my desired 8 min/mile pace. 

So my first 5 mile workout was done a bit under  9 min/mile. 

My second 5 mile workout was done right at an 8 min/mile as I wanted. So I average about a 8:30 min/mile pace for the 10 miles. 

Week 32 looks like this:

10.5     Monday          5 miles

10.6     Tuesday          6 X Hills

10.7     Wednesday    5 miles

10.8     Thursday        30 Tempo Run

10.9     Friday             Rest

10.10   Saturday         4 miles

10.11   Sunday           12 miles

Starting this week mileage will decrease significantly as I get closer to M-day.  My plan is to continue to hit every workout as best as possible and continue to weight train. I will be changing up the schedule next week for the last 2 weeks yet will approach each workout with caution as to not overexert myself. 

Keeping active has always worked for me before M-day so I will be active up until M day and resting when scheduled.

The Marine Corp Marathon is a fun Marathon and one that is extremely joyous as the U.S. Marines are out on the course encouraging you every mile. I did look up the course route and have read past runners comments on the run. 

The jest of it is that its majorly rolling with a hill at about mile 22; there is a bridge that you cross which can be daunting as there is not too much crowd support and since it later in the course it seems like it will take forever to get through. Also towards the end of the race it is more hillier than the beginning. The start is also a bit crowded and the race does not seem to thin out until after miles 8 through 10, one person said actually not even to mile 13 - half the course. I will look up strategies to get through these obstacles. I am still determined to hit a BQ time! 

I love this quote that I read on TheHungryRunnerGirl's blog by William Shakespeare:

  

Right before any major test doubt loves to creep up and steal away confidence. It never fails to enter my mind yet I have and continue to get better at defeating doubt by always ATTEMPTING because after I accomplish a goal I realize it was not that scary after all at the end.. I then search for a new more challenging goal to meet. 

Here's to BQ'ing in 2015,

Yvonne