Marine Corps Marathon in a Shirt That Races

Apologies for the delayed report, but Beer Geek (my husband) left town minutes after I finished the marathon and many pictures were still on the camera.

Short story:

Clock time: 4:56:25
Actual time: 4:50:14

The rest of the story:

The weather was projected to be absolutely perfect for the race. Starting temp was low 40s, with the temp at the finish near 65, with a bit of a breeze. I got up at 4:30 am, took a shower, got dressed, ate a PB&J sandwich and proceeded to completely freak out. The topic I decided to stress about? A shirt that races. I had one seam that felt rough and the shirt itself feels more cottony than my normal running shirts and I'd only run two miles in it and...and...and... Just before 6, when we were about to leave, I almost changed out of it. Beer Geek convinced me to wear it and change at mile 2 (where they were meeting me) if it was bothering me.

(Can you tell I'm FREEZING in this picture?)

After being dropped off near the finish, a friend and I walked around to stay warm and hit the porta potties a couple of times and then headed into the 4:30-4:59 corral. The corrals got very full and we both ditched our jackets and tried to stay warm. Finally, at 8am, the race started.

We both crossed the start line at 8:06. The field was packed and it was pretty much all you could do to not step on people The first mile was a 10:49 pace and then we started up the first big hill, where I hoped to see Beer Geek, the boys, my mom, and a close friend.

I ran up the hill, waved at my family, and tossed them my gloves. As you can see from the picture, I decided the shirt was fine and kept on running.



Mile 3 was mostly downhill as we headed into DC then headed up the bridge onramp into an incredible fog hanging over the waterfront. Quite an amazing sight! I hit the 5K mark at approximately 32:30 and was feeling great. I was running exactly the 10:30 pace I wanted to be doing at that point.

The next 5K were awesome. We ran through a residential area of DC I'd never seen. The crowd support was minimal, but really not needed at that point. We went up the second "big" hill and I was totally unimpressed with it. My thought was, "really? That was the hill?" That was the last real hill of the race. There were a few minor ups and a few onramps, but that was it. I did my first Gu with some water and was feeling good. I hit the 10K mark at a little over an hour. My overall pace at that point was 10:15, but that was ok because we'd had a few fast downhills. Crowd support was picking up and a guy ran past me in a banana suit, so I was pretty amused.

Things continued to go well. We saw more of the fog hanging over the buildings and the sun was beginning to shine through it. I was making decent time and just enjoying the scenery. Just before the 15K mark, that all changed.

Just before the end of mile 9, my stomach started feeling off. I felt like I was running with a brick in my belly. I walked the water stop and tried to drink, but the liquid made me nauseous, on top of the brick feeling. I hit the 15K mark at about 1:35, which was still a 10:13 pace, but I was feeling absolutely horrid. I was unable to resolve the issue, so I made a mental goal of making the halfway mark with only walking at the water stops and kept on keepin' on. I tried to take another Gu with water, but had a really hard time getting it down.

I hit the 20K mark at about 2:15, which was a 10:47 average pace, but taking out the bathroom stop, put me still at about a 10:23 pace. I was hanging in there, but it was a struggle. Most of my mile splits were closer to 10:30 and I was really pushing myself not to walk. Finally I hit the halfway mark at 2:21:25.

I have to give major kudos to the Marines for their water stops. They were super long and alternated powerade and water at each side. I was able to get at least two cups of powerade each time that were about 3/4 of the way full. At the 13 mile point, I managed to get most of a glass of powerade in me.

I knew I was still ahead of pace for a 5 hour marathon and that I would "Beat the Bridge" by at least an hour, so I just kept pushing. I ran when I could and walked when I had to. I tried to do a third Gu at mile 15, but it took me over a mile to get the whole thing into me. I hit the 25K point at about 2:47, which put my overall pace at 10:47. I got hit with a sharp pain where the brick had been in my belly and starting to wonder why the hell I was doing this. At that point we were running around the Mall, near the monuments. I barely noticed anything around me. I drank two more cups of powerade just before mile 18 and the pain in my stomach finally passed. Woohoo!, but unfortunately, by that point, my legs were feeling like lead, so speeding up or not walking was not an option. I passed the 30K mark at 3:22, which still had me at a 10:51 overall average.

I walked the waterstop at just past the 19 mile point and drank two cups of powerade and one of water. I saw the Washington Monument up ahead and realized I was nearing THE BRIDGE. As I started up the onramp to the bridge I started crying as I realized that I would nearly certainly finish the marathon, even if I walked the entire rest of the way.

I hit the 35K mark at 3:58, which still had me averaging just under 11 minutes per mile. I had a cramp in my calf off and on and one in my knee still, but I knew that if I could just keep moving, I still had a chance at the 5 hour mark. I was back in Virginia and headed into the miles of heavy spectator support, so my mental state started looking up. Just after mile 22 was another water stop. I drank three cups of Powerade. Really. I thought to myself, "I'm going to regret this when I throw up".

I headed into Crystal City. The place was hoppin'! Music, tons of spectators, tons of offerings of vaseline and twizzlers and various things. I got my last Gu in and just focused on keeping moving. And suddenly, I started feeling better. I couldn't move fast because my legs were exhausted and my toes hurt, but I actually enjoyed those miles. I was able to "run" almost the entire loop back to the water stop. I drank another three cups of powerade just before mile 24 and kept on going.

I hit the 40k mark at about 4:34 and knew I could easily do the last 1.5 ish by the five hour point. I dug deep and ran that entire last bit. I turned up the hill and powered up it As I passed the 26 mile point and saw the finish line, I gave everything I had to finishing up. I sprinted to the finish line (if you can call a 10:48 pace a sprint LOL) and crossed the line with the clock showing 4:56:27 (my chip time was 4:50:14).

As I crossed the line, I thought to myself "I rock! I'm a marathoner!"

My next thought: "And I never have to do this again!"

The finish area was insane and it took me a while to get to my family and somehow I missed where all the food was. Thankfully I had a few granola bars in with my dry clothes! Beer Geek snapped one more picture of me in the shirt that races before he headed out of town and the boys and my mom and I headed towards home. The shirt worked great for me and I had no chafing at all.

Good luck to Jamie in the shirt that races this weekend in Illinois!!

MCM Momma is Official Marathoner!

Check out her Part 1 Race Report and Part 2 Race Report in The Shirt That Races!

Go Momma!!! Congrats.

A Man's Shirt That Races???

What do you think? We have a female shirt going around which is catching on rather quickly. Do we need to start a man's version? Ohlala. I'm thinking double fun! :P

THE SHIRT THAT RACES RACE REPORT

GRAND RAPIDS MARATHON, OCTOBER 19, 2008

Pre-race in the Shirt that Races and race number.

Post-race in the Shirt that Races, with medal and number.Post-race in the Shirt that Races and Race Director Don Kern.

Neil Sauder, doing the marathon on stilts to raise awareness for United Cerebral Palsy (he has CB and actually cannot walk without braces/crutches).Race day, the weather was about 40 degrees, more than 10 degrees warmer than last year.

Race day, the weather was about 40 degrees, more than 10 degrees warmer than last year. The Shirt that Races went over another long sleeve wickaway shirt, but I do not like being cold so also had to wear my vest over both. Jan and I decided it was too warm for headbands, so I came up with a bandana and folded that down so I could still cover my ears. I'd had some sinus problems all week and I didn't want the stabbing ear pain I'd had for a few days. I also wore my Grand Rapids Marathon hat and gloves.

Jan picked me up from the gym at 7:20 and her dear husband drove us the mile or so to the race site. We had met up with Chiarunner at the expo the day before, and she had said she was going to walk to the start from home. I was worried more about her having to walk home after the race, so I was surprised to run into her within a few minutes of lining up. She said she had driven, which was a smart move. Its one thing to run 26.2 miles in one day, but quite another to have to walk another 2 or more after!

The Grand Rapids Marathon has celebrity pace teams, and Chia decided she was going to try to stick with the Al Gore team, running 4:58. Those pacers are great. They are so right on with their timing its unbelievable. And when the race started, off she went with her group. Jan and I had decided to run 8, walk 2, a little more aggressive for Jan than she had planned, but I really wanted to do better than last year and also didn't want to be out there longer than I had to. My hip had started really bothering me on Thursday, going from a sharp ache to a dull one, but still noticeable. And as I had said about the sinus thingy going on all week, Saturday I woke up with my left eye itching so bad I could hardly stand it, and then spent the rest of the day with a dull headache as well and I was exhausted. I had been getting up at 4:30 am all week to get to work early for preparation for a trial that starts today, so I guess it caught up with me on Saturday. I was still feeling fatigued Sunday as well and I had this post nasal drip thing going on to the point where I constantly felt like I had a clogged throat. So all in all, I wasn't feeling that great but we were here and we were going to run.

The race started at 8 am, and sunrise was at 8:01, so by the time we actually crossed the start line, it was finally getting light enough out to see where we were going. I had been comfortably warm at the start of the race while Jan was cold, but now my fingers were almost numb with cold. Fortunately that didn't last too long. But I did have to go to the bathroom, something we had been unable to do before because the lines were so long. We passed the first portajohn and I thought it was occupied but realized too late it wasn't or I could have ducked in and out quickly and been on our way. Instead, I was forced to stop at the second one, and there was a line there, eating up about 3 minutes extra of time. I knew I wouldn't make it the whole way without having to stop, so it was a necessity. It was here too that I first noticed my hip was aching if I stopped, but I said nothing. I didn't want to think about that right now and was hoping for the best the rest of the race.

Because of this stop, we altered our walk breaks to catch up the lost time. I'm not sure whether that was a smart move or not because at this point we were approaching the only hills on the course, from miles 3 through 5.5. I had brought my own water bottle this time so I kept going at the water stops, but Jan stopped, walked through, and ran to catch up with me. By the time we were in the hills, I was realizing I was not having a good breathing day. Not my chest, but through my nose. It was dripping so bad I had to constantly blow my nose, so by the end of the race, my nose was bright red and almost raw. But we still were doing okay with our time, coming close to our predicted mile pace give or take 30 seconds each time. You enter the park at 6 miles and hit 7 miles before leaving it, because they have you wind along and around the paths. Its probably the most scenic area of the whole race route. Here they gave out gummy bears instead of Gu or something else. Just another nice touch about the race.

Once we left the park, we came across another woman from work, and she had started her walking. She had said she was only going to run 6 or 7 miles and walk the rest. Still, we were surprised she was so far ahead of us during the first half of the race. We weren't that slow, and we constantly played catch up with a younger woman who seemed to be doing run 5, walk 1--first she'd pass us on our walk break, then we'd pass her on hers. This went on until we reached the turnoff point for the marathon. But we did come across 3 or 4 other groups doing the same thing: first we'd pass them on their walk breaks, then they would pass us on ours. We were all together until mile 10 when things started falling apart for me somewhat.

My legs actually felt okay on the run intervals, but my hip ached on the walking. Still I said nothing, but it was obvious I was holding Jan back and I felt bad about that. I told her this repeatedly, but she kept saying don't worry about it. But I did! Shortly after 10 miles, the first marathoner was coming through. This was almost a mile sooner than last year's winner, but I still had no concept of what his time would be.

Miles 10-12 were a real struggle, both mentally and physically now. Jan tried to talk me through it and was talking about this and that, but it just wasn't helping. I knew we would not make our goal time now and really didn't care almost, but like I said, I felt bad for holding her back. Now our walk breaks were becoming more frequent, but I was having trouble focusing mainly. By the time we got to 12 miles I was so relieved to know it would be over soon! And for the next 1/2 mile or so, there were cones, so I suggested to Jan that we run 10, walk 1, which actually stretched to walk 2, but it got me through that part of it by giving me something to focus on other than my own discomfort.

After that, it was light post to light post. I could not catch my breath for more than a minute or two, and I felt bad here again, knowing Jan could do better without me. Finally I told her, you just go, I'll be alright. She was reluctant to leave me, but I could tell she wanted to keep going. So she trudged on ahead, and I continued sprinting almost to one light pole, and walking to the next, right up to the last 200 yards, where I picked up the pace and headed to the finish line. It actually felt good to be running fast, and think it helped. I think Jan was surprised too that I was almost right behind her when she finished! We both ended up with almost the same time: 2:44:43 for me and 2:44:40 for her.

A funny thing about Jan though. She had originally signed up for the marathon but deferred down to the half because of her collarbone. But they didn't change her number, so she still had a marathon number. We talked about the fact that when she finished someone was going to think she was the first woman marathoner, and sure enough! The TV cameras were there rolling and people were clapping and whistling as she came down the finish chute. I actually heard someone say, "it couldn't have been the first woman or she would have stood out more," meaning obviously she would have more fanfare approaching the finish line. The race director even asked her, "did you do the marathon?" We had a good laugh over that, and I think that made her day.

So the Shirt that Races made it through its innaugural run on a bright, sunny, crisp autumn day in Grand Rapids, Michigan. MCM Mom is wearing it next at the Marine Corps Marathon on October 26, 2008. I'll be mailing it out to her today!

Superslab IDEA!

Driving down the superslab on my way to work [I-80] last week, I came up with this great idea and was wondering if you would like to help make it happen. I have this Champion Double-Dry v-neck t-shirt that I just don't wear [picture below]. I've worn it a few times, but now it just sits in my drawer. Currently my options are: donate to goodwill, throw it away, sell it on eBay, or do nothing and continue to let it sit in my drawer.

My BIG IDEA is it could be the Shirt That Races in Every State. The official expectations would be that the shirt be mailed from runner to runner. The runner wears it in an official race, takes a picture with the race bib tagged to the shirt, prints their location on the back of the shirt and passes it on to the next runner. It is a size medium, obviously pink, not a tight fit, but not a loose fit. Girl cut and has been washed. ;P

Thoughts? Ideas? Comments? Want to participate? The official race could be anything from a 1-mile to a marathon. I think this has the potential to be way COOL and way FUN.

Shirt That Races Official Guidelines:

1. Shirt must be worn in an official race [i.e. 5-k, 10-k, marathon].
2. Picture must be taken with the official race bib pinned on the Shirt That Races.
3. Shirt can be worn by any participating female or male [if they dare].
4. Shirt must be washed before mailing to the next runner.
5. Runner must create a race report including a picture of their race in the Shirt That Races.
6. Shirt That Races must run in every state, including Canada.
7. Race info must be recorded permanently on the Shirt That Races. [use fabric ink/marker, permanent marker, etc.]
8. You are responsible for mailing it to the next participating runner for their scheduled race.
9. Runner must be COOL and have FUN!!

Let me know if your IN and your race date so we can make a calendar of success. Spread the word and let's hit all 50 states and more!! Run on.