Marine Corps Marathon
Sunday, October 29, 2006

I race walked the Marine Corps Marathon. It was a beautiful, sunny, but windy day. The temperature varied from 41 to 60 degrees. There were 34000 entrants which made the course very crowded. It also made it difficult around the water stations. The first 2.5 miles were generally up and the next 1.5 were down. After that the course was almost flat as it wound its was around Washington, DC. The trees were turning color and it was most enjoyable to see the different sights along the way.

Dean Karnazes, who is running 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days, was in the event and finished. This means that he has run 43 marathons in 43 states in 43 days. He will be finished next Sunday with his run in the New York Marathon.

The Marine Corps Marathon experienced a 10 minute delay for the first of two waves. A person had a heart attack about 300 yards out which caused a 22 minute delay in the start of the second wave. Another man died of a heart attack near miles 17. He was being attended to as I passed. It made me very sad at that point.

Overall I enjoyed myself and intend to do the Marine Corps marathon again next year. Because of the large number of entries, there was never much of the course were I did not have to watch out for other competitors; however, it was quite an ego boost to pass thousands of runners after mile 13 who could no longer keep up the pace. I had my slowest marathon ever, but placed 17018 out of the 34000.

I took a lot of pictures and will post them separately.