Race Result

Racer:	Steve Smith
Race:	Marine Corps Marathon
Date:	Sunday, October 24, 1999
Location:	Arlington, VA
Race Type:	Run - Marathon
Age Group:	Male 30 - 34
Time:	3:28:28
Comment:	First marathon

Race Report:

This was my first marathon, run long before I knew what a race report was. That's a shame too, b/c I often get myself thru races thinking, "Oh hell, I cannot sit down now ... how would sitting down and taking a nap sound in the race report!"

Anyway, I was living in Wyoming thru the summer of 1999, at 5,500 feet in Lander. After wandering aimlessly around the western United States for about a year, I'd settled in Lander after taking a 3-month NOLS course, doing a bit of computer work for the school. I started running, thinking I may make it home for the Marine Corps Marathon. There is the most beautiful loop road that goes out of the south end of Lander and comes back in the west end--the Squaw-Baldwin loop. It doesn't go anywhere, just out, around, and back, giving the local ranchers a choice for which scenery they want on the way into town. At about 12 miles for the loop, it was perfect for running: beautiful, lightly traveled and a little hilly in the middle. Well, maybe a lot of hilly in the middle.

The best run I ever did was a midnight run around this loop. A few weeks later I pulled a muscle. I didn't run for a few weeks, and all of those weeks contained my scheduled 20 milers.

I got home to Virginia about four weeks before the marathon and started running again. I sneaked one long run in before the race ... it was night and raining and pretty, and I left without intending to run a full 20 miles. But I felt good and stayed out. Thirsty, I found myself sipping water out of a puddle on the W&OD. Probably the silliest thing I've ever done, but I was REALLY thirsty. At least it was dark.

So that was my marathon training. The race went as most marathons go: I felt good, rocking along at 7:20 for the first 18 miles, then I slowed a bit between 18 & 22 and blew up entirely at 22. When I got to the top of the heartbreak hill, my calves seized with every step. But I hadn't walked yet during the race, and I wasn't going to start in front of the amazing crowds that cheered us along the last 300 meters. It hurt like hell, but I ran it in, skipping across the finish as I promised myself I would if I finished under 3:30.

This was my first marathon and I had trained with my friends at work: Beverly, Scott, and Maddy. It was a blast, and Beverly, Scott & I would later register and run the Big Sur Marathon as well. Of course, Wally, Bev's husband, was pleased with his 3:28:28 finish (as I hadn't registered for the race myself :)