My Running History part 2 (Marine Corp Marathon 2003)

It’s now early Spring 2002, I’ve been running 25-30 miles a week. Our second child was born in September 2001 and my wife wanted to get back in shape and get back to running. She was interested in doing a speed development program with the Montgomery County Road Runners (a 10K training program that culminates in running the Rockville Pike’s Peak 10K in May). Go for it, I said. Me and the kids cheered my wife at the 10K. After the 10K, she said a group of the runners was continuing to do long weekend runs. Go for it, I said. After about 2 weeks, my wife said that the group was actually part of a marathon training program (called the First Time Marathon program or FTM for short) and she was thinking about doing it. The program’s goal was running the Marine Corps Marathon. Go for it, I said. So that whole summer, my wife would do Wednesday night track work and Sunday morning long runs. Meanwhile, I continued my weekday lunchtime runs with no interest in running any further than I was and bragged, to any of my colleagues I could corner, that my wife was training for the marathon.



Come the end of October, with the little one in the baby backpack and the older one on my shoulders, we cheered my wife on as she ran her first Marathon. I was so incredibly impressed and proud that she ran 26.2 miles. Perhaps, the perceptive woman that she is, she saw a tiny gleam of longing in my face. You should train for one, she said. Not interested, I replied. But I did decide to race a local 10K (the Rockville 10K) in December 2002. I ran a respectable 43:45 (7:03 pace) and finished 32 out of 262 (top 12%). I gave a half-hearted attempt at training for the inaugural DC Marathon to be held in March 2003, but gave up after two long runs. You should do FTM, my wife said again and again and again, they’ll motivate you to run a marathon. I’ll think about it, I said. I then ran the Pikes Peak 10K at the end of April 2007, at a much faster 39:55 (6:26 pace) and finished 127 out of 2,142 (top 6%). By now my wife was really urging me to try FTM. They’re doing 10 miles on the C&O Canal this weekend, she said before Memorial Day weekend, try it and see if you like it. I said I’d give it a try.

So I show up at the canal parking lot and look for the FTM director. I introduced myself and he replied, “I hear you’re fast.” What has my wife been saying about me? Yes, I replied. "Run with 9:00 group" (at the time the fastest pace group was running their long steady runs at 9:00 pace). So I ran the 10 miles. Not bad, I thought. One thing led to another, and I signed up for FTM and the 2003 Marine Corps Marathon. At one of the track workouts, they had me do a timed mile. Now in high school, I think my fastest mile was 4:45. However many years later and aged 36, I ran a 5:45 and was given the nickname Flash (rhymes with Ashe, get it?) Funny story on this. There was a very in-shape younger guy in our pace group who I think was the fastest (and definitely most muscular) one in the group. Either in college or just graduated, so maybe he’s 21 or 22. He paced me during the mile. I don’t think he figured I’d be so fast. I led the entire way and he peeled off at the beginning of the final lap. He said his calf was hurting, but maybe he didn’t want to get beat by a 36 year old with two kids. Anyhow, I was recognized as the fastest one in the pace group and in the whole FTM program for that year. We did a series of races as part of the training program. Burning Tree 5K (20:10, 6:30 pace, 34 out of 205), Riley’s Rumble Half Marathon (1:34:33, 7:13 pace, 49 out of 597), and the Annapolis 10 miler (1:07:35, 6:45 pace, 168 out of 4,419). It was during these training runs that the idea of the Boston Marathon got in my head. Riley’s Rumble is a good marathon time predictor and I thought I could probably run a 3:15 or faster marathon to qualify. We’ll see, I said, I just want to run a marathon to check it off my list of things I want to do in my life. But the idea was planted.

We trained all summer and fall and finally came race day, October 26, 2003. I was unbelievably excited waiting at the start of the Marine Corps Marathon. The gun went off and I think I may have had tears of excitement. My goal was 3:15:59 or faster (7:28 pace) to qualify for Boston (I admit it, that was my goal by now). I don’t remember all of the details of the race, but I knew I was running very close to my goal pace. It was tough but the weather, as I recall, was nice for marathon running — cloudy in the low 50s. There was a club member who rode along the course on his bike cheering the different MCRRC runners along. At around mile 23, I was ready to stop. I didn’t think I could take another step, when who comes riding along? "Come on flash," he yelled, "you can make Boston." I kept running. At one point, around mile 24, I remember everything going black and I almost passed out. I had to walk a few steps to keep from keeling over. I kept running. I charged up the Iwo Jima Memorial hill to the finish line, running as fast as I could and crossed the finish line, 3:16:17 — 18 seconds too slow!!!! I was demoralized, I missed Boston (I thought) by 18 freaking seconds. My wife and the rest of FTM were ecstatic about my time. The FTM director may have mentioned that I had run one of the fastest FTM times. He also said that because I was 36, not 35, I may have another minute added to the qualifying time (i.e. run faster than 3:16:59) and that I should apply for Boston. I kept a happy face because, I had run faster (by a lot) than anyone else in FTM that year. And I finished 267 out of 15,968 runners (top 1.7%), so I had a lot to be proud of. But I had been bitten by the Boston marathon bug, I wanted to qualify. I think my wife alone knew how truly disappointed I was about my time.

But wait, you say. At the end of the last post I said I was bitten by two bugs. One was the Boston bug (or rather racing in general) what was the second? That night, my heart was still racing and I was still sweaty (typical post-marathon, I thought). By morning, I could barely breathe, I was drenched with sweat, and had a 104 fever. I went to the local minute clinic, they took some X-rays and was diagnosed with lower lobe, bacterial double pneumonia. Apparently that feeling of almost fainting at mile 24 was the pneumonia. Who knew?