Today was my sixteenth finish of the Marine Corps Historic Half Marathon in Fredericksburg, Virginia. I’m one of 79 who has finished all 16 years and am part of the Iron Mile Club.
After completing two marathons last Sunday and Monday, I was unsure how I would do. I planned to run easily and not worry about time or place. I would walk for two minutes at each of the six water stops. Water stops were in miles 2, 5, 7, 9, 11, and 12.
In 2008, I told the race director I would put this race on my calendar and run it until I couldn’t stand up. I never booked another race to time on the same day, though I have booked races on the same weekend.
Since I measured the course used today, I wore a GoPro camera to take pictures for any future course brief session. I set the camera to take a photo every 5 seconds.
Because the Fred Nats’ game started at 12:30 pm, the race start was moved to 6 am and away from the stadium.
I was up at 3:15 am and checked the weather. An overnight rainstorm had passed. The radar still showed a green blob to the east and a front line on the eastern front of the Blue Ridge. Temperatures east of the front were in the 60s and to the west in the low 50s. The temperature was 62 degrees with a 62-degree dew point. By the 6 am race start, the temperature would drop to 58 degrees.
I left my house by 4:45. I drove my superstitious route to the race using the Chatham Bridge, William Street, Cowan Boulevard, and Carl Silver Parkway. I arrived at a reserved parking lot by 5:00 am, about 1/8 miles from the start.
The start/finish line was between Gordon Shelton Blvd and Fall Hill Avenue near an eyeglass shop. The VIP tent was 50 meters from the line. With the overnight rain, access to the tent was across wet fields. As long as I stayed on the tuffs of grass, my feet stayed somewhat dry.
I hung out in the tent until 5:30. Then, I hit the special porta pots. I slipped into my singlet and applied sunblock to those areas that got burnt last Sunday. Around 5:54, I turned on the GoPro, dropped my clothing bag, and headed toward the start. I realized I wasn’t wearing my PT strap when I approached Carl Silver. The decision: don’t wear it or get wet feet. I picked the wet feet, running back to the VIP bag drop.
I got back to Carl Silver by 5:58. By this time; the corrals had packed down. I was behind the 2:20 pace sign. After the howitzer went off, so much for noise ordinances, I took 1:52 to cross the start line, about 1:10 more than usual.
I wore shorts over compress shorts, a singlet, a ball cap, gloves, and my Saucony Triumph 20 shoes.
With the earlier start, the sun was behind clouds and low on the horizon until mile 4. By mile 2, I had passed the 2:20 pace sign. While I took a walk break, they overtook me. My final pass was before mile 3. I never saw the 2:10 pace sign.
The first miles went well in 10:05, 9:57, and 10:02. The first three miles were more down than up. But my legs were feeling bouncier than expected.
Heading into town, I try to hit as many tangents as possible. Miles 4 through 6 are either down or flat. Mile 4 was 9:00, and I got through Mile 6 at 59:05. I missed the Mile 5 sign. Most of the mile signs were in the correct locations. Some were off by 20 to 50 feet in the middle of intersections. I clicked my watch on the paint marks we made while measuring.
The next four miles were 10:19, 9:32, 10:07, and 9:45. The first and third included 2-minute walking breaks.
In mile 11, we started the climbs back to Celebrate Virginia. Including a 2-minute walking break, my split was 10:37, which got me halfway up Hospitalization Hill.
Mile 12 is the remainder of Hospitalization Hill and ends at the base of the climb on Cowan over I-95. Including my final 2-minute walking break, that mile was a 10:28,
I pushed to the top of the final hill and through Central Park. As I passed the 20km mark, I complained to the timer that the mats were 10 feet out of the tangent, not allowing me to run the curve tight. My 13th-mile split was 9:36, including the uphill on Cowan. Of course, I benefitted from the down from the overpass, too.
My finish time was 2:12:18 from the gun. At this time, the organizers have not posted results or placement information. My calculated chip time was 2:10:21, 13:05 minutes faster than in 2022.
When I returned to my car at 10 am, the dew point was 50 degrees. I assume when the front went through that dropped the temperature a little, the humidity decreased, too.
My time improvement may result from better weather, less sun from the earlier start, or the meds I’m taking for asthma. Last year, I was 9th in my 65-69-year-old age group. We’ll see what a better time brings in 2023.
Postrace, I headed back to the VIP tent. I have French toast strips, sausage, and water. There, the race organizers told me the lead pack of runners was misdirected and reduced the race distance. I figured a half mile to 1000 meters. After looking at a few people’s Garmins, a .6-mile reduction can be assumed.
Tomorrow, I talk to the organizers to see how they want to handle the situation.
After changing shirts, I headed to the beer tent and chatted with friends. Not being able to drink alcohol because of a med, I had a Coke instead.
As of this posting, MCM is still working on results. In 2022, my placements were 1237 of 2874 overall, 806 of 1461 males, and 9 of 47 males 65 to 69. The top 20% in my age group is good.
2874 was the fewest finishers in the 15 years of the event. It seemed more crowded than in the past. Maybe, I was running at a common pace.
Unofficial results for 2023: 1188 of 2917 overall, 868 of 1672 males, and 11 of 51 males 65 to 69. I feel good about being in the top 22% of my age group. Still, I’m younger than 60% of that group.