Today was my eighteenth finish of the Marine Corps Historic Half Marathon in Fredericksburg, Virginia. I’m one of 60 who have finished all 18 years and am part of the Iron Mile Club.
I measured the course and knew all the ups and downs and mile locations. Last Sunday, when measuring the Fallen Heroes 5 Mile course, I visited all the mile locations to validate my recollections. In the past, some of the physical mile markers were not at the correct locations.
Since early April, I’ve completed a 10km and a 15km using a pattern of walking for 2 minutes every 6 minutes. That has worked well, and I planned to use it during this race, except walking Hospitalization Hill and the final hill over the Interstate. I had no concerns about limiting my heart rate. However, I wanted to keep the rate under 140 up the final two hills.
For the third year, the race started at 6 am in the block between Gordon Shelton Boulevard and Fall Hill Avenue.
I woke up at 3 am and checked the weather. The temperature was 70 degrees with a 49-degree dew point. By the 6 am race start, the temperature would drop to 65 degrees. With partly cloudy skies and the low dew point, these were some of Virginia’s best running conditions for a May race.
I left my house by 4:45, drove through town to Cowan Blvd, behind the stores in Central Park, onto Fall Hill Avenue, and a U-turn into the VIP lot at Navy Federal Credit Union. I walked the route to the VIP tent that the organizers published. However, fences and Marines were blocking the path. I worked my way around the issue.
The nice part of the VIP tent was four clean, lineless porta-pots.
I hung out at the VIP tent until 5:45. Then I walked to the start line and positioned between the 2:45 and 2:50 pace signs. I wanted to finish under 3 hours. Even though it was close to 70 degrees, the low dew point made my fingers chilly.
I started my Timex Ironman chrono when the howitzer went off, and the 6-minute countdown timer within 7 seconds. We started shuffling toward the start line. I started my Garmin 4:42 later when I crossed the start line. Well, I thought I started my Garmin.
I wore shorts over compression shorts, a singlet, a ball cap, and my Saucony Triumph 22 shoes. Wanting to drink during the first walk break after each odd mile marker, I wore a single-bottle belt with an initial fill of UCAN energy.
During the first two miles, I jockeyed with the 2:50 pace group. They were using a walk-run pattern. However, none of the segments were more than 20 seconds long. I felt the pacer was wearing a device to tell them when they were going too fast or too slow to moderate between walking and running.
The first mile marker was not in the correct location. I pressed the split button on my Timex at the proper location. Shortly thereafter, I had not felt my Garmin mile vibration. I looked down and saw I had not started it correctly. So, I turned it on at about mile 1.1.
The first miles went well in 12:26, 12:08, and 12:31. The first three miles were more down than up. There is a significant uphill in Westwood as part of the third mile. My legs felt good during my run sections.
Miles 4 through 6 are either down or flat. My mile times were 11:37, 12:01, and 12:13. My heart rate had yet to exceed my 150 bpm alarm.
The next four miles were 12:21, 12:12, 12:22, and 12:25. I stopped in the seventh mile to fill my bottle. The course was still congested at that point, and the water stop personnel were still scrambling. I was lucky enough to see a Major filling cups from a gallon jug and asked for a bottle fill, which he helped with.
I’m happy to see that my mile splits were consistent during this section of the course. The eight-mile marker was placed half a block longer than the correct location. I pressed the split button on my Timex at the proper location.
Running along the river in the tenth mile, I could hear the announcer at the finish line. I don’t recall this in previous years. The wind must have been blowing in the correct direction.
Once at the 10-mile location, the next three miles all have significant uphill parts. Before the first climb, my heart rate alarm at 150 bpm went off for the first time.
In mile 11, we started the climbs back to Celebrate Virginia. My 11th mile split was 12:51, which got me halfway up Hospitalization Hill. This section included another bottle fill, where there were no volunteers with gallon bottles, and I had to go to the table to fill from three cups. I walked the entire hill, keeping my heart rate under 140.
Mile 12 is the remainder of Hospitalization Hill and ends at the base of the climb on Cowan over I-95. I ran the downhill portion to Smith’s Run. That mile was 13:25. For the first time, people were running the tangents with me in this mile.
I walked to the top of the final hill over I-95 with my heart rate below 140. I passed the 2:45 pacer on the overpass. I ran the downhill, and my heart rate topped out at 156. My six-minute alarm went off at the beginning of the run segment, so I ran the entire six minutes. I took the 2-minute walk break and decided to run to the finish. My 13th-mile split was 11:56. I ran from the 13-mile sign to the finish in 55 seconds. My heart rate topped out at 163 in the run to the finish.
My finish time was 2:41:30, 20 minutes faster than last year. My Garmin PRs are post-procedure, and I improved my 10km PR by 2 seconds to 74:36. If I started my Garmin correctly, this would have been a 3:36 half-marathon improvement. Maybe next time.
I placed 3236 of 4419 overall, 2028 of 2559 males, and 30 of 50 males aged 65 to 69. I felt good about consistent splits and finished much better than planned. My pace was 12:20 per mile. For my last three races, a 10km, 15km, and 21 km, my paces were 12:15, 11:57, and 12:20. So I’m not slowing with the extra distance.
Today’s result makes me feel good enough to train for the 50th Marine Corps Marathon in October.
As a bonus, the Marine Corps Marathon Organization honored me with their Oscar Mike award at a reception on Saturday night for my impact on the Fredericksburg running community.