My entire year was focussed on this marathon. I had run seven marathons, but all would have been for naught if I had not finished this proud, best-ever marathon in my eyes. I had many obsacles as I had developed a runners knee a week before the marathon, probably due to running Portland just 2 weeks earlier. Also I had over 500 miles on my brooks shoes and had miscalculated cause of adding a marathon to the shoes and forgetting such. So the pain was tough to work through, but I did because you don't stop training just before the marathon you were flying across the country to run. Additionally getting up at 1:30 in the morning Pacific time was diffifult to do.
I had doubts, seventeen marathons before this and never had I let doubts enter my mind like this, but I did not know how my knee would respond and I was of course again had pre-marathon head cold problems, so I just was not feeling my best. But, once you line up it's a different ball game. My pace was slower due to the vast amount of people, it probably took me ten miles to really get into a pace, but I wasn't too concious of my time as I was wanting to enjoy the race. The measure of a successful marathon in my eyes is how I feel when I finish and I felt very strong at the end, I could have run a bit quicker but savored every bit of the last 3 miles instead!
It was a wonderful marthon, so many times I thanked the active duty marines who were at every single aid station and all along the course. Running in D.C. was so spectacular, I loved all the amazing sites along the course. I even stopped to stretch a slight cramp in the front of the Capital. We were blessed with great 70 degree weather in between 2 rainy days, so it was just win, win! I did not feel pain in my knee till my flight home, so was very pleased I could do a decent marathon run. I was honored to have my finisher medal placed around my neck my a maraine. This had the best crowd participation of any marathon I had ever run. I will finish this marathon again Lord willing!
