More than 11 months after I began training for my first marathon I can finally say it: I’M A MARATHONER!
This morning our downstairs TV mysteriously turned on by itself at 4:30 am. I tried to fall back asleep but nerves got the best of me so I finally go out of bed at 5:15 am and started getting ready. I was so excited. I ate bagel + almond butter + chia seeds and some coffee and Neil and I hit the road.
The weather was amazing – a little chilly for the start so I wore gloves, ear warmers and arm sleeves. Plus a hoodie which I gave Neil before the race.
We got off at Pentagon Station at around 7:20 am. I had to use the porta-potties, so I was getting nervous since the lines were so long. At 7:50, I was still waiting in line so I said eff it and Neil headed over toward the start line with me. Luckily, there were more porta-potties near the start line so I was able to go quickly.
I said goodbye to Neil and headed toward the start line and was wayyy in the back of the crowd. I slowly moved up, but not getting there earlier was definitely a mistake. It took me about 15 minutes to cross the start line after the race started and I was behind a lot of people with a slower pace. Thus, my first few miles was spent weaving through the crowds. This added to my total mileage significantly. 
The first 11 miles or so I felt like I was on top of the world. I was carrying a water bottle full of Gatorade and eating a snack every 5 miles. The crowd support was amazing. The “Yell Go Liz” shirt worked very well. My pace was strong and I was smiling the entire time. I kept thinking to myself, “you’re finally running your marathon,” and I felt so grateful.
I saw my parents at around mile 10 and they actually chased me to get a picture. It was awesome!
Then I saw Neil around mile 11, gave him a high 5 and felt extra motivated. 
After I saw Neil, I entered Haines Point, which I knew would be one of my least favorite parts of the race. There are no crowds and it has relatively boring scenery. At mile 12 my stomach started feeling funny, so I soon after found a bathroom to make a quick stop in. This resulted in my slowest mile: 12:02, and it may have been even longer because I have an auto-stop function enabled on my Garmin.
Back on the road, at mile 14 I all of a sudden felt a sharp pain in my foot. I’ve never had feet pain so it took me by surprise. Plus, it wasn’t going away. It actually ended up lasting almost the entire race and still hurts to walk on. About 5 minutes after the pain started, I began to think I might not finish the race. Then I remembered how far I have come from my stress fracture, how hard I have worked in the last few months, and realized that it was going to take a lot more than that to stop me.
Then before mile 15 my iPod died! Yes, I did charge it last night. And yes, I had made an awesome mix. But I think I accidentally had left it playing all morning when I was getting ready. D’oh!
At mile 16 I saw my parents and Neil, handed him the iPod, my handheld water bottle and arm sleeves. In exchange, I took my cell phone to listen to Pandora. Nice picture of this, right? 
The crowd support here, around the Lincoln Memorial, was also amazing. People were screaming and it revved me up. The next part of the course was around the National Mall, a route I’ve done many times before. My foot was still hurting, my phone was playing slow r&b music, and I was struggling. I took my first walking break through the next water stop, around mile 18.
Between 18-19, I saw my parents and Neil again – they are great spectators!
At mile 19 I got a call from my friend Kelaine, who was kind of enough to offer to run with me for part of the course. (She is a running superstar – she has run MCM twice, Boston once and is about to do NYC next week). She joined me just before mile 20. I cannot tell you enough how much of a difference she made in the race. After mile 20 is the infamous “beat the bridge” section of the course, which is a long trek across a highway bridge. You’re under the sun, it is not scenic and there is no crowd support. She kept me going when I would have surely given up (there were tons of people walking here).
The last section of the race took us into Crystal City. There were a lot of people here, but it is kind of a torturous out and back route. Kelaine kept my mind occupied with stories and cheering me on. I was happy to see some familiar faces: Katie and some college friends who were in from out of town. I walked through all the water stops at this point. We were about 1.5 miles away and my quads were hurting, but my feet pain was less noticeable. I had to take 2 one-minute walking breaks, but after the second one I told Kelaine to not let me stop again because it would hurt too much to re-start. I did walk through one more water stop and with less than a mile to go I picked up the pace.
Kelaine left me at the mile 26 marker, and with that all that stood between me and my medal was the sharp incline to Iwo Jima. I was so excited, I ran even faster and screamed to the crowd to cheer louder. I saw my brother, his fiancé, my parents and Neil. I finally crossed the finish line and threw my hands in the air. See me coming to the finish line?
Garmin Stats:
Total distance: 26.65 miles (crazy!)
Time: 4:16:02
Average pace: 9:36
Official Time: 4:15:54
I almost cried after the finish. I got my medal, saw my family through the gate and sat down. 
Once I had stopped running, my foot pain became very very noticeable.
But we had to get to brunch. I mean, I have my priorities. So we walked to Georgetown in search of a cab, which was probably another 2 miles until we got a cab. I was limping the whole way. I enjoyed my post-recovery chocolate milk on the bridge though!
I was so happy to finally be sitting and eating. I enjoyed some delicious southern fare and sweets.
Surrounded by family who had taken the time and effort to cheer me on. 
I felt very lucky.
We headed back to Bethesda to pick up the pup, back to DC to shower quickly and then to dinner in Arlington to celebrate Neil’s mom’s birthday. I just got home at 9:30 pm, so as you can imagine I’m ready to go to sleep and get some rest.
About the foot – I’m actually not too nervous about it because it only hurts when I walk. My experience with a stress fracture tells me if it was the bone then it would hurt when I was standing or lying down as well. If it is still hurting in 5 days I will make an appointment with my doctor.
Again, thank you all for your emails, tweets, comments and cheers. And remember, if I can run a marathon so can you! If you have reached the bottom of this extremely long post, get excited because this week I will be doing my first giveaway to show my appreciation.
CONGRATULATIONS
I’m so happy for you!!
Congratulations! You did it! I think that’s a really brutal course because the last 6 miles are so awful. I’m never doing it again
Congratulations! You did great! I hope your foot starts to feel better.
I am so happy for you girl! Seriously who barely walks in their first marathon? You better be damn proud!
I’m sorry about the foot! Hopefully its from the camber in the road or something and heals quickly.
So will you be running National with me in March?
Congratulations Liz! I am soo proud of you!
Liz, you did amazing!! You ran smart and pushed through a nagging pain – I’m really impressed with your time. Congratulations on a great first marathon.
Ahhhhhhhmazing! Way to go Liz!! Congratulations! Rest up today! I remember how my quads were on fire for a couple of days after, but the glory of running mcm lasts forever!
Congrats Liz! I’m so happy for you. You rocked it. Your recap was very inspiring!
Congrats Liz! It’s amazing that you finished so fast, even with a potty stop … and a hurt foot! I actually managed to make it without stopping, I didn’t want to wait in line
I tracked 26.55 on my Garmin. You’ll pretty much always track a certified marathon course long unless you run the tangents — they measure using the shortest route a runner could take, guaranteeing it won’t be short.
It was great seeing your familiar face at the finish line. You did awesome
I loved your recap! Congrats again on being a marathoner – I knew you could do it! We should go for drinks soon to celebrate
Yes, please. I’m so ready to bring happy hours back to my life. Next week perhaps?
Congratulations! That is amazing! I’m so happy to hear that your leg held up through the whole race. Hopefully your foot is just a temporary thing. After my first half, I had some knee “pain” that was really just my stabilizing muscles being realllllllly tight and sore, and it went away after a few days.
A friend of mine from high school ran, so I was out there with signs. (Maybe you even saw them!) It is a great spectator course because you can get to so many points during the race. I was at miles 1, 4, 8, 16 and 26. I even covered 6.5 miles just walking between spots.
Wow – you must be tired from covering all those markers! Mile 8 and 16 were too of my favorite spots for spectators.
Wow, that’s an awesome time Liz! You did great!!! Congratulations
Hooray congratulations! I like the “it only hurts when I walk” line, like who needs walking anyway? Hope you savor the marathon high and enjoy a recovery time! And what a great time/pace too!
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!
I actually saw you twice – once near the Lincoln, and then again in Crystal City. You looked great both times!!! Relax and enjoy your recovery – you ran an AMAZING first race!!!
It was so awesome seeing you – definitely gave me a much needed boost!
Ahhhh Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You are a rockstar!
CONGRATULATIONS Liz!!! You did amazing, and should be so proud!! I loved reading this recap and could totally feel the stress of all those things that happened during the race — from the extremely long porta-potty lines (that is one of the biggest causes of pre-race anxiety for me! haha) to the crazy, random pain in your foot, to the iPod dying, etc. My iPod died during my first marathon too for no apparent reason — it just froze and I couldn’t get it to re-start. It was so stressful at the time because it just seemed like just one more obstacle to get through.
It sounds like you ran a great race. I think it’s awesome that you finished so strong! Congratulations marathoner!
Liz I am so happy for you!!!! I was looking for you out there yesterday. You probably passed me some time near mile 11, but I didn’t see you and you probably didn’t see me either, but I’m soooo happy to hear you did so well!!! Congrats on a great race. Hope your foot heals up and you enjoy some relaxing time off!
CONGRATULATIONS! You ran such a smart, strong race! I hope you are still riding that marathon high. Even with all the little bumps in the road, you stayed positive. Nice work!
Huge congrats Liz!! You ran a great race!!
Congrats!!! What a great time!! Such a great run and marathon. I’m running NY next week and this was so inspirational to read. Maybe some year I will run MCM, I went to school in DC. So glad I found your blog : )
The National Marathon in 2007 was my first marathon and is still my one true love. The course was better back then, but you’re right about it still being better than MCM. I do the half every year.
I’m doing the half this year – I hope you do too!
CONGRATULATIONS!!! You did so well!
Wow -you go girl! Seriously, congratulations, Liz! This is an amazing accomplishment and I love your blog! Xoxo Kay
CONGRATS Liz!! I think that’s one of the best races for a “first” – running through some of the best parts of DC & Arlington (i.e. not Anacostia…) and TONS of crowd support
This makes me a little homesick – can’t wait to be back there sometime soon to run those familiar routes!
I hope the foot is feeling better!
Congrats, congrats, congrats! What a great time, especially considering the foot pain! Really baby yourself this week, and enjoy basking in the glow of your accomplishment!
Congratulations on your marathon! What an incredible experience. My husband ran the MCM last year and it really is a wonderful race. I hope your foot feels better soon.
Omg girlfriend, your foot got hurt at mile 14 and you kept going? Mine happened at mile 24 and if it had happened any earlier I DEFINITELY would have DNF’ed! Good job pushing through that!
Your injury sounds very similar to mine, sudden acute pain that had never been there before. I was worried it was a stress fracture too but it didn’t have the symptoms of a stress fracture and my x-rays came back clean. Anyways, I went to the physio and she said it was likely a torn tendon because it only hurt when I put weight on it and it hurt REALLY bad for about 3-4 days after the marathon and then started to get better.
She recommended I wear running shoes ALL THE TIME for support and get an ankle brace for days I’m doing a lot of walking/running around, OH and NO running! This weekend will be a MONTH since my marathon and a month since I last ran. It sucks, but healing up is important to me!
Good luck with your foot, try wearing running shoes ALL the time. That has really, really helped me
congratulations!!! you’re a marathoner
w00t! and your time is awesome! so sorry about the foot — hope it heals quickly!!!
but again — congrats! its an awesome feat & feeling finishing 26.2 for the first time!!!
Thanks so much for this post. Love it! I am running this race this fall and it will be my first. I did not think there would be spectators even and I am psyched to hear there will be! It was great to read this to psych me up. Thanks!
It is a GREAT course for a first marathon! I will be there cheering too
I’m running MCM this fall as my first marathon, and reading this just made me really excited that I chose it over a few other options. Congrats on finishing your first marathon, and thank you for writing such a great race recap!