Race Recap: Marine Corps Marathon #45: Virtually!

MCM 45 is a wrap. I feel like I had been training for this race since February. In essence, I was, since I’d been helping my best friend train for the Chicago Marathon, which was supposed to happen on October 11^th. With all races either cancelled or forced to move to virtual formats due to the pandemic, we chose to run the Marine Corps Marathon virtually this year.

One of the beauties of running a virtual race is choosing your weather. Well, trying to optimize available help and the schedules of our group running together, last weekend was the weekend. Hurricane Delta had other plans! Thankfully, we are in Virginia, and only felt the remnants. We originally planned to run Sunday, but switched to Saturday due to the impending storm. However, what was forecasted originally to be a dry Saturday and rainy Sunday turned out to be an entire weekend of rain! I couldn’t help but to let out a sigh when I checked the radar upon awakening. There was a giant wall of rain approaching Richmond. Still, we chose the better weather day to run, which was Saturday. We had a steady, light rain for most of the day.

From the start of our “race.” A signature selfie/group shot courtesy of Selina Celebre. Selina in front; back row, L to R: Patty, me, and Leigh Anne.

Marathons aren’t always the way we planned, and this one was no exception. I knew I would not PR. It’s nearly impossible when you don’t have a closed course! But we made the best of it. The pain set in around mile 18 or so, which is typical for me. If you’ve ever run a marathon, you know what I’m talking about. It’s the time when you have to embrace the suck and make peace with the discomfort. The stop and go waiting for traffic was the worst part! But the most important thing was that I got to run a second marathon with my best friend!

I usually cry when I cross the finish line of a marathon, but this time, when my watch flipped to 26.2 miles, I let out a triumphant cry, and hit stop and save on my Garmin. The “finish” line was still about a half a mile away, which I walked, but it was fun to cross the tape our friends had set up for us!

At the “finish line,” although I completed 26.2 about a half mile before! It was so fun to cross the tape, though! Photo courtesy of Kelly Harris.

We were all soaked in the end! Look at this sweet sign our friends made, though! Photo courtesy of Kelly Harris.

I was still sore on Sunday from running the distance, but at least by Monday I could navigate stairs with a reciprocal pattern instead of one at a time, and had the courage to do some foam rolling by Monday evening. I’m two MCM’s away from becoming a member of the Runner’s Club!

I’m forever grateful for the Richmond running community for their support! I’m so appreciative to all of our friends who contributed to our “race,” from friends who allowed us to use their home as a base to those who stood in the rain for hours as our primary aid station, we were blessed.