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October 2024 (Part 03)

Andy Run the US Marine Corp Marathon in 4:09:21 (then we all go to the Bears Game)

We parked on Forth Myer and walked downhill through Arlington Cemetery.  Loved this image of fallen leaves among the grave markers.

We unfortunately missed Andy near the start and on the Virginia side of the river, so we walked across the Memorial Bridge and waited for him around mile 10.  We looked for a couple people we knew also running but only saw one of them.  Quite a scene, with a lot of interesting outfits to run 26.6 milers in.  We were amazed at several groups pushing strollers with disabled riders, or the several hand-bikes trying to maneuver around people.  Andy almost snuck by us, but we saw him at the last minute.  He couldn't hear us yelling over the crowd and a nearby band (playing the Marine Corps hymn almost every other song).

While he headed around East Potomac Park and another 6 miles, we headed to meet him near a turn on the north side of the Tidal Basin.  This time we were close enough, and people around us helped to yell, that Andy saw us.  A big smile for mile 17 so far.  He also had a nice view as the Washington Monument came into view just as he turned the corner. 

There were a number of amazing outfits, several of which looked like they would be really hard to run in, sequins and all.

Here are a couple pictures Andy took over the run.

He and someone near him took each other's pictures at the finish area near the Iwo Jima Memorial.

We then headed back west over the Memorial Bridge to watch for him at the finish line.  Not a lot of margin, as we got there only a bit before he did.  Unfortunately, we didn't see him until the very last second and didn't get any pictures.  He had been consistently running a 9:20-9:35 pace, and the online race app showed he should be about half-way up the hill to the finish.  But, he had seen the large crane across the road a mile out and thought that was the finish, so had really picked up his pace.  He was a bit dismayed to see it marked the turn up the hill and he had another half-mile to go.  But he said he kept the pace up, messing up the timing on the app and our ability to see him.

Three of his good friends had come down to see him at the finish.  Glad they did, as Nicole is the one who yelled out he was heading past when the rest of us were looking the other way.

We all went out to lunch, then stopped at Andy's friends who lived in Arlington so he could shower.  Lexi then took Andy's car back home (intending to head to school), while we headed to Maryland for the Bears - Commanders NFL game.  We made it into the stadium just after kickoff, with Washington already up by a field goal.  Not a great stadium and our seats were OK.  Unbelievable crush of people getting around the concourse.  We had to resort to essentially following Andy through one area as we had to push through a crowd waiting to get on an escalator to the upper decks.  An ugly first half, with very little Bears offense, but a good goal line stance, allowing it to be 0-9 at the half.  The Bears then starting finally getting a couple plays together and finally got on the board with only 0:46 remaining in the third quarter.  They then declared a backup Offensive Lineman as elligible and worse tried to give him the ball on 3rd and Goal on the Washington 1-yard line.  Yep, botched handoff and fumble, no points.  Horrible play call.  The Bears finally scored again with 0:23 left in the game to go ahead 15-12.  Looks like victory should be theirs, high-fives all around for the Bears fans.  In what will go down as an epic collapse and horrible execution, the Bears prevent defense allowed Washington to start on their 23-yard line, execute two quick pass plays out of bounds for 11 and 13-yards, which then gave them a chance at a Hail Mary.  Bears Cornerback started the play still jawing with the fans, was out of position, helped tip the ball up instead of down right into the hands of the person he should have been covering who was now behind them, all alone in the end zone to catch the ball giving Washington the 19-15 win.  Yep, still upset weeks later.  Added to the frustration with how hard it was to then get out of the stadium and another 1:15-1:20 to get out of the parking lot.  Made for a really long day.  Even more fun, Andy had a 6 AM flight home to make it to class by 1 PM.  Tired boy I'm sure.

Mom had been getting ready for Andy to be home.

Here are his results captured from the app.  As you can see, his pace improved a lot after the first several miles, which is a great statement for your first marathon.  He said it was so crowded at the start that he was mostly jogging for the first four miles and didn't really feel like he had the space to run until almost mile 10.

Here is the route map.  They started on Hwy 110 just north of the Pentagon and headed north along Arlington National Cemetery, taking a turn and up a hill in Rosslyn before heading across the Key Bridge into Georgetown.  They then headed up and back into Rock Creek Park, coming back along the river and past the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Memorial and the Jefferson Memorial.  They then went around East Potomac Park, coming back along the Tidal Basin then heading east on the National Mall to go in front of the US Capital Building.  They came back across the river on the I-395 bridge, taking a route into Crystal City and finally coming back Hwy 110 past the Pentagon and Arlington Cemetery before finishing uphill in front of the US Marine Corps Memorial (the Iwo Jima statue).