Ran the Hot Chocolate race today, choosing the 15K option. You could also run the 5K version, but I wanted to get in a decent run after 5 days of lounging around after the Marine Corps run.
The running Gods smiled down upon us with a cool and sunny day. Badwater, here I DON'T come! So, happy for the weather.
I don't know, it seemed like there were 1000's of people. The start line was like a clown car, people just seemed to be coming from everywhere to begin after the 8:10 start.
The course itself was a down and back, heading south from Grant Park, past McCormick Place, then down the bike path to about 38'th street for the turn back up along the lake. It was a great day to make that run back, the ever beautiful view of Chicago from about 30'th street is always a treat.
I think the buzzword of the day, or at least the race, was crowded. I think there were a lot of people who figured "Hey, I ran a 5K last year, I'm ready for a 15K". So, lots of walkers, lots of plodders, and the periodic runner and baby stroller who didn't get the memo. I passed up a lot of people on this run.
Possibly though, because the real word of the day was CHOCOLATE, I zipped along in a great mood. For some reason, I really had a taste for chocolate. Could it have been the 1000's of Hot Chocolate Jackets everyone was wearing? Ya think?
Anyway, cruised in a hair under 2 hours. If you want to check out a fun view of the race, go here:
Hot Chocolate Animated Results to watch. If you want to watch me, look for racer "Tommy Sensabaugh (346)".
Passed up the finish line and off to the Chocolate Tent. Easy to find, just look for the lines and join in. To be fair, they moved pretty quickly, and the reward was a delightful plastic dish with a generous amount of chocolate fondue, apples, banana, pound cake, marshmallow crispy bar, and pretzel. To say it was great does not quite capture it. It was nearly life-affirming!
After you left the Chocolate Fondue Tent, off you go to Tent #2 for the Hot Chocolate. Equally as good, and nice and hot to warm you up.
I left the race on a chocolate high, happy with the mornings work. Not sure if I'd run it again, I might just opt for an evening at Geja's downtown instead and have their chocolate fondue.
Saturday, November 06, 2010
Thursday, November 04, 2010
Marine Corps Marathon
Here's my multimedia race report. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then welcome to my magnus opus!
So, it's been 5 days since the First Class Marines of the Marine Corps put on their yearly event. As most know, I participated in the full marathon. One also has the option of running a 10K there.
What turned out to be a spectacular weekend for Laura and I began taking a nice Saturday AM flight to Reagan airport (KDCA), which ranks at the top of my list as secondary big city airports. After several years of flying to DC in the past, I'm well aware of the battle of will and patience that Dulles puts you through.
We checked in at our hotel in Crystal City, and hopped on the Metro heading towards the Expo in DC. However, stop number 1 was at the Jon Stewart "Rally to Restore Sanity" in the National Mall.
We figured that at least once in your life, you should attend a political rally in Washington DC. And in this case, we were delighted to attend a rally that had no political agenda to put forth, no axe(s) to grind, encouraged an effort to promote the idea of reasonable and respectful political discourse; in short, the non-political political rally!
That was an enjoyable event, and I will for a long time remember the "Battle of the Bands" between Cat Stevens playing "Peace Train", and Ozzie Osbourne playing "Crazy Train". With the solution being the O'Jays coming out to play "Love Train"!
A brief comment on the crowd of 250,000 people that attended the event along with us. I would say, and this is zero exaggeration that it was the friendliest group of people I've ever been around. There were lots of signs, and none that I would consider mean or unkind. In some small way, I left the event a bit more encouraged...'A government for the people, of the people...'.
Off to the expo then. Back to the Metro we went, up to the Convention Center. A quick note on the Metro. It's a great system, but certainly was maxed out on Saturday. We found some amazingly long lines just to get into the station, let alone get on the train. From what I could tell, Washington DC has about 5 cabs in operation, so Laura and I spent a goodly amount of time waiting in lines on Saturday.
The Expo itself was pretty much standard fare. Nothing to write home about, nor blog on about, other than the ubiquitous 10 foot Cryin' Ryan standing to greet you.
Well, I should say...almost nothing to write home about. Many of you know about the "Pinkowski Challenge". After the 85 degree clam bake of the Chicago Marathon, we are at Pinkowski 2, Tom 0. (someday I'll fix that). However, I have a NEW challenge. I'll let the picture below tell the story of that. Hint: Think of a popular Chicago television hostess.
One other comment about the Expo: As we walked into the convention center towards the Expo, I saw a stairway marked "Supreme Court". "How cool is that?", I thought. All the while thinking "I didn't realize the Supreme Court was in the Convention Center". Well, after we were leaving the Expo, we went for a quick coffee. Up we went to...take a wild guess...the "Supreme Court". It turns out the Convention Center has named their FOOD COURT the "Supreme Court"!! Further evidence of my napping during social studies.
The goody bag was great, probably one of the best. Certainly the shirt is a winner, it's a black long sleeve turtleneck that really looks great.
Back to the hotel for a carbo meal, setting like 5 alarms on my iPhone for O-Dark-Thirty, putting my running ensemble together for the next day, and a good nights sleep.
A bright, sunny, and COOL Halloween Sunday began the day, and it had all the makings of a great day for a long run. I stayed down in Crystal City, very close to the Metro line, which was just a 2 stop hop to the Pentagon. From there, it was about 3/4 of a mile to walk to the starting area.
Myself and a sea of marathon runners crowded the start area. I was ready to implement my first strategy, which was start with the Jim Laubsted level runners. Why? Well, for not just myself but several folks I talked to, this was not really a 26.2 mile marathon, but a 20 mile marathon. For you needed to be at the 20 mile "Bridge" before 1:15PM, or else! Or else they put your butt on a bus and zap you back to the Virginia side of the race. The race FAQ was very emphatic about that. Along with the request that runners who got bussed back "not collect a medal". Pressure man, pressure!
For me then, the strategy was to "Beat The Bridge". Anything else was icing on the proverbial cake after that. And I was ready.
So, at 8:00 sharp, the Howitzer was fired (really...Ka Boom!) and myself and all the other Boston qualifiers at the 3:30 finish time sign blasted off. No messing around for me, I need to Beat the Bridge!! Considering I was passing some folks with my 11:00 initial pace, I'm pretty sure some folks had the same idea. I made it to the Starting line at 8:15. The Start area is divided into two lanes of Marathon Runner Traffic to presumably expedite the start. Or in my case, soon cause a moment of confusion...
As mentioned, the Marines run a 10K and Marathon. I mention this again because about 1/2 mile into the race, after the bifurcated Start area, there is a road that goes up, and a road that goes down. Both with runners on them! A momentary panic! I wasn't sure if somehow I had was in the 10K group, so I was spinning around like a top making sure that all those surrounding me had similar bibs.
So, if that was challenge #1, then the Marines were ready with #2 post haste. Welcome to "Oo-Rah" hill. It was long, constant rise, taking you from 22 feet to 240 feet over 2 1/2 miles. Then it dropped you back down to about 22 feet over the next 2 1/2 miles. However, it was scenic through the Virginia fall forests, it was the first part of the marathon, and I had a Bridge to Beat. As a point of comparison, the first big hill at the Air Force run was about 140 feet rise over about 1 1/2 miles., with a very gradual 90 drop back over the next 4 miles.
After about 1/4 mile "rest" on level ground and crossing the bridge from Virginia into DC, challenge #3 came into sight, which was going back up from 22 feet to 200 feet over the next 3 1/2 miles. Another hill, more lovely fall scenery, and actually lots of people in a pretty good mood. I think many of them had run this course before.
You might not actually be asking the question at this point, but by about Mile 8 I can't really recall any or many porta-potties. While I was doing fine, I had my induction into potty breaks, Marine Corps style. Which was scoot off about 20 feet into the woods and take care of business. I guess women are not so shy in this race, since there seemed to be an equal number of ladies returning from the "trip to the woods" as men.
OK, coming down from Hill 2 leads you into Georgetown which is filled with supporters. I mean, loud smiling honest-to-goodness happy-to-see-ya supporters. What a boost, and I was really having a great day at that point. I knew there were 2 main hills, and I'd finished them both. I was actually ahead of my 5:45 pace, so was starting to feel very confident about making my date with the Bridge.
The next 10 miles were really a treat. The course (see map below) exits Georgetown, hits Foggy Bottom and takes you a few miles down the Potomac, past some nice memorials, and through a loop around Potomac Park. On this lovely sunny day, the town of DC looked superb. This was about 6 miles, 4 miles down the Potomac, then another 2 back up towards the main area of DC.
Back up the East side of Potomac Park and the true DC Scenic Trip begins. You head up towards the National Mall, and it's like taking a running (or run/walk) tour of DC. You buzz along the North side of the Mall, out East towards the Capital Building, and then back down and West along the South side of the Mall. Lots and lots of great looking buildings, lots of folks out touring DC and shouting encouragement. The DC Tour was about 4 miles, so you know what that means?!?
Ta-Da!! The Bridge! At the 20 mile mark, I'm well ahead of the cut-off time, in fact even ahead of my 5:45 pace. I have to say that was a happy moment for me, I really didn't want to take any bus back, or have to figure out crazy gyrations to get back across the Potomac. And after taking the 1 mile trip across the Bridge, I'm not sure how you would have crossed over. There is no pedestrian walkway, it's both bridge and highway. So, a word to the wise: plan your run with the Bridge in mind.
I decided to throttle back a little bit, I think perhaps the hills took some of my energy reserves. I still felt great, no calf cramps (the bane to Air Force and Chicago), so went on cruise control and pondered what sort of medal I'm now sure that I'm going to see at the end of the race. A few technicalities here: I ended up taking four "S!Caps" for salt/potassium during the run, as well as having I believe it was 4 Gu's. I also gobbled down an orange at about Mile18 or so...that was seriously excellent. Water support was great throughout the run, and I believe I stayed well hydrated...mostly with water and occasional sports drink.
So, Miles 22-26 take you back up a smaller hill (although hill nonetheless) up through Crystal City (a nice area), and back up towards the Pentagon. Apparently, some of the Marines have run Chicago, because once you hit the 26 mile marker, it's back up a hill for the final .2! By then you're done with hills, but once you make the rise, you turn and there's still all sorts of supporters, both civilian and Marine, cheering you on to the Finish. Really, it was just a great finish. I mean, I'm coming in at a little over 6 hours and there are plenty of Marines enthusiastically telling me "Great finish, sir". Seriously grand way to end the run.
Hats off to the Marines! They put on a race that was inspirational on many levels, took you through some lovely forested scenery, and gave you a patriots tour of Washington DC. I'd highly, very highly, recommend this run to anyone.
Now for the (sometimes fuzzy since I was usually on the run) pictures...
The Metro system: Jammed up Saturday and Sunday
Saturday: The Rally To Restore Sanity, and the Hoosiers are at the forefront!
Saturday: Battle of the Bands--Cat Stevens and Ozzie Osbourne
(along with Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert)
Saturday: The Expo Challenge..."Beat Oprah", and her 4:29 time.
Like the Pinkowski Challenge isn't enough!
Race Day:
Busy Bees get ready to run
Cathie!
And we're off...
The Military Horsemen send you off on Mile 1
Why spend the money on the Vibram 5 fingers?
One of the hill challenges (believe this was hill #2)
Some of the real heroes of the race! These guys had a
runner in front and behind who would make sure the
wheelchair racer could pass through. Needless to say,
as for many others, the hills were a challenge to them
too. What was great was everyone cheered them on as
they passed you by.
Lots of patriots. Lots of folks who had shirts commemorating
a lost family member from military action. Lots of charities
represented. I wore my ABTA shirt from the Chicago
race and had a few folks stop by while I was running to
mention the good work of that charity.
Back into DC.
Some of the scenery
More scenery
A great day to see the sights
Washington Monument
Horseman, can't recall with memorial this was. Plenty of
memorials to see though, that's for sure.
Scenery again
A sign everyone loved! Especially yours truly.
Beat the Bridge!! This guy was jumping up and down,
spinning the sign. I was jumping up and down. It was a
jump-fest of a celebration for a few minutes.
Here's the infamous "Beat the Bridge" moment:
Gas mask guy. Hard to see, he was booking along. I happened
to read about him in the race program, he runs the full
marathon with a gas mask on as a tribute to fallen
marines.
A picture I missed was of the probably 20 Marines in
full fatigues, full packs (and boots too!) that did the full
marathon! Go Marines!!
Mile 26...what a great sight to see, isn't it.
My presenter. A great guy.
Just after the medal.
The Iowa Jima Memorial
Thanks for the idea, Emily
Yes, proof indeed. A great finish to my 3 marathon spree, and the qualifier
run for entry to the Marathon Maniacs!
The Course Map:
Course Elevation:
So, it's been 5 days since the First Class Marines of the Marine Corps put on their yearly event. As most know, I participated in the full marathon. One also has the option of running a 10K there.
What turned out to be a spectacular weekend for Laura and I began taking a nice Saturday AM flight to Reagan airport (KDCA), which ranks at the top of my list as secondary big city airports. After several years of flying to DC in the past, I'm well aware of the battle of will and patience that Dulles puts you through.
We checked in at our hotel in Crystal City, and hopped on the Metro heading towards the Expo in DC. However, stop number 1 was at the Jon Stewart "Rally to Restore Sanity" in the National Mall.
We figured that at least once in your life, you should attend a political rally in Washington DC. And in this case, we were delighted to attend a rally that had no political agenda to put forth, no axe(s) to grind, encouraged an effort to promote the idea of reasonable and respectful political discourse; in short, the non-political political rally!
That was an enjoyable event, and I will for a long time remember the "Battle of the Bands" between Cat Stevens playing "Peace Train", and Ozzie Osbourne playing "Crazy Train". With the solution being the O'Jays coming out to play "Love Train"!
A brief comment on the crowd of 250,000 people that attended the event along with us. I would say, and this is zero exaggeration that it was the friendliest group of people I've ever been around. There were lots of signs, and none that I would consider mean or unkind. In some small way, I left the event a bit more encouraged...'A government for the people, of the people...'.
Off to the expo then. Back to the Metro we went, up to the Convention Center. A quick note on the Metro. It's a great system, but certainly was maxed out on Saturday. We found some amazingly long lines just to get into the station, let alone get on the train. From what I could tell, Washington DC has about 5 cabs in operation, so Laura and I spent a goodly amount of time waiting in lines on Saturday.
The Expo itself was pretty much standard fare. Nothing to write home about, nor blog on about, other than the ubiquitous 10 foot Cryin' Ryan standing to greet you.
Well, I should say...almost nothing to write home about. Many of you know about the "Pinkowski Challenge". After the 85 degree clam bake of the Chicago Marathon, we are at Pinkowski 2, Tom 0. (someday I'll fix that). However, I have a NEW challenge. I'll let the picture below tell the story of that. Hint: Think of a popular Chicago television hostess.
One other comment about the Expo: As we walked into the convention center towards the Expo, I saw a stairway marked "Supreme Court". "How cool is that?", I thought. All the while thinking "I didn't realize the Supreme Court was in the Convention Center". Well, after we were leaving the Expo, we went for a quick coffee. Up we went to...take a wild guess...the "Supreme Court". It turns out the Convention Center has named their FOOD COURT the "Supreme Court"!! Further evidence of my napping during social studies.
The goody bag was great, probably one of the best. Certainly the shirt is a winner, it's a black long sleeve turtleneck that really looks great.
Back to the hotel for a carbo meal, setting like 5 alarms on my iPhone for O-Dark-Thirty, putting my running ensemble together for the next day, and a good nights sleep.
A bright, sunny, and COOL Halloween Sunday began the day, and it had all the makings of a great day for a long run. I stayed down in Crystal City, very close to the Metro line, which was just a 2 stop hop to the Pentagon. From there, it was about 3/4 of a mile to walk to the starting area.
Myself and a sea of marathon runners crowded the start area. I was ready to implement my first strategy, which was start with the Jim Laubsted level runners. Why? Well, for not just myself but several folks I talked to, this was not really a 26.2 mile marathon, but a 20 mile marathon. For you needed to be at the 20 mile "Bridge" before 1:15PM, or else! Or else they put your butt on a bus and zap you back to the Virginia side of the race. The race FAQ was very emphatic about that. Along with the request that runners who got bussed back "not collect a medal". Pressure man, pressure!
For me then, the strategy was to "Beat The Bridge". Anything else was icing on the proverbial cake after that. And I was ready.
So, at 8:00 sharp, the Howitzer was fired (really...Ka Boom!) and myself and all the other Boston qualifiers at the 3:30 finish time sign blasted off. No messing around for me, I need to Beat the Bridge!! Considering I was passing some folks with my 11:00 initial pace, I'm pretty sure some folks had the same idea. I made it to the Starting line at 8:15. The Start area is divided into two lanes of Marathon Runner Traffic to presumably expedite the start. Or in my case, soon cause a moment of confusion...
As mentioned, the Marines run a 10K and Marathon. I mention this again because about 1/2 mile into the race, after the bifurcated Start area, there is a road that goes up, and a road that goes down. Both with runners on them! A momentary panic! I wasn't sure if somehow I had was in the 10K group, so I was spinning around like a top making sure that all those surrounding me had similar bibs.
So, if that was challenge #1, then the Marines were ready with #2 post haste. Welcome to "Oo-Rah" hill. It was long, constant rise, taking you from 22 feet to 240 feet over 2 1/2 miles. Then it dropped you back down to about 22 feet over the next 2 1/2 miles. However, it was scenic through the Virginia fall forests, it was the first part of the marathon, and I had a Bridge to Beat. As a point of comparison, the first big hill at the Air Force run was about 140 feet rise over about 1 1/2 miles., with a very gradual 90 drop back over the next 4 miles.
After about 1/4 mile "rest" on level ground and crossing the bridge from Virginia into DC, challenge #3 came into sight, which was going back up from 22 feet to 200 feet over the next 3 1/2 miles. Another hill, more lovely fall scenery, and actually lots of people in a pretty good mood. I think many of them had run this course before.
You might not actually be asking the question at this point, but by about Mile 8 I can't really recall any or many porta-potties. While I was doing fine, I had my induction into potty breaks, Marine Corps style. Which was scoot off about 20 feet into the woods and take care of business. I guess women are not so shy in this race, since there seemed to be an equal number of ladies returning from the "trip to the woods" as men.
OK, coming down from Hill 2 leads you into Georgetown which is filled with supporters. I mean, loud smiling honest-to-goodness happy-to-see-ya supporters. What a boost, and I was really having a great day at that point. I knew there were 2 main hills, and I'd finished them both. I was actually ahead of my 5:45 pace, so was starting to feel very confident about making my date with the Bridge.
The next 10 miles were really a treat. The course (see map below) exits Georgetown, hits Foggy Bottom and takes you a few miles down the Potomac, past some nice memorials, and through a loop around Potomac Park. On this lovely sunny day, the town of DC looked superb. This was about 6 miles, 4 miles down the Potomac, then another 2 back up towards the main area of DC.
Back up the East side of Potomac Park and the true DC Scenic Trip begins. You head up towards the National Mall, and it's like taking a running (or run/walk) tour of DC. You buzz along the North side of the Mall, out East towards the Capital Building, and then back down and West along the South side of the Mall. Lots and lots of great looking buildings, lots of folks out touring DC and shouting encouragement. The DC Tour was about 4 miles, so you know what that means?!?
Ta-Da!! The Bridge! At the 20 mile mark, I'm well ahead of the cut-off time, in fact even ahead of my 5:45 pace. I have to say that was a happy moment for me, I really didn't want to take any bus back, or have to figure out crazy gyrations to get back across the Potomac. And after taking the 1 mile trip across the Bridge, I'm not sure how you would have crossed over. There is no pedestrian walkway, it's both bridge and highway. So, a word to the wise: plan your run with the Bridge in mind.
I decided to throttle back a little bit, I think perhaps the hills took some of my energy reserves. I still felt great, no calf cramps (the bane to Air Force and Chicago), so went on cruise control and pondered what sort of medal I'm now sure that I'm going to see at the end of the race. A few technicalities here: I ended up taking four "S!Caps" for salt/potassium during the run, as well as having I believe it was 4 Gu's. I also gobbled down an orange at about Mile18 or so...that was seriously excellent. Water support was great throughout the run, and I believe I stayed well hydrated...mostly with water and occasional sports drink.
So, Miles 22-26 take you back up a smaller hill (although hill nonetheless) up through Crystal City (a nice area), and back up towards the Pentagon. Apparently, some of the Marines have run Chicago, because once you hit the 26 mile marker, it's back up a hill for the final .2! By then you're done with hills, but once you make the rise, you turn and there's still all sorts of supporters, both civilian and Marine, cheering you on to the Finish. Really, it was just a great finish. I mean, I'm coming in at a little over 6 hours and there are plenty of Marines enthusiastically telling me "Great finish, sir". Seriously grand way to end the run.
Hats off to the Marines! They put on a race that was inspirational on many levels, took you through some lovely forested scenery, and gave you a patriots tour of Washington DC. I'd highly, very highly, recommend this run to anyone.
Now for the (sometimes fuzzy since I was usually on the run) pictures...
The Metro system: Jammed up Saturday and Sunday
Saturday: The Rally To Restore Sanity, and the Hoosiers are at the forefront!
Saturday: Battle of the Bands--Cat Stevens and Ozzie Osbourne
(along with Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert)
Saturday: The Expo Challenge..."Beat Oprah", and her 4:29 time.
Like the Pinkowski Challenge isn't enough!
Race Day:
Busy Bees get ready to run
Cathie!
And we're off...
The Military Horsemen send you off on Mile 1
Why spend the money on the Vibram 5 fingers?
One of the hill challenges (believe this was hill #2)
Some of the real heroes of the race! These guys had a
runner in front and behind who would make sure the
wheelchair racer could pass through. Needless to say,
as for many others, the hills were a challenge to them
too. What was great was everyone cheered them on as
they passed you by.
Lots of patriots. Lots of folks who had shirts commemorating
a lost family member from military action. Lots of charities
represented. I wore my ABTA shirt from the Chicago
race and had a few folks stop by while I was running to
mention the good work of that charity.
Back into DC.
Some of the scenery
More scenery
A great day to see the sights
Washington Monument
Horseman, can't recall with memorial this was. Plenty of
memorials to see though, that's for sure.
Scenery again
A sign everyone loved! Especially yours truly.
Beat the Bridge!! This guy was jumping up and down,
spinning the sign. I was jumping up and down. It was a
jump-fest of a celebration for a few minutes.
Here's the infamous "Beat the Bridge" moment:
Gas mask guy. Hard to see, he was booking along. I happened
to read about him in the race program, he runs the full
marathon with a gas mask on as a tribute to fallen
marines.
A picture I missed was of the probably 20 Marines in
full fatigues, full packs (and boots too!) that did the full
marathon! Go Marines!!
Mile 26...what a great sight to see, isn't it.
My presenter. A great guy.
Just after the medal.
The Iowa Jima Memorial
Thanks for the idea, Emily
Yes, proof indeed. A great finish to my 3 marathon spree, and the qualifier
run for entry to the Marathon Maniacs!
The Course Map:
Course Elevation:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)