Sights and sounds from the Marine Corps Marathon

The 10K is finally done! Here are some sights from the day.
This is the Marathon start like.

The 10k had 5000 participants. Heres how the 10K lineup looked like.


There were so many people also cheering from the sidelines. The Marines, in their sharp, crisp uniforms, were handing out powerade and water to the runners.


How did I do? The first mile was nice and breezy and I was running and all chatty with my neighbors. When we saw the first mile marker, we all joked about how well we were doing. I tried not to go too fast and tire myself out. According to my calculation, I was pacing myself at a steady 5 mile per hour pace, something I was used to during training. That meant I was covering each mile in 12 minutes. During mile 1-2 was completely warmed up and ready to go more! As mile marker 3 rolled around, I saw the better half waiting for me there, to click pictures. I was super thrilled and posed for some nice pictures (that meant I stopped for 30 secs or so) and was off on my way all excited. Mile 3-4 was the most painful yet. I started getting crampy and tired but as soon as I was slowing down, the good marines started cheering from the sidelines......"#2658 don't give up!"...this sent me rolling on my way. Once I saw the 4th mile marker, I knew I could run the rest of the 2 miles without crashing! Mile 4-5 provided some steep turns but the distance seemed really short. The home stretch on mile 5-6 was super easy and I was really fast and made up for my slow running in the first half. I was hoping for a 75 minute finish. The last 0.2 miles were really steep but there were teddy bears, and lots of sweet people sheering us on and I sprinted to the finish line in an hour and 13 minutes(73 minutes)! Not a remarkable time but it is my personal best so far.
Here is the medal that now proudly sits in my living room:

I must say it was an exhilirating experiece and I would like to do a few more 10Ks before I try a half marathon. The Marine Corps Marathon was especially a good idea because there were all sorts of people like me who were running, and that gave me enough encouragement to go the extra mile. No wonder it is called the People's marathon. I should say, seeing the crisp, sharp, handsome marines up close is a plus!!