October is month for racing.
I would not have signed up for the Army Ten, but it was part of the military series I am doing, which includes Coast Guard Marathon in Elizabeth City, NC, Air Force Marathon in Dayton, Ohio, Army Ten Miler in Arlington, VA, Marine Corps Marathon in Arlington, Space Force T Minus Ten (10 miler) in Cape Canaveral, and Navy Ten Miler in San Diego, CA.
I wish all the races are marathons, for the travel we have to do. I love running marathons. Caroline told me, Navy used to have the Blue Angel Marathon in Pensacola.
The Navy 10, this year, we could add on a 5k before the 10 miles race and make it a half marathon. The 5K starts about an hour before the 10 miler. I was not aware of this option when I signed up, so I did not have the 5k. It is an option though. I might sign up the 5k separately. Navy race is next year in February.
Most people use the Army 10 (ATM) race as a shake out run before the Marine Corps Marathon, which is about two weeks apart.
I ran ATM a few years back in 2022 (report). I always like it. The weekends in October were alway busy especially the Columbus Day Weekend, ATM falls on. If it was not so, I would have done it every year. I usually want to fit in a long trip, like camping or long weekend run at the Wild Oak Trail something like that than a 10 mile run locally.
It is a good race primarily for me is to see sights around nation capital. Though I live near the nation’s capital, my chance to run there has been rare now since our company moved outside of the beltway.
It was a plus for me to see the familiar landmarks, like Washington Monument, museums, the 14th st bridge, and many of the same sights one would see if running in the Marine Corps Marathon.
So while I was running, I was thinking on the mileage of the MCM course, imagining myself doing it.
Like any big races, especially in DC, we had to pick up the bib way ahead of time. The race was on Sunday, so I picked up the bib on Friday. I knew Saturday would have been chaotic, and also, I had some other thing to do.
In past years, we picked up the bib in the DC Armory, but this year they moved it to St James, a big sport gym in Springfield. It is a big gym (maybe the biggest one) with indoor soccer field(s) and couple of indoor ice rinks, a rock climbing wall and swimming pool(s). It is to me like the city convention center.
The St James place is big enough to handle the crowd but the only problem is it lacks of parking and mass public transportation (metro). Metro is nearby (not sure if it is 3-5 miles away, but it is not within the walking distance. We parked on some side streets and walked to the gym. We picked up our bib during a Friday rush hour around 5 pm, so, it requires a lot of patience to get around. Some cars were parking on the lawn at the gym. It was mayhem. We took the opportunity to dine at a vietnamese restaurant nearby after picking up the bib to wait out the traffic.
On race day, we woke up zero dark hour. I assumed most people would take the public transportation (Metro) to the race. I tried that one year and I tried driving and parked in Crystal City and then walked couple miles to the Pentagon.
This time, I carpooled with Caroline and she parked at her office which was just couple block away from the start. We were there still at least couple hours before the start to avoid various roadblocks (by 5:30 am). We (I) spent our time at a Starbucks until it was closer to the start. Caroline was using the porcelain toilet at her office and staying warm there while I waited at Starbucks.
The forecast was rain during the morning around the time most runners get to the middle of the race unless runners finish fast. I dressed for rain with my Patagonia Houdini and a rain poncho. The morning was kind of chilly.
I had expected security check, but unlike MCM, there was none at least not metal detector/bag search, etc.
I did my gear check whi h was near metro entrance. They might have maps and information on gear check, but I did not find them. It would have helped me that morning. I generally followed the crowd and found the tables for gear check. I think this could have done better with bigger signages, etc. Also, I signed up at the last minute, so I was assigned a large number for my bib. Gear check station was based on the two leading digits on my bib like 24-25 something, meaning I was at the last table. When I arrived at my gear bag table, the volunteer decided to close the station and consolidated with the one next to it, however it was not communicated clearly. She was sending everyone to the first station, which was far away. Then I realized they were not taking my bags at the first table and the volunteers there sent me back to the other end and I had to line up all over again. It was a small hiccup. As a runner trying to get everything ready before the start, it was frustrating.
My running friends who had done the ATM the prior year told me how Army Ten seems to be less organized than the Marine Corps and the day seemed to prove true. MCM is so much better at handling logistics and big crowd of 30-40 thousands plus people.
After the gear check, I lined up with many other people for the Pot-o-Johns. There were many but also many runners were waiting. Weather was turning bad and it started to rain. I seemed to be in the wrong line and other people on the other line seemed to use the toilets for our line (later found out there was one I was lining up was for ladies only, hence ladies from the other line went over to ours). Eventually, I reached one available and did my business. Caroline told me she would be going back to her office and wait for the start from there and told me to meet at the underpass of a bridge when it is time to start.
So after peeing, I went to the underpass to look for her because the rain was getting heavier. They had different banners telling where to line up in the parking lot and that created the confusion for me and I thought, since I was second to last wave, the start was at or near the underpass. I think many people had mistakenly thought the same that the start would be near there.
There were many people waiting out the rain under the underpass I found Caroline who did not go to her office but was mingling with runners. We took pictures and killed time.
Caroline had the first wave. So according the time, the first wave has started. So I was wondering why she was still there. I was still standing around thinking about where the start would be when would it get to my wave. Then I realized, what if the start was not where I was but further away. So Caroline and I started running to the start. I think maybe half a mile away. I wish signage and better PA announcement would have helped.
I found my real starting wave and I told Caroline, try to get up to the front where they already started. I would meet her later. I would try to look for her once it was my wave turn to run.
Rain did let up. I was excited with many others in my wave. ATM doesn’t arrange people based on their race pace (or that what I think). During the race, there were many faster runners behind me who caught up to me and passed me. I was in the second to last wave. Or also maybe some were confused by the sign in the parking lot or they might have arrived late. It was bib timed so starting late would not affect one’s finishing ranking (unless someone is going for the win).
I ran for about 8 miles before catching to Caroline. I enjoyed the DC downtown section, where we saw runners coming back from the opposite side. I screamed till I started losing my voice. We clapped and cheered runners ahead of us. It was fun running in the rain.
By the eighth mile, I started walking. My legs were done. I walked with Caroline to the finish. She was telling me to go ahead. I could have finish earlier but probably not by much, maybe 5 or so minutes.
There were further confusion at the finish, such as getting the race medal, collecting the race food and where to go afterward. There were buses taking us back, except I did not know where. There was a big field with many tents. It was getting cold and rain started again. I tried to ask for direction of where the drop bag would be, thinking it would be in one of the those tents, because the area seemed to be a finisher village. No one knows. Finally someone told us the drop bags would be at where we left them near the metro entrance. It was maybe a mile away. So we walked with many other people on the road back to the start line and then to the Metro.
I collected my gear bag and changed into dry clothes. Then we went to a good Korean restaurant for lunch.
The race was everything I was hoping for even with the slight hiccups at the start and the finish. It was fun, even though my pace was slow.
One thing surprised me was how my legs got tired so soon. I was thinking how much I would suffer in the Marine Corps Marathon and I might not be able to finish that one, which is two and half times longer. The report for MCM will have to wait for another post.
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