40th Marine Corp Marathon Expo

November 2, 2015

The Marine Corp 40th Marathon was a very special marathon to me. The medal I earned from this race is going to go in a special place. It was one of the hardest races I have ever done. Harder than my first marathon. As I was reliving it and telling my husband about it, he told me it sounds like it was a traumatic experience for me. It kind of was.

Let’s start from the beginning. This is going to be a two part story. The first part is the Expo. I took a flight out of CT at 9:00 a.m. and arrived in Washington D.C. at DCA at 10:30. I tried to snooze a little on the plane. I was pretty tired. I set my alarm for 5:30 with all intentions of leaving the house by 6:30. I have TSA pre-check now so I knew going through security could be a little faster. I almost left the house at 6:30. That was, until I realized I was missing a few things. I had to go back into the house and tip toe around in my room to find the things that I was missing. One of them being my compression sleeves and the second one was a cord that was in my office. I knew I was going to wake up my husband as I had to go through the closet in our room to access the new addition where the office is. The main house and the addition are still not completely attached for general access. So we have a small entryway from inside our closet. Anyway…. I was on the road to the airport a little after 7:00 a.m. Ooops. Not to fear, I reached the parking lot by 7:45 and was through security and at a Dunkin Donuts before 8:00. Plenty of time to have a tea and wait to board.

The flight was easy and when I arrived I followed the signs at DCA to get to the Metro. I purchased a Metro card and then got on the train. I was lucky, the first stop is Crystal City where my hotel is. I got off the train tried to figure out how to get out of the Metro tunnel and then found my way around. I went to the Dunkin Donuts there and picked up a hot chocolate. I was feeling like I needed a little pep. I was also lucky to find a Rite Aid right inside the mall that is in Crystal City. This mall is cool. It’s all underground and is part of the Metro and hotel area. I was looking at the weather forecast and it was calling for rain for race morning so I wanted to grab some ponchos from Rite Aid while I was there. It was also a perfect chance for me to get some waters and snacks at an affordable cost rather than at the expo center or within the hotel. I checked at the hotel desk and was fortunate to be able to check in early. I brought everything up to my room, laid out what I could for my gear to make sure I had everything and didn’t need any special at the expo and then texted Kimberlee and Anne to find out where and when to meet.

It was close to noon so I went back down to the Metro and took the train to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. I had to walk a few blocks from the station to the Convention Center and then quite a distance along the convention center to the actual hall where the Marine Corp Marathon Expo was being held. There were two other large events taking place at the Convention Center, so it was easy to get lost if you didn’t follow the signs.

Anne spotted me as I got to the bottom of the escalator and we went to pick up my bib and shirt. It was exciting to receive my bib and shirt from the Marines.

It really added to the excitement of the event. The expo was quite large. The first place we went was to the Brooks Official Merchandise Area. My friend Jennifer had picked up a jacket for me that morning because things were selling out quickly. In addition I purchased a visor, a pin, a glass and a windbreaker from the Brooks Official Merchandise Area. This race was a big deal to me and I wanted to purchase some nice things to commemorate it.

I was planning on meeting Sid Busch at the expo around 2:00. I gave him a call and he said that he was at home resting. He had been on his feet all day the day before giving out shirts and then volunteered again Saturday morning so he really needed to take a break. He had just run his 200th marathon the weekend before in Baltimore so he was feeling the effects of it along with being so busy for the past two days. We made plans to find each other at the race start.

Anne and I were keeping our eyes open for Kimberlee. She landed later than I did and also checked into her hotel which was near the Convention Center. While we waited for her, Anne and I explored the Expo floor. I ran into Susana Cruz from the Mickey Milers.  I met her out in Chicago when I was there to run the Rock and Roll Chicago Half Marathon.

After pictures with Susana, I was shopping around and found a cute Running Skirts Camo skirt that would match nicely with my grey Mintz + Hoke shirt so I purchased it to wear instead of the Sparkle Athletic skirt I packed. I also had a mission to find Jeff Galloway, Sweaty Bands and Sparkly Soul head bands. As we shopped the expo floor we found Jeff and Barbara Galloway and I had him sign my bib and take a picture with me, as I always do at the races he is visiting. Not long after that we met up with Kimberlee.

We weaved up and down the rows of the Expo floor with her so she could also shop the vendor booths. During our shopping I came across Fitletic and decided to purchase a new fuel belt that would be large enough to hold my new larger iPhone Plus 6s and also have room to store fuel. That had been on my shopping list as well because I didn’t want to wear a Spibelt plus and additional belt for fuel. We also found Kimberlee’s favorite booth, Beecause Charms. She has the cutest charms on her sneakers and I was never a charms person; but once I got my eyes on the Marine Corp Marathon Charms, along with red, white and blue stars and then when you purchase those plus an American flag charm, proceeds from the purchase of the American flag charm goes to wounded warriors.

Just before we left we signed the Pace Car! That was a first for me. We weren’t sure when and where we were going to see the pace car, but we signed our names on it, along with 24,000 other people! We all realized it was getting late and I had to get from the Convention Center to Crystal City for my Mickey Milers Pasta dinner at Portofino. It was already 4:15 and I had to take the Metro to Crystal City where my hotel was and walk a few blocks to the restaurant. We took some last minute pictures and then headed off to our night’s events.

My train was delayed at the Metro so I texted my Mickey Milers friends and let them know to not wait up for me but I’d be there as soon as I could. I eventually arrived a little after 5:25 and ordered linguine and meatballs. I figured that would be a safe dinner choice. We enjoyed the company, I sat with Chris Smith, Susanna Cruz and her husband, Dave Dunkowski and his girlfriend, who had just become a grandmother at 5:37 that evening, and Eric and his daughter. Dinner took a long time to come out of the kitchen and we didn’t leave the restaurant until around 8:00. I walked back with Chris and Meghan Gorny and we made plans to hook up at 5:15 in the morning to walk to the shuttle.

By the time I got to my room and got ready for bed I was exhausted. I got my food and tea ready for the morning, got the rest of my gear laid out and I was in my bed by 9:00 saying goodnight to the family. I was asleep by 10:00 with the alarm set for 4:00 a.m.

I really enjoyed the Expo and the Mickey Milers Pasta dinner. It was a nice day prior to the race. It was fun to hang out with friends, explore the goodies at the expo and find some new gear.

Stay tuned for my race recap of the hardest marathon I ever ran to date!