Marine Corp Marathon, Washington DC

(Right before the finish!)

My second MCM is in the books. What an experience! With Hurricane Sandy threatening the race with wind and rain, she managed to stay away from the DC area until we finished. The weather could not have been better. 50 degree’s, cloudy and just a few periods of stiff winds. We had two Osprey planes flyover to start the race. As many of you have read in previous blogs of my marathons I always include the funny costumes that people wear as they run. The MCM this year did not disappoint. I saw a Viking (Well we actually ran together for about 6 miles); he didn't know he was actually pacing me. We had people as bananas, saw Elvis (Yep he is still alive), saw a WWF girl (well she was dressed as one), saw an Incredible and many women in pink tutus. The race again did not disappoint on the Gatorade and Water stations, BUT the start has got to change. The MCM sounds the gun and we just start walking then run. We are all supposed to look for the time we want to finish by the big timing displays on the shoulder of the road before the race, but I wonder why they don’t do a better job at corralling us. For the Rock and Roll Marathons, we are corralled and then each corral starts 1½ mins apart for spacing. Much smoother and orderly. This is also a benefit for the runner, who wants to get into a rhythm early, not after 8 miles of zig zagging through the madness. I was again IMPRESSED with the Marines. From the stations to the finish line...the Marines were always yelling and supporting as we ran. I had three running friends (Brian, his wife Michele and Susan) come in town for the race and stay with us. Brian and Susan both ran the MCM too. It was great having them here for the race and Susan got stranded with the Hurricane and stayed with us an extra couple of days.  

Now to the race, I was up at 5 am to eat as I always. I had oatmeal and coffee. I made sure I had my energy gels (Jello type), music and headphones before we headed out. It took us about 10 mins to get to the metro stop. And just that quick we were headed to the MCM waiting area at the Pentagon. Once we arrived, I was to meet up with a friend of mine who was racing his first marathon, but with the madness of people I never found him. Brian, Susan and I headed to the start line (About a quarter of a mile walk).  First stop for me...yep the porta-john (pre-race ritual). The lines were so long and we were running out of time to get to the start, so Brian and I headed out to find a tree...LOL. Well we ended up finding some porta-johns that no one knew about, so we were able to take care of our business.

The race started at 7:55 am...well I think it did. The gun went off and I was still running to get to the 3:45 timing corral. I had no time to think of the race...walked right up and started walking to the start line. As it was last year, the first several miles were just WAY too crowded.

In the first 2 miles I encountered a steep hill incline, but I was most bothered by the crowded runner madness. I knew it was coming early in the race, so my strategy was to go slow and save the energy for later in the race. We encountered another hill at around mile 6-7 and again I kept with my strategy of going slow to save energy. The next 5 miles moved quickly and before I knew it I was at the half-way point, crossing in 1:59 knowing I started a few mins after the gun so I was on a good pace, but I felt my legs getting tired. All I could think was...crap I have 13 more miles to go, but I pushed through and actually felt myself getting stronger as the race moved into the later stages.

Miles 14-20 went rather smooth, I ran by the Washington Memorial, the Natural and American History Bldg’s and around by the Capital. Miles 21-25 seemed like a blur except the moment the 4:00 hr pace group passed me. I started thinking about the elusive Under 4 hour’s goal I set for myself. I remember thinking how upset I was (Well actually I was PISSED) that they were passing me. As I reached Mile 26 I was thinking of my strategy to climb that final Hill before the finish. You see this was no normal Hill climb...this was downright steep in a very short distance...Marines had to think of this last grueling turn. To my surprise my wife Tiffany popped out of the crowd and told me to “come on”, “come on”. She ran up ahead of me and snapped the photo you see at the top of this blog. It was great to have her at the finish! What a refreshing hug!!

As some of you might have read over Facebook, I ran this marathon in HONOR of Traci Bernicke Inman for being a survivor of breast cancer. She has been such an inspiration for so many women that it was the least I could for what she has done!

I had no PBs this go around. Overall 4:03, Half-way 1:59.

Forgiving Others

Not forgiving others is one of the tactics used by Satan to disrupt, distract and destroy us. It can be said that there is nothing more difficult to do in this life than to forgive others and ourselves of mistakes, errors, untruths, murder, violence and abuse.

Each of us was, is and will continue to be imperfect and will dork things up. We fall to the enemy’s snares and hurt people through ignorance and stubbornness. For anyone unwilling to forgive someone else, in reality are either unwilling to forgive themselves or feel they have nothing in their own life needing forgiveness. 

We can be so stubborn and selfish and want what we want when we want it and have no patience for those who slow us down, wanting to mentor us or heaven forbid improve us. We fight the idea of forgiving someone else. We expect someone who has wronged us to crawl on their knees to us begging before we even consider granting them forgiveness.

We are so quick to point out someone else’s dirtiness while not seeing the dirtiness of SELF. We are good at spotting the littlest thing that someone else does wrong without even looking in the mirror at our own transgressions. We believe those who commit sin must repent while making excuses and reasons why we don’t need to do the same.

Think about this…what if those dirty people come into our path to teach us a lesson? This lesson may be exactly what we need. Think of all the people you have encountered in your life. As you think back on the last time you saw a particular person; it may have been weeks ago, years ago, or a once in a lifetime encounter. The reason…this person served their purpose in your life. Bottom-line, each experience or encounter serves a specific purpose.

So if the encounter is a lesson, think about the people who have hurt you. Have you allowed yourself to forgive them? Or are you still holding the pain? Do you find yourself thinking of revenge, or worse still, acting out those thoughts? Who is holding you prisoner…you or them?

Forgiveness is about taking back control and not allowing negative emotions to rule. It also is about letting go of all those bad emotions that could be responsible for pinning down your relationships! Hanging on to resentment, hatred, or anger will ensure that these destructive feelings WILL spill over into your current life and stop you from enjoying positive, successful relationships.

It takes great humility, honesty, faith and LOVE to forgive someone. Imagine having the same forgiveness Jesus had on the cross when He said “Father forgive them for they know not what they do”.

Until we are willing to ditch our PRIDE or desire for revenge we will never be able to forgive others or accept forgiveness. Love demands us to get off the high cloud you think you are resting on and humbly bow before those who hurt you and say “I Forgive You”. Even if that forgiveness is rejected, we can have the faith to know we followed what God commands of us just as he did on the cross.

The Choice is Yours