I had an evening red-eye flight out of LAX on American Airlines out to Dulles airport. I reserved covered self-parking with SpotHero at the usual Airport Center Express parking structure. I didn't have to drive all the way up to the top level to find a parking spot this time. I caught the shuttle over to terminal 4 to wait for my flight.
Saturday 10/26
Thank goodness I was able to sleep through most of the flight. The plane landed at Dulles a few minutes before 6 am. The timing was almost perfect as the next MetroBus 5A was at about 6:30 am. After getting off the plane and using the restroom, I made my way over to curb 2E to catch the bus.
Landed in Dulles
The MetroBus 5A from Dulles to Rosslyn Metro Station costs $7.50. Prior to the trip, I had purchased an unlimited 3 day pass for $28 which covered the first $2 of the fare. That brought the fare for the one way trip down to $5.50. The trip took about 30 mins to arrive at the Rosslyn Station.
MetroBus 5A
Since I had some time to pass before meeting up with my friends for brunch, I decided to get some breakfast at the McDonald's across the street. The mobile app was malfunctioning, so I placed my order using one of the kiosks. I got the usual Sausage McMuffin with egg meal.
Breakfast at McDonald's
I still had more time to pass after eating my breakfast, so I walked over to the nearby Target to buy some water for the weekend. I had to wait a few minutes as they weren't open until 8 am on weekends. This wasn't one of the regular full-sized Target stores. It was still clean and well organized, but the selection was much smaller. I bought a couple of bottles of fancy alkaline water and was on my way after paying for the items using one of the self check-out kiosks.
Alkaline water x2
Although the restaurant where I was supposed to meet up with my friends was within walking distance, I decided to head back to the Rosslyn Station and take the Metro since I had an unlimited pass as well as more time to pass. I took the train over to the Court House Station. From there I walked over to Tupelo Honey and waited outside for the restaurant to open as well as for my friends to arrive. This was a great pick by my friends. I do love Southern food. After perusing the menu, I ordered the Tupelo Honey shrimp and grits. It was good, however for breakfast or brunch, it was a tad on the pricey side.
Tupelo Honey shrimp and grits
After we were done and paid for our meals, we headed in the direction of the Rosslyn Metro Station where we went our separate ways. I took the Blue line down to Van Dorn Street Station to catch one of the complimentary shuttles over to the race expo at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center.
I was last here in 2017 and it was just as chaotic as I had remembered. There were people everywhere. I felt like a salmon swimming upstream the entire time. There was one booth dedicated just for those running the 50k. Right next to it, they passed out the race shirt and a patch for the 50k. Apparently this was also the location to pick up the 50k hat that I had pre-ordered. I didn't realized that I had forgotten to pick-up my hat until I had already left the convention center. The email said that I could also pick it up after the race, so I thought nothing more about it.
Packet pick-up
Race shirt
Back of race shirt
Patch
I went through the rest of the expo to check out all of the vendor booths, but it was so crowded that I just wanted to leave. I did manage to buy a new Marine Corps Marathon jacket as my last jacket was from 2009. I was due for an updated jacket.
Marathon Maniacs pace team
Sign the car
Marine Corps Marathon jacket
Back of Marine Corps Marathon jacket
On the way out to the pick-up location for a ride back to the Metro station, I bumped into my fellow Marathon Maniac, Kino. He was the one that got me to join the club. I boarded the bus headed for the Eisenhower Ave Metro Station. My hotel for the weekend was only about a block away from that station.
Since it wasn't check-in time yet, I decided to catch a movie at the AMC Hoffman Center 22. It was conveniently located across the street from my hotel. I watched the movie, Black and Blue. I think their overall message was an attempt to try and ease the tension between the two groups, but it was overly sensationalized and predictable to the point where the story became a bit far-fetched and unbelievable.
After the movie, I walked across the street to check-in to my hotel. For this trip, I stayed at the Holiday Inn Alexandria - Carlyle. Since becoming a WorldMark owner, I've been staying primarily at Wyndham hotels or WorldMark properties. This was an exception since I wanted a place that was right next to a Metro station. I didn't want to have any trouble getting to the start of the race with the 50k having an earlier start time than the marathon.
Holiday Inn Alexandria - Carlyle
After getting settled into my room and taking a shower, I went back out to go eat an early dinner at Chick-fil-A. I went there because the mobile app was giving me a free order of 8 pc grilled nuggets. They must have been aware that I was running a race tomorrow! :) The closest one was in Crystal City. It was a short walk from the Crystal City Metro Station. In addition to the nuggets, I ordered a Chick-fil-A sandwich and waffle fries. They all tasted great with their Chick-fil-A sauce.
Chick-fil-A sandwich, waffle fries, and free 8 pc grilled nuggets
Back at my room, I laid out the flat runner while watching the Astros tie up the series 2-2 by beating the Nationals with a score of 8-1. To think they were talking about the Nationals sweeping the Astros after the first 2 games in Houston!
Flat runner
Sunday 10/27
Rain was pretty much predicted with 100% certainty for today's race. It was raining when I woke up to my alarm. I'm fine with running in the rain, however I was worried that lightning was also in the forecast for later in the day which would almost with certainty lead to a stoppage of the race. Still I got ready and left the hotel a little before 6 am to head over to the Metro station for a ride over to the Pentagon Station. The Metro stations opened earlier on this particular Sunday at 6 am just to accommodate for participants getting to the start of the race. I ended up walking over to the station with a tall guy named George who was from Indiana. Since it was his first time running this race, I was showing him the ropes and giving him tips such as which car to ride on the Metro. We rode on the first car as the middle ones tend to get very crowded as we start picking up more passengers at every stop along the way.
When we arrived at Pentagon Metro Station, my new friend, George, decided to wait in the station a bit longer since it was raining outside and the marathon started a bit later. I wished him a great race and hopped on the escalator to head for the starting line.
Lots of people
Per the usual, it was a very crowded walk over to the starting/staging area in the Pentagon Library North parking lot. Once I got through security bag check, it was much easier to move around. I headed straight for the 50k UPS truck to check my bag. The early Marathon Maniacs pre-race photo was supposed to be there, but I was a few minutes late, missing the photo op. I used a nearby portapotty before heading over to the starting corral on the 110 Richmond Highway. At the start line, I bumped into a couple of my fellow Marathon Maniacs as well as the legendary Michael Wardian who would go on to win the 50k.
Heading to the front
Wet start line
Marathon Maniacs at the start line
Michael Wardian
Going into this race, my body wasn't exactly in the best shape, but things have just started to feel better. I had planned to finish in around 6.5 hours. The 50k course was pretty much the same as the marathon with an added 5 mile out-and-back along Canal Rd starting at about mile 4.5 just as we get off of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. Although it was a bit crowded, I was glad to rejoin the course with those running the marathon. The rain was pretty light until the out-and-back along Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway. After reaching the turnaround at about mile 12.5, the rain really started coming down hard. I thought that my sock was bunching up from my shoes being waterlogged, but later back at the hotel room, I would discover that the insole had moved around and folded up in my shoe. Good thing I had brought along a pair of shoes that I was ready to retire. I was going to bring a new pair until I saw that there was going to be a 100% chance of rain in the weather forecast. The rain did not let up as I ran down along the Potomac River. Some portions of the Ohio Dr were flooded as we ran along the perimeter of the East Potomac Park.
Course map
Arriving at the Washington Monument, I had reached the Gauntlet still feeling pretty good. However the storm had passed with the clouds starting to disappear. The weather pretty much did a 180 turn as the day was turning nice and sunny. The weather was already fairly warm with the rain, so it warmed up in a hurry! I was actually wishing that the rain would return to cool us off. Instead I was having to take walk-breaks more frequently to let my body cool down.
Peace Monument and US Capitol
Humpty Dumpty had wall issues too!
I reached the "Beat the Bridge" checkpoint with plenty of time to spare. For some reason my mind had a hard time dealing with having to run about 5 more miles when I reached the marathon point while coming off of the 14th St Bridge. I hardly ever run ultra-marathons, so my body was confused as to why I was still making it run. :)
That was then followed by reaching the "Crystal City Gauntlet" at about mile 27 for a final out-and-back down to the Crystal City Courtyard Green. There were the usual people passing out Fireball Whisky, but I did not partake. I only had about 4 more miles to go, but my legs were cramping up pretty badly. The last couple of miles was a complete mental grind. I really had very little or nothing left in the tank as I walked across the finish line instead of even trying to jog across it.
Finish: 6:44:06
Click here for my Garmin data.
Relive 'MCM 50k'
The finish of this race was a little bit weird or anti-climatic this year. I believe the downpour of rain in the early half of the day prevented them from setting up a finish line arch or it was washed away. In any case, there was no arch, so a lot of my fellow runners didn't know that they had reached the finish line. Since I've run this race before, I knew to stop my watch at the timing mats where the finish line arch would've been.
They had signs directing the 50k finishers to a separate line to be awarded a 50k finisher medal. After getting a hard-earned medal from a marine, I bumped into a couple of my fellow Marathon Maniacs that had crossed the finish line ahead of me. We took a couple of pictures before we started heading out for the exit.
50k finisher medal
Gabe and JC!
Finish at US Marine Memorial
Along the way, we were given a nice hooded throw-away jacket, a snack box, a banana, and a bunch of drinks. We went our separate ways after we exited out of the secured runner area. I went to go collect my gear bag and to look for my pre-purchased hat.
Throw-away jacket
Post race goodies
The only post-race tent that I could find that was passing out anything happened to be passing out race shirts and hats only for those that had prepaid for race-day pick-up. I explained to them about the information that I was given in the order confirmation email. However the lady didn't really care what I had to say and just told me to email their contact email and the hat will be mailed out to me.
Contact info
I normally would walk over to the Arlington Cemetery Metro Station to catch a train back to my hotel, but this time I decided to go to the nearby Rosslyn Station. Man, was it packed just trying to get inside the station! The lines were even worse if you needed to purchase fare. Thank goodness I had my unlimited pass! It was a bit better after getting through the fare gates, but never again! I will definitely walk over to Arlington Cemetery next time.
Back at my room, I got cleaned up and watched game 5 of the World Series where the Astros won again, beating the Nationals 7-1 to lead the series 3-2 with the home team losing every single game. That trend will have to continue if the Nationals are to win the World Series as it moves back to Houston for the final 2 games.
For dinner, I took the Metro back to Crystal City. I decided to check out Good Stuff Eatery as I was craving a nice hefty burger. I had walked by this place yesterday and ran by it during the race. After perusing the menu, I got in line and order their Big Stuff Bacon Meltdown and a Milky Way Malt Shake. The patties were a bit overcooked for my liking, but the burger did hit the spot. The Malt Shake was a nice treat to go with the burger.
Big Stuff Bacon Meltdown and Milky Way Malt Shake
Monday 10/28
I checked-out of the hotel about a quarter after 11 am. I took the Metro over to Crystal City one last time to eat lunch at Chick-fil-A before I do a little bit of a walking tour of our nation's capital. It was much more crowded today compared to Saturday night. I was fortunate enough to have found a small table to sit down and order my food via their mobile app. My order was the usual, 2 of their famous Chick-fil-A sandwiches with Chick-fil-A sauce.
Chick-fil-A sandwich x2
After I was done with my food, I walked over to the Metro station to head over to the National Mall. I had just missed the Yellow line so I waited for the next Blue line train which I rode over to the Smithsonian Station.
Here were the places that I visited:
- Washington Monument
- World War II Memorial
- Martin Luther King, Jr Memorial - This was actually my first time visiting this memorial. It's located South of the Reflecting Pool. There were several of Dr King's famous quotes along the surrounding walls.
- Lincoln Memorial
- Reflecting Pool
Washington Monument
World War II Memorial
Martin Luther King, Jr Memorial
"Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that."
Lincoln Memorial
Reflecting Pool
After I was done showing Lincoln my finisher medal, I started heading over to the Foggy Bottom Metro Station for a quick ride over to the Rosslyn Station. It turned out to be a little bit of an uphill walk to the station. Just outside of the Metro Station was a bust of George Washington. I remembered way back when George Washington University was sending me a ton of admissions brochures when I was applying for colleges back in high school. The pictures in the brochures were so nice that I almost sent in my application. It's been ages and if I remember correctly, I ended up applying to only schools that were part of the University of California system (UCLA, Berkeley, San Diego, and Irvine).
George Washington University
Over at the Rosslyn Station, I had time before the next MetroBus 5A to Dulles was due, so I popped inside McDonald's for an iced coffee. This time I was able to get the mobile app to work. That drink really hit the spot as I was out of water and was pretty thirsty from walking around.
Iced Coffee
There was quite a large group of people waiting by the time the bus showed up. Although I was among the first to be at the bus stop, there were late comers pushing their way to the curb so they could board the bus sooner rather than later. If you were polite, chances are you won't be getting a seat on the bus and will have to settle for standing room. For some reason that I can't think of, the person that was first in line didn't bother to have her fare ready. Why bother pushing to the front when you're not going to be ready?
Once I arrived at Dulles, I used the restroom before heading to the line for the TSA security screening. After taking care of that, I headed over to the Chipotle in the terminal to get something to eat before I hunker down at my gate and wait for my flight home. I got the usual chicken salad. These days, I don't bother with the messiness of a burrito.
Chicken salad
Originally when I booked my flight, it was a direct flight home. Eventually it got changed where I had to make a connection in Dallas Fort Worth. During the second leg of my trip home, I watched The Hustle. The story was kind of dumb, but it was somewhat entertaining and had some funny moments. It was good enough to help pass the time. The plane landed in LAX about a quarter till midnight. Thankfully I was able to get on a shuttle back to the Airport Center Express parking structure without having to wait.
The Hustle
A couple of days after the race, I was able to download a pretty nice looking finisher certificate. Fancy! Looked pretty enough to possibly frame it! I don't remember getting one of these the other times that I've run this race.
Finisher certificate
In the week following the race, I emailed them to see how they would be sending me my hat. The response was fairly quick, however the person informed me that they would need to collect an additional $7.50 for shipping and handling. Hmmm, that wasn't in any of the communications about getting the hat especially since they weren't even passing them out after the race as stated in their email. I didn't argue since I just wanted the damn hat for which I had already paid. All's well that ends well since the hat arrived shortly and was a nice looking hat to commemorate my completion of the inaugural 50k race!
MCM 50k hat
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