As the sun rises over Washington DC, In the Runner's village you can see the mass of runners hanging out stretching, talking to loved ones. The energy is amazing and as an observer, you can feel it.
When the cannon fired after the Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Eric M. Smith gave a motivational speech followed by Sergeant Major Carlos A. Ruiz who riled the runners with classic MOTO. They were all pumped and took off through the arches into Roslyn as they started their journey.
Spectators hustle through barriers to try and find their way to catch glimpses of their runners. We walked through Finisher Village spoke with a few Marines then headed to the Metro to get ahead of the runners to Mile 6. The DC Metro is one of the easiest in the world to navigate, if you have not tried it, we suggest 100% the next time you are in DC, check it out.
The walk from Foggy Bottom station to the bridge over Mile 6 and 9 is not far and there are some great shops you can stop in for a quick bite on the way. As the 23,000 runners flow under the bridge, the crowd is yelling for their runners and complete strangers to keep pushing through. It starts to drizzle here and then the sky clears and the heat starts to rise. (This will be important later). Standing now in the middle of the road as runners pass on both sides you can see the pain starting on some and for others sheer joy as they are accomplishing a lifelong goal. Once a majority of the runners were through we went to the the Metro for a short ride to Federal Triangle (Awesome building). Head down to Constitution and up to the African American Museum to watch as the Runners run towards mile 18 right after they pass the Washington Monument.
We watched here for about 45 minutes and saw many of the runners we watched earlier. Then everyone who had the MCM app was looking at their phones. The MCM had just announced they were cutting off the DC Gauntlet, right at Mile 17, 30 minutes earlier than normal. This was due to the humidity rising at a very fast rate and the number of medical emergencies starting to climb.
So we hustled over to the Gauntlet area to see the confusion of runners as they were hitting it and sent straight towards the infamous Bridge. They did not understand what was happening.
Runner 1: What did we do wrong?
Runner 2: Do we have to get on the struggle bus?
Runner 3: Do we still get to finish and get a medal?
The staff on the course was amazing and did everything they could to encourage runners and keep them motivated. It was in this area we ran into an amazing US Park Police Officer. Her last name was Haley. She had already helped a bunch of runners in this stretch who were having medical issues. As we spoke one was being loaded onto an Ambulance. She then sat with MisFitNation's first MCM runner as she was having a balance issue and just talked to her like she was a friend. The whole time she was still watching the course to ensure no one else needed help. We always hear the bad about Officers and never the good. So if you run into US Park Police Officer Haley, give her a high five and thank her for what she does.
The runners were then directed to the Bridge and into Crystal City. Here as the runners were exiting the Bridge, we were standing with Team Red White, and Blue (Team RWB)as they cheered on the runners. It is here where the APP went off again and the decision was made to cut the course once again. The rising number of medical issues coupled with crazy humidity made it the logical course of action for runner safety. So runners went on a switchback type route back to 110 and on the road to the finish. In these last 2.2 miles, you saw the heart of the running community. Motivation was crushed with the second gauntlet closing and many runners were just walking now. They were all, however, pumping each other up. They were watching out to see if anyone had issues and making sure they were not left behind. We witnessed a man having the same issue as our runner. He was in much worse condition and bent almost fully to his right side. A runner put his arm around him, held him up, and took him to medical where they helped him and he asked to keep going. That runner stayed with him. As they hit mile 25 there were now more runners around him pouring their last water over him talking to him and making sure he was ok. This is a community that has elite runners all the way to the runner on their first journey, yet they will always stop and help each other or just talk to each other to keep them going.
We climbed that last crazy hill to the finish and the statue of Iwo Jima. They had done it, they were finishers, and they completed their journey.
This experience from the other side of the course was amazing for us as we are usually the runners. We were able to see the things we missed over the course of many years and still got to meet many people from all over. We challenge you if you are a runner, to take the role of observer for one race and vice versa, you will appreciate the entire experience much more after.
