3:45:30. That was the time on the clock above the finish line at the National Marathon yesterday morning when I looked up as Chris Hesse and I rounded the final corner of the 26.2 mile course. Just then I slipped to the right of the barricades between the sidewalk and the street, ensuring that I wouldn't cross the finish line as an unregistered runner. We didn't stop there, though, I kept gazing left as I sprinted down the sidewalk, watching Chris continue his sprint to finish the race stronger than I could've imagined.

I started the run with Chris and "local runner" Mike Garrity (who was running the half) on Columbia Road in Adams Morgan, just after the race crossed 18th street. That was around 8am, roughly an hour, somewhere between miles 6 and 7, after Chris and Mike began their respective races at 7am at RFK.

I had gotten up with Chris at 5am to ensure he got out of the house alright. I managed to sneak in a few more minutes of rest after he left the house, but was up again just before 7 and out the door by about 7:20. I walked down Sherman Avenue to Harvard Street and then trekked West towards Adams Morgan. I wanted to see the race leaders, and they came by just as we were by my old apartment at 14h and Harvard Street. There were 3 guys leading the pack, and I believe they were all running the half marathon. Then came more and more men, and eventually the leading woman. It's always fascinating for me to see the front runners. They looks so calm and smooth as they are flying by at 5 min/mile speeds.

As soon as I met up with Chris and Mike we went past the spots I'd just walked by. It was cool to run with Chris past 14th and Harvard since we both lived in separate apartments there. He's been out of DC for a couple of years so the construction changes going on in the area are pretty marvelous to him. Garrity used to live our friend Issa further down Harvard Street, and he pointed out the spot he got mugged at 11th and Harvard. It's pretty fun to run through streets that you know so well.

Speaking of Issa, he and his very pregnant wife Marie (who was scheduled for a C-section the next morning) had linked up with Chris's wife, Sheela, their son, Kaya, and a few other friends just on the corner of Sherman and Harvard. It was great to see all of them, before we took off further down Harvard, across Georgia Avenue, and eventually to North Capital street.

I really needed to use the rest room and stopped at one of the port-a-pottys at the next water station. There were 4 stalls, but nonetheless a short lined had formed. Chris and Mike kept running and after the few minutes it took for the line to dwindle I hustled to catch up to them. It was nice to stretch out my legs a bit and run a tad faster pace, but I was to ensure that I saved some energy. Though I was scheduled to run 20 miles that day, which, of course, is shorter than the 26.2 of the full marathon Chris was running, I need to ensure that my legs would be strong enough to push him at the end, when he needed it most.

Once I caught up to them I was trying to engage both of them in conversation. I was talking about the Washington Capitals hockey team with Garrity, and learned that there are different ways to gain points in the standings in hockey. I didn't realize they'd done away with the tie, in favor of either an overtime win or a shoot out. It used to be that during the regular season if two teams were tied after the 3 regulation, 20 minute periods, a tie was registered for each team and they gained one point in the standings. Now, however, they play overtime, and if that doesn't resolve the winner, they go to a shootout. The eventual winner receives 2 points, and the loser in either of those instances (overtime or shootout) receives one point. However, if the game ends with a clear winner during regulation, the winner still receives two points, but the loser gains no points.

I thought I'd figured it out as clearly as I'd just written it (if you're still confused, don't worry, you probably don't follow hockey anyways), and was trying to affirm this with Garrity. He was having trouble concentrating, so we let it die. Soon thereafter, Garrity had dropped behind both Chris and I. Turns out his concentration problem was due to his need to use the restroom. Unfortunately, it had only been about a mile since I had stopped, and we both knew that the next bathroom was at least another mile ahead. Unfortunately, though, he had to go really badly. I stayed with him as he walked and tried to figure out a solution. At this point there were police everywhere and we were running through a neighborhood near Union Station. There was nowhere to ditch out and go without drawing major attention to himself. I thought about asking one of the few people in the neighborhood who were out watching the race, but that seemed a tad awkward. Eventually, though, we rounded on to H street and I spotted a coffee shop. I ensured they had a bathroom and threw Garrity in it, wishing him well with the finish of the half marathon (he had a little over 2 miles left) and then set off to catch up with Chris once again.

I cruised down H Street NE, another DC street which is seeing signs of gentrification. The actual street, however, is bumpy, worn and torn with tons of potholes and uneven surfaces. There were a few people out on the streets shouting "Welcome to H Street Northeast." Most of the pack, which was relatively thick at this point, seeing as this was roughly the 4 hour marathon pace runners, was running on the right side of the yellow lines (that is, they were running in the 3 east bound traffic lanes). I scooted just outside the lane divider and sped up in hopes of catching Chris. There's always a bit of nervousness when trying to find a runner during a race (either as a spectator waiting on the side, or, in this instance, a runner trying to catch another). Doubt and second guessing creep into your mind as you're looking for the person. "Did I already pass him? How far ahead can he be?"

I tapped my "lap" counter when I crossed the 11 mile marker and began running a bit faster. I felt a tad guilty passing so many people. I wasn't a registered runner and here I was flying by people who were working their hardest just to maintain this pace. Many of them had a "HALF" bib pinned to their backs, indicating that they were 2 miles from the finish. As I didn't have a "HALF" I reckoned that most of them were thinking (if they noticed me at all) that I was running the full marathon (there was no "FULL" bib). I wondered what people thought of a guy who was running the full who decided to kick it in to a sub-7 minute/mile pace at mile 11. Did they think I had gotten a late start and was making up for lost time? Who knows. I let the feelings of guilt subside as I passed mile 12 and still hadn't found Chris. Luckily, however, I did find him just a few more minutes up the road, just before the half marathon runners were directed off towards their finish.

Again I tapped the "lap" button on my watch as we crossed mile 13. I had run the past two miles in 14 minutes, or a 7 minute/mile pace. One tenth of a mile (.1) later, we crossed the halfway mark for the full marathon, and the clock read 1:56 (and some seconds that I don't remember). I quickly did the math and realized that if we kept up the same pace we would finish in 3:52. I mentioned that to Chris, who reminded me that this was the "clock" time and not his "chip" time. He thought it took him and Garrity three to four minutes to cross the starting line, which mean their "chip" was starting when the "clock" was 3 or 4 minutes. Therefore, he'd really done his first half marathon in around 1:48 to 1:49.

He and I began to figure out our remaining race strategy as we went around RFK Stadium and back down East Capitol Street. That is such a nice, beautiful street, that it allows your mind to run in many different directions. Chris struck up a short conversation with a couple of older looking guys who were just ahead of us. He prompted them for their expected finish time. They mentioned that they were shooting for under 4 hours. One of them was running his 12th marathon and the other his 15th, so they had an idea of what they were doing. From Chris's response, though, I could sense that he had hoped they were shooting for a faster time. Though his goal was to "finish strong," I know deep down he was expecting to finish faster than 4 hours. Therefore, we began to pull away from them just after that.

It got windy and a tad colder as we ran in front of the Capitol. The route we were taking was one I was well familiar with. On many of my runs this year (and in previous years) I've run around the Capitol. It was here that I started a new strategy to attempt to shield Chris from the wind (let him draft me). Thinking about it now it must've been kind of funny thinking this bean-pole could do anything to shield the broader-shouldered runner behind me from the wind. He did, however, indicate that it was helpful.

A few minutes later we both pit-stopped to use the bathroom and then ran under the mall through the 9th Street tunnel. I was happy to run there, since this is the way I drive to work most mornings. I told Chris that many of the times I called him on my way to work (which corresponds with his morning break period at school - he's a teacher) I was driving through that tunnel!

We came out of the tunnel and were down in Southwest DC. I lived there at one time, too, so it was great to go through yet another neighborhood I was familiar with. We passed by the tennis courts Issa and I used to play on, and it was funny to see that the drooping nets still hadn't been fixed. It was sort of unbelievable, in all honestly. The course then thinned out, and we ran along the sidewalk of the "River walk" just across from Hains Point. This reminded me of the Outerbanks Marathon that Chris and I ran together back in November of 2006. That small race had us run through neighborhoods onto sidewalks and through trails in the woods.

At the next water stop I offered to fill one of Chris's empty bottles with water and a package of his "Ultima" energy drink mix. That took a bit longer than I had hoped for. I was juggling my blackberry, the bottle, a bag of clif shots and the gel that I was going to eat for energy. I ended up dropping the entire package into the water bottle and had to try to fish it out. I was wearing gloves, which exacerbated the challenge. Eventually my fingers were able to snag the packet, but then the powdered substance had congealed a bit inside the packet. I had stopped to walk, realizing that the sooner I got it done the sooner I could actually get moving at a faster speed once again. Chris was once again ahead of me, and therefore I, again, had to increase my speed to catch back up to him. I did that just as we went off of a little jut on the course; a small "out and back" that was added solely to ensure that the course could follow it's overall path, but still have enough miles to accumulate to 26.2. We had a small laugh about that, and then passed mile 19 right by the home of the new Washington Nationals stadium.

The approach to the stadium didn't make it obvious that it was the structure in front of us. Suspecting that it was, though, I looked up and saw the lights. I pointed it out to Chris, a former college baseball player, hoping it was invigorate him. We talked a bit about baseball and how it will be neat to go see a game there, eventually. As we crossed one of DC's many bridges into Anacostia/South East, we caught a much better view of the stadium.

After the bridge we were entering the home stretch of the race. We hit mile 20 and did a bit of math to figure out that it was definitely possible for Chris to finish the race in under 3:45. We would have to pick up the pace a bit, but we also had to do that strategically. If we picked it up too quickly we could incite burn out too early. If we waited too long, though, we might miss the cut-off for a 3:45.

This part of the route, though, wasn't nearly as fan friendly as the beginning 13 had been. We were running along the Anacostia River, on a bike path. The wind was whipping at us relatively fiercely. There wasn't anyone out there to cheer us on, but we kept our conversation alive. Chris had asked me about running a record label and putting on shows, two things I did for a number of years before transitioning into music management. I explained to him that to me and my friends running a label, writing for a magazine, playing in a band, putting out a CD, and a number of other "astonishing" things to most people was the norm, not the exception. We all "did it ourselves." I tried to draw the analogy to Chris using him and his college baseball card as an example. He grew up an athlete and most of his friends in high school and college were also athletes. To them it wasn't strange to have a card. Hell, I can't even count the number of times Chris and I have turned on a baseball game or Sports Center to hear him say "that guy used to play for (insert rival team here)" or "my brother used to play against him." To those of us in the world outside of that level of athleticism, having a card or knowing someone "in the bigs" is really exciting. Just as to those outside of the underground music world knowing someone who put out albums or CDs or someone who plays in a band is something astonishing.

We kept a good pace along the river trail, which went around a small loop and doubled back on the trail prior to mile marker 23. As we we were on the return of the loop we saw the two guys we talked to near the Capitol. They spotted us, shouting "hey guys, good running!" I know we were looking relatively strong because for the past mile or so we had begun to pass more and more people. We were running a strong negative split (where the second half of a race is faster than the first half) and I hoped we could keep it up.

From the trail the route put us out on Minnesota Avenue North East. These final three miles were the same as the half marathon route was last year. I ran that race, a PR for me (1:29) in preparation for my Vancouver 2007 Marathon qualifier for the Boston Marathon, so I was familiar with the route. Therefore, I knew that the remainder of the run was relatively hilly, and it might be tough to push Chris as hard as I would like to. However, I kept on him, reinforcing that his training had prepared him for this and that his son would be very excited to see him after the race. We kept picking off people one by one and even passing large groups of people. The uphill stretches of Minnesota Avenue were not easy. In fact, my legs had been hurting for the past few miles, but I knew that I could push onward and upward, helping Chris meet his goal of "finishing strong." He stayed behind me as we passed mile 24 and then mile 25.

We ran that mile in under 8 minutes, an on the spot goal Chris had indicated during the race - he wanted to run one mile sub 8 minutes. I always figured it would be mile 25-26, but we were able to hit it one mile early. However, I needed him to run another mile sub-8. I wanted him to continue pushing, finishing strong. We came across the bridge back towards RFK and Chris asked if we were going to finish inside the stadium. Unfortunately the course isn't set up to do that (RFK doesn't even have a track inside of it). I did keep running right in front of him, asking him to follow my feet and dig as deep as he could. He did, and shined well. The stretch just before the final tenth of a mile before the race is also slight uphill, similar to the other DC marathon - Marine Corps. That's always a tough way to finish!

There was no 26 mile marker, a pet peeve of mine. Even though the distance between that mile marker and the finish line two tenths of a mile, it's really nice to know when you have only those two tenths left. Last year, at the half marathon, there was no 13th mile marker (bad luck?). It turns out that the course was laid out incorrectly and we ended up running farther than 13.1 miles. That was no the case this year with the marathon, but it was still a tad frustrating.

Nevertheless, after we crest the top of the hill, I slipped to the right of the barricades which separated the course from the sidewalk/spectators. Unfortunately the clock read 3:45 and some seconds. A shot of disappointment entered my mind as I'd really hoped Chris would finish under 3:45. Nevertheless, Chris dug in and began sprinting towards the finish. I was able to parallel him since the right side of the spectator area was completely barren from people. He was moving quickly and it was tough for me to keep up. I stopped at another barricade as he made his way across the line. I didn't see the final time, but did realize that there was a difference between the "clock" and the "chip." I was pretty sure he'd beaten 3:45.

I quickly found Chris who had been draped in a finisher medal and space blanket. I hugged him and led him towards the area where he could return his chip. He looked at me with tears in his eyes and said "I'm so happy!" followed by "I'm so tired." Indeed he should have been, he ran a perfect race! There were computer terminals set up to view your "chip" time and we found out that he ran a 3:43:59! Surely a personal record for Chris, and better than one of his least favorite runners of all time, George W Bush.

We grabbed a few things for the road and got in the car and headed home. Chris was able to field a few congratulatory phone calls and text messages as I maneuvered the car through the imminent DC traffic. Chris was exhausted, yet elated, and kept telling me that it was a "team effort" and that I was "MVP."

To me it was a pleasure. Chris had pushed me through the Marine Corps marathon in 2005, and we'd run Outerbanks at the same time in 2006. I was really happy to see him run so well.

I forgot to mention that while we were on the bridge running by Nationals Stadium (around mile 19) Garrity had called to let us know he'd finished very strong, after a bathroom delay. All in all, a good run for everyone involved!

Chris and I got back home and prepared for the celebratory BBQ at my house! A great day, all in all.