i went with an old friend and we sat BS'ing at the Pentagon Metro station instead of going straight to security, probably let 5000 people get in front of us. That was dumb. We were still in security line when the race started, so my chip time was about 19 minutes off gun time. For the first 15 miles I was dodging slower runners. At about 12 miles I knew I had blisters on both feet, and at about mile 15 I stopped at a Vaseline station to grease up my feet. Between 18 and 19 my feet hurt so bad I started the dreaded run-walk that continued to the 26-mile mark. I ran the last 0.2 miles up the hill to the finish at the Iwo Jima Memorial.
The course is very cool, challenging but not obnoxiously so. Two of my sisters were there with my daughter, so I got to see them at four places on the course. Between 12 and 13 they have photos on both sides of the course of Marines killed in action, and after that there are active duty Marines on both sides of the road holding American flags. I ran that whole stretch with my right hand over my heart.
The race started in a light rain, but the sun came out about mile 20. By that time I was a little dehydrated, and was pretty wiped out by the finish. I carried ten GU's but only took six during the race. At some point my RunKeeper shut off and I didn't realize it, and without my audio cues I went too long between energy shots.
I lost the nail on my right index toe from keeping my toes curled for the last 14 miles. Blisters on the balls of both feet. First blisters in 3 years of running. Totally sucked. Learned some lessons, will do better in my next races. Not giving up on my goal of someday running Boston.
I saw on the news last night there were two guys who have run every single marathon for the last 40 years: retired Marine colonels Will Brown (age 69) and Al Richmond (age 76).
In reply to stuart in mn: Heard an interview with Al Richmond Friday on NPR. He's a "ground pounder" and sounded like a very cool individual. Almost missed one years ago after being shot three times a couple months before the marathon but realized he was on a streak so kept going anyway. 
Oh, man... it takes some serious will power to continue when you're hurting as early as that. 8 miles with curled up toes and bloody feet is an eternity. Congrats on a really tough finish.
^^ Double what Huckleberry said. How are your feet healing?
In reply to AngryCorvair:
Congrats on finishing! Hope you are recovering well.
My sister managed to finish as well. She said she only has one blister. She had some issues the preceding 6-8 weeks and felt that she might not do very well, but she was under 10 min/mile so she was happy with her time.
In reply to Huckleberry:
Quitting The Marine Corps Marathon because of a couple blisters is not an option.
To TRog, I feel pretty good today. Sore muscles, of course, but the feet aren't bothering me.
To secretariata, congrats to your sister for putting in a solid performance! I was sub-10 pace through the half, then the wheels came off. I honestly thought I was prepared to get a PR (currently 4:11:34) but the laterals and short bursts required to get through the slower traffic kinda took a toll on me.
It was the laterals that killed your feet. You do enough training mileage to have good tough feet. Kind of a moving autocross, I guess. Ironically, the "cure" is to look ahead and anticipate necessary changes in direction so you can make them more gradually. That, and putting tincture of benzoin on the bottoms of your feet for a week or two before your next big event.
Try not to use up the tires too soon 
We use Chamois Butt'r on our feet---it's a cycling product that also works for reducing wear and tear on the little piggies. That said--once you are running in wet shoes, all bets are off.
