A Seasoned Veteran, or Something Like That

Tiffany's blue and a handsome man too.

   Can I just start out today's post by saying it has been a WONDERFUL summer day here. I had an awesome day at work, went for a great short run with my girl Lindsey, and came home to dinner all ready for me. Sometimes the boyfriend knows just the way to top my day off.
   With that being said, Today brings us one day closer to race day! Keeping up with race week I wanted to share my story of my second half marathon. It was the Innaugural Nike Women's Half Marathon in Washington, D.C. and if you are a female runner and ever have an opportunity to do this race I highly recommend it. I mean, what woman wouldn't run 13.1 miles for a Tiffany's necklace? Yeah, that's right, all finishers receive a Tiffany's necklace.

   So, I read about this race back probably around September and immediately, obviously the finishers necklace caught my eye. I ended up posting the information about it on my Facebook and my cousin that lives in D.C. said she'd do it with me. Sold. The beginning of December it was official, I had gotten in and the training began.
   This time I can say "the training began" because I actually did it. I made that treadmill my bitch all winter long, when it would have been easier to go home and take a nap after work I was there running. When it wasn't below zero I was bundling up and letting the cold burn my lungs. Hard work pays off.

My Cousin and I pre-race.

   Race day came. It was beautiful out, sunny, warm, in the 60s (Minnesota hadn't even broken 50 degrees at that point). The energy was just as I had remembered with other races, any feelings of it being a little "too commercial" (Nike swag EVERYWHERE, things got a little ridiculous at the expo where Paul Mitchell stylists were giving girls blow outs.) wore off as we headed towards our pace corral. At 15,000 runners it was BY FAR the largest race I have ever participated in, the crowd was just insanely huge. We arrived at our already full pace corral unable to actually line up on
the street, an error I feel will be fixed in future years.

Battle wounds from the fall.

   When the gun went off it was a little hectic. We were in the 10 minute pace group and by time we were actually in the street and running I was seeing 11 and 12 minute pacers. Needless to say my cousin and I did a lot of passing. Off we went running the streets through some tunnels passing people on the sides... and then I fell... extremely awkward. There was something sticking up out of the pavement as we were running through the tunnels and I still had my sunglasses on and completely missed it. But the minute I was down I felt a stranger reach down, loop their arm in mine, and yank me back up. It felt like I had never even been down. Like I was saying yesterday folks, runners have an amazing sense of camaraderie.
   After that slip up less than a mile in I was a little nervous about what was to come, but along Alyssa and I went. As we got around mile 3 the crowd thinned out and we found our paces. Alyssa ended up speeding up a bit while I kept going steady where I was at.
  The run was beautiful, we ran along the Potomac down near Arlington Cemetary, then back up around the Kennedy Center, around East Potomac Golf Course and the Jefferson Memorial, then up across the National Mall around to the U.S. Capitol and ending on Pennsylvania Ave near 10th St NW.
   I would love to say there was something remarkably memorable about this race itself. There wasn't really. Except that it felt so serene being out there along the river, being able to do something with a cousin I hadn't seen in about 15 years, my music going, and the sun shining down (clearly I am a little vitamin D deprived Minnesotan when all I can talk about is how glorious the sun is). Around mile 10 the pace picked up, we were back in the city area and there were crowds lined up cheering us on, like I said before I love me a marathon crowd. Around mile 10 I also hit my wall, my legs were heavy and it was starting to get a little too humid for my liking, but nothing unbearable. I kept reminding myself "I did this once with no training, this should be a cake walk" never realizing just how much faster I was running this race than the previous one. No wonder I was exhausted. At mile 11 my friend that had flown out to D.C. with me was there to cheer me on giving me more of a boost to keep going. However, around 11 1/2 you see the finish line (why do these damn races keep teasing you?) and you have to go about a mile around it to the U.S. capitol and come back around. It was miserable, but I kept watching that big green finish line waiting for my running app to tell me I had a quarter mile left so I could sprint my heart out (that's one thing about running in a different city I feel like you lose your orientation for distance). When that moment came I was off, just like the last one I was so ready to be done.

Smiling with the finish line behind me.

   As I crossed that finish line the same rush came over me as the first one. 2:13:15 was my official time, that's over a half hour better than my first race. I was shocked! I was just trying not to cry in that crowd of strangers, but it's such a happy feeling. I will never get sick of it.
  So here I am 4 days out from my 3rd half, my 2nd half in two months. After today's great run with Lindsey I am really feeling ready and excited and can't wait to see what this Saturday brings... and hopefully it doesn't bring rain.