Rock and Roll Half Marathon

Washington DC RNR Half – REVIEW

Race for Change Foundation awarded me an entry into this race.

For that I’m very grateful.

I stayed in central DC.

Perfect hotel location for access to everything!

Hotel Motto was the cutest mini boutique hotel.

Walking distance to the Metro & to many sights. (Chinatown)

Race Day

At the beginning of the race, I was rushing to use the bathroom (at this point the Port-a-potty lines were insane) I went a little further out and found a shorter line.

After almost falling in the toliet because I had to hold myself up, not touching anything and aiming so I didn’t make a mess … I made it without much pee on me.

Then I needed to find the bag check area.

The line for my last name Pul- was the LONGEST of all other lines.

So, I decided to drop my bag at the S line ( the shortest line ) Who gon stop me?

I got to my corral 9, but settled at 10 since I was already rushed.

Fiddling with my bib and the safety pins. Still trying to get warmed up, I got in a few leg swings.

It was very cold and windy so the fleece stayed on- at least for the first 3 miles.

(Next time I will at least have compression sleeves for my arms)

While standing in my corral I met a lady who was running her First Half!

We got to talking and her daughter was planning on running with her but got injured so she was running it solo.

She was so nervous.

I offered to take her inaugural 1st half picture and wished her well.

I love meeting new people especially the newest runners.

I was not nervous. Kinda weird for me.

I wasn’t sure how well I would perform since I had skipped my last long run.

I knew that I was going to enjoy myself.

And We Were Off

The race started at 8am but our corral was off at 8:40.

We passed the Lincoln memorial first, crossed the bridge to Arlington VA and what happened next lit my fire.

As we crossed, there were other earlier starters coming the opposite way. The only thing that separated us was the cones and the yellow line.

I straddled that yellow line so I could slap high fives to my fellow runners.

THIS WAS THE BEST!

I realize when you give love, in return, you get so much more.

My body started warming up at mile 3, the fleece jacket cane off. I wrapped it around my waist and I was running in a tank top in 52 degrees.

(Was I cold?) I guess, but I didn’t feel cold while running.

Later I couldn’t open my jelly beans because my hands were literally in a semi-frozen position. So, I guess my body was cold.

It was frigid, I think the long distance AND the cold did something weird to my fingers.

I started to feel my groove early on too. I had a stride that was comfortable and steady. I didn’t feel rushed and I didn’t feel too slow.

The course was one of the best I’ve run on.

Lots of sights and lots of things to capture my attention.

The monuments were great as well as running along side the river.

Things were going well.

I was told there were hills, so I thought I was prepared.

Rolling hills are actually really great.

We had a few of those.

Then right around mile 8, everything changed.

Mile 8 was a (bleep)!

At the corner of my eye, I see tiny humans in the distance turning up a MASSIVE incline.

Right in front of me stood a bridge towering about 4 stories high.

Was this a part of this course???

It CANT be!

No way would they do this to runners. Ain’t NO WAY!

Welp… They did

(See photo for the height of this hill)

I started to run up and then in my head I could hear the voices of many other experienced runners say, “if it’s gonna cause you to exhaust yourself, Walk it!

So, I did a speed walk up that mountain.

After I made it to the top, I was hoping all down hill at this point but nope. More rolling hills.

All in all, the rest of the course was cool.

Even with the hills, I felt good!

My headphones were about to die, so I blasted this one EDM song called Greyhound.

I was running 10-11 min miles at this point- WHEW I felt INCREDIBLE