2008 National Half Marathon Race Report

OK, so I wasn't able to post my race report yesterday as I had planned. Some Mondays, as you all know, are relatively slow and uneventful days, however some of them are busy from the moment you get to work until the moment you leave! Yesterday was one of those days. I got to work and immediately spent the morning getting things straightened out on a new computer thanks to the firm slowly merging two old networks into one new network. Then I scored a ticket to the Orioles' home opener against the mighty Tamp Bay Rays so I had to rush to get a bunch of stuff done before leaving for the game. I even got to the game an hour late (my office is within walking distance of Camden Yards, so no big deal) and had to come back after the game to finish up some stuff before finally going home. Needless to say, there was little time left for anything else!

So, today I have some time this morning to write a nice race report and reflect on an incredible weekend. I picked Annie up from Peabody at 4 and we headed off to Washington on time. The traffic wasn't too bad until we actually got into the District and New York Ave seized up. Eventually we reached the hotel and checked in, although parking was a mess down there. The hotel had a garage but it was full (nice) and when Annie asked where we could park, the front desk agent said "just park on the street anywhere. It's free all weekend." OK, well that's fine except most of the spaces had 1 or 2 hour meters with signs that the time limits were enforced everyday save for Sunday. We did notice that parking on K St would be free after 6:30, so I drove Annie out to the theatre for her performance and then came back after 6:30 and found a space on K St right across from the hotel. I'm a horrible parallel parker and it took me 4 attempts to finally park the Jeep. Nice.

I moved our bags into the room and then set out for the Marathon Health & Fitness Expo at the DC Armory. I got there shortly before 8 PM and it closed at 9, so I temper my comments by thinking that perhaps it was bigger earlier in the day when most of the runners arrived and registered. However, when I got there, the place was practically empty. There were only maybe a dozen vendors, most of which were not selling merchandise. I saw one vendor selling sunglasses for $12.00 (so how good could they be at keeping me from getting eye cancer? Really?) and one for the Baltimore Marathon and Frederick Marathon, which is on May 3rd, I believe. There was only one vendor selling running shirts and shorts and their inventory was paltry. They had some nice stuff, but nothing I couldn't find somewhere else for a lower price. They were offering 1/3 off everything, but when they're trying to charge $50.00 for an Asics long sleeved running shirt, the deal isn't so good. However, packet pickup was easy and the volunteers were all superb and helpful. I got my awesome National Half Marathon shirt from Brooks and was very happy with the design. It's red with the marathon logo on the front and "13.1 Finisher" underneath. On the back are the sponsors and "13.1 Finisher" across the shoulders in yellow. I can't wait to wear that baby around this summer. I milled around a little bit, but there wasn't enough there to merit sticking around for more than 15 minutes. I think as the marathon gets older, they'll expand the expo so that it matches Baltimore and other races, which have dozens of vendors offering all sorts of running paraphernalia. It's a work in progress and that's actually one of the things I enjoyed about this race.

I got back to the hotel and got to watch some TV before Annie called me and I met her and her sister and brother at Clyde's on 7th St for a late dinner. I strongly suggested we eat somewhere else that was not a chain restaurant and thus cheaper and faster and better, but I was overruled. Clyde's is nothing special and the service we got was nice, but SLOW. We didn't get back to the hotel until almost midnight and I didn't get to sleep until close to 1 AM because I had to put out my running stuff for the next morning (actually later that morning!). I woke up at 3:30 AM and couldn't get back to sleep for more than 20 minutes at a time because I was so anxious. Nice. So, I got up at 5:30, got dressed and gathered my stuff. It wasn't horribly cold out, maybe around 35 or so, but still not exactly the weather I had envisioned. When I got on the Metro, the only people on it were fellow runners. I'm glad that I do my weekday runs in the early morning because I was at least somewhat used to being up that early. Some of the runners looked half dead! I got to the Runner's Village (or Athlete's Village? Something like that) around 6:30, which was just enough time to stand in the bag check line for 20 minutes and decide to hit the bathroom before the race. Unfortunately, the lines for the bathrooms were miles long so I eventually ran down to RFK stadium and found a bathroom behind a tree. Nice.

Got to the corral with 30 seconds to spare before the race began. I lined up between the 8:30-9:15 corral and the 9:15-10:00 corral. I figured that was very close to my goal pace of 9:15-9:30. The corral system worked pretty well, as we were able to actually run across the start line. The first 4 miles of the course wound through downtown DC, skirting the Capitol, National Mall, White House, Washington Monument and other government offices. The streets of DC are all expansive so there was tons of room to spread out and run comfortably, which I appreciated. Running down Constitution Ave was awesome. On one side you have the National Mall with the Smithsonian and Washington Monument, on the other you have the National Archives and huge embassies. Very cool. There were also people out along the course, although the crowds weren't huge since it was 7 AM on a Saturday morning. But you realize just how great a running town DC is when you imagine being able to run those streets and parks every morning.

Around the 4.5 mile mark we turned north and headed up towards Dupont Circle and upper northwest. This is where the course's hills really started. From mile 5 through mile 7 we climbed somewhere around 200 feet, but mostly in spurts of hills. Around mile 7 there was a killer hill up Connecticut Ave that just about did me in. But I ran the whole way up! I knew I'd pay for it later that day but who cares! That's what ibuprofen is for! A little after that hill, we hit a water stop (they had Gatorade at each station too, but it was too sweet for me) and I took my GU gel. It was REALLY sweet, which helped it go down easier. I drank some water and continued on. In Adams Morgan the DC mayor's father, who owns a running store there, was out cheering us on and handing out water, etc. Very cool. The mayor ran the marathon and finished in like 3:30 or something. I envy Washington for having a mayor who's involved in his city's growth as well as committed to its future.

Around mile 8 or so we turned east onto Harvard St and then onto Michigan Ave, which borders Catholic University at one point. This was uphill and downhill all the way and really taxed the runners. I was feeling OK at this point and was just trying to stay around my goal pace. At North Capitol St we hung a right to head south through mile 10 or so. Ahead we could see the Capitol again in the distance, slowly growing bigger as we passed the blocks. One guy I was running near had on a Seattle Marathon shirt, which I thought was cool. He said that he didn't get to run the race though, because shortly before the date, he was deployed to Iraq. They sent him the shirt anyway and I think he's well deserved to wear it for having to go to war instead of to a race.

At H St. we turned left and headed out into Northeast. We went from 4th St all the way to 13th St, where we turned right at the intersection where the Atlas Theatre, where Annie is performing, sits. Very cool! From there we headed south through miles 11 and 12 towards North Carolina Ave, which curved around towards East Capitol St and RFK Stadium, the finish line. We could see the stadium and hear the loudspeakers from the Runner's Village, which drove us on. The final quarter mile was uphill (Nice.) but at that point, I was so excited that I had reached the end, I didn't feel the pain. I ran through the finish line, finishing my first half marathon in 2:06:27, which is a 9:33 pace. I stayed right on target, and am really pleased with that result. My goal was to finish the race and I did. As I was limping out of the chute, I saw Annie, although she hadn't seen me finish because she hadn't been able to find a way around to the finish line. She literally got there right after I finished, thanks to crappy directions from some guy. But she got a picture of me afterwards with my medal. We stood in yet another line to get my bag back, grabbed some free food and then headed back to the hotel.

I was totally exhausted, from the run and from the 2 hours of sleep I got the night before. I was also dehydrated, as my stomach was upset, which is a sure sign of not having enough fluids. I should have grabbed 4 or 5 bottles of water at the marathon, I don't know why I didn't. Next time, I'm grabbing as much water as I can carry! They had tables and tables of the stuff, so it wasn't like there wasn't enough to go around. Anyway, that plagued me the rest of the day as well as some totally preventable chaffing (ouch!). I brought my Body Glide but didn't use it in all the right places. Won't make that mistake twice! We got back to the hotel and I showered and changed and we checked out around 1 for Annie's matinee. After that, we ate dinner at Union Station and I hopped on a train for Baltimore. I spent the rest of the day sleeping, drinking water and treating my chaffing (again, ouch!). By Sunday I felt a lot better, though and finally today I feel back to normal. My Achilles and quads were fried from the hills on the course so it took them an extra day to recover. My hamstring also got a little out of whack, but it feels better today as well. I think I'll start back on the roads tomorrow morning. And the chaffing healed up nicely thanks to rest and some prescription strength (literally, a doctor has to give it to you) hydro-cortisone cream. It's a wonder drug, really.

All in all, it was a terrific weekend and an awesome culmination to weeks of training and planning. I ran my race the way I wanted to and hit my pace goal and time goals well. I had a great time running the course, didn't let anything really bother me and kept focused on running the entire time. I'm hooked on the half marathon now and can't wait to hit another 13.1 miles soon. This weekend also brought my 2008 spring and early summer racing season into better focus, which I will post about later. Suffice to say this was a great way to kick off my first full running season.