Consistent....
I have no idea how many half marathons I've ran; standalone 13.1 mile run races since 2005 but the Pacers Running DC Half Marathon might go down as the most consistent-ly ran; pace-wise of course. It seems most of my long runs; the long runs I decided to run, were ran in the early am hours during the summer with heat, humidity and all the sunshine. It was the icing on the cake that race day temps were in the 60s with mostly cloudy skies. Before I go into the recap of running around DC which combined many routes with added crowd support, a cute short sleeve race tee, a cute piece of bling, and most important the beach towel; I highly recommend this race to anyone who wants to see history by foot.
Pre-Race Day
Made my way to Pacers Running Store at Navy Yard via metro. I did packet pickup in the early afternoon the day before. I had my choice between the Georgetown shop or the Navy Yard shop. Even with the Miami Marlins and Washington Nationals fans flooding metro to Nationals Park; it was a much shorter walk than to the Georgetown store from Foggy Bottom/GWU. I walked out the Half Street exit as I'm used to getting off for the Ballpark but made the short walk to Pacers. The process of picking up my packet was simple; got my race number, my short sleeve tech tee, and a bag filled with advertisements. I saw all the merchandise for the DC Half while at Pacers; and while it was tempting to buy because the color scheme was really cute it was also super expensive (and who needs another tee that will be worn a few times). I took my selfie with my race number in front of the store and made my way back to metro to eat an early dinner, put my feet up, and go to bed early.
It was a 3:30 am wake up call to drive downtown to park for a 7 am start. Because I wasn't sure if they had parking at Hains Point; I reserved a garage near Metro Center which was a short-ish walk to the start line. It was dark out as it was just past 5:15 am and even though the streetlights were on and I felt safe I turned my phone flashlight on for extra safety; as I was walking alone. Once I got over to the National Mall; on the side where the Washington Monument was there was a girl with her clear gear drop bag with her race number attached. My race belts; one with my race number attached and one with the 3 pictures attached for the race dedications, were already clipped. I don't remember the girls name but she had just parked her share-bike which she rode from where she lives in Dupont Circle. We walked over from the mall to West Potomac Park to the start/finish line festival. She was training for I believe the Marine Corps Marathon and it was half marathon number 4 or 5. As we were talking about her training for her first marathon; it was nice to give her some input on questions she asked based on all my experience running that distance. We found the start/finish line festival on the grassy area across Ohio Drive from the Potomac River. Bag drop opened up at 6:15 am so I took out what I needed which included my phone, 4 Crank Sports Juicy Watermelon gels, 2 Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip granola bars, and 2 plastic throw away water bottles. I was ready for whatever the hours ahead of me brought; however long it would take. I knew I could make the 3-hour 30-minute cutoff especially as there was cloud cover with no sun shining through.
Running 13.1 Miles
I predicted that I would probably run near 2 hours 30 minutes; I staged myself in front of the 2 hours 20 minutes pace group. They started the race at 7 am as planned but in waves according to the pace groups. I don't know how many waves went off before but around 7:10 am I was running over the timing mat and pressed the start button of my Garmin. Here we go y'all 13.1 miles running around DC. As the mounds of people made their way towards Hains Point; I was happy to be in a crowd of people to keep me from going out too fast which is something I always do. I don't like talking while I run but as I was running in the masses around Hains Point I saw random runners and just encouraged them. I tried not to pass anyone as I wanted to try to be consistent, but my legs felt good so I just ran off feel. There were so many landmarks of sorts around Hains Point that brought back good memories growing up in the DC area to look at. I used that as a distraction to take my mind off looking at my Garmin and also feel not alone because this momentous season has been lonely. I looked at my Garmin when it blared to just to see what my minute mile pace was. I was going off trying to stay consistent as a way to maybe feel good about myself. I was really happy with the first 4 miles of this 13.1 mile run. I stayed consistent as the splits show...
Mile 1 - 9:49.7
Mile 2 - 9:51.4
Mile 3 - 9:45.9
Mile 4 - 9:42.8
After completing the counterclockwise loop of Hains Point; we went over the Tidal Basin with the Washington Monument and World War Two Memorial on the right. I get to run past this history on a normal training run when in Washington but it hits different when racing with a good crowd of out of towners. I got to tell runners I passed which monuments they were running by as a few were saying "Which monument is that?" I was able to be somewhat of a tour guide(ish) as I said I was a local and I run past all this on a fairly regular basis. After getting onto the Ohio Drive which then became Rock Creek Park which was part of Rock Creek Park; I saw a legend run by the other way. I was between Mile 5 and Mile 6 going out and some American Long Distance Running Legend named Des Linden was coming the other way approaching Mile 11. The crowds had thinned out quite a bit and since I still passing runners I got near the double yellow line and screamed Go Des Go; as I knew she was running second women overall. I had seen the first girl go by a bit before and go zero reaction from Des as she was focused and obviously in her zone but it was COOL to have noticed her as no runners around me knew the name. That right there gave me some energy as I knew I had a long out before turning around to come back. The parts of Rock Creek Parkway were so crowded with support crews. I love when others have support crews who come out to cheer them on. I also started seeing some pretty interesting signs on repeat. I was looking for one particular sign which you see at DC races but instead saw a good variety of "On A Scale Of 1 to 10; You're A 13.1". As I continued to run down Rock Creek Parkway toward the turnaround which I knew was a bit past Mile 8, there were signs with arrows leading to different DC streets labeled "The Embassay of...". I totally forgot that part of DC. I started making a mental note to visit some as it's something Washington different to do aside from the monuments and museums, but I saw the Mile 8 marker and the turnaround up ahead. I was so damn focused as these last few miles would be crucial.
Mile 5 - 9:36.3
Mile 6 - 9:37.8
Mile 7 - 9:47.6
Mile 8 - 9:23.9
I made the u-tur at the turn around cone; I thought how I never saw the 2-hour 30-minute pace group as it was my goal to be near them. I had been looking at my splits and saw consistency like so scary as I can't remember the last time I did it, so it didn't matter much but I hadn't blown up and basically tanked. I just had to keep running at a go by feel pace. I distracted myself by looking at the same "On A Scale of 10; You're A 13.1" sign. Like OMG people we're in the Nation's Capital; I was looking for a certain sign. It was a little past the Mile 9 marker I spotted it. The sign read "You're Running Better Than The Government" which is a classic sign. I was officially running a race in DC; though it had taken quite a while to see. The person holding the sign had his hand out and I gave him a high five. He said I looked good and strong; which duh I believed! I actually felt good and strong so I kept running. A little before Mile 10 though I saw the 2-hour pace group sign but they weren't running. The two pacers (each pace group had two pacers), a few other runners as well as some medics were on the side of the road near the path along the trail. A runner was down; conscious and aware but down. I asked if everything was okay as that's common courtesy and heard all is good and went along my way. I had seen so many of a certain on the scale signs but it was between Mile 10 and Mile 11; the funniest variation of that sign was seen. It read "On A Scale Of 1 to 10; You're Fart Is A 13.1" I was like that sign WINS the contest of all signs I had seen. It was right there I had passed a runner who not just sneezed but farted at the same time. I have heard people sneezing and farting while running but not at the same time. That was a weird and unique experience so a first. As I got to the Mile 11 marker where I had seen Des Linden approaching a while back in time; I glanced at my Garmin. I knew I would smash my goal of breaking 2 hours 30 minutes but by how much. I ran by feel but kept glancing at my Garmin even though pace and time did and didn't matter. I got to take a glance at the Washington Monument one more time but on my left this time as I ran by the Mile 12 marker. I looked at my Garmin when it blared and was like WOW. I had at least 1 a bit more of a mile left and was shocked. At the start of the DC Half Marathon I said there was no sun to be seen but once I veered to the signs leading to Hains Point the sun came out and it got hot. I was happy to only have not much left. I looked at my Garmin one last time knowing I had a consistently run this race without blowing up. I ran toward the finish arch and was smiling with a sigh of relief.
Mile 9 - 9:37.2
Mile 10 - 9:41.1
Mile 11 - 9:18.9
Mile 12 - 9:13.8
Mile 13 - 9:30.0
Mile 13.28 - 8:59
Overall Time - 2 Hours 7 Minutes 23 Seconds
To Recap
I was shocked yet elated. I was sorta bummed I didn't break 2 hours but that was never a goal, so that's a goal for another half marathon another year. I didn't want to tell anyone my time; not even Theresa, Ann and Ilene my time as I ran through DC with them in my heart and mind. The way things have been it was like do I tell anyone because I'm just a 20-year veteran in this sport with very little support and community and it didn't matter. My training wasn't as good as it could have been; the consistency was off as that was a common theme all season. I ran my training runs when it was hot and sunny out as summer likes to stick around longer than it should. It was the weirdest experience running the DC Half Marathon to give the distance the respect it deserves and not to be scared of the distance. Massive respect for the half marathon distance and I'm not as scared but there is different scary in mind with trying to break 2 hours the next time. I totally recommend the Pacers Running DC Half Marathon to any runner; local or not who wants to see what DC has to offer. The short medal was cute, the beach towel is a favorite and once it's under 40 degrees outside I'll wear the tech tee on a run.
Comments