Rock N Roll Washington DC Half Marathon

March 12, 2016
Half Marathon, Finished in 2:07:14 - (9:43 pace)
#5,743 out of 14,470 who ran the half that day.
#2,617 out of 8,740 women
#359 in my division of 1,299

Just got back from a half marathon in Washington, DC - and I have to say the weekend was fantastic.  Things I took from this weekend away - was that running gives you the opportunity to travel, and reconnect with old friends.  Jenny and I had a great time all weekend long, and although friendly in college, and having hung out a bit after our babies were born, we hadn't really seen eachother in years.  It was super fun, super relaxing and worked out really well.  Kudos to that, and here's hoping we get some more Colby peeps to join in on the runs.

Logistics of a Rock N' Roll DC race:

All went extremely well, it was well "run," they employed some great ideas, there were almost 20,000 runners and all things considered it went pretty smoothly.

Some things I would have loved to change:

• The route.  It really lacked in the true DC monument department.  I wish we ran around the complete mall, Capitol building and maybe a little bit more to Arlington before heading our way into the bowels of the DC neighborhoods.  I am guessing this is due to some crazy limitations and restrictions of the US government, but the route was such a big arch and almost complete circle that shut the entire city down it seemed - that it makes me wonder why they couldn't make it more of a back and forth area centric route - starting where we did but running one full lap around the entire Mall and Capitol, over the bridge and then back through streets of DC before ending where we did.  Again, not a race person - but I am really going to take a peek at destination routes before I think they will be all that they promise to be again.  I ran right by the White House, in .4 miles into the race, and hardly noticed it.  But, by mile 4 you were done with all of the sight seeing and onto neighborhoods.  That wasn't the best part for sure.
• Post Race Food.  Sure, they had bananas, water, gatorade, protein bars, and samples of chips and things.  But - I am used to new england post races that come with a Lobster Roll or a bowl of chili or something, and this was certainly missing that.
• The finish line area.  I guess it is a spot that can accommodate lots of people, but for so many reasons it just seemed bleh.  The Expo room was dark and tired and smelly.  The stadium outside the finish line was badly in need of painting, the end of the race area was covered in asphalt and had no place for people to comfortably sit and stretch.  The metro line was overwhelmed, and didn't seem to think about having extra metro card machines for all the newbies that would be there.  (couldn't they have had people just say $3 and here is a card, done.) - it would have alleviated a ton of traffic.  (or we pay X amount more and get a free card to go home).  It just seemed tired and grey.

All in all though, 20,000 people raced and it was a great time, some of the perks:

• There was no waiting in line for anything really, for us.  Maybe we timed this correctly, but we got to the expo at about 4pm on Friday and there were no lines for packet pick up, or anything.  It was smooth going all the way. Even when we got to the race (40 minutes before start), there were hardly any lines at the port-o-potties.  There is debate whether we were in the VIP port-o-potty section, but alas...
• The shirt is a really nice shirt and I see myself wearing it again!  The medal was also beautiful.
• The hotel discount was huge.  I tried to get the same hotel for a work event later on in the year, and the room rate was more than double the price.
• There were a ton of people cheering you on along most of the route, which was nice.  Lots of political-themed signs, my favorite: "If Trump can run, so can you."  We passed by what looked like frat houses, and there were (non-race sponsored) shots of whiskey and beer, there was even a meat station (also non-race sponsored).  The people were really excited and cheering constantly, and it seemed as though I was always near someone who knew somebody.  For me, too - this was the first time someone I knew was cheering me on along the race as well (other than the finish line at the end) - at the top of the most brutal hill ever there was a college friend who was there to cheer on his wife, also a college friend.  It was exciting.  The best sign went to a man with a English bulldog puppy at his feet, it read: "Run faster, he just farted."  I guess that hold personal reasons for me..!
• There were pacers - I stayed behind 4:00 (for marathoners) for the first 5 miles.  I thought I would do it, sub 2hours - I was keeping up with these people!  Then, the big hill came and (I would then add this to the bummer column about there being pacers) - I watched as the 4:00 got further and further and further away from me.  At the end of the race the 4:10 person came up on my right, and then I got excited that at least I would be under 2:05, however, since that was marathon pacing and I was minutes away from ending the race, that didn't quite work out for me as I was more like a 2:07.  Oh well.
• The music was great for anyone that didn't use head phones.  For me it was fun to see the people get excited by the music, but it was also annoying because at times I just wanted to listen to my song.!  I have to say the drummers that were at the bottom of mile 8 were the best.
• The start of the route was amazing, and I wish there was more like it.
• Post-Race they had food trucks.  I didn't partake, but what a good plan.
• The timing and the accuracy of it all.  They had markers at 5K, 10K, 15K, and almost all the miles too.  My husband would get texts when I showed up at these places, and at the end.  And, the website captured all my details of my run, too - which was nice.

It was a great trip, and a wonderful chance to catch-up with some old faces and meet some new people too.  I really enjoyed this aspect of my challenge for myself - that with traveling to these different places I would be having a good time with people I would not normally see.  

My tip to any locals doing the race again -- they did not check bib numbers in corrals, and they gave good space between corral starts.  If the race begins at 7:30, you could easily show up at 8:00 - wait in no line for a bathroom, pop into the corral that is next to go when you are ready, and go.  So much better that standing nervous in your corral for 45 minutes while you slowly ease up and think about if you have to go to the bathroom again.  Though I did make a good buddy in my corral on my race.