The Big One: Rock N' Roll

17 March, 2012
Rock N' Roll Marathon Race Report
4:28.03
I don't actually have splits; I may try to chase them down at some point, but I was pretty much dead on doing leisurely 9min miles for the first 19 miles (was _watching_ (har har) my splits as I passed each mile mark.) And then after that was kind of a struggle to the finish.

So...

Went to sleep early, only to wake up too soon. Needless to say, did not get a great deal of sleep the night before. The nerves, the excitement, the anxiety. They say that the day when you no longer feel nervous when you toe the line is the day when your running career is over. I am glad I have not reached the end of my career yet.

4:45am Up, shower, breakfast, finish packing, put the loop on my shoes
5:30 leave the house
By 6:30 arrive at the Stadium. SET has a wardrobe dilemma... to green or not to green. Verdict: to green. Happy St. Patty's day!

After some pottying like a rock star, checking our bags, wandering around looking for some running lady, more pottying like a rock star. To the starting carrels.

8am: Countdown to the start. The temperature is already in the 60's. 10 minutes later, I found myself creeping up to the starting line, "Break your Heart" blaring and putting a smile on my face (hi CHE!) Bopping around a bit, getting PUMPED. Aaaaand off we go.. here goes nothing! Hm, my snacks are bouncing around in the bike jersey pockets, doh. Eh, whatever.. I can run in a way such that it dampens the resonant frequency of my snacks (great success!). The first mile is a little slow going, since the course is packed. Something close to 9:30. Mile 2 was fine, and the average pace was 9:00 again. And so here I was, just chilling. My goal? Just finish. Hm, I need to pee. Mile 4 had a toilet, but that seemed too soon. Mile 5 - ohhh shit, my foot is starting to hurt. Had a snack at Mile 7. Stopped for the facilities at mile 9. Things were SO much better after that - I felt like a new person. Except my foot. At this point, I decided that I needed to speed up and try to get in as many miles as possible before the foot became unbearable. I thought about stopping for the half marathon, but I'm kind of glad I didn't. That would have made me sad. I took advantage of all the water/gatorade stops. At each mile, they had music playing; most were live bands - pretty cool! Of course "Eye of the Tiger" played up one of the hills :). Still keeping my easy 9:00 pace effortlessly. Finally the half marathoners split off, and the crowd substantially thinned. I was feeling good at this point, so passed some people, and I passed the 13 mile mark at something like 1:56, so I'm fairly certain I was under 2 hours for the half - great! The temperature was really warming up, but I was still feeling pretty good, considering the foot. Shortly after crossing into Anacostia, they handed out ice - how wonderful. I felt re-energized and cooled down as I put some down the back of my shirt, and cradeled the cubes in my hands. They took photos at some point. I passed some more people; some were starting to walk; there was talk about how after mile 14 it was always tough. Things were going generally swimmingly. Just me and the road and some people. And then mile 19 happened. BAM quads just locked and cramped up. Had to stop to stretch :(. And then it was kind of downhill from there. The rest was a combination of walking/shuffling/stopping to stretch and have mini pity parties. Some parts were out and back, so it was just plain miserable to see people on their way back, and see how much further you had to go. Eventually, though, I was making it back towards the stadium on the final stretch. I still had to stop and stretch out the quads periodically, as they kept threatening to lock up and completely cramp up. The foot was quite hurting. Final hills kept coming up, only to be another long stretch. Mile 26 never seemed so far away. And then it finally arrived. I could see the finish line. And then I did a bit of a kick, passed some people, and garnished a "this girl's got a KICK!" from the announcer. And there it was. 26.2. Zing! Got mah bling, ate some bagel and yogurt, drank some chocolate milk, all provided. Then I met back up with SET and Madeleine. And then the rest of the weekend unfolded. Ice bath, shivering, hobbling, short ribs, snuggles, craziness.

Verdict: quite miserable for the last part of it, but overall pretty okay; I want to properly train for one sometime. Barring the injury leading up to race day, and the fact that I didn't quite train properly, I'm glad I finished. And soreness subsided much more quickly for this than it did the first time I did a half.