When I came across the race info for 2014 and saw the race date, I was ecstatic! It just so happened to fall on on our spring break! So what did I do?? I recruited my friend Betsy and Angela to run the race with me! We signed up for the lottery (unfortunate for Angela as she had completely forgot to sign up 😞) and waited for the results. I had to prepare myself in case we didn't get in. Well...WE GOT IN!!!
Fastforward to race week. Jeff and I got there on Wednesday so we could enjoy DC for a little bit. The expotique opened on Thursday so we did the tour of the Capitol and the Library of congress before we went to the expotique. Unlike runDisney's expo, this expo was really small. I got my bib in one tent, then walked up to another tent for the race shirt and the bag. Then I walked down to the actual expotique. Inside the HUGE tent, there was a big screen right in front of the entrance. As I was about to check out the expo, the screen caught my eyes! MY NAME was on the screen!! I thought that was neat! So I walked back and forrth on the sensor with my bib and took pictures in front of the screen as my name popped up! Now...THAT WAS COOL!!!
I walked around a very small expo. I decided to get my running analyzed before our tour started and so glad I did because it confirmed me for the third time that I'm a neutral runner! And the video that they sent me was really neat!!
Now let's fast forward to the race day. Since the race started at 7am, we got up around 5am and left the hotel about 5:45am. Walked to the Metro, got on with no problem and got off at Federal Triangle to drop off Jonathan's bag. By the time we got there it was about 6:15am and no one was hardly in the corral so we went ahead and walked up to the front of the Wave 3 corral. Took several pictures with the Capitol and sunrise as our background and waited for the Wave 1 to start!
The weather was PERFECT! It was about lower 60's (maybe upper 50's?). Right about 7:15am, our corral (the last corral) crossed the starting line. I was very nervous because we have to finish by 11am!! Of course just like any other big race, the first 1-2 miles were very congested. Betsy and I ran and ran until we reached the Capitol,before I took my first walking break. Betsy is a fast runner and I'm slower than her. I felt bad that she was staying with me and I kept telling her to keep going. But she stayed closed by. We started 1/1 ratio and I felt incredibly great despite I haven't ran much in the past couple of weeks. We ran by the mall, passed the Washington monument, Lincoln memorial and ran through a tunnel (lost the GPS signal for a bit there) and ran across the bridge to the Arlingtn cemetary. By mile 5, Betsy and I were separated (potty break) and I went on. The first part of the course was very nice and lots to look at. However, the second half was kind of boring. The course was in the park (I think?) and nothing really nice to look at. As I was reaching mile 9, I started to get worried because I usually hit the "wall" around there. But the "wall" wasn't there and I just kept on...not as strong as in the beginning but I kept on. Between mile 10 and 11 was the chocolate station and boy oh boy those chocolate truffles tasted so good!! I probably had about 6 chocolates while running!! (And probably could had some more chocolates to last me until the finish line!! Lol). We went through the tunnel again and I knew I was getting close to the Pensylvania Ave. right before I reached mile 12, I saw a jumbotron and saw my name on the screen again!! It was amazing and gave me a boost of energy that I needed to finish the last 1.1 mile!!
That last 1.1 miles seemed like 3 miles but I finally crossed the finish line! YAY I DID IT!!! Not only got my Tiffany's necklace, I shaved off about 30 second from Albany half! It felt so good that I finished the race without getting swept and finished it on time! Betsy finished before me and she waited for me to cross the finish line, get my necklace pic and we headed back to the Metro to get back to our hotel.
Overall, I really enjoyed this race!! Would I do it again?? You betcha!! But too bad Nike cancelled DC race for next year. But I would do another Nike Women half as long as it is doable :)
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