Race Report - National Half Marathon

Our trip to D.C. kind of snuck up on me. I was doing a good job of following my training plan, working away, and then all of a sudden it was here. And I realized that I had a 14 mile training run on my schedule for the weekend. Since we were taking a long weekend, it wasn't really an option to move it a day forward or back. That meant I could either find 14 miles of solo running route in an unfamiliar city, or I could sign up for the half marathon. Spoiler alert - I signed up for the race.

When I finally decided to run it a couple days before we left, I went onto the race site, and online registration had closed. Shoot. However, they said a few spots were still open, first come first serve at the expo. And so, Meredith and I dragged our luggage to the expo, fresh from our train from Baltimore. That was fun to explain and take through the purse check at the entrance, let me tell you. Luckily for me, there were still spots available, and so it was time to gear up for a race the next day. Our hotel room had a full kitchen (!), so we were able to hit Trader Joe's and cook ourselves a good spaghetti dinner.

Race morning, as always, came too early. Staying up late to watch basketball didn't help matters. But we got in our breakfast, bundled up, hopped in a cab for an early morning tour of the lit monuments, and sped over to the start. Unfortunately, though Meredith and I were planning to run a similar pace, we were stuck in different corrals. Back in corral five, it took us six minutes to reach the start line, and we were off! Better that than to be the guy I saw running the other way, asking where the start line was. Since my "A" race isn't until May 7, the intent was to treat this race as a training day with a goal pace of 8:39. I knew my PR pace was only slightly faster than that at 8:35. And so I told myself that if that was in sight toward the end and I felt like I wasn't overtaxing myself, I'd give breaking it a shot.

The beginning of this race winds around the Capitol Hill area, eventually funneling the runners along the north side of the Mall. We got some good views of the Capitol building and the Washington Monument along here. Despite the corral system, there was still a good bit of jockeying for position in the first couple miles, and my splits were a little slow. Not a problem, as I'm used to warming up for the first bit, and making up for it later.

What was a problem is that I wasn't seeing any mile markers. It's a good thing I decided to wear my Garmin for pacing, because the first mile marker I saw (and others reported the same) was at mile 10! I'm not sure I've ever seen a marathon that doesn't have mile markers. The other issue was the water stops. I knew going in that they weren't every mile, but it seemed like they were kind of random, and I never knew which side of the street to expect them on either. I had worn a fuel belt, knowing I'd need the extra water, but a couple times I had just taken a swig from my belt only to find a water stop just ahead.

Once we finished the stretch along the Mall, we turned right and headed up, up, up to the Dupont Circle area. Miles 5, 6, and 7 were mostly uphill. Not gruelingly so, just enough that you could feel the extra effort. When I hit the 10K marker, I was EXACTLY on pace. 8:39/mile. I was feeling pretty good when I finished the climb, so I decided I would push it a bit on the way back down, and see what I could do. The miles started clicking by a little faster; most were in the 8:00-8:15 range. Just. Got. Interesting!

So, I have this one bad habit in racing. In the second to last "thing", whether it's an interval, a set, or a mile, I tend to lose focus. I'm tired, but not "almost done". It was no exception here, as I turned in an 8:30 mile after quite a few faster ones. I looked at my watch, and by its time and distance, I had about 9 minutes not only to PR, but to break 1:50! It would take a big effort in the last mile, and that's what I gave it. All the intervals I've been doing on the track came back to me, and I broke it down into 400s. 1200 left...800 left...400 left...and I started looking for the finish line. It wasn't there. When I finally did see it, I knew I couldn't possibly get there by 1:50. I also knew that I had to keep working hard if I even wanted my PR! It wasn't until I made the last turn and could see the finish line clock that I knew I had it, and I crossed the line (13.27 miles on my watch) with a PR of a little over a minute. For what it's worth, my last mile was sub-8:00 on my Garmin, so there was certainly something left in the tank.

Total: 1:51:08 (8:29/mile)
Overall: 1551/4021
Men: 307/747

I have mixed feelings about this race. I liked the course and getting to see some landmarks, and the crowd support varied from decent to very good. However, the lack of mile markers and insufficient water would make it hard to truly endorse. I'd say it's a good one if you want a race to run for the location, but not so much if you're running for time, especially if you don't have a Garmin.

As for my own effort, I was obviously quite happy. In a sense, though, I already knew I could do this speed based on the training runs I've had over the last few weeks. It was good to know I was able to do it while controlling my pace. The real test will come when I'm not racing "comfortable" for the first half. We'll find out in six weeks...