2015 Cherry Blossom 10 miler (or 9.4 miler)

The Cherry Blossom 10 miler takes place during the Cherry Blossom festival each year. Sometimes there are Cherry Blossoms, sometimes there are not. We hit the Cherry Blossom and weather jackpot this year. The blossoms were at peak bloom and although it was still in the 40s when the race started, it wasn't too cold and I actually found myself over dressed in my capris.

This was the third time I tried to get into the race and I signed up for the lottery as an after thought, so I was a little surprised when I got the email that I was in.

After the RnR DC Marathon I took a full week off from running. I only ran a few times the next three weeks, with the longest run being around 5 miles. I did manage to run some of those runs faster than during my marathon training. So I decided to aim for a 9 minute mile pace.

Brian and I got up early and took an Uber to close to the starting line. We walked over towards the start and heard an announcement that the race would be shortened due to an accident on the course. They announced it would be close to 9.5 miles instead of 10. The crowd seemed mostly happy that they would only have to run 9.5 miles. I felt fine about it at the time, I had no control so best to accept the distance and move on. I had never ran 10 miles so it was going to be a PR, now I would just have a PR for a even more special distance.

I was in the second wave and as expected it was a pretty crowded start. I've ran a lot of big races and I felt the other racers were a little less considerate of other runners than I'm used to. I got cut off several times. The run across memorial bridge and then up rock creek has gotten a little too familiar (I think I need to find some races along some new routes) but knowing the course also makes it go smoothly. 

I had heard/read that people thought the run around east potomac park and haines point was boring. I understand that it is kind of like an out and back and those can seem like forever, but I was so distracted by the Cherry Blossoms along this stretch that I didn't really notice how long it took. The trees were absolutely beautiful and practically covering the course in some spots.

According to my I was running a little under 9 min/mile pace so I was feeling good heading in to the final two miles. Unfortunately the last mile contains a pretty good hill and I was not ready for it. I'm usually very good at know exactly where I am in the city, but I got a little turned around coming towards the Washington Monument. Luckily it wasn't far to go and soon I was cruising down a short downgrade towards the finish. I didn't run the tangents so my finish pace was right at my goal of 9 min/miles! 

Finish time of 1:25:31 and official distance of 9.39 miles.

The race organizers projected our 9.39 mile times to a 10 mile time. According to them it would of been a 1:31:06 finish, but we all know that I would of kicked it up and finished in 1:30 something. 

After the race I grabbed some food and water and Brian and I walked around to look at some of the Cherry Blossoms. They were all perfect, but with the race and peak weekend it was getting pretty crowded around the tidal basin.

I don't think the weather is usually as nice and it seems the Cherry Blossoms rarely perform this well for the race. Since those two aligned the race gods had to sweep in and shorten the distance. Now I have a PR for the 9.39 distance! I probably won't sign up for this race again next year, but maybe again some time in the future.

2015 Rock 'n Roll DC Marathon

Mile 13 Wet but still with a little energy- photo credit to Becky

After several half marathons I thought I was ready to run a full marathon. A few weeks into the training I found out that double the distance equaled way more than double the training. The first long run was as long as the longest run I did for many of the half marathons I trained for. Complicating things were my active social life and signing up for a Saturday afternoon flag football league. Oh and also one of the coldest Februarys in recent years. I also only had a 14 week training cycle, because I knew for the half I always started right after the new year and didn't think "oh you might need a few more weeks to run twice the distance".

I worked my way up to 18 miles before my left foot started hurting really bad. After my Valentine's Day run my foot hurt when I walked for the next three days so I made an appointment with a foot doctor. He said he didn't think it was a stress fracture, which was my biggest fear but to take a week off and to take three ibuprofen with breakfast and another three with dinner.

Luckily that worked, but that hick up meant my longest run was 19 miles and an off week right before taper.

Luckily marathons are easy right?

During taper instead of getting more nervous like I hear a lot of people getting. I got more confident, maybe unreasonably so.

My sister signed up to run and Kristen and my niece got in to town the Wednesday before the race. They did some touristing around while I worked and we all went to the expo together on Thursday. The expo moved to the convention center, which was super convenient but the set up was basically the same as the last two years.

The 10 day, then the 5 day, then the 3 day, then the 1 day forecast all called for rain. The temperature jumped around a bit, but the rain stayed constant. When we woke up at 5:30 that morning we heard rain.

I decided to wear a hat to keep the water out of my eyes and a rain resistant jacket with shorts. I think my outfit was the right call, but I was soaked by the time the race started.

Kristen and I got to the start line with about twenty minutes till gun time, but we had to walk about a half mile to the end of the alphabet for our bag check then I did a final porta potty stop. I got into my corral a little after the race started, but since I was 10 corrals back I still had plenty of time.

The first few miles felt fine, at first I was trying to avoid the biggest puddles, but soon it was obvious that my feet would be soaked and going straight through them was probably the least exhausting.

Running up rock creek felt pretty automatic, I've run the first half of the route so many times, but as we approached the Calvert hill I first started feeling a little tired. I've never been able to run very strongly up the hill, but this year was a little easier. They people holding American flags all the way up and the crowd support was great like always.

Next we ran cross town, this is one of my favorite parts of the race. People are on their balconies having mini parties and offering beer to the runners. Then there is the run down North Capitol. I saw several runners get splashed by cars going the opposite direction and felt good about my decision to run on the west side of the street.

Soon we were at the point where the half and full split apart. The past two years when I ran the half marathon I always felt really happy I wasn't running another 13 miles at this point. Well I could tell the half runners were feeling this way too. A few of them wished me luck and I got a boost of adrenaline thinking about how I was going to run the full this time.

The Rock 'n Roll DC is definitely a half marathon focused race. After we split off I felt pretty alone on the course, which was a downer. But then I saw my boyfriend Brian and one of my friends Becky, who had run the 5K, were cheering for me! That gave me a big boost, I didn't know they were going to be there, but as I was running off Becky yelled something like "you are halfway there" and the reality of it hit again.

Mile 13- I kept having to wring my gloves out- photo credit to Becky

My first half was almost where I wanted it to be. I was planning on around 2 hours, but ended up at 2:10.

The second half of the race was colder, wetter, lonelier, and less scenic. At one point we ran three miles around an industrial area where they store the salt for DC streets. Then we ran across this terrible bridge that had huge grates on it, that I was certain I would fall over. The run in Anacostia would probably of been nice on a beautiful day. But in cold rain it was pretty miserable. I started walking through the water stations here, which was around mile 18. There was also serious flooding on the course here and we had to go off course in one area and through about six inches in another area.

Once we headed to Ft. Dupont park the rain started letting up a little. For the last 30 minutes of the race it pretty much stopped raining, but I was still soaking wet and was feeling pretty sore. My feet hurt the most and whenever I walked through a water station it hurt my bottom to start running again.

But soon there was only a mile left. But that mile seemed so hard. We crossed back over the Anacostia river towards the RFK stadium. The wind was blowing hard over the bridge. They had a nice loop away from the finish line, but soon I saw the finish and was able to kick it a tiny bit to the finish.

Dead in the eyes, but happy to be finishing

My finish time was 4:39. My biggest goal was to finish, but I also had a goal for under 4:40, and a goal for some other things that were apparently way too ambitious.

So I was really happy to be done, but there was a lot more walking to do before getting home.
Kristen, Brian and Becky were at the finish to help me celebrate and help me function. Kristen had a much faster race, but was also miserably wet and cold.

Kristen and me at the finish. Even though it stopped raining it was pretty cold and miserable still

I spent most of the rest of the day on the couch, eating, hydrating, and relaxing.

Throughout training and running the race I thought I never wanted to run another marathon. But now I feel like I could have a better race. I know what to expect now and would hopefully have a better weather day! So maybe....

For now I'm going to focus on some 5Ks...

Nike Women's DC Half Marathon 2014

This year I didn't get into the Nike half through the lottery system. After I was denied entry I moved on and signed up for the RnR Half. Then I was contacted by Nike in February with the opportunity to register and decided to sign up. Between the RnR half in mid March and Nike in late April I only ran one long run, a ten miler two weeks out that went fine, but totally wore me out. Its safe to say I'm burnt out on long runs and will be focusing on short faster runs for the next few months. 

Like last year Nike had some really fun details at the bib pick up and expotique. When you walked in to the expotique a big screen lit up with your name and a little message. They gave specialized hair ties according to how many miles we had logged with Nike +. I got blue ones! They also had gait analysis, sign making, hair braiding, and some luna bar samples. My coworker who also ran the race went with me and we headed up to the Nike store afterwards to join the run club and do a little shopping. We got a free headband at the store and had a champagne toast after the run. Joan Benoit Samuelson was on the run and ran beside me for a few minutes. We chatted about Boston Marathon recovery, running with a cell phone, weather, and she asked me to hold her cell phone while she took off her long sleeve shirt. So first time I've held the cell phone of an olympic gold medalist.

The morning of the race went smoothly as possible. Great weather, great bag check, tons of toilets, and only a little crunch entering the corals. 

Soon we were off. Nike changed the course in two spots from last year. They were both great changes. Instead of heading down to the Capitol building at the end of the race we headed there first. In no time we were heading back to ninth street with a mile down. We still ran through the tunnel under the Mall at 9th street, but since I knew it was coming it wasn't as bad. 

From there we ran along the south side of the Mall and across Arlington Memorial Bridge. After the loop around we headed back towards Rock Creek Parkway. At this point, around mile 5, my left foot started hurting. A sharp pain under the front of my foot kept throbbing. Every once in awhile it would go away for a few strides only to return. 

I just kept running. At mile 6.6 they had a video screen up showing us running with a message across the top about us being half way done. Soon after halfway we headed into West Potomac Park. They put up signs we had made at the expotique. Donna and I had made a sign so I kept my eyes out for it. There were hundreds of signs on both sides of the road so I wasn't very optimistic about spotting it, but I did! That gave me a little boost. 

Last year the loop down to Hains Point and back was a bit annoying, so I decided to enjoy it more this year. With my foot still hurting I tried walking and stretching it out at a few of the water stops, but it didn't seem to help so I decided I would just run as fast as was comfortable so I could end sooner. Nike also made some great changes in this area of the race. They bussed in some college students from George Mason and Howard to cheer at the Point. They had amazing energy and one of them was holding a "GO Courtney" sign, which I'm sure was for me.

At mile 10 there was a group from November Project cheering. They look like an amazing group, so I'm going to try one of their workouts this week.

Next up was the other change in the route. Instead of going back up the highway ramp to the tunnel we followed the water front. A few of the boats parked in the harbor were honking their horns to help us along. This area was also the "chocolate mile" where Whole Foods was passing out truffles. I didn't take one, not exactly the ideal conditions for me to eat chocolate, but maybe I should of saved one for the finish.

Then back through the tunnel. As we exited the other side they had another sign that was displaying our names and cheering us on as we were passing by. Again there was another turn away from the finish line before heading back, but I was able to kick my pace up a notch for this last mile and bit.

Approaching the finish line

Instead of photographers throughout the entire race, they had photo zones where they took our photos and gave them to us for free!

I finished in 1:57:25 

268/1,926 of Females 30-34

2,101/14,316 of Females

2,228/14,794 Overall

Well branded

I really like the necklace this year

Winners with Shalane and Joan
First place finished in 1:20!

Rock N Roll USA Half Marathon 2014

I wasn't planning on running the Rock n' Roll USA Half Marathon again this year, but I got an email from them stating the finish line band would be The Head and the Heart. I didn't know much about them, but I knew that several of my friends were huge fans. So after sending an email alerting them of the news they were all on board. They added a 5K option this year so four of my friends signed up for that, but two friends wanted to do the half so I knew that is what I would be signing up for.

My training was less than ideal. The weather this winter in DC, like much of the country, has been miserable. I'm not one to run outside when its below freezing or when there is tons of snow or ice on the ground, which meant I was running on the treadmill a lot, which meant I was running shorter distances. I got two 10.5 mile runs in so I knew I'd be able to finish and that was good enough for me.

Race morning was cool, but was the best weather day in a week and two days later we got the most snow of the winter. So race day weather was perfect. I woke up in plenty of time, but fooled around like normal and headed down with just enough time to bag check and get in to the corrals. Too bad I also wanted to stop at the porta potties along with thousands of my other runner friends. After waiting a bit and running to some further away and then running back, I made it to my corral #6 after it had already left. Luckily I was able to walk to the front and slip in with #7, which was probably a better spot for me given my poor training.  

race morning sunrises are the best

My watch was off the entire race, which just confused me. It ended up a mile off! Luckily I had it displaying total time elapsed the entire time, so I could do my own math with the mile markers, which mostly confused me more, but helped me push the last three miles.

The course was the same as last year (other than a slightly different finish), which I actually liked. I knew what was coming up and could look forward to hills (up and down), bands (love the drums by Howard), and my friend Hannah! She took this lovely photo while doing some amazing woo whooing.

my gloves make a great thigh growth

While not my fastest, I finished in 1:56 and never felt like dying. In fact I enjoyed myself enough to sign up for the Nike Half in April.

After the race I met up with all my runner friends to watch The Head and the Heart. They put on a great high energy show for 10 in the morning. They performed for over an hour. I was joking that it was the best concert ever because everyone was polite runners and there weren't any drunks bumping in to me. But really it was also pretty good music.

After the show we headed out to brunch. Races are always better with friends.

Jenn and I after our races

I'm FREE!

A few months ago I first got the idea of wireless headphones in my head. I saw some on a blog and got jealous. I don't mind running with headphones. I can keep my phone in my pocket or on the treadmill and the headphones mostly stay out of my way. But when I try to do cross training or weightlifting that wire really gets in my way. I'm not someone that always needs to be listening to music, but doing the NTC app workouts at the gym can be difficult when I can't hear the lady tell me what to do or I have to battle with a wire. So after a less than stellar day on Tuesday I made the split decision to see if Radio Shack sold bluetooth headphones. 

They had three different styles, but the salesman was really pushing the Quickcell headphones. He was wearing them and I asked him how much he jumped around in them and personal questions like how much he sweat (he said ALOT). They were also the cheapest option at $39 (but I see you can get them online for $29). So I went for them. 

So far I'm really happy. They are light and completely stay in place through running miles, burpees, squat jumps, push-ups, and every other workout activity I've thrown at them. I don't really notice them much when working out, but when I've worn them while just chillin' I notice the pressure a little bit. Also they don't fit as well or stay in place as well when I have my hair down (but I have a lot of hair) or when I try to put on a stocking cap or sunglasses.

The other downside I hadn't really thought about, but comes along with all bluetooth headphones (I assume) is that they need to be charged (another cord!). These say they have 5 hours of music playback or 6 hours of talking on the phone. I haven't had them die on me yet. My phone displays how much battery they have left and they use a pretty common charging cord (the same one my eReader uses and Android phones).

Woodrow Wilson Bridge Half Marathon

Woodrow Wilson Bridge Half Marathon, AKA the race I was going to run with my sister, Kristen, in October, but that was postponed over a month because of the government shutdown. The majority of the race is on the George Washington Parkway, which is managed by the US Parks Department and therefore they couldn't grant special event permits during the shutdown.

So over a month later I found myself waking up at 4:30 am alone to get ready for the race. Not only did I have to train for another month and run alone, I also had to run in colder (and darker) weather by a month. But I managed to get another few weeks of long runs in and was feeling ok for the race. At 5 am I got an Uber Car and directed him to Hoffman Plaza where I had to catch a bus to the start. The trip went smoothly and we arrived at the parking lot at 5:30 and I was on a bus soon after. 

riding the bus to the start

Runners on the bus were mostly asleep. We arrived at the starting line at 6 am and were forced of the warm bus. Not long after we got there the sun started to come up.

starting area

My bus arrived right before the huge rush of people so I was in and out of the porta potties in no time and just picked a spot near the bag check to hang out awhile before handing over my warm clothes.

pretty trees by the bag check

I wasn't as unbearably cold (even though I hadn't planned for the 5 degrees colder it was in Mt.Vernon than in DC) as I expected and decided I would go forth with my plan to wear shorts a T-shirt and gloves. I headed over to the start around 6:50, easily got to the 8-9 min pace corral and after a short speech and national anthem we were off at 7.

For those of you not familiar with Mt. Vernon or the GW Parkway, it is positioned along the Potomac River and surrounded by trees. For the first two miles it was silent but for the pounding of feet. There was also a little morning fog in the air and I felt very one with nature. The parkway is full of rolling hills and the first two miles of the race were mostly downhill, which makes it hard to go out slow. I decided to take advantage of the downhills and my second mile was my fasted (not exactly ideal).

The first eight miles were absolutely gorgeous. The trees were all shades of fall and we had river views every once in awhile, but it was a lot of the same, which made it hard for me to keep my pace up. There were a few people cheering along the parkway. Several people were on bikes riding on the trail and I saw them cheering several times along the route (thanks!). 

Soon enough we could see the bridge and it looked massive. The hill on the bridge wasn't terrible, but we were on the pedestrian path, which narrowed from the road quite a bit. A few people started walking on the bridge which made it hard to pass people and keep my momentum up.

Apparently the photographers didn't want to spread out and were stationed one after another on the other side of the bridge. 

I started eating my Gu right before mile 8 and was still working on it here at mile 10.

                            

I had read in a few race recaps that there was a major hill on the Maryland side of the race right before the finish, but I didn't know how major. So when we had a few uphills I thought maybe we were done. Until I got to the actual hill at mile 12 and knew this was the hill they were talking about. According to my watch it was an elevation gain of 130 ft in one mile and I slowed down by almost a minute to climb it. Luckily after that hill there was some downhill, but then we hit the gravel portion of the race. I read that it was like 70 ft, but either I don't know distance or something changed because it was more like a quarter mile on gravel.

I saw the 13 mile sign and decided to kick it up for the final .1. Only we couldn't see the finish line and with every turn we made and I still didn't see the finish line I think I slowed a bit. There had to be 6 major turns in the last .1 as we looped through the National Harbor shoreline. Finally the finish!

                                      

Official time: 1:51:40 an overall 8:32 pace. 

finish line selfie the namesake bridge in the background

At the finish line we got a medal, gatorade, water, a banana, bagels, and a beer. They didn't have any heat blankets or anything, but bag check was quick. They had a band playing and a few booths, but I exhausted my interest in the area before they got around to announcing the winners. We had to walk a few blocks back to buses to take me back to the Hoffman Center where I jumped on the Einsenhower Metro.

The bridge, the Potomac, the course, and me!

Run for the Parks 10K

Yesterday I ran my 4th half marathon, but before I recap that race I need to tell you about last week's Run for the Parks 10K. I signed up a little last minute. During the week I was sick and sitting on the couch I thought about how I wasn't doing enough racing and in a cold medicine induced decision I signed up.

I ran this race last year. And set a PR (it was my first 10K) on a recently rolled ankle. This year the race was a little later in the year but the weather was nicer. It was chilly, but no rain. 

Last year I met up with my friend Jayna at the race. This year we didn't chat about it ahead of time, but she thought to look on the registration sign for my name then came and found me. It was nice to have some one to chat with before and after the race.

I didn't want to push myself too much knowing I had a half marathon in a week so a few times during the race I allowed myself to slow down a bit. I think it was the right thing to do, but when my finish time was 50:55, a minute and one second slower than last year, I doubted the decision.

It was still a fun run through Potomac Park. Many races use this course (I think there was a Veterans Day 10K there yesterday), which is nice because it is pretty and I know what to expect, but kind of boring knowing what is up ahead.

I wore a new shirt for the race, which is a race day don't, but it was only 6 miles. Well the shirt really shows sweat. I need to just wear black head to toe. I also wore my leg warmers, which I have raced in before, but right off the starting line, one of them began to slip down and I raced the whole thing with one up and one down.

that guy in the Pabst shirt passed me soon after this pic

all sweaty and approaching the finish line

The trademark of this race is a nice jacket of some sort. This year the ladies got purple NB hoodies (modeled by me below).

two years in a row- Jayna, Washington Monument, and me

I rode my bike the two miles to the race and the two miles home. It was a very fall day so I took a few pictures on my way home.

Art in the bike lane "Make us bicyclists look good" 

the White HOUSE

fall leaves in front of the WH

Happy Halloween!

I started this weeks celebrating on Tuesday at the 17th Street Drag Queen High Heel race. 

Katy Perry

some kind of bride

The race was over in a flash, with Inertia winning in 43 seconds. My friend Catherine hosted us at her apartment for some pre and post race fun. She made a delicious Polish dish and many dips and deliciousness. 

sausage/mushrooms/onions

Catherine was a great host and really set the mood.

Today for work I went as Katniss Everdeen from the Hunger Games. I just happened to have her Reaping Dress in my closet. It was a good outfit for my uptight office, because most people didn't realize I was dressed up, but the few people who had seen Hunger Games knew exactly who I was.

Tonight I joined the Pacers Run Club for a festive costume run. We ran by a few haunted spots in DC, including the White House lit up in Orange and the Octagon House, which is supposedly the most haunted in DC. To run I switched into my Rainbow Brite costume with a little switch up on the shoe/sock situation. It was great to run in, if not a little warm. I was really saddened to learn that most people under ~28 have no idea who rainbow brite is. 

Tomorrow I'm heading to a Halloween Party as Katniss again, but this time in her arena outfit.

Marine Corps Marathon

Today was Marine Corps Marathon day in DC! Although I've been in DC for over two years, this was my first chance to really enjoy the race. My first year in DC I chose Marathon day to move into my apartment, which created a few challenges driving my Uhaul around town. Last year I was celebrating Becca's wedding in Texas. There were some cool events/speakers around town this week, which I still had to miss out on as I got sick with a head cold that knocked out all of my energy all week. By Saturday I was feeling better and set out for my 12 mile long run. At about mile 4 I ran into part of the marathon course and kept seeing signs all the way around the mall. After barely running for over a week, it was motivating to have a little change of running scenery. 

Mile 8!

My Monday night running group had a cheer station at Mile 5.5, so my friend Catherine and I headed down to cheer at 8 am. We saw the first wheelchair racer as we crossed the rock creek bridge and then the first runner as we turned on to K street.

Looking good RUNNERS!

We cheered our hearts out. And the runners kept coming and coming for two hours.

We got some High 5s!

working their way up the ramp

After everyone had passed us on K St. we cheered our way back up Rock Creek. The runners were looking at us like we were the crazy ones.

This was my second race cheering event in two weeks! As much as I love cheering I'm looking forward to racing again soon. In my cough medicine haze I signed up for the Run for the Parks 10K in East Potomac Park next weekend.