This weekend, I completed the Woodrow Wilson Bridge Half Marathon.
My time? 2 hours 28 minutes and 57 seconds - a full 1 minute and 3 seconds faster than my goal.
How did it feel?
 |
| Stylin' in my Pacers' Jacket! |
Incredible.
Woke up at 5am, and had my Starbucks VIA coffee, and a full egg, bagel, and cheese. I figured, it was 5am, and the race didn't start until 7:30, so I would have plenty of time to digest.
The day before, I had stopped by Pacers to get some expert advice on clothing. My buddy Lindsey pointed me in the direction of an awesome jacket set that was really a vest with magnetic sleeves from Sugoi. I thought, hey this could be useful. Armed with that, my new running hat, some thin running socks, and my trusty Nike Lunarglides, I was all ready to go.
Hopped in the car and headed over to National Harbor to grab the bus down to Mount Vernon. The traffic was pretty bad, which was understandable for the event, but I got on the bus pretty quick and sat next to a great chit chatter and soon enough I was hopping off the bus on Mount Vernon.
 |
| Freezing, but still good |
I decided to pop into the port-o-potties prior to the start of the race, and I am glad that I did. However, the line was ridiculous I was getting nervous that I wouldn't have enough time to get everything done, but I was able to do that, take my Clif Shots, and drink some water prior to the start of the race.
I ended up grabbing a banana too, and keeping it in my pocket. More on this later :)
So we all queued up around the circle at Mount Vernon and then....RUNNERS READY...GO!
Ok, that was for the Virginia Institute for the Blind Visually Impaired Runners (really freaking cool, btw, and one of the blind runners actually won 2nd place overall women).
Then it was RUNNERS READY...GO!
It took all of my Pacers Fun Run experience to not go running like a bat out of hell out of the start and down that hill. All around me, I saw people flying past me going their fastest down that first hill.
Amateurs! All Amateurs!
I had some good easy jog music and before I knew it, mile 1 had passed. Then mile 2. Right around mile 2.5 was my first water stop, which I remembered from all of my half-prep training, to actually slow down, walk, take the water, and then go again.
I also had the express pleasure of ripping off my sleeves and stuffing them in the back of my jacket. That was teh!coolz.
Mile 3, Mile 4 were great, and then, I hit mile 5, which was the turnaround point for my every day non-training runs. I loved it - this was MY turf. My neighborhood, and I could run this backwards and forwards. I was so hot now that even though it was still 50 degrees, I took off my vest and let it hang over my aqua belt, running in only my tank top.
I am so badass.
But at mile 6, I remembered I would be hitting my wall soon. So I slowed down to a walk and began eating my (by this time, very cold) banana. I only had about half of it, and then I figured I'd be ok until I took my gel.
Between mile 6 and 7, I passed by my house, which I briefly thought perhaps to stop in and see puppy for a minute. Then I realized, hey, my house keys are 7 miles away in national harbor. Whoops.
Took my 2nd Clif shot at mile 7 and did not realize how gooy the chocolate gel was. Only had about half of it, and then kept going.
Looked up to my left, and saw - no joke - a rainbow.
My bub was supposed to meet me at mile 8 right at the bridge foot, but I completely underestimated how fast I'd get to that point, and he hadn't even left his house by the time I was there. Would have been nice to see him, but it was ok that I didn't :) (<3)
Then it was bridge time.
Now, if I do this one again (of course I'm doing this again), my focus is not on just finishing, but finishing STRONG. Right around the bridge, I started to lose my focus, and feel myself needing to walk. It started to get really windy and cold again, but I kept going, thinking that I would warm up if I started running.
Nope.
Finished the bridge and was up the ramp to the pedestrian bridge, and by this time, the wind was really blowing and I decided to not only put my vest back on, but my jacket. Now the wind was just awful, but we continued on, starting to jog/walk a little bit.
Around mile 10, my stummy started to tell me to find a port-o-pottie. Normally loathe to stop and do anything, I had to listen to my body. And happily - no wait.
Let's just say the break was worth it ;)
Back on the trail, I passed mile 11, and started to feel like this race was almost over, reveling in the fact that I was already at National Harbor, and I had begun 11 miles away in Mount Vernon. I figured, what was two miles?
Boy, did I underestimate those two miles.
Uphill
Then Gravel
Blargh.
Needless to say, I walked more of miles 11 and 12 than I would have liked. But I still kept going, through awful wind and cold.
By now, Runkeeper had stopped giving me signals for where I was, and so the final mile, I knew I was somewhere close. I thought, ok, after this corner! Ok, after the next corner! Ok, I see people lined up! Ok, what's next? Ok!
Finally, saw mile 13, and that meant only .1 miles left.
Round and round and round through a throng of people and there was the finish line.
 |
| Bling! |
Not going to lie, let out a scream of happiness when I crossed that finish line.
Got my bling, got my gatorade, and then walked the (very long and windy and cold) whole way back to my car. All I can say is thank GOD for the OnStar app.
So, obviously, this is not my last half marathon. But I will say that I am impressed that I blew through 6 miles no problems. Really, blew through almost 9 before really starting to feel it.
What's next for Half-Whit? Well, ob. I have some new goals:
1 - Work on speed this winter. That is, be able to consistently run 9:30s - not just at race time. I'd like to be able to do Pacers Fun Runs at 9:30s by next April - including HILL OF DOOM.
2 - Complete another half, and try to get under 2 hours 20 minutes. That's an improvement of either 1 min/mile or 30 sec/mile without a pitstop.
3 - Look at a full marathon - don't look at me like that Mom ;) New York maybe?
