Diana, thank you for the shout out. And thanks everybody!
I looked for citygirldc and couldn't find her, but there were something like 25,000 people racing. Even though I thought we might be starting in the same corral, I knew it would be a long shot to find her.
It was quite an experience! This was only my third race, and my second half marathon, but a much bigger race than I have done before. Just to give you an idea, the race started promptly at 8:00 am, and runners are grouped into corrals at the start according to estimated finish time, with the fastest runners in corral 1. As a 2:30 finisher (well, not quite, but more on that later), I was in corral 23. It took us almost 40 minutes to get to the start line!
The weather was great -- temps in the 50s when we started, and the fog gave way to a beautiful sunny day that eventually reached the 70s. The cherry blossoms are blooming early in DC this year, so we got to enjoy the trees and the scenic route as we passed the Washington Monument, the Capitol, Union Station, and passed through some interesting urban neighborhoods. I actually liked that the race took us through non-tourist areas of the city too.
I must say it was a very well-planned event. The bands along the way were fun (especially The Grandsons!), and there were lots of spirited spectators/St Pattys Day revelers along the way, holding motivational signs. Some of them were quite funny. One said "Worst Parade Ever" and then there was one that said "FREE BEER at the finish" but my personal favorite was "Free Pugs at the Finish Line!"
For the first 6-7 miles I felt totally great, even though I walked a couple of minutes here and there once we hit the long slow hill that was mile 5-8. Whew! I even had a running buddy for the first 9.5 miles, a nice man named Kevin who ran lots of shorter events but didn't have half marathon experience.
Around mile 9 though, I lost sight of the 2:30 finisher pace banner, as my left knee started protesting (I've had some issues with my left hip while running), so I started taking more frequent walk breaks to avoid really injuring myself. I ran through that pain once before last summer and ended up with an IT band problem, so I decided I'd rather be able to finish the race than risk feeling that scary bolt of pain shoot up from my knee to my hip. I know a girl 20 years younger than me who did just that last year who is *still* recovering and cannot run at all, so my main priority is staying healthy, even if I didn't meet my time goal.
I was hoping I'd be able to ramp it back up and finish mile 13 a bit stronger, but it just wasn't happening. I actually had a weird moment right before the finish when I almost felt I was hyperventilating, which I've never done before. And just after I crossed the finish line, my entire left side started cramping up, from my foot up to my hip. I had to keep walking around a while to recover, and I iced my knee on and off for the rest of the day.
I finished in 2:41, so I didn't make my goal of 2:30. But I did run at nearly a minute faster per mile than my first half marathon last year, so I was happy about that.
I feel better today. My muscles are sore, but the knee issue seems to be much better. I haven't tried running yet (I would give myself a few days rest after an event that intense anyway!), but I'll take it easy when I do, and I have an appointment with my physical therapist on Friday, so hopefully we'll figure out what my issue is with the left side of my body!
I'm pretty sure I've determined from this that I'll keep a schedule of 1-2 half marathons a year, and go for more frequent shorter events, I think 10k's (6 miles) will be really good for me. Maybe one every 6-8 weeks, which will keep me on track. I'm doing a metric half (8 miles) a month from now, so I have a little time to recover.
Citygirldc, I hope you had a blast too! Can't wait to hear how it went for you!
