The 2014 Nike Women’s Half Marathon

Oh Nike Women’s Half Marathon, you  have a special place in my heart.

Even 24+ hours later I am still floating on high with post-race bliss. All in all it was one incredible weekend in DC and one epic race with 15,000 other fabulous runners.

I am happy to say that I conquered my 2 main race goals:

1. My stomach cooperated and I didn’t take a bathroom break mid race (and good thing! Those portapotty lines were loooong)
2. I did not fling my phone and shatter the screen at mile 12 like I did during my other half marathon.

So mission accomplished :). Oh and I also got a shiny new PR, which I’m pretty thrilled about considering I didn’t train for this race  the way I intended to.

On Saturday my parents picked me up at my apartment bright and early to head down to DC together. Once we made it to the area, they dropped me off at the expo in Georgetown so they could check in at the hotel. I was worried that picking up my bib + shirt was going to be a nightmare Saturday afternoon but Nike had everything well organized. In no time I had my bib and special Team in Training participant shirt.

How pretty are these bags?

After picking up my bib I headed over to the expo tent. Since it the day before the race, everything was pretty crowded and  had a long line. There wasn’t that much to see there but I thought it was cool that they were offered run analysis and shoe recommendations.

A representative from Nike filmed me running on a treadmill from a few different angles. We then watched the footage in slow-mo and analyzed what was happening. I’ve had my running form analyzed a few times while buying new sneakers and by a physical therapist, but it’s always cool to find out more about what my body does while running and therefore what the best shoes for my body are. After analyzing the footage a few shoes were recommended for me. All the information was then emailed to me including the video analysis– how cool!

There weren’t too many other booths set up– Team in Training had a spot to make signs as well as Luna Bar. After the expo I headed over to Nike Georgetown to check out the special gear for the event. I loved loved loved the selection of clothing specially created for the race and bought a few thing that said “Nike Women’s Half Marathon 2014” as a nice souvenir from the race. I was also super excited to see the wall of runner’s names, including my own.

Back at the hotel my dad and I decided to walk down to where the start / finish would be to ease my nerves about getting there the next morning and so my dad could stake out a good spot to watch the race with my mom. It felt good to walk around for a bit and get my legs moving after the long car ride.

After walking around for a bit we headed back to the hotel and regrouped before meeting one of my good friends from high school, Elice, for dinner. Getting to see her was a nice little bonus to the race weekend. As far as diner goes, I’m never sure what to eat before a race but I knew I wanted to steer clear of dairy and anything that might upset my stomach. I decided to order a vegan chili at the restaurant in hopes that the protein would fill me up and lack of dairy would keep my stomach happy. It must’ve worked because I felt fine on race day!

Soon after dinner it was time to get ready and go to bed. I was starting to feel the pre-race jitters (who am I kidding, I’d been feeling them since Thursday) and knew it was going to be a rough night of sleep. Throughout the night I woke up paranoid that I had overslept and missed my alarm. I even had a dream about oversleeping and missing the race, yikes. I am happy to say that I woke up with my 5AM alarm, no problem, and did not miss the race, ha.

For breakfast I stuck with my usual favorite of peanut butter + honey on whole wheat bread.

(thanks dad for waking up to take some pictures!)

I also ate a white chocolate macadamia nut luna bar about 30 minutes before the race. I’m one of those people who needs to eat a legit breakfast before running or else I get really hungry during the race.

Before leaving I foam rolled a bit (yes I brought my foam roller with me from New York!) and it was time to head out!

My throwaway sweatshirt was quite ugly (and HUGE) but was also only $2 from K-mart. Can’t beat that!

Down at the start line it was chilly and I was happy to have that big ugly sweatshirt before the race started. I’m also happy I decided to pack a pair of capris instead of just shorts. The weather ended up being gorgeous and the perfect race weather– not too hot or cold with a slight breeze, so a tank top and capris ended up being a good choice.

After walking around a bit it was time to get into my corral and wait for the race to start!

Considering there was 15,000+ people running the race it didn’t feel nearly as crowded as I anticipated. There ended up being 3 different starts to help with congestion on the course. I personally didn’t have much of an issue with overcrowding on the course and loved being surrounded by so many passionate, mainly female, runners.

Around 7:13AM it was time for my corral to start!! The race starts off heading towards the capital building for mile one.

Mile 1

In my head I made a plan of attack: walking break at mile 5 to have my squeezey apple sauce, walk again at mile 7 and 9 to eat some jelly beans. I swear the beginning part of a half marathon is the worst because it’s a bit daunting to think “Oh hey, I’m going to be running for the next 2+ hours”.

Soon after starting I saw the pacers for a 2:20:00 finish which means running at roughly 10:40 per mile. While I swear my only true goals were the ones above (no bathroom, no breaking iPhones) in my heart I also knew I wanted to at least match my finish time from the first marathon, despite the lack of training. I kept my eye on the pacers throughout the beginning of the race to help me stick to that plan.

At the end of mile 1 I spotted my parents for the first time which gave me a nice energy boost before heading into a tunnel for mile 2!

Mile 2

The tunnel was by far my favorite part of the race, it was filled with drummers pounding away and everyone was screaming. I tried to take video of the epic noise going on in there but failed miserably.

I don’t have a GPS watch so I was using my nike+ app on my phone (which I used during training as well). At first it was telling me I had gone a mile a little after I hit the official mile markers… but after going under the tunnel it started telling me I had hit another mile way before passing a mile marker. I decided to ignore the overall time and just focus on the pace.

Mile 3-5

By the time I exited the tunnel I had lost the pacers (they were behind me!) and was still feeling good. There was something incredibly powerful about looking ahead into a sea of bobbing heads, everyone running their little hearts out

At this point we passed the monument and other spots that I vaguely remember visiting from my school trip here in 8th grade.

When I hit mile 5 while running on some bridge, I didn’t want to stop running for the applesauce, plus one of my favorite running songs “Jesus of Suburbia” was playing, so I decided to wait until mile 6 to take a walking break.

Mile 6

Ate some applesauce, took a sip of my handheld water and went back to running! I think I need to learn the art of eating / drinking while running because I hated having to stop for some fuel. In my head I realized I was just about halfway there and feeling way better than I anticipated— and then I saw the jumbotron that said “Smile, you’re half way there!” while showing live footage of what was going on.

I remember hearing my nike+ app say I was running with an average pace of 10:26. It was still early in the race and I was worried about burning out… or you know my body crapping out on me after mile 10, but in my heart I knew I was on my way to beating my first half marathon’s finishing time of 2:20:30

Mile 7-11.

This was the rough phase of the race I had been warned about: the scenery is meh, there’s not a lot about people cheering and it can get a bit boring. At this point I started feeling a bit hungry (apparently half marathons make me a hungry hungry hippo!) and my achilles started aching for who knows what reason.

I mentally broke down the race in my head to keep me going— after mile 8 it’s only 2 more miles and a 5k! After mile 9 it’s only 1 more mile and a 10k! Mentally this helped a lot during this long, boring stretch.

At mile 8 I was still reluctant to slow down for some sports jelly beans, but didn’t want to choke while running. I took a cup of nuun (electrolyte water) that they had on the course and LOVED it. I was seriously craving the sugar and something sweet so it hit the spot.

Mile 11

Less than a 5k left, and we finally hit some (loud!) crowds + bands!!! Around this time there was also a jumbotron set up that displayed our names right as we passed by, a very nice touch from Nike. After that long and boring part it was amazing to feel the change in energy at this point. I was still listening for what pace I was at from the nike+ app and was shocked to hear that I was way below a 10:40 and closer to 10:26. Right around here we hit a slight incline I had been warned about but it was actually no big deal and looked scary than it was. Nothin’ was gonna stop me from PRing at this rate.

Mile 12

I didn’t realize we could get to go under the tunnel from mile 2 again! Going under that tunnel with Green Day’s “Homecoming” blaring on my headphones gave me a serious energy boost. By the time I got out of that tunnel I was all weepy thinking about the fact that I was so close to finishing my second half marathon, something I never thought would be true considering I couldn’t run a mile in high school. Right after the tunnel I saw my parents again, which caused me to scream like an excited maniac and throw my hands up in the air.

I was so so so close to the end and just wanted to keep up my pace until I hit the finish line. Once we looped around the corner I knew we would hit a straightaway to the finish line. So holy crap I bolted it and just kept going until I crossed that finish line, screaming and flailing my arms. I wasn’t sure what my finishing time was at that point since I had a delayed start, but I knew I had at least beat my previous half marathon record.

I loved that within moments of crossing the finish line I was able to see my parents on the side lines. I just wanted them to see how happy I was and how good I felt. I honestly felt a million times better than I thought I would.

After the finish line I picked up my heat sheet, which made me feel like a burrito, and proceeded to pick up a souvenir water bottle filled with cold water (nice touch nike) and had another sip of nuun.

Then it was time for the infamous Tiffany necklace. You bet that blue box was a motivating factor during the race.

I met up with my parents just passed all the finish line tents and we walked back to the hotel (and starbucks) for brunch + some chai. I didn’t care that I was still a sweaty mess, I was too happy and too hungry! Bring on the french toast!

Then it was time to head back to the room, take a shower, and head on back to New York with that Tiffany necklace around my neck :).

Team in Training ended up raising a whopping 4.7 million dollars thanks to participants in this race. I am so happy I decided to run my second half marathon with such an amazing organization. The Leukemia and Lyphoma Society has been an important charity to my family for the past 20 years and I’m so thrilled to have been part of a race with them.

After this race I feel spoiled by the Nike experience and am going to be a little disappointed when there’s not a marching band cheering me on, a blue Tiffany box waiting for me at the finish line and a jumbotron with my name on it.

Yesterday I learned that I am stronger than I think I am. Yeah, I know I’m technically strong and realize it when I grab those 12 lbs dumbbells in a strength training class, but I never give myself credit in the running department since it’s not my forte. I may not be a particularly fast runner, but my strength and endurance is still there thanks to my fitness regiment. Sometimes I forget how “strong” I am, and how far I’ve come from that girl who was training for her first 5k 2 summers ago. My body is capable of running a half marathon even when I was worried about it. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend running a race that you haven’t thoroughly trained for though :).

I ended up finishing the race in 2:16:44. Not too shabby considering I can probably count the amount of times I ran this winter on 2 hands.

My body feels fine overall– just really sore in my quads but that’s kind of expected after running 13.1 miles. I had to walk down a bunch of stairs to get to chemistry lecture this morning and I definitely let out a few “owww’s” while hobbling my way down.

So yeah, I accomplished my goals… and y’know a bit more. DC, I’ll be back in 2015 ready to do it all over again!