Rock and Roll DC Half Marathon review

Well, as some of you may have seen on Instagram, I had my first DNF this past weekend.  I only got to around mile 9 of the RnR DC Half Marathon before dropping out.

But starting back at the expo... I had plans to go to the expo with a friend but we were running late so didn't get there until around 6:15pm and the expo closed at 7.  When we got there, the line to just enter the building was huge.  It went down the side of the building, out onto the sidewalk and around the corner.  But it moved fairly fast, even though it didn't feel like it due to the cold and wind.  We finally got in and there was very little wait to pick up our bibs and shirts.  We were also picking up bibs for some friends and we managed to get all four quickly.  We also managed to change corrals for a friend with no problem.  The expo was really well organized.  We looked around a bit and I bought a stick since those seem to work better for me than the foam roller.  But we pretty much rushed out of there since the expo was closing and we had a dinner reservation.

 

We met up with Ana and another friend at Rosa Mexicano.  It was a delicious meal with great company!  I really enjoyed the opportunity to meet up with Ana in person.  It's so funny how you can begin to feel like you know someone without even meeting in real life.

 

Stole this photo from Ana's instagram

Next, race morning!  The race started an hour later this year so it wasn't until 8:30.  We were back in corral 21 so we figured we would start around 9:15 or so.  And we were staying in a hotel close enough to walk to the start line.  But we still managed to run late and as we saw the street where the corrals were lined up, we saw the very last corral walking by!  So we had to run a bit to head up and find our corral.

Oh yeah, no photos because it was bitterly cold and windy.  I did not want to try to fool around with my phone to take photos.  It had died in the past from cold weather so I had tucked it in a sip lock bag for some extra insulation and then in a zippered pocket of my running jacket.

The cold was pretty much the main story of the race this year.  I think it was in the 20s at the start and felt like it was in the teens.  But I also never felt like I could really settle into the race.  In the sun, I would begin to feel too warm.  But then the wind would pick up again and I would feel cold all over again.  The race went ok, slow but I knew that was going to be the case, until the big hill at mile 6 or so.

 

My knee began to hurt, but I figured once I got past the hill it would get back to normal.  But instead, it just kept feeling gradually worse.  The knee kept getting stiffer and stiffer.  I played the mind trick where I keep telling myself to just go another mile and then re-evaluate how I feel.  That will usually get me through a race.  But this time, around mile 9, my knee seemed to stiffen up completely and I couldn't bend it much at all.  I tried to tell myself that I could just limp to the finish (the race has a very generous time limit).  I was pretty sure that I wasn't actually injured at that point but I worried that limping an extra 4 miles might end up causing more damage.  So I ended up deciding to drop out of the race at that point.

 

The good thing about a race in a city that I'm so familiar with is that I didn't have to wait around for the SAG bus or anything.  I walked a couple blocks off the course and used my phone to call for a Lyft back to the hotel.  I took some ibuprofen, changed into warm clothes and began icing my knee.

 

My friends finished the race and made it back to the hotel an hour or so later.  We got cleaned up and headed out to brunch.  I was still hobbling but it seemed a bit better.  Sadly, sitting at brunch made it stiff again and it was worse again when we tried to walk back to the hotel afterward.  So more ibuprofen and icing ensued to try to get the inflammation back down.

 

Later in the afternoon I also used the stick the massage out the quad and IT band.  It was definitely much worse on that side with the bad knee so I guess maybe that's what caused it?  I'm not sure but maybe it was a fluke thing because of the cold?  It continued resting it the rest of the day and it was ok.  We went to a movie that evening (Lion, and it was really good) but the same thing happened after sitting in the theater and my leg stiffened up to the point it was hard to bend it.

But thankfully, it seemed better Sunday.  There was still some popping when I bent that knee but much less pain.  And it seems back to normal today.

So this was a disappointing race for me given that it was my first DNF.  But at the end of the day, I think it was the right decision.  I'm not sure why that happened with my knee but I'm glad it doesn't really seem injured and that I didn't risk more damage by trying to hobble the last 4 miles to the finish line.  In spite of my disappointment, I still think this is a great race and would definitely recommend it!  It's on pre-sale for $50 until March 17th for anyone who wants to give it a try next year.

2016 Rock and Roll DC Half Marathon review

I hope that you're all having a great week!  I wanted to go ahead and put up my review of the Rock and Roll DC Half Marathon while things were still fresh in my head.  As I've already mentioned, I ended up having a great time at the race and the weather was perfect.  But here are the details.

I went to the expo on Friday.  It was at the armory this year instead of the convention center like 2015.  I was a little worried about that because I know that you have to go through security to get into the armory and that can lead to long lines sometimes.  We got there around 3:30 pm Friday and it seemed like the perfect time.  There was no line to go through security and no line to pick up the bib.  Things went very smoothly.  I will say I noticed that the traffic was horrible trying to get in there if you were driving.  Definitely take the metro.  The armory was right next to the station and it seemed so much easier than trying to navigate through the traffic.

After picking up our shirts (which were really cute this year), bibs, and shoe tags (why do they still have shoe tags!?!), we wandered over to the official merchandise area.  It was Brooks but I was a little disappointed in the colors and designs for this year.  So we didn't buy much there, but did stop for some photo ops.

The one thing I didn't like about having the expo at the armory is that it was much smaller than when it was at the convention center.  Some of the vendors I like to see weren't there.  We still did a bit of browsing and I ended up buying a shirt and some arm sleeves (which I ended up wearing during the race).  KT Tape was there as an actual vendor but they did have a representative at one of the other vendor's booths so my friend was able to get her ankle taped at least.  We were still in and out of the expo in less than an hour.

We then went back to the hotel.  We all live in the DC suburbs but decided to go ahead and split a hotel room because it just made the logistics so much easier.  And the hotel was an easy walk to the start line so that really helped race morning too.  If anyone is looking at a good option for a hotel for this race, the Renaissance on 9th street was great.  After dropping off our stuff from the expo and laying out everything we needed for the race, we went out for dinner.  We had reservations at Zengo which ended up being great for a pre-race meal.  It's some small plates and some larger options as well so you could mix and match as you wanted.  There were plenty of vegetarian/vegan options and plenty of gluten free options for my friend. Plus we stopped at Dolcezza on the walk back to the hotel for some gelato.

Race morning dawned nice and early. The race started at 7:30 but we were back in corral 28.  We were told at the expo we probably would go off until around 8:15 so we left the hotel around 7:15.  We got to our corral right as the race started and the first corral went off.  We then did the slow shuffle up toward the start line as each corral was released.  It was a big crowd as the marathoners and half marathoners started together.  I'm not sure of the exact numbers but I think it was around 20,000 people.  Finally, around 8:15, we were off.

The course was the same as last year so I won't talk about it in too much detail.  The main thing to know is that it starts out downtown by the monuments and museums.  It's a very scenic course for the first three miles or so.  There's a nice out and back section as you cross the memorial bridge and come back where you get to see the runners going the other way and everyone was giving high fives and being super encouraging.  That's the only out and back section since this is a point to point course.  After you come back over the memorial bridge, you turn onto rock creek parkway.  I like this section even though it's quieter because it's really pretty.  There's a lot of greenery as well as the creek.  Then you hit the big hill around mile 6.  We walked up most of the hill but it was also inspiring as there were photos of fallen military and supporters cheering along the way.

After the hill, you start the section of the race that has you going through various neighborhoods.  This is my favorite part of the race and I think this is the only major DC race that goes through this area.  There is a lot of crowd support, a lot of people hanging out on their porches, playing music,
handing out food or drinks, lots of cute dogs and kids, people dressed up in costumes, etc.  I think a bit after mile 9, you hit Howard University which also had a lot of people cheering, as well as this great all women afro-Brazilian drum corps that really kept us going.  They were loud and you could hear them for a while.  Then you turned and saw the Capitol before you.  We ran toward the Capitol for a while and then made our way over toward RFK Stadium and the finish line for the last 3 miles.  There continued to be great crowd support this whole way.

I think the big difference for me this year was the weather.  It was beautiful running weather, overcast and cool but not cold. This really allowed me to enjoy the race in a way that I couldn't last year in the rain.  The other difference to me is that it seemed like RnR really stepped up their game with the bands this year.  There were some really good ones and they were all entertaining.  The road conditions were a bit worse due to the potholes because of the Winter we had, but I don't think there's anything the race could have done about that.

As far as my personal experience, my main goal was to make sure my friend enjoyed her first half marathon.  And I think she did!  We used 4/1 run walk intervals until mile 11 and then switched to 2 minutes running, 30 seconds walking.  I wanted her to see the race experience could be light hearted and fun, if that's what you wanted.  So I gave all the high fives, enjoyed all the music, thanked as many people as possible and we even stopped and took a shot of run punch from one of the houses in the neighborhood section :)  We started out consistent, slowed during the hills and a bit at the end, but were able to pick it up again to finish strong.  Both my friends are already talking about signing up for more half marathons, so my job is done :)

After the finish line, we walked through the finisher chute and it was crowded but not too bad that we couldn't keep moving the whole time.  We walked through steadily, picked up some nice, cold water as well as various snacks (power bars, bananas, cheezits, chocolate milk were all on offer as well as things I didn't notice, I'm sure).

There are several of our official photos that I really like and am planning on buying

One problem I had with the race last year was the messy logistics of having to take metro back.  It was compounded by the rain last year and some technical difficulties the metro system was having.  I don't know if it was better because we circumvented that whole thing completely.  We were luck to have a friend who lives within walking distance of the finish line.  We walked over to her place after the race where she had made us an amazing brunch.  By the time we headed back to the hotel, things were cleared up and we had no problem getting back there.  We also didn't check bags so I'm not sure how that process went.  But as far as the logistics of the things we were part of, I felt like everything went really smoothly. 

Good - Logistics and organization, weather, course, bands (this moved up from the meh category to the good category for me this year), nice medal, volunteers and spectators
Meh -  Shoe tag (RnR is big enough that they need to move away from this!)
Bad - elevation

Oldfields Half Marathon training - week 1

Well, I had a great week!  The funny thing is that there weren't that many workouts.  For some reason, I just couldn't get running in this week until the race.  I think I had been thinking of RnR DC as my goal race for so long that it felt like a true taper week even though I'm actually still training for an April half.  Oh well, I did get in a lot of walking (met my fitbit goal every day) and had a wonderful time at the race!

Monday - rest day

Tuesday - rest day with an evening walk

Wednesday - yoga.  I tried a random yoga for runners video on You Tube.  I liked the routine but I didn't like the video itself since she used a voice over instead of talking during the video.  It felt weird not seeing her mouth move.

Thursday - rest day with another post work walk in the neighborhood.  And my first day with my new convertible standing desk!  I've been trying to stand for 30 minutes and then sit for 30 minutes and alternating that way.

Friday - Yoga in the morning and then walking around the expo and the city in the afternoon/evening.

Saturday - Race day!  It was perfect running weather and I had a great time.  Full review later but I already went ahead and signed up for next year since they have their $50 price going right now.

Sunday - Walking around the city before brunch, lots of foam rolling, and the recovery yoga from Runner's World in the evening.  All of which really helped because my muscles were a bit sore yesterday but I'm feeling good today.

Yummy brunch from Compass Rose.  I love that the creamer came in a cow shaped pitcher.

So that was my week!  I hope everyone else had a wonderful week too :)  I'm linking up with HoHoRuns and MissSippiPiddlin for their Weekly Wrap.

 

Friday 5 - RnR DC Goals

This week has seemed to creep by!  But it's finally Friday and almost time for the RnR DC Half.  Before that though, Friday means it's also time to link up with Courtney, Cynthia and Mar for the Friday 5.  Today, I'm going to take this as an opportunity to talk about my goals for the weekend.

1.  Expo - The expo was at the convention center last year and it was great.  It is at the armory this year and I'm a little disappointed by that.  I'm worried about long security lines to get in, crowds, and a smaller expo meaning less interesting vendors.  According to the vendor list, KT tape won't be there and I was hoping to get my foot taped.  But my goal is to approach with an open mind and still have fun.  It's the first expo for one of my friends and I want to make sure she has a good start to her race weekend.

2.  Friends - speaking of friends, it's the first half marathon for both of the friends I'll be with.  I'm super excited for them.  We've been training together all Winter and now it's pay off time.  I want to make sure they have a good experience so they want to keep doing races and I continue to have training partners :)  I was initially going to treat this as a goal race but I'm signing up for another half in April that I can do for time.  My plan for this one is to stay with my friend (one is a bit faster and she's going to go ahead at her own pace to see what she can do!) to encourage her and keep her going.  This is my main goal for the race.

3.  Training - As I mentioned, I'm treating this as a training run for my April half.  So I also want to make sure I run a strong race and work on pacing and not going out too fast.  I clearly discovered I had a problem with that at the St. Patrick's Day race.  It will help that I'm staying with my friend and going at hear pace but this is her first big race and I don't want her to get too caught up in race day excitement and go out too fast either.

4.  Course - I did this race last year and enjoyed it enough that I signed up right away for this year.  But it rained the whole time and I felt like I didn't get the full experience.  I really want a chance to savor the course and hopefully all the spectator support that will be out there this year since the weather will be better.

5. Food - this goal isn't about the race, but let's be honest, food is a big part of my race weekend :)  We have some fun dinner plans but I need to make sure I don't overindulge and am still ready to go race morning.  Of course, it's another story completely after the race!  A friend of ours lives very close to the finish line so we're walking over to her place where she has generously offered to host us for brunch and mimosas. 

Rock and Roll DC Half Marathon review

Finally, I'm getting to my review of the Rock and Roll DC half!  It seems like it was forever ago but it was really only a week and a half.

If you've read any other reviews of the race, you already know that the defining factor was the rain.  Oh the rain.  It really made it hard to enjoy things but I did my best to put a good face on it since that wasn't in anyone's control.

Here is me before the race, all ready to go.  In deference to the rain, I wore my finisher's hat from the Richmond Half for the first time.  I also wore arm warmers and made a last minute change to calf sleeves instead of compression socks so that I could wear my usual socks that I know do well in wet conditions.

I was in corral #28 and it would be starting around 8:15 (I had asked at the expo) so I was shooting to get there at 7:15. I was staying at a downtown hotel only a couple metro stops away from the race start so I walked to the metro (not really raining yet) and took the train a couple stops to the start.  It was madness getting out of the station there since everyone was trying to get out at the same place but we eventually made it.  Once I walked out of the metro, it was a bit of a walk down to my corral. Not that many people were in the later corrals yet since it had started to rain so I joined some people in huddling under a tree.  I also had a garbage bag but I realized that I should have used a larger bag, not the normal kitchen sized one.  It didn't provide that much protection.

I entered my corral around 7:30 or so.  I didn't see any volunteers enforcing corrals or anything but maybe they were for earlier corrals?  I mean who's trying to sneak into corral 28? And for anyone wondering, there were 31 corrals.  I have to say that I didn't experience much congestion in this race at all and I always felt like I had a good amount of space. That may be because I was in the back of the pack and things may have been different in the middle.

I immediately saw people from my training group so I hung out with them for a bit.  An old roommate from college also happened to be in my corral so I spent some time catching up with her, which was great!  The race seemed to start on time so we shuffled up as they released each corral and we crossed the start line sometime between 8:10 and 8:15. I turned my garmin on, put my headphones in, and we were off. I was planning on 4/1 run/walk intervals for the whole race.

I have to say that I loved this course.  It starts out downtown at some of the scenic areas but then goes through some of the more residential parts of the city that wouldn't be familiar to most tourists. I really liked that mix. We started out on the national mall, ran past the Washington Monument, crossed the memorial bridge toward Arlington Cemetery and then came back across the other side of the bridge.  The first band was at the start of the bridge so we saw them twice. There were also some cheerleaders on the other side of the bridge.  The 5k mark was after the return on the bridge and I think I passed it at around 40 minutes, so about the pace I was shooting for.

It had been raining this whole time but I felt like it began raining harder after the 5k mark and that kept up the whole rest of the race.  We then ran on the Rock Creek Parkway, which was beautiful, even in the rain.  I really enjoyed this portion as it was a bit quieter but filled with natural beauty.  Also, at a certain point there were photos of fallen service members and individuals with US flags lining the road.  They were very encouraging and this was a very moving section.  Mike was waiting to cheer me on between mile 5 and 6 and it was great to see him.  I gave him a quick hug and continued on my way.

Photo courtesy of Mike, I'm the one in the middle front with pink arms.

I hit mile 6 in a good time but then there was the dreaded Calvert Hill.  For those of you not familiar with the area, here is the elevation map and I'm sure you can see what hill I'm talking about.

I walked up the whole thing.  I just felt like I would be wasting energy trying to run it and that it wouldn't have gained me much time anyway. After the hill, we were in Adam's Morgan and this began the residential portion of the race. I am sure the rain kept a lot of spectators away but I was surprised at the number of people that did come out in the rain.  I appreciated the spectators so much. There were people who had music playing off their porches, people dancing in the rain, people grilling and giving away meat, and of course people giving away beer which I took around mile 9. I really enjoyed the Adam's Morgan and Columbia Heights section of the race and remember thinking that I was sad that I hadn't taken up the offer at the expo to sign up for next year's race for only $50.

I have to admit that I began to fade around mile 9 or so.  I was in a bit of a fog and I'm not sure when we turned on North Capital Street but I looked up at one point and all of a sudden, the Capital was in front of me!  It's always amazing to look up, see that, and remember where you are.  And I loved being able to run toward it on the streets surrounded by other runners. Miles 11 and 12 were really slow for me.  The rain just felt really oppressive at that point and I was definitely taking extra walk breaks.    But after mile 12, I knew that I didn't have much more to go and could perhaps make a PR.  So I picked it up for the last 1.1 mile and pulled off a PR!

My chip time was 2:56:55 and my time from Richmond was 2:57:33. So not much of a PR but given the rain and the elevation changes, I am definitely happy with it!

Of course, it was still raining and I was drenched by this time.  Surprisingly, the arm warmers and calf sleeves managed to stay relatively dry but everything else was wet. I had stepped in countless puddles but thankfully I did not have any blisters or much chafing (just some spots where I had missed with the body glide). But I was still in no mood to stick around for the band or the free beer.  I just got my medal, a clif bar, a heat sheet, took a couple photos and then met up with Mike to take the metro back to the hotel.

Sadly, the metro had issues that morning and everything was backed up.  I think it took us at least 20 minutes to even get into the station.  Once we were in the station, a train came quickly and we were back at our hotel soon.  Of course, when we stepped out of the metro station it had stopped raining!

So what did I think overall?  Here's a quick summary.

Good - Logistics and organization, course, volunteers and spectators
Meh - entertainment (it just didn't matter to me either way, the bands were find but it's not like you stuck around long enough to really listen), shoe tag (I didn't think many big races still did this)
Bad - rain, elevation, sleep (I only managed 4 hours of sleep before the race according to my fitbit)
Ugly - metro

I didn't check a bag or park anywhere so I don't know if those things went smoothly or not.  But I think the biggest thing to show my opinion of this race is that when I found out the $50 deal for next year was still going on, I went ahead and signed up.  So I am already in for Rock and Roll DC next year!  Hopefully I'll get a chance to run this course without the rain :)