Category Archives: Fitness

Rock ‘n’ Roll USA Half Marathon: Exceeding Expectations

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I ran the Rock ‘n Roll half marathon last weekend in D.C., and ended up pleasantly surprised with how things turned out. The race exceeded my expectations on a lot of levels.

Rock 'n' Roll USA shirt and medal

I ran this half years ago while I was in grad school when it was just known as the National Marathon and Half Marathon before the Competitor Group took over making it part of the Rock ‘n’ Roll series this year. I remember it being freezing cold, and I’m a bit of a cold weather wimp. I remember a lack of crowd support especially in the last few miles. I remember crossing the finish line, going right to bag claim and immediately heading to the metro wrapped in a space blanket saying never again.

Despite that, I found myself at the start line again on a beautiful St. Patty’s Day morning last Saturday. Temperatures were around 50 at the start and probably got up to mid-60s by the end of the race. It was probably a bit hot for the full marathoners as temps continued to climb, but it was my favorite kind of race weather. Not half bad for mid-March!

The Competitor Group has gotten some bad press in recent years including rising prices, a large amount of racers getting sick at the Las Vegas Marathon or frequently running out of medals or food for slower runners. My last experience with them wasn’t so great either. I ran the Nashville Country Music Marathon several years ago and it was a bit of a disaster as most of us had to be diverted to the finish line at the 22-mile mark because of an incoming tornado. While I understand they had no control over the weather and probably made the right decision to cut the race short, there were a lot of
other issues that could probably fill an entire blog post on its own. My biggest problem was that they started the race 15 minutes early without making an announcement leaving me stuck about 15 corrals behind where I should’ve started wasting energy weaving my way in and out for the entire first half of the race.

Celebrating with my friend Lindsay post-race at Four Courts. She also set a PR finishing in 1:41:14!

I had good intentions when I signed up for this last November, but unfortunately started training about a month later than I should have and followed a plan geared toward the Cherry Blossom 10-miler next weekend instead of focusing on this race. I’ve been running a lot and working on my speed, but other than one 13 miler a few weeks before the race, I haven’t run more than 8 miles since Marine Corps Marathon so I didn’t have high hopes for my time.

The race was underway right at 8 and thanks to starting in a corral near the front, the first few miles were much less crowded than I expected. We started out running behind the Capitol Building and worked our way down Constitution along the Mall before turning up 18th. I hit the 5k mark in 23:19, a much quicker pace that I thought I’d be able to run. The course was hillier than I remembered (selective memory has a way of making that happen) as we winded through Adams Morgan and worked our way to H street before making our way back to the finish line at RFK.

The crowd support was also better than I remember it and I was feeling pretty good making it a fun race. I surprised myself setting a PR with a 1:43:14 finish, maintaining a 7:53 pace. (Full disclosure I’ve only run 2 other half marathons.) The perfect weather, better than expected organization of the race, and a PR all exceeded my expectations. The post-race beers at Four Courts and a Syracuse win made it a great day. I might even run this race again someday!

MCM – Marathon #8

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This year’s Marine Corps Marathon has to be one of my favorite marathon experiences, and I’ve had some pretty good ones. It probably has a little to do with the fact that it was by far my best performance. I took another 8 minutes off my PR set just a month ago in the Twin Cities to finish in 3:40:36. That put me in the top 2,000 out of about 21,000 finishers and the top 100 in my age group!

Before - Getting Ready for Race Day

Saturday’s extremely rare snow, sleet and cold in D.C. in October had me a bit nervous, but Sunday morning turned out to be perfect race weather. The start line was a bit chilly with temps in the 30s, but a few extra layers and some hand warmers kept me warm until we were ready to start. I lined up at the start line with the 3:35 pace group with a goal of staying with them for at least 18 miles.

The first few miles of the race go by Arlington Cemetery, then past my apartment and up Lee Highway before circling back to cross over the Key Bridge into D.C. My parents made the drive down from Syracuse to cheer me on throughout the race and ran all over town to see me at different spots! They caught me right past mile 1 and then headed over the Key Bridge to catch me as I looped back onto M Street toward Wisconsin Ave. I wasn’t able to spot them there, but would catch them again in Crystal City.

I was moving pretty good through the first half of the marathon. We lost our pacer for mile 12 though (I think he needed a bathroom break!) and all got nervous and sped up, which took a lot out of me. When he caught back up to us at the halfway point we were battling a headwind through Hains Point near the Jefferson Memorial. From there we hit the National Mall near the Washington Monument and headed towards the Capitol Building.

Around mile 16 I started to struggle and slowly see the pace group slip away. I tried to hang on, but finally lost sight of them at the mile 18 marker. After looping in front of the Capitol, I took a moment to thank god they didn’t make us run up the hill to go around the building, which was where I thought the course went! That along with a couple Power Bar gummy candies that I brought in my water pack picked me up a bit, and I started to feel better about mile 20 as I worked my way over the 14th Street Bridge. That is a brutal stretch of the race, especially since there is very little crowd support over the long bridge.

Running through Crystal City

Entering the home stretch in Crystal City I realized I had a chance to still finish in 3:40, which would be huge. I saw my parents at mile 22 and got high fives when I looped back around by them again at mile 23 giving me a huge boost. Another friend was just about a mile down the road and cheered me on as I passed by leaving Crystal City with just two miles to go. It’s amazing how big of an effect cheers from people you know along the course can have on you.

I pushed hard passing Arlington Cemetery again and up that cruel hill right before the finish line in front of Iwo Jima, and was so excited to see I had kept it under 3:41! I’ve done a lot of races to travel and experience a new city. While nothing will ever top my finish experience in the old Olympic Stadium in Athens, seeing my own apartment just beyond the finish line and stumbling home in just a couple minutes was one of the best feelings ever.

After - wrapped in my space blanket, happy to be done!

I spent the next few hours being lazy, covered in ice and eating taco dip while watching the Bills game. My parents and I also had a celebration dinner up at Fireworks in Courthouse that night with some beer and pizza – a great way to cap off the day!

Now the big question is: what’s next? I’d like to take about a year off before doing another marathon and do some shorter races while I work on my speed so I can go for that Boston Qualifier – just 5 more minutes to go and I’m there. I’m not sure which marathon I want to do next, but Chicago and New York are on my short list.

The Expo

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At the race expo with mascots Miles and Molly after I won a supersize goodie bag!

I’m a big time running nerd so I get really excited about race expos. The Marine Corps Marathon (MCM) expo was held at the D.C. Armory, and opened the Thursday before the race. I put in a few extra hours at the beginning of the week and got a sub for my Thursday boot camp so I could be there right at 3:30 for the opening ceremonies. This was partly because I’d seen on their Facebook page that they’d be giving away 36 supersize goodie bags, and you had a good chance of winning if you showed up early on day one. I was determined to win one!

Unfortunately there were already a hundred or so people in line when I arrived so I was not among the first 20 who got to play a game for the first two goodie bags. I was a bit bummed, but still really excited to be at the expo. The marines are nothing if not organized so picking up my bib and my shirt was a pretty easy process. I spent awhile in the Brooks booth browsing the official gear and settled on a white, long sleeve, half-zip running shirt and a pint glass (clearly hoping to do a little post-race celebrating).

I weaved my way through the rest of the expo stopping at just about every booth (like I said, I’m a nerd). Pacers showed me some really cool Mizuno gloves that actually warm up with liquid contact, i.e. rain, snow, sweat, etc. I might be buying a pair of those before the winter ends. I tried on a pair of Yurbuds, which fit my ears really well as opposed to most of my ear buds that just pop out every few minutes as I run. They also let in outside noise so you can stay aware of your surroundings. I picked up flyers for other races and chatted with the Team in Training group too. I did my first marathon with them while raising $4,000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and had an absolute blast. I hope to do another race with them sometime soon.

I finally decided it was time to go, but gave one last check of the MCM Facebook and twitter feeds, and saw they’d just tweeted that the first two people to find their mascot, Miles, and whisper Oorah would win the supersize goodie bags. Well, I was off and running and eventually spotted Miles to become the first winner. I was so pumped and the goodies were awesome! The bag itself was made out of recycled race banners from previous MCM’s, and was filled with a certificate for new Brooks running sneaks, sunglasses, numerous gift cards and more! It was a very cool way to integrate social media into their race, which they did a very impressive job of leading up to and even during their race. Stay tuned for a race day recap!

Some of the cool schwag I got as part of my supersize goodie bag!

Natural Running

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Last weekend I went to a running seminar and clinic put on by Newton Running at Pacers in Arlington. The Arlington store is my favorite one – mostly because it’s within walking distance of my place! It started out with a presentation on natural running, going over proper running form to make you as fast and efficient a runner as possible.They talked about balance and relaxation as the keys to running.

They also hammered home the importance of landing under your center of mass. While they noted that the most efficient running form of running has you landing on your midfoot/forefoot before your heel settles, I liked that they showed this might not be best for you if you’re still reaching your leg out in front of you. I’m usually a heel striker and have been working on converting, but if I reach my leg out then landing on my forefoot puts me another half a foot away from the center of my body than if I kept landing on my heel. It’s one more thing to try and think about while running of course, but I feel like I have a much better understanding of how I should be trying to make adjustments. I hope I can get to the point of landing on my midfoot first, but for now my main focus is going to be landing under the center of my body.

Check out Newton’s 10 Laws of Natural Running.

 

Naturally, they were there to promote their shoes as well, but that was the fun part. We got to try on their different shoes and take them out for a test drive. We were paired off with different Newton running coaches and went through a series of drills to the amusement of onlookers walking by the Clarendon Metro as we worked on our running form. It was pretty cool and I have to admit I really liked the shoes. I might have to try them out when I go for my next pair – which will be soon as I plan on retiring one of my current pairs of sneaks after the Marine Corps Marathon this Sunday.

Listening to An Olympian

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I saw Magda Boulet, an Olympic marathoner, speak at Pacers in Alexandria last night and loved it! My only brush with Olympic glory came when I won a raffle in the sixth grade to carry the Olympic Torch as it passed through our elementary school grounds on its way to Atlanta, so getting to meet a real Olympian was pretty cool. Her story is really inspiring. She actually became a U.S. citizen on September 11, 2001. Magda shared details about her experiences starting with a disastrous race at the Twin Cities Marathon that left her thinking about giving up on professional running altogether to the race of her life in Boston where she qualified for the Olympics. She talked about the devastation of dropping out of the race in Beijing due to a fluke injury and her hopes for London 2012.

Magda provides training tips and stories from her own experiences.

Robert Gillanders, a local physical therapist (PT) and marathon runner, also spoke at the event. To say that I’m not really one to go to a doctor for injuries is a bit of an understatement, but I actually really liked what he had to stay. He talked about how common running injuries are, but noted that physically being in pain doesn’t have to be a necessary part of running. He views himself like a mechanic that can assess where you are weak and how you can get stronger in those areas so you can be more efficient, take on higher training loads and see performance gains. Magda talked about using a PT for “pre-hab” rather than rehab. She said she needed someone to look at all the pieces and see what was missing so she could get better.

Going to events like this always gets me all motivated to get out and run, but they also get me excited about new gear. Despite my background in communications and marketing, I’m a total sucker for these kinds of things. My favorite from last night – the 008 hydration vest from Nathan designed with input from Magda. Like me, she hates running with anything around her waist, in her hands or in her pockets, so this backpack is perfect. It’s super light and has pockets in front for easy access. We’ll see how long I can hold off before making this my next purchase!

Check out video of the event at MoveForwardPT.com.

Setting A PR

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For runners, setting a new PR is a big deal. We spend countless hours designing plans with extra speedwork and just the right amount of mileage in hopes of hitting a new personal best.

I ran my seventh marathon in the Twin Cities this past weekend and finally cracked the 4-hour mark by a good chunk of time! This race was actually part of my training along the way to the Marine Corps Marathon at the end of October and served as the second of my three 20+ milers I have planned. I have a habit of signing up for these races and for one reason (read: excuse) or the other, not actually following through with the necessary training. Also, I did a few destination races that were more about the trip than the race, so I’d never been able to beat the 4-hour mark I’d hoped to surpass.

This race was different. Aside from an eight-day running hiatus around Labor Day weekend (yikes!), I’d done a pretty good job of sticking to my training plan. I felt great at the start and pushed a little harder than I planned finishing in 3:48:03. The course was beautiful. They’re not lying when they call their race the most beautiful urban marathon in the country. The weather was perfect – sunny with temps ranging from the mid-40s at the start to about 60 at the finish. The best part about it though might have been the start line. Staged at the Metrodome, we could wait inside in the warmth and use indoor bathrooms before making our way to the starting line! this probably made me way happier than it should have as I’m a bit of a cold weather wimp.

My boyfriend, who lives in Minneapolis, informed me that there were no hills there so I figured that would make things easier. This was not true however, I found out in the second half of the race as the course rolled up and down for about 10 miles – nothing too tough though or any uphills that left you exhausted. Any anger over this misinformation quickly went away when I spotted him and some of his family at mile 22 to cheer me on. I had slowed up a bit between miles 18 and 22, and that was just the boost I needed to get me moving to the finish line!

I don’t know why, but I started laughing for the last 50 yards to the finish line. I guess I did voluntarily sign up to run 26.2 miles, so clearly you know I am a little crazy, but it was also the overwhelming excitement of realizing I was crushing my pervious personal best by 25 minutes. The problem with PRs in running though is that once you get one, you just want another…and, well I’m only 13 minutes away from qualifying for Boston, so I guess it’s time to draw up another training plan.