Washington D.C. Marathon Journey

Carolyn and I get there around lunch time on Friday.  I still couldn't believe that I was going to run a full marathon the next day.  Most marathons are usually on a Sunday and I always give myself a day to get to know the area and make myself familiar with the marathon route.  Not this time.  We get there and it was straight to our hotel to dump our luggage, go eat first and then raced over to Expo to pick up my race packet.  I was excited, but noticed this wasn't as huge expo like Boston, New York or Chicago was.  I went straight to marathon merchandise and bought a shirt, cap, magnet and a sports bra.  Carolyn also bought a sports bra and because we bought two, they ended up giving us VIP access for the post marathon tent!  Whoa!!  Super happy because they told us they would have a warm tent, free massages and lots of good food for us after run.  We headed back to hotel to try and figure out how far the start line is from hotel and it was only 1 mile walking distance.  I figured I could probably walk it, but they encouraged me to save my legs for the race and because it would be too cold to walk.  I didn't argue and decided I would uber it.  I really lucked out finding the Westin Hotel because it as a very last minute booking and huge sale I found on Expedia.  I find out when we get there that they cater to marathon runners too.  They had a marathon dinner special and of course we decided to eat there.  They were even nice enough to give me a banana for my morning breakfast.  This hotel was downtown and close to everything. The White House was just a couple blocks away too.  We felt safe walking, but we also ubered a lot because of the cold weather..HA!

After dinner, I head over to CVS around the corner and bought my coconut water, bagel and peanut butter for my pre-race breakfast.  I headed back and started laying everything out for my run.  I gave Carolyn the map with instructions on how to find me after the race.  I told her it would probably take me 3:30-3:45 hours to run it.  I usually run better in the cold I told her. I knew going into this marathon that it was going to be a cold one.  I just didn't know how cold.  I had the front desk do a wake up call at 5:45 a.m. I call my family and tell them everything is okay and sent them my tracking info. I had a hard time sleeping because I realize that I forgot my Glucosamine vitamin.  I take that pill religiously everyday and prayed my joints would be okay tomorrow.

I knew I picked a good hotel when I saw this!

I get my wake-up call and I'm off getting ready.  I tell my sweet friend goodbye, she wishes me good luck and I leave.  I call uber and didn't realize that I had picked a pool ride.  There were two other girls in the car already.  One of the girls was also running the marathon and was worried about getting there on time.  I guess she got picked up 2nd.  We both looked at each other worried if we would make it on time.  The guy tells us that we will probably get there at 7:00 after dropping off the first girl.  What!  I told him that wouldn't work because that's the time our race begins.  We both start freaking out and I tell him that if I have to I can get off sooner and run to the start line.  I guess the 1st girl he picked up realized our panic and said you can go ahead and drop me off here, it's close enough.  We both thanked her so much and we had about 7 minutes to start time.  I still had to go find gear check-in to drop off my bag and thank goodness I found couple runners in the same boat as me.  One guy said, " it's this way" and looked like he'd done this one before and I followed him.  We ran there and ran back to start line.  I only had one minute to spare and just took a huge breath and sigh of relief I made it in time!  I've never cut it this close before!!  I tried to get my Bluetooth for music going, but it was giving me the same issue as Cowtown that it wasn't able to pick up my earphone, so I just decided to run with out them.  I figured this is the Rock n' Roll Marathon so surely they will have music along the way!  I didn't have time to do my before race picture I usually do and post, so I just did it while running.  I made sure to put sun screen on and covered up my face against the ice cold wind in certain areas of the race.  The temperature was in the 20's but felt like 14 degrees!!  I don't think I have ever ran in anything that cold before.  I was just so happy that it didn't rain on us because it had rained the day before we got there.
 

I wanted to shoot for a 3:30 time, but with the crazy cold weather I decided to just listen to my body.  They warned us that this marathon was not one to try and PR because of the weather conditions you are most likely to cramp up.  They also told us to try and keep moving so that you won't cramp up.  Two people told me to watch my breathing and don't breath through my mouth cause my lungs can collapse.  WTH!  Never heard of that before!   Well, they were right.  Half way through my marathon my body decided I had pushed it too fast and for the second half, I just ran slower without stopping.  My right hamstring and Achilles' tendon started to cramp and hurt forcing me to slow down.  I was between the 3:30 and 3:40 pacer guys.  I figured if I stay between them, I'll be okay.  I was a little disappointed that in some areas there weren't many spectators and not enough bands either.  So, I decided to play my music out loud from my phone just to keep me motivated.  The wind chill was brutal!  There was a huge hill at mile 20 and there was a big crowd there.  I was so happy to see them, because that's when your mind really starts playing tricks on you.  There was a line of Veterans pics up the hill honoring them and people holding up flags cheering us on.  That was cool.  I also thought I would run by the White House, Lincoln Memorial and other famous monuments but didn't.   At mile 23 the 3:40 pacer group catches up to me and I try my hardest to stay with them, but my leg starts cramping up again.  I couldn't hang and had to let him go.  At this point I see a man trip and fall over railroad tracks, and runners on the side streets stretching and getting massages on their legs.  That made me worry and prayed I'm able to keep moving.  At around mile 24 is when I get competitive with myself an try to count how many girls I can pass up.  Not this time.  I was counting how many girls were passing me up..LOL!  It was super cold until the end. 

After run I find the gear check truck and   changed my pants and went to find my friend.  She was waiting for me at the VIP tent and I went to her.  I had some hot broccoli cheese soap, fruit, and hot chicken enchiladas cassorole.  There was a wait for massage and I didn't want to be out there in the cold so decided to leave back to hotel.  All I wanted now was a hot shower!  Giving the weather conditions, I'm happy with my finish time of 3:42:50.

My Garmin results.

Their final results.