Alice in Runningland: Nike Women Half Marathon DC Weekend and Recap

What can I say? I am still over the moon happy from my weekend. I had been looking forward to it for SO LONG!!!

We left Friday morning and made it down to DCA in pretty good time. Baby behaved for most of the flight and only screamed in the beginning. I'm sure the other passengers were getting worried when they first saw me get on the flight with him. We got there in time to meet up with our friend who was flying in from Rochester.

After a quick ride to our hotel and settling down quickly, we headed straight out to the Expotique to pick up our bibs and race package. The package pickup was very quick as it was Friday afternoon. When we went back on Saturday, the lineup was super long. After we picked up our bibs, we went into the expo tent where we were able to try out some samples and get mini makeovers from their sponsors. I had the baby, so I only tried some Nuun and Luna bars. The line up for Bare Minerals and Paul Mitchell were way too long for me to stand around with the stroller.

On the flight and at the expo and Nike store

We headed up to the Nike Store in Georgetown as they were not selling anything at the expo. The store was packed with runners buying up all the NWM gear and the special edition Tiffany blue shoes Nike had designed just for the race. With the price tag of $125, I did not pick up a pair as I do not run in Nike shoes. Nike had posted all the names of the runners on their side wall and we all found our names. It was a nice touch.

As we headed out of the Nike store and started walking down the street, I saw Michael J. Fox. I told my girlfriends who turned around and chased him down. Luckily, one of my friends was able to snap a photo on him and his wife as she was crossing the street. They were in town for the White House Correspondents' Dinner that Saturday evening. We continued walking in search of other stars, but didn't see anymore.

My friend flew in Saturday morning to hang out with us and to watch baby for me while I raced on Sunday. She was a total life saver. I would not have been able to run this race without her. After a delicious early dinner we hit the sack early since I had to wake up baby to nurse him before the race.

Race Day

We were very fortunate to have our hotel a few blocks from the start line, so we did not have to get up super early. The race start time was 7am. We left out hotel at 615 and still had time to spare. I was able to nurse baby and he came down to watch the start although there were SO MANY people that they missed us when we actually took off. The corals were jam packed and the entrances into them were so full that people started hoping the barricades to get in. The emcee was wonderful at keeping our energy up and the music was very uplifting.

When the gun finally went off, we went.... slowly. There were so many people that I felt that we were not moving. We had placed ourselves in the 10 minute mile group, which is where we wanted to be. It was probably good because we were forced to start slow and not burn out too quickly. I did find it a bit frustrating at certain points because there were just walls and walls of women and it was very difficult to pass. I couldn't really break free from the crowd until mile 9.

The weather was perfect about 10 degrees and the course was stunning. It was a pretty flat course and we ran by a lot of the major monuments. This was the first race that I actually carried my iPhone to take pictures. It was a new experience to have to carry something while running. You can see a few of my photos that I took while running and trying to not trip. The atmosphere was incredible. 15,000 women all running together. The crowds were great, there were a few bands along the race route and some really cool drummers in the tunnel that we had to run through. I wish that had a few more volunteers at the water stations as I had to pour my own water at one of the stations. The water stations were plenty and having Nuun electrolyte stations was bonus. The Cliff shot block station was a bonus. They had already been cut open so I didn't have to struggle with opening the packages. They also had a Luna bar station that I skipped over as there were SO MANY people, I almost didn't see it.

I tried to pick up my pace after mile 9 as I knew that I had to get back to nurse my son. When the crowd opened up, I broke free and tried to pick up the pace. I didn't manage to PB, but crossed the finish line with a smile and got my Tiffany "medal" necklace. After four years of trying, I'm so HAPPY I got my necklace. It was a wonderful weekend away with my girlfriends and the race will go down as one of the best races I've ever ran.

Results - Division place 671/1789

5K - 0:35:21

10K - 1:07:43

15K - 1:39:28

20K - 2:10:03

FINISH - 2:16:11

Pace 10:10