TriVeggies

First race of the season: DONE!

And done with glee, if I’m being honest. I was a few minutes off my RaceX prediction of 2:46:08, but I felt so GOOD throughout, I am not at all upset. For the first time I can remember, I kept to my 10-minute run, 2-minute walk cadence with ease all the way through the race, never feeling the need to lumber along in pain. It’s a wonderful feeling that I attribute in very large part to my TriDot training, as well as better fueling thanks to my wonderful nutritionist. (More on her in an upcoming post!)

The race day started early – but not as early as it might’ve if the Metro had been running at a more decent hour! I woke at 5:15 a.m. (knowing I move much more slowly in the wee hours, I gave myself more than an hour before it was time to leave the house) and immediately went downstairs to take my Synthroid and have my breakfast smoothie (1.5 cups of almond milk, protein powder, a banana, some blueberries, some baby carrots and some spinach). I caught up on social media a bit as I drank my smoothie and then it was time to get moving. Back upstairs to put my race gear on, then back downstairs to fill my water bottle, grab a banana and pull my inhaler/wallet/keys together. Shoes on right before I left the house, and I was out the door by 6:30.

It only takes about seven minutes to get to the Metro station from where I live, so I parked a block or so away and then … sat in the car. The Metro doesn’t open till 7 a.m. on the weekends nowadays, and the first Blue line train wouldn’t arrive till 7:10. So at 6:40 I found myself just hanging out, listening to the radio and saying a bit of a prayer for the day that was to come. At 6:45 I couldn’t take it anymore and wandered over to the front station gate, which was locked.

I’d done this same routine last year, and let me tell you, it wrought havoc with my Type A personality! I was a bit calmer about it all this year, knowing the train would drop me off (and it did) at 7:40 at Federal Triangle, and then it was only a 5-minute walk to the start corrals. I bonded with some other folks at the Metro station about the close-call nature of the trek and we all decided it was a moment for growth.

Soon I was at the starting line and made friends with Veronica and Laura, a mother-daughter pair who’d decided to run the race together. They reminded me so much of my relationship with my own mother, and it was so fun to meet them and chat with them awhile as we waited. At 8 a.m., the starting gun went off, but we didn’t go anywhere. Every couple of minutes we inched closer and closer to the start as one corral after another set out, and by 8:24 or so, it was our turn. We said farewell to each other and wished each other luck and they were gone.

The first few miles of the race flew by for me. I worked hard to keep my pacing in check – I’m horrible about going out too fast – and it must have paid off, because I didn’t have that winded feeling a mile or so in like I often do. Though I worked to run the tangents, I built up a surplus of mileage too early and found myself falling behind on the mile markers – the race’s Mile 1 was my Mile 1.1. And then 2.2, and so on. Oh, well.

When we got to Arlington Cemetery, I made myself guffaw by seeing a little brown sign in the traffic circle that read, “Arl. Cem.” Could the Department of Interior not cough up the change to spell out the whole name? I laughed my way back across Memorial Bridge.

We wound our way through the city on some out-and-back portions, which I always happen to enjoy, and then made our way up Rock Creek Parkway and over to The Hill, which can be a soul-crusher if you don’t handle it properly. As for me, I take the advice of a friend of mine, a much faster marathoner (to the tune of about three hours faster!), who says he always power-walks this hill rather than trying to run it outright. The minor time savings is wiped out by the spike in heart rate – it’s just not worth it. So I power-walked my way on up, trying to talk one world-weary woman off the ledge – it was her first race and the hill came as a surprise, to put it mildly.

But soon we’d summited it and made our way through Adams Morgan, where we got some flatland and then some downhills. One guy from the crowd elected to come out and cajole me to try to run during my walk break – I guess he thought I was in pain, though I wasn’t – and I used one of my two walking minutes convincing him to, succinctly, find someone else to encourage. I get that it may look odd to consciously walk in a race, but hey – it works for me.

A mile or so later, I found myself thinking of my friend Peter, who used to volunteer at an upcoming water station and was always such a bright spot in the race for me. He always joked that I was the only person he knew who ran 9 miles just to give him a hug! He’d sold his house, I knew, and moved to Portugal, but had recently moved back to another part of the city. I wished him well in my mind and then – 

“Peter!” I exclaimed in surprise as I glanced to my right to see him standing there with a sign to cheer on his friend Matt. Without giving him a moment to recoil from my sweaty self I’d thrown my arms around him in a bear hug. We chatted for a moment and then I loped back off, a grin spread widely across my face. What a joy to see a friend in the crowd!

And then, before I knew it, I was on North Capitol Street heading for home. At mile 12.5 I decided to push the pace and give one last little kick, but apparently I kicked a little too soon, for at Mile 12.8 I got very lightheaded and glanced at my watch to see that my heart rate was 197. Doh! I slowed to a walk for a moment, felt better, and picked the pace back up to a more manageable level. 

Soon, I was in the finishing chute, and in no time I was across the line. My chip time was 2:55:07 with a mileage of 13.46; I clearly did NOT manage my tangents very well on course! But I was very happy with the time – and most especially with how I felt throughout. I couldn’t have given much more, but I had just enough energy to see myself through!

So another year’s Rock n Roll DC is in the books. I’m already registered for next year – join me!