This past Sunday I ran the Navy-Airforce Half Marathon in
DC. This was my first completed race (I did not finish the Maryland Half due to
dehydration) since the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler and my first run greater than 7
miles since re-injury in early July.
This was my first time running this race but I had heard
good things about it so I signed up hoping I would be ready and PR with all the
marathon training I would have done…sadly one month into marathon training I
got injured during one of those free personal training sessions and ended up
not running for almost two months. Those two months I went to spin class 6 days
a week and eventually saw a physical therapist who did ART (Active Release
Therapy) and dry needling to help my piriformis issue go away faster once
again. Luckily I got better after two appointments and doing my home exercises.
I would have loved to keep going for some tune ups but sadly my insurance won’t
cover the costs.
Back to the race…so packet pickup was pretty simple for me…I
live near the Stadium Armory where the expo was located so I opted to go on
Saturday since I could just bike from my house. I road over around 11AM (the
expo opened at 10AM) and there were a good amount of people but not
overwhelmingly so. The Expo itself was pretty small compared to Rock n Roll and
Marine Corps. I only had to wait a few minutes in line to get my bib. The bib
was pretty cute with my name on it which lead to spectators who saw it cheering
for me and fellow runners by name as we passed by.
That Saturday was also H St Festival. I had planned on going
since it is a lot of fun and in my neighborhood and had also planned to hydrate
and only have a beer or two but sadly my will power lost and I joined my
friends in an afternoon and evening of drinking and merriment.
That night I only got about 5 hours of sleep and decided to
sleep in a bit more. When I woke up I did not feel too terrible but also not
great. I drank some water walked my dog and drove to the race. I was originally
planning on biking over but I was running late and wanted to stop at my office
building (a few blocks from the race start) to use the restroom. The race began
on 15th between Constitution and Madison to the left of the
Washington Monument. Despite it being a cool morning it was still very humid. I
left my building at 10 til 7AM and jogged over to the starting line only to
discover the Half Marathon did not start until about 715AM. At this point my
stomach was starting to feel upset and my hangover starting to manifest itself.
The race began and I took off and maintained a pace of about
8 min/mile. I noticed that my GPS watch and the mile markers were off by about
.20 miles (mile markers were longer…I will continue to refer to miles by my
watch standards) around mile 2 I now had to use the restroom and when I got to
the porta-potty a bit after mile 3 I took a restroom break for about a minute
and half + which got me a 9 min/mile pace for the next mile. I was thinking if I
kept having an upset stomach I would stop every few miles for a minute at
different stops since my goal now was just to finish. I ran on and around mile
6 my muscles started to stiffen…probably from dehydration from my hangover…and
my pace began to gradually slow. I was able to maintain around an 8:30 min/mile
pace for the remainder of the race.
The race day was cool but humid and overcast. The course
took you first around the Tidal Basin then up Rock Creek Parkway to Connecticut
Avenue NW where then we looped back down Rock Creek Parkway making our way
halfway across memorial bridge then back to get onto Independence before making
our way to the finish. There did not seem to be as many spectators out as in
past events such as Cherry Blossom and Rock N Roll but I am guessing this is
due to this race having a much smaller participant field. The portion along
Rock Creek Parkway after you pass Foggy Bottom was very peaceful. It was quiet
on the way up since I was towards the front of the middle of the back and most
runners ahead of me had not gotten to the turn around and there was a slight
breeze that caused the leaves to fall from trees as we ran by. Once I got to
the turnaround which was a slight hill the way back was a bit noisier since you
now had runners both coming and going.
Once I crossed the finish line I felt pretty weak and definitely
dehydrated. I drank a water bottle and made my way back to my car without
checking out the post-race festivities since I was shaky and had to get home to
get ready for the Redskins game. My official finishing time was 1:51:46 and my
watch got a distance of 13.32 total miles.
Overall I really enjoyed this race and think I could have PR’d
if I hadn’t gotten injured in July and had done a better job at exercising my self-control
at the festival. I will definitely do this race again next year.
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| Bib and Finisher Medal |
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