Hello It's Been A While....2019 Race Preview

So it's been a while since I last posted....

This past year I ran a few races but not as many as I had in previous years. I completed three halves, attempted two 50Ks, and completed my 4th marathon. My I ran more miles than 2017 but overall wasn't really feeling my running. Fast forward to December 2018 and things are getting more serious with my boyfriend of a year+ who is a crazy runner and come January 2019 I have a new spark for running. It could be the colder weather or getting competitive with my BF to see who can get more miles in....he always does but I still try to catch up on our Strava annual mileage....but what I do know is that in about a week I will once again be attempting to finish my 2nd 50K race and have already signed up for 3 marathons and a road 50K for 2019 and have been combing the internet for more races so I can do 50 marathons 50 states!

Given this rekindling of my love of running I've decided to pick back up on my blogging. I plan on doing a lot of races this year most of which will be out of town (I live in the DC area) and I also plan to stop by and check out the local brewery and food scenes as part of my travel so stay tuned for race recaps as well as food and brewery reviews!

Races I'm signed up for this year:

-March 2nd: #FITDC Herstory 5K (Washington, DC)
-March 9th: Bel Monte 50K  (Lyndhurst, VA)
-March 17th: Pacers St. Patrick's Day Double (Washington, DC)
-Every Friday Evening in April: Pacers Crystal City 5K Fridays (Arlington, VA)
-May 26th: The Vermont City Marathon (Burlington, VT)
-September 29th: BMW Berlin Marathon (Berlin, Germany)
-October 19th: Baltimore Running Festival Marathon (Baltimore, MD)
-October 27th: The First Ever MCM50K (Arlington, VA)

The 41st Marine Corps Marathon!

The 41^st Marine Corps Marathon! My first and now my third marathon and still a great race! So let me tell you a little about it…and the a few major differences from the 38^th MCM.

The Marine Corps Marathon, also known as the People’s Marathon, is one of the largest and most popular marathons in the United States with participants from all over the country and the world traveling to our nation’s capital to run 26.2 miles mainly through Virginia but also around several iconic monuments in Washington, DC.

To enter this race it is now done mainly through a lottery or you can pledge to raise money for charity or if you have run it a certain number of times or are a member of the military you can register early or the best way is if you run the Marine Corps 17.75K and finish you get a guaranteed entry!

When I first ran the MCM back in 2013 there was no lottery you just had to be ready to go once registration opened and refresh your computer every time the server crashed due to the amount of internet traffic trying to register….luckily that was the first year you got a guaranteed entry by running the 17.75K which I did J

This year I did not get into through the 17.75K or the lottery but was lucky enough to get a bib transfer when I randomly decided to run the MCM 6 weeks before race day…this however meant that I did not train at all…far less than my first MCM where I kind of trained.

The MCM in 2013 had the expo at the Stadium Armory located in SE DC next to RFK stadium. This location then changed in 2015 to the Washington Convention Center in downtown DC. Stadium Armory I thought was the most convenient as it was metro accessible and had free parking.  The convention center was metro accessible but no free parking which I thought was the worst location for the MCM to put their expo but I was wrong because in the 2016 they moved it to the Gaylord Hotel Convention Center which has no free parking and is not metro or bus accessible unless you make a ton of crazy transfers and connections. One of my friends decided to get to the expo first thing Friday and ran into a ton of traffic and waited for a while to park for $6 for two hours. I was running late but had the same general plan and also ran into some traffic but did not as much as my friend…most likely several people had the same idea to arrive first thing to “avoid traffic.” I only stayed an hour and paid $3. On my way out of the expo the traffic had become even worse! This year’s location was definitely terrible and hopefully enough people will complain so that they can relocate it somewhere easier to get to.

This year’s race also did not have the benefit of an early metro opening to get runners to the starting line prior to 8AM. Metro opens at 7AM on weekends but has historically opened at 5AM for the MCM. This year metro refused to open early due to their SafeTrack program where they are trying to make as many repairs as quickly as possible by cutting metro operating hours, shutting down complete sections of track for periods of time, and inconveniencing commuters as much as possible because metro failed to do regular preventative maintenance and repairs on a regular basis and is now forced to do so after several close calls and accidents that injured commuters….any way so this meant MCM had to find other ways to get runners to the start. This included providing free shuttles from certain locations. My friend and I decided to take the shuttle from downtown DC but little did we know the lines for shuttles would be extremely long and just to get a shuttle would require 40 minutes of waiting…Uber and such had 300% surcharges…

Besides the location of the expo and the metro problem (not MCM’s fault) the race was still awesome!

Security this year was not as bad as the year before…as my friend who ran it told me…this was probably due to the trickling in of runners due to lack of transportation.

When you get to the race wait until you get further into the starting area to use the bathroom…you might see a few porto potties with long lines once you approach the security check point but if you keep going there are numerous porto potties with almost no lines at both the bag check area and by the starting corrals.

There are a good amount of aid stations but I suggest bringing your own water bottle (Nathan Quick Shot). I would fill mine up at each station so I could have it in case I needed water between aid stations and I was glad I did.

As I mentioned before I did not train for this race so around mile 13 my body started to get cramped probably from my piriformis flaring up and after that it was shear will power and my friends’ text of encouragement, and the spectators that took me the rest of the 13.2 miles to the finish. I was glad to finish but disappointed in my time. I was really hoping I would meet my goal time of 4 hours 30 minutes which I was on track for until 13 miles. Now I am very determined to stick to a training plan so I can beat my 2013 PR of 4 hours and 15 minutes.

 

I highly recommend running the MCM if you can get in. I think this will be a race I will do every year from here on as long as I am healthy and can get a bib!

Trail Running! (Ragnar Trail WVa and EX2 Adventure Racing)

I’ve always wanted to try trail running but where I live there really aren’t many good trails that are not at least an hour away…or a pain to get to (Rock Creek Park) so I didn’t hit the “real” trails for a while…I did the DC North Face Endurance Challenge 10K…wasn’t really a trail more like running on a dirt road with some mud but still fun.

Luckily this past summer my running club…The Argonaut Running Club (check us out we run every Friday at PM from Liberty Tree in DC)….decided to put together a team for the Ragnar Trail Appalachian relay. I had done Ragnar before but just the road one in vans. Ragnar Trail always seemed more appealing to me because Ragnar is fun, you get to camp at this one and hangout with your team instead of driving around, they have bonfires and music and games, and so much more!!

The finish line!

 

The trails at Ragnar where much more technical (hills, obstacles, etc…) than the North Face 10K where I was able to maintain my pace close to road pace…at Ragnar my pace definitely slowed but not my effort…these trails were tough!

me after completing my first loop (red - hard loop) each runner runs each of the 3 loops once

 

So let’s go back a second….Ragnar Trail…you can have a team of 8 or 4 (ultra crazy people)….you bring your tents, camping equipment, food, booze, water, etc…setup camp in your designated area and hangout under the stars! Ragnar also provides food and water, there are porta potties that Ragnar did a great job keeping clean, there are showers, there is beer, and so much more. You can arrive as early as 4PM Thursday and stay until Sunday. We opted to do just that half our team arrived later Thursday night and already there were tons of teams there who had taken the best camping spots. I recommend if you can show up on Thursday.

All through the night teams are up and having a good time waiting for their runner to come back to the exchange so the next runner can take off. During my night run…I was terrified the whole time leading up to it…the woods were dark all I had was my headlamp but I wasn’t scared it actually felt exhilarating to be running out in nature in the dark in the quiet…I didn’t see too many other runners just a few that passed me and that I passed. When I got to the exchange I had the best runner’s high ever! I had boundless energy and ran the half mile back to our basecamp to chatter away to my teammates about how awesome the Yellow Loop was. Overall I had a wonderful time running this race and hanging out with my team. I can’t wait to do it again next year and I’m currently trying to convince others to do Ragnar Trail Richmond with me.

Cool Ragnar Trail medals!

Our team and our two volunteers after the race!

 

After Ragnar Trail I have a new love for trail running…I still don’t go out during the week to hit the trails due to lack of time….but I did sign up for 5 trail races this fall with EX2 Adventure Racing! I completed a trail 10K this past September which was awesome! And now I am in the process of completing their 4 trail race series the Fall Backyard Burn 10 Miler series! You don’t have to camp for these ones but they are still a blast and they have the best mini breakfast burritos at the end and they also have a ton of other food. I'll post more about this race series once I'm done

I highly recommend everyone try trail running. It is a lot of fun and the scenery is beautiful! Keep in mind you won’t go as fast as you do on the road and you may take a tumble now and then but it is all worth it!

2015 Turkey Trot and Black Friday Workout at Solidcore Old Town

Every year since I started running back in 2012 I have signed up to run a Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning…so that is 4 turkey trots. My first Turkey Trot was the Alexandria Turkey Trot which is a 5 miler that begins at George Washington High School near the Braddock Road metro. Turkey Trots are a great way to get out with on Thanksgiving morning and burn some calories with your family and neighbors before enjoying your Thanksgiving meal.

My family has never been big into running so in 2012 I ran my first Turkey Trot on my own and had a wonderful time so I decided to keep participating every year…in 2013 I was staying at my aunt’s house in Fairfax so I decided that instead of driving 40+ miles round trip to the Alexandria Turkey Trot I would look for a local trot…I chose the Fairfax Turkey 4 mile trot which was holding its inaugural race that Thanksgiving morning…I’m not one with a lot a patience and that Thanksgiving was particularly cold. Being in its first year I am assuming the race organizers didn’t have all their logistic together…the race seemed poorly organized they ran out of shirts when I got there and the start was delayed so I decided to just go back to my aunt’s and run on my own and do the Alexandria Turkey Trot instead next year which I did once again on my own but I still had a great time! This year however I convinced my mom to join me since she had run the Mother’s Day Four Miler with me and wanted to exercise before our Thanksgiving feast!

My mom and I waiting for the race to start

Once again I had a great time at this Turkey Trot and more so now that my mom was there with me even though we don’t run together due to our vast pace difference. After the race my mom was convinced of three things 1.) we will definitely do it again next year 2.) she needs to get back into shape since she ran almost a minute per mile slower than back in May and 3.) we need matching turkey hats!

I highly recommend you do the Alexandria Turkey Trot if you are in the area. The race starts at 9AM which allows you to sleep in a little and packet pickup on race day runs pretty smoothly but definitely get there by 830AM. There is plenty of parking and the metro is close by so getting to the race is also very easy. If you are a faster runner I would recommend you get as close to the front as possible as there are no corrals and many runners who think they are fast try to line up towards the front causing a large bottle neck around the first two miles. The course is nice and flat and winds through the Del Ray neighborhood of Alexandria where the local neighbors come out to cheer on the runners.

My mom crossing the finish line!

For Black Friday I opted to go take a fitness class at Solidcore in Old Town Alexandria which I can best describe as a super tough resistance type training class. The class is performed on exercise machines that very closely resemble a pilates reformer machine where the instructor leads the class through an exercise routine that targets different muscle groups individually until failure for an intense full body workout while you listen to some heart pumping music. After the class I felt awesome! I was tired but I felt rejuvenated and after class I decided to reward myself with a a delicious donut from Sugar Shack located right next door! ...I also ran almost 4 miles that morning so I figured I could try a donut...  I got the Samoa donut which was delicious. Come Sunday my body was defiantly feeling the workout. I would definitely recommend you checkout Solidacore if you haven’t already. It may be a bit pricey for some but if it is your first time look for their 2 classes for $25 deal. Also, treat yourself to a donut at Sugar Shack ;)

 

Samoa and Maple Bacon donuts from Sugar Shack!

 

2015 Richmond Half Marathon Weekend

This past weekend I ran the Richmond Half Marathon. This race was a Saturday race with no race day packet pickup so I took a half day from work on Friday and made my way down to Richmond with my boyfriend in tow.

Originally I had planned on going alone and stay overnight Friday and leaving promptly after the race on Saturday but after my boyfriend expressed interest in going we extended our stay an extra day.

We stayed at the Clarion Hotel on Boulevard…it was cheap and about a quarter mile from the expo so I thought why not…in the past I had stayed at cheap hotels like this one with no problems at all…this time not so much. It wasn’t that my stay was terrible but several little things just made me not want to recommend staying here to anyone. Two big factors were the rooms keys never seemed to work! The two nights we were there we both had to change our room keys at least five times and several of those times there was no one at the front desk to assist us so we had to wait around several minutes…the longest wait was after my boyfriend went out for a run (he didn’t race) his room key didn’t work and he had to wait about 20 minutes with other guests in the lobby for someone to show up to assist. The second thing was that this hotel allows you to bring dogs…this wasn’t so much the hotel’s fault as the irresponsible pet owner’s but our second night (thankfully not the night before race day) a dog in a room near our barked nonstop from midnight to 3AM. It would quiet down for a few minutes then start again we finally called the front desk and the dog finally quieted down but then around 8AM the door slamming began as people began to get up and get going with their days…so bottom line you can hear EVERYTHING at this hotel so if you need quiet to sleep don’t stay here.

Back to the race…the packet pickup was quick and easy. The expo was pretty small but did have a good number of vendors. We didn’t stick around too long since we were both pretty hungry so we headed downtown to look for some dinner.

Long Sleeve Race Shirt. I got the unisex kind since I don't like form fitting shirts.

 We decided to check out the Roosevelt for dinner after we had done some research and found that it was consistently voted the best place to eat and we were not disappointed.  Our dinner was delicious! I got the sword fish and he got the steak. If you are in town I would recommend checking it out but make sure to make a reservation if you are going during normal dinner hours…we went right when they opened at 5PM and got seated right away but the place filled up soon after. We also stopped by briefly at Saison which is a speakeasy type bar where we had a really awesome dessert and a few craft cocktails. I really enjoyed the atmosphere at Saison and would highly recommend you check it out.

S'mores Dessert at Saison

The half marathon began downtown at 730AM. I had Spencer drop me off at the start about 20 minutes before. The lines for the porta-potties seemed long at first but they turned out to move pretty quickly. After using the restroom I made my way to my corral. At many races corral entry is not very well monitored and you see a lot of slower runners make their way to the front but not at Richmond…there was a security guard and a race organizer present checking corral assignments and sending back those who did not belong…I think this is great and should be done more often to prevent bottlenecks…it might not always work 100% since people to lie about their projected finish times which was evident in the first few miles where I saw people already starting to walk after only about 2 or 3 miles but it does help at least reduce the inconvenience.

The race course took us through downtown Richmond then into more residential areas before making its way back to downtown ….the terrain was predominantly flat with a few hills as we crossed bridges and entered/exited a park.  There was a good presence of spectators cheering us on throughout the race. The final half mile was a steep downhill which was very welcome as I was starting to fatigue and my muscles tightened up. Once you crossed the finish line volunteers handed you your medal…which I thought was very pretty…and you also received a bottle of water and a fleece blanket which was wonderful since it was pretty cold out and I had discarded my layers along the course.

The finish line/finisher village was located several blocks away from the half marathon start next to the river and had several vendors as well as food for the runners. I didn’t stay too long since my boyfriend was having trouble finding parking/getting to the finisher area. Luckily the race provided a shuttle to take us back to the starting area which was easier to get to by car.

Richmond 2015 Half Marathon Finisher Medal

My dog under the finisher fleece blanket once I got back home

Once I was able to find my boyfriend we headed back to the hotel so I could shower and warm up before heading to brunch at Lulu’s downtown. We once again had made a reservation which I recommend you do since the restaurant was packed. The food here was decent but a bit greasy for my taste.

After brunch we headed out to meet some local friends and check out the local breweries. We went to three breweries…Triple Crossing, Hardywood, and Ardent Craft Ales. All three were pretty good but Ardent was definitely our favorite. We called it an early night after getting dinner at a Mexican restaurant called En Su Boca located near Ardent. Their tacos and chips and salsa were great! My boyfriend is very picky about tacos and he really enjoyed these so check them out if you like tacos.

As previously mentioned our second night at the hotel was disturbed by a barking dog and then slamming doors. We got up around 8AM since we couldn’t fall back asleep so we decided to just head home early. After packing and checking out we stopped at Lamplighter Roasting for some coffee and breakfast. I got a cappuccino and a ham and swiss croissant both which were excellent!

I just love cappuccinos and the ham and swiss croissant was great!

To sum up I think I would do the Richmond Half again and I would recommend it to others but I would recommend not staying at the Clarion Hotel.

Shake Shack Track & Field + SoulCycle Duathlon

Yesterday I took my first SoulCycle class at their Mount Vernon Square location in Washington DC. I had been wanting to check them out for a while but the heft price tag per class had always kept me from doing so…$20 one ride for new students then $30 per ride after that.  I got my chance to check them out for free as part of the Shake Shack Track & Field Duathlon where we would first meet up at SoulCycle for a free 7:30PM class then run 2 miles to Shake Shack.

Shake Shack in conjunction with Pacers Running Stores has a monthly run club that meets the second Tuesday of every month at the Pacer Logan Circle location and runs 1, 3, or 5 mile routes to the Shake Shack in DuPont Circle where the first beer is free for those who ran. Prior to this run I’d only run with this club once when I went with a friend. I thought the run was great but the club kind of reminded me of high school where everyone was in their own clique my friend and I ran with the group then we had beer and burgers at our own table. Being an introvert I never went back since my friend was now longer in the area and my other friends and my boyfriend can never make it. If you are a social butterfly and make friends easily then check it out or if you aren’t find a group of friends and check it out. I would definitely try to go more but the location is also a deterrent for me…no metros near the start and DuPont isn’t that close to where I live.

Anyway back to SoulCycle…so once I arrived they gave me cycling shoes which is great because I didn’t bring mine and at many gyms and other cycling studios I’ve been to they don’t give you cycling shoes so you simply ride in your athletic shoes that are strapped into the pedal which don’t give you as a great a workout as cycling shoes. SoulCycle’s bikes are not equipped for non-cycling shoes so if you don’t bring your own then ask for a pair…also their pedals have one side for normal cycling shoes with clips like most bikes do and the other side with a clip distinct to their shoes…it took me a while to figure that one out.

SoulCycle Mt Vernon Square

The class was pretty awesome and very motivating with heart pumping music and dimmed lights. The instructor was very upbeat but at times he reminded me of Ben Stiller in Dodgeball because he would come around to the bikes and get all crazy in your face to motivate you. After the workout I was drenched in sweat and felt very energized and happy like I do after a good workout.

I did not do the running portion of the duathlon as it was raining and the class got out at 8:30PM and of course I did not want to have to transfer metro trains late at night but several people did do the two mile run from SoulCycle to the DuPont Shake Shack.

If you have the money, find a free class, or just want to check it out once I would recommend that you do. If I had the money I would definitely try and go to SoulCycle for my cross training days.

The Argonaut Running Club

So back in March I saw that the Argonaut, a bar in my neighborhood that I like to patron, was starting a running club so naturally I did as the posts suggested and followed the Facebook page for this club. When I finally made it to the club it was almost April and the club had been going on almost half a year now. The club organizer Ariel and his wife Marissa were very friendly when I arrived as were the other members that were there.

The club has three routes you can take…a two mile loop, a four mile loop, and a six mile loop. My first day at the club I opted for the six mile loop with two other club members and Ariel…Ariel is super-fast but he stuck to our pace and it was a pleasant run and we all chatted our way to the end where the Argonaut has an extended happy hour for the running club…all beers $6 and under are half off.

Group pic before the run. Photo taken from Argonaut Running Club Facebook page

Once we got back I got to talk to all the runners and the organizers and had a wonderful time. I came back several more times sporadically as the club meets at 6PM on Fridays and sometimes I will have plans with the boyfriend and can’t go and in July I got injured again and couldn’t run almost three months but when I did return Ariel and Marissa remembered me and asked about my races and my injury and were very nice as always making me feel very welcome which is awesome because I am naturally a very shy person and get social anxiety.

Before getting injured in July the club ran the Capital Hill Classic 10K as a team and the club provided us with club shirts which were awesome New Balance singlets!

The club before starting the Capital Hill Classic. Photo taken from Argonaut Running Club Facebook page

 

Now that the weather has been getting colder and it’s getting dark out before the run most of the club members have opted to do the two mile loop so we can get back to the Argonaut sooner to enjoy beer and conversation. The club is for all level of runners and you can even show up just for the happy hour like I have been doing since Fridays are one of the days I normally run…I like to do a Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and one weekend day type thing.

On November 20th the club is having a special event…Runner Appreciation Night….they will have several sponsors present and giveaways in addition to the run and awesome time we normally have just hanging out. The club is open to everyone so if you live in the H St area or just want to come out and run with us please do! You can check out an article about the club in the latest edition of Run Washington.