Image courtesy of Rock n Roll
DATE: March 15, 2025
DISTANCE: 13.1 Miles
PLACE: Washington DC
WEATHER: 58F
OFFICIAL TIME / PACE: Like Bruno will not speak of such things.
FINISHERS: ????
SWAG: Finisher's medal and a tech T
Quick Thoughts:
After running a November marathon with little preparation, running a March half marathon with little preparation is a walk in the park. ;) However, I do not recommend doing this.
Although training for my first half marathon of 2025 was a little on the weak side, I'm glad that I powered through. Running this half marathon was a slap in the face that I need to do a bit better with my fitness.
Expo:
I thought the Expo, which was held at Walter E. Washington Convention Center, was a bit meh. However, I think the "meh-ness" was due to my crummy attitude. Since the recent Presidential election, I tend to feel a sense of uneasiness for the first 30-60 of arriving to DC. I guess that I feel that DC is now the epicenter of this administration's f*ckery. So, I was kind of team "get in and get out" for the expo. This should tell you the level of my "meh-ness": I did not stop by the Fitvine booth to grab a couple of adult beverages. Y'all know that I enjoy a free adult beverage or three.
I thought the Expo was pretty well organized, which allowed the runners to grab their race materials and bounce. Although I tend not to buy a lot of things at race expos, I was a bit disappointed that there were not a lot of items to purchase from the official race store. Normally, this is not a big deal for me UNLESS I really want to buy something. Now, I'm in the habit of collecting magnets for marathons and half marathons....even though I convert my finisher medals and mount them on the fridge. Unfortunately, the official race store did not have any magnets for the half. Either the half marathon magnets are really popular, or they did not make enough for this particular half marathon. Buuuut, they did have a lot of stickers.
Race prices are getting out of control.
I cannot believe folks would pay $215 for a last-minute entry. I think the original price was around $125. Eh, I guess if you got it, flaunt it.
The fact that the new price was hand-written makes me believe that they were changing the last-minute price on a whim.
Seriously a $12+ online processing fee?!!!!
C'mon, the processing fee is 13% of the total cost, which is out of control for me. Perhaps, the online processing fee includes taxes.
I thought putting our names on a screen near the expo's exit was a cute gesture.
Half-Marathon logistics:
Ugh, instead of the alarm going off at 4:30 am, my goof troop a** accidentally set the alarm for 4:30 pm. Not really sure how that happen because I typically use a 24 hour display. Unfortunately, waking up at 5:30 am caused me to go into panic mode.
Unlike the debacle of getting to the race last year, I decided to drive into the city and pay for all day parking. This definitely made race logistics a bit more manageable, and less stressful.
Race time
For this half marathon, I had a simple plan: cycle through running for 1 mile and walking for 0.25 miles. I'll admit that I did not run as hard as I wanted to run during the run cycles, but a finish is a finish...I guess. Looking back, I was in a bit of a crummy mode at the start because my back was giving me some issues. Ok, so I have been dealing with lower back issues for a bit. However, I think that I'm working through another back issue in that I may have pulled a muscle in the mid section of my back. AH! The joys of getting older.
For the most part, I enjoyed the course. Also, the weather was pretty nice because it was not too hot or too cold. However, it was VERY foggy - not sure if that was a good or bad thing. I guess it was a bad thing because Siri said it was supposed to be sunny. Then again, maybe it was a good thing because it kept the weather on the cool side.
Keeping true with the Rock n Roll brand, the race had plenty of entertainment throughout the course. The drummers were one of my favorite highlights during this half.
I was especially proud of myself during the Rock Creek Park section of the course.
While I did not have any real goals for this half, I wanted to run the big climb (around Mile 7) without walking.
I'm quite proud to say that I managed to run the entire incline. Now, I did walk as soon as I reached the summit because that climb is no joke.
I know this St. Jude's Children Hospital section of the race was supposed to be inspirational, but I was overcome with feelings of anger and sadness.
No, I was not angry or sad about children cancer survivors. I was angry and sad about how the new administration's crazy plans will end up hurting (or killing) cancer research, which will end up hurting and killing more folks.
Speaking of this new administration, this sign definitely put momentary smile on my face.
Last year, I remember having a great sense of pride when seeing this view during the last stretch of the half.
This year...not so much.
Tee hee. During one of my walk cycles, I had the opportunity to pass some knowledge to another runner.
Another runner joked and said that we should take 66 all the way to California. In a cheerful manner, I told him that this is I66 (which goes between somewhere in Virginia to DC), not the famous Route 66 that goes from Chicago, IL to Los Angles, CA.
Finish
While I did not run or finish the race that I wanted to run, I came to the conclusion that a finish is a finish (like I mentioned above). Many times, you do not run the race you want, you run the race that you train for. Since I did not train as hard as I would have liked, I definitely ran what I "trained" for.
I thought the post-race festivities were fine, but I did not stick around for too long. Ok, I stuck around to get my complimentary champagNE and beer.
Actually, I did stick around to hear a couple of songs from this 90s tribute band. I was really jamming out to the band's rendition of Natalie Imbruglia's Torn. Now that I think of it, wasn't Natalie's version a revamp of someone else's version? Or is it the other way around?
Post-race shenanigans
After finishing the half, I visited a Planet Fitness to stretch, use a massage bed, take a wh*re's bath, and change into some dry clothes. Since I was starving, I picked up a doughnut from Krispy Kreme before going to brunch. Man, two of these MINI doughnuts were like four bucks!!!
I get that St. Paddy's Day was the following Monday, but I though some of these green doughnuts (e.g., the ones on the second row from the bottom) looked disgusting.
I finally met up with the hubby and a friend for an AYCE/AYCD brunch at a Lebanese restaurant. I even let the medal celebrate with the finest champaNE known to man. ;)
My "performance"
Since i was taking it very easy, it gave me a chance to really "enjoy" this half marathon. Since I went into this half marathon just to finish, I was not too disappointed with my performance. However, I want to get out of this mindset of running just to finish because I do not think my times l will improve with a complacent mindset. Then I'll get to the point of thinking what's the use of paying $150+ just to run 13.1 or 26.2 miles.
Where do I go from here?
TBD. However, I do have the PNC Alexandria Half Marathon at the end of April.
Would I run RnR DC Half again?
I always complain about the Rock n Roll's "struggleness". However, I think at this point, I'm used to the struggle, so I'll more thank likely run this half again. Primarily because it's technically a local race for me, and there are not too many big long distance races in the area. I probably should purchase my race registration now since it's in the low $100 range.
Playlist:
Since I was extremely behind with Eurovision 2025, I decided to listen to all of the released songs for this year's contest WITHOUT skipping any while powering through 13.1 miles. It's kind of interesting because I tolerated quite a few songs that I originally hated. However, I think some of this sentiment is due to listening while running. Many of the songs from this year's contest have high beats per minute (bpm), which kept my legs moving. Hopefully, no one recording me trying to sing the Finnish- and Swedish-language songs. Laura Thorn's La Poupée Monte Le Son (The Doll turns up the Sound) was a huge shock for me. Until the half, I hated this song, but now, it's one of my favorites from Eurovision 2025. Originally, I thought it was a simple song about a doll looking for love or something, but it actually has themes of women empowerment, which isn't a bad thing. After finishing the entire playlist, which is about about 1.5 hrs, I pretty much put this song (and a few others) on repeat. Doing so gave me an opportunity for half ass understanding the gist of this French-language song.
