Recap: Runday Funday

Mission accomplished! Wrapped up Saturday night with a smile on my face and no injuries. Here's the rundown...


Saturday morning: Woke up at 4am (running on four hours of sleep) wondering if this was in fact a good idea. Picked up Kyle at 4:45 and drove out to Leesburg. Even though Kyle is injured, he was a champ and came out to cheer on the DCRoadRunners and enjoy some vino afterwards.  We were both a little nervous as my little Civic had to battle a field of pure mud that lots of cars had already passed over (definitely did some fishtailing), but luckily we were okay.  As we walked over to the vineyard, we were greeted by this...

Not a shabby way to start a race

Unfortunately, there were lots of delays with the shuttle buses getting to the course on time and we ended up starting 30 minutes late.  Once we were off, the whole notion I had of taking it easy was out the window.  My legs were feeling good, the weather was perfect, and the course was great.  I knew that my strength training was paying off when I was able to pass men on the hills :) Thanks, Justin!  People were definitely complaining about the number of hills after the race, but for every uphill there was a nice downhill, too!  I didn't push my limits to the point where I was huffing and puffing, but I did run a steady race and felt really good afterwards.  I finished with a 1:53:47, which is an 8:42 pace.  I'm thinking that post-marathon this fall, I might switch over to the half for good. It was soooo much more bearable mentally! I'd like to see if I can get under 1:50 next and then take it from there.

They greeted you with wine glasses at the finish. The medals are pretty sweet, too!

Between races: Had a massive headache. Wasn't sure if it was from lack of hydration or lack of caffeine via coffee. Pounded ample amounts of both, along with some aspirin. Felt really sleepy all afternoon.

Pacers Relay: Around 4:30, CP and I headed over to Old Town to sign in for the 5pm start.  I ended up running the first leg (6.5 miles) with a girl who runs for Capital Area Runners and it was really nice to have someone to chat with along the way. Legs were definitely feeling it at this point, but the miles went by quickly. I pulled into Pentagon Row, handed off the slap bracelet to CP, and hopped into the car with my dad to head up to Logan Circle (thanks for the ride, Dad!).  We waited a while to head over there and I figured by the time we had arrived, CP should be showing up any minute. Well, ten minutes later there was still no sign of him. Luckily we had both brought our phones and it turns out he took a wrong turn and was off course by two miles. He had to backtrack the two he had run in the wrong direction and then run the two more to the store. At that point, I asked the Pacers coordinator if I could start and she said okay. Ironically, CP and I ended up passing one another on the streets of Georgetown and he was still able to hand off the slap bracelet.  Of course, CP told the Pacers lady that the course was too easy, so he had decided to spice it up a bit:) I give him a lot of credit though....he ran much farther than he ever has before, turning in a total of 9 miles!  The third leg (4.5 miles) was torture and there's no way to sugar coat it. I was "running" (think yogging) the hills of the Custis Trail feeling dizzy and sick to my stomach.  I made it back to the store in Clarendon, though, and we both felt accomplished. 

Definitely hurting at this point, but we made it!

Sunday, I spent a lot of time with this guy....

The biggest take away for me from this weekend is that I want to simple race more often. I realized that twice now, I've spent 20 weeks training for a marathon. Honestly, after all of that training, the marathon seems a bit anti-climactic.  I want to get in more 8ks, 10ks, and 13.1s over the next few months and just have fun out there.  I have the Army 10 miler in October right before the marathon, but I'm going to try to find some summer races in the area as well.  I've learned that I don't need to run a PR or have an incredible race to enjoy myself out there!

I hope that everyone had a great weekend. I can't get over the fact that it's June....or, that I only have two weeks left with my kids. I'll have more on them in the next couple of weeks!