.US National 12k Race Recap

After last week's Across the Bay 10k, my Dad was inspired to race more.  Apparently he had also been eyeing the .US National 12k race in Alexandria, and when he after asked me if I wanted to do it I jumped at the chance.  I had been eyeing it too for the last couple of years since we moved back to the area.  Not only that, but despite it being a road race championship race for the USATF, it was a super small race compared to all the others I've run this season.  (The MCM10k was about 8,000 participants and the Across the Bay 10k was 25,000 although the staggered waves helped it was still pretty crowded.)  This one had 805 finishers for the 12k, but there were also a kid's fun run and a 1 mile run.  Everybody who finished got a SUPER big medal...but I'm getting ahead of myself.

The packet came with a shirt, bib, parking information, a few brochures and safety pins.  (Another reason I decided to do this race--the shirt!  Love it.)

It reminds me so much of the Nike DC Half's shirt, but Old Town Alexandria themed!

As usual I put my gear out for the next morning.  I figured the more colorful I could make myself, the easier it would be for my husband to see me finish on the live feed.  (Yes, the race was live streamed over the internet!  Kind of exciting, and because of that along with last weekend's race, I gave my husband a free pass to stay home for this one.)  

Pretty sure I could have worn more pink, but I thought better of it.

Fortunately, this race was basically a 15 minute drive from my parents and parking was free in a nearby garage so race morning was ridiculously easy.  As I got ready my Dad threw a small bagel in the toaster for me and I put a quick smear of peanut butter on it and basically inhaled it before grabbing my usual bottle of caffeinated nuun.

Mmmm nuun and peanut butter on a mini bagel--the breakfast of champions!

The commute over was awesome.  It was SO easy getting through Old Town towards the waterfront, and since the garage was only open for the race there was a LOT of parking!  After the last couple races, I was eager to get to the portajohns so I told my Dad I would meet him there since he was having a hard time deciding what layers to take off before leaving the car.  (Note:  The garage was very warm compared to the outside.  It was in the low 40s, felt like the upper 30s, while the garage was at least 10 degrees warmer.)  Fortunately, there was hardly any line and soon we started looking around for the starting area.  And of course we took a few pictures of the Potomac en route since the race started by Oronoco Bay park.

Obligatory sunrise pre-race selfie!

The Potomac river at sunrise from Oronoco Bay Park

Although the finisher's party and portajohns were in Oronoco Bay Park, the race actually started and finished between the two Robinson terminal warehouses.  For this race, there were two sets of guns that went off--the first for the elite women at 7:45am, the second for the elite men and masters divisions and everyone else at 7:55am.  Before either gun went off and the National Anthem was played, there was a moment of silence for those who lost their lives in Paris on Friday evening.  

The first mile went really quick.  There were two hills--you basically go down one that is fairly steep, then up another that is more rolling as you pass the pathways to go to the Wilson Bridge and Jones Point Park.  I heard my watch beep just as I was passing the one mile marker, and I wasn't too surprised--it said 10:23.  Usually in races I end up starting pretty strong but over time drop back pretty significantly.  After that, the course was fairly flat.  When my watch beeped for mile 2, I was even more shocked--10:04?!  Negative splits?!  I kept being shocked with every mile marker beep on my watch.  One of the nice things about the race too was that there were several timing mats that you crossed throughout the race.  

That resulted in even more splits throughout the results and made it a little bit easier for me to view everything in terms of kilometers after that first mile.  After looking at this, I realized I completely blew my previous 10k time from the Across the Bay 10k out of the water--I was a full 90 seconds faster for this race than last weekend's race!  I couldn't (and still can't) believe it.   It even blows my 5k and 8k times away.  (My previous PR's being 32:52 for a 5k and 1:01:58 for an 8k.)

The course itself is gorgeous--it starts through Old Town going alongside the waterfront before two turns leading to Washington Boulevard which becomes the George Washington Parkway (site of the George Washington Parkway Classic 10 Miler put on by Pacers.)  The course itself is pretty flat except for two hills in that first (and last) mile.  I managed to get one picture during a walk interval (yes, those fantastic times included WALKING!)  Also since it was such a small race it was really easy to get around people when needed, even when the course squeezed down to one lane of traffic.  There were also technically four water stops--one fairly early on soon after the first mile marker, and another close to the turnaround.  After runners passed one side of the street, the volunteers simply moved to the other side and offered water and gatorade there.

Looking out towards National Harbor.

Another really cool perk to this race?  Getting to see the elites pass by and being able to cheer them on!  Getting to see Molly Huddle run past (and she had a strong lead on the rest of the elite women runners) was very cool!  She's the reigning women's champion of the race and has won it all three years since the race began and is training to run the 10k in next year's Olympics.  We also got to see the elite men go running past, but it was a much tighter pack of runners and it was hard to tell who had the lead.  (In the end, the men who won first and second place were milliseconds apart!)

At the end, we were given our finisher medals along with water, gatorade, bananas, granola bars and big blueberry muffins.  (My Dad and I passed on the muffins since my Mom stayed behind to work on some baked french toast. We definitely got water, bananas and granola bars though!)  The medals were HUGE!  

Probably my heaviest one yet!  

Across Oronoco Bay Park showing the DC Water Treatment Plant.

Overall, I would probably do the race again.  I love a small race especially after running so many large ones recently it was nice to run another small one.  Also the views were gorgeous along the course, and I'm a sucker for Old Town Alexandria.  I grew up in the area and it was wonderful to get to experience it in a different way.  I've done a few runs in the area (my favorite is very close to part of the course in fact) but actually getting to do a run with support is even better.  The race was super competitive and I credit that to helping me do so well.  My one con in regards to the race would be that there really isn't much swag, but with the great shirt and medal I'm willing to overlook it. 

My shirt, bib and medal!