Volunteering for packet pickup was expectedly chaotic, but a lot of fun! Essentially I handed people their race bibs with the timing chip and directed them to where to get their t-shirts. There were a lot of the same questions--can I just give you my name? (No, because there are probably about 20 Sarah's in just my boxes of bibs.) And surprisingly there were a LOT of people who tried picking up their bib with the previous year's email. (Check the dates on there, people! I understand sometimes technology is wonky and can bring up an older email before a newer one, but still--check the dates!) Generally everybody that came to my table were super nice and happy to be there.
After my shift ended, my Dad (who was helping sell Cherry Blossom merchandise) and I explored the expo. I found a couple of really cute sweaty bands and got to see some of the medals I'll be earning later this year for running the King Crab race series! (Apparently the blanket was also on display, but I totally missed it!) They also had the recently announced Baltimoron medal as a reward if you run both the Baltimore 5k and half marathon in the same day.
All week I had been closely watching the weather, and it kept showing that Sunday would be cold and windy. Then on Friday it was announced that there would be a high wind advisory and a freeze watch in the suburbs. On Saturday afternoon race organizers started announcing what they would do to make sure everybody could safely participate in the race. First they announced that there wouldn't be any signage on the course marking the mileage or showing split times (there are actually 5 different timing mats that you pass over--the start line, 5 miles, 10k, 9 miles and the finish line.) They also cancelled the kid's race and later announced that they would be cutting the number of water stops in half so there would only be three on the whole course. The organizers also decided that this year they would hand you water, food, heatsheets and medals as you cross the finish line and walk back through the chutes where you started.
After they started making the announcements I started getting nervous that they would cut the race short or cancel it altogether. Then once the wind started to pick up around 10pm, it made it even harder to sleep. At one point I woke up for a little while and checked my email and saw an email from race organizers saying that the race is definitely on, but there wouldn't be a sound system and there would only be 2 tents (the med tent and bag check tent) and the portajohns were going to be uneffected. (Yay! Priorities, people!)
The night before the race I decided on wearing a long sleeved shirt, a wool hoodie, a windbreaker vest, fleece lined leggings and a running cap. I also grabbed a couple of heatsheets that my Dad and I could use while we waited for the race to begin.
The morning of the race I was totally dragging the second my first alarm went off and said "Up and atom! It's race day!"
And I'm pretty sure I groaned when my second alarm went off and said "You signed up for this torture!" Proof:
Before we left I grabbed my water bottle with cherry limeade nuun from the fridge and started sipping it in the car and hoped that the caffeine would kick in sooner rather than later. I also had a packet of caffeinated limeade honey stinger chews as an added boost of caffeine.
Soon my Dad and I had arrived at the Smithsonian metro station and we began to brave the cold wrapped up in our heatsheets.
Such a pretty sight...but soooooo cold!
We started out at the portajohns and while we waited I ate my peanut butter and dark chocolate luna bar (yum!) about half an hour before gun time. Then we went to our respective corrals (I was in the green corral, he was in purple) and waited for the race announcements.
Bundled up and ready to go!
I had heard that some women in my running group were in the same corral and I wildly looked around for them and was so shocked that I found them in the huge group of people that I pushed my way through the crowd and met up with them. We then walked together to the starting line and I took off my heatsheet and rather than dropping it, I folded it up and shoved it securely under the strap on my running belt. I ended up running with the women from my running group until we started down the Memorial bridge when I decided it was time to take off and see what could happen on my own.
Around mile 5 an oasis of portajohns with NO LINE popped up and I took advantage of it--I sprinted off the course into a stall and magically, there was even still hand sanitizer!! (My first year running this race I lost a couple minutes due to the line.) I then opened up my packet of chews and popped one in my mouth. Admittedly, I had never tried the flavor before but it was the perfect boost I needed at each mile afterwards.
Then something else magical happened at mile 6 as I started down Hains Point--I saw somebody running with turquoise and purple hair back in a ponytail and a Virginia Tech sweatshirt tied around her waist. I recognized the hair and ran to catch up and looked over and realized I DO know her! It was a friend from high school who still lives in the area and runs a lot of the same races as me and somehow we had never caught up until this race. It made Hains Point go SO much faster to have a friend to run with at a similar pace! But, again I had to take off if I were going to beat my time of 2:01:13 in 2014. That last mile just flew by. I remembered that last hill at the very end before the road levels off and how I walked the whole thing the last time I ran the race. And I was walking it again. So about halfway up the hill I started running again and used what little energy I had left and kept going until I crossed the finish line and stopped my Garmin.
As I walked towards the food and water being passed out (I missed out on the heatsheets, which made me VERY glad I held onto mine) I looked down and saw that I had totally beat my time by a longshot! After getting my medal and taking some obligatory pictures with it in front of the Washington Monument...
I looked up my official finishing time using the CUCB app and I could hardly believe it: I finished the race in 1:54:39!!! (Nearly 7 minutes faster than my original time in 2014!!!) I then happily ate my banana and cheese while I waited for my Dad's text that he had finished the race. Once we met up we headed back to my parents house for showers and some lunch (since the runger was real!) Then I headed home for a nap with my cats while watching the Barkley Marathon documentary on Netflix since it started the night before the Cherry Blossom. (I highly recommend it--even though I fell asleep during it, it was very interesting!)
Overall, I would totally do this race again in a heartbeat. (And will--the perk of volunteering is getting to bypass the lottery!) It is very well organized, and there's a reason why elite and novice runners alike have added it to their race bucket list! Despite the adverse weather conditions, the organizers worked around it extremely well and still managed to put on a fantastic race.
Great recap and congrats on the huge PR! Jennifer @ Run Jenny Run
ReplyDeleteThanks!! :)
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