Well, the flat part was right.
The rain that I had been dreading most of the week kinda messed up the scenic part to some extent. I wore a baseball cap for the race so a lot of my vision was focused on the road in front of me, mostly to avoid puddles.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
I had booked a hotel room about 20 minutes from the starting area once I knew I was doing this race so we could get there the night before and hopefully get there before a lot of the traffic. I ended up skipping the expo the day before the race because my husband tempted me with stopping at Red Hot and Blue in Annapolis for dinner. I love that place. Growing up it was a tradition to stop there on the drive back from Bethany Beach every summer.
We checked into our hotel and soon after I put out all my clothes for the next morning to triple check that I had everything I needed ready to go. I had decided to try a slightly different game plan than usual and instead of drinking a water bottle with Nuun before the race, I would save that for after and get my caffeine from a Picky Bar called "Smooth Caffeinator." (Which was pretty tasty by the way!) I figured it would get breakfast AND that first boost of caffeine out of the way. (I've eaten plenty of the bars so I knew it wouldn't upset my stomach and I trust them because they were created by athletes to be easy to digest.)
Thankfully, getting to sleep was at least a little easier than it was for the Frederick race. I had a busy day and with driving to the hotel I was pretty sleepy. Before bed I had a little glimmer of hope that maybe the rain would hold off. At one point I woke up in the night and excitedly checked the weather again. Nope. Well, we had travelled all this way. I kinda had to run the race! So I rolled over and fell back asleep until my alarm went off. I immediately checked the weather again and saw this and all my hopes for at least a slightly dry race quickly went away.
The next morning my husband and I left the hotel around 5:30, just as the rain was starting. I was armed with a different rain jacket than my last rainy race and was hopeful that this one would work out. (Spoiler alert: It didn't.) We ended up parking about a mile away from the starting area, but it was a nice walk since it was raining only lightly and along the first part of the race and it gave me a quick preview of what to expect for the first mile. Our first stop once we arrived in the starting area was packet pickup in a huge tent. I got my bib and shirt quickly and after a stop at the portajohns stayed under the tent until race organizers started to ask us to start lining up at 7am for the first wave that started at 7:15. (I was in the 4th wave.) I ran into my blogging friend, Gracious Warrior Princess, talked with her a little bit then said goodbye to my hubby. When I saw him again with the other spectators just past the starting line I yelled to him "Are we there yet?" And I quickly turned my focus to the puddles ahead of me.
At about mile 4 my shoes started getting sloshy and my rain jacket had given up too. And I was thinking a bathroom stop would be nice when something magical happened. I looked up, and there it was with NO LINE!! So I waited for the people who beat me to the portajohns and I killed about 3 minutes of my time, but it was totally worth it because I was fine for the rest of the race.
Frederick was all about the endurance and physical stamina because of how hilly it was. This race however was all about mental toughness thanks to the rain. I hate rain. (I think after how much we've gotten here in the DMV, pretty much everyone does.) I went into this race thinking "If it's going to rain heavily, I'm not doing it." But then it was "Well, I'm here anyways..." and then once I had started running it was "Well, I can't turn back now!" It was all about embracing the suckiness of the weather conditions. I knew I could run 13.1 miles in under 2:30. But could I do it in the rain? I feel like I totally earned the finisher's medal just for being a total badass for running that far in progressively heavier rain. (Added bonus: I no longer fear running and entire race in the rain!) At times the rain reminded me of the scene in Forrest Gump when he's in Vietnam and it started raining.
"One day it started raining, and it didn’t quit for four
months. We been through every kind of
rain there is. Little bitty stingin’
rain…and big ol’ fat rain. Rain that
flew in sideways. And sometimes rain
even seemed to come straight up from underneath. Shoot, it even rained at night…"
One thing this race has going for it is that it had plenty of water stops, but there weren't many portajohn stops. (I was really glad that I stopped at the one I found because I didn't see any for the rest of the race, and towards the end there were definitely a few people going off course to go into the woods.) I also thought the race course was also pretty scenic despite the adverse weather conditions. It was fun seeing a different part of Maryland that I had never been to and the town of St. Michaels was also very cute! Lots of cute storefronts and restaurants line the first mile or so of the race and then you head through a couple of subdivisions, then some wooded rural areas before heading back through the neighborhoods in town. The course is super flat (although there is some grading to the road so I definitely recommend staying towards the middle if you can!) There are also free pictures (with an unobtrusive logo in the lower right corner), and I think despite the slight blurriness they turned out great. (It's definitely hard to take pictures in low light conditions like a rainy day!)
There really weren't many cons to this race, the biggest being the rain. It was really no fun being wet for essentially the entire race. I thought the swag was a little boring, but they seem to be improving on it every year. I'll still definitely wear the shirt and I really appreciate my medal simply for being proof of my badassery for running a half marathon in the rain.
After I grabbed my water, banana and peanut butter and jelly sandwich portions (probably now my favorite post-race snack!) I met up with my husband and I stretched outside of the car a little bit then once I sat down I took off my shoes and socks and wiped my arms, legs and feel off with some paper towels. I then slipped on my wool socks and traded my jacket for a big hoodie and I felt like I could finally start warming up a little bit (but still soaked since I still had on my race shirt and pants.) When I got home I found out that one thing on me stayed dry the entire race.
It was my little squirrel coin purse from Blue Q that I started using this race season to hold my id and cash during races. So if I'm going to recommend any gear from this race--it would be that little $2 (or $4 depending on your design preference) coin purse. And for those of you that are fans of sustainability, it's made out of 95% recycled materials!! I still can't believe that my cash and driver's license were completely dry.
Overall, I would do this race again. For one thing, I feel like it really needs a chance to be appreciated without the horrible weather conditions. The course itself is scenic but nice and flat so I think you can really look at what's all around you rather than concentrating on whatever hill is coming up. (But I can also see where some people would find this boring--I started running in a similar but very hilly area, so I'm fine with having lots of houses and trees to look at!)
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