Then I had to rearrange my running schedule since I'm in training for the Rock n Roll DC Half Marathon on March 11th. Packet pickup gave me a great excuse to go for a run in Alexandria over the Wilson Bridge to National Harbor. Then I realized Saturday morning that I could actually work in packet pickup to my long run and sat down and figured out it was about 3.5 miles from my usual parking lot over to Pacers Alexandria and back to my car.
It was a great run! First I went to Pacers to pick up my shirt and bib and ran back to my car to put my shirt and bib in there. (It was pretty secure in my hydration pack, but I figured better safe than sorry!) I then went over the Wilson Bridge into National Harbor. On the way back I noticed a Great Blue Heron flying over my path and once I got closer to the tree where it landed, I saw about a half dozen of these big birds building nests in the trees!
The shirt was DEFINITELY cute!!
After stretching I made a quick stop off at my parents to say hi and headed home. Once I got home I was determined to have everything laid out and ready to go along with setting my alarm, getting my bottle of nuun prepped and a picky bar in my bag for breakfast. I checked the weather and the forecasters called for a chance of rain, naturally right at gun time. Since I knew I would be driving I took a variety of layers.
Thankfully I had gotten everything I needed together and the drive to the race was pretty uneventful. I left home about two hours before gun time and arrived much earlier than I expected. (Yay for the combination of the threat of rain and a lazy Sunday morning!) I sat in my car for a little while before walking over to the starting area. (No line at the portajohns--yay!)
Soon after I met up with a friend from Oiselle Volee, and thankfully the race was in a small enough area it was easy to keep meeting up with her (and run into other Oiselle ladies throughout the race!)
Once gun time came around, I got an idea of just how big the races was and despite being a field of about a thousand runners it still felt very small. It started raining just a little bit at the beginning of the race, but once I hit the top of that first hill (really, the only hill since it was an out and back) it had pretty much stopped.
The course itself was VERY hilly, but I was glad to do it because it helped me figure out where my weakness is in my running. (This is why I like to do a kind of "throwaway" race to get out the jitters for the first race of the season.)
Due to the hills (and lack of hill training on my part) as well as running mostly on a treadmill over the winter I had an okay time but not my best. I finished in 35:13 with a pace of 11:06. (My PR for the 5k is currently 30:55 on a course that is downhill for the first half then flat.)
After the race there was a table of the fleece blanket premium from previous years races for $5 each. I loved the little monkey mascot used in previous years (and wanted an inexpensive blanket for my upcoming Ragnars) so I went ahead and bought a red one. So cute!!!
One of the nice things about Pacers races is that a lot of them have a tab for a free drink at Shake Shack. I had never taken advantage of it before, but since I met up with my Volee teammate again and she invited me to come along with her Mom and husband, I decided to go for it. Surprisingly, the free drink included their amazing milkshake so I had to get peanut butter and an order of their crinkle cut fries.
Naturally, it totally hit the spot. By the time we finished the rain had started again and was more steady. So we said our goodbyes and headed back to our cars. (However I made a quick stop at World Market on the way back to pick up some Torani syrup for my morning coffee and some prosecco for Valentine's Day.)
Overall, the race was a good one for my first of the year. It helped get some of the first race of the year jitters (should that be hyphenated?) out of the way and showed me I seriously need some hill training. Would I do it again? Possibly. The whole being a wimp to the cold would probably hold me back again. Despite the light rain at the beginning of the race and it being a little cold, it was still a good training race.
That is a super cute shirt!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I don't wear a lot of long sleeves, but I'm hoping with this cold snap here in the mid-Atlantic I'll be able to show it off soon :)
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