After volunteering you get a code to be able to sign up the following December and there are all kinds of add ons. Generally I get the cotton race t-shirt, and a medal. This year I got the enhanced medal, meaning after the race I would receive a little plate engraved with my time and placement. I was feeling pretty confident that I could do well enough to PR this race again after being able to for the previous two years.
Since my volunteer shift was early enough in the day I decided to buy parking ahead of time using Spot Hero and drive into DC. (It was SO easy and I was so glad I did it.) After finishing my volunteer shift, my Dad and I had fun exploring the expo. It was a lot of the same vendors. Got a few free snacks--cheese (from Cabot), quinoa thin stacker cakes and baked grain bites (from Lundberg Family Farms) and had some 26.2 brew. After killing some time listening to some of the speakers, we went to the volunteer dinner to eat and drove home. (Since it was well after rush hour, I hit barely any traffic on the way home!)
For the first time since I started running this race, it looked like it would be legitimately warm. Like, would need to wear shorts and potentially a hydration vest warm. Going into the race, I really had no idea what to expect. After running the Shamrock Half my IT band had a flare up and was really angry. I was really just planning on finishing. If I PR'd, that'd be great but I decided wouldn't beat myself up if I didn't. (But let's face it, it would be hard not to do that.) I talked with a Volee teammate and she was having a similar issue and it flared up at the exact same time and she ran Shamrock as well. (My theory is that it was from the elevation being too flat, and then going back to hills pretty much right afterwards.) She and I decided to try and meet up at the race, we would both wear our hydration vests and run the race together as much as we could. The night before the race I looked up my picture from when I had my IT band taped up for the Marine Corps Marathon and tried to copy what my sports massage therapist had done. (Sure there's no scientific evidence that taping an injury helps, but it also doesn't show that it can hurt either!) I also planned on slipping on a compression sleeve for added stability.
On race morning, my Dad and I drove into DC (since Metro doesn't open early for this race anymore I bought parking ahead of time again) and walked over to the start. We checked out the post race food since it was a table in the middle of the field. We just walked up to a table and a volunteer reprimanded us saying the food was for AFTER the race. Once her back was turned I grabbed a Honey Stinger waffle out of spite and because I knew if I didn't, I probably wouldn't see them again. Since by that point it was getting close to gun time we lined up in our respective corrals and I told my Dad to text me when he was through the chute. My friend and I were in the same corral and since I was there first I texted her where I was so she could find me. We were both nervous and our IT bands were feeling a little angry still, and discussed our last minute strategies as we waited to start. Generally for this race, I run for at least the first mile or two (or even the first half) until the crowds begin to break up and then start doing run/walk breaks as needed. But again with my IT band, all bets were off. I was just wanting to finish.
I managed to keep up with my friend for the majority of the race and it was a lot of fun to be able to point out some of the landmarks since it was her first time running. After running past the watergate, I started seeing random friends also running. So I thought "You know what? This is like a giant party where I know I have friends around somewhere but just need to find them! I want to make this a giant party for the rest of this race." So I did just that. I ran into friends I hadn't seen in ages and some others who I knew were running for the first time and really struggling so I ran with them for a little while and gave them a pep talk and distracted them with random DC landmarks. And I had the best time.
By the time I crossed the finish line, I was had so much fun I didn't even care if I had PR'd. But when I looked down at my watch, I knew it would be very close.
My Volee teammate and I finished very close together and we walked through the runner's chute super proud of ourselves (it was a PR for her!) and got our waters and actually turned down the mylar blanket. (It was THAT warm and the sun had started to come out.) We walked over and got our post race snacks. At that point, there were still bananas and granola bars but they were running dangerously low on Honey Stinger waffles and it didn't help that the volunteers were hoarding them. I grabbed another one for my Dad and ate the one I had grabbed earlier. My friend and I saw runners taking entire boxes of canned Peet's Coffee that was offered, and we asked a couple random people with full boxes if we could have one and were ignored. So then I took things into my own hands and walked up behind a volunteer that had the last of the cans and grabbed two coffees from behind her and handed one to my friend. Afterwards my friend and I went our separate ways so she could find her husband and I could get my medal and meet up with my Dad again.
This has been one of my consistent pieces of feedback for this race. The organizers have ample time to set up food within the runner's chute and I know this as someone who has worked in the running event industry. And they already put stacks of cases of water in there, why not the tables with food? There is absolutely no reason to have it out in the open so runners (and random people) can come up and grab whatever whenever they want. The food should be in the chute so you only have access immediately following the race and once you leave the chute you can't come back and get more. It was downright disgusting to see how greedy the other participants were. I just wanted enough of each thing for myself, my friend and my Dad who had no chance at even seeing one of the waffles. (I didn't bother getting him coffee because I knew he wouldn't like it.) Sure, keep medals in a tent off to the side. They have that system down because generally people aren't going to try and get multiple medals and bibs are marked showing that they've been paid for and picked up. Food needs to be more secured so everyone gets a fair chance at getting a little bit of everything that's offered. Once my Dad texted me he had finished, I met up with him and all that was left were bananas and granola bars so I handed him my extra waffle.
As my Dad and I walked back to the car we talked about our races. Despite the ugliness at the post race food, I really had a good time during the volunteer shift and then during the race itself. I would recommend the race for people who haven't done it before and for out of towners because of all the DC landmarks you get to see up close. I'll probably do the race and volunteer to get into the 2021 race, but I'm also getting to the point where I kind of want to see what other races are out there that same weekend.
Once my Dad and I got back to my parents house, I opened my laptop and checked my spreadsheet of all my finishing times. (I highly recommend doing this--it has all my split times and shows all the statistics that is offered by race organizers.) I had in fact PR'd by 7 whole seconds! I know it doesn't sound like a lot, but considering the conditions (my IT band and it was the warmest year I've run this race) I'm pretty darn happy with it.
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