The day of packet pickup I had a raging headache. The kind that you couldn’t do anything about. I ended up trying to drink a lot of water and it helped some, but not a lot. I sucked it up and drove out with my husband just in case I didn’t feel up for driving back. It was super easy to find parking since there were volunteers directing people to spaces and I lucked out with one right in front of the shopping center. While there I also picked up a few gels because I was running low and I wanted to try a new to me huma gel with electrolytes.
That night my headache was still raging. Woke up, it was still there. I could've just gone back to bed but instead I got up, got ready and went to my race. I drank most of my cherry limeade Nuun on the drive there, and finished it as I walked to the start. I parked at the Metro station close to the start and started messing with my aftershokz headphones out of nervousness and felt a little snap. I looked down and the blue portion of the earpiece was broken but the black part was still holding on. Right before my race. Dang it. I could still hear out of the headphones, but they were super fragile and couldn't sit on my ear. After eating my picky bar, and using the portajohns I made it a point to look for tape, a band aid, ANYTHING to at least temporarily fix it. I knew the majority of the race was through a park so I needed music. Thankfully, I got my hands on a band aid and patched it up (at least temporarily.)
Ready to go...I think?
My headache was still raging, but I didn't have much of a choice other than to ignore it and run this thing. Soon it was time to line up. The race was really organized in this respect because they had formal corrals with pace times and barriers held up by volunteers.
Since the race starts on a downhill, it was really easy to go out way too fast even though I was in a further back corral. When my watch beeped at the first mile mark and I saw 9:32 pop up and tried to pull back, but the second mile popped up at 9:52. Then just at the 5k point, you turn a corner and come face to face with a hill for an out n back portion. That's where my pace really started to suffer and I dropped any hope of having a PR. By mile 4 I remembered I needed to take a gel sooner rather than later so I took it at the next water stop. That was just too late and it totally threw off my fueling strategy.
At mile 5 I was really just ready to be done. I stopped to use the bathroom (which I rarely ever do mid-race), and had a hard time pushing myself to keep going. I took my gel with caffeine and electrolytes and that helped get some energy back, but it could only do so much. I was unable to ignore my headache and tried so hard to focus on anything else, but at that point it just became a downward spiral. Just past high five hill (where volunteers wear giant Mickey hands to high five runners up the hill) I got stuck behind two people running together through a heavily wooded portion of the route and since I do run/walk intervals I would get ahead of them, then they would get ahead of me, and I would pass them again and they'd pass me again. I'd have to ask them to move out of the way so I could pass every. Single. Time. The path was just way too narrow to run side by side like they were doing, especially since the path wasn't closed to non-race participants. (So every once in awhile someone not racing would come running towards you.) At one point I just let the ladies go on ahead and drifted off a small group of people who were pacing one another. I focused on their conversation and it actually helped get me out of my funk for the most part.
It's been a really long time since I was so thankful to just be done with a race. But for this one, I was really happy to be done. The course was pretty crowded and I was still in a crappy mood. Once I crossed the finish, I got my medal and neck gaiter and got in line for food. The spread was awesome! There were breakfast foods, pizza and pasta. I filled up a plate and managed to find a group of running friends I hadn't seen in awhile.
Once we were done with our food we walked over to the metro stop (you essentially park at one metro stop, run towards a different one) and hopped on a train to get back to our cars. Before I headed home, I had to make a stop to get some duck donuts (there aren't many locations in Maryland, so I had to stop) and of course coffee (any excuse to get a pumpkin cold brew!)
After getting home, showering and taking a nap I opened a beer and told my husband about the race and had a chance to reflect on everything that happened. I always tell myself it's never a bad race unless there's something you don't learn from it. As hard as it was, it wasn't bad. This race convinced me that for one thing I needed to rethink my fueling strategy. Drinking a pre-race Nuun, eating a picky bar 30 minutes out from gun time, then taking gels every 45 minutes wasn't enough. I needed more calories and with some of the things I had on hand, I decided on a new strategy--fuel in liquid form with electrolytes, AND gels. And just in case maybe have some chews on hand too. My 2:15 half marathon is still elusive. I may hit it someday, but as long as I learn a lot along the way it'll make the journey worth it to me.
Overall, I would consider doing this race again with some things in mind. The time of year is not so great--the first half of September is still summer, still miserable. They account for this with an early gun time of 6:45 am. It took me an hour to get there, but I got there early enough that parking was a non-issue. I'd also go into it knowing that the start is FAST and to hold back for later in the flatter portion of the course. You get a lot for your registration fee--a shirt and bib at packet pickup then a medal and an extra premium when you cross the finish (in 2019 it was a tie dye buff) and the spread of food at the end was amazing. Getting back to your car post-race was also super easy since you just had to get on the metro for a couple of stops. You get a lot for your entry fee so if you've been wanting to try it, I'd go for it at least once! I don't know if I'll personally run it again, but I would still keep it under consideration.
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