My goal going into this race was to break 1:50 (5 min PR from last June) and in general not to die. My Garmin clocked the mileage at 13.25 miles (PURE EVIL) but with Google and a pace calculator I was able to see that at 13.1 miles I was at 1:50:43 – boogers. My official race time was 1:52, so sad. I figure that extra mileage can be accrued from wide streets, dodging people, taking turns wide, running to water tables, and so on. I am calling it a semi victory and am going to bask in the almost 1:50 time. If you want to tell me other wise please do not, I am enjoying only being a few seconds off and am totally comfortable blaming it on everything but me : )
Race conditions were pretty spectacular, it was slated to rain all day but held out for the entire race! Temperatures were low 40s and I decided on my running shorts, a long sleeve cool under armor, and a purple running t-shirt. Frankly I wish it was magenta like the instagram photo above, it looks way more bad-ass. I woke up at 5:20am, started to stretch a little, and ate an AMRAP bar. I really do love those things. We caught the 6:30 metro to the start location and arrived around 6:45am. I have to give mad kudos to the organizers because there were a half a dozen or so porto johns in EACH CORRAL. How smart is that?? I found my corral, hopped in line, did my business, and then did some strategic planning with Brennan to figure out where I should stand and he should stand to take some pictures. I have to say a million thank yous to him for being the best camera man ever and helping my friends figure out where to go to cheer also. Thanks babe!
Each corral moved up and were let loose a minute or two apart from each other. I made sure to get right in front so Brennan could get some pictures of me. Look how happy I look, so naive, so unaware that since I train normally at a 9:00-9:15 pace that trying to run an 8:14 – 8:23 was going to hurt. So adorable. I came out of the gate at a cool 7:30. That was smart. NOT.
The first 5 miles were great, my splits were 8:33, 8:20, 8:22, 8:08, and 8:22. The first listed spectator spot was at mile 5 and that is where my friends and Brennan planned to meet. Brennan called me as I was at 4.25 miles and told me to look up when I got to mile 5 because they were on a bridge. I have no clue how but I spotted Brennan surrounded by neon signs and guessed correctly that the signs were for me! I freaking love these guys and the signs were great. Also a huge air hug to Bobby for listing the blog and one of those funny little black box codes, how do you even do that? Who cares, he knew how and that is awesome. Thanks Bob : ) Bren got a sweet camera for Christmas that will take rapid fire shots and looking through pictures I realized how much I run with my elbows out. He will occasionally make fun of me for it but I never really thought it was true, unfortunately it is, oh and I run severely pigeon toed ha! I obviously only picked the semi attractive pictures to post but trust me on this one.
After mile 5 the race went a little downhill. Well uphill to be exact. At mile 6 a steady and mean incline showed its ugly face for 1/3 of a mile. WTF race people, who does that. I was feeling so good and kept looking at my watch and see sub 8:10 pace and getting all excited but forced myself to slow down, then the hill came. I didn’t have to try to slow down at all, I just had to try to not stop and walk, mile 6 clocked in at 8:18 and then mile 7 was a 9:10, I was soooo sad. My spirits just crashed and I got really upset with myself. The next miles went like so: 8:26, 8:24, 8:27, 8:21, 8:59, and finally 8:20. Pretty consistent minus a little hiccup at 12. I did notice that I PR’d by about 3 minutes for my 10 mile time, which got me pretty excited!
This race was not super spectator friendly and Brennan got to the finish line with a minute to spare watching me cross. A fence blocked him from getting good shots of me crossing so I am going to be sneaky and use the ones from rock n roll (thanks guys!) I did get a shot after with my medal and him! I have nothing to say about the post race goodies because I didn’t get any… Once I finished the race I went to find Brennan because I knew he had been running all over DC trying to take pictures of me and I wanted to say thank you and give him a big sweaty hug. The only problem was that the finish goods took me in the opposite direction of where he was and I had no clue where it would dump me so I went to find him first. AND THEN THEY WOULDN’T LET ME BACK IN. Shame on you rock n roll. When I went back there were half a dozen people or so right behind me and we all were furious, screaming “ALL I WANT IS A BAGEL I JUST RAN A HALF MARATHON” I am sure the guy was just doing is job but I was still a little peeved about it. This is the first race I have attended that was so strict and I just wasn’t a fan. Especially because of how expensive the race was. Gimme a fricken banana dudes.
After I was denied re-entry we headed back to the metro to get home. Sasha had puppy class at 11:30 and it is an hour drive so we needed to hustle. I needed some food so we made a pit stop for pitas right when we got off the metro, chicken and steak gyro meat? YES PLEASE. I went to training all gross and sweaty and the parents of Sasha’s brother were super impressed I ran a race before training, nbd I’m a runner… haha.
Seeing that it was St Patricks Day weekend and my last name is Kelly (hello Irish, don’t let the dark complexion fool you, I am only half Italian) we headed to a nice pizza and beer bar around the corner. I polished off a 10 inch pizza on my own, it was called the “Smokey Blue” but I don’t like blue cheese so I had them do a mix of goat and feta, the rest of the ingredients were wood roasted onions, baker’s smoked bacon, organic tomato sauce, rosemary, and balsamic glaze. It was stinking delicious. Not even remotely paleo but that’s okay. I’ll go back to my normal ways on Monday! The last two pictures that you are probably drooling over was the BEST breakfast the boy and I have ever come up with. We made pancakes (I used reeses pieces and he used hershey drops), some scrambled eggs, and dinosaur bbq pork! The pancakes totally stole the show. Thank you 711! Once breakfast (if you can call 11am breakfast) was done we made some popcorn and watched dark shadows. Probably the healthiest morning I have ever had… NOT. It was great fun though.
This week is a rest week and I’m looking forward to it. I think I may go to yoga Monday but we shall see. Tuesday I have 2 soccer games, Thursday rugby practice, and Friday we are taking off at 11am to head up to our parents! I haven’t seen my folks since Christmas!! That is 3 months tooooo long.
Running Chitter Chatter
Q: Did you race this weekend? How did it go?
Q: If you didn’t race, did you run this weekend? How many miles?
Q: What is the next race you are doing? How are you preparing?
Side note – apparently google reader is no more! So if you are a google reader user you should try out bloglovin! I use it to follow all my blogs now, there is a button at the bottom of the page on the right to follow!
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Categories: Half Marathon Training
Insanity Day #1 and Pan Chili 
Rock N Roll Expo and Eats 
Skipping a Run 
Batdog 
Food & Fitness 
“Blisters are Braille for awesome” – love that hahah. Congrats on your time!
Right?! I was dying when I ran by because I wanted to see what they wrote so bad and after one of the first things I asked Brennan was “Did you get a picture of the signs?!?! I couldnt see them!!” Thanks!
That’s an amazing half-marathon time. GREAT job and I hope you’re feeling amazingly proud. I can’t believe they wouldn’t let you back in! I would’ve been really upset too.
Thank you!! I do I feel great! I am also super happy that the next half marathon distance I am doing is a trail run because I have no goal time just a goal to finish!
it was so hard to not go out fast, I did the same thing, went out way too freaking fast. the first three miles blew by. I have to say the extra distance made a huge difference, I totally realized that my time reflected that extra distance. however, for a good practice race I was pleased. next up the nike woman’s half and cherry blossom … you running it?
It was just a mind thing for me, my watch and the mile markers were spot on for the first 4 I want to say then it all went funny. Plus did you get tripped up on the finish line? I thought it was where the geico signs were so I hauled but and then realized it was another few hundred yards and felt like I was going to pass out haha. I am doing the Cherry Blossom! I really love the 10 milers so I am excited for that! We should plan to meet up!
Yes! Except I ran the race last year and I remember they did the same thing with the finish line so I was aware I still had to keep running. What a tease though. I actually really disliked the race course change, last years was a lot better. I would love to meet up, I kind of dig 10 mile races so this one is going to be a blast.
Awesome! 10 mile runs are just perfect to me, my energy stays up the whole time and like I mentioned I noticed I was 3 minutes faster than last year and I definitely good push it harder. I am looking forward to it! Let’s plan to hit up the expo together!
Those pancakes look amazing! Love Reese’s Pieces. 🙂 Not every race can be a PR–but that will make the one when you break 1:50 AMAZING!!!
They were so good!! My previous half marathon time is 1:55! This was actually a huge PR for me but I had the goal of breaking 1:50! Some day…
That is awesome then! I am aiming for 1:53 in my next half!
You had an amazing race! The finish line sucks for sure but your time is awesome! That hill was worth walking up from what I heard. I can’t believe they wouldn’t let you go get you something to eat! Pancakes and pizza are the perfect post race food. Enough P’s? 😉
SOOOO much food. I also ended up getting a shamrock shake just to try it around 3pm and ended up nauseous and napping haha. Dinner was totally forgotten about and this morning I woke up craving real food after my weekend of going buck wild haha
And thank you!! How did you find it was for spectating? Bren was able to make it to the start, mile 5, and the finish but he was hustling big time!
I didn’t get to spectate 😦 I walked the 4 miles from the start to the finish and totally took a different route. I should have looked before I planned my walk!
CONGRATS again, although you didn’t make the time you wanted (but were SO FREAKING CLOSE!), you should still be super duper proud of yourself!! 😀 thats an amazing time.. I’ll be lucky if I get that time in my entire life.. EVER. All the food looks so good.. pancakes with reeses pieces? Errmmmm Geniusssssss!
Thank you!! Hey we all have our own goals so I am sure if its something you want you can do it! Besides I’ve realized that some one is ALWAYS going to be a heck of a lot faster than I am and there will be lots of people slower, same goes for you! I run because I enjoy it and honestly being stressed about a time was annoying haha I’m glad for the most part the rest of my races this year the only goal is to finish!
You ALWAYS count the time at the 13.1!! NOT the 13.25 because that would be MORE than a half marathon. THIS means..you ran a half marathon in 1:50:43!!! AMAZING JOB!! I would have been PISSSED if I was denied food after a run, and yes ESPECIALLY with how expensive the R&R races are.
Yea that man was lucky we were exhausted otherwise I would have done some ninja moves and busted in.
Great job on your race!! You totally rocked it! And I would go with your watch time too! I can’t believe they wouldn’t let you back in!!!! That is redic..I was soo disappointed overall with the race, it was horrible and embarrassing for them..too bad you couldn’t have ran last years which was much much better! You can hear me rant on my post later today 🙂 Maybe we can meet before the Cherry Blossom 10 miler!! I’m running that too…hopefully uninjured.
Yes!!! I think it would be fun to do a little bloggy buddy day at the expo!!
You are super speedy and SO CLOSE TO YOUR PR! I call that a win!
It was definitely a PR the 1:50 is a goal, I will get it this year, this weekend was just not the time, thank you for the exclamations though : )
WOW…Congradulations! This is a great recap post too:)
Thanks Caroline! I wish I could have seen you!
I totally basked in the almost 1:50 last fall, so I support it 100%!!!
Your post run food looks just like mine too : )
I am glad I am in good company : )
Great job!! That’s a great time!
Thank you! I am definitely happy!
Pancakes, eggs, and pork?! Heck yes! That sounds amazing!
And you look amazingly strong! You kicked bootay, girl!
Isn’t that the trifecta! It was a total fridge clean out / 711 run but it was soooo good. ANd thank you times a million!
Well done!!!!! Just signed up to my first half yesterday! Eeek!
Thank you and congratulations!! The first race is always the scariest, but I can guarantee you will love it and spend so many dollars on races to come, good luck!
Megan, that time is AWESOME! So happy for you! 🙂 I won’t be racing for a while, so I’m living vicariously through you! Way to go, girl!
Thank you!!!
Congrats, congrats, congrats! Also, I love your purple shirt! Faaabulous!
Thanks!!!
AMAZING girlfriend. You are too darn cute.
Thanks Joy!!
I love all your pictures! Super cute and I love the posters from your supporters!
Nice work on the race!! 🙂
Thank you!!!
Just randomly stumbled on your blog. I ran the R&R half too and had really similar times. My runkeeper app told me I did a 13.35 in 1:54 so I was SURE I broke 1:50. Not so much. Let’s just assume that if that stupid hill at mile 7 hadn’t been around we would have both gotten in the 1:40’s.
Oh I like your thinking! Are you running the Cherry Blossom this weekend?!
I wish. It was at max capacity by the time I heard about it. But I am running MCM this year – hollers!
Oh snapppppp. Me tooo!!!