This past weekend I made another trip to Washington, DC.  I have to say that it is one of my favorite cities.  I’ve been there numerous times and each time I always have a great time.

I got in on Saturday afternoon and made my way to the hotel.  I was meeting up with a few girls from the Nike Training Club.  I dropped off my luggage and made my way to the expo.  I am used to an expo being in one building.  Well, this expo was different because you had to go to three different locations to get your bib, your shirt, and other miscellaneous stuff.  There weren’t many vendors plus it was crowded so I did not stay too long.  I then found out that Shalane Flanagan was there.  Dang!!

As soon as I got my bib and shirt, I saw this.  Pretty cool!

 The course map.

Found my name!  It was so cool to also see my mother’s name next to mine.

Then I met up with the rest of the girls and then went to lunch.

I woke up at 5 on race day.  I quickly got dressed and ate a ClifBar with some coffee.  Then we proceeded to take the metro to the start line.  It was a bit chilly and part of me wanted to go back to the room for a long sleeve shirt.  However, I knew that eventually it would warm up and then I would be too hot.

Ready to run!

There were so many runners on the course.  Even after one mile, the course was still crowded.  It was then that I saw JB.  She had flown in the day  before after running The Garmin Half Marathon in KS (where she got to meet Meb). She is pretty amazing!  She was running with a coworker and I managed to tag along.  Yeah, we ran together till the end.

It was a gorgeous day for running.  At various points there were so many spectators cheering for us.  I did get hot and thirsty but overall felt good throughout the race.  I began to feel a bit tired around mile 11.  I told JB to go ahead while I walked.  However, she is such a good pacer and part of me still wanted to run with her so I picked up the pace until I caught up with her.

Less than a mile to go.  That is me by the letter “E”.

So close to the end.

Finally done.  I love that instead of a medal, I got a Tiffany necklace.

It is a great race!  It is not a flat course but isn’t too hilly either.  The weather was gorgeous.  I definitely recommend doing this race.  I enjoyed it so much that I plan to go back next year.

On Saturday, April 5, I completed my 2nd ultramarathon.  I ran my first one two years ago.  This race was a fun experience but I will admit that I also felt some disappointment.

I spent the week leading up to the race just relaxing and not thinking too much about it.  I know that if I think about it then I worry and what good does that do?  Absolutely nothing.  I made sure to drink plenty of water and carbo loaded on Friday.

The weather was perfect on race day.  It was sunny and no wind.  I saw Amanda from Too Tall Fritz and Michelle from This Momma Runs.  I was so nervous that I went to the bathroom 3 times. Luckily there weren’t too many people running the race so the lines moved pretty fast.

I got in line at 8:25 and realized that I did not have my iPod.  I thought I had lost it.  When I couldn’t find it, I went to my bag to leave my headphones and saw that my iPod was already clipped to my waterbelt.  By then the race had started and I was still trying to get myself together.  There was no chip time so it is important that you start on time.  I was finally ready and was probably the last one to cross the start line.  I did not worry at all because I knew I would catch up to the other runners.

My friend, Rhoda from Relentless Rhoda, agreed to run with me for 9 miles.  I saw her before mile 1 and we ran till the first turnaround on North Avenue (5.2 miles) and then continued on till mile 9.  It was great running with her.  Thanks Rhoda!!

Mile 15.5.  I was in a lot of pain and took two ibuprofens.  Thank goodness I did because it would have been tough to run another 15.5 miles.

I ran and walked the rest of the way.  I turned on my iPod but for some reason the battery had died.  It was weird because I made sure to charge it the night before.  Ugh, I was annoyed because I spent a few minutes before the race looking for the darn thing.

By the time I got to mile 20.7 (start/finish area) there were a few people that had already finished. What?!?!?!?

Just before the finish line.  Not sure why it is blurry.

Done.  Finish time is 6:39:08.

Luckily I finished before the watch battery died.

Post-race food.  I had two bowls because I was hungry and one wan’t enough.

I keep thinking about the race to figure out what went wrong.  The weather was perfect.  I felt really good.  I did not have any hip pain.  So it should have gone just perfect right?  I know I cannot PR at every race.  However, I did not think my finish time would be 20 minutes more/worse than my first ultra.  I had such a great experience at the Bank of American Shamrock Shuffle and thought for sure that it would be the same on Saturday.

Overall, it is a well organized race.  There was packet pickup on Friday and also on Saturday morning. It is so much cheaper than a full marathon.  There is no crowd support but there were so many runners out there and a few of them cheered for us.  There are 3 aid stations on the course with plenty of water, gatorade, potato chips, pretzels, and other goodies.  I realized I did not have to carry so many gels and Perpetuem solids with me because I could get them each time I passed by the pass/finish area where I left my bag.  I like that there are 6 legs and each one is a little over 5 miles. This helps to mentally break down the miles and not focus so much that you have to run 31 miles.  If you are thinking of running an ultra, then this is THE race to do.

Part of me does not want to run another ultramarathon but then another part does want to and hopefully get a better finish time.  Third time is a charm right?

The chafing is so painful.  I took my time taking a shower.  I did get three blisters on my left foot and thought for sure I had lost a toenail.  Oh, and I am constantly HUNGRY!

I saw this tweet from Kara Goucher (love her) and it made me feel a little bit better.

My next race is the Nike Women’s Half Marathon in DC.  I’ve heard so many great things about the race and am so excited about it.

I got a PR today!  I am so happy and still cannot believe it!!

Let’s go back to yesterday to packet pick-up.  I am so glad my nephew and I went early.  There were so many people and parking was a hassle.

I registered for the The Original 5K.  How many candy bars in the jar?

Thinking of running the BTN Big 10k in July.

My nephew and I had so much fun with the magic tricks from Open Heart Magic.  Sorry it is blurry.

Today I woke up at 5am.  Why so early?  I don’t know.  I tried going back to sleep but couldn’t so I just stayed in bed and finally got up at 6:45.  I got dressed and had breakfast.  I was nervous about the weather because it was in the low 30s.  I was undecided on which long sleeve shirt to wear but finally decided on a black and thin one.

I left at 7:30 to pick up my friend, ABH, to take the train downtown.  Lots of people were on the train going to the race.  We got off on Roosevelt and walked the 8 or so blocks to drop off my bag at the Nike Running tent.  Then we walked to the start line.  I was in Corral F and ABH was in K so I just went to her corral.  It was a long wait.  By then it was a bit warmer so I was grateful for the “late” start.

A little after 9:30 it was time to run.  There were so many people.  I did not wear my headphones but instead just focused on my surroundings and how I was feeling.  Boy oh boy I was feeling really good! I ran nonstop for 3 miles.  That has never happened.  I was planning to take a break to drink the rest of my water at 2.5 miles but instead just kept on going.

Mile 1-9:40

Mile 2-9:03

Mile 3-8:59 Fastest mile!

I remember stopping at mile 4 because I had a side stitch.

Mile 4-9:48 Slowest mile.

I looked at my watch and knew that I had a good chance of a PR.  However, I did not know it was going to be by almost 5 minutes.  I just ran and ran without stopping.

Once I was back at Michigan Avenue, I knew I was almost done.  I just had to conquer a “hill”.  I’ve walked this “hill” at every race but this time I was determined to run it at a slower pace.  I succeeded! Once I made it to the top and turned left, I just ran to the finish line.

Mile 5-9:43

Done!  Finish time is 48:38.  I couldn’t believe it when I saw it on my watch.

Overall it was a great race.  I was a bit nervous about the weather but it turned out to be great.  My only complaint is that there were so many walkers in the middle of the street.  There is nothing wrong with walking.  I’ve done my share of walking during a race but I’ve always moved to the right side of the street/road.  During this race I kept moving left and right to pass the walkers.  It was a bit annoying but I did what I had to do to get to the finish line.  🙂

After the race I went with ABG and her sisters to Waffles Cafe.  The food and coffee was delicious.

Next race is the Chicago Lakefront 50K on Saturday.