I love the half marathon distance. My personal best is around a 2:05 and was not quite 10 years ago. As I've seen on a shirt before: half the distance, twice the fun! It really is a doable distance to do while traveling and not fry your legs. Since my first half in February 2001 I've completed 17 of them! Since becoming a Fanatic almost three years ago I've thought about my fanatic status of Neptune and wondered if I'd ever get higher than that. Well, completing the back-to-back half marathons last weekend, DC Rock N Roll and Shamrock, I went from one to four moons! I am now a Jupiter!
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| New Half Fanatic Status! |
The columns above show the date I became a Fanatic, my moon status, races this year (of half distance or greater), race streak, total races (of half distance or greater), and states I've raced in.
I did the races with Team Rabbit. SRab and WuDoc are not in the Fanatic Asylum, but they are always up for a challenge. #LoveMyRabbits You can read Part 1 and Part 2 of the ShamRock N Roll Half Raps on the Rabbit blog! Of course, I have to thank Holly and P-Diddles for introducing me to the Half Fanatics!
First, I need to thank the Running Bug for picking up my Shamrock packet on Friday night. Lisa was at Shamrock from Friday - Sunday because her husband Steve ran the Shamrock 8k, while Lisa was running the half.
So back to the races!
The DC Rock N Roll Half was my first Rock N Roll event. Because of that I was excited to attend the expo. I went on Thursday after work and rode metro from Van Dorn to the Armory and it was a smooth ride. Got in the expo without a wait and made my way through it without a hitch. I really wanted to buy a RNR themed shirt, but did not. The race shirt was kind of cute anyway, and I will likely wear that if not while running, just in general.
On race day the plan was for WuDoc to arrive at my house around 5:15 AM so we could drive to SRab's and catch the Huntington train the Archives and walk about .4 mile to the start. This was smooth and we arrived well before 7:00 AM and waited till the National Anthem was sung to get in our corral. Number 25! There were maybe about 28 corrals. The race started at 7:30 AM and it took us till 8:08 AM to get going! We did not figure this long of a wait into our overall plan. More on that later....
My plan for the first half was to "keep this at an easy effort and walk a minute every mile." Well, for the most part that is just what I did. I did walk the big hill around mile 5-6 - I forget exactly where. We saw a few Team Z folks cheering here! I ran with WuDoc until I need to make a pit stop after / around the 9 mile mark. Dressed in our Team Rabbit ears we got lots of shout outs! I think I took another walk on another hill later in the course. Then just kept up with the plan. There were a lot of fun people out cheering and some handing out beer. They were in St. Patrick's Day mode, I think! :) I did get a hug from a dude dressed in a pink bunny suit - he was AUsome and ran with me for a few steps. The plan made it possible for me to pass a lot of people in the last mile or so and I finished strong! Just past the finish line I met up with SRab and WuDoc and we got a group picture taken. After some recovery chocolate milk, potato chips, and water we were ready to hit the road! Actually, we had to walk a bit to get to the Armory metro stop and head back to Huntington. From here WuDoc and I high-tailed it back to my house to clean up while SRab got ready and was going to meet us at my place so we could start the trek to Virginia Beach aka Shamrock-land!
Originally we thought we'd be on the road by about 1:00 PM. But that 38 minute delay to the start of our corral did not figure into our plans. You'd think after years of racing we would have thought about that! Anyway, at 2:15 PM we WERE on the road! Things went fairly smooth and we made one stop in Fredericksburg for a late lunch and hit the road again. One more pit stop along I-64 and we made it to dinner at Pi-zzeria just at 7:00 PM! Originally we were scheduled for 6:00 PM but a quick call to the Running Bug and we were able to change the plan. It was nice to relax and catch up a bit before heading to the hotel to prepare for half number two!
The Shamrock Half is a nice event! And this would be my third time running it! Although this was my fifth year in a row at Shamrock:
2010 - Half
2011 - 8k
2012 - Marathon
2013 - Dolphin Challenge (8K+Half)
2014 - Half
In fact, it was last year's Dolphin Challenge that gave me (us?) the idea to attempt our back-to-back half challenge! ERab History: I began running in 2000 when I signed up for my first sprint triathlon. Before that race I completed three 5Ks to get ready. But I had tried running once before. I think it was in early 1986. Believe it or not, back then I completed the Shamrock 8K! There was no half. And even if there was I would not have attempted it then, nor would I have been interested -hahaha! I went down with a group of folks from work. Two others were doing the 8k and 4 or 5 were doing the marathon. I thought they were CRAZY! Up until race day I had never run more than 3 miles. I managed to run the first three, then walked a quarter or half mile (because I cannot remember) and I ran the rest of the way. I swore I would never run again! Never say never! Man, I wish I still had that race T-shirt!!
Race morning I woke up before the alarm! I managed to get some decent sleep. The plan was to drive up about 15 blocks and park and walk to meet Running Bug and family. We got a most excellent parking spot and on our chilly and windy walk to meet our friends we caught up with our friend Linda and her boyfriend Chris! They spotted our rabbit ears! We chatted with them until it was time to meet our friends.
We got to warm up for a bit while we waited in their hotel lobby. Then it was back out into the wind! The Rabbits were all sporting space blankets we'd saved from the race the day before! Arrived at our corral and hardly had to wait at all before the race started.
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| Sporting our Rabbit Ears and RNR Space Blankets! |
Once the race got under way, it only took 12 minutes to arrive at the starting line! Sunday's plan was for a ":04 run/:01 walk" and the running was again done at an easy pace. For the second half I ran with SRab! We decided on a pit stop right after the 2 mile mark, before the road splits and you reach 'the hill'. Would you believe we waited 6 minutes to get going again! Crazy! WuDoc had met up with an old friend, Siri, and they kept on going. We knew we'd catch up with her later anyway - she wanted to get to Church after the race!
There were a few racers I remember going back and forth with as we continued our run/walk routine. Once we hit Fort Story we were hit with the wind! It was so windy my ears flew off and I had to carry them for most of the way through this section! All the volunteers were so nice out there because at least we were moving along in the wind - they were standing pretty much in once place. They were great!
It was a relief to leave Fort Story - because the wind was now at our back and it wasn't quite as cold. Also, at this point we could count down the blocks to the finish on 30th Street. Only 57 blocks to go! SRab and I made another pit stop along here and then did something different: had a couple of Dixie Cups of beer and ate Oreos! The first beer was good; the second was a little too dark for me. Oh - also got a few Swedish Fish - those were da bomb! We kept our :04/:01 up and in the last couple miles we just kept passing folks. We finally made the turn onto Atlantic at the Cavalier Hotel (which sadly, we were not staying in this year) and then a few blocks more onto the boardwalk. Once we could see the finish line we really picked it up!
Just near the finish Running Bug and family shouted out and Steve even got our pictures! How cool that we are both in this? SRab's arm warmers match her running skirt perfectly! My arm warmers were St. Paddy's Day green though!
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| Almost done! |
SRab and I collected our finisher's gear and headed to the beer tent. After a beer and some music we met back up with the Running Bug and fam as they had to head out. It was again nice to warm up for a bit! Then back to the party where we listened to an AUsome band, the Dublin 5 - their fiddle player was amazing, and hung out with a few friends! Then it was back to the hotel to clean up and regroup with WuDoc!
It really was a fun weekend of racing! Not sure I ever thought I could run back to back half marathons. I think doing them at an easy pace - and sticking to that plan - really helped. I was not sore after it was all over, not even my hamstring, even after the car ride home on Monday. And the bling didn't hurt either!
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| ShamRock N Roll Half Bling! |
Happy and Healthy Training!
Next Up: Monument Ave 10K
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