So this past weekend I ran yet another half marathon!! That makes 2 in the past 3 weeks. Hard to believe since I could barely think about running 7 miles just last October. The one from this past weekend was the Rock n' Roll USA Half Marathon. My actual run was SOOOO much better than Disney but the race itself was a bit unorganized (at least in comparison).
I knew RunDisney probably set the bar too high for my first half marathon but I didn't realize quite how high. I left work on Friday at 12 to catch the commuter train down to DC. I hustled over to my hotel, the Lowes Madison, and checked in. I have to say this was easily one of the nicest hotels I have ever stayed in. Check out their website: http://www.loewshotels.com/Madison-Hotel
Stunning!! And the location was amazing...the White House was only a few blocks away. Anyway, I then ran to the Expo to grab my packet and check out the vendors. The Expo in Disney was WAY too crowded to even bother looking around, so I was excited that this one had less people. In the end though, I ended up being disappointed since the vendors I was hoping to see weren't there :( Back to the hotel to pick up my mom (who came down to cheer me on, so sweet!) and off for a pre-race dinner of Chipotle.
This race started at 7:30AM which was sleeping-in compared to Disney. The morning was overcast and cool but perfect running weather if you ask me. There were 36,000 people running this one, some for the full marathon but most for the half. For some reason they had us all running together...mistake number one. There were 36 corrals total and I was in 22. Being the rule follower that I was raised to be, I headed over to mine. I soon realized that no one enforces the start and people can really go wherever they please. Disney was VERY strict about this and had each corral blocked off with only one way in or out.
The race itself was fairly uneventful for me. I ran a really great pace until mile 10 like usual. But I ended up finishing in 2:18 minutes...that's 8 whole minutes faster and a PR!!! I was ecstatic!! And the icing on the cake is my mom actually saw me cross the finish line! Which is amazing given the large crowd. It took a really long time to get through the medal and food area out to see my mom...again something that Disney just has down to a science. Plus the amount of food was not all that much...just some fruit and chips. Overall, it was a great race and I would definitely think about doing it again.
Anyone else out there run this one or a race this past St. Paddy's Weekend?
No comments:
Post a Comment