GCF Inaugural Half Marathon – Race Report

The perfect day – these are the only words that come to mind to describe my race at the GCF Inaugural Half Marathon. The PERFECT day.

The morning turned out to be an ideal fall morning to run a race – cool and clear with temperatures in the 40s (rising slowly but steadily all day – 50s by the end of the race and 70s by the afternoon). We couldn’t have asked for better race conditions. However, my race story starts before the morning dawned.

With the race starting at 7 am and the metro not opening until 7 am, I was trying to figure out how to get to the race without having to resort to driving. I hate driving in the city and although it wouldn’t have been bad getting in since it was so early, I was hoping to avoid the drive back after the race. Mike offered to wake up early to drive me in and drop me off at the race site. It was tempting to take him up on the offer but I know he would have hated waking up that early so I let him off the hook (but major points for offering!).

That left the bike or the power of my own two feet and since I had come to terms with the fact that I wouldn’t be breaking any PRs (see here and here) for the race I made the decision to run to the race. At my 10K two months ago, I finally came around to the idea of warming up before a race so the run to the race would serve as an extended warm-up - uhm, 6.25 miles to be exact.

I left the house at 5:30 and had an hour and a half to make it to the race site, pick up my race packet and check my bag. I was a little worried about making it on time so I was running just a bit faster than my easy pace. As the day dawned and I realized just what I had gotten myself in to – I would be running 19 miles that day, the longest I’ve run (by far) since the marathon in May. I just shook my head and laughed at the stunt I was pulling but I had already committed. The only option was to go with the flow, anticipate the blow up I was sure to experience on the half marathon course and come to terms with it in the hopes of alleviating any disappointment. Just Run, I told myself, Just Run.

Doing just that, I got to the start area at 6:30 (whoa! I covered 6.25 miles in 1 hour and 1 minute, which equals a sub-10 minute pace. Oops, so much for a warm-up…that’s marathon pace!). I quickly found my packet, put on my bib, threw my gloves and ID in my bag, checked it and hit the bathroom line. With all that done, I took the time to stretch out from my run to the race and soak up my surroundings.

There were 2000+ people running the race that morning, add to that the race organizers and volunteers and you get quite a lot of people out and about in the early morning hours to support an amazing cause. It felt great to be a part of something charitable even if I was doing it for my own reasons. It gave me a good feeling for the race ahead. From the start, throughout the race, all the way to the finish festival, the GCF put on a great race with excellent organization. Amazing! (Even more so considering it was an inaugural event).

The course for the half marathon was three, 4+ mile loops. I have never run a loop course before so I was skeptical on how it would turn out. Would I get bored? Would I get tired of making almost all left turns (and in this case many of them 180 degree turns)? Would I be able to convince my legs to run the same route again and again when they were tired? As the gun went off and the race got underway, these questions dissipated because I quickly found a groove.

From the very first step I was in the zone and because the crowd was relatively small, especially for a DC race, it quickly thinned out and there was hardly any bobbing and weaving. Maybe the 6.25 mile, marathon pace warm-up wasn’t such a bad idea after all. Just after the 3rd mile, I hit a water stop and gulped down a Powerade. I was feeling good but concerned I couldn’t keep up the pace for the ten miles that I had ahead of me. Rather than hitting the lap button on my watch at the mile markers, I decided to continue with my “Just Run” motto and only concern myself with time after each loop. I hit the first loop in 37:xx minutes.

OK, that’s under a 9 minute pace....and I was hoping I would be able to maintain a 10 minute pace considering my 6.25 mile warm-up. But can I keep this up? I was feeling good and figured there was nothing I could do about it now, I might as well keep going until the wall came crashing down on me. I might as well get as far as I could before that happened. Going through the second loop, I started to get tired and could feel the miles on my legs – Mile 6 of the race was my Mile 12 for the day, etc. Amazingly I made it through that loop – Mile 9 (my Mile 15, oy!), one more loop to go. Just hold on, I told myself.

I didn’t even look at my watch. I didn’t want to know (turns out it was 36:xx – my fastest loop). I just hit the button and kept running. Damn the watch. Damn my time. Damn the miles I had run before the race. Just Run.

I hit Mile 10, only three more to go, and saw the official race clock read 1:26:xx and with a quick calculation my whole outlook on the race changed: even if I slowed down to 10 minute miles, if I could do better than that slower pace for the next 3 miles, the next 30 minutes, I would come across the line in 1:56:xx – that’s a PR! With that realization, I was totally reinvigorated. If I could get a PR even if slowed down, imagine how much I could smash my previous time (1:58:29) if I kept my faster pace. Now I was on a mission. Forget the wall, forget slowing down; I was going to get this done.

With each mile marker I hit, I did a quick calculation and with each calculation I projected my finish time to be faster and faster. Finally, I made the turn down Pennsylvania Avenue for the last time and I knew I was going to do it. My legs were tired but finishing at a fast pace wouldn’t be a problem. I ran and ran down Pennsylvania for what seemed like miles but it was only about ¾ a mile long. I heard the crowd and announcer at the finish line and I tried to pick up my pace. However, there was no kick left in my legs but they were machine-like in that they had zeroed in a pace and could go at that pace forever. Finally, with the finish line getting closer and closer I was able to read the clock at the 13 mile marker – 1:52:01 it read.

I had one minute to run .1 miles in order to be a 1:52 half marathoner. That is all that matter. I had to cross the line before the clock read 1:53:00. I ran strong and as I came close to the line, the announcer said, “…and here comes, Becki… [seriously, he announced my name and I pumped my fist]…she definitely knows how to celebrate, Becki in the white hat and the pretty ponytail getting it done.” I did it – 1:52:38!!!

I was the 115th woman to cross the finish line out of 549 and 48th in my age group.

In a word – PERFECT!

I wore my race shirt for the rest of the day with pride. I am only slightly sore today but in a good way. I believe I’ve recently experienced a break-through in my running and this half marathon performance is proof. Running that race and especially crossing that finish line, shattering my previous PR by 5 minutes made me want to scream, “AHHHH, I Love Running.”

Pros:
Excellent Start, Course and Finish Organization
Loop course – wouldn’t want to do a loop course for all my races but it worked for me at this race
Great cause w/ enthusiastic runners, volunteers, and organizers
Nice race shirt (even if it is cotton)

Cons:
Due to early start time (which I love), it is not metro accessible for the start (though I did metro home)
Expensive for a half ($75!)
No convenient packet pick up (i.e. metro accessible) other than race day
It is never a problem for me but there were no bathrooms on the course, only at the start/finish way off the course.