- Initially a number of us signed up as a group for the lottery and weren't selected. I was a bit relieved at the time because I had a crazy winter coming up with work.
- Crazy work started up as we prepared for a month long hearing. Running was the last thing on my mind. I don't think I did more than 5k a couple times in the month of January and February.
- Crazy work gives me a bad case of the hives and I end up on prednisone for most of February with orders not to be running while I am on it. So I take it nice and easy. Little did I know!
- Early March I got an email from Nike saying I could enter the race through the second chance lottery. What to do??? Well post on RM and have Andy advise me that Porter has a 50% off sale and everyone knows how much I love the race in San Fran.
- Part of the deal was that I had to run the Nike virtual 10k that weekend and upload to Nike+ as part of the registration. So frantically that week I go out and buy a new ipod with Nike+ on it and slog through my longest run 4 months.
- And I am registered for the race with about 6 weeks to train from scratch. Lovely! And the hearing starts the following week.
- I ended up using the training plan that Nike put out and jumping to half way through the 12 week plan to catch up, it had a great cross training program on the Nike Training Club app with some weights and circuits.
- I managed to get in a number of runs, but not nearly as many as I would normally do. This hearing is sucking up all my free time and my longest distance was only 15k. Oh well, I figure the race can be a good LSD, I just really want my necklace.
DC Arrival
- I got to DC on Friday late afternoon and headed down to the expo. I have to say I absolutely hate the Nike race expos I have been too. They are packed, super noisy and there is really nothing there besides trying on Nike shoes and bras and getting your hair done. Luckily I was in and out of the expo in less that 10 minutes before I could head up to Niketown to go shopping. The name wall was up like San Fran, it is fun to look for your name on the street.
- Earlier that week Nike released the race shoes. I was praying to get my hands on a pair of the Nike Free in Tiffany Blue with white satin ribbon laces and silver lace accents. (I am a total sucker for cute running stuff.) From what I could see on FB they were sold out from the night before, so I really didn't think they would have my size, but I asked and they had gotten another big shipment in. So I got my beauties.
At this point I could have flown back home. I got what I really wanted. They are so pretty I don't want them to get dirty. They may go on a shrine by the TM in the basement instead.
Race Day
- I got to the race at about 6:20 and there were ample portapotties available and a really quick bag check.
- I got into the corral, I had taken the 9-10min mile. (I really should learn my mile conversion when I have to pick my corral at US races, I seem to always pick a different one each year with Nike and never remember which one is my real race pace time.)
- We were jam packed in the corral but I figured it would lighten up once we got going.
- I didn't wear my garmin, I wanted to have this be a stress free fun long run since I knew I was not in my regular running shape. I bet me sister I would run a 2:15 on the dot since that tends to be my LSD pace.
- It took about 3 minutes to cross the start line and then I started doing this weird slow jog with the group in my corral. We were literally elbow to elbow trotting along. It stayed that way until Mile 10! There were just way to many of us in that corral that it never really spread out. I found in some places the road was really wide and you could dodge around a few people and then we would narrow down onto bike paths and you couldn't move. So I continued to trot along at a rather slow pace so that I didn't get tripped up.
- The race had some amazing bands particularly the drum groups, it was pretty flat and ran along the water for a large portion of it. It was a really nice run.
- The last mile running around the Capital building was beautiful!
- I am consistent and know my LSD pace, I finished in 2:14:49 with no watch on!
- Got to the finish line and then got stuck in a giant crowd waiting for necklaces, food and water. There was a finisher's expo that had beautiful gear that wasn't available the day before, but the line up was an hour+ so I missed getting a few other things I wanted.
- The finisher's shirt matched the Tiffany's theme and the necklace is beautiful, one side is a runner in the cherry blossoms and the other side is the location and date.
Security
- I was definitely curious about security would be handled at a big race only a couple weeks after Boston. This is what I saw/read: no photography on course or finish line, could only check bags in the plastic bag given by Nike and they were subject to search, fuel belts were allowed but subject to search (didn't see anyone get checked), police presense at start/finish line and closed off streets.
- I am sure there is stuff I didn't see particularly since I was in DC and assume security measures are pretty tight anyways. Definitely felt safe.
- I am not sure if this was security but a helicopter patrolled the race along the river and bridge.
Comparison to San Fran
- I have run San Fran 3 times and so I felt DC had a lot to live up to.
- Expo - winner San Fran. The expo is at the start line and super accessible. In DC the expo was in Georgetown and was a good bus ride away from the race start. The tent was under a highway and there was no parking if you drove.
- Course - DC. San Fran is hilly and great stuff to see but it is point to point and you have to wait forever to get a bus back to downtown. DC is flat and great stuff to see and a looped course.
- City - San Fran. It was actually a bit hard to get food in DC near the race start where I was staying. It is a federal govt city and there isn't a lot of food options open on the weekends as most of the buildings had sandwich shops that were closed. All the museums are free to go into though so you can visit some really cool places. San Fran is a food and shopping mecca.
- I would do either race again in a heartbeat!
I have to go to Edmonton for a wedding a couple weeks prior, so the travel fund is all used up. I will definitely go to either race again in 2014 and will have guaranteed registration as I go back to school this fall and can sign up through the college program. 
