Please welcome my Cruiser and Moms RUN This Town friend Amanda as she takes you on a tour of DC during the recent Rock ‘N’ Roll DC Half Marathon. Amanda is a busy working mom of two who joined the Cruisers over a year ago. She ran her first marathon, the Marine Corps Marathon, last fall and has run several other half marathons and local 5K’s. She has gone on to become a chapter leader for our local MRTT group and is an inspiration to all who meet her! Without further ado, here’s Amanda…
My third running of the Rock ‘N’ Roll USA Half Marathon was an incredible team experience. From the decision to run (over drinks at a girls night out), through the worst winter for training, to crossing the finish line together, we relied on each other to get it done. In the beginning we had seven women ready to sign up, but one had just had a baby and another got injured, so neither could run the race. That left only Maria B, Laurie, Courtney, Elizabeth and me toeing the line on race morning. Without a doubt, our other two friends, Teresa and Maria E, will be joining us at our next race.
We stayed in DC the night before the race even though we live only about 45 minutes away. Our mini getaway would allow us to save time on race morning, but more importantly it would assure us of a good night’s sleep and we wouldn’t be left at the mercy of our children’s nighttime schedules!
Elizabeth and I are co-leaders of our local Moms RUN This Town chapter and all of our R’N’R team are members so we wanted to be included in the MRTT pre-race group photo, and left the hotel for the metro at 5:50 AM for the 6:30 photo shoot. This worked out great, and helped us beat the rush. There were runners on the metro, but it wasn’t crowded and there were no lines at the fresh and clean porta potties. After the photo, we headed across the mall toward the corrals. The music was pumping and we did a little dance-walk to our corral.
It was about 50 degrees with 15 mph winds at the start, but we had hand warmers and an extra layer that kept us comfortable, especially since we used the buildings to shield us from the wind.
We had great matching “kits” according to the guy at Mile 2. We all wore pink tanks with ‘Moms ROCK This Town’ logos and great sliver sparkly skirts. Elizabeth had the most amazing guitar earrings!
As we ran, the winds died and the temp rose to about 57 degrees. We saw the sun a few times, but we were thankful to have clouds protecting us. The weather could not have been more perfect. After we crossing the starting line, I realized Maria had fallen behind so I ran back to make sure she was okay to run alone. She said she was, so we continued the race as a team of four.
Since this race was as much about looking good as it was about getting our team across the finish, I wanted pictures. I pre-briefed the team about where the race photographers would be, yelled out to every photographer and made sure we were together for the finish photo mat. Laurie thought my obsession with the photos was hilarious.
Courtney and Elizabeth had struggled a bit with injuries through training. They did a great job of managing the delicate balance of enough running without worsening their injuries. It was both Elizabeth and Courtney’s first half marathon and Laurie’s second. Laurie kept the lead for most of the race, always making sure we stayed together. There was the “hill of all hills” at mile 6, and we decided ahead of time to walk it and take in our GU. The rolling hills in the last half proved to be challenging, but we kept going, walking just through water stations. My husband stayed home with the kids, but everyone else had family at multiple points in the race. It was great seeing them and they did a wonderful job navigating a crowded city on race day to be there in support of us.
Overall the race was well organized from the quick and easy packet pickup, to a great expo (we stayed 3 hours!), to plenty of porta potties with improved locations over last year, to awesome bands and crowd support, to beautiful medals, and good post-race food complete with chocolate milk!
It was such an amazing feeling for us to all finish together! Our finishing times were all within a few seconds with a 2:15:00 for me. A long, cold, snowy winter of training paid off with success! I couldn’t be more proud of what we accomplished together.
- Questions:
- Have you ever run a race as part of a group that stayed together the whole time?
- What’s your favorite outfit (or “kit”) that you’ve seen at a race?
- Moms, have you looked into joining your local MRTT?
Great race recap! I love the CLEAN and FRESH porta-potties! 🙂
You all looked like you had so much fun together… that must have been a fantastic experience 🙂
I haven’t run with a group ~ but I have run a couple of races with my husband. Having company can be just what you need to get through tougher points in the race. Maybe running with multiple people makes it that much better.,
[email protected] recently posted…Spring Break in California! (Beware: LOTS of pics)
Thank you, Stephanie. It was fantastic. I think running as a group like we did is more risky because you accept the risk of problems for any one of you for the whole group. However, with increased risk comes increased reward and our gamble paid off. 🙂
So glad you all had a good race and made the group MRTT pic! So amazing to see so many MRTT runners at the finish line.
Deborah recently posted…My new found love of Hot yoga & Is there any benefit to it anyway?
Deborah, we had MRTT all over that race!!! 🙂
Great race recap. Never ran in a group before, but have started looing into some local group runs for training so who knows, maybe I’ll be experienced a group race some day.
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The Running Schlub recently posted…The “Dreadmill” is now the “Friendmill”
When I first started running, I was really intimidated by the idea of running with others. I was pretty sure I’d never be able to keep up and everyone was faster than I was. Running with a group has increased my love of running. I can’t imagine how I stuck to it for so long without the support of running friends. And I also found out I’m not the slowest runner out there.
I guess my issue is not making time. Its easier for me to run out the door and knock out a few miles then get back to the family rather than drive to a location, warm up, run, then drive home. But I know that running with people who are faster than me really helps my training and I should really make that a priority.
The Running Schlub recently posted…Starting To See the Light
I’m lucky and have two running friends that live about a mile from we. I head out my door running as they head out their doors running and we meet on the trail half-way between our houses. We run together as long as time permits, and then run home. On Saturdays I drive to another trail to meet my running friends there for a 6:30 AM run so we’re finished before it gets too late. Here’s to hoping that you find some running buddies to knock some miles out with! It makes training even more fun!
Update…I found a group of runners on a site called Meetups. The group only does road runs but they got me in touch with some other groups that do trail runs. I think I’m going to propose a trial run in my area and see who is up for joining me. Pretty excuted.
The Running Schlub recently posted…Two Runs in One Day, WHAT??
That’s awesome! Let me know how it goes and if you enjoy running with others!
That is wonderful that she ran with a whole group through out the race! I have never ran with a group, only my husband. There actually isn’t a MRTT chapter in my city.
Lindsey @ OneMotherofaDay recently posted…Running 101: Getting Started
You could start an MRTT chapter, Lindsey!