Nike Women's Half Marathon Race Report

You can read all about the rest of my AMAZING weekend here!

Race morning started with a 5:00 am wake up call. I quickly got dressed, grabbed all my gear and then was on my way to the metro by 5:20. I ate a bagel on the short metro ride over to the race start. I was so worried about getting stuck in the long lines getting off the metro that I ended up getting to the start area by 5:50. Once at the race start I headed over to the incredible VIP tent. I spent some time getting ready before I headed out for a rather unsuccessful warm up.

I didn't want to run too far so that I didn't get lost but staying close to the start just ended up with me trying to unsuccessfully navigate some really crowded sidewalks. I ran for about 10 minutes before heading back to the VIP tent to get in some stretching and go to the bathroom one last time before heading over to the corrals around 6:45. The corrals were insanely crowded and I had to hop a fence just to get in because the line was so long.

The race started right on time and around 7:04 I was crossing the start line. I quickly realized just how crowded this race was. I felt like I was walking and couldn't get around anyone. For the first mile I ran whatever pace everyone around me was going and tried to avoid weaving. I thought after the first mile the crowds would start thinning out but part way through mile 2 when things were just as bad I knew I needed to get moving if I was going to meet my goal.

Because the first few miles were slower than I wanted and I was so nervous about being behind my goal I picked up the pace a little too much through miles 3-5. I felt so good though so I just went for it. I was still weaving quite a bit but I couldn't stand the thought of being stuck behind more runners. A few times during this point in the race I tried to just hold my pace instead of running faster. I didn't want to die later on even though I felt so good early on.

Around miles 7-8 I started to get a tiny bit tired but nothing too bad. I really tried to hold my pace and focus on running consistent miles. I knew there was a hill coming up around miles 9-10 so I wanted to save some energy for that and my last 5K. I remember doing so much math in my head at this point trying to figure out if I was going to be able to break 1:50. Not being very good at math I thought I had no chance.

I don't remember what happened or what I thought in each mile at this point because the scenery was all the same but I remember growing more tired and my hip that's been bothering me started to get really cranky. The hill at mile 10 was really not much of a hill at all but it was a welcome change from the flat or slight downhill of the rest of the course. I tried to pick it up as much as possible but I was really hurting.

I realized around mile 11? that I hadn't taken the last 2 of my shot bloks. When I went to get them out of my pocket I ended up dropping them. I debated whether or not to go back and grab them but ultimately decided against it. The last two miles were a fight both mentally and physically. I wanted so badly to be finished. When I could finally see the finish line I started to sprint but then realized that the finish line wasn't as close as I thought.

The last maybe half mile or so was slightly downhill and I knew it was time to go. I remember screaming at one point because my hip hurt so badly. I don't know distance wise how close I was to the finish line, but I looked down at my watch and saw 1:47:XX. I knew I was going to be very close to 1:50. If I had any chance of going under 1:50 I needed to move.

From that point on I ran with all I had left while keeping a close eye on my watch. With maybe 10 yards to go I knew I was either going to be just under 1:50 or a few seconds over. I also knew I would by bummed if I missed going under 1:50 by so little. I crossed the finish line and stopped my watch. I think my heart might have stopped also. I looked down at my watch not knowing if I had done it or not.

I almost started crying I was so happy. For more than 12 out of those 13 miles I didn't think I had it in me to go under 1:50. I had dreamed about seeing 1:49 when I crossed the finish line during training but I really didn't know if it was too ambitious of a goal. All those times that I fought during training and told myself it was for the 1:49 were worth it.

Official time 1:49:59
Avg pace 8:23
Splits: 9:21, 8:29, 8:22, 8:14, 8:13, 8:04, 8:07, 8:04, 8:10, 8:19, 9:12, 7:32, 8:00, 1:50 (.25-7:18 pace)
(miles 11-12 got messed up because of the tunnel)

As soon as I stopped running my hips started cramping up. I hobbled to get some water and almost forgot about the little blue box waiting for me. I wandered around the finish line still in a daze for a few minutes before getting my finishers shirt and then heading over to the VIP tent and meeting up with my parents.

One of the first people I saw when I went into the VIP tent was Shalane Flanagan. I got some more water, stretched out and finally got to talk with my parents. They were amazing and walked all over DC to see me along the course. We sat down for a bit and then went to see Shalane Flanagan and Joan Benoit Samuelson speak before heading back to our hotel.

Two days later and I am still just as happy as I was after crossing the finish line on Sunday. It hasn't quite sunk in yet that I ran a 1:49 half marathon though. I could never have had such an amazing weekend and race without my wonderful coach Mike, my parents, and Nike. Now I am enjoying having a few days off before jumping into triathlon training.

Who else ran the Nike Women's Half Marathon this weekend?

Nike Women's Half Marathon Weekend

I'll have a race report up later this week. I'll give you a hint how I did though. I PR'd in a big way!

This entire weekend was absolutely amazing. On Friday my mom and I headed down to DC to go to the expo and pick up my packet. We met at my apartment and then drove down to the New Carrolltown metro station. Once we made it to DC we walked over to Georgetown to go to the expo. It was an absolutely beautiful day, which made walking around so much nicer.

The expo consisted of three tents. One where you picked up my packet, one which was where the "expotique" was, and one selling race day gear such as Nuun, foam rollers, and gels. I had heard really good things about the expo for the San Francisco race but was pretty disappointed with the expo this weekend. The Nuun bar was awesome but besides that there wasn't much to do or buy. I did finally get my hands on the new Nuun flavors and bought the last watermelon they had!

After doing a pretty quick walk-through of the expo, we headed up the street to Nike Georgetown where they were selling the official race gear. We looked around for a bit but everything just seemed way overpriced and I didn't love any of it anyway. Why spend so much money on something you aren't crazy about? Somewhat frustrated, we left Niketown.

My mom wanted to go to the DC Cupcakes store so we walked over there and stopped in a few shops on the way. For the first time ever I went into a Lululemon store but I wasn't very impressed either. I'm really picky with my running clothes and a lot of their fabrics seemed stiff and scratchy. It did seem like they had more yoga stuff than running clothes though. Sadly, we struck out again.

On Saturday I returned to DC with both of my parents this time since we were staying over night before the race. Once we got to out hotel we got a quick lunch and then hung out outside before I headed over to an Ellie Goulding concert that Nike invited me to. Although the club was in a somewhat sketchy area, the concert was great. There were only a few hundred people there and it was only for Nike runners.

I cannot say enough good things about Ellie Goulding's performance. She was incredible. After the concert was over, along with 9 other extremely lucky girls, got to go backstage and meet Ellie Goulding. Since she was also running the race the meet & greet was pretty quick but it was still so awesome. She is the sweetest girl and my obsession with her is only continuing to grow.

After the concert it was back to the hotel for a quick dinner and then to bed. I can honestly not remember the last time I was in bed before 10 pm! Before I knew it it was race morning. I took the metro and got to the start of the race around 6 am. I was lucky enough to receive a VIP bracelet that granted me access to the VIP tent both before and after the race.

I've never had access to the VIP tent before so I had no idea how AWESOME it is! Both before and after the race the tent was stocked with water bottles, food, coffee and there were even private bathrooms with at most a 2 person wait. This was the same VIP tent that Ellie Goulding, Shalane Flanagan, and Joan Benoit Samuelson went to after they were finished the race. I was only able to get a picture with Joan but I did get a few minutes to chat with both Shalane and Ellie.

Race aside (the race went better than I could have imagined!), the entire weekend was incredible. I felt like I was treated like royalty by Nike.