Race recap: Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon
Washington, DC | March 18, 2023
Finally getting around to a race report after a busy week. I signed up last-minute for this race because I had to run 12 miles anyway so why not.
Expo
I picked up my bib on Friday afternoon (I had taken the day off anyway so I didn't have to worry about work). It was a little busy but not too bad. Vendors were pretty limited, though - there was a lot of empty space in the (relatively small) non-RnR area. However, they did have a stand with discount running products, including clothes, shoes, and fuel/hydration, so I picked up a few things there. But nothing else seemed particularly interesting.
Race day
Conditions were pretty decent, if a little chilly for my preferences (around 42º at the start and overcast). For once, I managed to leave mostly on time. I ran to the start, which was about a mile from my house, and stopped at a Starbucks nearby. Coffee! I dropped off a sweatshirt at the gear check so I wouldn't be chilled after the race. Without the sweatshirt, I had on a long-sleeved shirt, leggings, gloves, a Buff around my neck, and a fleece headband for my ears. Have I mentioned that I don't like the cold?
@striker1064 and I tried to meet up before the start, but we failed, again. Someday!
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ID: Slowly making my way towards the start line.
They divided the race into two starting groups, red and blue, and had all the blues go to their corrals first and reds wait outside the starting area. (Clearly not everyone understood this process.) I didn't actually have a corral number, I assume because I signed up six days before the race, but I was blue so I went first. I wasn't planning on racing, so I hung towards the back and didn't end up starting until about 8:20.
I had a slightly rocky start. First, after finishing my coffee I kind of had to pee, but by the time I realized this it was too late to get out and use the port-a-potties at the start, so I had to wait until I got to the first ones on the course (a little after the first mile marker), which ate up some time. Second, my watch was stubbornly cadence-locked for the first several miles. No, Apple, my HR is never going to be 182 in the first couple of miles of a half marathon that I'm running at LR pace. Then around mile 4 I realized that I hadn't switched my watch band from the everyday notch to the running notch. Oops!
That fixed the problem.
On the bright side, the first few miles did have my favorite sign, which said, "Due to inflation, this race will now be 14.2 miles." It made me laugh.
ID: Course map
RnR has my favorite course in DC because it actually runs through the parts of the city where people live. Drivers hate it because of all the road closures, which also gives me a little bit of vindictive glee - a tiny taste of revenge for all the terrible drivers who try to run me over when I'm running/walking my dog.
I did okay keeping my pace easy for the most part. I was a little fast at times (and occasionally a little slow), but that's not a surprise since there was no pace groups to keep me on track. Towards the end of mile 7 is a giant hill, which I happily walked as a drill sergeant yelled into a megaphone to keep moving. I don't know if he was a real drill sergeant, but he certainly could have played one on TV, and it was an entertaining way to pass the time on the dumb hill. There was also a fife and drum quartet dressed in revolutionary garb there, which I appreciated as well.
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ID: The fife and drum group taking a short break
There are definitely other hills on the course, but that's by far the biggest one, so I was very happy when it was over. Shortly thereafter we passed my favorite restaurant, so I stopped to take a photo and post it on IG, as one does in the middle of a race
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ID: IG story featuring my favorite restaurant, Reveler's Hour
At some point around here I took my gloves off for a couple of miles, but then my hands got cold again and I put them back on. There was some sun I think, but it was still fairly chilly.
I brought my handheld water bottle, so I wasn't making too much use of the aid stations, but it did seem like there weren't a lot of volunteers. I don't remember what it was like last year, though, so maybe it was normal. I liked that they had big coolers at the stations with a lot of spigots, so it was really easy to refill my water bottle when I needed to.
I had been thinking about doing the last 5K at marathon pace or something a little faster. When I got to mile 10 I still had plenty of energy, so I decided to go for it. That happened to be right around where we turned onto North Capitol running down towards the Capitol building, which was fun both because every once in a while I get to experience these little reminders that I live in a pretty cool city with some great landmarks, and because it's mostly downhill from there. Partly because of the downhill, my "5K at MP" ended up being more like "5K at 10M pace", but I had fun.
This year they changed the course so that instead of going all the way out to Stadium-Armory, we ended up in front of the National Archives, which was much better for me. And really for everyone, because when we ended at Stadium-Armory, the last quarter of a mile was uphill, which was not very fun. Here we got to come in on Pennsylvania with the finish line right in front of the National Gallery. I hope they stick with this finish in future years.
The one thing I didn't like about the finish line was that gear pick up was a while away, with no signage pointing you in the right direction. But one of the volunteers showed me where to go. The other issue was that I had to juggle all the post-race food and drinks until I could get to my bag - they should really hand out bags in the finish chute so you can carry everything! There was beer at the finish line also, and this year they opened the cans before handing them out so I
had to drink it while I was stretching. Only at a race!
Anyway, unofficially my running time was 2:02:22, but with my stops I actually ended up at 2:09:30 for my slowest official HM time ever!
It beat out my other catered long run (Orlando HM) by a whole 4 seconds. But also just for comparison, I did this race only a couple of minutes faster last year and was trying really hard and felt terrible afterwards (this is because I didn't train). Consistency FTW!
After I finished my beer and my stretching, I headed to the bus stop a few blocks away so I could go home. Unfortunately, when I got there, the app showed no scheduled arrivals. So I just started walking. Then I was cold/tired and wanted to go home, so I ended up jogging the rest of the way back, bringing my total for the day to just over 15 miles, which thanks to marathon training seemed perfectly reasonable.
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ID: 2023 medal featuring the Washington Monument surrounded by cherry blossoms
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ID: L to R, 2021, 2023, and 2022 medals. The 2023 medal is definitely a shift in style. Also the lighting is weird.
If I am in town (and the weather isn't terrible), I'll definitely do this race again next year. I love the course and it's always a fun run with lots of entertainment.
The social run was okay - I thought the way they divided up the pace groups was weird, and I thought the lead pacer in the 10+ min/mi group ran too fast, but it was nice that they added a stop at the Mary McLeod Bethune statue and talked a little bit about her impact.
just casually adding in an extra mile after a 2:09 race for a 15 mile day
