13.1 miles later OR The Longest Blog I've Ever Written

There comes a point when you’re forced to do something that wasn’t in your life plan. For me, that happened back in the fall. I lost an election for something I had put a lot of my heart, soul, time and money into. In the aftermath, I wasn’t sure what the next step would be, but I had hoped it would be continuing to help the organization I felt so passionate about.

But, it wasn’t meant to be, as I was told that my services weren’t needed because people weren’t sure I would be able to work with them. I guess you could say that the door hit me in the ass on my way out.

Since I don’t tend to stay idle, I tried to figure out what I could do to fill the time. I had started running in March. I figured I could do that (in addition to a fairly new job, my first semester in grad school).

I would come across Team in Training, which raises money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. The program has been in existence for 25 years and raises money to help fund research.

After some phone calls, I had decided to sign up for my first half marathon – the inaugural Nike Women’s Half Marathon in Washington, D.C. What did that mean? I had committed to raising $3,200 minimum and that would include my transportation, hotel and race entry. The remainder would go to LLS.

I started training in November, and have written about that throughout the process. This past weekend I traveled to Washington, D.C. to participate in the event.

It's hard to put the entire last weekend into words, but I'm going to try to do the best I can. I've decided to write two posts and give the Team in Training and race experience a blog of its own.

Prior to leaving, on Wednesday it became official that I would go over the $3,500 fundraising mark to shave my head. It was time to start thinking about planning that event, and I hope to have more details for that soon.

On Friday, I got up at 5am to make sure I made it to the Michigan Flyer for a 6:30am take off to Detroit. This was the first wise decision I made for the weekend - I would not have been happy driving that early or driving home on Monday! I got to the airport and met my group. The only person I knew was my coach who was joining us on the trip. Everyone else was new to me!

When we arrived, we tried to check into the hotel and had to wait for rooms. So we checked our luggage and then headed over to Georgetown for the Expo to pick up our race packets. It was pretty quick, since there weren't a lot of people in the area yet. The Expo was ok, but not great - I expected a lot more stuff to be there!

At the Expo

I ended up getting another donation on Friday night while I was at the MLK Memorial on the Moonlight Bus Tour we went on.

Saturday was a bunch of sightseeing, and then we had the Team in Training dinner at our hotel that night. It was a pasta buffet (go figure, carb loading) and included famous runners Shalane Flanagan, who placed 4^th at the Boston Marathon, and hurdler David Oliver.

It was at this dinner that I learned that there were over 2,300 TNT runners that raised over $6 million for LLS. I also learned that through the Nike events, $134 million had been raised for LLS. I saw people that have raised $70,000 over time through TNT. I saw survivors who were running the race with various teams. I realized that the busting my butt to fundraise and be able to run this distance was making a difference to others.

After dinner, our group got together for our last focus and details, and we also received our medals for raising $250 over our minimum.

We were also told that we had to be to the start line the next morning by 5:30am. Now, mind you, we had to take the metro, so that meant we met in the lobby of the hotel at 4:50am. I was able to get some sleep in, despite all the warnings that I would probably not sleep at all.

I don’t know if I can give much detail of the race in particular – mostly because I tend to tune out or not exactly know where I am for most of the time while running races. I am usually focusing on my breathing or getting to the end.

As a preface, I will never be a fast runner. I don’t know that I will ever pace quicker than 10:00 minutes/mile and that’s pushing it. I had hoped to finish in 2:40:00, but wasn’t sure what to expect.

There were 15,000 runners in this race. I estimated that because I had put myself in the 12:00-13:59 minutes/mile, I would end up crossing the start line around 10 minutes after the 7am start time.

That ended up being about right. Unfortunately, because the corrals were a bit loosey goosey, I got stuck behind a bunch of people that should have been behind me.

What I can tell you is that my music started with Living Colour’s “Cult of Personality” and I ended the race to “Stricken” by Disturbed. What came between was some Kelly Clarkson, O.A.R., Billy Idol, and Third Eye Blind, among other stuff.

I realized pretty early that my GPS screwed up under the 9^th Street Tunnel. I had clearly not run 2.14 miles by that point, since the race started about half a mile before that.

In the first part of the race, I dodged people, dealt with water stations that didn’t have pre-poured cups (which actually ended up being ALL the water stations in the first half of the race) and took a lot of photos. I know I lost time because of all these things. But it’s not every day that you get to run past the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Arlington Cemetery and the Kennedy Center.

To the Washington Monument

Past the Lincoln Memorial

Over the Bridge to Arlington

Toward the end in front of the Capitol

I had also set up automatic Facebook posts through the Nike website. They posted when I reached certain points throughout the race. In addition, there was live tracking, which showed where I was when I checked in at various points, and predicted where I would be at any given time. I heard it was a little Big Brother-ish to see.

Miles 6 through 9 were a bit difficult in that there were very few spectators cheering us on. We were running around the East Potomac Golf Course, which was a beautiful sight next to the water and had a great breeze. This was probably my favorite “weather” part of the course. I remember thinking a lot “where’s the ___ mile marker?” during this stretch of the course.

Luckily, someone had this awesome sign along the way:

Once I hit the 10 mile mark, I feel like I started walking a bit more – mostly because there was a hill to go up right around that point. I eventually made it to the aid station near mile 11 and realized I was close to Pennsylvania Ave. where the finish line was.

About halfway between miles 11 and 12, “25 Miles” by Edwin Starr came on. I remember that because I was just passing the Newseum, which I had visited the day before, on my way toward the Capitol. I definitely needed the “feet don’t fail me now” mentality then, because it was a tease to turn right when the finish line was just to the left. There were still close to 3 miles left.

I believe that Fleetwood Mac’s “Go Your Own Way” came on next. That got me to about mile 12, which was just in front of the Capitol. It was about this time that I figured I better get moving. I rounded the last corner and came into the last stretch down Pennsylvania Avenue.

Now, there came a point where I thought "I'm close to the finish line, time to go faster." So I did. And then I realized I wasn't really that close to the finish line! So I took about a 10-15 second walk break, then ran the rest of the way to the finish line...and beyond. I just wanted to keep moving so I wouldn't cramp up.

At this point, you have to go through a line where they scanned our bibs. Then there was this:

Yes, that's a man in a tux (we were told the night before they would be ROTC), with a Tiffany blue box. Here's what was inside:

I grabbed food and ended up heading back over to the TNT tent (it was nice to have things like bag check and a separate area just for TNT participants) to see if any of my team was around. Once I found them, I stretched and tried to get out of the sun, since it felt like my face was burning (which it didn't).

Eventually, two of us went to the finish line. Members of my team mentioned that after all the TNT participants have finished, the staff and coaches cross the finish line.

Finish line around the 4 hour mark

TNT Coaches coming in

So, the result? 2:43:19.

It wasn't as fast as I had hoped, but as I said above, there were multiple reasons for that. Some where things I could control and some I couldn't and just had to figure out what to do about them.

At the end of the day, I did something that one year ago, I would have laughed at someone telling me that I would run a half marathon. Actually, something tells me that I may have done that. 

Through this crazy decision that I made, I found out that I could do something I never thought I could or would. But it has also helped me deal with the pain and rejection that I had been feeling in the fall. It gave me something to focus on. It showed me that there's something bigger for me out there.

When we got back to Detroit, my coach asked me if I was going to continue running. My answer to him was "of course". I had already been running before I signed up for TNT. I will continue to run in order to keep my sanity. I have no doubt that I will do another TNT event. When I get frustrated, I can go run. I've physically felt the best I've felt in the last few years. 

13.1 miles later, I don't have the answers, but I do know that I have a place to get away to when I need it.