Epicurious Runner

Vermont City Marathon 2013

I have no idea where to start, but I feel like I have a lot to say. Please just bear with me because this is gonna be a long one. This is as much for me as it is for you and I really just want to get all of my thoughts about the race out there.

After a frustrating issue with my car and a waste of $80 on 2 bus tickets, we were finally off to NH in my car on Thursday night. We stayed with my sister and brother in law for the night and then headed up to Burlington on Friday afternoon.

Friday

We made a last minute decision, which turned out to be the BEST decision ever, to stop at The Alchemist Brewery. It was on the way to Burlington and right off the highway. We were on a quest for Heady Topper! We literally got there just in time. Derek bought a case and minutes later, they were sold out for the day!

Derek was ridiculously excited after this! If only we had more money, we would’ve bought 3 cases. In case you were wondering, the beer definitely lived up to the hype! We hadn’t tried it before, and it was delicious and flavorful and all around amazing. I know, I’m a great beer reviewer, but trust me, this beer is not to be missed!

We got to the expo around 6:30, I went in and grabbed my race bib, my shirt, and I also bought a Run Vermont shirt before quickly heading out to grab some food. We stopped at this diner style restaurant called Al’s French Frys and we got a burger and fries and it hit the spot!

Finally, we arrived at Lauren and Evan’s around 9:30pm. It was a long day of driving!

Saturday

I slept in Saturday morning and felt nice and refreshed when I woke up. We hit the road for lunch and stopped at Moon Dog Cafe, this cute, hippy-ish cafe/shop. I ordered a burrito with egg, salsa, and cheese, but I ended up having a bit of regret, when I saw everyone else’s food. Derek ordered the equivalent of a Thanksgiving sandwich and I wish I had ordered that. Oh well, it was still good, just not amazing.

We snacked on this popcorn before our sandwiches arrived.

Salted Caramel Popcorn. Sounds perfect, right? It was delicious and I couldn’t stop eating it! We were then off to the cheese shop to pick up some Grafton Cheddar because obviously we can’t leave Vermont without stocking up on this. The 3 year is the best all around cheese and don’t worry, this wasn’t ALL for us. We shared once we got back to NYC.

We left the cheese shop stuffed because obviously we have to try every single sample that’s available and pretend like we’ve never had it before. We got back to Lauren and Evan’s and Evan got to work on making homemade pasta sauce for our dinner. We were spoiled all weekend

Derek helped me make a trash bag dress to start off the race in.

This is what the weather had in store for us. It rained ALL WEEKEND, all day every day, definitely a bummer, but since it wasn’t a surprise come race day morning, I had been mentally preparing myself for it all weekend. I’ve never run a race in the rain and when it’s raining for a training run, I almost always retreat to the treadmill. Oops.

Evan made us linguine, topped with homemade sauce, and Grafton cheddar. We also had bread with olive oil and vinegar on the side. It was such a good pre-race meal!!!

I wrapped up my ipod in saran wrap to prevent it from getting wet and spoiler alert, it worked really well and luckily my headphones were fine too.

Sunday – Race Day!

The four of us left for Burlington at 5am, we had about a 2 hour drive ahead of us and we entertained ourselves by quoting Arrested Development and deciding that I would yell “Steve Holt!” when I crossed the finish line. The rain was off and on at this point, but I was already mentally prepared to be running in rain, so I felt pretty calm about the weather.

We made it just in time for Lauren to be able to pick up her race materials, even though she wasn’t running, she still wanted her shirt! This is also where we ran into Sarah and right before I got denied the real bathroom because I wasn’t elite. Damn. To the porta-potties we go!

The start was a bit confusing, but only because there were so many umbrellas, it was hard to see where the corrals were. We snapped a quick pic in our ridiculous garb and I headed to find the 4 hour pacer. Everything happened so quickly and I just didn’t have time to realize what I was about to do.

While I was waiting to start, Sara found me and introduced herself! It made me happy to meet her, as I always enjoy having someone to run with. We lost the 4 hour pacer almost immediately, probably before we even crossed the start line, so I gave up on that plan pretty quickly.

Before I even knew what was happening, the race started! I didn’t even know we had crossed the start line until we were already a few minutes past it. I didn’t start my watch and when I did, I realized it wasn’t even cleared out from my last run, so I stopped it, reset it and decided to wait until mile 1 to restart it. Man, way to be unprepared.

I was running with Sara during the first few miles and they felt good. I threw off my garbage bag, my amazing Christmas sweatshirt (courtesy of Lauren) and was feeling comfortable despite the rain. I really had to hold myself back, which was new since most of my races lately have been starting off terribly, as well as ending terribly, so I figured this was a good sign. My legs felt great, and I had a huge smile on my face!

Between miles 3 & 4

The race course is a spectator’s dream! You basically can stay in one general area and see your runner at least 4 different times.

I loved running on Church Street! There were drag queens, tons of spectators, and there was a point where I felt so wonderful, I couldn’t stop smiling. It felt like my day and I knew everything was going to be great!

The miles were ticking by and I couldn’t believe I had already passed the 10k mark. This race was going to fly by. I was feeling so positive and happy and was still feeling really good. I found Sara again at this point and we ran together until the halfway mark before we lost each other once and for all around the halfway mark.

Around mile 8-9

I was starting to feel slightly fatigued at this point, but I purposefully slowed down a bit because I knew there was a MONSTER HILL waiting for me at mile 15. I just kept telling myself to conserve energy and if you can make it over that hill, you are good to go!

Well, the hill came and barely went. It was like a giant wall in front of me! I kept repeating to myself to just get to the traffic lights because that’s where it ended. I put my head down and shuffled on up. It was never ending, I kept looking up and feeling like I was making absolutely no progress. The crowds were amazing going up this hill, but I embarrassingly decidedly to stop and walk. I remember wishing that no one could see me right now and I was happy that the hill would be over before I saw my group of spectators.

Soul. Crushing. I started that hill as one person and finished as someone else completely. I figured I could use the rest of the mile to recover before meeting up with Lauren. Mile 16 came, Lauren jumped in and gave me a hug and was super positive and peppy and here I was, feeling like shit already with a whole 10 miles to go.

I was a bit worried about how I was feeling, but I was fighting through it and focusing on staying positive and just making it to mile 20, that’s where I was allowed to fall apart if I needed to.

But, things just kept getting worse, I was slowing dramatically, and running like 11 minute miles. It was really hard not to feel defeated and slightly embarrassed. This is not what was supposed to happen. My training was better than this. Why is my body falling apart?

You’re not supposed to start hurting at mile 16.

Lauren was amazing to run with! Even though I probably grunted and complained a lot, she was so supportive and knew all of the right things to say and do. I tried to have a few conversations with her, but they didn’t last long. She was helping me count down every time we saw a new mile marker. Each one was a small victory.

At many points, my stomach was feeling full and sick and I thought I might puke. I became slightly obsessed with finding a coke to drink. It sounded so refreshing and I needed something to help me burp. At one point, I swear I had a hallucination and spotted a stack of coke cans on someone’s table and stared back at it while I ran by. Lauren probably thought I was going crazy.

I knew I just had to keep going. As much as I didn’t want to, I had to finish, I had to keep pushing and pushing with every bit of energy I had. My training felt non-existent at this point. My hips hurt, my legs were heavy and I felt like I was barely making progress.

There was a giant downhill at mile 22 and I literally started to sprint down it. It felt amazing and I dropped Lauren a bit (sorry about that!), but it felt good to actually run again, but unfortunately that didn’t last long and I took yet another walk break.

A little before this, the 4:15 pace group crept up on me and I tried to hang onto them several times, but eventually they got away, probably around mile 23/24. I walked one last time at the start of mile 24 and I decided that it would be my last one. I was going to power trudge through these last 2 miles without stopping.

I always hate the point where I decide I’m happy to be running a 10:30 mile. I remember that same exact point during Rehoboth last year. Although it happened a lot later into that race.

Finally we emerged from the bike path and Lauren said goodbye, since the finisher shoot was about to start. It was right before mile 26 and the shoot was lined with such amazing spectators. We had our names on our bibs and people kept screaming for me over and over and it really lifted my spirits.

Finally the mile 26 sign came and I gave it every single ounce of energy I had left in me to keep going. I saw Derek and he threw his arms up and yelled “Steve Holt!”, so I did the same exact thing, that was our plan, kind of our theme for the weekend. We thought it would be hilarious if I yelled Steve Holt as I crossed the finish line. But, this was the perfect opportunity since everyone was right there.

So, I threw my arms up and screamed Steve Holt and had a huge smile on my face for the first time in a while.

The grassy finish line area came and it was so slippery and muddy, it was really  hard to run any faster than I was already going. There was a kid in front of me who lost his shoes in the mud, he picked them up and finished without his shoes on while everyone cheered for him.

I WAS SO HAPPY TO BE DONE. It felt like I was never going to finish. I wanted to legit quit so many different times. I was physically done so early on and hurting way too soon that it felt like I was going to run a 5 hour marathon. I was pretty thrilled when I crossed the finish line and the clock said 4:20. Not so bad, I guess.

I know you’re supposed to keep walking after a marathon, but I absolutely had to stop moving and sit my ass down. Some guy was cracking jokes next to me, trying to talk to me, but I just was so delirious and overwhelmed, I couldn’t really respond to him.

I found my group right away and gave my husband a huge hug and everyone congratulated me. They told me my final time and I was oddly okay with it.

I don’t know when it was that I realized a PR wasn’t even going to happen, but I know that when you feel like a 5 hour marathon is happening and you still manage to finish 40+ minutes before that, you are happy. I was also relieved to see that my overall average still had a 9 in front of it. It’s the little things, people. And I also finally got my can of Coke

For reference, I fueled at all of my planned spots, which was a Gu every 5 miles up to mile 20 and I continued to drink water and gatorade until about mile 24. I tried to eat an orange slice in the last few miles, but once I put in it my mouth, I immediately took it right back out, my stomach wanted none of that.

I definitely PRed in mental strength, if that’s a thing. My thoughts over the last 10 miles were insane, I really had no idea how I was going to finish, it seemed impossible. If Lauren wasn’t there, I don’t know if I would’ve made it. She seriously helped me so much and I am so grateful and thankful for her being there for me.

She earned some amazing race day karma, that’s for sure!

Official Time: 4:18:55

Average Pace: 9:53

And, you know, I managed an impressive positive split, so there’s that.

Splits:

VCM Update: 4 Days to go!

I’m running a marathon in 4 days! Sorry to have dropped off the face of the blogging planet, but sometimes it’s necessary. I’ve been focused on relaxing and mentally preparing for this race.

 1st – Manchester City  2nd – Rehoboth Beach

It will be my 3rd marathon and I couldn’t be happier with my bib number! 3 is my lucky number and 1 - 13 is my birthday! I will take it as a good sign.

My last few weeks of training have been very up and down. One day my leg will hurt, the next it’s perfectly fine. I’m not worried about it anymore, but it definitely caused me some stress and had me take extra time off from training.

My last few long runs went well overall, I did a really slow 22 miler, a decent paced 14 miler and an easy 8 over the last 3 weeks. I’m of course in full on taper mode and have been for the last 2 weeks and I’m actually enjoying it this time around instead of going crazy.

I want to feel this happy while running.

I, of course have some goals for the race, but they’ve somewhat changed since the beginning of training.

A GOAL: Have fun, run free, and fly as fast as you can on that day.

I want no pressure/stress going into this race. I like to think I have a strong mental state when it comes to races, but lately I’m not sure where that’s gone. It’s time to get it back this weekend!

B GOAL: PR or die trying.

Of course I would LOVE to PR this race! I’m still not sure what my race day plan is, but I’ve got a few potential options in my head. If a PR is not in the cards that day, see A GOAL.

There is no C goal because if I don’t PR, then I will revert my mental state to my A goal. K?

The course looks pretty amazing and the biggest hill is at mile 15 for about a 1/2 mile, I will be thinking of all the times I ran the Queensboro Bridge because it seems pretty similar and be happy that it’s not happening at mile 20.

They have a really great video of the course on their website and every day I picture myself running the course.

I’m finally excited for the race!!! For so long I felt disconnected, possibly even worried that I might not run. My leg was being an asshole and I wasn’t sure what the future held for it. Now that the weekend is almost here and I am definitely running, I am pumped and ready to go. Lets hope I don’t have any weird nausea issues like last time!

It’s going to be an amazing weekend with my husband! We are psyched to be spending it with Lauren and Evan. I can’t wait drink beer in Burlington and watch the new season of Arrested Development with them on Sunday night What a great way to celebrate running a marathon!

Hopefully I’m back to regularly scheduled blogging. Maybe I will actually have that Eugene Half recap for you before I run Vermont. Maybe.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!

“Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try.” - Gail Devers

It’s How You React That Matters

Sorry I’ve been remiss, but I’ve needed a break. I haven’t felt like writing anything, not even my Eugene Half recap. I’ve been focusing on resetting myself and getting my body and mind back to normal.

The past month has been a little rough for me, but I’m working on relaxing and learning not to stress because somewhere along the way I have forgotten how to do those things.

I literally think about this quote every day.

Be back soon!

Eugene Weekend

What an amazing weekend! I feel so lucky to have these travel opportunities and so happy to have such a supportive husband!

I spent the weekend in Eugene, Oregon with friends from all over the country and although the race didn’t go as planned (more on that later), I couldn’t have asked for anything more.

Don’t mind my sleepiness, this was before my coffee and at the end of the weekend!

I stayed in a house with Molly, Corey, Holly, Laura, and Allison and we had the best time together all weekend. It was so nice to get to know these ladies a little more as we shared lots of laughs, tears, and many, many stories.

Traveling took a lot out of us, so we were in bed by 9:30 Friday night! We met up with about 15 other girls Saturday morning for a shakeout run on Pre’s Trail.

It was absolutely beautiful, we definitely weren’t in NYC anymore . We then grabbed some delicious waffles and ran into Casey and Mason from Nuun. It was there that plans developed for Casey and I to run together.

Off to the expo to pick up our numbers and to hear Lauren Fleshman speak. She was so motivating and hilarious! I freaking love her, it was really awesome to meet her in person. We then took a giant Oiselle Team picture since so many of us were there.

We invited the others over to our house for dinner that night and we made 2 huge batches of pasta and I drank a beer. It was a really fun night, but again we were in bed nice and early since we had the race the next morning!

[Insert race recap]

After the race, we showered and then headed over to the Ninkasi Brewery where there was a Picky Bars party going on. I had a couple beers and got to talk to a lot of new people, it was a really great atmosphere.

Oiselle Birds

Nuun ‘gene

We ended up at a few more places, including Rogue, but by 10:00, everyone was exhausted. Luckily we were only about a mile from our house, so we were home quickly.

It was a long day of traveling home on Monday, but luckily I had Laura to share the exhaustion with

I came home to find my poor cat, Leela immobile. I knew what to expect since I had to talked to my husband, but the reality had set in once I finally saw her. I haven’t talked about it on here, but last week she had 4 seizures within 12 hours. Something was definitely wrong.

After some tests and speculation from the vet, she most likely had a brain tumor. We put her on crazy drugs to stop the seizures, but she was continuing to deteriorate as the week progressed. Before I left, she was still able to walk around, she was a bit wobbly, but could move around alright. By the time I got home Monday night, she couldn’t even stand up.

My husband and I work opposite schedules, so we talked on the phone when I got home that night around midnight. There was only one thing we could really do.

I stayed home from work yesterday to have time to say goodbye and so that Derek and I could go to the vet together. I don’t know if any of you have ever been through the experience of putting a pet to sleep, but it’s one of the saddest and hardest things I’ve ever done. This is the second time I’ve gone through it and it wasn’t any easier.

We are going to NH this weekend to bury her in my parents backyard. She will be right next to her sister, Galadrial, so hopefully they are frolicking in kitty heaven right now and eating lots of fishes.

She was 17, she lived a long and happy life, but will be missed so very much.

Nothing like a matter of extreme highs and lows over the past few days. It was really hard to come home from such an amazing weekend and to be then thrown into this sad reality.

It’s been a really rough month for me overall, I am so ready to start fresh with the month of May! Hoping for relaxation and lots of good running. Be back soon with the recap of the race!

Recovering

Well, last week was quite the downer, to say the least. It was full of sad news and tragedy and I felt helpless, especially because I couldn’t even run.

I ran 14 miles last Saturday and then woke up on Sunday with a wonky quad that just wasn’t feeling right. I attempted a 6 miler, but as soon as I started running, I knew it wasn’t good, so I got a mile and a half in and called it quits. I haven’t run since then. I took the whole week off, while my quad slowly got better and better each day. I foam rolled like crazy and now I am finally back at 100%.

I missed a lot of runs, including a 22 miler But,  it was completely necessary. I was hoping to be healed by Friday, but it still wasn’t there yet, I had a minor freakout, since I was patient all week, but I quickly got over it since it was Derek’s birthday and I had the day off from work.

I woke up Saturday and for the first time I felt absolutely zero pain in my leg. I was hoping to have 1 day pain free before I even attempted running again, so the plan was to run Sunday, but unfortunately that did not happen because of a little thing called alcohol that I had too much of on Saturday night.

Anyway, after a week of no running, and a weekend of drinking, I don’t feel the best today. Surprise! I am so, so happy my leg is better, but I still have to attempt that first run back, which will be tonight at the #BostonStrongNYC event in Central Park.

I just feel plain gross. My stomach isn’t great, my body feels like it’s put on 10 pounds and I just can’t wait to feel normal again. The plan is to take each day this week and do as much as I can to detox my body and prepare for Eugene next weekend! I am going to eat incredibly healthy all week and get back into the groove of running. I’m not going to dwell on all of the runs I missed last week because at this point they don’t matter and it was so important to let my quad heal 100%.

As long as I eat well and sweat a lot this week, I’m still pretty confident that I can run sub 1:50 next Sunday.

It was Derek’s birthday Friday and we both had the day off from work. We had a great weekend that included the 9/11 Memorial, Big Gay Ice Cream, lots of delicious food, and of course, lots of beer. It was a fantastic weekend and we were so happy to be able to spend so much time together, it’s kind of rough since he works the night shift and we barely get to see each other. It was all worth it. Time to get back to real life! 

Too Close To Home

I’ve been overwhelmed with emotion for the past 3 days. I woke up Monday morning so excited to start hearing the alerts on my phone from all of my friends running the Boston Marathon. I was able to watch a bit of the marathon online at work and it was intense! I was able to catch the last part of the women’s race and I was rooting for Shalane, in which she respectively finished fourth. I listened to her interview shortly after and it just made me love her even more, as she was holding back tears talking about how she wanted to win so badly.

I was tweeting like a crazy person and cheering everyone on! I was so pumped for everyone running, and channeling my inner desire to one day have the opportunity to run Boston myself. All of my friends were kicking ass in the race and as soon as I got the last alert that everyone I knew had finished, I figured it was time to get back to work. I shut off the coverage and put away my phone.

Maybe 20 minutes later, my co-worker asked me if I had seen the news about the Boston Marathon. I said, “no, what do you mean, did something happen?” He told me there was an explosion and my heart immediately dropped and I frantically checked the news. I was so confused, I had no idea what was really going on, was it an attack, was it an accident? I checked Twitter to make sure all of my friends that were running or spectating were accounted for and thankfully, after 10 minutes or so, everyone had checked in.

The news began to settle in and I soon began to realize that my family and friends were attacked. This was no accident, this was intentional. I was angry, I was confused, and incredibly distraught. Who the fuck bombs the Boston Marathon? It’s literally unbelievable. I have woken up every day since then still in shock, I cannot believe this has actually happened. It’s a huge tragedy and I am so, so sad for everyone affected. Whether you are a runner, a Boston citizen, or a citizen of this country,  YOU are affected. We have been violated.

As runners, I’ve heard every single one of us say, this hits too close to home, and that is the absolute truth. The running community has been attacked and the outpouring of support has been tremendous and not at all surprising. Runners are a tight knit community and I am so proud to be a part of it. It is huge part  of who I am today and to say this has affected me is a huge understatement. I feel violated and hurt and I wish there was more I could do to help.

We will still run, and we will still race. That’s what we do.

The Boston Marathon may never be the same, but it will always have the spirit of life, love, and accomplishment and  I will run Boston, someday.

My heart goes out to everyone in Boston that day. So many were injured and have a long road ahead of them and I will be praying for the families of the lives that were lost.

VCM Training Week 12

My body is tired this week!

Here is how week 12 went down:

Saturday: Rest

Sunday: Cherry Blossom 10 mile race

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: Easy 4 miles

Wednesday: Had 6 on the schedule, but got almost got caught in a crazy downpour/thunderstorm, so I cut it short and did 3 easy miles instead. I would normally make up those missed miles, but my body needs the break this week, so the miles were not missed. 

Thursday: 7 mile Steady State run. Splits: 9:06, 8:55, 8:00, 8:56, 8:50, 7:55, c/d 9:34

The formula for these runs, set up by  my coach, is 2 SS miles, followed by 1 mile at 1600 repeat pace. I did that  twice to total 6 miles and then added in a cool down mile.

Steady State Pace: 8:42-9:06 (moderate effort)

Mile Repeat Pace :  7:41-8:02 (hard effort)

I try to start off in the slower range and end in the faster range. In 2 weeks I will be taking out that c/d mile and adding in 2 more SS paced miles for a total of 8 miles. It’s going to be brutal, but I can already tell these types of runs are helping me. There is no break or rest, so basically you just have to power through, at least that’s what I tell myself.

Friday: Rest

Total: 24 miles

Clearly, an easy cut back week, but weirdly my body isn’t feeling like it was an easy week, I think all of my training is catching up to me. It was a low mileage week for sure, but I think the race on Sunday really kicked my butt, my quads are still recovering and this easy week was very much needed.

I have a 5k time trial next week that I am weirdly looking forward to! I wish I had an official race to run it at, though.

Good luck to all of the Boston Marathoners!!! 

 2 weeks until Eugene, 6 weeks until the Vermont Marathon!

Eugene Half Marathon Goals

It’s crazy to me to think about where I was at this point last year. I was was struggling and failing at running a half under 1:58, my previous PR. I tried 3 times with no avail before I threw in the towel and started marathon training.

Having said that, I can’t believe how much progress I’ve made over the past year. Only 1 year and I feel like a completely different runner. For many years I was a 9 minute miler, low 9s were my speed and high 9s were my easy runs, so to see this much progress in only 1 year is amazing to me. Last year, I was excited when my races contained all miles that began with a 9 and not seeing a 10:xx in there. This year, all my splits begin with an 8 and I am moving out of the 9 minute miler category (except for the marathon distance).

I have always felt that 7:xx minute miles were insanely fast and that it would take me a lot longer to get there. I don’t have any splits from a long run that have read that, but it doesn’t seem so impossible anymore. All of my speedwork miles begin with 7s and those are the days where my confidence is through the roof! Maybe next year I will be moving into the 7 minute miler category.

At the Philly Half, where I exceeded all expectations and pulled a giant PR out of nowhere! This was a magical day for me and a race I will always look back on with a huge smile.

I don’t think sub 1:50 is an unreasonable goal for the Eugene Half. Sure, it’s a bit ambitious, but it’s certainly possible, considering my training and my recent races.

I have big goals for Eugene, but in the grand scheme of things, it isn’t my BIG ‘A’ RACE. It’s an important race that will help me physically and mentally, though, and will no doubt prepare me for my goal race that is the Vermont Marathon.

There won’t be any real taper for this race, in fact, I will be running 22 miles the weekend before, but it will be a semi-easy week leading up to the weekend.

There’s obviously a chance I won’t make my goal, but I’ve always promised to myself to be extremely honest on this blog and to talk about my successes, as well as my failures. And since I have been thinking about this sub 1:50, there’s no reason not to share it with you all. It’s a big goal for sure, but it’s something I really want and I’m going to try as hard as I can to achieve it.

A goal: Sub 1:50 (< 8:23 avg. pace)

B goal: Sub 1:52:41, which is my PR (< 8:35 avg. pace)

C goal: Sub 1:55 (< 8:46 avg. pace)

Cherry Blossom Weekend

This weekend will be one for the books. It was a fantastic girls weekend that I am so glad I was a part of! Fair warning, I’m sure this will be a long recap, since it will be more than just the race.

Kim and I met up with Beth at 63rd and 3rd, so we could take the crosstown bus (my first time on a bus in NYC) over to the west side to meet up with Jen and Abby. We packed into Abby’s car and left for DC around 9am.

The backseat posse.

We arrived at our hotel a little after 1pm and immediately headed to the expo. It was a great space for the expo, unlike the NYC Half expo, which was a disaster. It was nice and open and it had a lot of great vendors.

Abby and I also spotted Nicole, who is part of the Oiselle Team. We saw her spike bag and thought she may be part of the team, so we approached her and we were indeed, correct. We chatted for a bit and grabbed a quick picture.

From the expo, we ventured to find beer and food. We found a place that looked decent, but honestly I have no idea what the name of it was. We all shared a plate of sub-par nachos and a few of us shared a pitcher of Fat Tire beer. And we also went to see the White House, which was fun because I’ve never seen it before.

We chilled at the hotel for a couple hours before eating dinner at this restaurant called, Zaytinya. It was a Mediterranean place that served small plates, so we all stuffed our faces with a variety of dishes that included falafel, mini jumbo crabcakes, brussell sprouts, roasted cauliflower, and endless baskets of the BEST PITA IN THE WORLD. Seriously, this stuff was amazing.

I have no idea how many of these I ate, but they smelled and tasted like the best bread I will ever eat. We went to bed with full stomachs and woke up around 6am to get ready for the race.

I was colder than I expected, so I ended up borrowing Abby’s Lux Layer, which was amazing! I don’t have this and was so happy to try it out since everyone raves about it. I have to buy one, for sure!

I dressed all in orange, including my nails!

We got to the start around 7:05, we took a few pictures and headed to our respective corrals. I was in the blue corral, but I think I was placed incorrectly because I found myself behind the  9:30 pace group. I was worried I was going to get stuck, especially since it was so crowded and I was planning on running 8:30s, not 9:30s!