Rock ‘n’ Roll DC Half Marathon – Race Recap

Yesterday I wrote about the amazing expo and today I’ll talk about the race. Since this was my first Rock ‘n’ Roll race, I was very extremely excited, but I think my expectations may have been a little too high. To be honest, I didn’t really enjoy the race. But first, lets start off with the positives.

• Despite the rain, and yes there was lots of rain, I didn’t get any blisters! Thank you PRO Compression 🙂
• I discovered that my Nike GPS sportswatch is truly waterproof. Seriously, that watch was in the elements for over 2 hours from start to finish and it functioned perfectly
• The medal was impressive and I was so happy to receive it after crossing the finish line!
• Spectators and Volunteers – Even though the weather was horrible, there were still a good amount of spectators out on the course. The volunteers were also wonderful. I’d like to say a big THANK YOU to all of them. Spectators and volunteers really help to enhance the race experience, always!
• There is a massive, and I mean MASSIVE, hill just before mile 6 of the race. There were photos of fallen soldiers all along the hill and focusing on that made me forget about the pain I was in and focus on how much respect I have for the soldiers that risk their lives for our freedom. I got a little emotional, but I was glad to have something else to focus on, something more important, while going up the hill.

Before the race

The bling and race shirt

As I said earlier, I think I may have had high expectations. I really expected to stop and dance along with all the bands on the course while seeing some of the sights in DC. That didn’t exactly happen.

Before the race – I look so pumped. LOL

Getting the tunes ready

Representing for the turtle nation, corral 24

Bands along the course – I think there were 3 or 4 bands along the course (can’t remember the exact number). That would have been okay, but 2 of the bands were playing slow tempo music when I ran by so that kind of sucked, lol. However I was able to rock out for a minute or so with 2 of the bands on the course. Also, I’m thinking the weather may have been the reason there weren’t as many bands out on the course.

The course – For some reason I thought the race would also be a semi-sightseeing tour as well. We could see some things in the distance but that was it. Most of the route was through neighborhoods and streets, which was fine but just not what I was expecting.

Port-a-Potty – So before the race I didn’t think I would have time to use the restroom so I decided that I would try to find the first one on the course. About a 1/2 mile into the race I saw two port-a-potties – one of the left and one on the right. Yup, just ONE on each side – FAIL! I ended up losing waiting 15 minutes to use the restroom. So after that debacle, I ran like a crazy woman to try to make up time, which worked for about 4 miles. I did notice that there were crazy lines for all the port-a-potty locations on the course, so this is something that I think could be improved for future races.

The finish line – I was ecstatic to see the finish line. I knew that my parents had a change of clothes for me and I just wanted to put on dry clothing! After collecting my medal and space blanket (heat blanket), I went in search of food. There was chocolate milk in a bin and volunteers were handing out water. I also spotted tables with bananas, potato chips, and granola, but no bagels. I was so bummed! I’m a total carb addict and I always look forward to the post-race bagel. I couldn’t believe that a race of this size (over 20,000 runners) didn’t have bagels?! Needless to say, I was very underwhelmed with the post-race food options.

Bringing it home

Bag Check – Luckily I didn’t have to check any items, but I’ve read that this was not organized that well. Some people waited for over an hour to get their checked items – yikes.

Transportation – It took me about 2 hours to get home after the race which is a little crazy. Riding the Metro was quite the experience and it took about an hour just to walk to the Metro station from the finish line, wait to get into the Metro station and then board the train. It would be great if Rock ‘n’ Roll could provide a shuttle back to the start line – anything to make it a little more convenient for runners, especially out of town runners.

So would I run this race again? No. This race fell short of my expectations, but I am still excited for my other two Rock ‘n’ Roll races this year – Chicago and Brooklyn. Again, I think my expectations were probably too high so I won’t make that mistake for the next two races. Next up for me is the Michelob Ultra Queens 13.1 in New York on Saturday. I’m looking forward to this race since it was my very first half marathon race.