National Half Marathon

I was geared up for the National half marathon on Saturday, March 20. I ran it two years ago and loved it--it ran right by our house. It's a wonderful race because it's all through DC, and through a lot of fun neighborhoods. It incorporates a lot of our regular running routes.

On Friday, I picked up my race number and Mark and I perused the expo. I was still feeling a little under the weather but figured it was allergies....it was almost 80 degrees and the flowers were starting to come up.

The morning of the run I did not feel good about the race. I was just exhausted and didn't feel tip top. I got ready though and Mark was kind enough to drop me off close to RFK stadium. At 7:00 a.m. the start gun went off. It's grown quite a bit in the few years that race has taken place--12,000 people were there at the start line with me. It took me almost 10 minutes to get to the start line.

I was having fun running but I didn't feel so fluid. I just felt like I was plugging along. My splits were 9:00/mile--not bad, but it felt like too much effort for the crisp morning.



I saw Mark at mile 4.5---it was great to see him on his bike. I always love seeing him along the course!



Mark popped up again at miles 6 and then 8...

Mile 9 was right by our house...it was at that point that I decided to call it quits. I wonder if I would have if the race didn't go by our house. But it did and I stopped.



I don't like stopping during races--in fact I haven't in more than ten years. But the fact of the matter is that I didn't feel good. The previous two weekends races felt like they had caught up with me. I don't think it was a good idea to keep running and I'm glad I stopped for that reason.