Which do you want first: the good news or the bad news? Let’s go with the good first since I’m trying to stay positive about the situation.
- The good news: I definitely PRed at yesterday’s National Half Marathon.
- The bad news: I don’t have an ”˜official’ race time to show for it.*
I’ll explain what happened in a minute. I’m still happy that I finished the race and had a great time doing it! 
The race started at 7:00 AM, so Katie and I set our alarm clocks for 5:15, readied ourselves, and jogged to the start, which was only about a mile away from Katie’s condo. Katie ran the half marathon relay with two of her friends, so it was nice to have a buddy to go with to the start.
The race included those running the marathon, half marathon, and half marathon relay, so it was easily the biggest race I have ever run. Rumor has it there were over 17,000 runners there yesterday!
The start of the race was a crazy madhouse, but, thankfully, Theodora and I were in the same corral and had each other to chat with and get out some of our pre-race jitters.
At 7:00 on the dot, the race started: elite runners first, then marathoners, half marathoners, and then the relay runners. It took Theodora and I quite a while to get across the start line, but once we did, I took off. The start was an insane mess of people””even more crowded than the Ras 5K in Davis every year. I just wanted to get past the big mob of runners, so I wove in and out of people for the first few miles, which were mostly all down hill and pretty fast.
A lot of people complained about the hills on the course, but I didn’t think they were bad at all. There was a massive hill around around Mile 6 on Connecticut Avenue, which I cursed in my head (and once out loud) the entire time, but for every up hill there was a down hill!
The race course was absolutely beautiful. It might just be my favorite course yet. It took us alongside the National Mall where we passed by the Capitol Building and Washington Monument. Then, we headed up through Adams Morgan and Howard University, where there were tons of spectators and cheering. The last few miles headed back toward the race start. I loved it all. Awesome course.
The last mile of the race was uphill to the finish. It was killer! But, according to my Garmin, I finished 13.29 miles in 1:56:32. My ”˜official’ gun time and net time were 2:06:32, which totally doesn’t make sense. It seems like the first chip mat never recorded me running over it.
There’s no way I started when the gun went off. Look at where corral 6 is located!
And my mile splits were pretty speedy!
- Mile 1: 8:46
- Mile 2: 8:43
- Mile 3: 8:21
- Mile 4: 8:20
- Mile 5: 8:54
- Mile 6: 8:34
- Mile 7: 8:55
- Mile 8: 8:43
- Mile 9: 8:37
- Mile 10: 8:47
- Mile 11: 8:55
- Mile 12: 9:17
- Mile 13: 9:03
Even still, Katie and I finished our respective races with smiles on our faces. She killed her 5-mile portion of the relay and finished in about 43 minutes!
After the race, Katie, her friend, Rachel, and I headed over to Eastern Market for brunch and post-race beers.
I’m a nerd and continued to wear my race medal. I couldn’t help but be proud of myself! I ran fast!
We met Theodora at Tunnicliffs Tavern for brunch.
The beer gods were with me because Tunnicliffs had Goose Island Honker’s Ale on tap. It’s one of my favorite post-run beers. I drank two during brunch.
The National Marathon website still has “preliminary” race results posted, and I emailed the timing people about my issue, so, hopefully, everything gets worked out. I want to know my time!
*Edited to add (3/27/11 – 7:15 PM): Granite State Race Services (aka ‘the timing people’) just replied to my email and told me my offical time: 1:56:30! WAHOO!!! I am so psyched!
164 Comments
Congratulations on a job well done!
Way to go in your race!! That’s a time to be proud of! I’m glad to see I’m not the only one who celebrates with a beer! 🙂
CONGRATULATIONS! I love DC so I’ll bet it was a beautiful course, which made the marathon all the better 🙂
congrats! such a great time! thanks for garmin’s intelligence
Congratulations on your PR…totally impressive! 🙂 Definitely looks like it was a fun time!
AWESOME time! so happy to hear it worked out!
Congratulations!!! That must have been such an amazing course to run!
Congrats…what a great time! So jealous….I want to go to DC so bad and it does look gorgeous!
Way to go! Sorry the chip was messed up! But you did GREAT! And you’re not a nerd – I saw TONS of people at brunch wearing their medals. AND I was TOTES jealous! xoxox
Congrats on the PR Tina! So glad they were able to tell your official time.
CONGRATS!! That’s awesome :))
AWESOME JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! you make me want to run another race in DC!!
Congratulations on your race girl! 😀
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!
Way to go girl! You are motivating me to sign up for a race, which I haven’t done since 2009 (minus Hood 2 Coast). Keep up the great job!!
Congrats again on your PR, rockstar! I had SO much fun hanging out with you, and I can’t wait to see you again this weekend!
YAY TINA!!!!
Congratulations superstar!!
Yes! Congrats on your new PR! That is such a great determination and shows all your hard work!
congrats on your PR! I’m running my first half in two weeks and I’m sort of terrified!
Oh my gosh! That same thing happened to me at the Long Beach Half marathon last year…my official time was 2:08 but my Garmin said it was 1:58…I was confused and upset but I realized it may have just been an error. Congrats on such an awesome time! You deserve your victory!
Congratulations on the PR!!
Congrats. You’re becoming a regular “pro”!
Congrats on the new PR in the half. I love your race recaps they are always so thorough!
Congrats on the race, that is an amazing time! Just wondering though, were you accidentally given the marathon medal? I was reading other blogs and they have different ones although they did the half marathon as well.
That is AWESOME! I’m so impressed with how you keep PRing! Excellent work!
wow congrats! I’d be wearing that medal all day and night too 🙂
Congrats on your PR Tina! Good to know this half is such a great one/great course for my future first half! 🙂
They had ALOT of timing issues-my full time wasnt accurate either, but still a PR. Congrats on an awesome race-way to rock it!!
Congrats on the new PR! Thank goodness that granite state race services was able to let you know that you did truly get a PR! 🙂
Wow! You’re super fast! Congrats on a great race!!
Did you feel it was organized? I was supposed to volunteer but other things got in my way so I never made it to my station. Someone said they didn’t see a water station until mile 10! Then there was hardly any post-race food at the end. Sounds like you didn’t experience that.
Hope you enjoyed DC especially Eastern Market, one of my faves! It was a cold morning but really beautiful!
Congrats on the PR! Your post totally made me want to run a race in DC- looks like so much fun!
Congrats! I’m so glad they got an official time for you. Even if I knew I ran it faster, I would have been horribly upset if it wasn’t official!
Congratulations on finishing the race! The medal is fabulous. Enjoy showing it off! I hope you get your time straight. That has to be frustrating…esp since you ran so well.
Hi Tina! I’ve been reading your blog for about 6 months and love it! I’ve never commented but felt compelled today when I saw your DC pics. First of all, congratuations on your half marathon time! I live in DC right near Eastern Market…I love Tunnicliff’s and was actually there for brunch on Saturday and probably walked right by you…small world 🙂
Congrats on your AWESOME time Tina! I PR’d at my 3rd half marathon last weekend. 1:59. I was (and still am) so excited! 🙂
Congratulations!! That’s amazing 🙂
Congrats!! Seems like a beautiful course!
What an amazing time you got! Congrats Tina!
YOU GO, GIRL!! 🙂 so exciting!!
Congrats! The race course does look very scenic 🙂 I love that medal too! The honker’s ale was a good pick!
yay!! congrats on the awesome finish & PR! I definitely think that any runner who finishes a half or longer deserves to wear their medal all day long! you worked hard to get that!
Congrats on the pr! I can’t wait to cheer you on this upcoming Sunday in Central Park!
What a gorgeous medal! I loved following you guys all in DC for the race. Congrats on a great run!!
Congrats!! Looked like a great time
I think you got the wrong medal!!
Mine says “half-marathon” and has a picture of the supreme court!!
Nice job! I have a marathon in 3 weeks. I get so excited I just want it to be here now! Way to go!
Yay, so proud of you lady. You’ll be catching up with Mal soon 😉