Woodrow Wilson Bridge Half - Recap!

Thank the sweet 6 pounds 4 ounces baby Jesus in the manger that half marathon is OVER! I mean yea, I love running, but uhhh yea, half marathon training is no walk in the park. I've been training since freakin July.

Ya girl is tired.

A little recap shall we? Ok great.

I woke up at the buttcrack of dawn. Literally. 4:30 AM my Ellie Goulding alarm went off because its the only one (besides my Sara Bareilles alarm) that I can stand without wanting to stab someone. But I digress. I go "try" to try and avoid tummy troubles later if you catch my drift, but obviously my body was like "bitch, it's 4:30 am, the only thing we need to do right now is sleep." So I ate my half bagel, got dressed, and dragged Leon out the door with me at 5:20. Took my happy ass to the shuttle bus, and of course we got lost on the way, but whatever. There was some hussy on the shuttle laughing hysterically with her friends about whatever the hell could possibly be funny at 5:45 in the morning and she was getting some dirty looks. I'm all for being a morning person, but really, its before 6 am. Chill homie.

We got to the start line at o'dark thirty and it is FREEZING out. My phone said it was 45 degrees and felt like 36, so naturally everyone was in a super mood. More like everyone is huddling around for body heat while the folks who came alone...ME... are standing alone and cursing the heavens for not running with a friend. When it got close to start time I did some jumping jacks, high knees, and generally just bounced around like a dumbass trying to get warm. Got in my little pace area (I chose the 10-11 minute one), and BOOM HERE WE GOOOOO.

I knew at some point my body would give me a big ole "fuck you" and I'd have to go numba 2, so I figured I need to start out fast in case I need to slow down later for tummy troubles. My first 3 miles were all around 9:30 which was quite surprising. Granted the first mile is all downhill, but still, I take what I can get mmkay? Around mile 4 the cramps set in and I'm cursing under my breath about how I just wanted one good freakin race, like seriously? I got up early to make sure I could go, and NOW I have to go!? Nope. Not stopping. I'll hold it. And so I held it.

It was a beauuutiful course. Sorry, I was really trying for a PR so stopping for pictures was not happening. But we pretty much ran the length of the GW Parkway in Northern VA, along the Potomac River. And because it was so cold, fog was coming off the water as the sun rose and it was just amazing.

Found this online. Gorgeous right?! Seriously. One of the best courses I think. It had rolling hills, but you could barely notice them because of the major downhills every couple miles. There was a sufficient amount of water stops as well. It seemed like every other mile honestly. And gatorade at every water stop! I had my handheld so I didn't stop, but if I didn't, best believe I'd be all over that. The only thing I heard people complain about was the lack of porta pottys at the start. There was around 10-15 I think, and there were around 5000 runners. Yea, bad.

After accepting my tummy troubles, the miles kind of went by quickly until mile 9. Apparently the major change this year was extending the race a mile into Old Town Alexandria so that we didn't have to run on gravel. It seemed like the mile into town was never freakin ending and I was getting frustrated. At that point my stupid shot bloks were hard from the cold and ineffective, so I was just ready to be done. Then came the bridge. I had practiced running it before, but when I did I was only at mile 7 or 8 of my run. For the actual race, the bridge is at mile 11. Big difference. That's the bridge from the Parkway view. We ran on the pedestrian pathway that runs on the side of the bridge so they didn't have to shut it down. There was a pretty obnoxious hill at the end of the bridge that you have to run up to actually cross over the bridge, so that was SUPER at mile 12. 

Like so.

After that we finished the last mile along a paved/gravel path to the finish. My mom, brother, and boyfriend were all there and it made my whole day to see them. Pretty sure my mom was crying. She's never seen me run before so I'm sure it was a proud mama moment. I finished that sucker in 2:35:04 and I was happy as hell. I wanted to finished in 2:30 or better, but considering the tummy troubles, my right headphone not staying in my ear at all, and my bib ripping on both top holes (took some walking/fixing/pinning), I'd say 2:35 is damn good. 

My brother looks is 6 years younger than me and 6 feet taller than me, so that's great. Sorry you got cut out homie. My mom is precious. And clearly I have a gatorade addiction. Went home and napped with my dog and my man, and then Leon wanted to go shopping so I got my happy ass up. Didn't buy anything by the way, because I'm trying to save for my trip to Boston, more on that later. I ate Chipotle and it was delicious and I had froyo later on. I do what I want. Woke up a pound heavier and I said "I don't give a fuuuuuck because I ran 13 miles yesterday. *insert middle finger and dancing*"

And then I put on my sexy new boots and went to work. 

-Crystal