Rock 'n' Roll USA Marathon Recap Part 1: Pre-Race

I was going to try to do this in one blog post, but it was starting to get out of control.  So this is the first of three posts on my D.C. marathon experience.  Check back soon for Part 2, which will cover the actual race.  Unless you have no interest in hearing about the boring running part of this adventure, in which case you can just wait for Part 3, when I'll talk about the ridiculously delicious things I ate after the race.

Ok, here we go ...

After spending a fair amount of time on Thursday night cursing past-Jess for the decision to book a 7:15 am flight, I was actually pretty happy when I arrived in D.C. bright and early Friday morning.  My flight got in around 9 am, which gave me plenty of time to catch the Metro to the Armory and arrive at the expo 15 minutes before it opened.  I thought I was going to be wandering around alone for a while, but there was already a line outside the doors!  Things moved very quickly once the doors opened, though, and I managed to pick up my race bib and swag bag, buy a sweet Brooks fleece and a pint glass, and pick up a few free samples all within about half an hour.  The speed may have had something to do with the fact that I hadn't gone to the hotel yet and was still lugging around all my gear for the weekend.

This was one of the first things I saw at the expo, and I immediately loved it

My growing collection ...

After the expo, I took the Metro to Dupont Circle.  I was really pleased to discover that the short stretch of Connecticut Ave between the Metro station and my hotel contained a Chipotle, a Five Guys, a Cosi, a bagel shop, a Rite Aid, and two Italian restaurants.  I was even more excited when I got to the hotel (Courtyard Dupont Circle, highly recommend) and they had a room ready for me despite the fact that it wasn't even noon.  I unpacked a bit, changed into running clothes, and headed out for a combination shakeout run/supply gathering expedition.

I was a little nervous about the shakeout run, since I'd never done one the day before a half or full marathon, but it felt great.  I did an easy two miles around the neighborhood, which happened to be the same neighborhood where I visited David last summer.  I'm notorious for having a horrible sense of direction, so I was pleasantly surprised by my ability to a) not get lost, b) find some familiar places, and c) end my two mile route just around the corner from Chipotle without using my cell phone.

After the run, I picked up a burrito for lunch, stopped by the Rite Aid for some last minute essentials, including an instant ice pack for my knee and some shelf-stable chocolate milk for after the race, and grabbed a takeout menu from the Italian restaurant across the street from my hotel so I would be set for dinner.  This was pretty much the high point of my productivity for the day.

I spent the rest of Friday eating, napping, watching March Madness games, and setting out all my gear for Saturday morning.  I had been really worried about spending the day before the race on my own in a city I didn't know very well, but things worked out pretty much perfectly.  I had no trouble procuring massive amounts of carbs, and the time alone in the hotel room was actually very relaxing.

Dinner was spaghetti marinara with a side of green beans.  I thought this was a perfectly reasonable order, but the guy on the phone told me it was an odd combination!  Still tasted delicious to me, even if it was way more food than I could eat by myself.  I stayed awake a little later than I'd planned thanks to some extra exciting basketball games, but still managed to get more sleep than I'm usually able to pre-race.

So. Much. Food.  I didn't even come close to taking it down.

Saturday morning I had no trouble getting out of bed when the alarm went off at 5am.  I ate a few strawberry frosted Pop Tarts (which, by the way, do not travel well!), got dressed, checked all my gear one last time, and headed out the door a little before 6am.

Walking down Connecticut Ave.  I could see the Washington Monument, but it didn't come through in the photo

I made it to the Metro just after it opened, and only had to wait a few minutes for a not too crowded red line train to appear.  Unfortunately, when I had to transfer at Metro Center for the longer part of the trip, I ended up having to wait 20 minutes as more and more runners gathered on the platform.  The first train that arrived was too packed to take more than a few people, and then next one had no seats by the time I got on and was completely jammed by the time everyone boarded.  Spending almost an hour on my feet while carrying all my post-race gear was not exactly the way I planned to spend my pre-race morning!  Still, I made it to the Armory for gear check a little after 7am, so things certainly could have been worse.

After dropping off my bag and chatting with some very nice runners in line for the Port-a-Potties, I made my way to corral 18.  I started to get a bit antsy waiting for the start, and then for our corral to start moving, but soon enough we were off!