A True Story

At 0618 my phone rang. I was scared for a moment.

"Hey Amanda, I'm at the Marriott, it looks like it's easier to get a cab than I thought, but I'm warm so I can just hang out."

My friend Shelly had abandoned our plan and gone all willy nilly. The "plan" was for her to leave her apartment in Crystal City, grab a cab from one of the pre-staged cabs that are always parked in front of a nearby hotel between 0645-0700, and then call me when enroute. Yikes.

A moment of brief panic - I was checking Facebook and still in my pajamas. Kris, in a saintly sacrificial gesture, was lovingly cooking eggs for me in his iron skillet. Might have been a wee bit of regret that he was sending me out into the cold elements to contest my athletic ability in the urban jungle of DC all alone. But I doubt it. Fortunately, HusBand understands the importance of a good breakfast prior to any exercise. 

"Give me 20 minutes. I just need to eat and get dressed." I really hoped she wasn't already in a cab on the way over.

"Ok, did you get up late or something?" Um, what to say...

"No, just need to grab something to eat. 20 minutes is good." Already closing computer, moving in the direction of the bedroom, coffee in hand.

We hung up and I was in motion. Today was an exciting day. It was the Capital Running Company Jingle-All-The-Way 8K road race. It would be Shelly's first race in over a year (something about being pregnant, giving birth, recovery time) and I was wicked psyched (to use the Maine vernacular) to be running with my friend. We have known each other since Russian class at the University of Arizona circa 1999. 

I threw on my clothes, threw pre-planned stuff in a bag, scarfed down yummy eggs, and bagged the bagel and almond butter Kris had prepared. 

At 0635 the phone rang again.

"I'm in a cab, rolling!"

Shit. "Ok, see you out there!"

We had to get there early to pick up our race packet, pin on numbers, attach timing sensor strip to shoes, drink coffee, pee, poop, drink water, consume gel, consume more water, pee again (maybe), turn in our bag of stuff while we ran, and get a good spot in the starting chute for the race start. There really was a lot to get done. Another important factor was the unknown. We didn't know exactly where to go, didn't know if there would be any issues, didn't know if Occupy DC would interfere the race setup...

I ran downstairs and Shelly was in a Hybrid Prius cab parked in front of my building. I jumped in and off we went. The cab was warm - that was something. We had, the night before, abandoned our initial plan of taking the DC Metro since it started from Franconia-Springfield at 0700. Scheduled arrival time at Federal triangle would be determined by the Metro gods and that was something we were not going to take a chance on with all the single track delays on the weekend. 

Driving across the 11th Street Bridge, the sun was just coming up. There were no other cars on the road. It just looked cold out.

At 0645 we arrived somewhere on Pennsylvania Avenue, paid the cab driver and made our way towards an ugly disheveled encampment known to be part of the "occupy" movement. Then we saw the gleaming white canopy tents for our race. We were two of about six people wanting to pick up race packets and the race organizers weren't ready for us yet.

We lingered about, bitched and moaned, hemmed and hawed, griped and groaned, agonized over the frigid conditions, cursed the presence encampment obviously NOT choosing to run the race. Finally, they gave us our race numbers and t-shirts and we were on our way in search of Starbucks.

"WAKE UP OCCUPY!!!" Shelly yells in the direction of the tents, eliciting chuckles from runners and race organizers in the vicinity. 

Our chosen Starbucks was closed, the nerve of them. But down the street a bit, we found the J.W. Marriott which had a Starbucks inside it! 

"Occupy Starbucks" was in full effect. Shelly and Amanda style.

Life was good. We had a peppermint mocha (Shelly) and chai tea latte (me), seats, a good staging area, and decent hotel bathrooms at our disposal. Thank you J.W. Marriott. I am indebted to your kindness.

90 minutes later, we had accomplished all of the pre-race tasks specified above except turn in our bag of stuff and line up at the start line. 

At 0838 we left the hotel to enjoy a warmer world than the one we had left prior to the Starbucks run. The sun was out and its warmth could be felt in narrow strips not being used by the swarm of runners that were gathering. 

I turned on my GPS watch and fortunately it acquired quickly despite the tall buildings blocking its line of site. We turned in our consolidated bag of stuff, found a couple patches of sun, and waited to line up with the crowd near the start line. At 0850 the herd started moving.

The running duo. Pre-race. 

It was soon 0855. Then 0900. Any minute now. We would not run together - we operate under a strict, non-emotional "every woman for herself" philosophy. See you at the end between the two flag poles but on the street. Avoid "occupy" at all costs.

Then it was 0905, then 0910. The crowd was jumping up and down, trying to keep warm.

Santa walked by. He had Race bib #1. 

Then it was 0915. %^$$#$^^&*@#$#@!!!!!!

It's FREAKING COLD OUT HERE!!!

Then an announcement. "Thank you for your patience. We have a police-related delay. We will start when we are cleared." 

Good grief. I forget where I am sometimes. And here we were between the capitol building and the White House. Awesome.

Then Shelly's limits had been reached. "Let's go over there next to CVS and stand in the sun." 

So we cut across the crowd of waiting runners to find some more patches of sun. Then finally, at 0925, another announcement.

"We have just received word that we are cleared to start. Please come back to the start line, we will start the race in 2 minutes." 

Yay! Two minutes. Then finally, after all the fast runners started, we were off!

GPS start, good luck to Shelly, and we were RUN-AYNG!! 

My first couple of miles were fast. By fast, I mean 7:30 or faster. For some reason I was able to maintain it and it felt pretty good. The course was, as advertised, flat and quick. My pace got a little slower but I ended up with a total time of 40:23 which is a 8:08 pace. Unfortunately, according to my GPS, I actually ran 5.09 miles which is longer than the official course length. Race courses are always longer - the race officials have to make sure that with any possible scenario that it would at least be the advertised length. 

Also, I did a little bit of swerving around people adding some length. 40:23 at 5.09 miles is a 7:56 pace though. Just sayin'...

Me, post-race. Patriots hat in show of support for their game against the Redskins today. 

Shelly kicked ass, although I really had no doubt that she would. She ran well under a 9 minute mile average pace. Super proud of her for getting out there and running an 8k as her comeback race. I was very impressed.

After the race, we met up and caught the metro back to Pentagon City where we got hot tea and a burger at Champps for our post-race meal. We were freezing again by that point. 

It was a great experience and we really performed above and beyond our expectations. I think this goes down as one of my best races. The hard work paid off!