Race Recap: 2017 Rock n Roll DC Half Marathon

This was my first new race destination in quite awhile! It was nice escaping Denver for a long weekend in the nation’s capital. (Well, it was part exciting and part depressing all at the same time, given the political climate…)

Before heading out of town, I enjoyed some birthday cake and rang in my 33rd year with my friends, students, and co-workers. It was significantly more quiet than years past when I threw parties. Maybe I’ll get there again soon but 32 seemed to have hit me upside the head so quickly and 33 came screaming by that I had no clue that it was even around the corner until the week before.

My besties flew into town for the weekend before, which was great. As I packed for my trip to DC, I paired my newly gifted Sparkle Skirt with a bright idea: Why not (try to) run as Lady Liberty? I threw some pieces together, made a torch, and voila!

I took the Friday off of work and we flew in. It was fairly chilly, as the weather reports and folks on social media reported. I packed layers and layers and layers, and thankfully it was more than enough to keep me warm. However, we picked up some hand warmers and foot warmers just in case.

The race expo was just down the street from our AirBNB, and was a stone’s throw from the metro line. Such a great location!

The race itself was quite beautiful and scenic. The first few miles of the course ran around several monuments and I stopped for photos along the way. I was surprised that more people didn’t stop. Perhaps they were all locals. This was definitely not a race for time!

There was one giant hill somewhere around mile 5 or 6. It was dedicated to one of the charities of the race, and was dedicated to veterans. As touching as it was, the hill was certainly difficult! They even had sandwich boards of all the photos and names of the veterans they were honoring, along with volunteers or service men/women who were there honoring their peers. It was quite touching. Because I was so tired of the hill I didn’t snap any photos, so you’ll just have to take my word for it.

This race was a bit more emotional for me than anticipated. I thought a lot about how long it took for me to come out to DC on my own, and what a shame it was that I had come out at such a tumultuous time. We skipped a race a month before due to a death in the family, and I thought a lot about that and what it meant to my husband. I thought a lot about my own family during this run too, since the last time I had been in DC was with my parents and my brother. I thought about the time I was in the USCG and wondered how all of my peers were faring. I thought about how life was drastically different compared to my middle school self, my high school graduate self, and my current self, and how all of those expectations were also completely different. I thought a lot about the privileges I’ve had (and lacked) in growing up in the places I have.

I used to think that I didn’t have to think about what was going on in Washington DC. I used to think that outsourcing those “big decisions” to others would be more than sufficient. It seems to be abundantly clear that if you expect something to be done right, that you actually have to keep your eye(s) on it and to consistently audit its progress. You’ll also have to make your voice heard in all the ways that you can. If you don’t think you have to care much about politics or if you don’t think it’ll have much of an effect on your everyday life, then you must be living a pretty privileged life.

As you can see, I did a lot of thinking overall over the course of 13.1 miles. It was probably because I stopped for so many photos…

It was definitely one of my favorite courses. I definitely plan on returning again to DC. Hopefully it’ll be a bit more joyous in the future and I’ll get a chance to do more sightseeing. We stayed a few days to enjoy the National Air and Space Museum. Next time I’d like to see some of the other museums and make more time to visit the monuments during the daytime, and perhaps have a more productive trip.

Very special thanks to Jill Corral for her generous donation to my Planned Parenthood fundraiser!