Morning Run

Lunch Run

Run to work pt. 2

Day off run to work? Pt. 1

With a lack of any clever lead in, I guess I'll just dive right into my post mortem of the race and weekend. 

Got off work at 2:45 and sped down to DC to try to beat the traffic. Didn't. I suppose I was expecting too much on a Friday afternoon. Listening to the radio on the way down I could hear the traffic backing up in real time. Despite that, I still managed to make it to the apartment we had rented out for the weekend before Jon, Greg, and Strenta. Not only that, but I was also able to get a run in, shower, and change before they got to the apartment. Apparently things were so congested throughout the city that just getting to the bib pick up was a chore. 

I was speaking about this with Ethan on the run yesterday (I'm writing this on Saturday March 19th) but running through DC solo was a pretty awesome experience. I have always loved running in foreign cities. When I was a senior in high school, my family took a trip to Rome and Venice as a graduation present. Being in Rome as a young person, so in love with a place I had never set foot in, was nothing short of transcendental. This trip was concurrent to my first *real* foray into track and I was training to qualify for the state meet in the mile. Daily I would get up and go for a run through the streets of a just waking Rome, the mists of the early morning sitting upon the place as if they were the uncountable specters of an eternal city. I was a pilgrim then, idiosyncratic signs pointing me to my personal Santiago De Compostela. It was in the solitary gloaming of Washington's streets last weekend that I thought back to my time in Rome. No map in hand, nothing to guide me but a pure subjectivity. Choices matter then; in an uncharted city, every turn is another risk, every side street another chance to get lost. But it's in those moments of disorientation when, paradoxically, things become clearest. I suppose, every city I run through, every place I return to, is a reflection of my time with the half-awake denizens of that Lavinian land. That memory slips from me even now. An entropy mimicking the decaying city I love so much. 

It was nice talking with the guys about the race the night before. The failed "workouts" had left me nervous. I was concerned about going out too hard or fading in the stretch or just blowing up from the get go. Talking things out gave me some good confidence going forward. 

We made it to the start with a little time to spare so we chugged some red bull and immodium. I'll definitely do the immodium again but the red bull left me burping the whole race. I'm with Strenta: I prefer coffee pre-race. Seeing Sarah on the line before the race was a lot of fun. Totally coincidental. Glad we got to catch up a little bit after everything was said and done. 

The race itself was about as good as I could've asked for considering I messed up ever tempo workout I tried to do to prepare myself for it. Went out fairly conservatively and had a solid pack of people all through out rock creek parkway. We started to pull people in around the big hill in mile 7 and the group that had been just ahead of our peloton came back to us. ~6 runners came out of those two groups to keep going with us. After that, there were mostly rolling hills through the neighborhoods of northern DC. Net downhill to the finish. Strenta and I set the pace for most of the race after the hill and Greg was right there with us until his hamstring started tightening up around the turn onto North Capitol (around mile 10). With about a mile left I was feeling good so I made a move. Still kind of surprised about how good I felt during the whole race. I can't explain it any other way than I guess I am in better shape than I thought was. 

Great performance by Tower of Power after the race. We got really lucky with the weather this weekend. It could've easily been raining and cold but was perfect for a race and having a beer while listening to funk. Took a two hour nap after the concert, called my Mom (it was her birthday), and proceeded to drink a case of Natty Bo with Tope. Great talk about racing and freedom. The skull crushing hang over the next day was totally worth it. 

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Nicholas Stender

Rock and Roll Half Marathon

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Run to work pt. 2

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