National Half

It was cold at the start, and I was regretting wearing a singlet with nothing on the arms. My right hand never thawed out; it was like a claw trying to handle the gel pack mid-race. My legs started out heavy. I had none of that springiness that I usually feel from the overdose of adrenaline at the start line. I had some acid stomach issues, with those terrible burps that are needed to alleviate the pressure that might otherwise lead to vomiting.

Mile one went three seconds under target. The next couple of miles they wound us past Union Station, the old SEC (now Antitrust Division) building, the Department of Labor, and out onto Constitution for a great photo shoot with the Capitol and rising sun in the background. (The photographer had the audacity to call out for me to run closer to the camera. I'm happy when a race photo comes out well, but I ain't posing!). All this time I was thinking, "I can't hold this pace. When is it excusable to quit trying and jog the rest of the way?"

On Constitution we passed the federal and DC courthouses, the FTC building, the DOJ building, several Smithsonian buildings, and, if you were inclined to take a look, the White House not far away at 1600 Penn. We then turned right and headed north up 18th Street, through the K Street office quarter, onto Connecticut and into DuPont Circle.

Somewhere in here the woman I followed for most of the Marine Corps Marathon last October passed me. I was aware that she is faster than I, but I noticed she was wearing a marathon bib; unless she was going out way too hard she was heading for a 2:50. Not knowing her name, I can't tell which it was. I didn't latch on this time, but I did end up running the rest of the way within 100 meters of her (until the marathoners peeled off at about mile 12.5).

North of DuPont we split off onto Columbia Avenue and up into Adams Morgan. (This was my daily commute when I worked at the firm and P__ and I lived in that neighborhood, nearly a decade ago.) That's the hard part of the race, a long gradual uphill through the 10K marker. I crossed the 10K nearly exactly on schedule (running, I think, my 6th fastest 10K ever). I still wasn't feeling loose, and now fatigue was starting to creep in.

From Adams Morgan we headed east on Columbia through Columbia Heights and into the neighborhoods around Howard University. At Howard there has always been an enthusiastic cheering section, and while this year it was less populous, it was no less enthusiastic. Around McMillan Reservoir and east to North Capitol. Heading south on North Capitol not only offers tremendous views of the Capitol building, it is downhill. I checked my watch at the 10-mile marker -- only the second marked mile on the entire course! -- and was three seconds under my target pace. Now for a moment of resolve: "I will run this last 5K hard."

Well, I tried. Apart from the views of the Capitol, and the downhill, the rest of the race has little to recommend it. K Street and H Street NE are in disrepair and the neighborhoods are not well maintained. South again on 13th NE to Constitution, North Carolina and C Street. At this point you can see the fast marathoners heading back out for their second loop, a long, lonely stretch through southwest and southeast DC that I did not envy them.

We approached RFK Stadium and split off from the marathon pack, turning back right to an uphill and the finish straightaway. The short guy with the funny hat whom I had caught about two miles back poured it on and I watched him go. A muscular guy was lagging on the uphill; I put my arms into it and duck-walked past him. Here I caught a woman who had blazed out of the start. We ran shoulder-to-shoulder toward the finish, but she wanted none of that; she put on a spurt and crossed two seconds ahead of me. I wonder if I could have caught her. I was mostly just concerned that any uneven pavement would mean my taking a fall. I clicked my watch at 1:25:05, five seconds behind my goal, and leaned on the metal fence long enough to attract the interest of an attentive marshal. But once the breath came back, I felt fine, even good.