One week only: $50 for Half Marathon and Full Marathon, $25 for 5K
No other coupons or discounts can be applied to this rate.
My husband and I were in the Nations Capitol this past weekend for the Rock n Roll DC Half Marathon. This was my first trip to DC since I was one years old, so to say I was an excited tourist the entire time is an understatement. Unfortunately it rained the entire race so I have very limited course photos. Plus, I wore a jacket over my bib, resulting in zero marathonfoto of me and having to go through thousands of unidentified pics to find one!
The night before the race, we had dinner at Mike Isabella's Graffiato. I'm a huge fan of Top Chef and was so excited to carb load here. My favorite item that we ordered was by far the Piquillo Pepper Risotto with quail egg and pork belly. It was off the chain. Following dinner, we headed back to our hotel to get a good nights sleep.
When we woke up on Saturday, the forecast looked better. Upon going to bed, the rain was at 100% - however, it changed to 40%. Both Gabe and I decided against wearing our rain jackets and this was a HUGE mistake. While my jacket kept rain off of me, it wasn't the best for wind resistance. Gabe, wearing a short sleeve shirt, shorts and CEP sleeves, was freezing the entire time. I was head to toe in ASICS, my outfit shown here.
The first few miles flew by. We ran through the National Mall area. We saw the Capitol Building, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, and Arlington National Cemetery. Due to the rain, I couldn't take any photos. We have one marathonfoto of us running towards Arlington.
Rain aside, we LOVED this race. I will say that it is my top three favorite races, ever. Somewhere between mile 5 and six along the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway, we encountered a very steep hill, which I quickly renamed to a mountain. This was the beginning of the elevation. We stopped intervals and began walking up the hills and running down the hills.
I will say this was the first time I have ever ran a half marathon without complaining. Maybe I was so focused on the rain that nothing else bothered me. My ankle and knee were pretty much pain free. I would say I probably had a smile on for the entire race - shame we didn't get any marathonfotos!!!!
I had VIP access at the finish but both Gabe and I were soaking wet and freezing. All I wanted to do was get out of these clothes and eat a giant bowl of Ramen. I skipped out on my VIP experience (when I have ever been known to turn down champagne) and we headed to the metro. This was the start to many mistakes over the next hour. We headed to the metro with thousands of other runners and were stuck waiting. Gabe was shaking from being cold and I was super concerned he was getting hypothermia. We decided to walk and find another metro station, only to find ourselves walking an additional 2 miles. By the luck of god, we found an available taxi and 5 minutes later were in our hotel.
Since I am not one to break traditions, after I showered and changed, I found myself at Cure Bar and Bistro located inside of the Grand Hyatt Washington. To my bliss, they had Moet, which I promptly got a glass of.
After I finished my delicious glass of Moet, we headed to Toki Underground for a giant bowl of Ramen. This was by far the best Ramen either of us had ever tried. I ordered the Kimchi Ramen with extra noodles. The flavor was incredible and exactly what my body needed after a cold/wet 13.1.
Finally, we couldn't go to DC without going to Georgetown Cupcake.
Overall, this was a fantastic racecation, one that we will probably do on an annual basis. I cannot wait to get back to DC for another trip. Three days was not near enough time. Fortunately, we did see a lot of sites while there, which I will cover in a different post.
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