A Tale of Two Races: Susan G. Komen Global Race for the Cure and The Navy 5-Miler

Here are some synapses of races I ran over the summer.

Ready, Set, Go!

Haha, just kidding...

The Race for the Cure came in early June shortly after the Derby Mini-Marathon and my training definitely fell by the wayside. Needless to say, for this "quick" 5k (my first to date) I was a tired, hot and sweaty mess. Blah. The best thing about it was, obviously the cause, but the energy was great as well. The race started off with a pep rally of sorts by the founder of Susan G. Komen and seeing all the tribute shirts on runners was very inspiring. It wasn't very scenic for being in the heart of DC (maybe I'm comparing it to the Cherry Blossom a little too much?).  It meandered between federal buildings, which aren't that cool to look at, but of course we ran by the Washington Monument which I think is a must for any DC race.

Here's N. and I in front of the Washington Monument:

  

And now in front of the Capitol Building:

The post-race was pretty neat as there were several vendors from Honest Tea (Me thirsty!) to Yoplait (free smoothies!) to Old Navy (free flip-flops, don't mind if I do!) giving out their pink wares. It was a bit crowded but what do you expect from a huge race like this?

Overall, I would say it was a good race. Highly organized and an energized atmosphere.

Now for the Navy 5-Miler.  With a little bit more training under my belt (but not enough hill training as I would soon find out) I thought I would be a little more prepared for this race than the last. Me and this race got off to bad start since I arrived late (due to a 20 minute long metro transfer). So while I was running from the metro to the start line, runners were already running past me. Wah, wah. That pretty much turned my Navy 5-miler in to a Navy 6-miler.

Anyway, once I was officially up and running (i.e.: official tracked) I started my merry way around the course. On a scale of 1-10, the scenery of this race ranks pretty low, maybe a three? The most scenic thing is the Pentagon building itself. Other than that you are running up and down exit ramps. Yup, highway exit ramps which explains the hills. The worst hill of the race, however, wasn't on an exit ramp, but near Arlington Cemetery. It was a huge hill that must have been a least a half mile (maybe that's not huge to people, but it is too me!). But with every hill, going down it was a-ok. :)

I met up with N. after I finished and we took the pic seen below (with our finisher coins!). Yay us!

The post race snacks were pretty good and consisted of apples, bananas, muffins, and cookies. The variety was a definite plus! I'm not sure if I would do this race again, but if someone else wanted to do it, I think I would consider it.