Ruck Review: GoRuck Challenge Class 1165

Hello again! Sorry for this late post, but you knew that I had post a review about my first GoRuck Challenge ever! On September 12 Jill and I embarked on our very first GoRuck Challenge in honor of the fallen heroes of 9/11. Although I had made many training promises right after our GoRuck Light in July sadly I didn't do any of it. :( I don't want to say that I went to this event "cold," but let's just say I heavily relied on my crossfit training to get me by.

 

I was a bundle of nerves when Justin dropped us off at the mall. But we had to take a selfie beforehand. The calm before the storm if you will ;)

 

At first we didn't see anyone, but as we walked closer to the Smithsonian castle. We saw them. Hundreds of people all anxiously awaiting the cadre and their instructions.

Of course with any GoRuck event we kicked off with the "welcome party." A series of PT drills to get the night started off right. As soon as we began the first exercise I knew that this was nothing like the two GoRuck Lights I've done in the past. We quickly found out the Challenge is definitely not double the duration and intensity of a Light. After a hearty round of PT which included the ever famous "tunnel of love" and centipede push-ups (I still can't get the hang of those!) we split off into groups and were assigned a cadre. Ours was Cadre Luke, a fellow University of Maryland alum. :)

 

During a GoRuck event, you have to get to certain locations within a time cap. And of course when you don't make it to the destination in the time allowed you get penalized with PT. Obviously our first mission to the White House ended in an epic fail since we were still figuring out how to work as team. 

 

Flutter kicks in near the White House gates? Why not?

 

 

Next we headed to the Lincoln Memorial where we did a series of partner sprints and of course more PT for those who weren't sprinting.

 

Serving up pain...like a boss...

 

We had to make our next destination so we did the last sprint up the Lincoln Memorial stairs as a team.

 

 

Now I'm not going to tell you about everything we did because each event is different and each cadre is different. And even if you get the same cadre twice, you'll still get a different experience because it all depends on what kind of mood he's in, LOL. But! I will tell you my favorite thing during our challenge was when we had to "veg" up Marine recon style ;)

 

 

And of course with every challenge, you gotta get wet!

 

 

Just flutter kicking in the Potomac River...nbd...

 

A shot of me dumping the water out of my ruck! It was the easist way to get all the water out without taking the backpack off.

Before I forget I must give a huge shout out to our shadow, Aaron Wyche. He followed our group from beginning to end and he was the perfect shadow! He took these amazing pictures and was always there to offer help when needed (i.e.: "Can you watch our stuff while I jump into the Potomac?"). Thanks again! :)

 

As the night turned to day we crossed into Virginia to visit the 9/11 Memorial by the Pentagon and then back to DC...

 

Carrying various team weights along the way...

 

 

Jill is always surprised how often she gets carried at these things!

 

 

We stopped by the World War II Memorial for an awesome group shot!

 

 

We were on the home stretch...

 

But we weren't done yet! When we got back to the starting point it was time for...you guessed it..more PT. Here are the shortest girls doing log lifts (which of course includes my sister and I). By this time I had a permanent "poopy face" on (as Cadre Luke called it), but I saw the light at the end of the tunnel and I definitely wasn't going to quit now! 

 

Photo credit to Nick Schrein

When we finally got our patches, I was exhausted, yet happy! In my bleary-eyed sleep deprived state, I realized that this was the hardest thing that I have done in my life so far. It was difficult at times and I can't tell you how times I thought about quitting, but I'm glad I didn't. 

 

To conclude, my sister Jill said it best on her Facebook page: "I wouldn't have been able to endure the 19 miles over 12+ hours without my team to embrace the suck with me. We suffered in silence in honor our fallen heroes who would give anything to have the ability to even feel pain. Never thought I'd be grateful for pain until now; it means you're alive. I'm not gonna lie and say it was fun, but it was good livin'!"

PS...people have asked me when I'm going to do the next one and I must say I haven't signed up for another yet. But let me know if you want to do one, I may just join you for the action ;)

Race Review: Nike Women's Half Marathon - April 2014

Yes, I know the title says April and we're in June...don't judge me! :P

 

Random fact...did you know that my race/fitness related posts are some of the most read posts on my blog? I think it's kind of funny because I am by no means a fitness guru, but if you like reading about my attempts at fitness grandeur I'll keep writing about it ;)

 

The Nike Women's Half Marathon is one of those races you sign up for (months in advance via lottery), then it sneaks up on you when the race day finally arrives. I know I always say that, but I seriously think it's true in this case. It doesn't seem too long ago that I ran the first Nike Women's Half in DC last year. Anyway, this time around I was able to recruit my sisters and two of my friends to join in on the fun.

 

Although they had early packet pick-up at several suburban running stores, my sisters and I opted to go to the official expo at the Georgetown Waterfront (same as last year). And you know, it was glitzier than ever.

 

They had a lot of lcool signs like the one my sister's standing next to in this picture below.

 

 

They even had a light up map of the course, which was similar to last year's (with a few differences!). Instead, of tackling the U.S. Capitol at the end, it was one of the first stops of the race.

 

Of course the expo was crowded, but that is to be expected since we came on the last day (during the last hours too)! They had Nike outfit displays, as well as Luna Bar and Nuun tasting stations. They even had a booth where you could get your running supplies (e.g.: GU gels, hydration belts, etc.).

Can you believe we had to wait in line to take this picture? I guess it was better off because there was someone taking it for us and there were no other people blocking our shot.

 

 

Here is the wall outside of the Nike Georgetown store with the names of all the runners. It is always fun to find your name on the wall, but this time we just opted to drive by.

 

The morning of race day Judy and Jill decided to snack on some of the volunteers' food, LOL! I didn't actually take any pictures during the race, it's really not my style (AKA: I'm too busy huffing and puffing I can't focus!) but I can tell you about it!

 

 

First of all it was really organized! Although they didn't have multi-wave starts, they did have somewhat of a staggered start so everyone wasn't stampeding all at once. Of course, it got a bit crowded around Hains Point but that is to be expected with the number of runners and the narrow streets. I had to go to the bathroom within the first two miles *wah, wah* so that definitely slowed me down. Not like I was expecting to PR, but still...

 

There was plenty of crowd support and entertainment along the way. My favorites were the Chinese dragon dancers and the all-female drum band, Batala. There were plenty of snack stations along the way providing Luna Bars, Clif Bloks and even chocolate! I couldn't even think of eating anything while running so I squirreled away all my snacks in my hydration belt.

 

Speaking of hydration, water and Nuun hydration beverages were available at nearly every mile! You didn't have go very far to get a drink.

 

But of course the Tiffany's necklace is what makes it worth it in the end! Me and the famous box! 

 

I have to admit I wasn't as prepared for this race as I should have been. I did train as hard as I should have. I was thinking that this was going to be my last long distance race. But...with my terrible finish time, I feel like I need some redemption. I can't let my running "career" end on low note, can I? I think I might enter the lottery for the Nike Women's next year and if I don't get in maybe run the Marine Corp. Historic Half since they are around the same time.

 

After the race, the runners, our significant others and our supporters went out for brunch at Medium Rare on Capitol Hill. The tasty food and bottomless drinks were the perfect finish!

 

Team will.run.for.dranks (minus Meaghan who was there in spirit!)

I really loved running this race. I really liked how they were able to keep it super organized despite the large number of participants. They utilized technology by personalizing video screens with your name and words of encouragement as your ran by. I liked all the hydration, snack, and entertainment stations along the course. The actual course can't be beat either! Since it is relatively flat I'm sure a lot of people were able to PR (not me this time). One thing that I didn't like was the shirt. Although, it was dri-fit, it didn't say "finisher" and only had one screen print color (white). One small negative, in an overall terrific race.

Race Review: Inaugural Nike Women's Half Marathon DC

Finally! I have a moment to write a race review for the Nike Women's Half Marathon that I ran a few weeks ago. I'll try to make it short and sweet. :)

First things first is the race expotique. The expo was at the Georgetown Waterfront the Thursday-Saturday before the race. Anticipating the large crowd size that Georgetown normally has over the weekends, I decided to pick up my bib after I got off work on Thursday. This move proved to be beneficial, as I didn't have to wait in line for anything. It's kind of neat how they set up this tent on the waterfront. You wouldn't even think that there was a fountain/ice rink underneath it.

Because this was my second time running the Nike Women's (having done so before in San Francisco two years ago), I had managed my expectations about what the expo was going to be like. Based on my prior experience, this expo is more of a "Nike Fashion Showcase", highlighting the latest and greatest of Nike design. If you needed your pre-race supplies, you would probably be better served at one of the many running stores located on M St. On the plus side, Luna had a great booth where you could create personalized signs, and of course they were giving away plenty of snack sized Luna bars. Yummy!

People getting their hair did...

Now on to race day! Because I was pretty much flying solo on this one, I had to take the extra initiative to make sure I didn't forget anything on race day. With no one to provide me reminders that morning, I forgot two things: 1) To eat (ack! I ended up eating a GU gel); and 2) I forgot my corral bracelet. The corral bracelet was just a colored bracelet (kind of like the ones you get at a bar to indicate you're of drinking age) that indicated which corral you were in. Unfortunately, I forgot mine and had to start the race in the very last corral (aka: with the walkers). wah wah. For future reference, I hope they begin putting the corral designation on the bibs, versus an extra accessory (e.g. bracelet) you have to put on/worry about on the day of the race.

Here's a shot of the crowd before the start. The race was well equipped with Luna bars (which I didn't eat while on the course, but just hoarded for later :), Nuun electrolyte beverages, Clif Brand Shot bloks (delicious, just like gummy bears!), and of course water. The entertainment was great and the crowd support was good too. One of my favorite signs said something along the lines of "Binders full of runners," LOL.

One more suggestion I would make would be to have more of a wave start. Each wave pretty much started one after the other consecutively, which caused major backups for the the first five miles of the race (nearly half!). Please remember that Haine's Point is narrow, so weaving in and out of crowds is not very ideal in this part of DC course.

At last I reached the end while shaving off nearly 15 minutes on my previous half marathon time. Woohoo! Here I am with the tuxedoed Tiffany's necklace deliverer, showing off my old necklace with my newly earned one in the box. 

Because I finished earlier than expected, Justin and Kos weren't ready to meet me at the finish line.  While I waited on the boys, I decided to get my face touched up at the Bare Minerals trailer. I just needed a little something to get the dried sweat off my face to make me somewhat presentable for brunch downtown. 

So that's my review of the Nike Women's Half! But here are some other fun things that happened that weekend!

Jill and I saw Kaskade for his "It's You, It's Me" tour at U. Street Music Hall. I've been listening to Kaskade for nearly a decade (!!) and for this tour he was playing all of his old school deep house tracks. The show was so good!

Bathroom selfie!

I couldn't get a decent picture of Kaskade in the DJ booth for the life of me...

But one of his Twitter fans shared this pic collage of him in this awesome t-shirt. Puppies FTW!

Also, Justin's friend from college Kos came to visit for the weekend.  The boys were out drinking the whole weekend, catching up and sharing memories of their "glory days".  Although Justin and I enjoyed his company greatly (we love getting out-of-town visitors), I believe the Frenchies topped us and soaked up all the attention they received from their Uncle Kos.  Below is a shot of the guys passed out after we came home from brunch, following the race.  After a full stomach, the Frenchies knew it was prime time to pounce and take advantage of some couch time.

As the picture above indicates, we had a so much fun that weekend, we had nothing left in the tank by the time we made it to Sunday night.  Unfortunately, the schedule busyness would not end there with the Kentucky Derby just around the corner and another trip to Louisville on that following Thursday.  Stay tuned for the details on our Derby weekend :)

Nike Women's Half Marathon DC - I'm In!

More like..."I'm in?"

 

Just to give you some background, back in November I entered the the lottery for the Inaugural Nike Women's Half in Washington, DC. Needless, to say I didn't get in. :( I had run the Nike Women's Half in San Francisco a couple years ago and had a blast so I was bummed, but I got over it...

 

Then last Friday, I received an email from Nike saying that they were offering a second chance to get into the DC Nike Women's Half. But there would be catch. The catch was I had to log in 6.2 miles via Nike+ that weekend for their virtual 10K race.

 

Eek.

 

I hadn't run much since the Army 10-miler and I had only logged in a mile or two during crossfit. I'm sure you can imagine how freaked out I was that I needed to bang out 6.2 miles in order to gain entry in into the Nike Women's Half. But I did it. On what is typically our "lazy Sunday," after coming back from Philly, Justin and I ran to the Washington Monument and back (with me huffing and puffing along the way ;). I'm glad I did it because it gave me a good gauge of my sucky cardio level.

 

Unlike the last time, my entry into this race was somewhat anti-climactic. And unfortunately not many people I know are running this race so I'm pretty much riding solo. Regardless, I'm super excited to be "in," despite being waaaay behind in training as compared to those who knew they were in and actually "won" the lottery back in January December. It just means that I have to work that much harder in the next month and a half!

Somethings that I'm looking forward to with this race:

• I looked over the course map and it looks similar to the Cherry Blossom 10-miler course (one of my faves!)
• The Expotique...Nike does it like no other!
• We'll have some guests visiting from out-of-town that weekend so it'll be nice to have that extra support!
• The Tiffany's swag of course!

This is the only long distance run I've registered for so far this year. Wish me luck on the next few months of training!