Author Archives: francescajimenez

2017 Pacers Jingle All the Way 15K

Pacers Running is an awesome, DC area store that I’ve visited to buy my past two pairs of running shoes. They have a whole roster of races throughout the year, but this was the first one I had signed up for. What really made me want to sign up was the cool race beanie by BOCO Gear (I’m a sucker for the race goodies; shirts, medals, and other gear alike!). It’s my first pom-pom hat and I really like it!

Pacers is incredibly organized and has an established relationship with the local community (a notable contrast, especially with continued poor customer service from Crucible Racing, who organized the Woodrow Wilson Half Marathon). Packet pick-up was a total breeze. After a yoga class in Old Town Alexandria the day before the race, I went over to Pacers on King Street and was in and out in no more than 2 minutes!

My own preparation of this race did no go smoothly. Three days before, I had my only long-ish run before the race, a 5.5 miler which really wiped me out and was not a lot for a 9.3 mile race. Two days before, my 2-year relationship ended and on the day before the race I helped him move out of the apartment we lived in together (Which for the purpose of racing  meant I tired out my body out from moving around too much and lifting heavy things. The emotional aftermath of this life change didn’t hit me yet as I continued to live an unhealthy, emotional lie to myself before fully processing and accepting the reality).

Aside from personal happenings, I was still all over the place on race morning. The 15K started at 8:30AM so I set my alarm at 7:30AM. When I woke up, I took my sweet time getting ready, lackadaisically checking Uber fares. Saying “Oh only 13 minutes to the start line? I’ve got time” quickly devolved into “omg I have nothing to eat for breakfast other than a banana” and “I’ve gotta go!” I quickly threw together some fuel that I got from a previous race expo in a water bottle before getting my race outfit on. I had called an Uber and made it down to the front of my building before I realized I did not have my race bib. I frantically rushed backed into my apartment to get my bib. By the time I was inside the Uber, I realized I’d be at the start line within minutes of the start. Hustling out after the drive, I made it to the race corral within a 60 seconds of the start gun.

The race course went along the Mall, with the most motivating, epic snow covered views. It got rough for me around mile 6 and 7, but I paced myself well and was so thankful I brought my bottle of fuel. During the last mile and a half or so, I felt light, I felt emotional and I thought to myself, “You got this, finish strong” I paced my acceleration during the last 1.5 miles, passing by runners who had passed me 2 to 3 miles earlier. Before the final break away on 15th Street, along Independence Avenue, there was a breathtaking view of the Washington Monument on the left and the Tidal Basin lined by the Jefferson, all snow covered from the first snowfall of the year the day prior.

I’d definitely run this race again in addition to signing up for more of Pacers’ events! Because of the crossroads in my life, this race meant a lot to me. I realized that while running started as a hobby for me, it is much more. It builds my mental and physical resilience, empowers me to truly believing and investing myself and able to draw upon this awesome realities in moving forward during hard times.

Thank you to all the race organizers, volunteers, and police officers! And congrats to all the runners!

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2017 Woodrow Wilson Bridge Half-Marathon

I signed up for the Woodrow Wilson Bridge Half-Marathon after passing my six month mark in September for my “half-marathon every six months” resolution. This race was the first race I actually trained for, interval, tempo, long runs, and all! Looking for a local, easy to access race, I signed up about a month before and went online to find a one-month training plan. I got sick in the middle of my training plan and had to take time off work to get better, but luckily I had actually started training a week earlier so my workouts could afford the week off.

The course was beautiful, a scenic route out and back along the tree-lined George Washington Parkway with the last 3 miles out and back long the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. That being said, if you want a race with lots of spectators and energy, this is not the race. Because it ran along a wooded, residential parkway, there were only probably 3-5 groups of spectators along the 10 miles, each group only being 1-4 people. The last 3 miles over the bridge and back were on one pedestrian side of the highway, making for windy temps (already only above freezing), plenty of noise from fast moving cars, little passing room, and no spectators (except for the 2-3 police officers). Since I did all my long runs on a northern section of the Mount Vernon Trail, I had run in identical environments to the first 10 miles (in fact, the Mount Vernon Trail actually runs parallel from the Parkway!). Although the portion over the bridge was tough, it was my first time by foot over it and the views of DC and the Potomac are awesome!

I didn’t use MapMyRun for this race because I activated tracking on the RaceJoy app. I was also lazy and I wanted to get my fingers back into my gloves ASAP! This meant I had no audio reminders of pace or mileage. Fortunately, the course had a marker for each marker. I still listened to music, but I kept one earbud out so I could hear my breathing and take in the event. I felt really in tune with my breathing and body during the course since that’s all I had to gauge my pace, but I was surprised when I crossed the finish line and realized that I had set a 12 minute PR!

Still on my post-runner’s high, I was awaiting my medal (I’m totally into racing for the shirts and the bling). Shortly after finishing, I realized that no one else was adorning medals and I soon learned that they were stuck in New Jersey. Definitely a bummer, but the organizers arranged for medal pick up at a local location a week later and to ship them to those who are not local or who could not make the pick up time.

After doing some post-race research on Yelp, I learned that this race has roused some runners. It recently changed organizers, which could have attributed to the new date from years past, lower registration compared to prior years, and the late medal shipping. The 2017 race weekend was the same as the Richmond Marathon and local Veterans Day races, which I suspect played a roll in the approximately 800 runner participation, compared to in the thousands years prior. Many people seem to think that past versions of this race fared better on multiple criteria. Even though I don’t have previous years to compare this race to, I don’t think I’ll choose to run it next year. The 2018 Woodrow Wilson Half is scheduled on Veterans Day and the day after the Richmond Marathon, so it’ll be interesting to see if the event can compete more successfully than this year.

33rd Annual Army-Ten Miler

The Army Ten-Miler (ATM) is not only a well known race in the D.C. area as well as in running and military communities, it is one of largest ten-milers in the nation with a cap of 35,000 participants. Race proceeds benefit the U.S. Army Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation. Since moving to D.C. and becoming a runner, I knew that I wanted to do the race and knowing it was popular, I put a reminder in my calendar when the general registration opened on May 24 for the October 8 date. Depending on the year, I’ve heard of the race selling out really quickly. I registered on June 1, and at that point, it was not yet sold out but the number of open spots was winding down to the hundreds.

Updates from ATM were not annoyingly frequent and all info about registration confirmation, packet pick up, and event details were super easy to find. The two-day expo was at the D.C. Armory, and even though there was a long line on Saturday morning, the line went by quickly (if you have CAC or Uniformed Services ID card, there’s a separate entrance). Packet pick up was really straightforward and easy. My only complaints about the expo were that it was hot inside the Armory and I thought the booths could’ve been laid out better to avoid bottleneck/clogging in many areas.

On race day, the high was 87F with a 75F start in 87% humidity. It was steadily raining for at least the first 4 miles. The course begins and ends at the Pentagon, traveling through D.C. passing by the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, Watergate Building, Kennedy Center, and several museums with views D.C. and Rosslyn in Virginia from the Potomac River. For reference, the Pentagon is physically located in Virginia on the western edge of the Potomac River, but holds a Washington, D.C. address. It’s in a super central location, with a metro stop and large bus hub just southeast to the building. It was unique to run along the highways adjacent to the Pentagon since I often take them on my way to and from work!

My favorite part of the course was the stretch on Independence Ave. between 14th & 7th around mile 6. This section had the most amount of spectators along the course along both sides of the street since it was entirely closed off for runners. The Paul VI High School band was stationed here and when I was passing through they were playing “Don’t Stop Believing,” which had me feeling pretty good. But after mile 7, I was waning. The last 3 miles for me were rough. Mile 7 to mile 8 was across the Potomac River on the 395/14th Street Bridge going back into VA. Again, a unique opportunity to run across this highway, but it being a high meant no spectators or cheering crowds. I ended up walking a bit in intervals throughout this portion until crossing and seeing more spectators at mile 8. At this point, I wasn’t really sure how far I had to go. MapMyRun had been ahead in mile distance than the race mile markers had been. Even then, I remember seeing only 4 mile markers, including the finish, along the course (the race advertises them every mile). I could see the end in sight marked by Army banners, and I emptied out whatever I had left. I just wanted to finish at this point. As I finished, I learned that the race officially stopped timing at 10:08 AM and created a shortened course (around 9 miles) due the severe heat and humidity. I finished just before this, so I got an official time. Those who completed the shortened course received a “recreational finisher.” Getting water, the finisher coin, and food afterwards was easy.

All the security is obviously for everyone’s safety and is greatly appreciated and I found it really interesting to observe. I don’t know if the amount varies per year since this was my first time running the race, but in the context of just a week after the shooting at the Route 91 Harvest Festival and going to an outdoor mini music festival myself just two nights prior, I thought about these things before and during the race.  Armed personnel lined along the course and school sized buses barricaded streets when they intersected the course. Blackhawk helicopters consistently flew over the area of the course.

If I were to run this race again, I would pray for better weather and train for a better mental game, especially during the last 3 miles. Congrats to all the runners for participating and thank you to all the volunteers and organizers!