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i originally wasn't going to do a race in dc, just because i figured i'd be too busy and still trying to build my running endurance back up while i was here. then one slow day at the internship, i decided to search which races were happening in the two weeks i had left. once i saw there was a 5k in georgetown the weekend before i was set to leave, i threw caution to the wind and signed up right away and convinced jenny to do it, too!
packet pickup was a bit of a hike from my dc airbnb...as in it was in virginia. jenny had emailed ahead of time and asked if race day packet pickup was available and they said no...only to find out race day morning that they did indeed have race day pickup. so that definitely wasn't cool. it was your standard packet: bib, cotton shirt, and some ads.
the race was set to take place on the chesapeake and ohio canal towpath, making this a semi-trail run. apparently after rainy weather it can get pretty muddy and mangled out there, but we were lucky to have sunny skies and a dry path, so i don't think it was very trail-y. i spent the day before being a tourist and ended up walking about 15 miles, so i was a little worried about how i would do, but decided to just have fun and enjoy having company during this race. jenny and i met just as the director was making his announcement about how the course would work (run to the water station and then turn around) and then got set to go.
we spent the entire first part of the race just talking (this was our first time meeting in person!) and it was so distracting that when her garmin beeped for the first mile, i was actually surprised. i've been using long intervals for my runs lately, and i was stoked to see that i was running a mile non-stop without much of an issue. we kept running until the water station/turnaround, where i slowed down to grab a cup.
ahh, slowing down and walking. it always kills me. it felt so nice to just walk and chat that i didn't want to pick up the pace again. we finished out the second half of the race by running with a bit of walking, which was nice since i was getting hot and tired by this point. but it didn't feel like we were out there for very long and before i knew it, we were running toward the finish! we finished in 38:13. definitely not a record for either of us, but it was so nice to run with another person that it didn't even matter!
because the race was located in beautiful georgetown, we seized the opportunity to get treats at baked & wired. i got a soy dirty chai latte and a vegan cupcake before parting ways with jenny. i intended to head home, but the river called out to me and i ended up walking along the water before stopping to devour my treats. a perfect ending to a great morning, if you ask me!
and what did i think of the georgetown 5k? it's a pretty small race put on by a pretty small company, which means they have some kinks to work out. not lying about race day packet pickup is a good place to start, but they also ended up not putting out the mile markers they had and ran out of bananas. however, i really loved the trail the race was on and the volunteer support was awesome. also, there were not timing issues for me, which i now consider a win since i have problems with that so often!
