Race Report: MCM 10K 2011 (part 2, the race)

Somehow, I always forget that the DC Metro is not the NYC Subway. I expect to get to the station and be on a train within 5 minutes. There were plenty of people waiting for the train with me, and I gladly noted that they were going to the same place I was. The marathoners must have all been more responsible and on the train much earlier.

When we got to the Smithsonian station, there were people everywhere. My first thought was, “OMG, what happened? Did they cancel the race? Are the exits closed?” No, people were just hanging out in the station for warmth. I was concerned about time because I was arriving later than anticipated, so I made my way out of the station and onto the frozen Mall. I immediately made my way to the Port-a-Potties. This was my first really big race, and I was in no way prepared for the lines. I thought I was being smart and walked all the way down to the last line, which did happen to be the shortest. However, it was also a line for a single unit, and it turned out that many of the other lines were for multiple units. After 20 minutes or so in line, with more than 10 people still in front of me and less than 10 minutes until the race start, I abandoned the line and ran back over to bag check. I checked my bag and headed back toward the end of the race lineup.

The race started before I even got lined up, which I have learned is not uncommon with a big race. I still went as far back as I could, since I am a slow runner, but it only took about 10 minutes to get to the start line. I had expected it to take longer. I carried my camera with me, thinking I would try to take pictures along the way, but I did not really use it. I did not have a waist pack, so I was running with the strap around my wrist and the camera in my hand. I also had a water bottle in my other hand. I do not recommend running this way.

There was a great Taiko drum group between the Mall and the 14th Street Bridge that I absolutely loved. As a slower runner, it takes longer to get into a groove, and I had not yet reached even the 1-mile mark, so the whole race stretched out like an eternity in front of me. The drums really helped push me along.

The 14th Street Bridge was icy. I was mostly alternating 4 minutes of running with 1 minute of walking, but I had to stop and walk quite a bit on the bridge or risk falling. I have no idea how the frontrunners managed. The bridge was also where I decided I needed to take off my sweatshirt. The cold weather was quite unexpected, so I had scrambled at the last minute to figure out what to wear that I could discard. Taking off the sweatshirt was challenging, and it took me several run-walk cycles to get the job done, since I had to unpin and repin my bib, etc. I decided not to discard the sweatshirt, as I had not yet seen much in the way of discarded clothing, so it felt like littering to me. I just tied it around my waist. Once we were back on level ground, we were rewarded with the first water stop. I only took water because I’d never trained with Gatorade, and the flavor that was available was not a favorite (lemon-lime).

The Crystal City part of the course was familiar to me because I’d run it during the 9-11 Memorial 5K. It was during this stretch that I saw a runner with a prosthesis. I thought , “if he can do this, so can I.” A short while later, I saw a runner with 2 prostheses. Seeing those guys and all of the active duty Marines along the course was very humbling and inspiring.

As we made our way out of Crystal City, there was a line of school buses between us and traffic on 395. Knowing that I am slow, I panicked a bit, thinking they were straggler buses. But then I realized that they were there to block off traffic. It would have been nice if the buses had been turned off instead of idling. It was not fun to breathe in that exhaust.

Along Route 110, I got hungry…so very hungry. At the second water stop, I went straight for the Gatorade because I figured I needed calories. Let me tell you, nothing has ever hit the spot the way that Gatorade did at that moment.

When I finally saw the 6-mile mark, I was ready to be done. I kept looking for the hill because I knew that there was supposed to be a hill at the end. I knew I was close when I could hear the announcer. I don’t remember much about the hill, but I know I walked toward the end of the climb. I was a bit disoriented and wondering if this would ever end. After a long straightaway on 110, you make a left to go up the hill and then you have to make a right to get to the finish line. It was also suddenly crowded with spectators. So as I was getting to the top of the hill, a Marine leaned forward or stepped forward, I’m not sure which, but it felt like he was right in my face, he pointed at the finish line and said, “you can do it, ma’am; the finish line is right over there.” I think that was my favorite part of the race.

Race Report: MCM 10K 2011 (part 1, pre-race)

I registered for the MCM 10K back in May when I had only one race under my belt, a local 5K. I am nothing if not ambitious. Also, easily influenced by endorphins. The best time to convince me to try something new is the day after a race. The day after my first 5K, I registered for 2 more 5K races and started looking for a 10K. Needless to say, this 10K was highly anticipated.

This was my first race with an expo. I convinced my husband to take Friday off, so he could be home for the kids. I knew I wouldn't be able to make it to DC and back before school let out, and I didn't really want to have a preschooler in tow.

There really wasn't a line for bib pickup (just one lady in front of me picking up several bibs). There was a huge line to get into the Armory, but it turned out to be because everyone went to the door closest to the bib pickup exit. Once I moved to another door, it was a quick trip through security and into the expo. I was a bit confused by then big signs directing women to the right and men to the left. I wondered what difference it made, since just a few feet ahead, everyone was mingling about. I figured out later on that those were signs for the restrooms.

I picked up my shirt and bag check bag. It seemed that most people were using their bag check bags to carry their stuff around. I didn't want to take any chances with the bag getting ripped, so I had another bag with me that I stuffed everything into. I later realized that you could probably get a bag to use at the expo and another to take with you for race day. Oh well, lesson learned. Also, this way, my bright yellow shirt was not on display for all to see. I didn't see that many yellow shirts, so I felt a little inferior. I was a bit intimidated by all of the cool kids with their red (marathon) shirts and vowed right there that next year I will be one of them (did I mention that I'm ambitious?).

Unfortunately, October was a tight month, so I could look at all the goodies but not buy, which is probably a good thing because there were so many tempting things. I had neglected to realize that I would be there around lunch time, so I made the rounds trying to satisfy myself with samples from Clif et al. and quenching my thirst at the Nuun booth (under the guise of trying all the different flavors, of course). I nearly broke down and bought some Nuun, but I had no cash on me, and they didn't appear to take credit cards. I checked out the Brooks store and took note of the price of the marathon jackets; when I run the marathon next year, I want one. I had my bone density tested and my body composition analyzed. I would have liked to have stayed longer, but I wanted to get out of the Metro system before peak fares began.

Saturday was a little stressful, since I wasn't quite ready to go. I was trying to get the house tidied up and get us all packed, and I still had visions of making a Halloween costume before we left. We had to wake up as if we were going to soccer only to find out that we weren't. We were supposed to leave immediately after a dance rehearsal, but that didn't happen. Finally, I just decided that we needed to leave. The bags were packed, and we were only going to be gone for 24 hours.

We arrived at our hotel just in time for the Manager's Reception, which sounded fancier than it was. We had some pretzel bites and chips & salsa, and the kids tried Shirley Temples for the first time. Then we went to dinner, came back, and went to bed.

I had my alarm set for 5:00am, but I didn't get up until 5:30. Then I took longer than I had planned to get ready, and I didn't really feel like eating because I was starting to get stressed about time. I had brought an Amy's tofu scramble for breakfast, but I just ate the hash browns & tomatoes, maybe a couple bites of the tofu and spinach. I must have looked odd walking down the hall with my half-eaten breakfast, but I didn't want to annoy the fam by throwing it out in the room. I didn't expect to run into anyone anyway, since it was 6:15, but there were 4 other ladies in the elevator with me. One of them took one look at me in my capris and sneakers and asked, "are you running today?" They were all bundled up for the 34 degree temps. I said yes and immediately added "the 10K" because I still tend to feel like I don't belong out there with all those runners. They were on their way out to the race, too, but as spectators. As we left the elevator, she wished me luck.

Then I nearly froze on my way to the car and had the unexpected pleasure of getting to sit there while my windows defrosted (more delays!).

How Do You Solve a Problem Like a Mummy?

I loved watching movies with my grandma when I was a kid. Grandpa would watch his programs in the living room, and we would go to the bedroom and watch movies. Two of our favorites were The Sound of Music and My Fair Lady. One of my favorite parts of TSOM was when Maria made play clothes for the children from her curtains. I have always wanted to make clothes from curtains...bizarre, I know.

Several years ago, we bought curtains from Ikea for the living room in our previous house. They were belt loop curtains, and I loved they way they looked. When we moved into our current house, I bought what I thought were the same curtains for several rooms (not all the same color). However, either the design had changed or they were different curtains. The new ones were tab top curtains, and I just did not like the look. I figured it wouldn't be a big deal to fold them back and sew the tabs down to the back side to turn them into belt loop curtains. Well, more than 6 years later, I still hadn't dealt with the curtains. We only had curtains in one room: the playroom (technically the formal living room). We recently shuffled some rooms around, and the playroom is now the library. Since the curtain rods were there, I couldn't leave them bare, and the playroom curtains just would not work. It was time to tackle the curtain project.

I decided that the belt loop conversion project was just too ambitious. I wanted a solution, and I wanted it now. I simply cut off the top of the curtains, folded the top down 3-4 inches, folded the edge under half an inch, and sewed a pole pocket. I still need to hem the bottoms (Ikea curtains are long!), but the situation is under control.

Then, Halloween approached. My 9-year-old decided she wanted to be a mummy. We didn't want to spend anything on costumes, so I had to find a way to make her mummy costume. The discarded curtain tops were khaki and made of a rough cotton that keeps making me forget it's not linen...lightbulb moment!

I ripped out the seams, and each curtain top gave me 2 long narrow strips of fabric plus 8 shorter, wider strips. I ripped the tab pieces in half, so I had 16 short narrow strips. I threw out all of the sewing rules and went to town. I originally tried to sew the fabric to existing garments by wrapping it around as I went. The small circumference of the sleeves (and even pant legs) was difficult to manage, and I kept pulling the fabric too tight around the pants, so they wouldn't fit when she tried them on.

I ended up just lapping pieces of fabric together in the shape of pants. First I did the legs, intending to insert the other pant legs into them and sew them to each other. When it was clear that the other pants just weren't going to work (they were outgrown anyway), I then lapped longer strips across the tops of the legs, leaving a space in between for the crotch area. When the rise was long enough, I folded the top down about half an inch and sewed a casing for elastic.

For the shirt, I had mostly managed the torso (almost up to the armpits) with my wrapping technique because I was using an old shirt of mine, so it was plenty big on her. I did sleeves separately using the same lapping technique I used for the pant legs. From there, I just plunked pieces of fabric onto the blank spots and sewed them on until just about everything was covered. The shirt I was using was navy blue, so I allowed a couple small blank spots to remain, so it would look like she had unwrapped a bit.

I thought the headpiece would be easy. Ha! I was going to safety pin fabric to a ski mask. Of course, that just didn't work. I ended up using the ski mask as a pattern for the eye and mouth hole placements and went to town just sewing pieces on until it resembled a hat.

In the end, she had her mummy costume, finished at approximately 4:15pm on Halloween. She was the only mummy we saw, and we got tons of comments and compliments on it. And it was made mostly from curtains. I have a couple more panels I could have taken tops from, but I was running short on time and just grabbed some matching linen scraps.

A Fresh Start

Once upon a time, I tried my hand at blogging and life got in the way. I tried again with a very focused and time-limited topic, and then everything got in the way. So, I'm trying again. This time I have a focused topic (running, in case you couldn't tell from the title), but I'm not necessarily going to only blog about running. I'm also a mom, a knitter, a reader, and a novice woodworker.

I'm kicking off the blog today because it's the first day of NaBloPoMo, which is now apparently every month (but I only found that out about 20 minutes ago). I hope that having NaBloPoMo hanging over my head will help me get into the habit of blogging every day.

Also, I just ran my first 10K on Sunday, and it was my favorite race to date. I've found other bloggers' race reports to be quite helpful, and I'd really like to start writing up my own.