My Awesome 1/2 Marathon Weekend in Washington DC

While last weekend was terrific because of all the things I accomplished inside the house, this weekend was wonderful because I reached a big personal goal… I ran a half-marathon down in Washington D.C. It was SO fun!  Plus, the family did some fun (educational) sight-seeing.

I ran the Rock-n-Roll 1/2 marathon.  It was jam packed with people and music and had bands and cheering people all along the course including an awesome drum-band.

The start of the race was right near the Washington Monument:

IMG_2888Rock-n-Roll-Start We ran across the Arlington Memorial Bridge and towards the Lincoln Memorial:

Rock-n-Roll-Marathon-ArlingtonMemBr-LincolnMemI was so impressed by the guy below who was juggling balls as he ran the marathon. I asked if I could take (and post) his picture — and he said sure. Juggling and running — now that’s amazing. I wonder if his neck was sore the next day from looking up and concentrating while running.

Rock-n-Roll-Mar-Juggler-Capitol

 

The picture above right is the Capitol Building. We ran towards that for a long time before turning off and heading to the finish. I felt really terrific, though found it challenging because I had to weave back and forth through so many people, but I had a blast and was left wanting to do another one.  And the best thing?  My legs were just fine today (it’s Sunday night as I write this).

I’m still smiling — it feels so good to accomplish something that has nothing to do with the kids. Oh and a friend of mine asked how I managed this… When we moved here a couple of years ago, we bought a treadmill. With Hubby’s long hours, I knew I wouldn’t be able to get outside to train. I squeezed in runs whenever I could during the day (I can’t (won’t?!) run in the morning which would be the ideal. Sigh…)… Sometimes I had to be satisfied with running for just twenty or thirty minutes twice in a day rather than doing it all in one stretch. All but two of my runs were inside on the tread-mill, but I guess it was enough.

I’ll share more about the educational side of DC tomorrow!

7 Responses

  1. viv says:

    Congratulations Liesl !!! I have the same goal but i still didn’t move my butt off the chair 🙁 how long it took you to achieve your goal ?? I like the idea of splitting the training to 2 shorter periods of 20 minutes . it is exactly what i decided to do since i never managed couldn’t ( won’t ) leave the house and go running , and i don’t have a treadmill i am running around our house twice a day when the kids are having a break and don’t need mama . I am aiming for 5 kms first .
    Again thanks for sharing , i love reading your posts
    xxx
    viv

    • Liesl Den says:

      Hi Viv–I know how hard it is to be tied down (so to speak) with the kids since we homeschool. Finding the time to fit in a run is pretty difficult because there’s always other stuff that “should” be done (another book to read to the kids, clothes to fold, paper/books/clutter to clean up, a meal to make, vacuuming to be done or whatever). I just had to put my blinders on and make the time. But, I did (do) find it hard and hear the guilty voice in my head saying “but you haven’t done XYZ and R yet!”

  2. Nina Roush says:

    Liesl,
    You did great! I’m so happy to have shared Saturday with you. Another great blog, I love your pictures. You know that juggler does all his races like that. He was at the MCM too. I remember passing him Saturday and thinking the same thing….I wonder how his neck feels the next day?

    • Liesl Den says:

      Hi Nina–That’s so cool. I took a peek at his finishing time. It took him 5 hours 50 minutes (as I recall). That’s just so impressive, isn’t it?!!

  3. Nina Roush says:

    Liesl,
    You did great! I’m so happy to have shared Saturday with you. Another great blog, I love your pictures. You know that juggler does all his races like that. He was at the MCM too. I remember passing him Saturday and thinking the same thing….I wonder how his neck feels the next day?

    • Liesl Den says:

      Hi Nina–That’s so cool. I took a peek at his finishing time. It took him 5 hours 50 minutes (as I recall). That’s just so impressive, isn’t it?!!

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