Race Review: Woodrow Wilson Bridge Half Marathon
We did it! A PR for both of us at the Woodrow Wilson Bridge Half Marathon.
The race is beautiful and it was an absolutely gorgeous morning. The race is point-to-point from Mt. Vernon, down the George Washington Parkway over the Woodrow Wilson Bridge and into National Harbor. There was an interesting community dynamic among all the runners. This race had been postponed because of the government shutdown. We all had to wait five more weeks to run, many of us optimally trained for the original October 6 race date. But finally, the date was here and we were all ready to go, or so we hoped. So let's start from the beginning of the morning.
I can't speak to the bussing situation (which was organized to bring people from different areas to the start of the race) because I was very lucky and had a ride to drop me off.
As for the race: There is a lot of downhill in the first two miles. But then the rolling hills come. And then: The bridge hill. And then: A ton of challenging hills I wasn't expecting. Oof. Race map here:
But before we get to the hills, let's talk about the wonderful volunteers. There were water and gatorade stops along the way and each of them was manned by a different group of very, very encouraging supporters. Lots of smiles, screaming and cowbells from all kinds of groups of people. They were located in wonderful places where I was really needing some encouragement.
Possibly one of the picturesque courses out there. The run down to GW Parkway is gorgeous, covered in trees and along the water. Warning: Much of the race is on white concrete, not blacktop and that is certainly harder on your knees. Couple that with the rolling hills, which means some down hills, and it's a painful next day. The course goes straight down the Parkway until you hit the bridge, then you run over the bridge. As soon as I saw the bridge and how enormous it looked I turned to runners around me and said "Doing we really have to run over that?" They laughed and said yes but then explained that "the bridge isn't actually as bad as you expect it to be," and "The worst part of the race was still to come. It's crazy hilly over on the other side." GULP. Not what you want to hear at mile 8.
They weren't lying. I absolutely was not expecting what was to come. But I survived it! Even though throughout mile 12 I wasn't sure if I would be running or crawling over the finish. The last part of the race was very challenging. A decent chunk of it (I felt a bit more than they had explained would be) was unpaved. It was not a welcome change in terrain after having just run a little over 12 miles. Tiny pebbles in the shoe didn't help. But after that, there wasn't much more to go and the very last stretch of the race is surrounded by crowds. It really helped motivate me to kick it over the finish line.
Race organizers had mats at the start and finish, as well as the 5‐ and 10‐mile marks. They offered a texting system to alert people following you when you crossed over the mats. I signed up my own cell number so I had these splits as soon as I crossed the finish line. Also, they had laptops to type in your bib number in the finishing area. It showed your time, splits and rank in your age group (at that time - there ended up being 200 something in my age group, not the 92 it showed at the time). This was awesome. And... I scored a PR! By four whole minutes.
As soon as I crossed the finish I was handed my medal and directed to the bagels, bananas, water and gatorade.
And look at this dog/horse I found at the finish line:
They also offered beer, which was not at all appealing to me as I wasn't even sure if I could keep my stomach in my body.
I imagine this is a really hard race to be a spectator. They don't allow walkers over the bridge during the race because the entire walking lane is taken up by runners. You can drive over though. But I think that if you're watching, you most likely have to decide if you wanted to watch a bit of the first 8 miles of the race on the Virginia side or if you wanted to watch the end on to the Maryland side. There are definitely a lot of places to watch the race during the last half mile.
Overall, it was a beautiful race, challenging last 3 miles, and a well deserved brunch.
Swag: A spike bag. You have to pay extra for a shirt. I did hear a lot of complaining about this though so I think it will be changed next year.
