Saturday I was so thrilled to spectate the Rock N Roll USA Marathon and Half Marathon in DC.

Not only was it a chance for me to bust out the world's best marathon sign:


But it was also my good friend Emily's first marathon ever, and I was thrilled to cheer for her, my friend Jason, and the million other people I knew that were running the race.

Weeks ago, I had put together a pretty intense spectating plan that let me see all my friends twice in the first 13.1 miles and three times in the last 13.1 miles.

My friends Zach and Emily made up the rest of my cheering squad (and all the pictures in those post are courtesy of Zach).


(I know this post could get confusing with two Emilys so from here on out Emily C. is the Emily who ran the race and Emily Y. is the Emily who spectated.)

Zach, Emily Y. and I met at at our first cheer point just past mile five a little after 8 a.m. At this point it was just us and a few other spectators, but it wasn't long before we saw the lead car come through followed by the front runners.


Not far behind the elites was my friend Dan, who is wicked, wicked fast. (To give you an idea of his speediness, he finished the half in 1:22, and had a really off day.)


After Dan passed, I knew we had a while to wait for the rest of my friends who were seeded in corrals farther back.

While we waited, I was busy screaming my head off for the rest of the runners and soaking in their reactions to my sign.


It was a fan favorite at MCM last year, and the runners seemed to love it at this race too.

Soon enough, tons of my friends were passing by.

Emily spotted me first (OMG that's three Emilys in this post!)


Followed by Tina, Theodora and Megan.

Then my friends Hannah and Meredith.


Then Jason.

Still no sign of Emily C.

I was signed up for text updates for Emily C. and I was getting nervous that with all the people I would miss her.

I was scanning the crowd her when Ashley screamed my name and cruised by looking awesome.


And who was behind her?

Emily C. looking fantastic! She cut through all the people, gave me a sweaty hug and took off.

And with that our merry band of spectators packed up and headed to Metro to cheer point #2 at mile 10.5.

There were fewer spectators here and the runners had thinned out a bit so it was much easier to pick people out.

It was here that my coworker Darryl spotted me and not long after that I heard someone yell, "Jess, I love your blog!"

I wish I would have seen who it was! Mystery runner, please leave me a comment so I can say a proper thank you! I am so flattered!!!

Emily C. and Jason were still looking great at this point. They were in high spirits and staying on pace.



Cheer point #3 was near mile 16. It was also the first point on the course where we handed Emily C. and Jason bottles of water as they ran by. It was a scorcher out yesterday and the heat was getting to a lot of runners.



The only time I saw that smile waver was after mile 19 when she told me she didn't feel like she had anything left.

I ran along side her for a bit giving her the best pep talk I could. I told her this was the final push, that she could do it. Stay strong and just push through.


After that I left her and headed to the finish line to wait.

And wait...and wait...

We got the finish line not long after I got the text saying Emily C. was at mile 20. I knew we had a while to go, but as time ticked by I was getting more and more anxious. Emily's goal was to break 4 hours, and I knew she had it in her to do it.

She was on pace for it when she hit mile 20, but I know how brutal those last six miles can be.


When I saw her coming around the final turn, I went bananas and probably scared all the people spectating near me. I screamed and yelled and jumped up and down. I was checking the time and realized she was going to break 4 hours. I was so, so happy for her, I started crying.


Her final finishing time was 3:57:20. How bout that for a debut marathon time!

Not long after Emily C. passed, Jason came trucking up the final hill.


He finished in 4:17, shaving more than 40 minutes off his last marathon time! Go Jason!

As Emily C. said after the race, it's like I was a proud mama bear. And she couldn't be more right.



I am so proud of all of my friends who went out and kicked butt in Saturday's race in the unseasonably warm weather. I know there were tons more people out there that I never saw, including my cousins, and I'm bummed I couldn't see everyone.

I loved every minute of spectating this race. But I am most proud of Emily for going out there and absolutely destroying her first marathon!


I can't wait until we run Marine Corps together in the fall!

Last Sunday the weather was absolutely gorgeous and I was excited to get out and bike on Beach Drive, a stretch of road through Rock Creek Park that on weekends is closed to cars.


Biking in traffic still scares me a lot so I like to take advantage of car-free biking whenever I can.

Sunday's ride was going so well. I was intentionally take it easy since I had just worked out like crazy on Saturday.

I was just out enjoying the weather and being outside.


At one point I felt something on my face and went to wipe my nose.

I lifted my left hand off the handle bars for a fraction of a second.

At the same time I must have pulled a little too hard with my right handle while trying to balance because the next thing I know, I had lost control and was heading straight for the curb.

I didn't have time to swerve back to the left before my bike went up and over the curb.

I remember thinking for a second that maybe I could maintain control and just come down the other side.

Turns out road bikes can't really handle that, so instead I found myself flying through the air.

I crashed onto the grass hard on my right knee and shoulder. My momentum led me to completely barrel roll and then pop back up on my feet.


I winced my when I put pressure on my right leg and sort of hobbled back to my bike.


A cyclist who had seen the whole thing happen stopped to see if I was OK.

I checked out my arms and legs, didn't see any blood.


I didn't hit my head at all so I wasn't dizzy (and I had obviously been wearing a helmet.)

The only real damaged seemed to be that my bike chain had popped off. The guy who stopped helped me get it back on. After a quick thank you, we both headed on our ways.

I hopped on my bike to quickly pedal the rest of the way home. I knew the adrenaline would eventually wear off and I would start to feel the pain of the impact.

Sure enough, as soon as I get my bike back home, my knee and shoulder started to throb.

My knee was bruised and ridiculously swollen and it hurt to lift my arm. I had a few scrapes and more bruises developed in the following days, but because I fell on the grass, I managed to avoid any road rash.


All things considered, this was a fairly minor crash, and it hasn't shaken my confidence too much on the bike. But boy was I sore all this week. It's only today that my right arm is starting to feel more normal, and the bruises on my legs are showing signs of healing.

Some of you may have seen on Facebook or Twitter that the DC Tri got cancelled this year because the National Park Service wouldn't give the race its permit.

The DC Tri was my A race for the spring. It was going to be my first Olympic-distance tri and I was pumped about it.


So what do you do when your A race gets cancelled?

1. You call your friend who is also registered for the race and you spend 20 minutes freaking out and dropping many, many F bombs.

2. You go through a brief woe-is-me phase where you throw yourself a giant pity party that your race is cancelled, all your training was for nothing, etc. etc.

3. You get extremely pissed off and decide to file a Freedom of Information Act request with the National Park Service asking for copies of the permit application, all documents used in consideration and the reasoning behind the final ruling. (Yes, totally putting those journalism skills to good use.)

4. You start looking for replacement races.

Turns out it's really hard to find an Olympic distance tri in June that won't make me travel all over the place.

The only one that comes remotely close is the Philadelphia Tri. It's the weekend after the DC Tri and while, yes I would still have to travel, it would be home to my parents' house.

It's a possibility, but I'm not sold.

I was so looking forward to the DC Tri that I'm having trouble getting excited for a different race.

My friend who was registered with me suggested I just skip the Olympic distance and sign up for the half Ironman he's doing in Rhode Island in July.

I won't lie, I considered it for a hot second, but then I thought of the 56 miles on the bike and that killed that idea.

I'm still not sure what to do. I think a very small part of me keeps hoping it's all bad dream and I'll wake up in the morning and the DC Tri will be back on.