Just Another Nike Women's DC Half Recap Part 1

Well, like many others I too ran the Nike Women's Inaugural DC Half this weekend.  I've always read great things about the Nike events and really wanted to run their San Francisco marathon or half marathon so I jumped on the chance when I read they were doing an inaugural race in DC! It's a female focused, Nike focused race which is super popular because you get a special Tiffany's necklace in lieu of a medal.  

What lady doesn't  love a little blue box after running 13.1 miles? 

Since the races are so popular there is a lottery to ensure a field of only 15,000 runners.  I was accepted automatically through the college student registration which still had a hefty registration fee of a little less than the normal $160, but still, that's the most I've ever paid (and probably will) for a race. I think you are pretty much paying for that Tiffany's swag.

My best friend lives in DC, and I just crashed on her couch for the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler so she didn't  mind seeing me again :)  I got down to the city on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon the day prior to the race. I was expecting it to be crowded, and it was. The Georgetown Nike store was mobbed because it was full of Nike race gear, and the expo was in a tent a few blocks away near the water.  

When I got there the line for packet pickup was around 0.25 miles long. YIKES!  

The boyfriend went to go grab us Baked and Wired cupcakes for lunch (best cupcakes in Georgetown, IMO) which included a big red velvet cupcake for me.   The line ended up moving pretty quickly, but still, it was long. Finally I picked up my bib and pace wristband that I needed to get into the corral and headed to the Expotique. 

I was really disappointed with this.  The tent was small and crowded. It only had major sponsors such as Luna bar and Nuun, which had samples of what they would have on the course, along with Team in Training.  

The main focus I felt was the Nike shoes and the limited edition collection of NWM DC shoes.  

They had a little game where you could type in a code on three different wall spots to see if you won a prize which was neat, but again, it was crowded so less fun than it seemed.  The limited edition Nike shoes are very pretty and an appropriate Tiffany blue color but a little expensive for my budget.  I ended up getting the half zip (pre-birthday gift to myself) from the Nike Store which was less crowded on the way back. 

 I also got to find my name on the wall outside the Nike store with all the runners names which I thought was really cool.  Afterwards I had a fairly relaxing afternoon and dinner to gear up for the race the next morning.  

Next up, race recap Part 2 of the actual race :) Keep reading!