u/storyglitter

I ran the national women's half this past weekend which I'm very proud of, but my experience with my run club has me feeling off and I'm wondering if anyone has felt a similar way.

For context: I'm a paid member of a pretty large run club in DC which I trained with for this race. Anyone can run with us, but being a paid member comes with extra perks like a shirt only for members, discounts on races, etc. I made sure to wear my run club member shirt for this race.

I’m curious if anyone else has experienced any of the following dynamics at a race. I finished later than a lot of members in my club (many people either finished earlier or ran the shorter distance option), and by the time I made it over to where the ladies were gathered, they had already taken the group photos/TikToks/etc. When I asked if they'd be willing to film one more time, one of the club captains brushed me off and said "they already did it so many times.” I feel like they could've at least asked the group. They also took the main group picture without me which sucks because several ladies saw me on the course, so I'm bummed they couldn't wait. You had 4 hrs to finish this race, and I finished more than an hour before that. In short, I'm not in any of the post race tiktoks or photos posted on socials, and I feel very left out.

I don’t think this was intentional or malicious at all. I know race days are chaotic, people finish at different times, and I was also dealing with some pretty rough chafing/soreness so I wasn’t moving quickly after the finish to walk the half mile back to where they were 😭

But I’d be lying if I said it didn’t make me sad, especially since this was my first half marathon and I've shown up to support runners at previous races. This was the longest I've ever run, and I was really looking forward to going through the cheer squad for the first time and my joy being captured like it has been for many others.

I think what especially got to me was that they seemed to get photos/videos of pretty much everyone else except me. Apparently camera settings were off when they took pics of me, so there weren’t any good cheer squad videos/photos of me specifically. When I mentioned feeling disappointed, another captain told me “there will be other races.” And logically, I know that’s true. But emotionally, it still hurts because there’s only one first half marathon.

I guess I’m wondering:

• Is this just a normal reality of larger run clubs/races?

• How do groups usually handle people finishing at very different times?

• And if you’ve felt this before, how did you reframe it?

I’m still really proud I finished and overall had a positive experience. I think I’m just processing the emotional/social side of race day more than I expected. It makes me not want to go back to run club :(

The National Women's Half was my first half marathon! While I don't regret this being my first half, I have a few thoughts in case anyone is thinking about running it next year.

1. The start and finish line is fairly far from any public transit compared to other DC races I've done. Walking a mile + after running 13.1 was rough 😭

2. The race isn't exclusively women. I thought it was which is why I signed up for this race and was surprised to see men running it too.

3. I wish there were separate half marathon and 8k medals. Other races (like the rock & roll series) do this, and I would've paid more for a distinct half marathon medal design.

4. The double loop near the Kennedy Center was SO confusing. At one point the 1:10 pace group passed me and I panicked because I thought somehow I made a wrong turn. Even reviewing the course map beforehand, it was still difficult to follow in the moment. The layout also makes course cutting easy especially with no bib tracking.

5. I do love that they offer free race photos. However, a lot of my photos didn’t automatically attach to my bib even though my bib number was visible, so if you’re missing photos, definitely try uploading a selfie for facial recognition.

6. This is a fairly small race which I appreciated for my first half marathon. You also get 4 hrs to finish which makes it feel approachable. The only con to this is there are less people to cheer you on and it's fairly quiet in some sections, especially if you're a slower runner like me.

Overall, I still think this race is worth doing. It’s affordable, beginner-friendly, and it was really special being surrounded by so many women accomplishing something incredible.