I ended up registered for the Revenge of the Penguins by chance. I was registered for a 10-miler scheduled for the previous spring, but I became incredibly sick the week of that race and requested to transfer my
bib to another race. The organization hosting the race was incredibly nice and told me I could transfer my bib to a September race called Revenge of the Penguins. Who doesn't love penguins? Black and white animals are adorable in general. One word. Pandas. I guess Zebras aren't so much adorable as majestic, but I am getting side tracked.Anyhow, I am so happy with how this twist of fate worked out because the course was beautiful. That said... getting there was an adventure.
The race was held at Carderock Park in Maryland. Basically, on the opposite side of DC (from me...give or take... I'm geographically challenged), near Bethesda. I could not find an exact address for the Park, but I wasn't worried. I try not to look at any of the race information until the morning of the race because I like the element of surprise, or apparently, being lost. I also find reading directions painful, which is why I don't own any IKEA products.
The day of the race, I even slept in a little...because I am an idiot. My logic - no one will be on the road, and Google maps
can get me to the park because Google maps can do anything. Well, Google maps dropped me in the back of a
neighborhood in Maryland, and apparently wanted me to abandon my car and
hike to the middle of the forest. That didn't seem right. Race time was quickly approaching. I left the adorable, but incorrect Maryland neighborhood and got back on the main road. I drove around about 20 more minutes looking for civilization. Keep in mind, it wasn’t even 8 in the morning, and I was in a wilderness area, so there weren’t a lot of options. Suddenly, what did I see ahead? A bakery! Perfection! I would stop, get a delicious pre-race treat, get directions to the park and be on my way! I went into the bakery and asked the store owner about the location of Carderock park.
Turns out, I had stumbled upon a Korean bakery, which although delicious, presented a slight language barrier. The man behind the counter had never heard of the park. Well, that was a bummer. Oh wait, another customer walked in. I asked that gentleman about the park. He could speak very little English and did not recognize the park. Fuck. I thought to myself, this sucks...and, I should look into Rosetta Stone. I'm never making the race.
Luckily, the
shit in the bakery looked delicious, so as a consolation, I purchased a number of fruit tarts, cookies
and danishes and got back in my car #healthy. I
gave up the ghost and started to drive home. The
Nation’s Triathlon (the real badasses) was about to start in downtown DC, so instead of driving back through
the city to get home, I decided to take 495.
As I drove towards 495, I saw a sign for the Carderock Park’s picnic area! It was a race day miracle. I ended up getting to the race 5 minutes
before start.I can't say enough about the course. We ran on the C&O Canal Towpath. It was gorgeous. Just look at the pictures. At one point, the Potomac river was on one-side and the locks of the C&O Canal were on the other. It was quiet and beautiful.
I have noticed that Maryland courses (based on all two
Maryland races that I have run in) tend to be narrower, which is a little difficult in the beginning, but I think makes for a more pleasant race overall because it usually means the race is off the beaten path, smaller, and quieter. The description online says it perfectly, "low-key, low-stress."
At the end of the race was an incredibly grungy looking penguin mascot being inundated with children who wanted to be held. Watching that spectacle towards the finish line gave me a good giggle. There is no way that mascot costume could be dry cleaned enough to recover from that day. More importantly, at the end of the race was tons of peanut butter, and we received a nifty windbreaker with a picture of the penguin emblem, which you see above.
I definitely recommend signing up for this race. See http://www.mc-coop.org/revenge_of_the_penguins.aspx
I know I want run it again!
