DCCX: Cross in the District

Until last weekend, the only cross in the District was in National Cathedral. DCCX made its debut on Sunday, October 28 on the grounds of the Armed Forces Retirement Home. The venue that proved to be amazing.

Since it was also the Marine Corps Marathon that morning and I was driving in from Old Town, I was paranoid about closed streets, so I arrived early to ensure that I had plenty of time to get lost or turned around. But like a pro, I arrived without any issues.

Registration didn't open until about an hour after I arrived, so I prerode the course numerous times. Boy was it fun! Lots of great off cambor sections and great tracks. It was a long course--nearly 2 miles long! There were about 18 cat 3/4 women registered. I can't believe that is was only 3 or 4 years ago when a Women B race would only get 5 or 6 racers. It's very fun to see it grow.

Even better was that I had two bellas to race with. Nicole Shue and Kim Wendell, both new to the cross circuit, but dominant forces in mtb and triathlons. They definitely proved through mettle, for all of us took off like mad cats at the start. I was confidently in a pack for a bit and had a bella in front of me and behind me, until Kim pulled ahead of me. But we managed to stay together, while we bounced another racer between us and then finally behind us! I could hear Nicole cheering for us the entire way.

However the highlight of the race had to have been when from out of nowhere on the back stretch, I hear a voice from the streets call out my name. I had purposely not advertised my racing because I didn't want to force people to deal with Marathon traffic, so imagine my surprise when I look up and see my best friend Gretchen on Scooty, stopped at the intersection. She is the type of girl to stop for a bike race, but the odds of her spotting me like she did is crazy. She cheered me on and then followed me on her scooter, honking the entire time. It was so much fun, I only wishI hadn't been in the middle of the race so I could have stopped and talked!

Anyway, the Bellas finished strong 9, 10, 11 respectively our of 18 women. Interestingly, I hung around to see the results. So when they called the women's podium together, I meandered over to the registration tent to take a peek. I then heard Nicole's name announced for the podium. How cool! She must of pulled ahead or others may have had mechanicals! Then I heard my name called--for 2nd place! That's so not true, but I went anyway. Soon enough the realized their errors, but for awhile it was nice to stand high in 2nd place.