Athlete Race Recap: St. Jude Rock ‘n’ Roll Washington, D.C.

On Saturday, March 15, 2025, Leslie Smith kicked off her running season when she raced the half marathon at St. Jude Rock ‘n’ Roll Washington, D.C.!

Washington, D.C. is one of Leslie’s favorite places to run, so it’s no surprise that she was excited to take a running tour of the nation’s capital in this race.  Her A-Race is later this year, and thus Leslie used this half marathon as a B-Race in her Annual Training Plan to check-in and see where she is at performance and training-wise.

Leslie has been an athlete for a long time and leveraged that experience to come up with a very reasonable and executable race strategy to deploy during the race.  She was able to feel strong and good throughout all 13.1 miles!  Her husband Rich and daughter Julie were at Mile 10 to surprise her and give her a boost for the final 5K, which was much needed at this stage of the race since fatigue was accumulating.  The turbo boost from seeing her family was enough to help Leslie pass several people in the final mile and she crossed the finish line feeling joyful and strong.
Way to go, Leslie!

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