Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run

This past weekend I was in DC for the Cherry Blossom 10 miler.



This is the first 10 mile race I have ever run. And, I was going to race this one coming off of an injury. In the days leading up to the race, I was very nervous. It has a strict cutoff time and I really considering backing out and running the 5K instead.



The Metro on the way to the Expo on Saturday, April 4, was unbelievably crowded. I was concerned with getting to the race start on Sunday.



I arrived at the race site very early and before dawn. it was 48 degrees and I was freezing! I only had on a short sleeve top and a race skirt. As I waited, I became increasingly colder. When we finally lined up in our designated corrals, I was shaking from cold. Then, I started to wonder just how much energy I had already expended through shivering. That concerned me greatly; so, I ate a Swedish fish to replenish.



FINALLY, the race started just as the sun came up. I was so nervous about not being able to finish that I ran the 1st mile a minute and a half faster than I had intended to. I reasoned that I had just bought some extra time if I needed it, and made myself slow down a little.



The crowd was huge, and the course was tight. Fortunately, there were no strollers in this race; and, I did not come across any walkers until mile 3. Every time the course looped back on itself I saw thousands of runners both ahead of and behind me. As I passed the mile 5 timing mats and checkpoint, I noted that my time was fine for finishing under the limit.



I had one moment of panic when I came up to the mile 7 marker. My time had really slowed down! A quick check of my Garmin showed that the mile 7 marker was really at mile 7.2. I was afraid mile 8 might land at mile 8.2, so I sped up a little. But, mile 8 was where it should be. As I passed that, I realized I was going to finish with time to spare, and I calmed down and slowed down a little.



Crossing that finish line was great!!! I really believed that I would not do it. But, I did. And, I even ran the entire race at a pace of 1:10 min/mile faster than I ran a 15K this time last year.



AND, I had no pain at all the entire race.



My friend Ken ran this, too. He was up in the first (fast) corral and had an excellent time.

This race was a good one all around.