Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run Race Report

"I did the Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run and all I got was this teeny tiny crappy picture."

Just kidding, sort of. I had hoped to get to see a Finish Photo, it even conveniently says "PROOF" on it, like, HERE'S PROOF I ACTUALLY FINISHED THIS THING. But all I got was a few shots of me in the background of others' photos, and I really had to hunt for them.
Put my internets-stalking-skillz to good use at least.
Yeah I stalked myself...... what of it?

Oh right. There is a race to be written about. To heyll with the paparazzi.

Overall thoughts on the race: SOOOO CROWDED. So my time totally sucked. Kind of a bummer. It was still cool to be a part of this bigass race though, and get to run all around our nation's capital and all that good stuff. Even though I grew up in this area, I didn't get to the capital all the time or anything, but obviously got to see it probably more than most people. I STILL get excited to see the Monument, Capitol, White House, and all the cool buildings.

Oh right, the race, the race.

Um, as you can see, other than seeing cool sites, I guess there wasn't a lot to write about the race. I got 'er done! My time (including a 5 min bathroom break) was 1:46:33. My goal time had been 1:35 (I had done a similar course 2 weeks before the race and completed my 10 miles in 1:38).

The disappointing part was that due to the huge crowds, the lines at the potties WERE HUGE and  I missed my wave start. I started in a wave slower than mine and my time suffered greatly as a result. At the first mile I looked down at my Garmin and it said something like 11:01. Ridiculous. I threw my goal time of 1:35 straight out the window, or threw it into the outhouse toilet, which applies more accurately in this case.

I don't remember what my time was at 5 miles, but I remember thinking "I'm halfway done with this bitch and I'm not even tired." Like, not even a little out of breath. The pace was just SO slow all around me. Even when I would get a chance to surge forward, I would get stuck behind someone slow-going immediately after.

Around mile 8.5 I got pretty darn tired, I think because I'm used to running at a relatively steady pace, but during the first 7 miles of the race I kept having to surge forward, pass, slow down, pass, weave, etc. I'm not really used to all of that. It might be good to practice more of that before my half in June.

That's about it!

Oh... I signed up with TNT again! My husband and I are doing the Marine Corps Marathon together in October. Very excited! I figured since I am doing a half in June, might as well finish what I started and do a full too, right?
http://pages.teamintraining.org/nca/corps11/sgallagm0a