Credit Union Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run - Run10 Mile


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Washington, Washington, D.C.
United States
Credit Union Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run
50F / 10C
Sunny
 		Total Time = 1h 38m 32s
Overall Rank = 4216/8288
Age Group = F35-39
Age Group Rank = 549/1121
Pre-race routine:

I got up around 6am to leave at 6:30am for the race. Ate 2 pieces of toast w/pb and a little water.
Event warmup:

This will be the most exciting part of the race report. I was running w/ my husband and our intention was to have a nice low key race and enjoy the Cherry Blossoms.

However, the babysitter was an hour late. So at 7:34am we left the house. The elite racers were scheduled to start at 7:40am followed by 6 waves ever 3 min. So I figured we had until 7:58am to drive to the Pentagon, park, hop on the metro and run down to the start line in order to catch the last group of racers starting.

So warmup consisted of sprinting to the metro entrance from the parking lot and sprinting about .5 out of the metro, up to the mall and over to the Washington Monument. We got there around 8:10am and not a single runner was in site. We ran along side the fence to find a spot to get in and saw a race official to ask if we could start. She said go but get ahead of the pick up crew. We took off - HR around 175 and running 2 min. a mile faster than any race I'd done. It was quite a warmup. LOL
Run
  • 00m
  • 10 miles
  •  min/mile
Comments:

Our race started in a mad dash to the start. We took off across the mats hoping to track down the pack. We ran the first bit all alone. At the first turn, they were already closing the barrier so they let us through and pointed us in the correct direction. We were still on our own then we finally saw the street sweepers. We caught up and passed them next looking for the police car and runner pickup bus. We caught up to them closing in on mile 2 while crossing the Memorial bridge. After passing the police car, we finally started to run through the stragglers. By mile 3, we were at the back of the pack.

So after we caught up to the street sweepers then the police end of the line escort and finally the tail end of the running pack, we were able to catch our breath and settle into a nice pace. We spent the rest of the race passing people until the very end not that we were running at some lightening speed. I gained a very different perspective running the race as the very last person (literally) to start. It was kind of funny running down the street by ourselves.

While we had planned for this race to be very boring, it took about 3 miles before we were able to settle into our plan. I will always look back on this race and laugh about the start. :-)
What would you do differently?:

Try to be on time. And eat a little more breakfast - although my timing was off because of the last start. I was starving by the end of the race.
Post race
Warm down:

Walked back to metro and went home.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Nothing - I wasn't trying to run any faster.

Event comments:

The race course was nice and the volunteers were great. The event was well-run but the post food snacks were lacking and so far from the finish. It was hard to get to the tables.




Last updated: 2008-12-16 12:00 AM
Running
00:00:00 | 10 miles |  min/mile
Age Group: 549/1121
Overall: 1121/8288
Performance: Average
Mostly in the 150s once I recovered from the mad dash to the start.
Course: Super flat - nice scenery. Great crowds and volunteers.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
Physical exertion [1-5] 3
Good race? Ok
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Below average
Race evaluation [1-5] 3