This was an incredible race, both from an experience standpoint and a performance standpoint. I've never raced a 10-miler, but I've done it in training several times and this was much faster than I was hoping for, particularly given the week I'd had.

My foot was cramping while waiting in the start corral so I was a little concerned. I tried to jog on it and it seemed ok, so I figured I would start out slow and see how it felt. I somehow (again) got placed in a slower wave than my pace so I went ahead and jumped in with one of the groups ahead of me. My leg and foot were feeling good, but I didn't want to celebrate too early so I tried to pay close attention and adjust my pace as needed. I did the first mile in 8:23 and worried I might be going too fast. The second mile was a few seconds faster so I deliberately slowed to 8:30 for the third. But then I got stuck next to the heavy breather. And I'm not talking about normal heavy breathing I'm talking about loud, labored breathing with a very forceful exhale. I had a choice - either throw myself into the Potomac or drop the guy so I picked up the pace and tried to get away. It took me over a mile and I ended up dropping my time to just over 8. I was able to settle into an 8:13-8:19 pace pretty consistently for the remainder.

There is an incredibly positive feeling in this race and inspiration pretty much everywhere. There were a lot of amputees running, many who seemed to just be learning to run with prosthetics. All of them were way too young. There were tons of people running in honor of a friend or family member who is either still serving or who died serving and seeing the thousands of faces and names was very moving. And the energy level was unbeatable. Several Army band groups, other bands along the route and groups doing cadence calls all helped to keep up the momentum. It also didn't hurt to have the cute Army guys handing out water and Gatorade.

It was also fun to do a non-marathon race with such a huge field and adequate room along the course. I especially enjoyed a stretch along Independence Ave where the faster runners had made the turnaround and were running on the other side of the street. There was a lot of cheering and encouragement amongst the runners.

I was somewhat amazed when I reached mile 8 and my legs and feet weren't giving out on me so I picked up the pace and pushed it to the end. The last couple miles cover the bridges we started on so there are some steep hills. I was sure my pace had died off, but was surprised to see my 9th mile was just over 8 and my 10th was 7:59, my fastest of the race. I hit my watch at the finished and was thrilled with my time.

Not a single thing. This was a great race for me.

I walked through the finisher area, had a muffin and some water and went to find my group and wait for the others to finish. I did a lot of stretching while I waited and stretched again later when we got home. We went straight to breakfast still dressed in race gear.


Nagging injuries paying me a new visit. My volume increase over the past few weeks has no doubt violated the 10% rule so I've been tempting fate all along. I'm just pleased things seem to be under control for the moment.

I am also having a hard time relaxing my shoulders due to my knotted muscles on the left side. PT should help with this.


I've done a lot of running races and this was by far one of the most fun and most organized races. I'll definitely be back if my schedule and body allow it next year.