Great day for a run. I was in the second wave, which in theory had 3 seed groups, but we all just ended up in a large jumble. No harm, no foul, we were the "slow" group anyway.

Never done a race this large, figured it would be good to have the experience for MCM, and it's the Army 10 Miler! With so many people, you get to pass LOTS of people. (OK, and get passed, but I wasn't paying attention to that part.) First mile was up Washington Blvd - pretty, lots of trees and such and quite flat. Gotta love that. Knocked out the first mile in 10:31 and for once, didn't find myself worrying about going out too fast.

Second mile takes you over Memorial Bridge into the city. This is my second run that had that - I *love* that. I think it's because any other day of the week, you'd get in a lot of trouble for running down the middle of the bridge. :)

Then the first aid station. Kind of a disaster - with the fuel belt ban, the volunteers were really overwhelmed and they just didn't have enough people. I've done enough of these to at least know you really need at least 2 folks per table. They did have enought to drink, but it cost me a lot of time. The rest of the mile was nice - down Virginia Ave, lots of buildings I don't remember ever even seeing before. Note to self: Go do the Voice of America tour now that you know about it. :)

Next mile was down next to the river. What a gorgeous view. Nice calm day, the leaves are starting to turn, the river is just beautiful. Another sub 11 mile, woohoo!

Hit the halfway point after another aid station extended "break"... I'm still sub 11 overall, we're on the mall, and the second half is where we really started getting more spectators - combination of being a little later in the morning and just more accessible overall. I am sure there were a few very confused tourists out there.

Hit the mile 6 marker and I'll readily admit I'm getting mildly annoyed. I'm still sub 11, but barely. The only 2 miles that have been over 11 minutes have been with aid stations and I've still got 2 ahead of me. I'm mad at the RD for throwing his volunteers under the bus with the no fuel belt rule, and mad at myself for forgetting the one thing I've learned about these large races - wait until the SECOND half of the aid station to get something.

You know how you have an angel and a devil on your shoulders? Well, the angel is patting me on the head saying, "You're still sub 11 and only competing against yourself..." The devil, who up to this point has apparently been drinking boilermakers and poking badgers with spoons all morning chimes in... "You want your sub 11, grab it by the short hairs and make it yours. You've got 4 miles left, get your head in the game and get your ass in gear and go." He then proceeded to check the angel off my shoulder and whack her in the head with a hockey stick. The game was ON.

Hit the next aid station, kept running til nearly the last table, grabbed my drink, downed it and kept going. Made my way back down the Mall, thinking it's probably a good thing I'm back in school and will have more things to keep my brain occupied because obviously it's bored and trying to kill me, but kept on trucking along.

Hit mile 8, still sub 11, not by much, but still there and I will NOT lose it. Cruised through the aid station like an old pro - found the table with no lines once again. Patience is a virtue I guess. :) Next, it's over the 14th Street bridge, and this is really the only "hill" on the course - funny how you never notice it when you're driving it. Folks are fading fast around me - it's gotten quite a bit warmer and faster than I certainly expected, but see the hill, take the hill.

Crested it and seriously enjoyed the rest of the bridge - again, it's that whole "you're not supposed to do this" thing I guess. Lots of sailboats out this morning on the river too - some sort of festival or something going on.

Hit the mile 9 marker - I have 12 minutes and 1 second to get to the finish and have a sub 11. There is no way on God's green earth I am going to use all 12 of those minutes, especially cause anyone can do a mile. :-D

The last half mile is a bit of a downhill grade, which was AWESOME. You make a hard right turn and you can see the finish and while I can't say I kicked out a sprint, I definitely just kept speeding up and speeding up some more. Hit the timing mats, checked my watch, and was VERY happy. Best mile was the last mile - 10:16.

They're telling folks to "keep jogging at least another 50 feet" - HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA - so NOT happening. They've got a line of volunteers on the right side trying to keep people moving, which I really DO understand, but there was a gap between them and the wall of about 3 feet, so I kinda snuck behind one of them so I was totally out of the way and could just STOP for a couple seconds. I got the break I needed before he realized I was stopped and told me I had to keep going, so I got back out and walked on. Got some looks from a couple more of the volunteers and I couldn't help it and blurted out to no one in particular, "The first person that tells me I have to move faster is going to get punched." OK, not exactly sportsmanlike, but I am doing good to be upright and moving forward, so please don't push it.

Don't screw up on the aid stations. But still, a 2:55 improvement over the parkway 10 miler in April!!!!!

Wander around, get water, forget how to coordinate walking/breathing/drinking and have major coughing fit right in front of the med tent, which almost resulted in my getting pulled in. I assured them I was upright, it was all good.


Still got a sub 11, VERY happy with it, but again, screwing up on the first 2 aid stations did not help me.


Some nitpicky things:
-- If you're going to have a list of prohibited items a mile long, ostensibly for "security" reasons, please actually enforce it. There was supposedly a security checkpoint to get to the start - I certainly didn't go through it.
-- Allowing cameras while prohibiting fuel belts, cell phones and HRM's makes no sense whatsoever. A determined bad guy can do as much with a camera as with an HRM or cell phone.

But, it's a great course, brings in a fair amount of spectators, the parachute teams at the start were very cool, and I'd do it again.