Race Report: Cherry Blossom Ten Miler

Yesterday was the Cherry Blossom Ten Miler.
It was a hoot, and a beautiful day to run. The ten miles started, essentially, at the base of the Washington Monument. It headed out towards the Lincoln Memorial, over Memorial Bridge towards Arlington Cemetery, back across the bridge, left at the Lincoln to the Kennedy Center where it turned around and headed back down the Potomac. We crossed over the Tidal Basin with the Jefferson off to our right, and then bent around and headed out to Hains Point and around the point and back up over a small bridge and back to the Washington Monument.

The course was largely flat, with one small hill right near the end. The sites were beautiful, and the race was really well run. I passed one mile at 11:19 elapsed time. I then covered the next 4 miles in 31 passing 5 miles at 42 on the button. I passed 6 at 50 minutes and I remember passing 8 at 1:06:06. I crossed the line at 1:22+ and my final time was 1:19:02 for ten miles. I was stoked with that time and stoked with the effort. I ran a good race, and a smart race and I'm happy with that. I feel like I flagged a bit at 6-8, there was a stiff headwind along the Potomac, but I'm not sure. I crossed 9 around 1:14+ and kicked into overdrive in 9-10. I went sub-8 for that mile which makes me happy.

Mrs. A did great at her first ten miles ever (never mind a race) and did 1:55:59 after battling a nasty cough that debilitated her for the past two weeks. All the HC people did well and it was awesome to see the transformations that occurred in that group.

The performance of the day belonged to David C. He scorched a 1:15 net time and actually crossed the finish line two minutes ahead of me despite starting about 2 minutes after I did! He was a man on a mission, and it was impressive.

It was a great day, the weather was gorgeous, and something I'll never forget is the site of Arlington National Cemetery upon the hill in front of me as I crossed memorial bridge. Awesome.

Overall Age Group 5 miles Elapsed Time Net Time Pace
1822 250/1052 39:54 1:22:06 1:19:02 7:55

I got in a couple of desultory runs last week prior to the race but it wasn't anything to write home about.