We did it!!!!
A new race PR: 10 miles in 1:28:27, for an average pace of 8:51! Yay!
The morning started bright and early down at the mall. It was such a beautiful day for a race! Cool, breezy, clear and sunny.
There were SO many people running this race – it was slightly out of control.
So out of control, in fact, that we missed our wave’s start time because we were waiting in a HUGE line for the portapotties!! Fail… should have arrived earlier!
Bah. I figured I’d rather start with a later wave than not be able to go to the bathroom before the race, though!
As a result of starting so late, my running buddy Ashley and I spent the WHOLE race dodging around people since we were in a much slower wave than we should have been. It was super crowded and rather frustrating… we both thought we could have finished with a way better time if this hadn’t happened, but c’est la vie! I’m just happy we beat our Army Ten Miler time of 1:30:01! 🙂
Here are our rough splits from my Garmin watch:
- Mile 1: 9:00 (it was hard to get moving in the crowd!)
- Mile 2: 8:36
- Mile 3: 8:32
- Mile 4: 8:34
- Mile 5: 8:54 (walked through the water/gatorade stations)
- Mile 6: 8:39
- Mile 7: 8:55 (walked through another water/gatorade station)
- Mile 8: 8:39
- Mile 9: 8:41 (hardest mile… getting tired!!)
- Mile 10: 8:34
My watch actually said we did 10.19 miles, so our splits are a bit off. Not sure if the course was long or if it was due to running on the outside edge of curves trying to pass people for most of the race or what!
I’m happy to report my knees held up fine — my left knee (the opposite one that I hurt in the fall) was actually feeling really stiff/weird during the end of the race, but it seems okay now. I’m currently icing like a mofo and bought myself a foam roller this afternoon! 🙂
All in all, I’d call this race a big success! Want to know something funny? There were actually no Cherry Blossoms to be seen! Lol. We were all like wait… where did they go!?! Guess they peaked last weekend! 🙂
Thanks for all your good luck tweets and comments, everyone! 🙂
After the race, I walked over to Clyde’s to meet Sabrina, her husband, and a bunch of their friends for brunch! Yay!
(Excuse my “I haven’t showered yet” look aka hot mess… haha)
Sabrina was in town from Philly this weekend for the race (congrats again on rocking it girl!) but couldn’t make it to the blogger lunch yesterday, and we really wanted to meet so she invited me to join them today! Brunch was great — nothing like a big awesome meal after a long run. Especially with good company! Meeting up with other bloggers always feels like seeing an old friend 🙂
I ordered the “Eggs Chesapeake,” which was an English muffin topped with two crab cakes and two poached eggs. It was SO amazing. Clyde’s has awesome crab cakes 🙂 I nixed the hollandaise sauce (not a fan) and got fruit instead of potatoes. Mmmm!
I also got a glass of milk randomly while we were waiting for the food since I was about to die of starvation 😉 The post-race banana and gatorade didn’t cut it!
What a great day! After brunch I picked my brother up from the airport — he’s in town until Tuesday morning so I’m taking tomorrow off work to hang out with him 🙂
I’m feeling accomplished and exhausted. Running that far makes me SO TIRED!!!! Goodnight!!
