I do know that, next to the Marine Corps Marathon in October, it's probably the most popular race in DC. Originally established as a springtime training run for marathoners preparing for Boston, the race now attracts a crowd of 15,000 participants, including some major celebrities of the running world! I didn't know this, until I read the blog of elite local runner, Chris Sloane. (FYI, if you want a fast-action race report from the elite runner crowd, read his here. Just reading it got me excited--as if I was reading about a horse race from the horse's point of view!)
I was most certainly NOT in the elite crowd, by any stretch of the imagination. While those gentlemen were hoping to finish in under fifty-five minutes, I was hoping to finish in under ninety, a feat that I did not accomplish. (I finished under 100 minutes, but not under ninety....maybe next time.)
Anyway, on to my race report:
Race-day morning, after a solid five hours of sleep, I woke up bright and early at 5:00 am and got ready to go. I have a bad habit of wandering aimlessly in the mornings, so I was glad my girlfriend Katie was staying with me, or else I would have dawdled and putzed around for extra minutes instead of venturing out to the race. Katie and I were both wearing our fabulous pink "sparkle skirts" for this occasion and, if I do say so myself, we looked mighty spiffy boarding the metro next to other less-sparkling runners.
It felt so relaxing to take the metro downtown after last weekend's driving debacle at the marathon, and since we got on at the end of the line, we had actual seats. (Win!) The metro was not too crowded at all, considering how many people were running. Even when we got to Metro Center, the main transfer point from all the other metro lines, it still wasn't too bad!
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| Those white gate-things is what I had to squeeze through to join my corral. |
We got down to the Mall around 6:40am--still plenty of time to deliver to Cassie her bib and Dtag, check our bags, then get to the start. But strangely, as we were walking down to bag check, someone made an announcement that bag check would be closing in seven minutes. Seven minutes?!? Yikes! That put a spring in our previously leisurely step! In hindsight, I'm almost 100% sure they were just trying to move people along and that they would still actually take your bags if you showed up after the seven minute cut off, but if that was their plan, it worked!--We made a dash straight to bag check!
Bag check was organized by our bib numbers, so Katie and I split up to check our bags. Unfortunately, that was the last time I saw her until after the race. I checked my phone and promptly lost her in the sea of runners. As I was checking stuff, I found Cassie and delivered her bib and shirt to her. We checked our bags and stood around trying to look for Katie for a few minutes. (One would think, with a sequin hot pink running skirt, she would not be that hard to miss! But the place was packed and it was quite a large sea of pink among the runners.) Eventually, we gave up and headed to the start. We were in different waves and as I stopped to get a cup of water, I turned around and I'd lost Cassie too. Argh--no friends at the start! Boo.
Fortunately, I was standing right next to my wave group. I was still outside the corral and couldn't figure out how/where to actually join the runners in my wave, so I had to squeeze myself through the dividers into the corral start--MacGyver-style pre-race! Although it was windy, the weather was bright and sunny--much better than Saturday, when it was cold and pouring rain. I tried to get as close to the front of my wave as possible, as it was clear the course was going to be crowded with people. Everyone was so excited and in such a great mood!
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| Look how happy everyone looks! |
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| Orange Wave. |
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| My bodyguards. |
The race started at 7:40 am officially, but I don't think I actually crossed the starting line until around 7:50 am--plenty of time for me to take pictures of the Washington Monument and the sun rising as I waited. (pictures are forthcoming. :)) When we finally did cross the start, it took some time to get moving. The crowds of runners were really crammed in! It was difficult to speed up beyond the pace of the herd. Had I not been trying to be under ninety minutes, I probably wouldn't have minded, but I wanted to start at a pace that was a little faster than my typical comfortable pace and really challenge myself. It was hard if not impossible with the masses and I wasted a lot of time and energy trying to dart around people or zig-zag in, out and around people in an attempt to get more space to myself. At one point, I saw someone's ipod and headphones they'd dropped, but it was too crowded for anyone, even a good samaritan, to try to pick it up....I would have been stampeded! I felt bad for them. They probably didn't even notice their ipod was missing until much further along in the race.
Sometime between crossing the start line and hitting the Mile 1 marker, I realized I forgot to set my stopwatch. (I was truly a big space cadet before this race!) I immediately set it, while trying not to trip over other runners, and I just figured I'd subtract five minutes from my time whenever I checked it. As it turns out, this race was pretty high tech for a ten-miler, in that it had mile markers that were clocking the gun time as I ran past. After last weekend’s marathon, I've come to have a greater appreciate mile-markers along the course. Although, being unused to a ten mile race, I kept calculating miles as if I was running 13.1 and not 10. At mile 5, instead of thinking I was halfway through, I definitely said to myself, "Oh, seven more miles to go!" See? It was a space-case day for me.
Also before I hit mile 1, I saw a pack of elite runners making their way back down Independence Avenue. (re: Mile 5...wowza!)
The first five or six miles of this race were lovely....running around the Tidal Basin, the Lincoln Memorial, down next to the Kennedy Center all surrounded by the cherry blossoms at their peak bloom! It was really beautiful and a fun cardiovascular way to sight-see! However, it was very difficult to take any pictures though, because it was so crowded. It did not really lighten up and spread out until we circled back past the Tidal Basin and headed to the dreaded "Hains Point" a long, quiet and infamously boring part of the course. (Hains Point is also a feature on the course of the Marine Corps Marathon and the Jingle-All-the-Way-10K and thus is particularly despised by DC runners.)
Luckily, the crowds were at least a little bit lighter, so it was easier to get into my stride and enjoy the scenery and snap some pictures. Unluckily, my knee was causing me a bit of pain. My IT band was hurting and my knee felt like it was making a popping sound and tightening up. Ugh. I was unsure if this was a result of trying to run a bit faster than I usually do (probably not because, although that was my intent, I think it was too crowded for me to succeed), or a result of doing this race only seven days after finishing the marathon. I was guessing the latter. I also realized that I didn't take any of my usual pre-race drugs (imodium and aspirin) and I hadn't needed to use a bathroom since I first woke up in the morning (possibly dehydrated?). Mentally, I started to worry that I was ill-prepared for this race and shouldn't be running it, but I did my best to block out any negative thoughts from my brain...I was just hitting mile seven and I still had three miles to go! (Three, Mary-Michael’s brain--not 6.1!)
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| Blossoms blossoms EVERYWHERE! |
I stopped at a medical tent and picked up some Bayer. I figured, even though I was almost finished with the race, it could really only help my knee situation. At the bottom of Hains Point (Mile 8) There were 2 guys with a sign: “Yuengling and Oreos!” A strange combination? I wasn't sure, but they weren't offering it out to the runners as we past, so I figured it was just for their friends....or an evil taunt, either way I wasn't in an Oreos and Yuengling mood quite yet.
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| I ran on that side of the river last week during the National Marathon. |
As we past Mile 8, I realized that my watch and the mile-marker both had me at about 80-ish minutes. I realized, even if I sprinted past everyone, I'd still not make my 90 minute goal. I was disappointed, but determined to make it as close to my 90 minute mark as I could. I really enjoyed the last two miles of that race. Even though my knee was hurting, I was still full of energy and able to pick up the pace. I'm not sure if the crowds were collectively slowing down or if I finally had enough room to move, but I was able to pass what felt like a LOT of people with relative ease AND still get some good pictures in! (Don't quote me, but I believe 2,000 of the 3,000 Japanese Cherry Blossom trees that were gifted from Japan to the US are actually planted on Hains Point, so there were PLENTY of prime photo opportunities!)
There was a small incline as the course came up past the Tidal Basin one last time, but I didn't notice because the course was full of loud and excited spectators and I was eager to get to the finish and not slow down. Then the last quarter mile dash to the finish line was all downhill. I LOVE that!! I broke into a sprint and zoomed down and across the finish line! I was feeling so excited and energized!
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| Quick-Pic while sprinting toward the finish. |
The finish line was very efficient. They kept runners moving toward bag check and the food/medal areas, so it was quick and easy to grab my stuff from bag check. I found Katie really fast and we went to pick up our medals and meet up with her parents, who are hilarious and were super-excited for us. Her mom, who I’ve only met once, gave me a huge hug and announced she had gotten a picture of me running to the finish line. Yay!
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| Finished! |
When we had first registered for the race, they'd asked if we wanted to pay extra to receive a finisher's medal. At first I was against this, because it wasn't a half or full marathon, and thus didn't warrant a medal. But then I thought, "What if the medal is super-awesome and I regret not getting it?!" So, I ordered one to be on the safe side, also figuring, it might be my only opportunity to run this race. Ordering the medal was a great decision! It's very cool, includes the date and is appropriately smaller than a half or full marathon medal.
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| Hi Michelle! "Let's Move!" |
We found Cassie shortly after and snapped a few pictures of the three of us in our sparkle skirts, with cherry blossoms and DC landmarks in the background, then headed off to a well-earned brunch at delicious Front Page!
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| Cheers! My first 10-miler in the books. |
My official time was 98 minutes and 36 seconds (A 9:52 pace). I would really like to focus on my speed work and try it again to see if I can make a 10-miler under 90 minutes.
Race Pros:
-Beautiful scenery
-Cheerful runners
-Enthusiastic and plentiful spectators
-Great T-shirt and medal (at least this year)
-VERY well-organized and efficiently run race. (major props for having the metro open over two hours before the race starts!)
Race Cons:
-Crowded, crowded crowded! I really cannot imagine how the MCM manages to fit 30,000! people on some of this course. It must be really tight in some areas!
-Packet pick-up was in one place, insanely crowded and had an astounding line. A race this size should definitely have more than one location (or day) for packet pick up.
Read my pre-race report here and my Cherry Blossom poetry here!
Congratulations! That is a great time while taking so many beautiful pics of the cherry trees :)
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