Cherry Blossom Race

Today I ran the Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 mile run, aka the race where I did everything wrong and still managed to run my fastest pace ever. It turned out to be a really great run!

Mistake #1. Non-existent taper. First off, my legs have not been happy runners lately. Last weekend after Tristan and I ran, my right quad was sore for three days. Sore enough that it hurt to lift my leg up and down to press the gas pedal. I limped around for a few days, but I'm used to sore muscles. Then the pain from my quad started traveling down to my knee, then to my foot. There was one day where it hurt to put any weight on the lateral border of my foot. So I didn't. I didn't do any running, or any kind of cardio in the week leading up to the race. Even by Thursday or Friday, when my leg started to feel much better, I didn't even go for a short 3 mile run like I should have.

Mistake #2. Trying to do too much the day before the race. The day before the race, Tristan and I met up in DC to pick up our race packets. We were there with several of the girls from her class who were either running the 10-mile or 5K and my friend Joey came from Baltimore for the day to visit. Well Joey wanted to rent bikes and ride around DC and I thought that would be a lot of fun. I didn't want to do too much the day before the race though. We biked around the tidal basin and past some of the monuments and it was really fun. But it was also really crowded and we had to keep weaving around people and bumping over curbs and such. After awhile I was getting spasms shooting up through my right quad- again- just like earlier in the week! I didn't think it was anything to be too concerned about- it felt more like a cramp, not like my muscles were tired from overuse like before. Still, after an hour and a half of biking, I figured I should take it easy and call it quits.

Mistakes #3 and #4. Too much walking and late dinner. My next faux-pas was that on the way back to the hotel, I took the wrong metro. When I got off the metro to turn around and go back, I discovered that it was the last train on that line! The guy working there told me I could just walk to the next metro station and catch a different line from there. He gave me directions but failed to tell me that the next metro station was over 3 miles away! I walked for 45 minutes to get there. Not only were my feet starting to hurt by this point, but I was freezing because I didn't have a jacket. I finally got on the right metro and made it back to the hotel. Tristan was nice enough to pick me up some take-out from Olive Garden, but I didn't eat until at least 8:30pm (eating late is another big no-no before a race).

The night before I was nervous about the race. All my muscles felt tight. I used Tristan's muscle-roller-stick and rolled the heck out of my muscles! Even though it was painful, I felt better after. We went to bed around 10pm, but none of us could fall asleep for a while. We were just excited to be there together, to be in a hotel, and to be running a race the next day!

Race Day
On race day Tristan, Laura and I got up at 5am and left the hotel at 5:30. We wanted to have plenty of time to catch the metro, check our bags, and get to the starting corrals. We got in our corral early enough to get a good spot right in front! We love to start in the front of the pack if we can!

Here's where I have to give this race a lot of credit for being an extremely well-organized event. In other races, the waves run together and a lot of times you end up walking across the starting line in a herd of people. For this race, they had banners in front of each wave of runners so the corrals stayed separate. Each wave started two or three minutes apart with the sound of the horn.

Mile 1. This very well-organized start meant that we got to line up at the starting block and begin the race with room to run! There was absolutely no one in front of us since we got to start at the front of our corral. Of course people started passing us right away, but we were still near the front of the pack. It was so cool to be in front that we started out a little faster than normal. When a volunteer shouted that we had run 1 mile, I couldn't believe it- already? I looked down at my watch and realized we ran the first mile in 8:41- way faster than we normally run. It was cool, but I decided to back off the pace a little bit. We still had nine miles to go and I didn't want to poop out at the end.

Miles 2-3. During miles 2 and 3, Tristan and Laura got ahead of me. I wasn't too worried that I was falling behind because I know Tristan likes to start out a little faster than me. I just kept my pace, which felt somewhat faster than normal, but below pushing it. I missed mile marker 2 somehow, so I didn't record it on my watch, but the total for miles 2-3 was 17:58, so an average of just under 9 minutes for each of those miles. I started to get really excited about the possibility of doing the whole race at a 9 min-per-mile pace.

Mile 4. After mile 3, I hit my stride and started to pick up the pace a tad. I felt pretty comfortable doing miles 2-3 at a 9-minute pace, so I wanted to go a little faster to ensure I kept that pace. I got separated from Tristan and Laura at this point, but it was too crowded to try to stay together. We had a meeting place at the finish line so I didn't worry about it. Also at this point I realized my secret goal was within reach. I had secretly really wanted to run this race in under 1:30 because if I can do that, there's a good chance I can run a half marathon in under 2 hours. I didn't admit this goal to anyone because I didn't want to feel disappointed if I didn't do it.

Mile 5-7. I don't know what happened during mile 5. I guess I unconsciously slowed my pace without even realizing it. I was a little upset when I looked at my watch and saw a 9:13 show up on the screen. I knew my goal was still within reach since I'd run the first mile so fast. I pushed myself to go a little faster and vowed not to let a 9 show up again for the rest of the race! Miles 6 and 7 saw results- definitely under 9 minutes each! Sometime during mile six, I passed the 9:30 pace group, which had started in the wave ahead of me. It felt great to know that I'd caught up to them.

Miles 8-9. After mile 7, I was starting to get tired. I was pushing myself to go about 30 seconds per mile faster than my usual pace. But it also kind of felt good and I loved seeing those 8's! However, during mile 8, I took a longer than normal stop at the water station to take my gel along with two cups of water. I walked for about 20-30 seconds to take my gel, but it was totally worth it for the extra bit of energy. A lot of this part of the course was right by the water and really flat. That was great because miles 8 and 9 were hard. I knew I was slowing down a little, but every time I saw a mile marker I'd speed up to keep my time under 9 minutes!

Mile 10. After mile 9, I knew I could do this! Only one mile left to go! I was tired, but I tried to pick up the pace a little. I kept looking at my watch, calculating how many minutes I had left to run. Only 8 more minutes, then 7, then 6 minutes left of running. I was ready to be done! We turned onto the last road and I was ticked off because it was uphill! Grrr... Why would they do that to you at the home stretch? Still, I was so close! Only 4 minutes left to run, then 3. Time to pick up the pace even more. Then finally, finally, I could see the finish line and I started sprinting. Based on my timex, I finished in under 1:30! I was so excited!

So happy to be done!

My splits:
Mile 1. 8:41
Mile 2. 8:59
Mile 3. 8:59
Mile 4. 8:44
Mile 5. 9:13
Mile 6. 8:51
Mile 7. 8:44
Mile 8. 8:55
Mile 9. 8:52
Mile 10. 8:30

For those who are interested in the numbers:
Average pace: 8:52
Time for first 5 miles: 44:39
Time for last 5 miles: 43:53
(I did a negative-split! yay! Not by much, but still!)

Official race time: 1:28:32