Will Write 4 Travel: Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run 2013

Apr 11, 2013

Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run 2013 - Race Recap

On Sunday, I ran my first race in DC. I was really looking forward to this race for several reasons. The Cherry Blossom 10 Miler is such a classic DC run. Also, getting a spot in the race can be difficult. They operate on a lottery system, and I am fortunate to have gotten in on my first attempt.

As I mentioned before, I went to the Race Expo after work on Friday to pick up my race bib and t-shirt.

I was assigned the Green Wave, which would be the second to last wave to start.

I went to bed fairly early on Saturday night but that didn't mean I was all bright eyed and bushy tailed by 5:30 am on Sunday morning. I laid out my outfit the night before so I wouldn't disturb Raisin Bread too much before I headed out. He still got out of bed and took a picture of me in my race outfit.

Like my headband? I purchased it at the Expo!

Since he was up, Raisin Bread offered to drop me off at the Metro. What a nice hubby!

I exited the Smithsonian Metro by around 6:30 and was greeted with this beautiful sunrise over the Capitol Building.

Then I walked about 0.25 miles to the grounds of the Washington Monument to the staging area.

I also passed by the starting line on my walk over to the staging area.

I headed straight to the port-o-potties because I heard the lines would be ridiculous but it turned out to not be so. Perhaps it was because I was there so early.

At that point, I didn't have much to do. I decided not to bring a bag to check so I didn't need to figure out that whole situation. I still had a long time to go before my wave was set to go at 7:47 am, so I stretched and tried to keep myself warm.

It seemed to take quite a while for my corral to fill up, but soon enough, we were shoulder to shoulder. Look at all of the ladies! It was awesome to see so many female runners and this wasn't even a female-focused event. In fact, over 10,000 out of 17,500 finishers were women!

My goal time for this race was sub-2 hours and with no Aunt Flo and no runner's trots, I knew I could do it.

I only stopped twice, once for this picture and once for the bathroom after the 8th mile marker.

The course was a lot less interesting than I had anticipated, especially around Hains Point, but it was fast and flat as promised. Unfortunately, there also weren't a plethora of cherry blossoms yet.

I finished in 1:49:27. Goal achieved and I think that is a pretty respectable default PR for me! What a huge difference between this race and the Princess Half!

The finish line was ridiculously packed with runners and now with tourists. It was quite frustrating trying to move around that area. All I wanted to do was get some water and food and my medal and get out of there. I didn't even think about getting my picture taken with my medal. Oh well.