Cherry Blossom 10 Mile

*You can see from the post date that I started this report just less than a week ago. Then life cut in. So, without further ado, the long awaited race report...

It's not every race that acquires a theme song. But by mile 2 of the Cherry Blossom, I had started singing "Like the Rain" and I Never. Stopped. I love me some Clint Black, but he's not really a hard-running song guy.

I woke up excited and full of anticipation. Pat and I got up early on Sunday morning, snacked on some peanut-butter topped English Muffins, and looked outside. Dark, dreary and drizzly. But hey, we had 2.5 hours before race time. Plenty of time for the promised sunshine! I spent some time obsessing over what to wear! (Answer: Tights, long sleeved tee, lightweight fleece, ball cap.) I brought along some dry clothes (another fleece, wind pants, plus gloves). At about 6:45am, we headed to the race start via Metro, with thousands of our newest, bestest friends.

The race start was a bit of a zoo, which I suppose is to be expected when 12,000+ people converge just about anyplace. We milled around a bit - not wanting to take off our warm outer layers any sooner than we had to. About 20 minutes before race start we finally gutsed up, peeled off fleeces and hats and gloves, and headed to our start corral. When we got there, we had a great surprise - we were immediately spotted by two of my favorite TNT captains! It was great to catch up with TC Nancy and TC Heidi, and talking to them meant that the last 15 minutes really sped by. Before we knew it we were shuffling toward the start line, urged forward by Annoying Announcer Guy, who scored his only points of the day by commenting on the "human rush hour" spreading before him. Heh.

Once we got started, the first four or five miles of the run was just great. I felt good, the weather was dismal but not *actively* rainy, and everyone was in high spirits. As we turned to run around Hains Point, the course paralleled a later stretch of the run, and we were able to cheer on the elite women as they headed into the second half of their race. The Point was beautiful - winds were surprisingly light, cherry blossoms were surprisingly still on cherry trees, and men were surprisingly ALREADY peeing along the side of the course. (This was an ongoing source of annoyance for me - the race coordinators almost lost their race permit a couple years ago due to non-porta-potty-peeing, and yet here are these idiots 20 minutes into the race marking their territories like ill-trained dogs. Ahem. I digress.) We even saw a couple getting engaged along the race sidelines! Cute!

We looped back up Hains and headed around the Tidal Basin. The trees still looked great, and everybody was still having fun. This course doubled back on itself quite a lot, which made for lots of opportunities to cheer on other runners. And the volunteers were GREAT - they were spread all along the course with noisemakers and parkas, and they used both to great effect! On a crummy, cool morning, I can think of dozens of places I'd rather be than standing outside along a 10-mile run course, but the volunteers stuck it out for hours with smiles on their faces. Great job, volunteers! I hit a milestone of my own somewhere through here - my first gel consumed on the run, without a walk break. Mmmm, vanilla goodness. Pat and I carried all our own hydration and nutrition, and every time we passed the chaos that was water stops, I was very glad we did. (Actually, Pat carried for both of us - we only have one fuel belt and Pat volunteered for short straw on this run. Thanks, Pat!)

Somewhere around mile 7 or 7.5, the rain started to pick up. And my mood started to... pick down. Despite keeping to a reasonable (for me) pace right around 11:25/mile, I was starting to feel soggy and chilled. My leg muscles were starting to complain, and my calves were uncomfortably tight. We took a couple walk breaks at my urging, which helped a little bit. We passed mile 8 on our way across the Memorial Bridge, and I was momentarily elated to see that the course turned around a good quarter-mile earlier than I had mentally prepared for. But I was hurting, and so were some of the people around us. I was seeing more walkers, and around us the conversation had turned from the scenery to how much course was left and what people were going to eat when they were done. (My favorite was the girl who spent a good five minutes describing, in minute detail, the IHOP $6 deluxe breakfast. Awesome.)

When we hit mile 9, I felt like a horse recognizing the signs of home after a long journey. Even knowing that it wasn't a smart strategy, I picked up the pace a bit. But my mood was flagging badly. Pat was trying to talk me in, telling me how strong I looked, how little we had left. And every word he said, even though rationally I KNEW he was being just the supportive, caring guy I love him for being, was like fingernails on a chalkboard. Finally, I choked out, "Can we please just... not... talk about my running until we finish?" From the depths of my running funk, I thought I was being so gentle and careful about it. Later, Pat recalibrated that perception. Raging. Witch. Poor Pat.

Anyway, I battled my way through that last mile and finished in 1:56:45. (11:41/mile) My goals for this race were modest: to finish without getting pulled off the course, to not use a run:walk ratio, and to have a good time. I exceeded the first goal, mostly met the second, and rocked the third except for that last mile or so.

The Cherry Blossom lived up to its reputation. I see why it sells out as fast as it does (in 4 hours online for the 2008 race). It's beautiful, flat, well-supported and a great time all-around. I think it was a great way to say "goodbye" to this city that has been home for the last two and a half years.

I was really proud of myself for showing up and finishing out despite the nasty weather. I think that I underconsumed liquids and possibly gels, which might explain the mood swing at the end, so that's something to think about/work on. During the race, I definitely wished I had one of those t-shirts that says, "This sounded like a good idea 3 months ago" but within a day or so I was back thinking ahead to what's next.

Am I nuts?

PS - Sorry, but all the official race photos came out TERRIBLY! I look lame in every one of them. So no pics for this report. :-(