An Unplanned Long Run

With marathon training about to start again Saturdays mean long runs. I had every expectation that I would do this morning's run in Stowe, Vermont. I was supposed to fly to Burlington last night for a visit to my Aunt and Uncle who recently relocated to the Green Mountain State. Unfortunately fate the airline had a different idea.

Long story short: I woke up this morning in Arlington, Virginia (for those readers unfamiliar with NoVa, Arlington is right next to DC). Thankfully, I used to live in DC so I know the area well. What did I do? I called my DC-area running buddy Brian.

We met this morning for and early long run to try and beat the heat (ha!). We ran along the Mt. Vernon trail from Crystal City to the Woodrow Wilson Bridge in Alexandria, over the bridge into Maryland (you know I love bridges) and back.

Because of the heat we took it slow but it was a great run! It definitely helped make the best of a bad situation. Now if I can only make to Vermont tonight...

P.S. Sorry about any typos--I'm posting from the airport on my phone.

Race Report: Cherry Blossom 10 Miler

I'm back from another exciting weekend getaway, this time in DC. Originally I was going to take the train down but during a group long run a couple of weeks ago, one of the other runners told me she was doing the Cherry Blossom race as well and offered me a ride. Who was I to say no to door-to-door service? After a fun trip down Saturday morning in her Smart Car, we got into DC early Saturday afternoon and went straight to the expo which was at the National Building Museum. The Museum is housed in the former Pension Bureau Building and has a huge main hall (316 × 116 feet!) which made for a much more inspiring feel than your usual convention center expo.

I spent the rest of afternoon leisurely wandering around Dupont, Adams Morgan, and Columbia Heights, before settling down with the book 2 of the Hunger Games for a couple hours. My host was one of my good friends from undergrad and since her parents were in town they took us both out to dinner, a big treat! We went to a nearby Italian restaurant where I ordered some of the best homemade gnocchi I’ve had in ages. Unfortunately the wait was long and the service was slow so I didn't get to bed until pretty late. If this had been a goal race I would have been pretty nervous, but I was relaxed and fell asleep quickly.

My alarm went off at 5am to give me time to eat my usual bagel with peanut butter. I puttered around my friend's apartment, killing time until 6:15 when I left for the start. Since it was only two miles away, I decided to "jog" (run slowly) as a warm-up. I passed the White House on the way, which made me remember how cool running in DC can be. The weather was absolutely perfect, high-40s and overcast.

At the start I met up with another Whippets Member and we did a short warm-up together. Since the lines for the port-a-potties and bag check were long , we wished each other luck and parted ways about 20 minutes before the start. I dropped off my bad and made my way to my packed corral.

The Cherry Blossom 10 Miler is a pretty big race with nearly 16,000 people and each "wave" (read: corral) has around 2,500 runners. This large field meant that when the gun went off we started somewhat slowly. That was probably a good thing, though, because I wasn't trying to race. My goal was to run the first 8 or so miles somewhere between half- and full marathon pace. The first mile was a 7:09 mile, but I would much rather have gone out too slow than too fast. 

Mile two involves an out and back over the Arlington Memorial Bridge so at this point we got a great view of the leaders flying by on our right hand side. I seemed to be settling into a groove at this point myself. As we came back over the bridge we turned left and headed north along Rock Creek Parkway. Mile 3 involves another out and back, this one a much sharper turn underneath the Kennedy Center. As we passed the official 5k clock it read 21 something and I was feeling great. 

The course then continued along the Potomac, going under the Arlington Bridge before doing another dog leg along Ohio Drive. It's at this point that you begin to realize what a large race this truly is. I had passed mile 4 and there were still thousands of runners on the other side of Independence Ave, just arriving at mile 1. We continued along Independence, running around the tidal basin, giving us glimpses of the Jefferson Memorial, though there weren't many cherry blossoms left on the trees. I passed mile 5 in 33:42, roughly a 6:44 pace, before continuing onto East Basin Drive. At this point I heard someone shout my name and I turned to see one of my runner friends, Brian, who lives in DC. I wasn't expecting to see anyone on the course so that was an awesome surprise.

The route then continued to East Potomac Park, home of the infamous Hains Point, basically an isolated peninsula island with a flat 3+ roadway. In the old days, this was home to miles 15 to 19 of the Marine Corps Marathon and one of the toughest parts of the course mentally since its emptiness followed the crowds of spectators along the mall. Yesterday, however, it was downright pleasant. There was a live rock back, a DJ, and I even saw some friends cheering on the sidelines. Once we rounded Hains Point and hit mile 8, I gave myself permission to start picking up the pace. I had a couple of folks say things like, "Looking good!" or "Finish strong." and I felt a little like I was cheating. 

As we got closer to the finish there was a sign marking 1200m to go. I starting pushing it now, keeping my eyes open for my friend Brian. When I heard him that gave me more of a reason to push up the final hill. I wasn't going all out, but I was no longer trying to bottle up energy. With the finish in sight I realized I could come in under 1:06 (I had been thinking that coming in under 1:07 would be nice) so I decided to sprint the final 200m or so. I heard them announce my name--"from Seattle, Washington"--I forgot that's what I registered under!

My net time ended up being 1:06:00 (a 6:36 pace--meaning I did the second half at a 6:28 average). It felt pretty good to know that I beat 22-year-old by almost 3 minutes and still had energy to spare. Some year I'll have to come back and actually race this course all out.

I made my way to the baggage pick-up and Brian came and found me. We ended up doing a nice 4 mile cool-down through Rock Creek Park, bringing me to 16 for the day. He still had some miles to do so he kept running but I needed a serious caffeine fix. After a hot shower, I met up with a high school friend for a leisurely brunch and then it was time for the drive back to NYC. This was definitely a great weekend getaway!

See my splits after the jump.

DC Road Trip!

This morning I'm heading to DC for a brief visit. The main reason I'm going (as you may have guessed if you've looked at the right hand column on my blog) is for the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler. I'm not planning on racing this one since Boston is just two weeks away, but my office was able to hook me up with a bib for this otherwise lottery-only race.

Those that read the blog regularly know I went to undergrad in DC. In fact, DC is where I really got into running. First as a way to keep in shape, and later as a way of life. During my senior spring, back in 2008, I actually ran the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler. I had done the Marine Corps Marathon in 2007 so the Cherry Blossom was only my second "big" race. I shocked myself by finishing in 1:08:41, a 6:53 pace. At the time I was lucky on my daily runs to do much under 8:00.

Like I said, I'm not looking to race tomorrow (in fact, I will be disappointed with myself if I do!), just run to enjoy myself, but it will be interesting revisiting this course 4 years later. I've been back to DC dozens of times in between to visit friends (and even run a few races) but his will feel like a running homecoming. With any luck, I'll also get to enjoy the cherry blossoms along the course!

Race Report: 2010 Lawyer's Have Heart

I was probably better prepared to wake up early for this race than any other since my new running schedule has been to get up at 5:30 every day. Anyway, I woke up Saturday at 5:45 and had my usual bagel and peanut butter. The bagel sucked by the way—Safeway—but it was just about the carbs after all. I listened to some tunes and then at 7 am I was out the door. I hopped the bus, although I could have walked since the start was so close (it was at the Georgetown Waterfront, K and 31st).

My friend Brian and I were supposed to meet at 7:30 so when I got there with 15 minutes to spare, I made a beeline to the port-o-potties. Good thing too, because the lines go long fast! After TCB (taking care of business) I met Brian at our designated spot. He hooked me up with my number and goody bag and we headed to baggage check. We chatted it up the whole time and marveled at the huge number of people (this is the largest 10k in DC with about 4800 people). With about 10 minutes to go time we went our separate ways but arranged to rendez-vous post-race at the same spot.

I made my way to the “corrals.” They were super-unofficial—just people holding signs—so I knew it might be chaotic. I headed for the 6 min/mile corral and couldn’t believe how many people had lined up in the 5 minute group; I could tell by the number of people that not everyone was being honest… After the Ms. DC-Galaxy-Universe-International-Somebody-or-Rather sang the national anthem it was go time. I mean that almost literally since instead of firing a gun they just said “Go!”

The first little bit headed out on K Street and then took a sharp turn in the opposite direction onto the Whitehurst Freeway. This was the only real uphill so I tried to conserve some energy. As soon as we got on the freeway I started picking people off who had gone out too fast. The sun was bright but it wasn’t too hot yet. Just as we got to M Street I passed Mile 1 (6:08).

The race then continued along Canal Road which was nicely shaded. At this point it had started to thin out some too. There were no spectators here since the road has no side walks so this was really just me and the road. I guess I focused a little too much on the road because I missed the marker for Mile 2. I knew I’d passed it and just hoped that I was on pace. When I saw people coming in the opposite direction (it was an out-and-back course) I knew I was almost at the turn around. Just before I hit the turn around I saw Mile 3 (12:15 for Miles 2 and 3). I had made really good time but now I was starting to feel the heat and I hadn’t hit a single water stop yet.

The second half was ever-so-slightly downhill for a while—Thank God! Even so, I was slowing in the heat. Mile 4 was slower (6:15). Seeing Diz and some other friends running in the other direction perked up my spirits, if not my pace. At some point around there they were handing out cold sponges, they made me feel better, but couldn’t counteract the heat and humidity as I hit mile 5 on M Street (6:20). Now there would be no shade and probably no PR but I wanted to have a respectable finish for the team. On the Whitehurst everyone seemed to disappear and I could really feel the sun. As I turned back onto K (dang that hairpin turn!!!) I passed Mile 6 (6:25). I could see the finish now so I did that thing where you dig deep and ran the final .2 miles in 1:12!

As soon as I got my bag and camera I went to wait for Brian by the finish. With my bad luck I saw him, but not in time to snap a photo so I went and waited for him at our meeting spot. After we’d both taken in the finish festival sights it was off to brunch with the good people of Dewey & LeBoeuf, the firm we were both running “for.”

I have to say, this was an awesome race! It was really fun meeting Brian and running with him, even if we didn’t actually run together. It’s so seldom I have friends at races with me so this was a real treat!

The other great thing was that, while I missed a PR by 13 seconds with my 38:37, I came in 48 Overall, 3rd in my Age Group, and 2nd in the Law Student category! I’ve never placed so well in such a big race! Well, I will stop rambling now and go back to running.