2nd 10 Miler Down

These trusty little feet will take me anywhere!

Woohoo! This is my second 10 miler that I've completed, the first one was the Army 10 Miler back in '10. I've had quite a busy past two weeks. I just finished my fourth half marathon two weeks ago and somehow had enough energy in my legs to complete a 10 miler. I really hate that these races fall on a Sunday, doesn't give me much time to recover before heading back to work the next day.

In GREAT news....I got a PR...again!!!!!! Man, I am just kicking ass when it comes to running lately!!! I finished in 1:31.53, that means 9:12 minutes!!!!! I'm really trying to get under 9 minute miles when I run a big race...guess that means I need to add some speed work in!

The weather started out kind of chilly when I left the house but by the time I got to the corral, it had warmed up a bit so I took off my sweatshirt and gloves and left them by the race path. I decided to be uber green, and metro to the race! I usually cab to the race if its in DC, but I decided there would just be way too many roads closed. The metro opened at 5 am. I left my house at 6:40...and didn't get to the corral until 7:23...oops. Guess I need to leave earlier if I'm going to do that again. With 15,000 runners running, it was CROWDED AS HELL. As I walked over the hill, this was my first sight:

Shit that's a lot of people

The race got started and I was dodging around runners and exerting way more energy than necessary trying to get around people. I even hopped up on the uneven grass for a while so I could get around people. Kind of sucks that people don't respect the corral system and cause people to have to run around them. Granted I was in a corral ahead of where I should have been. But when I signed up I based it on my last 10 miler back in 2010 and I thought I'd be a lot slower. After proving to myself 2 weeks ago that I could go faster, I wanted to push myself faster. So I did!

When I signed up, I decided to spend some extra mulah and upgrade to the technical tee (I never use the cotton shirts except for bed) and the race allows you to purchase a medal. Would have been nice if it came for free, but oh well. I'm glad I did it, the metal is SO CUTE! And who doesn't want a prize for finishing 10 miles??? I DO!!!

I'm glad I did it and this is the first time I've run, much less, run such a big race so soon to when I ran a half. Guess I've done pretty well the past few months getting myself into shape! I do have to say the one thing that sucked the most was that right before the finish line, it was pretty steep. I did expect this because I looked at the course elevation on the website, but man, when you're tired, that hill is KILLER.

The one problem I did have with the race was that the water stops were on different sides of the road every time. I wish the signs that said water stops ahead would have had said which side so I could have made my way over to that side beforehand. Oh and the fact that none of the timers on the course seemed to be right. I passed one mile marker and it read 7:01:43...um...I sure a hell hope I haven't been running for 7 hours!!!

I paid extra to upgrade to the technical tee

What the area looked like after the race

I did run in my Deloitte shirt (I needed a technical long sleeve shirt) and I actually got several people shout "go Deloitte!" One lady even chatted with me and said she worked for PwC and how the Deloitte shirts were better. Um....thanks? Sorry?

What a pretty medal! I'm glad I purchased it!

Getting quite a collection!
LtoR:
Cherry Blossom April 1, 2012
Shamrock Half: March 18, 2012
Richmond Half: Nov 13, 2010
Virginia is for Lovers 14K: Feb 13, 2010
Rock N Roll Half: Sept 6, 2009
Shamrock Half: March 22, 3009