This morning I ran the Army Ten Miler. Finished in 1:48:40, which was one minute and twenty seconds ahead of my goal and I ran the entire way without stopping to walk (in the pic I'm the fat guy in bright green/yellow smiling into the camera).It doesn't seem like it now as I can feel my legs tightening, but it was a lot of fun. It is a huge race - 30,000 people - and the course is great. You start at the Pentagon, run over the Memorial Bridge, around the Lincoln Memorial, past the State Department, over to the Watergate building, along the Potomac, under the Kennedy Center, back past the Lincoln Memorial, by the tidal basin and the Jefferson Memorial, past the Washington Monument, around the Capitol reflecting pool, and then head back to the Pentagon.
Although I didn't sleep well (nervous), when I woke up I felt physically and mentally prepared. By the time I got to the start line - 20 minutes after cannon fire started the race (there were a lot of people ahead of me), I was feeling great. Started off with a good pace and kept it, including several negative splits. Mile 9 was pretty difficult, but I pulled through and my fastest mile was 10. It felt great to finish strong.
Being the military and all, it was very well organized. The morning included parachuters and a fly over. On the course there was tons of water and gatorade, a lot of soldiers yelling hooah, and several bands along the route playing music, including one junior ROTC band that was playing one of the songs from Rocky. Part of it was pretty sad: on the backs of a lot of runners there were either pictures or names of soldiers who were KIA in Iraq or Afghanistan, and there were quite a few guys running who had lost limbs, but the money raised went to a good cause and at least at the finish line, everyone seemed to have a good time.Lelaine and Doug went down to the mall to cheer me on and saw me around miles 5 and 7. They took some nice pictures.
I'm running the Marine Corps 10k in a couple weeks (Wang Tang, are you coming?) but I'm not sure what is next after that.
5 comments:
Nice work, Chris!!! Glad you had fun. You have inspired me to sign up for a race too!
Congratulations! Knew you could do it.
I was hesitant to leave a comment since last time I left one, you had no idea who "Jenn" was!
But, YES...I will be there. Marine Corps 10K...Oorah!
congrats! 10 miles is a serious run! Have fun at the 10K and watch out for the last mile uphill. Will be thinking of you!
You need to post your workout regime! Congrats, that's a nice accomplishment.
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