Racing, again

I wanted to talk a little about my race this past Sunday. Back in the late fall I had some friends convince me I should enter the lottery for the Cherry Blossom Ten mile race held in D.C. I ran this race once, back in 2007. It was my first "long" race, at least per what I would consider long. The race has gotten bigger since then and so now perspective participants have to enter a lottery in order to try and get entry to it. I was informed in December that I was in. I wasn't sure this was a good idea. As you recall from one of my previous posts, my time is a little hard to come by, but I decided I needed to try and make it work. And I did. And I am happy that I did.

This was my 5th 10-mile race. My pace was a good bit faster than my first Cherry Blossom Ten Miler time, which made me happy. Given my lack of time and time removed from training, I was happy to get back some endurance and speed so quickly. My last race on record was a 5k in Boston that I ran while pregnant with Declan, so it was a slower one. All three of my other 10-mile times were from the Army Ten Miler, in 2007, 2008 and 2010. 2010 was my fastest year, and understandably so, as that was the year that I ran most of my races. I trained for the marathon after that and things trailed off after that. I will be honest, I didn't necessarily feel the love that I used to while running this race, but I did feel strong and happy when I finished. My training consisted of 1-3 three-mile runs, after work, during the week, and one long run on either Saturday or Sunday morning.

The weather on race day didn't help my mood given it was cold and windy. Mile 8 was the worst. It was the return up the East Potomac Park peninsula, which was such a boring and quiet part of the course. I was also hungry, despite having eaten a small bowl of cereal and a banana prior to the start of the race. Alas, it would seem I have forgotten some important parts of race preparation. I did have enough in the tank though to really push through the last mile and a half and I sprinted the last half mile, making up for two very brief walk breaks I took during the first part of the dreaded mile 8 because of the wind.

So what is next? I don't want to put this pressure on myself to be constantly racing but I have also decided that it is time to do some good and raise some money through this process. I am not sure what my next race will be, something in the fall perhaps, and I intend on raising money for a couple of causes, cancer research and MS research. Time to look into how to make that happen. It is nice to know I have friends to support me along the way and help me believe I can do it. My heart thanks you all.