Cherry Blossum 10 Mile Recap

58:47 in Prague, Cherry Blossum, How to Taper like a pro, Adbi, and Lagat, Hall, Meb, and Adbi to run the Healthy Kidney 10K, Sam Adams Marathon Brew, and the 45 bars in Boston that will serve it.

Back from a very fun weekend from D.C., so let's get right into it:

Thursday, March 29th - 0! Travel Day plus rest needed. Got in to D.C. in the evening, and hung out downtown. Ella's never fails to disappoint :)

Friday, March 30th - 4 miles. This is semi misleading, as there was some running but we had to have walked a good 10 miles around town. Regardless, a chill day, and was all over D.C. hitting up various pubs, restaurants, and had a blast! Tried out a new area (H-Street district), which used to be the hood, but is trying to get cleaned up. A legendary mega Jenga duel ensued between Josh, Shane, and I and many, many holes of mini golf at H Street Country Club!

Saturday, March 31st - 0! Packet pickup day, and general rest. Ran into Bill Rodgers at the expo - I see that guy everywhere! Laid low all day, and did some heavy stretching.

140.5 miles in March - ugh

Sunday, April 1st - 12 miles (1 up, Cherry Blossum 10 Miler (1:05:54 PR), 1 down). Woke up nice and early for the race. Shane lives about 1.5 miles from the start, so warmed up as we headed towards the race. Perfect running weather - 40's and overcast. Started and finished at the Washington Monument, so checked in our bags and headed to our corral. The corral was packed full of people, and worked out way up as much as possible. Joked with Shane that it would be a miracle to hit 7:15 on the first mile with as much congestion as there was. Shane warned me that the opening stretch was narrow, so kept that in mind as we got started. Weaved as much as I could to get past all the slower people (why do slow people insist on lining up so far to the front???), and it was a ridiculous waste of energy as well as time since I was zigzagging all over to establish position. Eventually got out there, and realized I hadn't started my watch. Great. Time goals were out the window anyways with my dead legs, so made it a goal to run this race by feel and be in control, unlike a lot of my previous races where I would fizzle midrace.

Cherry Blossum weaves around the city and through the monuments, so plenty of scenary. Relatively fast - there are a few hills and some bridges, but for the most part flat. Kept a great rhythm throughout the race, and found a girl that was going about my pace and keyed off of her. Looked at my watch at 3 different point - the first mile split, 5K, and 10K split. All seemed to be within range, so was pleased. About mile 8, started to feel tired, and lost ground on the girl I was running with (turns out that she sped up, I wasn't slowing down as I feared). Worked out this shirtless guy, who had been running with us almost the entire race. Last mile, had to grind it out a bit, then kicked when I saw the finish approaching. Had no idea what my time was until later that night (with starting my watch late), but relatively certain I PRed which was confirmed later. The beginning cost me some time, but I was pretty ecstatic with my race - mile splits were all close together, and I executed the race plan exactly. Finished 419/~17,000, so not too shabby. Spent the rest of the day hanging out with Shane and Josh in Arlington, VA then back in D.C., then sadly headed back home at night.

33.5 miles this week, 12 miles for April, 503.5 miles for 2012.

Monday, April 2nd - 5 miles. Ran at home with Crystal after work. 90 degrees at home - just ridiculous. Legs were dead, so was gutting it out. Ran to the track and back, and opted out of drills and strides and instead worked on heavy stretching. Much better on the way back, but tired nonetheless. 43:04 total.

Tuesday, April 3rd - 6.5 miles. Ran with Timmy in Forest Park after work. Opted out of 800 meter repeats and decided on an easy run. Did the standard loop (the long way), and got caught in a few rain storms throughout the run. The bugs were a bit ridiculous around the lake, and inhaled a good 10 of them - ugh. Legs were uber-sore still, and my knee was acting up but sadly starting to get used to it. 52:54 total.

Finally a weekend of rest! I have a scheduled workout coming up on Thursday, but keeping it slow otherwise. GO! STL Marathon relay next weekend, so slowly getting my legs ready for a strong run through STL!