Army 10-miler

Well, today was the day! After months of (sort of) training, I awoke before sunrise today to make my way down to the Pentagon for the start of the Army ten-miler. With 20,000 entrants and a high demand for registration, this is the biggest ten-mile race in the country, so it was especially exciting to be a part of it.

20,000 runners means that it takes awhile to reach the starting line, so I wasn't too concerned when the start gun fired and I was still waiting in the porta potty line... Luckily I made it out in time to hop in the big pack and start the race ten minutes after 8 am.

The race itself went well, and I definitely enjoyed the course more than the mostly out-and-back Cherry Blossom race I did back in April. The Army course was more of a scenic loop which led us past the Pentagon, across the Memorial Bridge and past the Lincoln memorial, then past the Kennedy center, and eventually along the Mall past the Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial, and finally a small loop past the Capitol before heading back. Aside from the lovely early-morning Washington views, the turns and loops were much easier, mentally, for me to get through.

There was one minor (ok, it was major) glitch in the race that had lots of runners fuming. Just around or before the 8-mile mark, the race was re-routed because of an emergency security concern at the 14th street bridge, which was supposed to take us to the finish line at the Pentagon. It seems that just after 8 am, an official identified a "suspicious package" on the bridge, so they decided to re-route the course, basically sending us back across the Memorial Bridge and finishing the course the way we had started, in reverse.

The only problem was, no one knew what the hell was going on. First of all, no one ever saw the sign for the 8 and 9 mile mark, which started up the initial confusion, then when someone finally notified us that we'd just crossed the adjusted 9-mile mark, everyone had the "Ok, last mile, this is the final stretch" mentality going. I was slightly more in the loop than others, since I'd borrowed Huan's Garmin GPS device for the race and was keeping track of the race mileage on my wrist. So I knew something was up when the Garmin beeped for 10-miles and we were still only halfway across the Memorial Bridge.

But of course, I kept going, wondering what disaster had befallen the race. Meanwhile, other runners are thinking "This is the longest $@#%&* mile of my life!!!!" Finally, we get word from the finish line that "It's 11.4 miles, and you're almost there!!" This is when people start getting pissed. The beginning of the race was full of smiles and cheers, and now it was "You'd think they could have told us," and "I'm never running this race again." Though it was all kind of sad to think about how the race fell apart and no one was getting official scores, the whole thing was amusing in a "I can't believe this is the biggest ten-miler in the country and this is what happened" kind of way. Sigh.. But I guess these things are unpredictable and security is extra tight and cautious around DC anyway.

I finished my 10 miles in decent time-- about a minute slower than my Cherry Blossom time, but considering training for this race consisted of many fewer workouts and a lot more Popeyes/beers/potato chips/television watching/you name it, I'm actually pleased with my result. And on the other hand, I ran 11.4 miles, which I definitely was not expecting to do. I guess that means I'm that much closer to running a half marathon! Whoo, look at me, raising the bar!!

Since Auddie was such a fabulous event photographer, here are some snapshots from the day (thumbnails):

Mile 4:

Me & my pops (with thunder sticks in hand) at the finish line:

Awesome shot of my dad in front of the Lincoln Memorial, no other tourists in sight:

Finally, here's a random shot of the gang at my post-race brunch at Carlyle in Shirlington:

Twas a fabulous Sunday overall, made even better by a miraculous Redskins win in overtime! 3-0, who'da thunk it?

Current Music: Lately, by David Gray