I headed downtown to the Cherry Blossom 10 mile expo for a break this afternoon. This is my third year running the CB10 and it's far and away my favorite race. First, it costs $40 to enter. That's not the cheapest race -- there are $5 DC Road Runners Club events all year, and even the "bread runs," for which entry is a loaf of bread. But for the money . . .
The shirts (this year's pictured) are genuinely artistic -- my (now 3) CB10 t-shirts -- short sleeve, cotton -- are my favorite t-shirts, bar none. (Even more than my runningprofs t!) The organization is as good as any race I've run -- and that includes the Marine Corps Marathon, with a many-thousands-strong well-disciplined labor force. The course is phenomenal. You run along the Potomac, across Memorial Bridge, out to Haines Point, past the Kennedy Center, with a start and finish at the Washington Monument. In a normal year you run by seemingly endless groves of cherry blossoms (this year the blooms are mostly gone). And it's almost entirely flat. The competition is incredible. They bring in a world class elite field and there are thousands of serious recreational runners competing. The timing is ideal. It's the best time of year to run in DC and two weeks before the Boston Marathon. I could go on.
The race is on Sunday. I won't be running very fast this year, but I am definitely looking forward to it.
The race went well. But my Achilles tendon bothered me the whole way. I declined to slow down for it. Right now I can barely walk. Unless something changes very quickly, I just ruined my spring marathons. Doh.
ReplyDelete