Cherry Blossom 10 miler

We went to DC this weekend to do the Cherry Blossom 10 miler. This is the third time I have completed this event. The course has changed every year I have done it - not sure why - but every year it offers a wonderfully scenic course and this year the Cherry Blossoms were beautiful and it was probably the best day this year (mid 50's, sun, not much wind). I was excited to race. I started on time (which is great considering the size of the field - about 15,000). It was a nice start, I have been doing a lot of long, slow distances because I am training for IM so I wasn't sure how I would do racing a 10 miler. I had a race plan to start out easier and then get faster and drink at the aid stations - I didn't wear my hydration belt since there were aid stations every 2 miles and that fit well into my plan. I was skeptical of how I would feel due to how I have been feeling on my long runs but figured with my gels that I brought and the water/gatorade at the aid stations, it would work out to be a pretty good run. I went out and felt great. I got to the first aid station and tried to get to the aid station tables but couldn't because they didn't have enough volunteers that were handing out water or gatorade and the aid station was only on the one side of the street and there were only about 5 tables set up with water and gatorate and there were about 100 people trying to get into the water all at the same time. I figured that it was ok - I didn't need water yet anyway. I kept running and found a really comfortable pace that was faster than I thought I would be doing at that point in the race but felt great. I was getting passed left and right though by people who didn't seem to realize that they had to run 10 miles and weren't pacing themselves - it is no good when you are at 3 miles and huffing and puffing like you are about to die but still pushing. I ended up seeing a lot of these people again later in the race since I know how long a 10 miler actually is. I got to the next aid station - again, no volunteers handing out water - all cups were on the tables, on one side of the street. One of the volunteers was shouting out that there was more water up ahead - there wasn't - I again, ran out of real estate and still didn't have any water or gatorade. I was getting a little concerned by this time because I wasn't sticking to my hydration plan and didn't know how the next aid station would work out. It is funny how you have a race plan and then as soon as something goes wrong you start to get worried about how to get to the finish line or if you can do it. Running is such a mental game. I can handle one thing not going exactly correct but when 2 things go wrong plus I was running faster than I had planned, I started to get worried and became a mental case. Got to the 3rd aid station - shoved down 3 cola flavored powergel caps as soon as I saw the sign for the water station, played frogger to get a cup of water and gatorade and kept going feeling a little better, lost my stride, almost fell, elbowed a few who just didn't understand that you keep moving forward at an aid station, but at least I got a drink. Kept running and felt really good - maintaining a good pace but I felt dehydrated. Got to the last aid station where again, there were no volunteers handing out anything, grabbed a cup off of the table only to find out it was empty. Now, I was doing the math, only 22 minutes left to go. I kept telling myself that I could make it that far without any more water. Again, I was mentally preparing myself and convincing myself that I was ok. I kept going, still having a good pace (fast by my standards as well) but really wanting water (again, it was a nice day out but incredibly dry). I finished with a decent time - faster than I had planned - and was looking for a volunteer to hand me a cup or bottle of water but there weren't any in the finishing area - they kept saying that it was in a tent to the left which I didn't know where they were pointing to. I was walking through the road looking for water to the left with a lot of other runners who were clueless as to where the water was as well. I was really nervous now as I could tell that I was really dehydrated and was a little dizzy, nausious, and was getting cold quickly. I knew I needed water and was starting to loose it. I found my husband who told me that the refreshment tent was about another 1/4 mile away but he had grabbed me a bottle when he had finished (before the masses). This was about 10 minutes after I had finished the race. I did better than expected but was really disappointed by the lack of available water especially in a race that big.

So, overall, good weather (that is an understatement - fabulous/amazing weather), I did better than I had planned, but the race organization with regards to hydration sucked!!! Every other year, I have dodged/ducked/dove well enough to get what I needed at the aid stations but this time I didn't have enough space to negotiate to get what I needed, there were no volunteers handing out water at several of the stations, and then they didn't have water at the finish (which was a very long area). You would think that after the water issue at the Chicago Marathon a couple of years ago (running out of water on an incredibly hot day), all races would have a better plan to make sure that all runners have the opportunity to get the water/gatorade that they need to maintain hydration especially when they tell everyone that they should stay hydrated and put in their brochure that they have plenty of aid stations. You can't blame the volunteers either. You blame the organizers of the race for not having enough volunteers at the water stops to work. It was so bad to have this problem. If you have issues with a race, it should never be with the water because that could be a potentially deadly situation. Look at the Boilermaker - several tables spaced out with tons of volunteers at each station and most of them are on both sides of the street. They should be the model for Cherry Blossom. I was really disappointed with that aspect and because of that I didn't have as good of a time as I should have. Plus, I would beg the race organizers to just keep the course the same next year. It is beautiful - stop changing it!!!!

Time for the race: 1 hour 44 min 11 sec - my second fastest time in the 3 years I have done this race BUT it is a PR on this course as I have never run this course before since they keep changing the course!!!