Cherry Blossom Ten Mile

In what seems to be a common trend for me this year, I’m yet again adding to my pre-IM race schedule. First, it was the Cloud Snapple Half Marathon that might have been a bad decision thanks to my plantar fasciitis and now it’s the Cherry Blossom Ten Mile in DC.

For those not from DC, Cherry Blossom season is a must-see. The combination of way too many tourists flocking to the city and a great scenic backdrop with the monuments makes for a special start to tourist season. Normally I stay away from the chaos to avoid the fanny-packs and cameras, only making a couple treks to get a glimpse of the trees when I know the tidal basin won’t be packed, but this year I’ll be soaking up the scenery during one of cooler events of that week.

The Cherry Blossom Ten-Mile is a 15,000 person race that takes you by most of the great sites of DC. It’s long enough to loop around most of the famous monuments but short enough to cut out the overlap and repetition of other races. The race is always in high demand and each year thousands get turned away after the lottery. Thankfully though, I have a great boss who had an extra spot on her team and asked me to join. Talk about being in the right place at the right time!

So now I’m signed up for one of the must-compete-in races on my life checklist (I might divulge that list in a later post; for now it’s top secret). I don’t foresee it being a race I’ll PR in given the massive participant size, but I’m definitely going to use it as a big training day while enjoying the sites of the course.