Cherry Blossom Weekend

his weekend was a tough one on the legs. I woke up early on Saturday to brave the morning cold and head out for a long ride which I had intended to be 6-7 hours but decided to cut it short so my legs wouldn’t be shredded for the 10 miler on Sunday. This proved to be a great decision because I joined up with some of the local hardcore triathletes in the area and they pushed a hard 25+ mph and did a new route with plenty of steep inclines. The first hill was a killer but once my legs warmed up it was smooth sailing the rest of the way. Bike update – with 2.5 months to go, I’m feeling more and more confident on the bike and I’m ahead of my training schedule for mileage. So far, so good.

Now the reason I cut my Saturday ride short was the exact same reason I cut my pre-Cherry Blossom race run short – competition. One of my coworkers’ best friends just qualified for Boston and has a similar marathon pace as I do, so naturally we’ve been talking a bit of trash about who would win in a race. Everyone knows I’ve sucked at running in the past so I’m never too confident and since she’s already a proven strong runner, I was a bit worried she would beat me. Therefore, I decided to cut my ride and run (instead of the intended 8 miles, I did a very slow ~4 mile warm-up on Sunday) leading up to the race so that I’d be as fresh as possible to put up a strong pace. Plus, she’s a perfect training partner for long runs and I knew if I lost to her in a race, I couldn’t run with her ever again for fear of constant dusting and embarrassment.

Onto the race… As I said earlier, it’s a race I’ve always wanted to do. But now I can confidently say it’s a race I don’t want to do again. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a wonderful experience and a great atmosphere, but the nonstop bobbing and weaving is not my idea of a fun day. I started out in one of the last waves (the group we signed up with was listed at 10:00 mile pace) so I already knew my entire hour-plus would be spent saying “excuse me”, “on your left”, and “sorry about that.” I estimate that I ran at least 75% of the race on the grass or sidewalk next to the road. Not terrible but just one of those minor annoyances that gets old after so many miles. With that said, I’d still recommend running the race at least once because it’s a good trek around the heart of DC and if you don’t care about PRing, then it’s a fun experience.

Unfortunately, I had a goal in mind and knew I needed to put up a strong time to save face with my new Boston-qualifying training partner (Emily). Long, uneventful story short, I completed the first 5 with 6:59 miles and the second half with 7:08 miles (note: I hate negative splits). 1:11:06 = Success. I ran right on pace with my goal time and luckily/barely beat Emily. Overall, I’m happy with the result given the conditions. Even though I know I have a lot more work to do, I couldn’t be happier with the 7:06 pace, especially when last year at this time I could barely manage ten miles under 8:45 pace.

Ohhh, and I made it just in time to our first BC soccer game where the one-two combo of the Nunez brothers dominated Arizona.

Perfect excuse for a relaxing Sunday in the sun with a few beers and the Masters on the tube.