I’m going to share a few comparisons with you all before I get into the meat of my Cherry Blossom Ten Miler Race Recap. Last year, I ran the shortened 9.4 Cherry Blossom course in 1:31:17. This year, I ran the full course (no accidents race morning, thank goodness) in 1:31:12 – besting my previous PR of 1:35:58 by almost five minutes. Last year, I wrote that the weather was “amazing.” This year it sucked – high winds and cold temps. As I said on Instagram, it was a lovely winter morning in DC. Last year the cherry blossoms were in full peak bloom. This year the trees were bare – peak bloom came in the middle of the week and the 35+mph wind gusts blew most of the remaining leaves to the ground. One thing remains the same every year I run this race – I absolutely love it. It’s one of my favorite and the race that truly made me love the ten mile distance. This year, I had the pleasure of serving as one of the race’s Social Runners, which was really fun. Thank you CUCB team for the chance to run this race yet again! Read on for my race recap!
The weekend kicked off with an invite to the VIP Cherry Blossom Dinner where I got to see Meb once again! My picture of him is grainy, so you’ll just to trust that I was there and it was awesome. Also, the food was really really good! I very much enjoyed it! Caitlin (my NC friend, not my local gal) was in town for the race and she got to be my plus one that night. We had a blast and then promptly headed home to get ready for our windy race!
After taking the picture above with my Oiselle gals, we prepped for the race. I was not excited about taking off my hoodie and pants, but alas, I finally let them go and headed into the corrals. Due to the extreme wind (25+mph with gusts up to 50mph), the race had decided to remove all signage from the course, lest any signs fall and injure someone. That meant that the start was a bit more hectic than usual since there was no signage.
Miles 1-4 (9:57/9:14/9:13/9:16) Mile 1 was my slowest mile of the whole race by a long shot. This course is always pretty crowded but it was pretty crazy this year since there was no wave start due to the weather. I literally saw people walking in the first quarter mile. At times I felt like I was trying to get around a wall of people. It got a bit better over the next few miles, but the course remained crowded for the vast majority of the race.
Miles 5-8 (9:16/8:49/8:48/8:48) Five miles in and I was still running side by side with one of my run club gals. We were having fun and working hard. It’s funny though, because once we started running the sub-9 miles, our conversation pretty much stopped for a couple miles. Once we got to mile 6, we passed my friend Janelle from Run with No Regrets. She looked happy and strong – I said hi and Katie and I kept moving. We wanted to get as close to 1:30 as possible.
Miles 9-10 (8:49/8:25) These last couple miles were into the wind on Hains Point and not awesome. However, we just kept pushing through and once we got to the last mile, we really dropped pace. There’s a tiny incline at the end of the race and when I looked at my watch during one point while we were powering up it, I saw 7:xx. We worked hard in those final minutes and in fact, not only did we negative split the race, our last mile was our fastest mile. I know that had we had a bit more space in those first few miles, we could’ve shaved off an extra minute or so off the clock, but I was happy with my time of 1:31:12.
All in all, this remains one of my favorite races and one I will try and do each year. I’m really pleased with my performance on another tough weather day and happy to have snagged a new ten mile PR!
Did you race Cherry Blossom? Link up your recap here.
rock on! congratulations on the race and PR!
Mar @ Mar on the Run recently posted…Training Week 11: Atlantic City Edition!
Thanks, lady!!
Sorry I never saw you that morning to say hi! I thought it was a pretty tough race with the temps & the wind. I am really happy with my effort so all in all good. Will link up my post tomorrow congrats on your time!
Deborah @ Confessions of a mother runner recently posted…Grown Up Grilled Cheese & Baked Polenta Fries
woot woot – can’t wait to read your recap!
Congrats! That’s awesome!
Thanks! Hope to see you tomorrow – I’m finally back!
Woah! You’re killing it on all the race courses! Congrats on an awesome race, strong finish, and PR!
Thank you – I’m hoping for a non windy race soon!
Such tough race conditions! You did amazing! I think you’ve really hit your stride. I can’t wait to see what you do the rest of this year!
Thanks Wendy! I can’t wait to run with you when I’m out your way later this month!!
Congratulations on the race and PR despite those conditions! This race always sounds fun based on what I’ve read and the recaps, it stinks the weather was not good for it this year but it sounds like you had fun with the VIP Activities and just being on the course and being with friends :).
Yes, it was so nice to race with a friend. I don’t do that a ton (I run with them often, but we don’t always stick together in races, so it was nice!) 🙂
What an amazing performance! You are rocking it!
I would love love love to do this race one year. I am going to have to just suck it up and enter the lottery!
Keep getting it!
yes you should! the race also has a great official bib transfer period in case you don’t get in. i’ve gotten a bib through that before! 🙂
First of all – congratulations! Second, that wind is horrible and it’s sad when the Cherry Blossoms are not in full bloom for the race 🙁 But, you absolutely made the most of it – good for you! This is definitely a “someday” race for me but if it’s THAT crowded though out the race…I’m not so sure it’s for me. Thanks for the recap!
Allie recently posted…Workout Wednesday – Run Like the Wind
It’s always crowded, but this yet was more hectic than normal. In your corral, I bet you’d have much more space than in my group, though. You’d like it, I think!
You’ve been training hard and deserve that PR. You shattered it. Plus, like you it’s been two back to back terrible race weather. I can’t wait to see what you’ll do in a good weather race! Great job and I’m so happy for you.
Thanks Hollie – I’m getting really excited planning on my marathon training 🙂
Way to go, Courtney! It seems like nothing can stop you right now! You can a strong race at Shamrock, and followed it up with Cherry Blossom, even with terrible weather on both race days.
Kathryn @ Dancing to Running recently posted…Why Now Isn’t The Time for a Marathon
Thanks – I know I won’t always PR but I’m trying to just enjoy the fruits of the hard training cycle before I start another one this summer. 🙂
Awesome awesome job! I’ve never run the Cherry Blossom race but I loved the GW Parkway 10 miler, and the 10 miler distance in general. I heard you had to pay extra to get a medal for the cherry blossom race–is that true? I’m definitely going to look into it for next year!
Jen@bubblyrunner.com recently posted…Five: A Random Blog Survey
Yes, the medal and shirt are extra, but the base fee is only around $40, which is so cheap. You can also order a medal afterwards, which is nice if you want to see it before committing 🙂
I’ve had games where I didn’t want to go in because it meant I had to shed layers. Wind makes things so miserable, but you rocked this one as well!
Wind can be a game changer – I have to say, I think it was only bad on Hains Point. The rest was pretty manageable!
New PR – woohoo! Congrats, Courtney! Loved your comparison between race years. Definitely shows how far you have come this year, both in terms of speed and confidence in running in less than ideal weather. I had a bib to run last year but decided to skip it since we were crazy busy last spring. It’s a race that I would like to run someday.
It’s definitely worthy of bucket list status, in my opinion! I think you’d really like it!
Congrats on the PR in such tough conditions! I had heard about some of the changes due to the wind but I didn’t realize that they had also gotten rid of the waves at the start. It makes sense that they didn’t want people waiting around longer than necessary at the beginning but I can see how that would make an already crowded race even more congested.
Chaitali recently posted…Making running fun again
Yes – more crowded than normal, which says a lot, lol!
I love all the Oiselle ladies out running!
One year I’d love to fly into DC to run this race! My cousin and her bf live and work in DC and I feel like I know so many wonderful runners in the area too!
You should definitely do that – it’s a good one!
Congratulations on your race and a PR! You’re a windy running machine!!!
congrats on the PR-all of the work you have put in has paid off! I need to look at my schedule to see if I can enter the lottery for next year!
Another well deserved PR!! I’m excited to hear about your marathon training plans 🙂
OMG, I had NOTHING left after Hains Point! You really had a fantastic race!