Cherry Blossom: Pros and Cons

Yesterday I ran the Cherry Blossom 10 Mile race in Washington DC. I have been lucky enough to have been to DC several times before, so I did not feel pressured to go and see all the sights or stand in really long lines to get into the museums (the line for the Natural History was all the way down the block!) I had a great (leisurely)  day on Saturday wandering around, meeting up with these girls, checking out the "new to me" MLK Memorial and trying to find a few cherry blossoms. There were a few, but you could tell that the early warm weather and subsequent rain kind of ruined the timing for most of them. That didn't stop me from taking a bazillion photos, but that deserves a post of it's own.

PROS:

- The expo. I was in and out in 10 minutes. Everything was well signed; the volunteers were directing you to your next stop; there were plenty of bathrooms. Plus it was in the National Building Museum, which is a gorgeous old building. I didn't really check out the booths since there were so many people, but there were a ton of options!

- The commute. I got a hotel about a mile from the start line and it was SO NICE to leave only 15 minutes before I wanted to get there. Usually racing involves some kind of commute, but this one was a nice short one! It was so convenient! Even if you did not stay in the city, the metro is very handy. This is a definite plus!

The weather. It was not too hot. On the other hand, I was going to wear shorts, but opted for pants at the last minute because I am a wimp and I would rather be warm during the race than stand around freezing beforehand. It was probably about 45 - 50 degrees during the race.

- Port-a-potties. There must have been a couple hundred of those bad boys. Plus they had them along the course every couple of miles. However, this didn't stop the lines at the start from looking like this. I waited in line for 30 minutes even though I didn't even have to go when I got in line!

- The wave start. There were 6 (I think) different waves, which made for a much less confusing start. I was in the Red. Wave. Haha. The race began at 7:30 but the red wave didn't start until 7:33. The only thing about that is that the elite runners started at 7:20 and that is when they started the clock, so every time I got to a mile marker, the clock scared me a little bit. For example, at the first mile, the clock said 21 minutes or something like that. Ouch.

- The location. The race started and ended at the Washington Monument. You couldn't ask for a nicer place to run. Much of the course was along either the tidal basin or the Potomac, which meant running near water a lot of the time.

- Meeting up with the girls (mentioned above). It was so nice to finally put faces to the names. We did not get any photos. I am so bad at that.

- The bibs. They had our names on them! This is the first time I have ever had one with my name on it. It made me feel special, like I was an elite runner or something. I liked it.

- Water stops. There were a lot of them and they were nice and long. However, with all the people, I missed the first one because I was all the way over to the left and it was on the right. I noticed later there was a sign before each stop, but it didn't say which side the stop was going to be on and they did change sides.

- The website was very easy to navigate, was packed full of information and you could even watch the race on live streaming video if you wanted.

CONS:

- The crowd. There must have been 20,000 people. I really don't know how many there really were, but there were A LOT. Usually everyone spends the first mile or so finding their pace, passing a few people, getting passed by a few people...this happened for the entire 10 miles. There was never a time when I had a little bubble of space around me. It was very claustrophobic and I had a hard time maintaining a pace when I was constantly having to pass people.

- Speaking of passing people, and this is not the race management's fault, but what is up with people who get into a corral that is faster than their pace? It really irks me. This race was done on a wave start. I think my wave was 8 - 9 minute mile pace, yet clearly some of the people who I was passing at the beginning were slower than a 9 minute mile. Do people feel like they have to prove something? Like they are wimpy if they get in the correct corral? Because that is not the case! It's just that it's hard enough having to pass people that are going 2 seconds per mile slower than you; it's nearly impossible when they are going a whole minute slower. Get in the correct corral please.

- The "goodies" after the race consisted of water, Gatorade, bananas and muffins. That's it. Really, people? You can't get some better treats than that? I know that most of our race entry fees probably went to the street closures and security and stuff like that, but I expected a better spread.

- In fact, to top the above cop out, you also had to pay extra for a medal and/or a technical tee-shirt.

- The corrals (ie the wave start) were packed! I don't know how you were supposed to get into them either; I couldn't find a doorway. I ended up squeezing through the bars of the metal barrier in order to get in. And then I stood there, back to front with all my fellow runners. I guess I should have showered beforehand. 

- Not meeting up with Jill. She didn't have her phone with her and we set up a meeting spot for before the race but I didn't realize that there were going to be a million other people on the same corner, so we missed each other. Blogger meetup: fail.

Verdict? I probably will not do this race again. I bet that if you want to run in DC, there are a ton of other races which probably have just as nice of a course, but less people. It was a fun race on a nice course in a beautiful city, but I prefer smaller, more personal races. Besides, there are so many other places I need to see!

Now, an important question. On my 50 states list, where does this fall? Do I need a "50 states and a District" list? 

Have you ever been to DC? Have you ever been to a Cherry Blossom festival? Have you ever gotten a bib with your name on it?

Diva Dash: Pros & Cons

While visiting a friend of mine in Kansas City, I dragged her to invited her to join me at the Diva Dash in the great state of Kansas. I am trying to race in every state and this would satisfy my Kansas quotient. Right now it doesn't matter what distance it is, any race is sufficient! So, after running this race, my number of states is up to 10!

This race was held on city streets, in one of the outlying areas of Kansas City. There was a good turnout; there were about 1200 people for the 5k. There was also a Little Princess dash, which I believe was one mile. This race, as the name suggests, WAS all women. This is only my second all women race; the first was Women Run The Cities in Minneapolis.

All The Ladies

Pros:

- The energy of this race was great. There were tons of spectators along the beginning and end sections, mostly men and children, and the enthusiasm was great. There was one guy at the very last stretch who was cheering everyone on. It was so nice to have someone cheering for me, even if he didn't know me. I am sure he made everyone else feel great too!

- The ladies working the booths were all really nice. Even though the packet pickup was a little confusing (see below), they were all very friendly and chipper, so it was easy to maneuver.

- The swag. Technical tees in women's cuts and sizes. They also had hats you could buy for $5. For food there were cookies, bananas, edamame, water and Neuro, which is a drink I had not tried before. It was good! I tried the Bliss and the Sun. Both were tasty. There are several other flavors; I would like to try them all. 

- The weather. This may not be normal, but it was about 50 degrees and sunny for the 8:30 am race. I want weather like this every time I race!

- The location. This race was only about 10 minutes from my friend's house. I got to sleep in until about an hour before the race! 

- My friend who came with me said she liked that it was all women, she liked the course, which was varied with up and down hills (and not a lot of flats), she liked that people were wearing costumes, which made the race fun, and she liked that there were both walkers and runners, so she didn't feel pressured to go faster or feel too worried about coming in last.

Cons:

- The packet pickup and registration were in a tiny little room. This race was held in a shopping center, so they opened up one of the stores to do the registration in. It was not big enough for everyone to come in and fill out paperwork and get their packets. It was very tight.

- The packet pickup was difficult to find. Usually it's in a tent out in the middle somewhere. We had to hunt around and ask a bunch of people in order to find this one.

- Not enough port-a-potties. 1200 girls. 8 port-a-potties. It does not compute.

So, except for a few logistical difficulties, this was a great race! If you are just starting out running, I would suggest looking for a fun race like this, where there are walkers (so you won't be the slowest), or where it's a fun run, with costumes or kids or a theme.

Have you ever run an all women race? Do you have a 50 state race goal? Do you like to participate in events or go to parties where you can wear a costume?

Race You to The Finish!

Have you ever signed up for a race via lottery? What about a race that was not close to where you lived? I have done it twice. The first one was the NYC Half Marathon. I had just completed my first half marathon and when my friend said he was going to put his name in the lottery, I thought why the heck not. So I did. This was in April. The race was in August. I got in. The next several months consisted of a steady decline in training, culminating in a 90 degree, 2 hour and 14 minute, painful race. The view was spectacular. I think that is the only thing that got me through. 

I should have learned my lesson. 5 months ahead of time is a little bit too far in the future for me, planning wise. Even though I am a planner. But I didn't learn. In December, I put my name in the lottery for the Cherry Blossom 10 mile race, which is in Washington DC. In April. I got in. In case you were wondering, I live in California.

So, now the race is about a week away. I contemplated saying, "forget about it" and staying home, but it just so happened that I had a couple extra flight miles, so I used them to get myself a ticket to DC, where I will run the race. I am  also hoping to meet up with some blogger friends for lunch, play tourist, look at the pretty flowers, see some family and to go back to a couple of the Smithsonian Museums that I haven't been to in a few years. All I can say is that there better be some cherry blossoms there or I am going to be really mad.

In the meantime, I decided to keep up my fitness by doing a few smaller and virtual races. In case you need a little motivation, some of these are a great way to get it, without having to pay for a race, travel or even leave your neighborhood! Click on the thumbnails to go to the sites and sign up!

March 10: 10k -- time: 47:28

March 20: 10k -- time: 54:47 / 8:50/mi (goes until March 25th)

10k -- March 19 - 30

5k -- March 24

5k/ 10k/ Half Marathon -- April 1 - 8

Have you ever been to Washington DC? Have you ever signed up for a race but not ran it or not trained enough? Are you signed up for any of the above virtual races?