At the crack of dawn on Sunday morning the Newbie donned her racing outfit (including The Pink Spandex of Sister2’s marathon fame, an obligatory costume component for all runners who stay chez Mollie), and headed to the start of the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler.
About 30 minutes later, after hitting snooze an embarrassing number of times, I dragged myself out of bed to go watch the race. (I love watching races - it's all the excitement minus the anxiety!) I ran to Memorial Bridge to meet friends at 7:30 and see the runners in miles 1 and 2.
First the elite women passed us, our teammate Claire Hallissay looking good in the lead pack. Then the men’s elites dashed by.
And finally, the masses came – the bridge was covered in runners going every direction! The front-runners were already on their way back, while those who started later were coming down our side in bigger and bigger crowds.
Soon we saw the Newbie, in all her day-glo glory. Go Jen! Way to go! You’re the best looking runner I’ve ever seen! I shrieked so loudly that I’m pretty sure everyone in Arlington heard me. She didn’t originally plan to run her race looking like a highlighter-human, but the excitement of race-day plus my extreme powers of persuasion convinced her it was a good idea (which it was – The Pink Pants are always a good idea!).
She arrived Thursday night, so we had plenty of time to get excited. On Friday we went to dinner at Ghana Café (good food, looonnnngggg wait) to carb up for her upcoming race and my Saturday long run. 6x6 and I did another 11-miler on Saturday morning (my favorite 10-miler plus the running to meet 6x6), just missing the hail and rain.
Then the Newbie and I headed to the Cherry Blossom Race Expo at the National Building Museum. The line for packet pickup snaked around the block, but it went quickly and once we got inside we amused ourselves with people watching and reading about the race.
Of course we had to stop for some mid-afternoon cupcakes and fro-yo – you see the Newbie eating a Key West Cupcake, and me with an Orange Cherry Spice Cupcake from Red Velvet Cupcakery (all good, but not the best cupcakes in DC).
Then we headed home to bake, lounge, and rest up for the impending race.
She completed her 10 miles in 1:31:17 (that’s 9:08 minutes per mile), not too shabby considering that just 25 days ago she emailed me asking for a training plan!
Post-race we warmed up at the Front Page Brunch Buffet (yummmm!), and then headed to the Drum Circle (soon the park will be green again) - a wonderful start to spring!