Cherry Blossom 10 Miler - Third time's a charm!

I've now run The Cherry Blossom 10 Miler three times.  The first time was in April 2007.  I had never run more than a 5k (3.1 miles) before and my friend Ivy provided so much inspiration that it made me think I could actually do it.  Personally, I wanted to see if I could do it after having Ian.  Something about being able to run 10 miles after having a baby was the motivation necessary to get me moving.  I did it and was so proud of myself for finishing.  TIME:  1 hr, 59 min, 22 sec.

Last year I ran this race for the 2nd time.  I was interested in seeing if I could do it again after having a 2nd child (Samantha).  I also had it in the back of my mind that I wanted to beat my time in 2007.  I did manage to shave off 2 1/2 minutes from my finishing time, but also passed out and thew-up multiple times afterwards.  It wasn't a great feeling and one I hope to never experience again.  I am contributing my dizziness/nauseousness from dehydration.  If you see me run now, you know that will never be a problem again.  I am armed and dangerous with the fuel belt!  TIME:  1 hr, 56 min., 55 sec.



Jen (running BFF and partner-in-crime for the marathon),
Maria (amazing runner and my personal inspiration),
and me!

Wow!  What a difference a year makes!  Today running the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler was amazing.  I stuck close to Jen W. and we had a plan to run for 3 minutes, walk for 30 seconds.  Normally, we had been doing 3 minutes running/ 1 minute walking, but decided to bump it up a bit for race day.  Jen and I were doing great until mile 7 and then decided we need to go back to those 1 minute walks.  It was very much needed.  And here's the best news ever.....I finished a good 7 or 8 minutes faster than last year's time.  OMG!!!  Because of messing with my Garmin to increase the walk breaks from 30 seconds to 1 minute, I ended up restarting the clock.  But I think unofficially, we ran this in 1 hour, 48 minutes.  Yay!!  Yippee!!!!  TIME:  1 hr, 49 min, 44 sec.

Some funny signage seen along the route from the sidelines:

Guy holding the following sign;
"If you think this is hard, you should try dating me."

Woman holding the following sign;
"You slow is showing."

Guy at a nearby picnic table;
"Free beer and oreos" 

Guy holding a sign;
"This way for the short-cut."




The whole group I came with.
We all fit in Maria's mini-van.  Good thing we are in shape!


Craziest thing ever -- about 90% of the Port-a-potties had padlocks still on the doors.  These 2 guys went around with sledgehammers and knocked the lock free on each door, much to the cheer of the crowd.

By the way, in case you were wondering what my shirt said, "If you see me collapse, pause my Garmin."   If you ever ran with me, you know I am all about keeping accurate time and pacing on my Garmin watch.  Even when I stop to tie my shoe, I'll pause the Garmin for the 30 seconds.  I absolutely love One More Mile for their sense of humor and fun race wear.

It's funny, when I was running the 10 miles, I kept thinking to myself could I do this for 26.2 miles?  Am I really going to be able to pull this off?  Oy!  I am just so happy that I registered for the marathon 2 days ago and have no chance of changing my mind.  My new big concern is that my friend Jen will still be talking to me by the time Nov. 20th comes around.