The Army 10 Miler Race Report

While I was deployed in 2010 The Bride said she wanted to do the Army 10 Miler together in 2011.  Being the dutiful husband I am, I signed us up the day registration opened.  That was only the only day it was open, it sold out that fast.  Luckily I woke up at 0330 and registered us.   She has been in training mode since May.  Her longest run prior to today was 7.5 miles, but I knew she could do it. 

Saturday morning we overslept.  I mean we really overslept and alcohol had not been involved the night before.  We woke up about 9am.  Neither one of us ever sleep that late.  We made it packet pick up about noon and the line outside the DC Armory was not moving.  We were finally told by one of the Old Guard they were holding people because it was too crowded inside.  No problem.  We were in the military line so once it started moving again we were in 5 minutes and 5 minutes later had our packets.    This was scene outside when we arrived.

By the time we had perused the vendors it was even worse.  Good thing we did not oversleep even more.  After purchasing some more Jelly Belly Sport Beans and a new IPod Nano arm holder, we stopped for a sandwich on the way home.  The afternoon was spent watching college football.  The Bride’s Univeristy of Maryland Terps did not fair well.  This is the biggest race the Bride has ever done.  So she went to bed early and I stayed up and watched my UGA Dawgs. 

The morning started about 5am with some breakfast and we headed to catch the Metro to the race site.  I think we were on the first train of the morning and arrived about 0630 at the Pentagon.  We linked up with a friend of mine, then did the Porta-John dance and headed to the start line.

 

I was suppose to be in wave one, but did not get up to the correct area soon enough, so I started at in wave two.  I was off at 0810.  I ran the first two miles at about 8:30 per mile.  This was a little faster than I wanted to run, but I was feeling pretty good.  At the first water stop, which was about about mile 2.5 I felt the need to stop at the Porta John again.  That was about a 12 minute stop counting the time I had to stand in line.  NOT GOOD.   Not counting the stop, I hit the 5 mile mark about 22 minutes later.  I soon saw some friends of mine at the top of the little hill.  They had come had to cheer for me and the Bride.  Mira had even made a sign for the Bride.  I chatted with them for a minute, thanked them for coming out and making the sign, and then I was off again.

Miles 6 to 8 were slow, but uneventful.  About mile 8.5, on the 14th Street Bridge, I started running out of steam and my left foot started to hurt.  WTF?  It is my right foot that has been giving me problem.  I stretched out and ran even slower for the last mile and half.  After being herded through the finish line I awaited on the Bride to finish.  She came in about 2:30.  She had done it.  She had never run this far before in her life.  I was so proud of her accomplishment. 

Our friends gave us a ride from the Pentagon back to a less crowded Metro Stop and we made it home.  The Bride was smart enough to have scheduled a massage for the afternoon.  I think she may have started something new.  She is already talking about doing the George Washington Parkway 10 Miler in April. 

Oh, I finished in 2 hours.  If you factor out the bathroom stop and the time chatting my friends I would have finished in about 1:45.  That is too slow, but for not training much for the event I was satisfied.  There is more come…..