Cherry Blossom Run

Hi everyone,

Last weekend Tom and I headed up to Washington DC. My friend Debbie had talked me into signing up for the Cherry Blossom 10 mile run. It sounded like a good idea at the time, but as race day grew closer I got nervous. I am not much for running on the treadmill and most of my training time was during the winter, so I was afraid I was not prepared. I had ran 9 miles outside the week before but it was a slow run and did not feel good. The race has a strict 2:20 time limit because they can only keep the DC streets closed for so long.

Race morning was beautiful. I could not have asked for better weather. We rode the metro in and made it right at my group's start time. Off we went. 26,000 people had signed up for the 10 mile and the 5k. It was very crowded so I stayed to the outside. It felt good. I had my lucky Carolina shirt on. I saw Tom at the 5 mile mark. He said I looked good, so he knew I would make it. The long stretch by the Tidal Basin was a little boring. There were no spectators back there. Along the way I saw a lot of fellow Tar Heel fans. I had so many people shout Go Carolina. It was really energizing. At the finish line I felt good, so I kicked it into a sprint. I thought my net time was 1:58. I thought my time did not register, because I was looking in the wrong time. The official results for me were 1:55. I probably could have done better with more training, but I will take it. It was a fun beautiful, flat race and I would gladly run it again.