Baltimore & D.C. Trip
by Robert James Reese » Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 » 5 Comments
This weekend turned out to be as good as I'd hoped, despite the fact that the Yankees lost and I didn't do quite as well in Sunday's race as I wanted to. I just got back in the wee hours this morning, but am not sleeping now because I had to wake up early to drop off the rental car. I figured I'd write a couple notes about the race and trip now since there's not much else to do in midtown at 8:00 in the morning when you don't have to work until 9. I'll start with the race...
Now, I can see why the Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run sells out in under an hour every year. The course was unbelievable – there were virtually no hills, there was great crowd support, and the scenery was beyond belief. The blossoms were out in full force and made the already scenic city even prettier. It was a sunny day, but the race started early and the temp was still nice and cool. I couldn't have asked for anything better.
Unfortunately, I still wasn't feeling totally ready to race. I was really fatigued even before the start and had an unsettled stomach. I got caught in the mass at the start and ran the first mile at 6:27. Things really started to break free after that and I started feeling a little better. I picked up the pace to 6:05/mile. But, it didn't last. I started to struggle bad in mile 3 and felt myself slowly slipping. I fought back as hard as I could, but after the fifth mile, my paces started slipping. (It was great having all the mile splits from Guadalupe after the run to see exactly how bad the slip was...) By the eighth mile, I had fallen to a 6:39/mile pace. I sped up a tiny bit at the end because I was exerting everything I had left, but it only resulted in a slight pickup.
My official time was 1:04:16, a 6:25/mile pace overall. I had hoped to do a little better than that, but really I can't complain. Considering how little speed work I've been doing lately and how lethargic I was feeling that morning, it's not bad. Plus, I got a P.R. and that's always a good thing.
After the race, my dad and I bummed around the city taking in all the sights. It was cool because I have never really spent any time in D.C. before, but we walked a lot and my right foot was really starting to hurt. We headed up to Baltimore mid-afternoon and by the time we got to our hotel, I was limping badly. We just had an early dinner and then crashed early.
I woke up early yesterday and had an amazing run, despite the fact that my foot had swollen up and was very painful. I wasn't going to pass up an opportunity to run in a new city, and I'm very glad I didn't. Out of the hotel, I ran straight through downtown to the Inner Harbor. There's a couple miles of sidewalk right along the waterfront out there and it was ridiculously nice. The weather was perfect, the city was just waking up, and the hordes of tourists hadn't made their way out yet. Along the way, I saw Joe Girardi running the other direction. I waved and hoped that running into him was a good omen about the outcome of the game. It wasn't.
The Yankees lost 10-5 but, I have to admit, I enjoyed the game even though they lost. Opening day always has such a great intensity and I love seeing ballparks that I've never been to before. And, no matter what happens in the game, it's hard to not enjoy yourself when you're hanging out with your dad and watching baseball.
After the game, I drove my dad back to a hotel by the airport, we said our goodbyes, and I hopped on the highway going north. I definitely was not ready to head back to New York, but I guess that's a sign that the trip was good...
Now, I can see why the Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run sells out in under an hour every year. The course was unbelievable – there were virtually no hills, there was great crowd support, and the scenery was beyond belief. The blossoms were out in full force and made the already scenic city even prettier. It was a sunny day, but the race started early and the temp was still nice and cool. I couldn't have asked for anything better.
Unfortunately, I still wasn't feeling totally ready to race. I was really fatigued even before the start and had an unsettled stomach. I got caught in the mass at the start and ran the first mile at 6:27. Things really started to break free after that and I started feeling a little better. I picked up the pace to 6:05/mile. But, it didn't last. I started to struggle bad in mile 3 and felt myself slowly slipping. I fought back as hard as I could, but after the fifth mile, my paces started slipping. (It was great having all the mile splits from Guadalupe after the run to see exactly how bad the slip was...) By the eighth mile, I had fallen to a 6:39/mile pace. I sped up a tiny bit at the end because I was exerting everything I had left, but it only resulted in a slight pickup.
My official time was 1:04:16, a 6:25/mile pace overall. I had hoped to do a little better than that, but really I can't complain. Considering how little speed work I've been doing lately and how lethargic I was feeling that morning, it's not bad. Plus, I got a P.R. and that's always a good thing.
After the race, my dad and I bummed around the city taking in all the sights. It was cool because I have never really spent any time in D.C. before, but we walked a lot and my right foot was really starting to hurt. We headed up to Baltimore mid-afternoon and by the time we got to our hotel, I was limping badly. We just had an early dinner and then crashed early.
I woke up early yesterday and had an amazing run, despite the fact that my foot had swollen up and was very painful. I wasn't going to pass up an opportunity to run in a new city, and I'm very glad I didn't. Out of the hotel, I ran straight through downtown to the Inner Harbor. There's a couple miles of sidewalk right along the waterfront out there and it was ridiculously nice. The weather was perfect, the city was just waking up, and the hordes of tourists hadn't made their way out yet. Along the way, I saw Joe Girardi running the other direction. I waved and hoped that running into him was a good omen about the outcome of the game. It wasn't.
The Yankees lost 10-5 but, I have to admit, I enjoyed the game even though they lost. Opening day always has such a great intensity and I love seeing ballparks that I've never been to before. And, no matter what happens in the game, it's hard to not enjoy yourself when you're hanging out with your dad and watching baseball.
After the game, I drove my dad back to a hotel by the airport, we said our goodbyes, and I hopped on the highway going north. I definitely was not ready to head back to New York, but I guess that's a sign that the trip was good...
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