Washington D.C.: The Cherry Blossom 10-Miler

Now that spring seems to (finally) be sticking around, I figured I should write about D.C.'s Cherry Blossom 10-Miler before it turns into summer around here, which it will inevitably do in about five minutes.

Jen was supposed to run the 10-Miler in 2016, but it turned into a "run at your own risk" kind of thing when the winds were so strong they had to take down the mile markers and couldn't offer water stations. It seemed like a similar situation was going to take place this year when three days out from the race, the weather report was calling for 5-8 inches of snow. In April. -_-

Of course, meteorologists just generally suck at their jobs and the day turned out to be cloudless and nearly perfect. I say "nearly" because it was cold AF despite the sunny skies. Although the highs were going to reach the mid-50s later in the day, during the whole of the early-morning race, it was in the low 30s.

Naturally, I was underprepared, focusing on that 50s number instead of that 30s number. I left my running gloves, ear warmers, heat sheets, and wool socks at home. I wore long pants and a hoodie, but it took a solid 3 miles to regain feeling in my fingertips. (And only six days later, we ran Sole of the City in 80-degree temps...)

ANYWAY, bitching about the weather is boring, right?

The day before, we visited the expo and saw Meb Keflezighi speak, visited the Under Armour HOVR House and got to sample UA's new running shoes, and ate our faces off (stay tuned for a full report on the food).

Despite living 45 minutes from D.C. for most of my life, I've never gone to see the cherry blossoms probably because I hate D.C., and driving there is an anxiety-producing clusterfuck. So I was happy to see that the cold didn't kill all the cherry blossoms the way the wind blew them all away when Jen visited. Running the course around the Tidal Basin was the perfect way to see them, and I snapped some pics for you along the way.

Happy spring!

-Staci