I arrived in D.C. two nights before the 2015 Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 Miler. I figured I would need at least a couple of nights to get over the jet lag from switching coasts. I don't know if it was the direct flight to D.C., the good blood circulation in my legs due to a pair of compression socks, or the good company when I arrived, but I did not feel the effects of travel.

I knew it was going to be tough sticking to the SCD diet while traveling. I packed a big bag of assorted raw nuts and dried cranberries (a staple snack), a handful of Lara Bars, and hoped for the best. I wanted to stick to the diet as close as possible before the race to make make sure my body didn't have any adverse reactions on race morning. Things didn't go quite to plan. We had Ethiopian the first night (illegal injera bread) followed by a potato side dish the night before the race. I decided to risk it in both circumstances because I didn't want to feel starved leading into the race. Luckily everything was good on race morning.

April 12th, the morning of the race, the weather was beautiful. Temperatures were in the high 40s and the sun was shining. The air was just the right level of crisp. I could not have asked for anything better. I road the Metro to the start line. I got there a little too early so I spent my time determining the ideal minute to use the bathroom, take off my warm clothing, drop off my bag, and head to the start line. It all was successful.

Here is running-with-ulcerative-colitis pro tip. Two hours before a race pop two Imodium tablets. Nervous energy will make sure you unload everything in your system, but the pills will prevent any unwanted urgency ten minutes along the course. Of course, I am not a medical doctor, so please consult your doctor before taking any of my advice.

While in the corrals 15 minutes before the race the announcer on the loud speaker informed the runners of an accident on the course that required the race to be rerouted. The race would be less than 10 miles! It was a big blow to my psyche. I was doing this race solely to break one hour in time. I was thinking that no matter how fast I run, there will be no official way to prove whether I could have run a sub-one hour 10 miler. I felt my internal drive dropping, but I also realized that this could be big trouble. I stopped my train of thought and instead focused on the beautiful location I was at (the foot of the Washington monument on the nation mall) and how I am in the best shape of my life but needed to prove it to myself.

Minutes before the gun the corral gates dropped and runners elbowed their way to the front. Based on previous finish times I estimated that I should finish in the top 200. Unfortunately I let my position slip and found myself behind roughly four or five hundred racers. This proved costly in the opening mile. The initial pace felt slow, but there was not much room to maneuver around the field. I started sneaking up the edges of the racers while at the same time trying to run the shortest course possible.

I hit the first mile marker with my watch showing 6:20. I was not happy, but I also didn't want to put in a sudden burst to try to make up the time as I was still in heavy congestion and did't know exactly the pace I could sustain for the remaining 8+ miles. So I kept to form slowly moving my way through the field. The second mile features a run across the memorial bridge and a big circle around a round-a-bout. I was still passing people so I couldn't stay on the inside of the round-a-bout. Unfortunately this forced me to make the course longer than needed. On the return trip across the bridge I finely felt comfortable with the pace of runners around me and I began to settle in. I focused on my running lines and picked off runners when possible.

In retrospect, it is always nice passing people. You see someone ahead of you and think about slowly overtaking them. Then you find another, and another... At mile three I got passed. I think that was the only time that it happened.

After escaping the masses, my pace settled into form. At 1.53 miles I began running sub-six minute miles (according to my Garmin), and I didn't let up on the pace the rest of the way (pace shown in gray on the figure).

Soon I was on East Potomac Park, then at Hains point, my pace was still great! I was finally getting pushed onward by the runners around me and found myself in a small pack charging to the finish. During the last mile there is a good sized hill that caused some serious pain. At the top of the hill with about 200 meters to go I found some untapped energy and put in a burst to pass one more runner and sprint across the finish line. I stopped my watch not knowing the official distance or whether I was able to drop down to sub-six minute miles for the race.

My watch showed 9.50 miles and 5 minute and 54 second miles, but I knew not to trust the pace since I did not run the shortest course and since there is often GPS error. I ran the numbers and figured out that as long as the race was 9.35 miles I would have accomplished my pace goal.

Early the next morning the results were in. The race distance was 9.39 miles! I was just under 6 minutes per mile and was incredibly happy.

So what is next? My next major race will be the Portland Marathon on October 4th. I have a full summer to prepare. I have added the 10-miler results to my run tracker below (discussed in detail on previous posts) and have began to think about marathon goals.

The marathon is a different beast and I don't think I can rely on my FTP race paces to accurately calculate my goal marathon pace. For now I am aiming for sub-3 hours and a Boston Qualifying time. Further refinement of that time will have to wait until I have a better idea how I can run at long distances.