Race Recap: St. Patrick's Day 8K

Sunday morning I woke up nice and early at 7 am (6 am standard time) to get ready to race. The race didn't start till 9, but I wanted plenty of time to eat and digest, debate my outfit choice, and run/walk down to the starting line.

The forecast was calling for mid 60s but sadly at 8:30 am it was in the low 40s so my short sleeve green T was covered by my pot o' gold long sleeve. I also purchased running sunglasses to try out. After discovering a braid knocked them around I did a quick hair change and they worked out well.

Ready to go. Lucky 1384.

Once I headed out I jogged for awhile to get loosened up. After a block I started seeing groups of people headed down to the race. Around K street another running struck up a conversation. We discussed the challenges of knowing what to wear, local races, and the Logan Circle area. Once we got to Freedom Plaza we parted was as she was planning to run faster than me.

I lined up in the 9 minute pace group about halfway in. I ended up not having to dodge many people at all, but the route was crowded and the many turn arounds caused me to almost stop a few times.

You turn me right round baby right round

Unlike the Thanksgiving run I made sure to look up and appreciate all the landmarks we were running by.

I wasn't sure how an 8K race would feel so I started out slower than my recent 5K race pace, but after I passed the 5K split I picked it up for the final 2 miles. I'm happy with my time, but I think next time I could push it a bit more the entire race.

Race Stats

After the race I grabbed a banana and water. And watched these ladies get to business:

point, point, twist, twist, twist

I only wish I had the fake curls when I was taking lessons.

I met up with some friends of which one had an amazing time (40ish) and the other ran their first race. After washing some of the sweat off I met back up with them for some post race brunch.