The Washington Diaries

A report from the 10k Washington Trail Race in Durham on Memorial Day…. It was a road race with every kind of hill you could possibly imagine or hope for like short, steep climbs, long difficult gradual climbs, one right out of the gate, undulating hills that kept on giving and even some great varieties of Downhills (not to be confused with the Bimbler known as DH herself!)
I arrived early as advised – but not early enough and I had to park at Perk on Main (crepes to die for) and then walk all the way to the High School through the parade crowds to get myself registered for the race.

“Cool”, I thought as I am trying to pile on some ‘work outs’ to get ready for Nipmuck and I need the training. The skies were overcast and the people watching was awesome!!! After registering I watched the parade where The Durham High School Marching Band was really giving an incredible performance – if their bodies weren’t perfectly synchronized, their tunes surely were…. they were GREAT!! I spotted Trevor and Scoobie in the crowd and we prepared for the race which was to follow the parade.

These two women know how to have a good time – and I think the best part of the day was watching the Kids Fun Run where Charlie & Becky’s son really ran with spirit and made us all so proud!! Not all the children participating were able to finish, but they were all passionate about their experiences!!!! I was running on tired legs after a full weekend of training and just hoped to come into the finish under the one hour mark and without my ankle braces – “JOY!!”. The cannon fired ….(something about President George Washington walking in Durham – really cool) and we were off. I just tried to relax and find a comfortable rhythm – oh and I hoped to see some cows!! Hill after hill – I was running with some locals – everybody in the crowd seemed to know Jim…. lots of people had water for us and hoses were showering us with waterfalls of cooling water. The skies were clear now and it was very humid and very hot in the sun.

I took water at lots of aid stations – the youngest volunteer was about 4 years old and I gladly and humbly accepted his offer of water!! (The crowd loved it, so did I) I wanted to toughen up my feet for the road sections at Nipmuck by running the “Downhills” aggressively and somewhere around mile 4ish is just where out in the crowd I see and hear Ultra – cheering me on – ….Go IGGY – he was biking and stopped by to cheer us. – Thank you Ultra – your pep talk was JUST what I needed as I was just running “telephone pole to telephone pole” trying to make to the next one…. 10K is a little different than the 5 mile Brandford Road Race and I just kept telling myself – “you’re at the Brooms now” just a little bit further…. I started that line of thinking WAY too soon into the race, but oh well. Long story – short… I managed to finish better than I thought I would, saw Diana (she needs a code name for the BS) M&M after the race too!

Scoobie won her division and Trevor took second place – just behind Scoobie and both brought home medals for a race that really challenged! I thought I had 2nd for my division – but no!! A computer error and I really won 3rd – so no medal but I did win a prize in the raffle!!!! Thank goodness I didn’t win the watermelon as it was a long couple of miles back to the car after the awards, with some more hill repeats. I recommend this race, lots of local fun and prizes!

Next up – NIPMUCKNIPMUCKNIPMUCK