The thermometer said winter, but the sun was shining and the cherry blossoms were in peak bloom, so I guess the 2018 Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run kept it’s promise of being The Runner’s Rite Of Spring®. I wanted my 2018 Cherry Blossom Race Recap to recount how kept up my pace around Hains Point, but I did slow down in that headwind. Still, I pushed hard, finished strong, and am pleased with how I ran this race.
Cherry Blossom Expo
Before I get to my race recap, I want to share the highlights of my experience at the expo. I spent a few hours there on Saturday monitoring the official Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run Twitter account, and enjoyed visiting the vendors and listening to the speakers.
The expo is held at the National Building Museum– a beautiful space!
Everyone loves finding their name!
It was a reach, but I found mine!
Garmin was the new technology sponsor, and I LOVE the watch face they created.
You can download it for free through the Garmin Connect Store!
Garmin also generously gave the Cherry Blossom social media team Garmin devices. I received a Vivoactive 3. Since I already have my Fenix, I will be giving it to a friend who is just getting back to running after a series of injuries. I know she is going to love the built-in workouts and the connected features that send smart phone notifications right to your wrist, and I’m sort of jealous of the Garmin Pay feature. We also received a Good Luck Box (see my previous review of this fun way to encourage a friend) and great gear from Under Armour–including Hovr Sonic shoes I can’t wait to put to the test.
[Tweet “My #CUCB2018 #RaceRecap #runchat #cherryblossoms”]
2018 Cherry Blossom Race Recap
This race has an early start (7:30 am), and I wanted to get there early to get a good parking place. I set my alarm for 4:40 am, got up a bit before 5:00, and was on my way by about 5:45 after sucking down one cup of coffee.
view from my car
I got a great parking space, ate my peanut butter + honey sandwich, and stayed in my car as long as I could. I headed to my corral at about 7:00 am, and kept my throw-away sweatshirt on until 7:27 am. Even with it on I was COLD!
It was time to part with this souvenir from my son’s high school wrestling days.
After the National Anthem, the elite athletes started first, followed by the wheelchair athletes, and then the rest of us, in waves. I felt like I was starting off conservatively, but my first mile split (8:06) told me otherwise. Since it didn’t feel hard, I held it for the next few miles, but then let myself slow down to save some energy for Hains Point.
As I approached the Jefferson Memorial at mile 5+, the first elite athletes were coming off Hains Point at their mile 9+. It was really exciting to see how FAST they were running.
Hains Point is a 3+ mile loop where my race pace usually plummets. I was determined to run it better, but my pace still slowed. First I slowed down to take off and stow my gloves, and then my headband–I felt so warm in the sunshine! Then I slowed down to take a few photos. Then, I encountered that headwind.
I did my best to keep running hard while enjoying the scenery, and pushed myself harder again after I reached mile 9.
The good news/bad news about having a blog is that I can easily look up past race results and see that this was not my fastest Cherry Blossom by far, although it was well within the finish time I was shooting for. I’ve been focusing on recovering from plantar fasciitis and running injury free rather than training for a specific pace.
I’m grateful that I was able to race pain-free, pleased with my pacing, and still basking in the glow of the gorgeous pink blossoms!
I’m linking up with Holly and Wendy for the Weekly Wrap
I’m also participating in the Cherry Blossom Training Link Up that Heather is hosting.
![The Ultimate Coffee Date](http://got2run4me.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Ultimate-Coffee-Date.png" "The Ultimate Coffee Date")
I love your yearly recap of this! It’s such a pretty looking route through the blossoms! As a race coordinator, I’m pretty jealous that you got the hook up from Garmin too! Impressive!
Congrats on another fantastic Cherry Blossom!
The timing doesn’t always align with the blossoms, but when it does, it’s pretty amazing. Garmin, Under Armour and The Good Luck Box were generous sponsors.
Great work! Nice pacing and great attitude. (And looks like it was at least not rain or snain!) That ambassador swag is SWEET!
Yeah, the forecast was dicey, but luckily yesterday didn’t rain, blow, or snow on the blossoms too much and today was GORGEOUS!
Congrats on your race. Glad to hear that you finished without any pain. Cute medal. That is so cool that Garmin had screen for the Cherry Blossom race.
Thanks! I really do love the Garmin screen. I may keep it for a while. 😉
I love that medal! Great job with the race.
Isn’t it fantastic? It’s one of my favorites overall.
Congrats on a great race! Even though it was cold, you had a really pretty day and a nice finish time. Glad you were able to run pain free!
This looks like a great race! I love the Expo picture – looks like a unique space.
Congrats on an awesome race! Although it started out cold, I’m glad that it warmed up a bit as the race went on.
Great recap! Sorry I never did find you today. I was pretty cold the whole race. The trees were the prettiest I have ever seen them what a treat for sure. Glad to hear you are pain free and congrats on a fantastic race. I loved being part of the CB team 🙂
Haines Point is the spot that killed me both times I ran MCM. I didn’t know the Cherry Blossom course headed out there too! (Once I knew I had to DNS, I stopped paying attention to the emails and I never looked at the course map.) Those are some great splits! Even with plantar fasciitis and trying to stay injury free! I’m really sad I missed it. Hopefully, I’ll get lucky again in the lottery next year and will actually be able to run it!
This race looks so beautiful! Your pace is pretty spectacular in my opinion 😉 Awesome job! I’m sure that headwind was not pleasant.
Thanks. I’m so used to Hains Point sucking, the headwind was expected. 😉
This is definitely a race on my bucket list! There aren’t many 10 milers in my area. The last one I did was in 2014 when I did the Disney Tower of Terror one! I’m definitely faster now so I want to try another one to see how fast my pace can be.
We’re lucky to have several good 10 milers in this area. The Cherry Blossom is a special one though!
What a beautiful race this is! I loved all of your pictures! The cherry blossoms are my favorite. Congratulations on an amazing race! Super speedy!
Thanks. I think the pictures were worth slowing down for — it’s so special to catch them in peak bloom.
Congrats on a strong race Coco! Wow those blossoms are stunning. Even though its still so cold the sun is strong (thankfully). I need to visit DC during cherry blossom season one of these years.
It’s hard to plan ahead because the peak bloom period is hard to predict (and changes) but if you can swing it, it is so worth it!
Congrats on a pain-free race! So happy the cherry blossoms were out for the run this year!!
Yeah for pain free racing, that’s what i’m going for as well! Love your Garmin watch face!
Isn’t it cool? I wonder if they will do it for all races they sponsor now?
Totally jealous of your swag! I actually want a Vivoactive 3. Keep waiting for the price to come down. And oh my word how beautiful it all looks. Can I come stay with you to run it next year? 🙂 I never did get to see the cherry blossoms the one year I lived in MD. I don’t know why, either, I went into DC fairly often.
Sounds like you ran a strong race, even if it wasn’t your best time.
It can be tricky to catch the blossoms. I want to go back and take pictures, but we’ve had cloudy mornings. Maybe tomorrow …
What a cool way to enjoy the D.C cherry blossoms. I’m proud of you for battling that headwind, regardless of what the clock says about your time. And staying pain-free and injury-free are always good goals. I’m trying for that this week, trying to not train too hard as I get ready for Adult Nationals. It’s so hard when you want to do more!
It is hard to hold back but I try to remember that rest days are when muscles recover.
Congratulations! Your finish time is downright enviable! It looks like a picture perfect day for a race. I’d love to see all those cherry blossoms in one place. You really received some nice perks for part of the social media team. Thanks for linking!
It turned into such a lovely day! I’d love to show you the blossoms some time.
Congratulations!! I envy your city so much. How beautiful to run in history in the midst of the blossoms.
It is a great city for running — just watch out for the potholes. 😉
Oh, I really, really, really want to do this one! Timing is always an issue for me with this race, but I hope to make it work out in the near future.
I can’t wait to read your full recap, but I am so jealous of all those blooming cherry blossoms! How beautiful!
It’s definitely worth planning ahead for, although then you have to cross your fingers that the blossoms cooperate with the timing.
I’m so glad the scenery was nice for the race! I wasn’t sure with all the colder weather if it was going to be as pretty as past years. Not that I’ve personally done it, lol, but living vicariously through fellow bloggers photos, haha!
I think our recent cold spell actually helped delay the blooms a few days — luckily they were still at a bud stage during the last snow.
Nice ambassador swag and what a beautiful day! Looks like the cherry blossoms, were indeed, at their peak. Dang good race lady! Congratulations!
Thanks so much. They really were gorgeous!
That looks like such a great race. Is it that cold every year? Great pace and medal!
It usually is pretty cold at the start, but not always that cold (low 30s). But once the sun comes out and we start running it warms up quickly.
Yay to a pain-free run! I’m sorry the weather was so cold. But at least the Cherry Blossoms were in bloom!
It was perfect ^running^ weather, just too cold waiting-to-run weather. 😉
Congrats on a great race Coco! So great that the cherry blossoms were in bloom – made such a pretty course. I really want to run this one year. And oh my goodness what great ambassador swag!
I really hope you make it one year — would love to show you around.
this race looks absolutely gorgeous! I totally get why you do this annually! sometimes it’s about the race itself and not the time. Glad you were able to participate again.
and how fun about monitoring the twitter account for the expo! cool! I like the Garmin watch face too. I want to dive into more watch face possibilities. I just got a watch that is able to have this but have only downloaded a couple.
Sorting through all the options can be a real time suck — I keep searching for the perfect one, but I like this one so much!
This race is on my bucket list – you got such a gorgeous day for it, too. Congrats on a well run race – coming back from PF is the worst.
Thanks. This race is bucket-list worthy for sure! PF is evil.
You and Deborah have got me thinking I need to come back to this race, and not just because of all that swag :P! So nice that the Cherry Blossoms were in full bloom this year, though man that cold had to be tough! Congrats on a strong, pain-free race!
Yes, you really do need to come back! It was only cold waiting to start. I warmed up quickly while running.
Congrats on running a strong race! I really enjoyed the year that I ran the race during peak bloom. It makes for such a pretty scene while running, and helps you to forget about the not so enjoyable parts of the race.
Great recap of the race, and it looks like you ran a really good race. You slowed down a bit at the end, but not by that much — a very impressive race. Was delightful to meet you face to face — hope this is the kick off for a great year of running for you.
Thanks, it was great meeting you too. Hains Point always gets to me, but at least it was really pretty this year.
I’m never taking of the CUCB watch face for my garmin, it’s so pretty 😉
I loved the frames in the race app. Such a fun tool.
Since you were there Saturday it wasn’t you that I was tweeting to Friday mid afternoon, but whoever worked the twitter app Friday was super fun to chat with.
It’s funny – everyone who has run this race and the friend I know who is a local runner told me I’d hate Hains Point, but it was my favorite. I really felt the whole course was gorgeous but if there was anything I didn’t like, it was the Kennedy Center underpass.
congrats on a pain free race!!! i ran it too:
https://cuckoolemon.com/2018/04/15/cherry-blossom-ten-miler-2018/