I spent most of this week living in Cherry Blossom limbo, not knowing whether I would be able to do the Cherry Blossom Ten Mile run. Various people told my Mom she could be in acute rehab for from 4-14 days. While she would have arranged for someone else to stay with her over race weekend, I wouldn’t have felt right leaving her with a “stranger” just so I could run.
Tidal Basin cherry blossoms
Living in Cherry Blossom Limbo
Training-wise, I approached the week as if I would be racing. But, to make sure I got to see the actual cherry blossoms no matter what happenned, I decided to do my last long run in D.C.
I didn’t get up as early as I intended, and didn’t start my run until about 7:45. That made for bright blue skies, but also crazy cherry blossom crowds. The first few miles from my office to the Tidal Basin weren’t too bad—I could weave around tourists on the path. The Tidal Basin was a mob scene, so I decided to run around Hains Point—not realizing it only had sidewalks sporadically. Usually the road is closed to cars on weekends, but apparently that is not the case during cherry blossom season.
For the first 3/4 mile, I ran in the left lane with cars lined up in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the right. After a while, cars took over both lanes, and I had to run in the grass along the road.
I got fed up with that and cut through to the other side at the next cut-through. On that side, there was a sidewalk along the water—but it had treacherous gaps in the pavement from time to time (damage from chronic flooding) so I had to watch where I was going.
This gives you an idea of the traffic!
I ended up running a bit farther than I intended (8 miles), but all the traffic and detours kept my pace easy. I was surprised to see I had made it almost to the end of Hains Point before I cut over.
The highlight of my week was a cherry blossom blogger meet-up on Friday. Deborah, Kim, and Cari were kind enough to pick up my bib for me, and we all met for dinner—joined by Deb.
Weekly Run Down
I tried to go easy on my legs this week, and had fun with 30 min tread classes. I earned my 6K minute Peloton badge, and took a fun two-for-one bootcamp as a shake-out run.
Sunday: 8 mile cherry blossom run
Monday: Core + Yoga Conditioning + 5 Tread Miles
I tried one of Peloton’s new “Yoga Conditioning” classes and liked it. It reminds me of the Corepower Yoga Sculpting classes using light weights. This one had a lot of “pre-hab” moves it in so I bookmarked to to take again.
Tuesday: Corepower Yoga
Wednesday: Core + 3.5 Tread Miles
I’ve found that the Peloton “Advanced Beginner” tread classes have thoughtful programming that I enjoy. This one started with four 2 min incline intervals, followed by varied “speed” intervals. After running 2 min at 6% incline, running fast and flat felt easy!
Thursday: Core + 30 min Intervals + Arms Ride
I had a 7:30 am conference call, so I had to be efficient with my workout. I knew Hannah’s intervals and arms ride would pack in plenty of cardio and give my arms a bit of a burn.
Friday: Core + 4 Scooby Miles
My only run with Scooby this week—what better way to kick off the weekend!
Saturday: Core + 30 min tread Bootcamp + 10 min UB Strength
I rarely take tread bootcamps, but really wanted to check out Hannah + Joslyn’s class. The strength portion had an arms + core focus, so I figured it would be OK to do as a pre-race “shake-out”. I rounded out my workout with a 10 min arms and shoulders class, and a 10 min full body stretch with Robin.
As you are reading this I will be running or will have run the Cherry Blossom Ten Mile run! At this point, I don’t feel ready to “race” but I will do my best to be grateful that I am running—and enjoy every mile of Hains Point without traffic. 🙂
A huge thank you to Deborah and Kim for hosting the Weekly Run Down link up.
![The Ultimate Coffee Date](http://got2run4me.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Ultimate-Coffee-Date.png" "The Ultimate Coffee Date")
Hooray for cherry blossom viewing. Our spring is still far away it seems.
Glad to hear your mom is improving and I hope things continue to go smoother.
Bloggers rock. We need to meet!!
Enjoy the race today. I plan to run it one year.
It definitely is bucket-list worthy!
Wow it’s so gorgeous there! We’re nowhere close to having anything blossoming. Looks like a fabulous meetup, have a great race!
It’s strange because the weather has been all over the place, but the flowers say spring.
Whoa, that’s some crazy traffic! The area is stunning though with all the cherry trees. I’m glad you also joined the blogger meetup!
The flowers draw the crowds, but I’m not sure I’d sit in that traffic for them. 😉
So glad that you were able to do the race and do it well. Great to see you this weekend!
Yes, we should do it more often!
Hope you had a fun time at the race today. It was great seeing you on Friday evening!
I’m so glad you could make it!
Yikes, that is some crazy traffic! I knew it was crowded around this time of year but it was more than I imagined.
Glad to hear that your mom continues to improve – that’s such great news! I know it’s been a stressful two weeks.
There were two lanes of that gridlocked traffic the whole 3.5 miles!
It’s why locals usually stay away.
I saw on FB that the race was a success! Congrats! What a fun meet-up with everyone. I’m so glad everything worked out for you.
Thanks so much. It was nice to have a good race!
Yay! I’m glad you were able to do the race! I can’t wait to hear all about it. I’ll bet it was a lot more fun than your run through traffic.
I hope your mom’s rehab is going well!
Thanks, it was less frustrating for sure!
My Mom ^is^ getting better. <3
That traffic looks insane! I’m glad you were able to race and that meet-up looks like a lot of fun 🙂
So I gather from the comments that you did the race, Coco!!
I’m so glad you did!! It would have been a shame to miss it. I’m sure your mum supported the fact that you took the time to run it.
So nice to see all the bloggers in the photo!
How beautiful. And I am so glad you were able to do the race! I’m sure it was a nice change of pace to see all the blogger lades and hang out with them!
Continued love and support to your mom!
Hi Scooby!
Wow on the traffic! So much fun to have that meetup. And glad that you were able to run the race after all.
It was so nice to see you this weekend, and congrats (again) on such a great race! You captured some great pics of the cherry blossoms 😉