Caribbean Sounds 10K - Washington, DC

Today was my first 10K.  I did the Caribbean Sounds 10K in Rock Creek Park down in DC. I had signed up a while back when there was a Schwaggle on Active.com (kind of like Groupon).  I was really nervous for no apparent reason!  I read reviews after I signed up about lack of water stops.  Then they changed the route earlier this week and there was a HUGE hill w/ a 6% grade at the end of the 5k (which the 10Kers repeated twice).  I had only trained at up to a 3% grade and even that was sparse!  Then there was the weather - it's been storming on/off here all week and it was forecast for rain today.

Despite all that and even a bad dream I had about waking up late and not being able to make it there, I went....and I had a great time!  I stayed with my grandmother down that way last night, so I didn't have to wake up in the middle of the night to drive down.  When I left her house this morning, it was pouring rain and I was dreading running in the rain!  By the time I got down there, it had stopped raining.  There was a brief downpour about 20-30 minutes before the start time and that got me worried.  Luckily, though, the rain held off for the race and the sun was even trying to make an appearance by the end.

We lined up and headed off - down the dreaded hill.  It was nice to start the race on a downhill, but I was worried about coming back up it...TWICE.  I managed to run the ENTIRE race!  That's really impressive for me because I usually let myself walk a couple times during my training runs.  I paused at one of the water stops (they had plenty of those despite previous year's complaints), but that was it.

The rain cooled it off and I had a good time.  Unfortunately, my partner and race photographer is visiting family out of state this week, so I don't have any pictures and I had to go alone.  It would have been nice to have had someone there to cheer me on and meet me after the race, but there were plenty of people cheering at the finish line!!

UPDATE:  The official results were posted today and I came in at 1:14:10!!  That's an 11:57 avg. pace!  Most of my runs are in the 12+ ranges, so even a few seconds under makes me ecstatic.  I'm ready for my next race!!