Army Ten Miler, make that 11.3 miler

This weekend I did a quick run to DC to attend the yearly Army Ten Miler run. It is a little different than a lot of the other events I attend and I think it might become a yearly tradition for me. This ends a six week four event stretch that included a 100mi bike ride, a half marathon, essentially a half ironman and then this. I have lost seven pounds and survived without major injury.

The trip started Saturday morning with me picking Sam up at around 9:30am. We raced up to DC to get our race packets and then met Chris at a bar where we reminisced, caught-up and watched the last ten minutes of the VT vs WVU game. It was a very nice visit. After that we went to Sam’s sister in-law’s for the evening and to sleep.

Sunday we left the house at 6am to head to the Pentagon for the run. There are a few things that make this run different from many of the others. The main one this year is that they added an extra 1.3miles onto the run which no one seemed to know about ahead of time. One of the rumors was that there was a bomb scare. But hey, what’s and extra mile or so.

Another difference occurred at the port-o-johns they had. At all races they have many johns for the runners to use and there is always a line to use them. Well this morning there was a drill instructor with a bullhorn walking up and down the row yelling for occupents to ‘push it out’. And telling those waiting to do jumping jacks because it would help prepare them to be faster.

The course is a wonderful stroll through the city past monuments, memorials, museums, the capital and other historic landmarks. During the run I helped pass the time by taking a cadet who had traveled up with Chris under my wing. Unfortunately she was not really ready to run the whole distance but she was definitely determined to cross the finish line. So I stayed with her talking and keeping her company as we switched off running and walking. I am proud to say that she finished and it always makes me feel good to help someone like that.

At the end of the run there is a series of tents set up for different Army organizations, several of which serve food. We had eggs & bacon, pork Bar-B-Que and bratwurst with sour kraut. It was good eats.

After that we hopped in the car and headed home. Looks like another successful weekend. Boy am I tired. :)