Race Report: Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 Miler, 7 April 2024, Washington D.C.

by Paul Thompson (pictures by Shamala Thompson)

This was the closest I had come to quitting in 20 years of racing in the US. Aside that is from dropping out of the Brooklyn Half Marathon back in May 2018 due to a hamstring injury. What got me through it was the advice of Deena Kastor at the race Expo the day before.

I first, and last, did this race back in 2007 when I was a youthful 41. I won the masters category, placing 27th in 51:35. It was one of my all time best performances as a masters runner. Seventeen years later here I was again on the start line of the Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 Mile. Seventeen years older but, as it turns out, slower and no wiser. With no hope of eclipsing (sorry I could not resist that) my previous attempt at this race.

In the lead up to the race I was injury free and running some workouts thanks to training pal Luke McCoubrey. But recent work travel and wet weather had stymied consistency. I had seesawed between 40-50 and 60-70 miles per week. I ran almost 3.3 miles in a 20 minute Mona Fartlek 10 days out that gave me some encouragement.

So as I stood in the starting corral with some 20,000 other runners – near the front thanks to a seeded entry – I had limited benchmarks. There were no familiar faces to follow. I had virtually no race experience since 2019. And I had no idea how my aging body would hold up. When I last raced on a regular basis back in 2018 my body and mind just seemed to intuitively know what to do. This time I had no idea. So I set a target finish time of 60 minutes.

The race starts right next to the Washington Monument. Bathed in the first light of the day it was quite the backdrop. The skies were clear and in the shade it was cool. We had been waiting patiently for 20 minutes in the corral, in the cool shade. So much for the three mile warm-up!

Good morning Washington Monument

The elite women set off 12 minutes ahead of us. I assume a requirement they race with some separation from the rest of the field for the purpose of record ratification and USATF Championship placings. And then 15 seconds before 7:30am the elite men were off. My final thought before the gun went was how odd the faster elite runners get a head start on the slower runners!

And then we were off. I was perhaps five rows back from the front so had some 100 runners ahead of me. After a short slight rise we then dropped gently, passed the Tidal Basin on our left, and headed towards the Arlington Memorial Bridge. I immediately felt out of my comfort zone, shell shocked. It seemed like I had set off too fast and yet a steady flow of runners was passing me (the race data shows 202 passed me while I passed 27 during the whole the race).

I missed the one mile marker so had to wait until the two mile mark on the crest of the Arlington Memorial Bridge, the highest point of the course, before I could confirm I had set off too fast. It read 11:30, 5:45 minutes per mile (mpm) pace, 15 seconds a mile faster than my race plan. So there went my plan. And the damage was done. It was too late to make amends.

My next epiphany was the sudden salutary realization that I was older than everyone else! They were old enough to be my grown up sons and daughters. They looked so young. I felt so old. I had that ‘over the hill’ or ‘time to hang up the shoes’ feeling rather than some sort of accomplished feeling.

The course passes under the Kennedy Center where the race does a sudden U turn. A few hundred meters later I passed the 5K point in 18:05. Further confirmation I was ahead of schedule but would pay for it in spades later.

By the half way point, reached in around 29:15, I was wrestling with the idea of dropping out. I was clutching at reasons to keep at it. And had no real reason for dropping out. I was not injured or ill. Simply suffering from after an over exuberant start and not enjoying it! At this point I needed a sudden injury as good reason to bail out. But of course we never get injured when you most need it. My lower back was nagging me but I knew it was not enough to justify dropping out. If I could not persuade myself it was a good idea to drop out it would have been harder to persuade others.

Entering East Potomac Park, the pan flat peninsular opposite Reagan National Airport, I saw Fiona Bayly walking off the course. I yelled out and she looked back and yelled support. Fiona is one of the best US female masters distance runners having been rarely beaten since turning 40 some 15 years ago. She had started with the elite USATF Championship women and had stepped on a rock and twisted her ankle. She pulled out to avoid serious injury. Seeing her was strangely a source of motivation to keep going. She’s not the sort to bail out without a good reason. And I did not have one.

I passed the 10K in 36:51. By now I was deep into survival mode. Get it done. I had stopped competing. And started running outside 6 mpm. Runners were still passing me though the torrent was now a trickle. I knew that I could finish and maybe even close to my 60 minute target. But I was well past crunching the numbers using my watch of the mile clocks. Math is so hard to do in the final phase of a race. Even when the target is 60 minutes for 10 miles: 6 minutes per mile or 10 miles per hour, the easiest math in the sport of running.

In the pain cave at mile 9.5

As I exited East Potomac Park I had less than a mile to run albeit with a short rise in the final 400m. Over that last half mile I managed to hold my own against the runners around me. Crossing the line I once again got to enjoy my favorite part of any race. When you finally release yourself from the pain cave. And then spend time in the finishing funnel enjoying the fact that the pain is subsiding. Running is hard. Physically, mentally, emotionally. But that feeling at the finish makes it worth every minute. Who needs cannabis when you can get a runner’s fix anytime. All you have to do is pay with a little pain.

I finished with an official time of 60:04 and placed 284th male overall and 2nd M55-59. Like an old running friend said 59:64. It puts me 4th on the UK’s ten mile M55-59 (or V55-59 as they call it) ranking for 2024. My race results dataset is here and my Strava data is here. As they say there are lies, damn lies and statistics. And in these days of data analytics there are lots more statistics.

Data, damn data

While it was nice to finish 2nd in my age group it was sobering to know the 1st guy Shane Anthony was three minutes ahead of me in 57:04. The age group awards are listed here.

Even more data

The elite race proved to be historic. Hillary Bor broke his own American Mens Ten Mile record in 45:57 while Emily Durgin was three seconds outside of the American Womens Ten Mile record in 51:26. The full set of results are here.

Sham sauntered over to me as I waited in the shadow of the Washington Monument. She asked if I were happy, unsure how I would feel so far down in the field (284th male and around 50 women ahead of me). I said I was mainly relieved. It could have been much worse. And happy overall. Afterall I now have to expect increasing numbers to eclipse me (sorry again). That makes spotting me while spectating, for those all important pictures and words of encouragement, harder she said.

So what about the takeaways from this excursion to the nation’s capital. First, as we get older we get slower but not necessarily wiser. And second we make life harder for our support crew.

Outside the pain cave at mile 10.5.