5K at the Four Seasons Hotel

I almost stayed in bed when my alarm sounded at 6 o'clock Saturday morning. I hadn't preregistered to the Sprint Four the Cure 5K. I hadn't even promised to meet Jen there. Why should I drive all the way into Georgetown to register early, stand around for a while, then run a 5K? I can just sleep another hour or so and run my own 5K here in the neighborhood. I hit the snooze bar and hoped for the best.

But I couldn't go back to sleep. After a few minutes, I threw myself out of bed, got dressed, fed Sesame, grabbed a banana and started the 40 minute drive into town.

The Four Seasons Hotel is on Pennsylvania Avenue in the heart of Georgetown and just a few steps from the C&O canal. The event was to raise money for cancer research at the Washington Hospital Center and had attracted a lot of people on this chilly morning. After a few minutes of stretching, the race organizers gathered us at the starting line and started the race right on time.

The pack took off down the street for about 50 yards -- where we would turn right onto the tow path -- and came to a standstill, then a slow walk as we reached the bottleneck at the turn. For the next half mile we jogged along, no more than two-wide heading to the Key Bridge on the narrow path along the scenic canal that sits between K and M Streets.

Just before the Key Bridge we crossed over to the south side of the canal, where the path was much wider and each runner could get into his or her own pace. It was a beautiful morning to run and we had great views of the Potomac River below us and GU above us. After the turnaround point Jen and I were still at a comfortable pace chatting. When we passed the 2 mile mark, I realized I still had plenty of energy and the path was a bit less congested, so we picked up the pace. I feel I was holding Jen back, anyway. In our training runs so far, she has been running with the leaders while I've been doing my run-walk by myself.

Each couple hundred yards or so we continued to pick up the pace until we reached the final turn off the tow path. We sprinted the final 50 yards up the steep city street away from the canal and to the finish line.

Nice!

Aside for the short walk at the bottle neck when we began the race. I ran the whole way and felt good. To top it off the Four Seasons Hotel had a great spread for runners to refuel -- scrambled eggs, omelets, milk, juice, yogurt, fruit, bagels, muffins, pb&j, danish and coffee. I think I like this run.



Saturday, September 17th
running time: 33:20
total distance: 3.11 miles