Guus Bosman

Today I ran the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler, a beautiful race along the monuments and the Tidal Bassin, and it went quite well with a 9:06 minute/mile pace.

I wasn't fully prepared for the race, but it went pretty well. Over the past few weeks I've started doing longer training runs, including two 8.5 mile runs, but I hadn't planned on doing a longer race so soon. However, turns out that my employer is a sponsor of the Cherry Blossom race and two weeks ago I signed up. This is actually the longest run I've done in over two years (the Greensboro Cannonball half marathon).

There were around 15,000 participants and the race was very well organized. The start and finish where at the foot of the Washington Monument (which is being repaired from the earthquake damage) and the run was straight through the cherry blossom area. Very pretty.

This morning I ran the St Patrick's Day 8k in Washington, DC. St Patrick's is celebrated next week and the traditional color to wear is green. While I don't have green running shirts I wore some beads. During the run I gave them away to enthusiastic spectators, that was fun.

Getting up in the morning was tough after a short night (Nora & DST).

I left home at 7.55 am and had to wait 15 minutes for the next metro train. The race started at Federal Triangle on Independence, and it was busy -- almost 3,800 participants. With the various lines I made it to the start just in time: the race had already started but my corral (9.00 minutes/mile) not yet.

It was beautiful running on Independence Avenue towards the Capitol. It was sunny and nice weather, great for a run. The field was really crowded, and when after 5 minutes that was still not letting up I started the run on the side of the crowd.

I'm satisfied with my time -- a little under 8:30 minutes a mile, which was my target.

Today I ran my first road race in two years, a 5k that is part of Clarendon Day. John and I met up at 7.30 am and walked to the start, a few blocks from our apartment building.

The race went very well. The first mile was downhill over Wilson Boulevard, and we passed our house after a few minutes. At the first mile mark I saw that I was doing 6 minutes a mile -- clearly not sustainable -- and I slowed down afterwards but still ended with a personal record: 24:37 minutes. I managed to sprint the last 200 yards.

We went for drinks and breakfast at Whitlows on Wilson. A great morning.