90 degree heat + 90 percent humidity + 10 hilly miles = I really earned my omelette

For my inaugural post at this here blog, I have a race report from the Annapolis 10-miler. The weather here in the DC area has been unbelievably hot and humid for the past few days, which by all accounts is just as it should be for this race. I'd never run it before, but everyone I talked to who had would kind of widen their eyes and shake their head knowingly while telling me not to expect a PR (personal record) on this course. Apparently this race is known for the "three H's" - hills, heat, and humidity. Being a little stubborn, and possessing a tiny kernel of competitiveness buried deep inside me somewhere, I took this as a challenge.

So I googled around for a speed program, tacked up a schedule on my office wall, and amazingly (for me) stuck to it pretty well. My goal for race-day was to run something like 8-minute miles (revised from my initial goal of sub-8 minute miles, which I decided was a little unreasonable, given the three-H's. Oh, and also my unconquerable habit of visiting the candy jar at work 20 or so times a day). And guess what? I came pretty close.

The official results aren't up yet, but I finished in about 1 hour 22 minutes, which comes out to about an 8:22/mile pace. Not as fast as I was hoping, but still pretty respectable. Nevermind that the guy who won the thing did it in 54 minutes...

And for all the dire warnings, the race itself was a BLAST. It was really well run, with tons of volunteers, and there must have been water stations at every mile. I was never thirsty, that's for sure. And just past the halfway-point, they were passing out orange slices and sponges soaked with cold water. Even better were the crowds cheering on the sides, which included a dozen or so families hanging out in their front yards while we all ran past, cooling us down with their garden hoses. That was definitely the best part. Though there were a couple little kids holding supersoakers who clearly weren't sure they were really supposed to be squirting us. As I ran toward them, I'd outstretch my arms and nod, like "Yes, please," and they'd just make a shy face and kind of clutch the squirt gun to themselves until I ran by.

All told, a fun way to spend a morning. Next year: sub-8's!!