Reston 10 Miler Race Recap And Epic Blogger Meet-up

This morning Bill, several Cruisers, and I ran the Reston 10 Miler. It’s a part of the =PR= Race Series that I’ve told you about before, and this particular race benefited the South Lakes High School Track & Field team.  Back when I last ran this race in 1998 and 2001, Potomac River Running Stores hadn’t opened yet.  Since then PRR has taken over organizing the race, and I had no doubt that this would be a well run and enjoyable race.  Unfortunately, PRR couldn’t take the hills out of Reston!

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Before I go into details about the race, I have to give you a little background on how our blogger meet-up got started.  Riding home from the Run Your Heart Out 5K, I saw a tweet by Allison commenting that the Reston 10 Miler was only three weeks away.  Since I would be running it, and knew that Sue would be there too, I suggest a blogger meet-up.  On Friday as we followed up with each other, Courtney, Julie, and Deborah chimed in that they would be at the race, too.  Our Twitter thread exploded with tweets about where to meet, what time, etc.  This race caused more blisters on my thumbs than my toes!

Since we were meeting for the first time, we tweeted and instagrammed Flat Runner pictures so we’d have additional clues on how to find each other!

Four of the five bloggers hoping to meet-up found each other before the race.  Here’s Julie, Courtney, Sue, and me.  I found Allison on the course, but I’ll tell you about that later!

Somewhere during all of the tweets, I learned that there would be a Moms RUN This Town group photo just before the race.  As newbies to our local chapter, Beth and I joined the fun!  How cool is it that this many moms gathered for a photo op?

It’s a tough job posing for pictures with the girls, but Bill’s a good sport!  Notice my expression…  It’s the one that I have in all pictures taken of me when I’m cold.  It’s the “I’m trying to hold my teeth still from chattering expression!”

Just before the race started, Cruisers Vamshi and Amit found us.  At one point during the race I caught up with Vamshi (notice that he ran almost barefoot).  He moved over to let me run next to him, and after a few steps I realized that he had moved into the gravel.  Not cool, Deb, not cool!

The juggler was warming up before the race.  I didn’t see him during the race, but I’m sure he juggled the entire time!  I have enough trouble not tripping when I’m watching where I’m going…

The high school track & field team volunteered for the race since proceeds went toward their program.  I snapped a quick picture of this particularly cute volunteer!

Right after the first water stop, Beth and I found missing runner/blogger Allison (thanks to our flat runner pictures) and pretty much ran together for the rest of the race.  I convinced Beth to try one of my fartlek photo sprints to get a picture of Allison and me running together.  Next time, Beth, I promise not to make you do it when we’re running up hill!

Beth and I were running along chatting and having a good ole time when I asked her if we’d passed mile two yet.  She informed me that we were almost to mile five.  Man, I love it when that happens!

Since we don’t usually see signs at shorter races (sorry for calling a 10-miler a shorter race), I had to stop for this quick picture!

As I’ve said before, I love that =PR= Races takes professional pictures along the course and allows runners to download them for free!  Here’s a picture they got of Beth and me, happy to be on a downhill section of the course.

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Since 2001, the finish line has changed; so I was thrilled when we turned onto the track and the finish line was right in front of us, not around the track as it used to be!  I finished with Beth and Allison, with a time of 1:35:47 (9:35 pace); a time that I was very happy with and didn’t feel I worked too hard to get.  Considering I tweaked my back on Thursday, I was happy that I felt so good!

The Cruisers had a lot of reasons to smile!  Bill ran a 1:29:21 and was thrilled with his sub 1:30 considering his busy schedule and limited time training, Aliko ran his first 10-miler, Vamshi set a barefoot PR with a time of 1:35:44, and Ravi (and Murali – not pictured) ran their first 10-milers.  Amit (also not pictured) had a great race.  Congrats to everyone!

I’m very happy that PRR color-coordinated the race medal ribbon with my jacket!

And seriously, who expects such a nice medal at a 10-miler?

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As usual, PRR had a great food spread after the race, but we didn’t stop to get anything to eat because we were on our way…

… to a champagne brunch hosted by our friends Tom and Beth!  Cheers!

Yes, while Bill, Beth, and I were out running, Tom was home cooking delicious food for us!

Beth and I had quite a busy morning of running, eating, and relaxing…  A girl could get used to that!

And before I let you go from this long recap, I’ve got to show you the swag.  I’m pretty stoked about this shirt.  I really like it, and it fits perfectly!  And of course the collectors’ pin has already been added to my race bag strap.

Without a doubt this was a fun race, and I can’t wait to run my next PRR race in May, the TKO Melanoma 5K .  Lucky for everyone involved, the race was today and not tomorrow!  The entire metro area has already pretty much been shut down for the looming snow storm…

• Questions:
• What is your favorite post-race/run food and/or drink?
• Who raced this weekend?
• Who is in Winter Storm Titan’s path?