Potomac River Run

Missy very generously offered to get up early Sunday morning to give me a ride to the race and back. As I was not sure how incapacitated I would be afterwards I took her up on that extremely kind offer. It wormed up for the race day to give about perfect weather. Due to me forgetting my energy chows and going back to pick them up after starting out and misinterpreting one direction instruction and circling around instead of arriving comfortably early I had to dash over for the package pickup and ran over the start line as they were playing the national anthem. I was still registered for the 9:00 start time although I had signed up to change it to the early start, but they were fine with changing for anyone who wished to change at the last minute. They just asked if anyone was there who was changing their start times and wrote down the bib numbers as we were about to start the race. This is a small race; the trail can’t support too many people so the permit allows a limited number of runners. They do not use timing chips and wrote down peoples bib numbers at the tune around spots. Everyone was nice and friendly and helpful as one comes to expect at races.

The trail is flat and very beautiful. I am found of trail runs. I had hurt my ankle slightly several weeks earlier and tried to balance finishing my training schedule and allowing the ankle to heal. It still had some tenderness and I was concerned about putting so much stress on it in the race. I used a slight brace and was happy not to have made it worse off by the finish.

I was quite tired by the last quarter of the race and unfortunately slowed down. My lags, feet, toes, and sides all hurt well before the end. I was very happy to see the finish line. It was also a relief to have Missy there to drive me home. Thank you Missy! I did not have any plans for the rest of the day except rest, rehydrating and restoring my electrolytes. I had some cramping in my feet and calves that afternoon. I was sore but OK by the evening. As planed I took off the next day to rest.

The Potomac River Run race is a good and beautiful race and I plan to return this spring for a half marathon.